Thought for pew slip 26th October 2008
Last Sunday after Trinity - Proper 25, Year A
Readings Leviticus 19: 1-2 &15-18 1 Thessalonians 2: 1-8 Matthew 22: 34-46
In our gospel reading today Jesus tells us that the greatest and first commandment is to love God. The second commandment is to love our neighbours. Jesus says this second commandment is “like” the first. This is because God created people in his own image and likeness and is, in some way, present in all people. We therefore have to treat all people with the most profound respect, loving them as an expression of our love for God; loving them as God loves them.
When Jesus says, “Love your neighbour” he is quoting from the ancient Jewish law in the book of Leviticus. Our first reading today is from this section of Leviticus. The reading gives some practical examples about what loving our neighbour means. Notice that loving our neighbour is about loving God in them, as God loves them. It is not always about being partial to them or deferring to them.
Paul gives more examples like this in the reading from 1 Thessalonians. He is insistent that he must preach the gospel in order to please God, not mortals. In fact it is clear that some mortals have been very unpleased! Notice that Paul’s caring for his fellow Christians compels him to share his own self with them. We are called to lives that are shared in Christ; our Christianity is not a private matter.
26 October 2008
19 October 2008
Giving to God the things which are God's
Sermon preached at Solihull School Chapel at 6.30pm Coral Evensong
Sunday 19th October 2008, Trinity 22, Proper 24 Year A
Readings: Isaiah 45: 1-7 Matthew 22: 15-22
Lady Nancy Astor once looked Winston Churchill in the eye and said, “If you were my husband, I'd poison your tea.” Churchill looked back at her and said, “Nancy, if I were your husband, I'd drink it.” It was a quite brilliant, if rather hurtful, repost.
I heard another one recently. A man at a diner party in New York was asked what he did for a living. He replied, “Oh I hate it when people ask that. Nowadays I don’t like to admit it … but I’m an investment banker.” There was silence around the dinner table. Then the reply came, “Don’t worry about it! Next week you’ll be able to say that you’re unemployed.”
I think we all admire a good repost. My trouble is that I always think of the good repost five minutes after I needed it. It seems that this is a very common problem. The French apparently have two different words to distinguish the repost you actually made from the repost you would have like to have made if you had had time to think about it.
In our gospel reading today we heard about Jesus giving a quite brilliant response to a very difficult question. In fact it was a trick question, specifically designed to catch Jesus out.
At the time of Jesus, God’s chosen people, the Jews, were living in Judea and Galilee. This was the land that God had promised to their forefather Abraham almost 2000 years earlier. It was good for them to live in this land, but the trouble was that had been conquered by the Romans and they were ruled by the Romans. Cunningly, the Romans had put, a Jewish man, King Herod, in charge, so it was Jews governing Jews, but there was no doubt that the Rome Emperor was ultimately in control. On anything really important the Romans made sure that King Herod did what they told him. Taxes were collected and paid to the Romans. The Roman army of occupation was always there should there be any failure to cooperate with the Roman Empire.
For the Jews, this Roman occupation was a terrible humiliation. They had a very clear religious understanding that they were God’s chosen people; that they were destined to be a great nation and to be owners of this land and to be a nation so blessed that through them all the nations of the world would be blessed (e.g. Gen 12: 2, 13: 15). Being ruled by the Roman did not make them feel like a great nation. Being ruled by the Romans did not feel like a blessing, it felt like a curse. It was a violation of the land that God had promised to them. So the Roman occupation was not just a humiliation, it was also a religious evil, something all good Jews should struggle against.
Jesus was asked, “Is it lawful [under the ancient Jewish religious law] to pay taxes to the [Roman] emperor?” If he said, “Yes” then he would be seen to be denying the Jews understanding of themselves as a great nation, God’s chosen people and as owners of the land. Jesus’ enemies would be able to portray him as a collaborator with the Romans, a traitor, an enemy of God and of God’s people. On the other hand if Jesus said, “No!” then his enemies would be able to portray him as an enemy of the Roman Empire. They would be able to report him to the Roman authorities, who would no doubt punish him very severely for daring to say that taxes should not be paid to Rome.
So what did Jesus do? He asked them to show him the coin with which the taxes are paid. They showed him one of the Roman coins. He asked, “Whose head is this on the coin? Whose title?”
“It’s the Emperor’s” they replied. Jesus said, “Give therefore to the Emperor the things that are the Emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” In other words pay the taxes to the Roman’s but continue to give to God the things that God wants from you.
It is, I think, the most brilliant advice. Usually we have no choice but to give to the authorities the things, like tax, that the authorities want from us. But we should not let this distract us from giving to God the things God wants from us.
So what does God want from us? What does it mean for us to give to God the things that are God’s? Well first of all I think it means giving God credit for, and thanks for all he has given us; for our lives, our families, our world, our houses and schools, all the people around us and all the good things we have. These things do not come to us by accident or by our own hard work (although sometimes we do need to work hard). They come to us by God’s good gift and we need to give thanks for that.
Then we need to give to God proper time and attention. It is all too easy to let a day slip by without saying our prayers, to let a Sunday slip by without going to church. But saying our prayers and coming to church does help us to give attention to God. It does help us to be attentive to the things that really matter. It does help us to know the ways of heaven and to grow towards eternal life.
Then we need to show our love for God in the people who are around us. Jesus said, “What you do to the least of these brothers of mine, you did to me” (Matt 25: 40). So loving the people around us is a good way of loving God. Serving the people around us can be a service to God. Giving time or attention or patience or a welcome or gifts to the people around us is a way of giving these things to God.
And if we can do these things, if we can give thanks to God, if we can set aside time for God and if we can love God in our brothers and sisters, then it seems to me that we are giving to God the things that are rightfully his. And if we give generously to God then God will richly repay us. And the gifts that God gives us are not so much things that pass away like money and health (although he often does give these) but rather things of eternal value; happiness, self-fulfilment and eternal life. Giving to God the things that are God’s is is so, so worth it!
Sunday 19th October 2008, Trinity 22, Proper 24 Year A
Readings: Isaiah 45: 1-7 Matthew 22: 15-22
Lady Nancy Astor once looked Winston Churchill in the eye and said, “If you were my husband, I'd poison your tea.” Churchill looked back at her and said, “Nancy, if I were your husband, I'd drink it.” It was a quite brilliant, if rather hurtful, repost.
I heard another one recently. A man at a diner party in New York was asked what he did for a living. He replied, “Oh I hate it when people ask that. Nowadays I don’t like to admit it … but I’m an investment banker.” There was silence around the dinner table. Then the reply came, “Don’t worry about it! Next week you’ll be able to say that you’re unemployed.”
I think we all admire a good repost. My trouble is that I always think of the good repost five minutes after I needed it. It seems that this is a very common problem. The French apparently have two different words to distinguish the repost you actually made from the repost you would have like to have made if you had had time to think about it.
In our gospel reading today we heard about Jesus giving a quite brilliant response to a very difficult question. In fact it was a trick question, specifically designed to catch Jesus out.
At the time of Jesus, God’s chosen people, the Jews, were living in Judea and Galilee. This was the land that God had promised to their forefather Abraham almost 2000 years earlier. It was good for them to live in this land, but the trouble was that had been conquered by the Romans and they were ruled by the Romans. Cunningly, the Romans had put, a Jewish man, King Herod, in charge, so it was Jews governing Jews, but there was no doubt that the Rome Emperor was ultimately in control. On anything really important the Romans made sure that King Herod did what they told him. Taxes were collected and paid to the Romans. The Roman army of occupation was always there should there be any failure to cooperate with the Roman Empire.
For the Jews, this Roman occupation was a terrible humiliation. They had a very clear religious understanding that they were God’s chosen people; that they were destined to be a great nation and to be owners of this land and to be a nation so blessed that through them all the nations of the world would be blessed (e.g. Gen 12: 2, 13: 15). Being ruled by the Roman did not make them feel like a great nation. Being ruled by the Romans did not feel like a blessing, it felt like a curse. It was a violation of the land that God had promised to them. So the Roman occupation was not just a humiliation, it was also a religious evil, something all good Jews should struggle against.
Jesus was asked, “Is it lawful [under the ancient Jewish religious law] to pay taxes to the [Roman] emperor?” If he said, “Yes” then he would be seen to be denying the Jews understanding of themselves as a great nation, God’s chosen people and as owners of the land. Jesus’ enemies would be able to portray him as a collaborator with the Romans, a traitor, an enemy of God and of God’s people. On the other hand if Jesus said, “No!” then his enemies would be able to portray him as an enemy of the Roman Empire. They would be able to report him to the Roman authorities, who would no doubt punish him very severely for daring to say that taxes should not be paid to Rome.
So what did Jesus do? He asked them to show him the coin with which the taxes are paid. They showed him one of the Roman coins. He asked, “Whose head is this on the coin? Whose title?”
“It’s the Emperor’s” they replied. Jesus said, “Give therefore to the Emperor the things that are the Emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” In other words pay the taxes to the Roman’s but continue to give to God the things that God wants from you.
It is, I think, the most brilliant advice. Usually we have no choice but to give to the authorities the things, like tax, that the authorities want from us. But we should not let this distract us from giving to God the things God wants from us.
So what does God want from us? What does it mean for us to give to God the things that are God’s? Well first of all I think it means giving God credit for, and thanks for all he has given us; for our lives, our families, our world, our houses and schools, all the people around us and all the good things we have. These things do not come to us by accident or by our own hard work (although sometimes we do need to work hard). They come to us by God’s good gift and we need to give thanks for that.
Then we need to give to God proper time and attention. It is all too easy to let a day slip by without saying our prayers, to let a Sunday slip by without going to church. But saying our prayers and coming to church does help us to give attention to God. It does help us to be attentive to the things that really matter. It does help us to know the ways of heaven and to grow towards eternal life.
Then we need to show our love for God in the people who are around us. Jesus said, “What you do to the least of these brothers of mine, you did to me” (Matt 25: 40). So loving the people around us is a good way of loving God. Serving the people around us can be a service to God. Giving time or attention or patience or a welcome or gifts to the people around us is a way of giving these things to God.
And if we can do these things, if we can give thanks to God, if we can set aside time for God and if we can love God in our brothers and sisters, then it seems to me that we are giving to God the things that are rightfully his. And if we give generously to God then God will richly repay us. And the gifts that God gives us are not so much things that pass away like money and health (although he often does give these) but rather things of eternal value; happiness, self-fulfilment and eternal life. Giving to God the things that are God’s is is so, so worth it!
Dedication Sunday - our church buildings
Sermon preached at 11am Eucharist at St Catherine’s, Catherine-de-Barnes, Solihull
19th October 2008, Dedication Sunday, Year A
(A shortened version of this sermon was preached at the 8am Eucharist at St Alphege, Solihull)
Readings: 1 Kings 8: 22-30 [Hebrews 12: 18-24] Matthew 21: 12-16
Our Old Testament lesson today was part of a prayer made by King Solomon as he dedicated the huge temple that he had built in Jerusalem. This happened perhaps round about 950 years before Christ. Let’s do a quick re-cap on some of the history so we understand what this was all about.
After Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land it took the Israelites three hundred years or so to consolidating themselves in the Promised Land. Then King David had many military successes. The nation became more secure and he established a capital for the people of Israel at Jerusalem. King David longed to build a permanent temple for the Lord in Jerusalem, but God told him that this work would be completed by his son Solomon. After David’s death Solomon was king. He was a wise king and became immensely wealthy. These were the real glory days of the Kingdom of Israel. Solomon did indeed build a temple for the Lord. It was a huge project and Solomon spared no expense. A massive and wonderful temple was constructed, and it was decorated with much gold and bronze and many fine things.
When the temple was competed a huge dedication festival was planned (1 Kings 8). [The arc of the covenant, which represented God’s presence with the people of Israel, was brought down from Mount Zion. Inside the arc were the two tablets of the Ten Commandments on which God’s covenant with Israel was based. The arc was placed in the holiest past of the temple and mysteriously a cloud appeared and filled that whole part of the temple so all the priests had to come out to get away from the cloud.] The whole people of Israel were assembled and King Solomon made a great speech explaining all about the temple and why it had been built. And then Solomon had made a great prayer to God reminding God of his promise that his “name shall be there” and asking that God would listen to the prayers of the people who prayed there.
Solomon’s prayer was a very long prayer, but we got the start of it in our Old Testament reading. And in this part of the prayer Solomon says a very interesting thing. He says, “Even heaven … cannot contain you [Oh God], how much less can this house which I have built contain you!” God is everywhere, so it is not really that God is in any way more present in the temple in Jerusalem or in our own church buildings, than he is present anywhere else. Rather the point is that the temple in Jerusalem, and our own church buildings are places dedicated, that is to say they are set aside for God, for the worship of God. [And the fact that they are set aside for God, does limit what else can go on in them. In our gospel reading we heard Jesus casting out the buyers and seller and money changers. Jesus says that the temple should not be a den of robbers but rather should be a place of prayer.] And hopefully, because this space is set aside for God, there will be things here like our stained glass, like our altar, which point us towards the presence of God. Also hopefully here there are less distractions, less other things going on, and so in this space in particular we will be aware of the presence of God.
And in the church we always do what we can to build the presence of God, to become more attentive to the presence of God, to grow in awareness of the presence of God. Above all we do this through our worship. Let’s just pause for a moment to remember the special ways that God is present to us as we worship here in this place.
First of all, as we gather here for worship, we meet in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus has promised that where two or three gather in his name, there he is in the midst of them (Matt 18: 20). So it is important that we truly gather in the name of Jesus, in his essence, in his reconciling love, and then Jesus will be present in the midst of us, and we will feel our hearts burn within us, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
Then perhaps most obviously, we celebrate the Eucharist here. Christ becomes present to us in bread and wine; we share in his body and blood, and he shares his life with us.
Then, in this place, we read the bible. God becomes present to us in his word proclaimed. We try to allow the word of God to enter into, to change our attitudes and behaviours so that Christ is us may grow in us.
And the presence of God is of great value to us. It is a life giving presence that nurtures us and helps us to grow. The presence of God, helps our relationship with God to grow, helping us to understand who we truly are. The presence of God helps us as individuals and all together to become the people God created us to be. Certainly the presence of God can be uncomfortable. It can make us aware of our sins, of those parts of our lives which are not aligned with God’s will. It can make us aware of the hollowness and fragility of large parts of our lives. It can make us aware of our lack of commitment, our failures to put God in the first place in our lives. But as we work through the pain and discomfort of these realisations, the presence of God assures us that we are loved, that we are forgiven, that we are called to life in Christ. By the presence of God we are healed and made whole.
Now the presence of God does not depend on a church building. It depends on God and on us. But as a place set aside for God, with less distractions, the church building can certainly help us to focus and to do all our part. It is certainly a good place to seek the presence of God. So let us give thanks to God for our Church buildings. Let’s seek to dwell always in the transforming presence of God and let’s allow our church buildings to help us.
19th October 2008, Dedication Sunday, Year A
(A shortened version of this sermon was preached at the 8am Eucharist at St Alphege, Solihull)
Readings: 1 Kings 8: 22-30 [Hebrews 12: 18-24] Matthew 21: 12-16
Our Old Testament lesson today was part of a prayer made by King Solomon as he dedicated the huge temple that he had built in Jerusalem. This happened perhaps round about 950 years before Christ. Let’s do a quick re-cap on some of the history so we understand what this was all about.
After Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land it took the Israelites three hundred years or so to consolidating themselves in the Promised Land. Then King David had many military successes. The nation became more secure and he established a capital for the people of Israel at Jerusalem. King David longed to build a permanent temple for the Lord in Jerusalem, but God told him that this work would be completed by his son Solomon. After David’s death Solomon was king. He was a wise king and became immensely wealthy. These were the real glory days of the Kingdom of Israel. Solomon did indeed build a temple for the Lord. It was a huge project and Solomon spared no expense. A massive and wonderful temple was constructed, and it was decorated with much gold and bronze and many fine things.
When the temple was competed a huge dedication festival was planned (1 Kings 8). [The arc of the covenant, which represented God’s presence with the people of Israel, was brought down from Mount Zion. Inside the arc were the two tablets of the Ten Commandments on which God’s covenant with Israel was based. The arc was placed in the holiest past of the temple and mysteriously a cloud appeared and filled that whole part of the temple so all the priests had to come out to get away from the cloud.] The whole people of Israel were assembled and King Solomon made a great speech explaining all about the temple and why it had been built. And then Solomon had made a great prayer to God reminding God of his promise that his “name shall be there” and asking that God would listen to the prayers of the people who prayed there.
Solomon’s prayer was a very long prayer, but we got the start of it in our Old Testament reading. And in this part of the prayer Solomon says a very interesting thing. He says, “Even heaven … cannot contain you [Oh God], how much less can this house which I have built contain you!” God is everywhere, so it is not really that God is in any way more present in the temple in Jerusalem or in our own church buildings, than he is present anywhere else. Rather the point is that the temple in Jerusalem, and our own church buildings are places dedicated, that is to say they are set aside for God, for the worship of God. [And the fact that they are set aside for God, does limit what else can go on in them. In our gospel reading we heard Jesus casting out the buyers and seller and money changers. Jesus says that the temple should not be a den of robbers but rather should be a place of prayer.] And hopefully, because this space is set aside for God, there will be things here like our stained glass, like our altar, which point us towards the presence of God. Also hopefully here there are less distractions, less other things going on, and so in this space in particular we will be aware of the presence of God.
And in the church we always do what we can to build the presence of God, to become more attentive to the presence of God, to grow in awareness of the presence of God. Above all we do this through our worship. Let’s just pause for a moment to remember the special ways that God is present to us as we worship here in this place.
First of all, as we gather here for worship, we meet in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus has promised that where two or three gather in his name, there he is in the midst of them (Matt 18: 20). So it is important that we truly gather in the name of Jesus, in his essence, in his reconciling love, and then Jesus will be present in the midst of us, and we will feel our hearts burn within us, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
Then perhaps most obviously, we celebrate the Eucharist here. Christ becomes present to us in bread and wine; we share in his body and blood, and he shares his life with us.
Then, in this place, we read the bible. God becomes present to us in his word proclaimed. We try to allow the word of God to enter into, to change our attitudes and behaviours so that Christ is us may grow in us.
And the presence of God is of great value to us. It is a life giving presence that nurtures us and helps us to grow. The presence of God, helps our relationship with God to grow, helping us to understand who we truly are. The presence of God helps us as individuals and all together to become the people God created us to be. Certainly the presence of God can be uncomfortable. It can make us aware of our sins, of those parts of our lives which are not aligned with God’s will. It can make us aware of the hollowness and fragility of large parts of our lives. It can make us aware of our lack of commitment, our failures to put God in the first place in our lives. But as we work through the pain and discomfort of these realisations, the presence of God assures us that we are loved, that we are forgiven, that we are called to life in Christ. By the presence of God we are healed and made whole.
Now the presence of God does not depend on a church building. It depends on God and on us. But as a place set aside for God, with less distractions, the church building can certainly help us to focus and to do all our part. It is certainly a good place to seek the presence of God. So let us give thanks to God for our Church buildings. Let’s seek to dwell always in the transforming presence of God and let’s allow our church buildings to help us.
12 October 2008
Addicted to wealth
Sermon preached at 18:30 Choral Evensong at St Alphege, Solihull
Sunday 12th October 2008, Harvest festival
Readings: Joel 2: 21-27 1 Timothy 6: 6-10
1 Timothy 6: 9: “But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into destruction.” It seems to me that in this one sentence, St Paul very neatly summarises the situation of our western society today. Paul goes on, “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wondered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.” When I read these words, I could not help but think of the credit crunch and of our current financial crisis. How profoundly true these words of St Paul are!
For far, far too long our society has been slave to the desire to be rich and to the love of money. In the 1970s this was a collective desire, exemplified in the demands of Trade Unionists, which often took little account of economic reality. The problems this caused built up until we had the paralysing winter of discontent in 1979. In the 1980s there was a clear political decision to break down the collective greed associated with Trade Unionism by colluding with a new kind of individualistic greed. The YUPPIE (Young Urban Professional) was born. The banks were deregulated, much of traditional British industry disappeared and new service industries appeared. “Job for life” positions and company loyalty both went out of the window together. Gordon Gekko made his “Greed is Good” speech in the film Wall Street. Trade Unionism took a terrible beating. The salaries of top bankers and company directors started to increase rapidly. And after the initial economic shock, there did appear to be some benefits of this new approach. British industry became more flexible and competitive. The rich got richer but there was a significant trick down effect that benefited most people, except the unemployed, whose numbers grew significantly.
The trouble was that this new approach to economics was powered by the individuals motivated by the desire for more money. Performance related pay became commonplace. The trickledown effect started to dry up, such that the rich are now getting richer and the poor, poorer. We have become more and more dependent on financial reward the motivation reason for working. Investments in the City of London have become more and more short term in their outlook and more and more complex in their nature. And now suddenly we are finding that it is all grinding to a halt. Suddenly we have our worst economic crisis since the great depression.
Now the government, supported by all the political parties, has committed a great deal of tax payers money to addressing the immediate causes of the crisis; the lack of liquidity, under capitalisation in banks and lack of trust in banks as borrowers. So far these measures have not been as effective as we might have hoped, but it seems to me that even if the situation is stabilised and we get away with a minor recession rather than a great depression even if these things happen then still some serious underlying problems remain.
As a society we are still addicted to money. We still need the promise of more money, to make us want to do anything. And we are all caught up in this. The attitudes might be at there most extreme amongst the big bankers, but we all share these attitudes. We all hope for an annual pay rise. We all feel hard done by if our neighbour gets better financial treatment than we do. We none of us find financial giving easy. There is no room for feeling smug or self righteous about the fall of top bankers. We are all in this together.
So how do we reform ourselves? How do we start to rebuild the attitudes of trust and integrity needed for economic success. How do we rebuild the values that lead to wealth creation. Well I have to say I don’t think it is easy; in fact I think it is very hard and I fear that it will take a long and severe economic downturn to make us do it.
At a policy level it seems to me essential that we rediscover committed business relationships as the only sound basis for economic wealth. For example, there should always be a close relationship and deep understanding between borrower and lender. If the loan works well then both parties benefit, if the loan fails then both parties lose out. This shared interest in the positive outcome of a loan has been undermined in recent years. The selling on of securitised of mortgages, the trade in credit default swaps, the practice of insuring against none repayment, the outsourcing of the understanding a borrowers credit risk to credit assessment agencies, all these measures can undermine the proper incentives that should arise between borrower and lender.
Similarly issues exist in the relationships between investors and company. Investors like Warren Buffet have always argued that equity shares are long term investments and commitments to the company. They are a commitment to the company and should signify some practical interest in the way the company behaves. If we simply try to make money by buying in and selling out at the right moment, or by loaning the stock out to others, then we undermine the key ownership relationship.
Most especially there is the relationship of fiduciary duty between an owner of a business or business interests and the managers and agents who run those ownership interests on a day to day level. The managers and agents must work to the best interests of the owner. If they are arranging things for their own profit or power and paying themselves huge sums then the agency relationship is undermined. It becomes a relationship of mutual exploitation and ultimately value is destroyed.
And underlying all these policy issues are the values that wealth depends on. Harvest Festival is a very important time for remembering before God all the many, many blessings that we do have in terms of our food and our material wealth. Remembering this and giving thanks to God for it helps us to appreciate how blessed we already are, and helps to reduce are need for further material blessing.
Then I think we need to remember that wealth and poverty are ultimately gifts from God which in his great love he allocates as he chooses. In our first reading we heard from the book of Joel, God promising great blessings to Israel. He says that the land will produce richly and the farm animals multiply. Israel shall eat in plenty and be satisfied. God will pay back for years when he sent the great swarming locusts to destroy all the crops. Obviously we have to do our part to work with God on the creation of wealth, but ultimately wealth or poverty is more God’s gift. We have to see ourselves as the stewards of the good gifts that god has given us, rather than as people who deserve something. Ironically it is our detachment from wealth and our the willingness to loose our wealth for God that is central to all our efforts to build wealth.
Sunday 12th October 2008, Harvest festival
Readings: Joel 2: 21-27 1 Timothy 6: 6-10
1 Timothy 6: 9: “But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into destruction.” It seems to me that in this one sentence, St Paul very neatly summarises the situation of our western society today. Paul goes on, “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wondered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.” When I read these words, I could not help but think of the credit crunch and of our current financial crisis. How profoundly true these words of St Paul are!
For far, far too long our society has been slave to the desire to be rich and to the love of money. In the 1970s this was a collective desire, exemplified in the demands of Trade Unionists, which often took little account of economic reality. The problems this caused built up until we had the paralysing winter of discontent in 1979. In the 1980s there was a clear political decision to break down the collective greed associated with Trade Unionism by colluding with a new kind of individualistic greed. The YUPPIE (Young Urban Professional) was born. The banks were deregulated, much of traditional British industry disappeared and new service industries appeared. “Job for life” positions and company loyalty both went out of the window together. Gordon Gekko made his “Greed is Good” speech in the film Wall Street. Trade Unionism took a terrible beating. The salaries of top bankers and company directors started to increase rapidly. And after the initial economic shock, there did appear to be some benefits of this new approach. British industry became more flexible and competitive. The rich got richer but there was a significant trick down effect that benefited most people, except the unemployed, whose numbers grew significantly.
The trouble was that this new approach to economics was powered by the individuals motivated by the desire for more money. Performance related pay became commonplace. The trickledown effect started to dry up, such that the rich are now getting richer and the poor, poorer. We have become more and more dependent on financial reward the motivation reason for working. Investments in the City of London have become more and more short term in their outlook and more and more complex in their nature. And now suddenly we are finding that it is all grinding to a halt. Suddenly we have our worst economic crisis since the great depression.
Now the government, supported by all the political parties, has committed a great deal of tax payers money to addressing the immediate causes of the crisis; the lack of liquidity, under capitalisation in banks and lack of trust in banks as borrowers. So far these measures have not been as effective as we might have hoped, but it seems to me that even if the situation is stabilised and we get away with a minor recession rather than a great depression even if these things happen then still some serious underlying problems remain.
As a society we are still addicted to money. We still need the promise of more money, to make us want to do anything. And we are all caught up in this. The attitudes might be at there most extreme amongst the big bankers, but we all share these attitudes. We all hope for an annual pay rise. We all feel hard done by if our neighbour gets better financial treatment than we do. We none of us find financial giving easy. There is no room for feeling smug or self righteous about the fall of top bankers. We are all in this together.
So how do we reform ourselves? How do we start to rebuild the attitudes of trust and integrity needed for economic success. How do we rebuild the values that lead to wealth creation. Well I have to say I don’t think it is easy; in fact I think it is very hard and I fear that it will take a long and severe economic downturn to make us do it.
At a policy level it seems to me essential that we rediscover committed business relationships as the only sound basis for economic wealth. For example, there should always be a close relationship and deep understanding between borrower and lender. If the loan works well then both parties benefit, if the loan fails then both parties lose out. This shared interest in the positive outcome of a loan has been undermined in recent years. The selling on of securitised of mortgages, the trade in credit default swaps, the practice of insuring against none repayment, the outsourcing of the understanding a borrowers credit risk to credit assessment agencies, all these measures can undermine the proper incentives that should arise between borrower and lender.
Similarly issues exist in the relationships between investors and company. Investors like Warren Buffet have always argued that equity shares are long term investments and commitments to the company. They are a commitment to the company and should signify some practical interest in the way the company behaves. If we simply try to make money by buying in and selling out at the right moment, or by loaning the stock out to others, then we undermine the key ownership relationship.
Most especially there is the relationship of fiduciary duty between an owner of a business or business interests and the managers and agents who run those ownership interests on a day to day level. The managers and agents must work to the best interests of the owner. If they are arranging things for their own profit or power and paying themselves huge sums then the agency relationship is undermined. It becomes a relationship of mutual exploitation and ultimately value is destroyed.
And underlying all these policy issues are the values that wealth depends on. Harvest Festival is a very important time for remembering before God all the many, many blessings that we do have in terms of our food and our material wealth. Remembering this and giving thanks to God for it helps us to appreciate how blessed we already are, and helps to reduce are need for further material blessing.
Then I think we need to remember that wealth and poverty are ultimately gifts from God which in his great love he allocates as he chooses. In our first reading we heard from the book of Joel, God promising great blessings to Israel. He says that the land will produce richly and the farm animals multiply. Israel shall eat in plenty and be satisfied. God will pay back for years when he sent the great swarming locusts to destroy all the crops. Obviously we have to do our part to work with God on the creation of wealth, but ultimately wealth or poverty is more God’s gift. We have to see ourselves as the stewards of the good gifts that god has given us, rather than as people who deserve something. Ironically it is our detachment from wealth and our the willingness to loose our wealth for God that is central to all our efforts to build wealth.
Harvest Festival - God's great gifts to us
Informal sermon preached at the 9.15am All-age Eucharist at St Alphege, Solihull
Sunday 12th October 2008, Harvest festival, Year A
Readings: [Deuteronomy 28: 1-14] 2 Corinthians 9: 6-15 Luke 17: 11-19
Illustrated with pictures from: www.bathurst.co.za/Pineapples.htm
Today we celebrate Harvest Festival, and at Harvest Festival we give thanks to God for all the good gifts that he gives us in creation. And especially at Harvest Festival we give thanks to God for our food, which grows in the ground all summer and then is harvested at this time of year.
But why should we give thanks to God for our food? We might think, “Our food grows in the ground because of nature. We pay people money to grow it at bring it to us. What has that got to do with God?” But the point is that God has provided all these things for us; the food that we eat, the people who grow it, the ground in which it grows, all these are part of God’s gift to us. And saying thank you to God is very important, because it helps us to realise this and to understand it properly. It helps us to see how deep and wide the love of God for us is.
Look, for example, at all these wonderful harvest gifts. Look at this gift of tinned pineapple.
[Pick up tin of pineapple]
It probably only cost 80 p or something a supermarket, so we might not think that it is very important. But if we pause to think about it, it is quite extraordinary how much has gone into this tin of pineapple; how much of God’s creation has contributed, how many people who God has made have played their part.
First of all someone must have planted the pineapple. Here are some pictures of some people planting pineapples in South Africa.
[Picture of tractor]
Look at the person riding behind the tractor who is placing the pineapple tops in the ground. Here is another picture where you can see it better.
[Picture of woman behind tractor with pineapple tops]
And then God sends the sun and the rain on the pineapples and they grow. Do you know what they look like when they grow? They look like that:
[Picture of man and woman in a pineapple field]
(Do you know? I thought they grew on trees; shows how much I know!)
And then the pineapples are harvested, and that is a big job. Look at all these people involved in the harvest.
[Picture of pineapple harvesting]
So that is how pineapples are grown! So I wonder if we could have someone come forward and stand here and represent all those people who are involved in the growing of the pineapple for us.
[Someone stands up with hoe and pineapple]
And perhaps someone else can stand up and represent the sun, which God sends to make the pineapple grow and ripen.
[Someone stands up with sun picture]
And perhaps someone could come and stand here with a watering can to represent the rain which God sends to water the plants and make them grow.
[Someone stands up with watering can]
But this is only the start of the story. We still have to get the pineapple from the farm to Solihull. Well at the farm the pineapples are all packed into crates so that they can be loaded onto lorries. Here is a picture of them all ready to be loaded onto lorries.
[Picture of crates and crane]
And perhaps someone could come forward and hold up this lorry to remind us of all the people involved in transporting the pineapple.
[Someone comes forward with lorry]
And then the pineapples get to the factory
[picture of people working in factory]
and they are pealed in a machine, and hand checked and then sliced in a machine and the put into tins by hand and look how many people are involved in all that! And that is before we start to think about all the people who supplied the machinery or the empty tins or the metals that the tins are made from. So let’s have some people come forward and represent all the people involved in putting a pineapple in a tin
[Someone stands up with tins]
And we are still not there yet. We have to ship the tinned pineapples to Britain.
[Someone stands up with a ship]
And there is a lot more lorry driving involved the tinned pineapples goes to a supermarket
[Someone stands up with a supermarket basket]
And someone buys it and takes it home and then brings it into church as a harvest gift, so perhaps someone can stand here who has brought in a harvest gift today.
[Someone stands up]
So there we are – amazing how many people and much of God’s creation is involved in bringing us the gift of a tin of pineapple. It is incredible that all this is done so that we can have a tin of pineapple, but it is, and we need to thank God for it.
Giving thanks to God helps us to understand the world as God made it, as God’s gift of love for us. It helps us to realise how many of God’s wonders lie behind a simple thing like a tin of pineapple. It helps us to realise many different people have given something of themselves, so that we can have some pineapple. So let’s praise God and give thanks for his great gifts to us.
Sunday 12th October 2008, Harvest festival, Year A
Readings: [Deuteronomy 28: 1-14] 2 Corinthians 9: 6-15 Luke 17: 11-19
Illustrated with pictures from: www.bathurst.co.za/Pineapples.htm
Today we celebrate Harvest Festival, and at Harvest Festival we give thanks to God for all the good gifts that he gives us in creation. And especially at Harvest Festival we give thanks to God for our food, which grows in the ground all summer and then is harvested at this time of year.
But why should we give thanks to God for our food? We might think, “Our food grows in the ground because of nature. We pay people money to grow it at bring it to us. What has that got to do with God?” But the point is that God has provided all these things for us; the food that we eat, the people who grow it, the ground in which it grows, all these are part of God’s gift to us. And saying thank you to God is very important, because it helps us to realise this and to understand it properly. It helps us to see how deep and wide the love of God for us is.
Look, for example, at all these wonderful harvest gifts. Look at this gift of tinned pineapple.
[Pick up tin of pineapple]
It probably only cost 80 p or something a supermarket, so we might not think that it is very important. But if we pause to think about it, it is quite extraordinary how much has gone into this tin of pineapple; how much of God’s creation has contributed, how many people who God has made have played their part.
First of all someone must have planted the pineapple. Here are some pictures of some people planting pineapples in South Africa.
[Picture of tractor]
Look at the person riding behind the tractor who is placing the pineapple tops in the ground. Here is another picture where you can see it better.
[Picture of woman behind tractor with pineapple tops]
And then God sends the sun and the rain on the pineapples and they grow. Do you know what they look like when they grow? They look like that:
[Picture of man and woman in a pineapple field]
(Do you know? I thought they grew on trees; shows how much I know!)
And then the pineapples are harvested, and that is a big job. Look at all these people involved in the harvest.
[Picture of pineapple harvesting]
So that is how pineapples are grown! So I wonder if we could have someone come forward and stand here and represent all those people who are involved in the growing of the pineapple for us.
[Someone stands up with hoe and pineapple]
And perhaps someone else can stand up and represent the sun, which God sends to make the pineapple grow and ripen.
[Someone stands up with sun picture]
And perhaps someone could come and stand here with a watering can to represent the rain which God sends to water the plants and make them grow.
[Someone stands up with watering can]
But this is only the start of the story. We still have to get the pineapple from the farm to Solihull. Well at the farm the pineapples are all packed into crates so that they can be loaded onto lorries. Here is a picture of them all ready to be loaded onto lorries.
[Picture of crates and crane]
And perhaps someone could come forward and hold up this lorry to remind us of all the people involved in transporting the pineapple.
[Someone comes forward with lorry]
And then the pineapples get to the factory
[picture of people working in factory]
and they are pealed in a machine, and hand checked and then sliced in a machine and the put into tins by hand and look how many people are involved in all that! And that is before we start to think about all the people who supplied the machinery or the empty tins or the metals that the tins are made from. So let’s have some people come forward and represent all the people involved in putting a pineapple in a tin
[Someone stands up with tins]
And we are still not there yet. We have to ship the tinned pineapples to Britain.
[Someone stands up with a ship]
And there is a lot more lorry driving involved the tinned pineapples goes to a supermarket
[Someone stands up with a supermarket basket]
And someone buys it and takes it home and then brings it into church as a harvest gift, so perhaps someone can stand here who has brought in a harvest gift today.
[Someone stands up]
So there we are – amazing how many people and much of God’s creation is involved in bringing us the gift of a tin of pineapple. It is incredible that all this is done so that we can have a tin of pineapple, but it is, and we need to thank God for it.
Giving thanks to God helps us to understand the world as God made it, as God’s gift of love for us. It helps us to realise how many of God’s wonders lie behind a simple thing like a tin of pineapple. It helps us to realise many different people have given something of themselves, so that we can have some pineapple. So let’s praise God and give thanks for his great gifts to us.
05 October 2008
Giving good friut to God
Short sermon preached at St Alphege, Solihull at 8am Eucharist
5th October 2008 (St Francis tide around 4th October)
Trinity 20, Proper 22, Year A.
Readings: Isaiah 5: 1-7 (Philippians 3 :4b-14) Matthew 21: 33-46
When I picture St Francis I often think of him on his journeys through the countryside, passing by the olive groves and vineyards of the beautiful Umbria region of Italy. It is therefore a pleasant coincidence that our readings today include two parables about vineyards.
It is interesting to compare and contrast the two parables. Both parables compare God to the owner of a vineyard. In both cases God has invested in his vineyard, spending time, energy, money and not a little tender loving care. We can picture the vineyards. They are well dug and planted with choice vines. They are protected by walls, hedges, fences and by a watchtower. They are equipped with winepress and wine vats. In both cases God, the vineyard owner, is expecting a return on his investment in the vineyard. In both cases he is expecting a quantity of good fruit, grapes from the vineyard. In both cases he is disappointed!
But then the two parables are a little different in the way in which they represent God’s people. In the Isaiah parable God’s people are the vineyard itself, and especially they are the choice vines in the vineyard. God wants them to bare good fruit, cultivated grapes; justice and righteousness. Instead God finds that only wild grapes grow; he sees bloodshed and hears the cry of the oppressed. He is disappointed! God warns that if he continues to be disappointed then instead of tending and caring for the vineyard, he will break down its walls and let it go to ruin.
In the parable from the gospel, told by Jesus, God’s people are not the vineyard itself, but rather tenants who have rented the vineyard. The vineyard is more like the spiritual blessing they have from God, and the land in which they live. However the warning from God is the same; if the tenants do not deliver to God good fruit then they will suffer terribly and lose the vineyard. It will be given to others, who will deliver good fruit to God.
Traditionally Christians have seen this as a prophecy fulfilled in the opening up of the Church to the gentiles and in the destruction of the Jewish temple in 70 AD; God’s promise and blessing passes from the Jews to the Church. This interpretation makes sense to the Church, but it is not the whole story. God continues to work with the Jews. Amazingly they did not die out in the first century AD and they continue to live in some covenant with God, that we in the Church struggle to understand.
However what is very clear is that we in the Church are now tenants of a vineyard. We have the same obligation to give to God good fruits of justice and righteousness, and where we fail to do this we can expect to see our world pulled apart. In these last days we have all marvelled at the collapse of financial institutions and at fragility in the financial sector. We know that the effects of this are fast spreading into our wider economy. It seems to me that it is now more important than ever that we in the Western world concentrate on delivering good fruits of justice and righteousness to God. Without this it is all too easy to envisage us being cast out of the vineyard, and the vineyard being handed over to others who will give God his rightful produce at harvest time. Let’s therefore try to grow in God’s love in our day to day lives, so that we grow some good fruit to offer to God.
5th October 2008 (St Francis tide around 4th October)
Trinity 20, Proper 22, Year A.
Readings: Isaiah 5: 1-7 (Philippians 3 :4b-14) Matthew 21: 33-46
When I picture St Francis I often think of him on his journeys through the countryside, passing by the olive groves and vineyards of the beautiful Umbria region of Italy. It is therefore a pleasant coincidence that our readings today include two parables about vineyards.
It is interesting to compare and contrast the two parables. Both parables compare God to the owner of a vineyard. In both cases God has invested in his vineyard, spending time, energy, money and not a little tender loving care. We can picture the vineyards. They are well dug and planted with choice vines. They are protected by walls, hedges, fences and by a watchtower. They are equipped with winepress and wine vats. In both cases God, the vineyard owner, is expecting a return on his investment in the vineyard. In both cases he is expecting a quantity of good fruit, grapes from the vineyard. In both cases he is disappointed!
But then the two parables are a little different in the way in which they represent God’s people. In the Isaiah parable God’s people are the vineyard itself, and especially they are the choice vines in the vineyard. God wants them to bare good fruit, cultivated grapes; justice and righteousness. Instead God finds that only wild grapes grow; he sees bloodshed and hears the cry of the oppressed. He is disappointed! God warns that if he continues to be disappointed then instead of tending and caring for the vineyard, he will break down its walls and let it go to ruin.
In the parable from the gospel, told by Jesus, God’s people are not the vineyard itself, but rather tenants who have rented the vineyard. The vineyard is more like the spiritual blessing they have from God, and the land in which they live. However the warning from God is the same; if the tenants do not deliver to God good fruit then they will suffer terribly and lose the vineyard. It will be given to others, who will deliver good fruit to God.
Traditionally Christians have seen this as a prophecy fulfilled in the opening up of the Church to the gentiles and in the destruction of the Jewish temple in 70 AD; God’s promise and blessing passes from the Jews to the Church. This interpretation makes sense to the Church, but it is not the whole story. God continues to work with the Jews. Amazingly they did not die out in the first century AD and they continue to live in some covenant with God, that we in the Church struggle to understand.
However what is very clear is that we in the Church are now tenants of a vineyard. We have the same obligation to give to God good fruits of justice and righteousness, and where we fail to do this we can expect to see our world pulled apart. In these last days we have all marvelled at the collapse of financial institutions and at fragility in the financial sector. We know that the effects of this are fast spreading into our wider economy. It seems to me that it is now more important than ever that we in the Western world concentrate on delivering good fruits of justice and righteousness to God. Without this it is all too easy to envisage us being cast out of the vineyard, and the vineyard being handed over to others who will give God his rightful produce at harvest time. Let’s therefore try to grow in God’s love in our day to day lives, so that we grow some good fruit to offer to God.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
