Rosemary Carroll Tuesday morning Bible Study how, as a boy,
her son saved his money to buy a stereo system, with a turntable and connected
speakers with tweeters and woofers and everything. After several months of enjoying his new
investment which required records to play, needles to replace, and extras….he
wondered: “Do I own a stereo, or does my stereo own me?” Good question for all of us.
We all dream about things, good things, and big things:
cars, houses, and vacation homes. We
must admit that in our culture, having stuff is a big thing. Comedian George Carlin, now deceased, has a
whole comedy routine about stuff. We
love stuff he said. The meaning of life
is having stuff. We search for stuff, we
have stuff, and we live in houses that store our stuff. And when all our stuff will not fit, we rent
other storage places. Then we make
arrangements to go visit our other stuff.
Our garage is full of stuff.
This week in the middle of the night I heard a crash. I turned on the lights on the outside of the
house to scare away anyone outside, then I looked in the garage and did not see
anything. But in the morning when I
checked things out, I found that a kayak I had hanging from the ceiling had
fallen. Luckily it missed the cars. Dan Beach was able to help us get it back up. Stuff.
DONUTS AND DONUTS
So what in the world does this Bible verse have to do with
donuts? Several weeks ago I told you
about a library book that my son and I treasured in the 70’s. Using a computer I found out that someone had
paid $500 for a copy. Now, it is back in
print so I did not pay that much. It is
as much an art book as it is a story so I ordered one.
Today, I want to go into it with a bit more detail. A boy named Sam has dreams of lots and lots
of donuts. So one day he decides to go
to the big city to seek his dream. And
sure enough he meets Mr. Bikferd who wears a paisley suit and collects donuts,
stores them in a warehouse. He is happy
to have a helper. In the midst of
collecting donuts the wagon breaks down and they meet Pretzel Annie. Mr. Bikferd and decide in an instant to marry
and start a pretzel store. That leaves
Sam alone. He is full of donuts and he
doesn’t care anymore. You would think he
would head home but he has to learn one more thing. A woman is taking an afternoon nap when the
coffee factory springs a leak and floods her basement apartment. She cannot get out and yells for help. Sam dumps the whole wagon of donuts in and
they soak up all the coffee and she is saved.
She offers to give him all of her life savings. But he decides to head home knowing that:
“Who needs donuts when you’ve got love.
The boy in the donut story has a huge warehouse of donuts
and it does not mean very much. He
learns that the meaning of life does not reside in having stuff.
A TEACHING MOMENT
Back to the story about Jesus! He is interrupted and stopped by a heckler in
the crowd. Everyone once in a while, we
see on the news a clip of a speaker being heckled. Someone yells out. It makes everyone feel uncomfortable and
sometimes security comes to help the heckler out.
This heckler yells out a complaint about his brother. In that day, and in our own, inheritance
disputes often bring people into the courts.
It was the law then that the younger brother gets 1/3 and the older 2/3. But instead of ignoring him or rejecting him,
Jesus uses this moment to teach a great truth to all who were in the crowd.
SO JESUS TELLS A STORY
So he tells the story of a rich man who has had a great run
at farming. And obviously he takes all
the credit. And all he can think about
is himself. He has all need and more….so
he decides bigger storage places instead of a bigger heart. He could have said, “Why do I need bigger
barns. I will keep the old ones and
share my good fortune with others.”
What is wrong with
eating, drinking, and being merry?
Jesus himself did that. Our
having communion today is based on the last gathering of the disciples before
he gave his life. Jesus loved to be with
people around the table. Was Jesus
accusing him of relaxing now and then
and having a good time? No, Jesus
did that, too.
Jesus uses a story to remind us all that idolatry always begins with “I.” He
never mentions anyone else and he certainly never mentions God, or the poor, or
even his family. His whole life is
wrapped up in selfishness. What he leaves
behind are monuments to his selfishness when he could be leaving behind a
legacy of generosity. If God is in your
life, people are going to notice and those in need will benefit. And this farmer missed the life-changing joy
of helping other people.
One of the great lessons here is that greed…tends to
eliminate compassion and our circle of life grows smaller and smaller.
WHAT HAPPENS TO THE STUFF WE HAVE WHEN WE DIE?
After the farmer is gone from earth, someone else will have
his stuff. And at the end of our lives,
others will have our stuff. You can’t
take it with you. Part of the UM funeral
service is about the wisdom…teach us to number our days. I thought of the TV show called Storage
Wars. Auctioneers sell off belongings of
people who have died or have moved and no longer are paying the rent. A bidding war decides the fate of all this
stuff. It is an amazing part of American
life because we have so much stuff.
THE TRUE SECURITY OF LIFE IS IN PEOPLE, NOT STUFF
A movie called Doctor featured William Hurt as a heart
surgeon who was great at surgery but not so good at people. This doctor becomes a cancer patient and
learns how vulnerable people feel when they are sick and in the hospital. One of the best parts of the movie is where a
man needs a new heart. The doctor warns
him that he may not get a heart and he needed to get his life in order. The patient, thinking of his family, said
with a smile: ”I have it all in order” and he did. And, in the process of radiation and surgery,
the doctor gets his life in order.
During his difficult journey he makes friends with a woman who teaches
him a great deal about letting people in to his life. At the end of the movie he is given a letter
from her written just before she died.
Let’s watch…
We all need a place to call home, friends, family,
meaningful activities, and a church family.
Our greatest security is in faith in Jesus Christ. And our faith should be visible to others in
how we live our lives. St. Jerome in
the year 400 CE tells the story of a person who did not want to store all of
her money in her purse because it was not spiritually safe. She stored some of her money in the stomachs
of those who were poor and hungry. That
way, it is heavenly safe. Some of our
wealth needs to go for a loving purpose in the kingdom of God.
Someone asked me about our building project. Aren’t we just building a bigger barn? No, because the purpose of a church is to
make disciples of JC for the transformation of the world. If that does not happen, then we have missed
the point. Yet, the more it happens, the more we discover the healing power of
the Church, gathered to honor God with all we are and all we have. There is a power in this place that gets us right
with God and right with ourselves and right with others and right with
creation. What we have here is exactly
what the world needs. It is a project
full of loving purpose, in service to God and others.
I just read that Congress is considering giving farmers a
tax incentive to give produce to food banks?
That is good…those barns need some help.
I just found out.
There is a new donut shop opening up in the Blue Hills Shopping
Mall. Taylor Efurd, from our youth group
is going to work there. I can’t wait to
try one. As good as they might be…they
will not be as good as what you receive in communion. Come to this table as we feast on the Spirit
of the Risen Christ. It will taste good
and you let the Spirit of the Risen Christ feed you with love.
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