All that is within me

 

Luke 12: 13-21
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
August 3, 2025

Black and White photo of two children dressed for cooler weather walking away from the camera, one with their arm around the other, down a pebbled path. Caption: "Going out of your way for others, doing the unexpected".

When I was in a local production of “Godspell” a gazillion years ago, it was part of my role to tell this story from the gospel of Luke. Jesus has just finished saying, “No one can serve God” and the disciples yell, “What??” Jesus then finishes with, “and money” to which they reply, “Oh, money!” The disciples then mutter to each other about their struggles and efforts to get more money. Jesus interrupts this obsessive talk by having my character jump up and tell the story of the rich man. And by the way, every time Jesus tells a story about a rich man, it never goes well for him.



“There once was a rich man whose land yielded heavy crops. He cared not for the people who tended his crops, though they worked long hours and were paid a fraction of the rich man’s salary.



“Yet despite all his riches, he found it still wasn’t enough. ‘Oh, what am I to do?,’ he said. ‘I have not the room to store my produce. Ahh, this is what I will do,’ he said. ‘I will tear down my storehouses and build them bigger. I will collect in them all my corn and popcorn and turkey tetrazzini, and peanut M&Ms… (I was directed to take some liberty with the script.)



“And then I will say to myself: ‘Man, you have plenty of good things laid by you, enough to last you many years. Take life easy. Eat. Drink. Enjoy yourself.’ But, then God said to the man (in a Darth Vader-like voice) …



“You fool, this very night you must surrender your life. You have made your money. Who will get it now?”



And then my character breaks out into song, singing “O Bless the Lord, My Soul”, which is Psalm 103.



The storehouses we have today (and the rich people) are so much worse than a rich man hoarding produce instead of sharing it with his workers. The for-profit prison industrial complex that includes detainment camps. The military industrial complex. Hedge funds, offshore tax havens, shell companies, many of which are right here in Delaware, not to mention bigger yachts, a fleet of personal vehicles, another mansion, all while exploiting workers. Author Chuck Collins calls it “the wealth defense industry”. It’s not hyperbole to say that the ever-increasing accumulation of wealth of a few thousand billionaires is threatening to destroy all of us.



Two summers ago, two blockbuster films opened, both of which criticized humanity’s obsession with more: Oppenheimer and Barbie. In the Barbie movie, during a dance party on the best day ever, which is every day, Barbie surprises herself and everyone else by blurting out “Do you guys ever think about dying?”







In the Enfleshed materials for this Sunday I read these two lines, which I included in the liturgy for this morning:



We are all living, and we must die.

We are all dying, so we must live.



The reason why the song “O Bless the Lord, My Soul” follows this story about the rich man is that the righteous response to abundance is not how to hold onto it but how to give thanks and let it go; all that we have is not earned but blessing; not just for ourselves but everyone around us. The accounting of our lives is not external but comes from within.



Every communion service we read these words by Methodist minister Ted Loder: “As we have been drawn to this Table and to you, O Lord, make us aware not so much of what we’ve given as of all we have received and so have yet to share.” Jesus put his life where his teaching had always been, risked it all, and left it all on the Table. This Table where the poor have pride of place, the stranger is welcomed, the imprisoned are set free, the hungry are fed, the sorrowful are comforted, and all are forgiven.



I’m going to venture to say that last week, when this congregation voted to move forward with our affordable housing project, that in faith and hope we elected to leave it all on this Table at 300 E. Main St. We chose to stake our future as church alongside our friends and neighbors who need affordable housing. We put our life as church where it has always been, with those who need justice. This downtown where lives are often broken open, we said, “Count us in. All that is within us, let us return blessing for blessing. Let us build a bigger house, not for riches, but for blessing.”



Bless the Lord, my soul, and all that is within me bless God’s holy name indeed! Amen.

Benediction

Beloved, we are all living, and we must die.
We are all dying, so we must live.
So let’s get busy living,
Freed from fear and greed, filled with generosity,
Investing in the kin-dom of God
That all might have abundant life.
Amen.