Father
John McGinn, Rector
Some weeks
the Patriots have a bye week, other weeks you have a gospel reading that is
difficult and speaks right to us.
A man
named
Another
man replaced all the windows in his house with expensive double-hung energy
efficient windows. A year afterward the
contractor called the man to remind him that he had the windows for a year and
it was time to pay for them. The man
told the contractor the same thing the fast talking window salesman had told
him “In one year the windows will pay for themselves.” Why should he pay if the windows paid for
themselves?
A third
grade math teacher asked her class to solve a math problem. “Suppose you have 99cents and your friend had
99 dollars. What would be the
difference?” A little girl raised her
hand and replied, “The decimal point.”
In today’s
gospel, Jesus started on his way and a man ran up “Good teacher’” he asked
“What must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me ‘good?’?” Jesus
asked. “No one is good except God alone.
You know the commandments: Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal,
and do not give false testimony, honor they mother and father.” “Teacher,” he replied “I have kept all of
these.” Jesus looked at him and loved
him. “One thing you lack…take off your
clothes and shoes and give to the poor and you will have treasure in
Heaven. Then come follow me.” At this the man’s face fell, he went away
sad because he had great wealth and Jesus looked around at his disciples and
said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the
That is a
tough teaching. Especially for a
generation who has to rent out mini warehouses in order to store all their
stuff. But there is. “It is easier for a camel to go through the
eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the
Money is a big deal.
I want to
confess that, and I think you ought to also.
We like nice things. We like
things that are new and things that work.
How many of you men have been lusting after a flat screen plasma
television to watch those Patriots games?
How many of you women would like
to replace your slightly worn living room furniture with something much more
attractive
We like
nice things. In order to have nice things we need money, but Jesus is warning
us that money can ensnare us.
One of the
great preachers of all time was the great Dr. Harry Emerson Bo snick, and he
once said something I find profound.
“Our grandparents were reared to say ‘What shall I do to be saved’, and
this generation has been reared to say ‘What shall I do to succeed.’” We know
this is true. It is our culture, and it
is difficult to cut ourselves loose from our culture’s obsession with things.
There is a
story about an old monk who has been mentoring a young disciple. Believing the
disciple has the ability to be on his own, the monk allows the boy to live in a
lean-to on the riverbank. Each night as happy as a lark, the disciple puts out
his loin cloth, his only possession, to dry.
One morning he is dismayed to find it has been torn to shreds by
rats. He begs for a second loincloth
from the villagers, and when the rats destroy that one, he gets a cat to keep
the rats away. Now he has to beg for
food, and milk for the cat. To get
around that, he buys a cow. But then he
has to seek food for the cow. He
concludes it would be easier to work the land around his hut, so he leaves all
his prayers and meditation, and farms the field to feed the cow. The operation expands, and he hires workers
and marries a wife who keeps the house.
Pretty soon he is one of the wealthiest men in the village. Several years later the monk comes back to
find a mansion where the lean-to had been.
“What is the meaning of this?” Asks
the monk. “Holy Father, there was no
other way for me to keep my loin cloth.” Replied the disciple.
I wonder
how many of us feel oppressed by all of our stuff. Where can we store it when we don’t need
it? How can we find it when we do need
it? What do we do with all the clutter?
Could it be that all that stuff is crowding out the spiritual dimension
of out life?
In the
Hebrew tradition, wealthy ones could spend time reading the scriptures. In Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye sings “If I
were a rich man I would have the time that I lack to sit at the synagogue and
pray and have a seat by the Easter Wall and I would discuss the learned books
with Holy men seven hours a day and that would be the sweetest thing of all.” But that is not what is happening to
us. The more stuff we have, the less
time we have for God. We all know that.
How can we disengage ourselves from the social pressures and the inner
greed that causes us to fill our lives with material things?
What is
the Christian responsibility when it comes to money?
First of
all we need to take control of our finances.
Many families are putting themselves under unnecessary pressure because
of finances that are out of control.
A father
gave his daughter a generous weekly allowance on the condition that she kept a
good record of everything she spent, and at the end of the month, the dad was
going to check on how she spent the money.
When he did he was delighted that she had kept good records, but he came
across several items that were listed as TLOK.
In fact about one fifth of her money was listed that way. He asked her what this meant, and she replied
“Well, sometimes I did not jot down the amount I spent, and when I sat down to
record it I couldn’t remember where I spent all that money, so I placed several
dollars under T-L-O-K.” “But what does
that mean?” her father asked. “The Lord
Only Knows”
I suspect
that a lot of families and individuals live by the TLOK method of
bookkeeping. We really don’t know where
the money goes. Some of us need to cut
up the credit cards, and some need to cut back eating out, and some need to get
ourselves out of debt. Letting our
finances go can quickly become a spiritual problem. It places a burden on out marriage, friendships,
and families and even on our hearts and emotions.
Take
control of your finances.
Secondly,
take control of your desires.
This one
is more challenging. Ask yourself what
would really improve your life. Often
these things are available without a great deal of money. Think about the really pleasurable times in
your life. Was money really necessary to
the enjoyment? Most of us could use more
exercise. How about instead of sitting
in front of the television for hours in the evening we resolve to go for a walk
each evening with a friend or loved one.
The time is both pleasurable and healthier than being a couch potato.
Are there
people you enjoy being around? Some
people get involved in activities here at the church, not because they are spiritually
motivated, but because they enjoy being with other like minded people. The method will differ for everyone, but you
don’t have to be locked into the materialistic society around us. If we set our minds to it we can find
alternatives to a lifestyle that requires constant accumulation.
Finally,
and I think most importantly, remember that in out finances, as in everything
else, God comes first. If any think in life comes before God, than we are not
truly following Jesus. If we can buy
season football tickets, and boy would I live to do that, but we cannot tithe,
we have a problem. If we can make a
payment on a nicer home, but cannot meet our responsibilities to the poor, than
we are worshipping Maman, not God.
I know
that is tough talk, and I realize that the gospel is not an easy one, (it would
be nice to have a bye week) but as a priest I owe it to you to say it.
One of my
favorite programs to listen to on Saturday evening is A Prairie Home Companion. In
one of his
Sometime
we forget where really abundant living lies. Not with things that take up space
and will some day be forgotten, but with those things that are eternal. Take charge of your finance, take charge of
your desires and put God first in your life.
Find out what it means to be fully alive.
AMEN