The Rich and the Poor

The Message

When I was young, accumulating “stuff” was important to me.

I wanted to keep up with everything my friends had! When I earned an allowance, I was inclined to want to spend it right away on things.

Who here remembers the Beanie Baby craze?
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The more Beanie Babies you had, the wealthier you were. It was like a currency all its own.
 
This guy is the epitome of wealth!

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​I also collected CD’s, I just had to have a Tamagotchi, and, even though I didn’t ever play with dolls, I needed an American Girl doll because every other girl my age had one.
 
I did not grow up in a rich family, and yet the reality was, I was wealthy.
 
And, for a kid, accumulating the best “things” was a way to demonstrate my wealth, even if I would not have known that at the time.
 
Like everyone else at that time, I wanted more and better Beanie Babies because I thought that someday, they’d be worth something.
 
Turns out, that really never ended up being the case, except maybe briefly during the craze.
 
But the point is, it got to the point where I was only buying them because I thought they would have value in the future. I even bought some that I didn’t necessarily like, and eventually, these [cute] stuffed bean bags just sat on a shelf in my bedroom.
 
When I went away to university, they sat and collected dust.
 
Eventually, I came home at some point and threw them all into a plastic garbage bag and hauled them off to Goodwill for some other kid to enjoy.
 
Essentially, they were worthless. They weren’t worth actual money, and they didn’t bring me joy.
 
It was around this point in my life when I began to realize that very few “things” do, in fact, bring me joy.
 
Leaving for university was, more or less, a “rite of passage” into adulthood for me.
 
It also kicked off a lifetime of regular moves from one dwelling to another.
 
Sometimes, a move would involve changing cities, and once I even moved out of state. And of course you know that more recently, I moved countries!
 
I have moved almost every single year of my adult life.
 
With a rare exception here or there when I have stayed in a dwelling for two years, I have moved many, many times.
 
And, as most of you know, I am moving again, though I did not expect that to be the case.
 
Moving so frequently in my life helped me realize how little joy I actually get from “things.”
 
Sure, there is some joy when I buy something new, at least initially.
 
But guess what?
 
When you go to move, all the sudden, if you don’t need that thing, it has become a burden, not a joy.
 
You also learn quickly that the joy that things bring is fleeting. More often than not, when I go to move, I’ve forgotten I even have things that I don’t use regularly.
 
I will remember why I thought I just had to have the things.
 
But I quickly realize that after my initial purchase, the joy dissipated quickly and that thing, whatever it is, has likely not brought me any joy or served any other purpose since I bought it.
 
I have lived in Calgary for two years. When I moved here, I came with almost nothing.
 
Some of you may remember that other than the essentials I needed for my travel, the only things I came here with all fit into one U-Haul moving pod.
 
And yet, despite arriving here with almost nothing, I still took an entire carload of stuff to Goodwill the other day in preparation for my next move.
 
The point here is this: we live in a world in which accumulating things is a measure of status and wealth, and of course, accumulating money is too.
 
It is nearly impossible today not to fall into this trap.
 
We are surrounded by easily accessible and affordable “stuff” we don’t always actually need.
 
In fact, even the poorest of the poor in this country have access to resources to provide them with everything they need as long as they are willing to utilize the resources available to them.
 
I’m not saying that life isn’t hard for people – it is.
 
But in comparison to how the poor have lived throughout history, in our world, life is significantly better than it once was.
 
We all fall into the traps that 1 Timothy warns about because we cannot avoid them in today’s society.
 
1 Timothy says, “we didn’t bring anything into this world, and won’t take anything with us when we leave. So we should be satisfied just to have food and clothes. People who want to be rich fall into all sorts of temptations and traps. They are caught by foolish and harmful desires that drag them down and destroy them.”
 
I know I fall into this trap on a regular basis.
 
I have everything I need. I have access to far more than I need!
 
I’m leaving on vacation tomorrow. I had the means to access plane tickets, hotels, and a rental car.
 
I will be able to pay for food, likely at many restaurants while I am away.
 
I could pay for a variety of event tickets.
 
Now, don’t get me wrong – I do save for these things. And I don’t consider myself a wealthy person, especially compared to many other people in this world.
 
But my point is that I am wealthy, when you think of it this way.
 
Our culture causes us to believe that we are always living in scarcity mode – we never have enough.
 
We are constantly striving for more, no matter how much we have.
 
I have been “poor” before – far poorer than I am now. My younger self would be thrilled to be where I am now.
 
And yet, even now, I find myself wishing I just had just a little bit more.
 
It’s always this way.
 
I just finished listening to an audiobook, and actually I enjoyed it so much and felt like I got so much out of it that I bought the actual book and started reading it.
 
The book is called “Everything Is Never Enough,” and it is an exploration of the Book of Ecclesiastes.
 
The ultimate point of the book is because we are constantly striving – always desiring more – we are never happy.
 
Let’s say, for example, that I desperately want to be able to buy a house, and I don’t feel like I’ll truly be happy until I can do that.
 
What happens when I finally get to a point where I can buy a house?
 
I’ll be happy for a little while, for sure.
 
But, inevitably, when I settle into home ownership, I will desire something else.
 
Maybe now, I want to remodel my kitchen, and I think if I can just do that, I’ll be happy.
 
And the cycle continues on and on forever.
 
No matter how much we have – no matter how much wealth, power, money, food and drink, friends, stuff, etc that we accumulate – we are always striving for more.
 
These are the traps that 1 Timothy warns about.
 
And Luke 16 brings the point home with a demonstration of the consequences that these traps bring upon us if we allow ourselves to fall too deeply into them.
 
The rich man in this story has become so consumed by his own life and this striving for more that he has lost empathy and compassion for the other.
 
When he died, he was caught in a miserable place, and when he asked to warn his family about it, Abraham basically said “look, this is all written in scripture and available for everyone. It is up to you to pay attention and learn from it.”
 
Oof – what a lesson for all of us. How often do we get so caught up in our own lives that we don’t even realize we are always striving for more and forgetting about the other?
 
Quite often, I’d say.
 
Before I end this sermon today, I want us to think as a congregation about these ideas and ask ourselves if it’s possible we are falling into these very same traps.
 
With my announcement last week about moving out of the parsonage, it will very likely mean we will be selling the parsonage.
 
Doing so will mean that our endowment fund will increase to over $1 million dollars again.
 
I don’t want to get into this conversation too much right now, but it does beg the questions:
 
At what point do we have enough?
 
Are we falling into this trap of constantly striving for more, accumulating wealth for the sake of accumulating wealth?
 
Do we need to think hard about how that money should be used to serve others beyond the walls of our own church?
 
There is much more that could be said about this, but for now, I would ask that we just mull it over.
 
And, I think the most important question we need to be asking is where God fits into the equation.
 
What does God think about if and how we should be utilizing our funds, and does God have any thoughts about how much wealth we should be holding onto?
 
I can’t answer these questions for the congregation.
 
But I would ask you each to be in prayer and conversation about it.
 
As you are, bring God in and lift it to God. What would happen if we let go of some control and asked God what God wants us to be doing?
 
These are difficult questions. But, our readings today remind us of the importance of asking these questions on a regular basis.
 
And, these are questions we should be asking of ourselves, too.
 
So, as we leave this space today, let us lift these questions to God and really begin wondering how we might involve God more deeply in questions of finances and stewardship.
 
May we give God the pleasure of knowing that we trust God in all things, and we surrender completely to God’s leading, both on matters of the heart and on matters of wealth and money.
 
As you go from here today, mull it over.
 
What is God asking of us? Where is God leading, and what do we see God doing here?
 
I hate to use this cliché, but “What Would Jesus Do?”
 
Let us wonder together with open hearts and open minds, and with grace, kindness, love and compassion. Amen.
 
Let us pray:
 
God of love, God who IS love, we thank you for your generosity and for your ongoing commitment to our care. Thank you for the blessings you have bestowed upon us, and thank you for guiding us to use those blessings according to your will. We ask that you continue to lead us as individuals and as a church. In your holy name, we pray. Amen.