You Lack One Thing

A Sermon for October 14, 2012 (RCL B Proper 23)

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:           Hebrews 4:12-16; Psalm 22:1-15; Mark 10:17-31

Themes:        the word of God, the commandments, the one thing lacking

Title:             You Lack One Thing

Amy Carmichael was a young Presbyterian woman living with her family in Belfast, Northern Ireland in the 1880s. She eventually went on to lead a famous mission effort among poor children in India, but that was many years later.

One Sunday morning, while returning from the liturgy back to her home, Amy Carmichael heard a passage of scripture audibly spoken in her ears. She remembers it clearly.

They had just passed a new fountain built near the curb of the street, when suddenly the voice spoke and said: “The fire shall try every man’s work to see what sort it is. If any man’s work abide…”

She turned to look for the face behind that voice, but there was no one. Everything was ordinary. This voice spoke these few phrases to her  - and to her alone – and then it was gone.

These phrases came from St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 3:13-14, probably the King James Version).

Amy Carmichael heard this as the voice of God speaking to her, and her life was never the same. Her entire frame of reference for life had changed in that moment. Now, somehow, deep inside, she knew that she must spend her life on works that will last, creating things  that are of eternal value (They Found the Secret by V. Raymond Edman, 1984: p.24-25).

This, my friends, is a testimony to the power of Holy Scripture.

“The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12).

This word is the Logos – the wisdom, the communication of God.

We might recall this Logos from the first chapter of John – the prologue to the Gospel of John. But it needs to be unpacked a bit for us today.

According to John, the Logos of God is the very person of the Incarnate One – Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah. “In the beginning was the Logos – the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). 

Of course, in the context of this letter to the Hebrews, the “Word of God” referred only to the received texts of Hebrew scripture, what we call the Old Testament.

But our context is different, and for us the Word of God is all the texts of the Bible – that sacred library of witnesses to God’s faithfulness in human history.

Let’s be clear about this: there is absolutely no substitute for reading the Bible.

There have been a number of studies which have attempted to identify correlations between the spiritual growth of Christians from various traditions and their particular spiritual practices.

Again and again, these studies have shown that there are two simple practices which are a vital part of the lives of those who are growing in their connection with God:

prayer and the reading of the Bible.  

That’s it. No great magic formula. No mystical experiences. These two simple things – and they are usually done together. Reading the Scriptures in a prayerful state, meditating upon the meaning.

My friends: there is no getting around it. The Word of God is living and active, and we need to expose ourselves to it on a daily basis.

Just look at how our Lord Jesus used Holy Scripture in his conversation with the wealthy man on the road. Look at how he used it to diagnose the deeper needs of his soul.

You know, I think we all tend to be more like this rich man than we care to think. Are you with me?  “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

We tend to come to Christ in order to figure out what we have to do to be on the good sides of things, right? To make sure that we can get into heaven when our final day arrives.

And we tend to keep the commandments. We do most of these good things. We’re not bad people, right?

But, we know that there is more. We can feel it in our gut. There is more to the story than this. There is something about life, about God that we haven’t gotten yet.

Jesus looks at us, and loves us, and says, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”

Like it or not, most of us will never take this step with Christ because we are far too afraid of losing our treasured possessions, or our comfortable way of life, our supposed safety and security. 

But is it hard to understand why?

After all, we swim in a sea of advertising, guided by an advertising and marketing industry which spends hundreds of billions of dollars every year trying to convince us that we need certain products in order to be healthy, or happy, or cool, or whatever.

The average American consumes at least a few hundred pieces of advertising every single day.

Each one of these pieces is sending you a message, and in fact that message sounds a lot like what Jesus said to this man on the road:

“You lack one thing.” - You lack our products, our service! And you need to have it!

My friends: how are you going to counter-act, or at least balance out a little bit, all of this aggressive messaging poured into you by this relentless advertising?

May I suggest to you that this is perhaps one of the primary reasons why you and I have MORE need to read the Bible every single day than those of previous generations?

Because we have been so programmed to live as consumers that we need extra help to remember that we are –first and foremost – beloved children of God.

Daughters and sons of a gracious God who provides everything that we could ever need. 

Do you believe this? Can you bet your life on this truth?

Anthony De Mello was a great Indian Jesuit priest who taught widely about the spiritual life. And Fr. Tony shared the story of a meeting which changed his life.

He met a rickshaw driver in Calcutta named Rinsai. This poor man was dying from a painful, terminal disease. Rinsai was so poor, in fact, that he had to sell the rights to his eventual skeleton while he was still living so that he could eat!

And yet, Rinsai was a believer who was full of faith and trust and a deep, interior joy.

This is confidence and joy and peace which passes all human understanding, because it comes from somewhere far deeper (The Way to Love by Anthony De Mello, 1992: p. VIII). 

Do you want to live with that kind of trust and joy and peace – no matter what the circumstances of your life might be?

Jesus knew the truth with amazing insight, because it is in fact the poor who find this kind of life much easier to attain than the wealthy. It has always been this way.

“How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God.”

But in this regard, there is no difference between the upper, middle or lower classes.

We are all bombarded with the marketing messages that tell us to buy more, more, more. 

Whether you have wealth or not, how are you going to keep yourself on the path of God, and not allow your mind to be controlled by these messages?

Let’s stick with the basics: prayer and the daily reading of Scripture.

There have been countless numbers of saints whose lives have been changed and re-directed by the word of God.

Sometimes it is only a simple phrase from the Bible, as in the case of Amy Carmichael, when the Holy Spirit pulled out of her deep memory this one verse and flashed it across the screen of her consciousness at just the right time.

Those words of Scripture were there in her memory because she had read the Word of God regularly, and so the holy words were there, implanted within her, ready for active use in the hands of God when the time was right.

Consider it, my friends, and commit to it. Prayer and Bible reading – every day.

It sounds simple, because it is! Simple but profound beyond measure, because there we are invited to engage every day with the living and active Word of God.

May it always be so among us. Amen.

The Good News of God - A Sermon for the 3rd Sunday of Epiphany

A Sermon for the 3^rd Sunday after the Epiphany (RCL B) 1-22-2012

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:              Jonah 3:1-5,10; Psalm 62:5-12; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20

Themes:         repentance, change, second chances, fishing for people, trusting in God
Title:               The Good News of God

My brothers and my sisters in the Lord, I have a question for you:

Does God have a sense of humor?

Well, that is a very difficult question to answer, in my opinion.

But at the least, we can say that the very inclusion of this Book of the Prophet Jonah in the canon of Holy Scripture provides a strong suggestion of a divine sense of humor.

What do you know about the prophet Jonah?

Oh, I so much wish that we had the time to sit and read through the entire story all together this morning. This book of the prophet Jonah – may his blessing be upon us – is quite small. Only four brief chapters.

But the ironic message of this brief book is a large one, and it is vital.

Sadly, in the three-year cycle of the Revised Common Lectionary which we follow for our Sunday readings, this book of the prophet Jonah is only read twice – today being one of those two, of course.

I suspect that many of you do not really know the full story of Jonah, so let me share it with you now.

First, let us be clear and understand that this is not an historical book. The details of this story do not hold up at all when compared to the findings of archeological and historical research.

But, let us also be clear that this book was never intended to explain history.

It is, in many ways, a book of ancient Hebrew comedy. This is a parody of what a Hebrew prophet is supposed to be like. And as with most parodies, it uses comedy and humor to make a powerful point.

The word of the Lord came to Jonah and called him to bring a message of repentance to the people of Nineveh. This is the capital city of the kingdom of Assyria, a mighty empire who rose and crushed the kingdom of Israel in 722 BC. In that year, the Ninevites demolished the city of Samaria, which was the capital of Israel at this time – Jerusalem being the capital city of the much smaller kingdom of Judah to the south. Today, the ruins of Nineveh are found in the northeastern region of Iraq.

So God’s call comes to Jonah, and what does he do? He runs away!

Now, you have to understand that in this book, Jonah is the bad guy! Think about that for a minute.

In the Bible, the prophet of the Lord is always the good guy, right? Moses against the Pharoah. Joshua against the Canaanites. David against the Philistines. Elijah against the corrupt King Ahab and his wife Jezebel.

But not here! In this story, Jonah is presented as the bad guy of the story, the one who consistently does the wrong thing while all the gentiles around him are doing the right thing!

God calls Jonah to go east to Nineveh and Jonah boards a ship going as far to the west as he can possibly go!

So God sends a mighty storm to stop the progress of that ship across the Mediterranean. When the pagan sailors discover that Jonah is a prophet running from God, they pray to the Lord and ask for help! These sailors do not know what else to do, as the storm rages on and grows more intense.

But they know that Jonah is to blame. They do not want to hurt him, but they are out of ideas, and so they throw Jonah overboard. And, immediately, the storm subsides. The sailors are amazed and they give praise to the God of Israel!

This is the amazing thing! Even in his rebellion, Jonah is a successful prophet. Even though he disobeys God, everyone around him becomes believers!

You all know what happens next. Jonah is swallowed by the whale and stays in the whale for 3 days and 3 nights. Finally, the whale vomits Jonah out onto dry land and the Lord calls to Jonah again.

This is where we pick up the story this morning.

This is the second time that God called to the prophet Jonah with the commission to deliver the message of repentance to the people of Nineveh.

Jonah does not want to do this. But, given what happened the last time he ran away, it seems that he figured out that fighting against God is a losing proposition!

So Jonah is given a second chance. This time he carries out the divine commission – reluctantly, of course. He is the reluctant prophet. He does not want to deliver the message of repentance to the people of Nineveh, because Jonah does not want those people to repent and be spared!

What Jonah wants is to see the people of Nineveh punished! He wants to see them suffer the same thing that his people in the land of Israel have suffered at the hands of these Ninevites! They are the enemy of his people! They are the cause of much pain and suffering in his hometown, in his home country.   

What is cut out in today’s reading - verses 6-9 – is the proclamation of the king of Nineveh that everyone must fast from food and water, everyone must wear sackcloth, and must cry out to the God of Israel and ask for mercy. Even the animals must do this, so says the king!

Now, I can just imagine a bunch of people making little sackcloth suits for all of the chickens and all of the dogs and all of the goats and all of the cows, and putting them on.

But how do you force them to fast? How do you keep the cows and horses and dogs and goats from drinking out of the rivers and streams and marshes?

And how do you make them all pray and ask for forgiveness?

Verse 10 explains the result: “When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them, and God did not do it.”

This is good news, right? This large city, this capital of a major (and brutal) empire, along with the king and all of the nobles - they all repented and found favor with God. This is a good thing, right?

Not to Jonah! He was peeved! Listen to the very next verse: “This was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry.” And this is what he said to God, “I told you so! I knew that you are gracious and kind and forgiving and that you do not want to punish anyone, and that’s why I tried to run away! Because these people deserve to be punished! They don’t deserve to be forgiven! So just forget about it, Lord. Just kill me now, because I don’t want to live and see these nasty people all forgiven and happy with you!”

He is the reluctant prophet, after all. Jonah goes outside the city and finds himself somewhere secluded where he can sit and watch what happens next. But it’s hot there in the sunny desert, so the Lord causes a bush to suddenly spring up overnight in order to give shade to Jonah.

The text states that “Jonah was very happy about the bush.” But the next night, the Lord caused the bush to die and Jonah, once again, is livid with anger.

God asks: “Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?” And Jonah responds, “Yes, angry enough to die!”

Such a foolish man! And here this funny little story about this foolish man concludes and makes it’s crucial point:

The Lord says to Jonah: “You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?”

So we see that Jonah the prophet is angry, frustrated, resentful, seeking to punish his enemies.

But God is shown to be merciful, considerate, forgiving, ready to make amends even with those who had previously been the enemies of God, and enemies of the people of the covenant.

Does that sound familiar? I hope so!

Jesus begins his own prophetic ministry by proclaiming the good news of God: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe in the good news.”

Into a world of human cruelty and anger, where people were seeking vengeance for the violence perpetrated by the Roman oppressors, Jesus enters with this same message of hope: God is merciful, forgiving and ready to be reconciled with all people, if only we will repent and accept the message.

There is no one outside the reach of God’s saving embrace. Like Simon and Andrew and James and John, we too are called to fish for people; not reluctantly like Jonah, but with joy for the privilege of working together with God for the reconciliation of humanity. My friends, could there possibly be anything more worthy of our time and our efforts and our treasures and our prayers?

But the Word of God is not chained!

Sermon for Proper 23 C RCL 3/21/2010, offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts: Jeremiah 29:1,4-7; Psalm 66:1-12; 2 Timothy 2:8-15; Luke 17:11-19

Help us, O Lord, to become masters of ourselves so that we might become the servants of others. Take our minds and think throw them. Take our lips and speak through them. Take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen.

In our Gospel reading today, the Lord heals ten lepers who beg for his help. Only one returns, the one who is the foreigner. The Samaritan. You and I, who are Gentiles in the flesh – we, of course, represent the Samaritans in this gospel story. And this week, as I read this story, I wondered about how often we take for granted the amazing healing grace which we have received from the Lord. Do we even recognize it and acknowledge it? Or do we continue to go on our way, never ceasing to give our thanks and praise?

Today’s reading from the letter to Timothy speaks of St. Paul being chained in prison for the sake of the Gospel. Then he adds a remarkable little sentence after this. “But the Word of God is not chained.”

But the Word of God is not chained! Of course, the writer of this is not speaking of the Bible as we know it, but rather of “the message”, the euangelion, the proclamation of Jesus as the Master of all. The Greek quite literally says that the logos of God is not bound, restrained or hindered. Jesus is the logos, but he speaks to us today primarily through the words of scripture.

But how often do we stop and recognize this?
Do we Samaritans stop to give thanks to God for this amazing gift of the Bible? To recognize and give thanks for the healing and transforming effects of these sacred texts?

I think that we take them for granted. Oh, yeah, it’s the Bible. We are supposed to read it.

Do we remember and recognize know how many millions of people in the world are craving and praying for the privilege to read the Bible in their own language, in a way that they can understand, and yet they are not able?

The old proverb is that “familiarity breeds contempt” and in this case I believe it is true. We here in the Church – we have heard the Bible so much, and talked about it so much, that it has become almost boring. Most of us can hear it now with such nonchalance that we barely even listen any more.

But the Word of God is not chained. And this message of the Gospel has amazing power to touch people and change them forever.

Let me share with you and amazing story of the effect that the word of God can have on people. Mosab Hassan Yousef is a young man living right now in exile. The reason for this is complicated. You see, he grew up in Ramallah, in Palestine. His father is Sheik Hassan Yousef. This man is the imam, the one spiritual leader behind the founding of Hamas, the Islamic Palestinian terrorist group committed to the destruction of Israel. Mosab grew up then as a prince among his people, the first-born son of a very important and very influential (and dangerous) person.

Growing up in that place, Mosab learned the spiritual practices of Islam. He never missed a time of prayer with his father at the mosque. He loved his father and admired his father’s devotion. But, unfortunately, Mosab also learned there how to hate. And as he grew up, his list of those who were worthy of his hate grew longer and longer. When he was 18, he secretly bought a few guns so that he might attack Israeli settlers and soldiers as part of the first intifada, but he was caught and arrested by the Israelis. While being held in the large prison in the valley of Armageddon for 16 months, he watched with horror as the leaders of Hamas tortured and brutalized one another under suspicion of collaboration with the Israelis.

Mosab’s faith in and commitment to his people began to waver. If they did this to one another in the name of Islam, of what other horrors were they capable? He became confused and began searching for truth. Mosab grew unsure now of who were the bad guys and who were the good guys, who he should hate and who he should trust.

Damascus Gate in Old Jerusalem

Until one day in 1999. By this time, Mosab was free and on this day he was walking with his best friend, Jamal, past the Damascus Gate in Old Jerusalem. A man from the United Kingdom, who spoke Arabic, was there and he invited Mosab to join a group studying the New Testament at the YMCA in West Jerusalem. The invitation came at just the right point in his life, and Mosab accepted. After all, every Muslim considers Jesus to be a great prophet from God, so why not learn about what he actually did and taught?

Mosab was given a New Testament as a gift for him to take home. This was dangerous for Mosab, as conversions are not allowed and any hint of disloyalty to the cause of Hamas could cost him his life. But the giving and receiving of gifts is a vital part of Arab hospitality, and so Mosab accepted this gift and secretly he took it home.

He had no idea of how to read this Arabic New Testament, so he began in the beginning. Mosab read the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew. He found it interesting, but not terribly overwhelming. That is, until he came to the Sermon on the Mount and these specific words, which seemed directly spoken to his heart: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:43-44).

What? Love your enemies? Pray for those who are attempting to hurt you? Instantly, Mosab felt as if he were struck by lightning! Never before had he heard a message like this. Never before. And yet he knew with an abrupt awareness that defies rational description “that this was the message [he] had been searching for all [his] life” (The Son of Hamas, p. 122).

Since that day, Mosab has become a devoted disciple of this prophet from Nazareth, the one who taught him that there is no enemy out there who we must hate and attack. Jesus taught him that his only true enemy is in fact the hatred and anger and violence that had taken hold of his heart.

But the Word of God is not chained. Just let that gospel message loose into the world and who knows what effect it might have! Let those trapped in cycles of violence hear words of truth and beauty from the Prince of Peace, and who knows how the Spirit might begin to transform them and their communities!

Do you think that you and I here remember and recognize how truly radical and revolutionary this Word of God is? How life-altering is this message of the Gospel? Let’s face it. It is not our primary instinct to love our enemies. It is not a natural reaction to never seek after revenge. It is not normal to reject all anger and hatred, to never allow a root of bitterness to grow up within our hearts.

When Paul was held in prison for the sake of the gospel, he writes letters to his friends. But does not ask for help with organizing a raid party, to organize a prison break? Never does not write to his friends to organize a secret militia to attack the prison. Never does he seek revenge by plotting to assassinate the Roman official who put him there. Never does he do this, because the logos of God has gripped and changed his heart.

This word, this message, this Gospel has power to change people, to change communities, to change the world.

Do we come back to God and give thanks for the healing and grace which we have received through this Word? Or are we like the nine others who take it for granted, and consider this gift of little value?
Let us be the ones who do not take the word of God for granted, but who continually recognize and give thanks for the amazing gift that we have received here in the message of the Gospel. Amen.

Do You Want To Be a Billionaire?

Sermon for Proper 17 C RCL 8/29/2010, Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts: Jeremiah 2:4-13; Psalm 81:1, 10-16; Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16; Luke 14:1, 7-14

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have” (Hebrew 13:5). My brothers and sisters: we need to speak together this morning about our relationship with money and about God’s intentions and desires for the way that we use money and wealth.

To begin with, though, please let me apologize. You see, I have teenagers in my house. Two of them: 13 years old and nearly 15. Because of that, I am forced – on occasion – to listen to really bad pop music, despite all my best efforts to minimize any potential exposure on my part!

So, as I read the lessons for today, I immediately began to sing one of these new pop songs that has been playing on the radio recently. “I want to be a billionaire, so freaking bad; buy all of the things I never had.” Travis McCoy and Bruno Mars sing this song. (You can listen to is here: YouTube "Billionaire" video).

It’s really quite a stupid song, but you know that those fellows are certainly not alone in their desire to have unlimited wealth at their disposal. It’s quite common for people to dream about being rich. Have any of you ever dreamed about being rich? (Be honest!)

But why? Why do people dream about being rich? What is it that money offers that makes people want it so badly?

Each one of us has a relationship to money. We all think about money in a particular way; we all feel about money in a certain way. Each one of us acts toward money in a certain way. This constitutes our relationship with money, and it a relationship that has a major bearing upon the quality and depth of our discipleship to Jesus Christ.

Let’s start with the basic attitude that Jesus and the apostles had toward money, the attitude that God longs to find within us as well.

And that is this: Money is a tool. That’s all it is. It is one of the tools that our society has created in order to facilitate the building of relationships.

The money that is within my sphere of control is not mine. I have it only on loa;, I am the temporary steward of it. This money, this little bit of wealth has been given to me to use so that I can build stronger relationships with others: with my family, my neighbors, and even with other people in need all around the world whom I am likely never to meet in person.

Never am I given money so that I may use it only for my own selfish wants and desires. God knows our hearts; God knows all things. God knows that we need money for this life; that we need to have some joy and pleasure in life. But God knows most of all that the desire for money can easily become a cancer that eats away at our hearts, that strips us of our freedom and our dignity, that robs us of that abundant life which Jesus promised.

And so, as we read this morning, the Bible says: “Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have” (Hebrew 13:5). This verse sounds a lot like a verse from the First Letter to Timothy which is a bit more famous. This one states: “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). We are given consistent guidance in the Bible to be careful with our relationship to money.

As in all the matters of life, Jesus is our Teacher, our Guide. In today’s gospel episode, Jesus concludes his teaching by inviting us to the practice of generosity. To throw a dinner party, of course, is a way of using our money and wealth, and Jesus here proposes two different ways that we can use this. We can throw a party in order to build important connections which will benefit us later on down the road. This is what we usually call “politics”. That would be in the self-serving category. Or we can throw a party for those who don’t ever get to have parties for themselves: the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind.

In that case, Jesus tells us that we are building an eternal connection with God that will have even more benefit than any other. Either way, the Lord continually reminds us, we have to choose: connections and pleasures and benefits here in this life, or else blessings and joy in the life to come. It is impossible for us to choose both.

Now, the question that most people ask at this point is, “How?” How can I possible live that kind of life where I have no emotional attachment to money and wealth?

We need only read the rest of this verse: “Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have. FOR…[or Because] God has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’ So we can say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid, What can anyone do to me?’” (Hebrews 13:5b-6).

Oh, my dear friends, I would love to hear each one of you indeed say this with confidence, with boldness in your words, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?”

That is faith. That is trust in God. That is confidence in God. There it is, right there!

This is the secret! This is the means by which we can handle money and wealth without any emotional attachments whatsoever. The secret is this constant remembrance of God in our minds, and in our hearts.

When I see my money slipping away, and when it seems insufficient to cover the pile of bills that never cease to stop, and my anxiety begins to build, what can I do?

Stop and remember: God has said, I will never leave you or forsake you. God is trustworthy and true. I can trust and believe that everything which happens to me is given to me for my good.

Deep, abiding trust in the goodness and loving-kindness of God is the secret to a non-anxious relationship with money. When we taste and see that God is good, then we are set free to use money and wealth to be a blessing to others, sharing generously with those in need.

Being a billionaire can actually be a really bad thing. There is an old Irish poem about the deleterious effects of wealth upon friendship. The poet ponders the best way to handle this problem. This old Irish poem goes like this:

People gather round the wealthy man like flies round a flame.
When he boasts, they praise him; when he lies, they believe him.
When he jokes, they laugh; when he’s serious, they frown.
“He is wise and handsome,” they say […] in his hearing.

I would hate to be rich and surrounded by flies.
I want friends to prick my pride and speak the truth.
If ever I grow rich, I shall hide my wealth.
Then my friends will still be real, and their voices honest.

But if I hide my wealth, I shall be lying.
Better [then] to remain poor.
(Celtic Parables by Robert Van De Weyer, Northstone Publishing, 1997: P. 123).

This is a choice that most of us are not able to make! Most of us do not have the ability to choose to be rich or poor. Many circumstances are beyond our control. But we do have the ability to choose our attitudes, our perspectives.

The Scriptures say: “Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have.” Let’s keep our lives free, be content with what we have, share what we have with the poor, and trust always in the goodness of God. That, my friends, is the path of true and abundant life in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.