Pastor’s Notes for Lectionary 18 in Pentecost, C Date: 8/4/13
Theme: The Parable of the Rich Fool
Bible Ref’s: Ecclesiastes 1:2,12-14;2:18-23; Psalm 49:1-12; Colossians3:1-11; and Luke 12:13-21.
Prayer of the Day
Benevolent God, you are the source, the guide, and the goal of our lives. Teach us to love what is worth loving, to reject what is offensive to you, and to treasure what is precious in your sight, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
Brief Sermon Outline: “What’s the Point?”
Focus Statement: When we lose sight of the love and promises of God in Christ, vanity sets in.
1. We started our Scripture lessons with the wisdom literature of Ecclesiastes, where the Teacher, Qoheleth, comes to a startling and depressing realization: “all is vanity and a chasing after wind.”
2. The Hebrew word for “vanity” is hevel, which gets variously translated as “meaningless,” “absurd,” “emptiness,” and “useless.” But hevel’s literal meaning is “breath” or “breeze” which creates some very interesting possibilities when you remember how Jesus referred to the Spirit as wind/breeze.
3. But in a very philosophical way, Qoheleth ascertains that pretty much everything seems pointless in the world because once you’re dead, what did all that toil and trouble get you? Nothing, vanity!
4. Our psalmist pretty much comes to the same depressing conclusion: there’s no ransom you can pay God for a longer life—humans could never earn enough money to pay off God; & no wisdom avails in the world to guarantee long life—the wise perish just as surely/soon as the fool & the dolt.
5. Of course, these folks are focusing on earthly things—work & wealth (“It’s the economy, stupid!”) which my daughter is fond of blaming for everything that goes wrong (“Blame it on the economy!”).
6. But you hear it from everybody: politicians—focusing on jobs & distribution of wealth—& you hear it from church-goers, too, who blame poor attendance & poor giving at church on the economy.
7. The author of Colossians urges, “if you have been raised w/ Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (vv. 1-3)
8. I use a little prayer book by Walt and Ruthanne Wangerin for my premarital counseling. The no. 1 source of anxiety/conflict in marriages is over money. So in Ruthanne’s prayer, she prays “Help us to remember to give to you first and to trust that you will provide the rest. Keep our hearts focused on what is most important—you, our faith, our family. Guard us against greed and the desire to accumulate earthly goods, which are only temporary.” (p. 4)But then Walt elaborates on his wife’s prayer & confesses, “I’ve allowed my concerns about finances to break faith with you, as if money were more important to our survival than your love, your promises, and my obedience.” (p. 5)
9. The Wangerins are really getting to the point, aren’t they?, that when we lose sight of what’s true & lasting in our lives (the love/promises of God), when we lose sight of faith in God, vanity sets in.
10. For those who have made reading “Christ in Our Home” a daily devotional activity, the writer this past Thursday concluded by saying, “Our lives are meaningless unless we live them for God.” In fact, the title of her devotion was “What’s the Point?” keying in on Ecclesiastes’ “vanity of vanities.”
11. Perhaps when people look at you, how you pray all the time, go to worship every Sunday, do daily devotions & give your hard-earned money to the church, perhaps they ask you “What’s the point?” One reason we’re focusing on the marks of discipleship is so you can give a meaningful answer. It’s also why I’ll be hosting open forums on Sunday a.m.’s 11am-12n for discussing issues of faith.
12. In July, we focused on worship, and on the 21st I preached, “When we get together for worship every Sunday, it is to be attentive to Jesus as the main course in our lives—Communion isn’t an appetizer or side dish—it’s the main course. But we also seeScripture and Sermon as important because it’s thru these words and stories that faith comes alive, we see the connections between God’s story and our story—actually, that we’re already IN God’s story on account of Christ thru the Holy Spirit. And now it’s our privilege & joy to live out that faith. (Sermon title: “The Main Course”)
13. In June, I preached about being “Guided by the Spirit” in prayer, & that the point of practicing the marks of discipleship isn’t just re: personal growth, “not even the main reason we do them. Christ not only freed us from sin/death, but through his death & resurrection we are freed for a purpose: to love and serve our neighbor & all creation. That’s what we mean by engaging Christ’s mission in the world, proclaiming the kingdom of God, making all things new. (From sermon on June 30th)
14. So now we’re in August asking the question straight up, “What’s the point of our lives? Is it to eat, drink, and be merry before we die? Isn’t there more to our lives than consuming goods & accumu-lating wealth, more to our faith than getting saved, judging others and going through the motions?”
15. Indeed there is—and it begins with God, whose giving knows no ending. If you look to the sermon notes, we began our worship by acknowledging all the abundance God has so graciously given us on account of Christ. Through Word and Sacrament, we are prepared to engage Christ’s mission in the world. We engage Christ’s mission thru our skills & time, yes, but also through our tithes & offerings, learning how to devote our whole lives to the care/redemption of all that God has made.
16. While today’s worship will begin & end with “God, Whose Giving Knows No Ending,” our Hymn of the Day written by M. Luther focuses our attention between the already & not yet on the Trinitarian promises of God who keeps us steadfast in Christ’s love, & w/ the HS brings peace/unity on earth.
Hymn of the Day: “Lord, keep us steadfast in your word” (LBW #230)
Children’s Sermon
<With Drew the puppet as our guest, and drawing again on a story told in early July, we underscore the vanity of accumulating earthly riches while ignoring the heavenly riches of God’s love.>
Pastor: Good morning, as usual. I hope you are having a fun summer with your family and friends. <affirm the kids’ responses> School is important, too, as you gain more and more knowledge about the world; and at church, you learn about God’s love, and how you can use your time and your talents to share God’s love with others.
Drew: I wanted to talk to you specifically about that last part—learning about God’s love and sharing that love with your time and talents. That’s called “setting your mind on heavenly things,” and I hope you all will learn how to do that at church and at home when you’re young, because as you get older, there will be more and more earthly things to distract you from learning more about God’s love and your purpose in life to share God’s love.
Pastor: Perhaps you remember that story I told about the little boy at the 4th of July parade. He was very fast and clever in accumulating lots of candy and beaded necklaces and helium balloons…He had it all in a plastic bag that he tied to the balloons to make it easier to hang onto. And then suddenly, he accidentally let go of the bag and it flew up, up and away…all his hard work was for nothing!
Drew: Well, that story is a good one to remember as we listen to our gospel lesson in just a moment. Jesus tells people not to be greedy spending all your time and talent on getting earthly stuff when God wants you to be spending your time learning about his love for all creation, and how to share his love with your time and talents.
Let’s pray: Loving God, we know that sometimes we get distracted by earthly things and forget to than you for all that you give us. Thank you especially for sending your Son, Jesus, to take away our sins and to give us new life and a purpose for living. Teach us how to use our time and talents wisely: to learn more and more about your love and how to spread that love all over the world in Jesus’ name. Amen
The Word
(Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23)
1:2 Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
12 I, the Teacher, when king over Israel in Jerusalem, 13 applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to human beings to be busy with. 14 I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
18 I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me 19 -- and who knows whether they will be wise or foolish? Yet they will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. 20 So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labors under the sun, 21 because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22 What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun? 23 For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.
(Psalm 49:1-12)
1 Hear this, all you peoples; give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
2 both low and high, rich and poor together.
3 My mouth shall speak wisdom; the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.
4 I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will solve my riddle to the music of the harp.
5 Why should I fear in times of trouble, when the iniquity of my persecutors surrounds me,
6 those who trust in their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches?
7 Truly, no ransom avails for one's life, there is no price one can give to God for it.
8 For the ransom of life is costly, and can never suffice
9 that one should live on forever and never see the grave.
10 When we look at the wise, they die; fool and dolt perish together and leave their wealth to others.
11 Their graves are their homes forever, their dwelling places to all generations, though they named lands their own.
12 Mortals cannot abide in their pomp; they are like the animals that perish.
(Colossians 3:1-11)
So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, 3 for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. 7 These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life. 8 But now you must get rid of all such things-- anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices 10 and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. 11 In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!
(Luke 12:13-21)
Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." 14 But he said to him, "Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?" 15 And he said to them, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." 16 Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17 And he thought to himself, `What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' 18 Then he said, `I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, `Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' 20 But God said to him, `You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' 21 So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."
Sermon Notes
The Point !
Opening Hymn (stanza 1):
God, whose giving knows no ending,
From your rich and endless store:
Nature’s wonder, Jesus’ wisdom,
Costly cross, grave’s shattered door,
Gifted by you, we turn to you,
Off’ring up ourselves in praise;
Thankful song shall rise forever,
Gracious donor of our days.
immediately into the Hymn of Praise “Glory to God” (WOV p. 29)
Sending Hymn (stanzas 2-3):
Skills and time are ours for pressing
Toward the goals of Christ, your Son:
All at peace in health and freedom,
Races joined, the Church made one.
Now direct our daily labor,
Lest we strive for self alone;
Born with talents, make us servants
Fit to answer at your throne.
Treasure, too, you have entrusted,
Gained through pow’rs your grace conferred;
Ours to use for home and kindred,
And to spread the Gospel Word.
Open wide our hands in sharing,
As we heed Christ’s ageless call,
Healing, teaching, and reclaiming,
Serving you by loving all.
© text: Robert L. Edwards, b. 1915
“God, Whose Giving Knows No Ending” LBW #408