You Can't Take it With You

I want to know who was paying attention at last week’s Orchard Service – can anyone tell me the takeaway message which Nick had us repeating and that I’ve had in my head all week?

“You can’t take it with you” – I’m sure we’ve each heard that dozens of times, but in our Gospel, we’re again hearing Jesus ask us where our treasure lies, and it’s interesting in the context of our other readings, which draw us back to the relationship between faith and action.

In Isaiah’s vision to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, he’s declaring that God has no need of empty gestures, the sacrifice of things - animals or incense – or even festivals and praise. The message is very clear; material sacrifice means nothing, changes nothing. God wants us to show our faith by doing good and is very clear that this means standing with the oppressed, the poor and vulnerable. For any Christians who regard works of social justice as “woke nonsense” I suggest they give their bibles a read.

The writer of Hebrews reminds us that throughout history God’s chosen people have done what God required or asked of them by faith and faith alone, there may have been no pay off for their actions or personal sacrifices within their own lifetime, but their lives and actions formed part of a much bigger narrative, becoming part of the wider story of God’s relationship with humankind.

We’ve had this thread running through our preaching for quite some time, that our actions in the world reveal a lot about our relationship to faith and relationship with God. Jesus tells us in today’s gospel reading that what we treasure reveals where our heart lies, and this then seems to be directly linked to our readiness to receive Jesus.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve got so much stuff. Sitting writing this sermon I was surrounded by books, craft materials, board games, ornaments, a very full shoe rack. I’m surrounded by things, and as I contemplated this sermon I thought about how the things around me made me feel.

I’m sure many of us here are book people, there’s something so beautiful about a physical book – it’s a sensory experience of sight, smell and touch – and then there’s what’s in the book, be it knowledge or an exciting story, or a delicious recipe, or maybe we enjoy bokos of art or photography – appreciating that our creator has made us people who create. Books enhance our human experience, maybe even help us to understand it a little better. And we learn about God through books and of course The Bible.

And being created to be people who create, many of us enjoy craft or art – many of grew out of necessity but now I think is driven by the creative urge which God has put in each of us.

Then there’s the boardgames – boardgames bring people together, they give us a shared social experience which again can enhance our experience of life. Boardgames take us away from screens and are an active rather than passive way to spend time.

Ornaments offer us beauty or art, memories of where we’ve been or self-expression in our decor, as do shoes – many people say you can tell a lot about a person from their shoes, although I think mine mostly say I like to be comfy.

Not treasuring these earthly things I think is hard, an object can hold so much meaning – otherwise why would archaeologists spend their lives carefully uncovering, logging and exploring items from history?

And there’s objects like our wedding rings or items passed down through generations, yet all the while I’m looking around at these objects, I’m also remembering our entire congregation last week chanting “you can’t take it with you”.

Do these items hold our hearts more than God does? Or are we able to hold lightly onto these material things?

There’s a societal narrative, driven by advertising and media, that the acquisition of things, earning more money and buying higher status items is what we should aspire to. It’s contributed to making our relationship to what we treasure really complicated. We live in a society centred around earning money and buying things – this is how worth is often measured.

I don’t want to patronise or romanticise people who have little material wealth or goods, especially as none of us can hide from the knowledge of the extreme poverty and deprivation that exists in our world, but it’s sometimes the case that those who have less, those without the noise of acquisition or objects surrounding them, are more receptive to the concept of God – there’s a reason why most religious orders have rules around wealth and possessions. They believe, and demonstrate, it makes you more receptive and ready to welcome Jesus.

The perceived need for God in people’s lives has diminished as the standard of living has risen. The better off we become the less we feel we need a God.

But Christian’s don’t always get it right either - the first time I visited Chester Cathedral some really negative feelings rose up in me– I was appalled at its ornament and the massive displays of the past wealth of its patrons. I couldn’t get out of my head what good could have been done with that money – I couldn’t see the artistry or beauty at all.

So how do we get back to building our treasure in heaven so we’re ready to receive Jesus should he fancy a visit to Flixton any time soon? Well I think the writers of Isaiah and Hebrews would possibly tell us to act right and have faith.

And Jesus might remind us of the spiritual riches we have in abundance like God's love, grace and mercy. We don’t access these using some heavenly ledger, treasure in heaven, despite the imagery used, isn’t like a bank for good deeds, balancing the books to access Gods riches.

God just gives it too us, and desires that we love that freely given abundance more than we love the finite and limited riches the world has to offer. The books, the craft materials, the boardgames, the shoes and ornaments will one day be dust in the wind. I can’t take them with me, but nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate us from the treasure that comes from opening our hearts, having faith and choosing to welcome God into our lives.

The M Word

This morning's sermon based upon Luke 12.13-21

Have any of you seen the “M word” adverts that have been on recently? It’s the new marketing campaign from Lloyds Bank; the central idea is that money is now the most taboo subject, much more so than politics, sex, death or religion. It’s not something people are comfortable talking about, even with your closest family, and I think this absolutely true.

When I saw the passage I had to preach on this morning my heart sank because money is very much a taboo subject in churches, and I’ve got to admit I feel way more uncomfortable talking about money than standing here talking about politics, sex, death or religion; in fact I’m quite happy to talk about all of those things.

We may not feel too warmly towards our banks but I actually think the M Word campaign is great because it’s encouraging us to face something which is clearly difficult. I’ve got a few statistics to mull over;

Half of UK adults find talking about personal money matters is taboo and a quarter have lied to family and friends about their finances.

65% of people have discussed winning the lottery but only a 34% have ever discussed their will.

Over a third of people in a relationship have argued with their partner about money (I thought this would be higher!). Over a fifth have lied to their partner about money; 11% are lying to conceal the amount of debt they have.

61% of people said they feel better when they do open up and talk about their money concerns, so something clearly has to change.

What fascinates me is why it’s so taboo; why we, including me, are embarrassed to talk about these things and the conclusion I’ve come to is down to relationship, its our relationship to money which has to change in some way; we’re not getting it right. 

This won’t happen overnight because just a speculative glance at our bible, whether old or new testament, reveals to us that humankinds relationship to wealth has not been right for thousands of years. So many preoccupations in scripture are about the gap between the rich and the poor, how those with means should respond to those without, yet we’ve also been subject to a dominant interpretation which has told us this was more to do with being spiritually rich and poor.

It’s not. It’s talking about material riches and poverty; but neither is the bible condemning wealth. It’s not sinful or evil to be rich. What becomes problematic are the choices we make about what we do with wealth, this is the criticism laid at the Rich fool in today’s gospel. He’s not a fool because he’s rich, he’s a fool because what he accumulates is wasted when it could have done so much good. Jesus is really clear on this; “just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” and “just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me”. 

If we go back a couple of weeks in our readings it was great that the Good Samaritan was a person of means because if not he couldn’t have afforded to have the injured man cared for in the way he did. What mattered in that parable was his choices.

For me, what I believe is the issue is how we assign worth to things. If we’re assigning worth to money rather than what can be accomplished with money that’s where things go wrong, motivation becomes about acquiring more and more, whether it’s money itself or the symbols of wealth; an outward show of status. If our motivation remains in what can be accomplished if we have the means to do it than money doesn’t become an idol but an agent of change- if you think of people like Bill Gates of Microsoft fame he has an amazing life but has so much wealth he’s still giving away 95% of what he has. 

Now I’m pretty sure there aren’t any tech billionaires living in Flixton - if there were we'd be badgering them about the clocktower - and in fact some of us may be struggling to make ends meet. What I want to challenge us on are the choices we make when choice exists. Small things can accumulate to make a big impact and this is a huge challenge for me to. As I get older and learn more about where I shop or bank and what I buy, the more I feel compelled to attempt to make better choices.

It’s the choice between buying a cleaning product which harms the environment or is more gentle on creation, using financial establishments with a proven ethical record. If I’m going to buy a product online- I hate to say it but from Amazon, do I use Amazon Smile which benefits charities and if so which charities? With all the recent publicity about corruption and practices within the charity sector, who should I be supporting?

Do I buy my weekly shop at a store with good practices regarding their employees? What about their business practices in general? Even if we have very little money there’s power in where we choose to spend it.

Now if you’re anything like me you’re probably feeling super uncomfortable following several minutes of financial chat, this is one of the most uncomfortable sermons I’ve had to write and this is why we need organisations with a big visible presence, like Lloyds bank, helping us face our discomfort and challenge it. Our church and in particular the Archbishop of Canterbury, with his background in the oil industry, has recognised this issue for quite some time. As an organisation we’ve faced some very tricky questions on where our money is invested.

Again, I have to admit I’ve avoided Justin Welby’s teachings on financial issues because I know it may throw up some very difficult questions for me and writing this sermon highlights that I can’t continue avoiding what makes me uncomfortable. 

I’ve started tentatively investigating the Archbishop’s book Dethroning Mammon; Making Money Serve Grace because its tackling exactly these issues; reflecting on the impact of our own attitudes, the pressures that surround us, and how we handle the power of money. At the heart of this he places Jesus, who we believe brings us truth, hope and freedom. 

The archbishop says the problem with materialism… is not that it exists, but that it dominates. It shouts so loudly that it overrides our caring about other things of greater value. He believes our problem, like the rich fool, is that what we measure controls us and what do we measure more than money?

Talking about money, challenging our fears and embarrassment and examining this through the lens of our faith gives us the means to take back that control. Smashing this final taboo frees us to focus on what the real treasure is in our lives.