LUKE 12:13-21
In telling a parable
about a great accumulator,
Jesus points out the foolish destructiveness
of such isolating self-preoccupation
and then suggests
a richer alternative.
As followers of Jesus
we gather for worship
aware that in some aspects of life
too much is never enough
and that we struggle to discern
when enough becomes too much.
But as followers of Jesus
we gather for worship
aware of the richer alternative —
the abundance of joy and love and life
that is God’s,
shown most clearly in Jesus.
We are called from the self-destructiveness
of isolating, material, accumulation
to a community,
centred not on self but on an abundance …
of joy and love and life
lived through compassion, kindness, humility,
meekness, patience, and forgiveness.
As followers of Jesus,
we gather for worship,
listening for the voice
of the one
who heals our inner emptiness and pain,
embracing us,
leading us in lifegiving ways.
As followers of Jesus,
we gather for worship
to give thanks for the holy mystery
of unending faithfulness, revealed to us in Jesus,
and made present to us in the Spirit of grace.
(Adapted from a sermon from some years ago, which may have drawn on material from other, long-forgotten, sources.)
© Jeff Shrowder, 2013.
More for Sunday 18C…