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The Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost
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Scripture citation(s): Colossians 3:1-11; Luke 12:13-21; Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23
A Sermon by
The Rev. Canon Carl Turner
on
Colossians 3:1-11; Luke 12:13-21; Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23
✛
Vanity of Vanities!
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“Mortal pride and earthly glory, sword and crown betray our trust; though with care and toil we build them, tower and temple fall to dust. But God’s power, hour by hour, is my temple and my tower.” (Robert Bridges; 1844-1930)
My wife and I are very blessed in that we have had some wonderful vacations over the years. We made a conscious decision to do so wherever possible when we got married 26 years ago; Alison’s mum had died young and as we reflected on her absence at our wedding, we decided it was important to live each day as special and to make as many memories as possible.
This year was no exception, and one of the most spectacular visits was to the Winter Palace in St Petersburg, Russia. The opulence of the former royal palace was breath-taking with each successive room becoming more and more glorious, but, equally, the story of the demise of the Russian Royal Family of Nicholas II became more and more poignant.
“I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me —and who knows whether they will be wise or foolish? Yet they will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.” Ecclesiastes 2:18-19
The author of Ecclesiastes brings into sharp relief the reality that all of us live with – that this day may be our last, and what will we leave behind?
Alison and I also visited Berlin for the first time – a vibrant city and, like many in Europe, one that has a chequered history. There is a museum there called the ‘Topography of Terror’ on the site of the former Gestapo and SS headquarters; it is a very sobering place to visit for it maps out how ideology can lead to repression and genocide. Next to it is a large section of the former Berlin Wall, itself a sign of later division and mistrust between East and West. Our vacation was rapidly being filled with reminders of the brokenness of humanity and of the consequences of the Fall.
Then we heard of the attacks in Nice. “Will this ever end?” I wondered.
The answer came on Tuesday when I found myself celebrating a requiem mass for Father Jacques Hamel who was brutally murdered by terrorists as he celebrated the mass with the faithful in his village in France. As I stood at the altar and raised my hands in the gesture of prayer I found myself overcome with emotion that a brother priest – at the age of 84 – had been murdered in such a cruel and senseless way. And by teenagers.
Giles Frazer, writing in the Guardian newspaper, reflected on the poignancy of Fr Jacques’ death as he offered the mass. He said,“the sacrifice of the cross is the non-violent absorption of human violence. The offer of love in return for hate, even to the point of death. … And this is the sacrifice that Father Jacques was celebrating as he died. He died as a priest, doing what priests do.”
Just as the author of Ecclesiastes reflected on the fragility of our human existence, and the fact that we cannot predict our future, so St Paul urged the infant Church to put their trust in Jesus Christ who is our future and our hope. In our epistle reading he says “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:2-3).
At the beginning of mass today we sang a hymn that proclaims our response to the falleness of humanity: “All my hope on God is founded.” Verse 2 is particularly apposite with all that is happening around us in the world today: “Mortal pride and earthly glory, sword and crown betray our trust; though with care and toil we build them, tower and temple fall to dust. But God’s power, hour by hour, is my temple and my tower.” (Hymnal 1982 n. 656, words by Robert Bridges.)
The great Anglican musician Herbert Howells wrote the strong tune for those words but you may not know that he composed the tune at a time of deep darkness in his life when his faith was tested and he felt far from God. He wrote the tune in 1936, one year after his son had died of spinal meningitis at the age of 10. At the bottom of the music in the hymnbook is a small word – the name of tune – “Michael”; Howells named it after his young son, tragically taken from him.
We live in an age of uncertainty, of worry and of fear for so many reasons. It is the state of our broken world that Jesus came to redeem. Now, more than ever, we must put our trust in Jesus. In our Gospel reading, Jesus gives a parable to encourage his hearers to get their priorities straight. It one sense, it is a simple parable – God said to the man hoarding riches for himself, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” But the parable isn’t just about covetousness or greed, Jesus goes on to say “So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”
Sometimes the things we covet or are greedy about distance us from a healthy relationship with God. Sometimes these things are not even material goods; ideology and religious fanaticism can equally distance a person from God. St Paul tells us that covetousness or greed is, in effect, idolatry. As Pope Francis has reminded us this week, no one has a right to claim war in the name of religion.
As Christians, our presence in the world is to be, then, one of hope. How do we do this? – Through prayer. Jesus showed us how in the Gospel reading we heard last week; we are to pray as the Lord himself prayed: for the Father’s Kingdom to come; that he will grant us those things which are necessary – our daily bread; that God will help us to live as a people who know forgiveness; and who can, scandalously in the eyes of the world, forgive those who sin against us. Most of all, in praying like the Lord we will pray that we will be delivered from evil. In the eyes of the powerful and in a secular society this may seem futile but our hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ – and being formed in his likeness, and praying as he prayed will make us rich towards God.
Some words of our Presiding Bishop: “In times such as these times, in times when danger seems to lurk, when uncertainty is a reality, and when fear is an easy and natural response, it is important for us as followers of Jesus, to remember that prayer is not an escape from the world but a way of deeper engagement with it by drawing closer to God and closer to each other.”
Next week’s gospel reading begins very appropriately. Jesus said, “Fear not, little flock.” (Luke 12:32)
