Foolish Hope

In the name of the blessed Trinity, one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen.

We come to church for many reasons, I think. Sometimes we come just to see our friends.

Sometimes we're looking mostly for comfort or peace.

Sometimes for answers to hard questions of life sometimes for formation in faith,

whatever those reasons God blesses them yet in the midst of all of that sometimes,

we hear the truth.

Sometimes it breaks through Today we are given a heavy dose of truth Dose of truth,

About the limits of our lives Our true source of security And our only hope In life and death,

Whatever got us here today Today, we're going to explore for just a moment what

the Spirit is saying to us, the church.

And it starts with a story.

And in this story, a rich farmer has a problem.

He's had a spectacular harvest. A harvest so great he has nowhere to store all the grain.

But this is a man of action initiative. Probably how he got so much to begin with.

What we're supposed to notice is that he doesn't just build more barns.

He tears everything down And builds

more barns There's something about stewardship in that Or the lack of it.

Now, I'm not a farmer, and I've been racking my brain to think if there are

any farmers at Trinity still.

I haven't come up with anyone. I'm sure someone will let me know either who

is or perhaps who used to be a farmer.

But, you know, for the past week, I've been away at a conference with the Church

Pension Group, and I love my pension.

For those of you who don't know, the church pension group of the Episcopal Church

was set up by J.P. Morgan.

And it was set up before Social Security, and Social Security modeled itself

on the pension of the Episcopal Church.

And it's really nice.

And a long time ago The church pension group allowed clergy To also open up

A 401k Or for non-profits a 403b,

And when I was ordained All those years ago I started contributing to that 403b

And I've never stopped in 30 years.

And I'm really happy.

Then, I bought my house in Asheville 13 years ago.

Guess what's happened?

I'm really happy.

So I may not be a farmer, who has a bumper crop.

But I think this story is a little bit for me, too.

I look at my monthly statements. I think about them.

And I think to myself, when it's time, and it's not time yet,

I might be okay,

I think about not just myself But maybe my children Maybe grandchildren And

I think that maybe I've stored up something For things that I care about.

But just when I'm thinking that, God enters the story.

And God says to the rich farmer,

Fool, tonight you will die. Now who will get the things you have prepared for yourself?

The one that we might call prudent and wise, Jesus characterizes as a fool.

And then he adds a commentary. This is the way it will be for those who hoard

things for themselves and aren't rich toward God.

Riches are considered by the world a sign of divine blessing.

Hard work, personal achievement, maybe shrewd behavior.

For Jesus, riches, this is important, riches aren't wrong in this parable.

They're dangerous. See the difference?

They're not wrong, but they're dangerous.

Because it is so easy for us.

Almost in our DNA to equate them with God's love for us, with eternity.

Of all the people in the New Testament that Jesus says, follow me, only one says no.

In Matthew's gospel, when Jesus says, Sell all your possessions and follow me,

it says the man went away sad.

Today, there's a rich man whose profits exceed his most optimistic projections.

Soul, he says, you've got it made.

And that very night, everything for his life was taken.

God's angel addressed him as a fool.

Let's be clear even further about this parable and what's considered foolish.

Notice that it's not making the money.

The bumper crop is not what's foolish.

It's not making the money. It's hoarding it.

The story is not, there was a rich farmer.

Whose, I don't know, wife comes out of the house and says, why are you doing

that? We don't need money.

But the man persisted in farming and earned more and more money.

And God said to him, fool, you don't need money.

That's not the story. That's not the parable.

The parable isn't about earning money or investing money wisely.

It's about using it without consideration for the kingdom of God.

There's so much good that can be done with our resources.

And those who have resources ought to see how it might be used for the good

of the kingdom, for the good of others.

We ought to see the limits to its use for us.

Our wealth can do so many good things, but it cannot save us.

Only God can do that.

We may not know as much as we would like to know about Jesus,

but one thing we know for sure,

Jesus believed that the rich have a huge responsibility and are,

in a sense, always at risk.

It's not having the wealth that's the problem.

It's that it's dangerous. It's risky.

Take care, the parable says.

Never did Jesus pray storing up wealth as a result of hard work or divine blessing as wrong.

Now, this type of sermon is always a little challenging for a preacher.

Because there's always a danger that somehow the preacher is saying,

somehow, y'all aren't doing this.

Or y'all don't care or something like that. And I do. No, that's not what's going on here.

The parable is a reminder.

It's a word of truth.

It's a refreshment, a renewal.

And how we see our relationship with God.

How we understand the resources that we have been blessed with.

And how we are putting them to use for the kingdom.

I know how generous so many of you are with your wealth, your resources.

But just in case someone's wondering what you might be able to do with your resources.

I have to tell you, consider Trinity Church.

I do want to say this. I really do, because I think that sometimes people don't

have it at the top of their mind.

And I know he would be very happy for me to mention his name,

but because he was so instrumental in talking about his own journey of faith and stewardship.

But our flowers today are in memory of Buck Cannon.

And Buck used to, before his death, he would be one of our stewardship speakers

and speak regularly about his journey of stewardship.

And Buck and Kay, on the death of their daughter, left an endowment here at

Trinity Church of $200,000 to benefit the music of Trinity Church.

And there is not a Sunday, and I mean this, it's true, there is not a Sunday

where we don't experience the benefit of that amazing gift.

There are others. There's also the Patton family.

And Mac and Nancy Patton were, for those of you who have been at Trinity a long

time, know how devoted they were their whole lives,

lifelong members here, to Trinity's outreach in the community.

It was their passion, their deepest passion.

And the family left a $25,000 endowment for outreach that is now north of $75,000.

The family continues to add to it. And there's not a year here at Trinity where

the blessings of that endowment aren't seen and have an impact to our life together.

I want to note in this parable, let's note in this parable,

the voice of God does not accuse the rich man of injustice or immorality.

He doesn't accuse him because he has resources.

He just says, fool.

Fool, this very night your life is being demanded of you.

Whose shall all of this be?

It's also important to note there's no punishment here.

Unless just reality of not considering God for this man is punishment enough.

It's just the intruding voice of God that states the facts, just the facts.

Fool.

None of this, none of this defines God's love for you.

Eternity has not been bought from it the question is what are you doing with it for the good of God.

Jesus ends this story about this foolish man without telling us anything and

without telling us to do something specific,

I think that's really the point the story kind of stands as a mirror and we

stand in front of it and we just consider,

the resources of our life and the ways in which,

we are asking how am I utilizing my resources whatever they might be for the

good of the kingdom of God.

Wisely. Considerately.

As I say, people come to church for all types of reasons.

This morning we claim that one of those reasons is to hear the truth about life, about death,

about God, and yeah, about our money.

Amen.

The homily was offered by the Rev. Dr. R. Scott White.

Introductory and closing reflections were shared by the Rev. Amy Peterson.

Musical contributions were performed by Dr. Kevin Seal.

Sermon audio was prepared by Nanette Popa. Production was guided by Karin Marie Fredrickson.