Colossians 3:1-11
Luke 12:13-21
A parishioner remarked “this is the time to discuss planned giving.”
I may, to shake it up a bit, begin with discussing why I love money. I’ll declare I’m pretty rich – which I am, compared to most people in the world. Just not compared to my neighbors. And then my retirement plan.
There’s a bit more than simply “greed is bad” going on here. Is it “greed is bad” and “you might die tomorrow”? I remember tha bumper sticker: whoever dies with the most toys wins.
Do I get political? Billionaires who have died this year have been able to create little monarchies because they’ve been able to avoid paying taxes.
Richard Layard notes the limites of happiness. Building a bigger barn won’t do it.
Catherine Caimano preaches a very good sermon, but I might try to make the challenges more severe. there’s no way to get around the apocalyptic depth of the message.
Are we being encouraged to look busy? To prepare for death? Or Is Jesus implying, “don’t save up to party in the future! Party now!” Has the world so fallen apart, that our hands are the emergency rescue team for the earth? And can we do it? Should we? Must we?
It is not an anti-abundance message, I suspect. It is a challenge to acquisitiveness for its own sake. Such tendencies are built on the foundation of our anxieties as we compare ourselves to others. Why must we compare our lives so when the only judge we need to know is Jesus Christ?
The Divine Latitude 