Prayer: Be with us, O God to strengthen us and to pour out your spirit upon us. Bless us now so that the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts will be acceptable to you, our rock and our redeemer. In the name of Jesus we pray, amen.

This lesson actually begins a few verses earlier than the reading. Jesus is walking and talking with his disciples when they are interrupted by a man who demands that Jesus intervene in a family dispute.

“Tell my brother to divide his inheritance with me. He got all the good stuff. Tell him to share it with me.”

Instead, Jesus tells him a story about a man whose harvest was so great that all he could think to do was to tear down his barn so that he could build a bigger one. There is no record of a gift to the church, a donation to charity, the endowment of a scholarship fund, or anything that did not concern himself. Then just as he sat back to enjoy his riches, he died. Jesus has a question, now who will enjoy his wealth? Instead of worrying about what you can store up here, why not begin to build heavenly wealth, build your trust and your relationship with God (Luke 12.13-21).

Jesus is telling his disciples and us what we need to hear in our stewardship season. Don’t let getting things become more important than giving of yourself. Don’t worry about what you have so much that your worry and anxiety get in the way of a life-giving relationship with God and with Christ. Such worry gets in the way of our creativity, our faithfulness, and our joy.

Jesus is not saying that people who live without adequate money, clothing or shelter should not worry. Of course their days will be filled with concern for how their daily needs are met, and we are called as members of Christ’s church to share in their worry and to do what we can to try to help them.

Nor is Jesus saying that having an elegant car, or wearing well made clothes, or living in a lovely home, or eating well prepared and well presented food, or even wearing a custom made robe is unfaithful or wrong. He is saying to people whose basic needs are being met, people like most of us, don’t live in such a state of worry and anxiety about what you have or don’t have that you begin to forget what God has done for you.

Still, if you are like me, you want to debate the issue a little bit. When we hear Jesus say, “don’t worry about what you will eat or what you will wear, we are tempted to say, “yeah right”. How can we not worry? Do you remember a few years ago when we were told that everything from the artificial sweetener in diet soda, to the food coloring in strawberry ice cream was harmful? Today in one of the most overweight cities in a nation obsessed with how people look, while at the same time increasingly out of shape, we heard rejoicing in the land when McDonald’s announced that it was lowering the fat content of its fries. Don’t worry about it.

Don’t worry about what you put on. But what we wear says so much about who we are. If we can’t wear high fashion - we at least want to look fashionable. If we cannot afford fancy designer labels, can’t we at least look decent?

Besides, there is so much else for us to worry about. The world does not always feel like a safe place. That is one of the reasons we prayed today for the students and staff of our schools. In our own lives, we have concerns about whether we will get good grades at school, or good performance reviews at work, or a good pension and benefits when we retire. And we feel vulnerable. A bad joke that 18 months ago would have perhaps meant a call for a security guard. Instead, last Wednesday it caused the evacuation of an office building and closes part of a downtown street.

I heard on the radio the other day that there was one absolute in the lives of many young people today. For the generation for whom the Great Depression, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Nixon in China, Hostages in Iran, 20% interest rates on just about everything, gas lines, and the fall of the Iron Curtain are all history lessons, the one thing they could on was the invincibility of the country. A year ago, that absolute was shattered. There is much that keeps us worried.

We worry about these things, and we want to know that God cares about us as we do. Where can we go, what are we to do, how can we not worry? Among all that you have to worry about, don’t get bogged down in worry about your material possessions. Trust in God to provide for you Jesus says to us.

Understand that just because God made us and loves us, just because Christ died for us and was raised for us, just because the Holy Spirit empowers us and sustains us, we have worth. The truest value of our lives is worth so much more than our material possessions. Listen as Jesus says to us, don’t get overwhelmed about what you have or don’t have. To make his point clearly, he gives three reasons why worrying about our things does absolutely no good.

First, “Life is more than food, and the body more than clothing”. Is life not more than the things we spend our lives seeking? These words of Jesus can free us from anxiety over what we do not have. They can also refocus our energies on who we are rather than on what we have and on what we are becoming rather than on how we will get ahead.

The second reason for not being anxious is found in these words. “Consider the ravens: they neither sow or reap”, but God takes care of them. If God cares for the birds, then will God not also care for us?

And the third reason is just this. Being anxious does not solve our problems. It will not add a single cubit, not any measure to our lives. A cubit, was a standard measure about eighteen inches, or the length of a man’s forearm. A cubit was also a measure of time. Who can add a cubit to his or her stature, or who can add a span, a moment or an hour to the length of life? Worry all you want, but you cannot make yourself an inch taller or add a day to the span of your life (New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 9, Nashville, Abingdon, p.259).

So what do we do in these anxious times when we not only worry about what we eat and what we wear but about so much more? We can do this. We can remember. We can remember that we are called to live our lives fully and faithfully with God, and not with all that we own at the center of our lives. What we own, what we hold, what we possess are tools to be used to the glory of God. They are the means by which we count the cost and know that what we do for God is worth more than what we possess.

We can remember to give the highest value to being the people of God and followers of Jesus Christ. We can put God first in our lives. It is the desire of God that we have all that God holds for us. When we grasp what God wants for us, we will be freed from too much worry and then able to share generously with others.

As we think about our possessions, our stuff, we can remember to ask ourselves this question. “What changes would we make if we were as concerned about God’s kingdom as we are about the size of next month’s paycheck, the next harvest, the next step up the career ladder, how we look, or how smart we are. What value would we give to reconciling broken relationships, sharing the gospel of God’s love, and working for peace and justice for the oppressed” (NIB, p.261)?

Maybe we wouldn’t change much of anything. Maybe we will just learn to let go of some things. One writer reminds us of what we already know. “Most of us have possessions we do not need. Yet, we hold on to them while other persons are homeless and hungry. Perhaps it is time for churches to hold not estate sales, or yard sales, or garage sales, but ‘discipleship sales,’ and call on all who will to sell all the goods they do not need in order to give to charities and human services. Such detachment from our materialism would also be a dramatic declaration of the values by which we live” (NIB, p.261).

Which values? The values that say we are grateful to God for everything we have, we are so grateful we can’t help but share with others. Our values include a desire to be in a Christian community such as we are here, and such as exist all over the country. And our values include sharing with others out of our resources of time, talent, and treasure. Perhaps what would happen is more of what goes on here already as we share our gifts with Trinity House, and as we participate in the BREAD organization. We will share from our resources as we continue to serve people by donating the good coats we no longer wear to adults and children who will make good use of them this winter. And that is why we are participating in the Light the Night Walk and why we will be at the CROP walk, and why I will walk to help prevent strokes and heart attacks. Our lives are not just about ourselves, they are about serving others.

Finally, each of us can remember to say even in an anxiety producing time, I will bring the best of what I have to God. I will not be like the temple leaders that so angered God and Malachi. I will not bring the leftovers, or less than the best to God’s house. I will always bring the best that I have. I will keep climbing, dreaming, hoping, and praying. Even in times like these, I will turn my attention to the things of God.

Devotion to God comes first. When God is first, we have something of eternal and lasting value that can neither be destroyed nor stolen. We will know that worry does not add much of anything to our lives, but faith in God lasts beyond our lifetimes. We will know where our treasure is and where our hearts are, and we will know as fully as we can the love of God, the redemption of Christ, and the blessings of the Holy Spirit.

Eugene Peterson interprets these teachings of Jesus this way:

“What I am trying to do here is get you to relax, not be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way God works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep yourself in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Don’t be afraid of missing out. You’re my dearest friends and God wants to give you the very kingdom itself.

“Be generous. Give to the poor. Get yourselves a bank that can’t go bankrupt, a bank in heaven far from bank robbers, safe from embezzlers, a bank you can bank on. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.”

Let it be so for us all. Amen.