About The Service

The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, August 1  
The readings for this Sunday are:  Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14, 2:18-23; Psalm 49:1-11; Colossians 3:1-11; and Luke 12:13-21.
 

“One’s life does not exist in the abundance of possessions.” 
These words of Jesus run quite contrary to the general wisdom of this age, and of America in particular – “He who dies with the most toys wins” is more in line with contemporary “wisdom.”  It is true that a certain level of material comfort makes for a happier life – Jesus is not romanticizing poverty here.  I am grateful to have a comfortable home, plenty of food, books to read and – yes – air conditioning when it’s 100 degrees.  I am rich by any world standard.

And yet Jesus is right: true satisfaction in life comes not from possessions but from relationships and accomplishments and contributions to a purpose larger than we are.
Jesus’ telling of the parable of the rich man who builds bigger barns epitomizes the self-centered, hoarding instinct where one’s only purpose is to “eat, drink, and be merry.”  God, however, has other ideas: God demands the man’s life before he can enjoy his horde. We are left wondering how things might have been different if he had shared what he had.  Treasures stored up for ourselves do not make us “rich toward God.”

The reading from Ecclesiastes (“Vanity, vanity, all is vanity”) reminds me of the 1980s novel based on this rather resigned, cynical passage of scripture.  A runaway pursuit of wealth and self-indulgence is the theme of Tom Wolfe’s bestselling novel, The Bonfire of the Vanities, about the ruthless Wall Street tycoon Sherman McCoy, and how a freak accident causes his life to spin out of control. 

Tom Wolfe wrote in 1968, "For of all I have ever seen or learned, this book [Ecclesiastes] seems to me the noblest, the wisest, and the most powerful expression of man’s life upon this earth – and also the highest flower of poetry, eloquence, and truth. I am not given to dogmatic judgments in the matter of literary creation, but if I had to make one I could say that Ecclesiastes is the greatest single piece of writing I have ever known, and the wisdom expressed in it the most lasting and profound."

I can’t say I agree with Mr. Wolfe’s soaring praise for the Book of Ecclesiastes.  I am more devoted to the earthy wisdom and profound hope found in the Gospels of Jesus.  Given the choice, I would much rather live according to Jesus’ Gospel of forgiveness and new life, than the despair of the writer of the odd book of Ecclesiastes.  JBM