Suncook United Methodist Church
Sunday August 1, 2010
Luke 12:13-21 ESV Translation
Colossians 3:1-4 NIV Translation
It’s Nice To Share…
The Lord be with you…
And also wit you…
Let us pray…
Loving God, we thank you for your ancient word that is as relevant today as it was yesterday and will be tomorrow. We pray to hear your word for us through these ancient words and through your Spirit within us. We pray for your Spirit to be amongst us this day, teaching, guiding and sending us forth in your name. Speak Lord…your children are listening…
I love watching children at play. To hear their laughter and joy just takes my breath away sometimes. They seem to have that total abandonment about them at times…there are tomes that I am actually a little jealous about it. If only I could still have that total abandonment myself…if only I could truly set aside the world, even if only for a moment and enjoy that same abandonment that I had as a child. But this is one of the lessons I am learning from my children…to take time to be a kid.
But there are other times when I watch and I see something completely different…the times when, for instance, they may get a new toy or be playing with one of their favorites…or even have tat “precious snack” that they wanted. Oh boy…now that is a sight to see. I know you have all seen it…those times when there is no way they are sharing what they have. It is something that they have worked for or were given as a gift and it is not for the sharing…
This weekend we have had a visitor…Suncara spent the weekend with our family. The girls were so excited…they had a baby brother for the weekend. They were playing quite nicely this weekend and then it happened…Suncara, being only two, had one of Shanequa’s favorite toys…her “Barbie Computer”. Well…Suncara did the ultimately worst thing in Shanequa’s eyes…he said it was “his toy”.
Well…Shanequa very nicely explained to him that it was not his toy but hers and she was sharing it with him…it was her toy and he couldn’t claim it as his own! Ray even told me that the statement that she had made prior was even more to the point. She told him the “Actually…it’s mine and I’m letting you borrow it.”
Now to me…this is a learned behavior, we don’t come into the world saying “mine…mine…mine”, we don’t know the difference. Everything is something that is to be shared…everyone gets a chance to enjoy it and it doesn’t belong to me it belongs to “we”. The love we should receive from our parent isn’t something that they should hold back…it is not something that we should feel belongs only to us…it is something that we should share with our child…no holding back. So how do we learn about the “me” and set aside the “we”? Well one way is through society. Society tells us that we need stuff and the more stuff that “belongs to us” the more important we are…the more we matter. If you don’t have stuff...you’re a nobody, you haven’t succeeded in life. And when you get your stuff you need to keep it to yourself…everyone wants our stuff and if we share our stuff…well…then we won’t have enough stuff for ourselves and then we won’t matter or won’t be seen as having achieved something in life. We can’t take it with us but we are sure going to try!
Jesus had something to say about this “hording of our blessings”. He told a parable about this very thing. The parable is found in Luke chapter 12 verses 13-21. It reads (and I’m reading from the ESV translation):
The Parable of the Rich Fool
Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." But he said to him, "Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?" And he said to them, "Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' And he said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God."
Jesus was telling them…don’t worry about what you have…you have plenty…share what you have with those who are less fortunate…by doing so, others can be blessed…others can share in the “wealth”. It doesn’t matter what you have it is who you are that makes a difference and what you do with what you have. You really can’t take it with you so you might as well share it with others…they’ll only get it when you are gone anyway so why not cut out the “middle man.” By sharing…you will be doubly blessed to see how you have enriched others life instead of just your own.
We as Christian need to get this right. There are those out there who are searching to fill the void in their lives, the void that only Christ can fill, and if they see us with this mine, mine, mine, attitude they may just think to themselves “Well they aren’t any different than others around me so why would I want to join their group…why would I want to be like them, they are no different than those in the world around me.” I can only imagine how many people have been “turned off” by the way they have seen Christians act. As we go through a time of “Re-thinking Church” we also need to take the time to look at our attitudes and life and maybe re-think them too. Who knows what could happen?
Church…when the first church began so many centuries ago they shared everything. They sold all their possessions and shared what they had with everyone…no one was left out…no one had more than another. It was all used to further the Good News. We are baptized into a new life…a life with Christ as the head…we have died to self and raise in Christ…our vision should be above not in the world in which we live. Our treasure is in heaven not in the temporal things around. Maybe we need to get back to the basics of our faith…maybe we need to get back to the way it used to be…maybe our attitudes need to be re-grounded in what it was in the beginning. Maybe we need to remember the moral’s that we believed in…rekindle the passion for the Good News…reset our vision to what to use to be. You see…it shouldn’t be “the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many” but “the needs of the many truly outweigh the needs of the one!” The Good News of the “One” outweighs the news of “the many” that are in this world in which we live. The many that are looking to fill their void with the “One” true soothing Balm of Gilead…the lover of their soul, our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ. Do we want to be the ones to send them running from or running to the saving Grace found at the foot of Calvary’s Cross? Will we use our blessings for our own self-worth or to enable others to have a self-worth of their own…enabling them to find their self-worth in our Lord Jesus Christ? Which will you choose?
AMEN
edited October 30, 2015
Giving God Our Clay – v3
(editing version 2)
edited August 9, 2014
Giving God Our Clay – v2
August 1, 2010
Giving God Our Clay
Luke 12:13-21
Colossians 3:1-4
Psalm 107:1-3 (Call to Worship)
Unison Prayer:
“Eternal God, we have come this day to be with you,
to talk with you, to listen to you, to hear your voice,
to rest in your embrace. Help us to put aside the worries
we have, even if only for this time with you, so that
we may be wholly yours. In Jesus name. Amen”
Worship Theme: “Sharing our blessings”
and sermon, “It’s Nice to Share. . . ”
by Pastor
Ruth Foss
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Suncook United Methodist Church
Suncook, NH
August 1, 2010
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
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