The
Parable of the Rich Fool
Sermon,
Limestone Presbyterian, August 4th, 2013
Carolyn
Gordon, Family Promise NNCC
First, I want to express my gratitude for the
opportunity to be here today. I have a
dear place in my heart for Limestone Presbyterian, as a host congregation of
Family Promise and a community of caring individuals who have a collective
passion that is infectious. I do want
say, I am a little nervous today, but only after Pastor Bruce reminded me this
would be recorded and because my last presentation was a week ago to 100
school-aged children at a day camp in preparation of a supply drive. That presentation was call and response
discussing items they would collect that would benefit the families of Family
Promise and with clapping after each “correct” answer. A little different than this to say the
least. But, I know I am in the right
place to receive grace.
When I first learned from Pastor Bruce that this
was the liturgy for this week, I thought, “wow! What an easy parable to connect
to Family Promise!” Sharing of wealth,
not harboring gains for a future time that may never come…easy to connect to
helping families who are homeless get back on their feet. I want to push the conversation a little
deeper today- let us go beyond just discussing that sharing is what God wants
us to do.
We live in a society that promotes working hard
and reaping the benefits of what we do.
It is the American Dream- pull yourself up by your bootstraps and if you
work hard enough, you will earn enough and if you earn enough, you have a right
to squander or stash it away because you worked
for it, you earned it. Earning,
sitting back and having pride in a job well done and enjoying the wealth as the
result will make us happy. But does it?
Does it not also bring us worry and fear that leads us to seek more? And what about those who work hard, earn
minimum wage of $7.25 and it is still not enough to take care of their family?
The Rich man was not called a fool because he was
dishonest in how he made his living. He
was not a fool for having a solid business plan for how he would store what his
surplus grain. In fact, he was a rather savvy man. In this parable, as in the American Dream, it
is all about the “I”. The man’s conversation
about what to do with his gains was with only himself. Life is about the “we”. To me, the bible stresses the importance of
relationships; relationships with each other and with God first and foremost.
We need each other and we must always rely on God. St. Augustine comments that this farmer
was "planning to fill his soul with excessive and unnecessary feasting and
was proudly disregarding all those empty bellies of the poor. He did not
realize that the bellies of the poor were much safer storerooms than his barns.”
This parable, nor anywhere else, does it suggest that
ensuring you have enough is wrong or evidence of spiritual bankruptcy. We learn this every time we fly. The flight attendants always remind us to
place our breathing masks on ourselves first before helping another put on
their mask. We cannot give of money in
good faith, if we are struggling. We
cannot provide advice and encouragement if we are feeling low. This parable speaks to sharing the wealth
that is beyond what is enough, not
giving away food you would need to feed yourself and your family.
So the question is how much is enough? Is having the security of 1 paycheck in the
bank enough for your family? Is 3, 5, or
10? How many bathrooms and bedrooms are
really needed in a house? At what point,
do we trust God will take care of us as long as we continue to do his will? To
demonstrate this trust in God, we have to live it. As it says in James chapter
2; verses 14-26, “Faith without works is dead”. When I was sharing to my other half, Mike, that
I would be speaking on this parable he related it to the miracle of loaves and
fishes. Jesus had only a few loaves and
two small fish and managed to feed 5,000.
He trusted and relied that God would provide, as he always does, but
Jesus did his part and started to feed the hungry with what he had. I believe the miracle only came because Jesus
began to act. People started to
help. Jesus and his followers began to
pass out the 5 loaves and 2 small fish. I do not believe that if Jesus waited for the
bread and fish to multiply, that they would have. He had to put his faith into action and trust
God would take it from there. We are the hands and feet of the Lord and have
the responsibility to do his will. He is
the one with the plan but we have to act here, in our own community. Praying at home does not feed the hungry;
having a luxury car and having faith things will work out does not aide in it
happening. Worrying and having guilt
does not help either. Taking action
does.
Family Promise, as I am sure, most of you know,
helps families with children who are temporarily homeless move on to lasting
independence. I am very calculated in
how I say our mission, though it is wordy.
They are not “homeless families”- they are experiencing homelessness.
They are so much more than their current circumstances, as we all
are. They are families with children, as many still hold the notion that being
homeless can only happen to middle-aged men who perhaps suffer from mental
illness or alcoholism. They are temporarily homeless, as all the
families we serve have had stability before in their lives- they have owned
homes, rented apartments, had jobs that covered the bills. They find themselves at Family Promise
because of a series of unfortunate events.
They lost the job. A fire
happened. A divorce or family
death. Illness. Bills mounted up and they could not stay
afloat.
Our families at Family Promise are the hungry
bellies that this rich fool could have helped.
They have various needs and there is plenty of ways in which we, as a
faith community, can lift them up. Their
needs may be basic, a pair of cleats so a youth can continue with sports and
have as normal of a childhood as possible while his family works to get out of
this situation. When a family begins work, they can use help with gas until
their first paycheck when they can take over the cost. I also tell folks, never underestimate the
power of toilet paper and cleaning products.
Think about a time when you moved into a new place- perhaps when married
and you bought your first house, perhaps an apartment right after college. You needed everything from furniture to
cleaning supplies, utilities turned on to your spice starter rack and
condiments. Our families are often
starting over without any material possessions. Without fail, every family who
put together a wish list for the holidays last year listed cleaning supplies
and paper products. Their lists were not
far-fetched, excessive, or greedy, they were simple lists. In fact, a few of the families said they were
ok, Family Promise had already done so much for them, that they didn’t feel right
putting down any needs or wants.
Wow! Talk about gratitude and feeling
whole without it being contingent upon material wealth.
I want to push the conversation a little bit
deeper. I believe, especially in this
house of worship, we know we are called to share our blessings. We know the right thing to do is not to harbor
surplus grains and gains especially at the demise of those around us. We are
reminded in Luke chapter 7 that God calls on us “to help the least, the lost
and the last”. I know in my heart this
congregation gets that. We always know
that we may be on the receiving end of help at some point in our lives. We are no different than the families that
come to Family Promise seeking refuge.
We may be painfully aware that we or a loved one lives paycheck-to-paycheck. We know the challenge we would face, should a
job loss happen or an illness happen. But this may be the same worry that drives
us to “store our surplus gain” as the Parable says. Just in case. Then, we will be ok. I have a visceral reaction the phrase “rainy
day fund”. I always thought it was
strange to hinge extra wealth on the weather.
This may also be because I work day-in-and-day-out with families who we
are just trying to build up any sort of fund- rainy day, snowy day or sunny
day…
So if we push the conversation about sharing our
wealth a little deeper, we can examine “how” to share. We know why
we should share but do we know how
to share?
Two key components here, especially as they
relate to Family Promise and any other volunteer opportunities of which you may
participate. The first thought to leave
you with is: share what is needed by the individual that is in need. What
is needed should dictate what we give.
The rich fool in this parable had excess of grain and certainly his
community needed that. If a family is in
need of employment support, whether it be job leads, a mentor do practice
interviews, a volunteer to drive them around to put in applications, financial
support to go back to school…whatever the job-related need is, clothing or food
will not fill this need. If a family needs prayer, reassurance, a shoulder to
lean on, giving them bus passes will not fill their void.
Each one of you has gifts and talents and there
is a need for all of them. Family
Promise is the organizational tool to match it up. If someone is a retired teacher and has time
and we have a teacher studying to pass her licensure exam, poof! A miracle
happens. If a family is about to move
out and they need $500 to help with first month and security deposit and
someone has the ability to financially give.
A miracle happens! If someone is
downsizing and has excess furniture and we have a family that is moving out,
bam! Another miracle! These are real
examples and I witness the miracles every day.
It has been said that a miracle
is when “those who have temporarily more give to those who have temporarily
less.” It does not matter how much or
how little is given and it is all temporary as this parable reminds us with the
rich fool having his life demanded from him that
night.
The second component about how to share our wealth is that we have a responsibility to check
our motives about giving. Are we truly
doing it because we know God has called on us to aide in his work? Are we doing it because we know we have
something of worth- items, money, a skill-set, time- and we know we must share
it? Remember, the bible reminds us that
we cannot hide our light under a bushel.
If our motives our pure, than acknowledgement is not necessary from those
we are empowering. Of course, who
doesn’t like to hear thank you and that they are appreciated? Our families that
come through our hospitality network and those who receive our case management
support are gracious. They do truly
appreciate what we do for them and the overwhelming majority of them express
this in some form or fashion. Imagine,
however, being in their shoes- new people every night, new congregation every
week, your life feels exposed, you are trying to take care of your family and
do your part to create stability, and you have never even needed to ask for
help like this… It may be so hard that a mom or a dad, in the particular moment,
may not be able to share a “thank you” because it will bring to light the fact
that they are struggling and in need and someone just helped them. This
would certainly take its toll on the spirit and I think we can all appreciate
that.
I had a situation recently in which I was able to
help a mom and her 3 boys out with housing.
It involved some advocating on her behalf with other organizations, some
financial support immediately and a lot of time. I know she was thankful, and as she did get
out of my car, she did say thank you.
But I thought for a moment, “Wow! That’s it! A “thank you” and then
walking away”. This mom even acknowledged
the sharing of wealth and I didn’t think it was “enough” acknowledgement. I then had a God moment and thought, maybe
she went into the room where she was staying, sat down and started crying tears
of joy privately and thanking God for putting Family Promise in her life. That is where the real credit belongs! God needs the prayerful thanks for using
Family Promise as a tool. I did not need
her to thank me directly for what I am called to do.
Family Promise always has opportunities to share
your wealth- whether it be time, financial resources or item donations. Hosting week is coming up and I know there is
a sign-up sheet floating around. If you
have an hour in the evening to drive the van, great! If you can help set up the rooms at the
beginning of the week to welcome the families, that is needed to. If you can sleep, you can be an overnight
volunteer. If you do not have time or
will not be in the area, consider making a financial contribution to help a
family get back on their feet. All the
efforts of Limestone Presbyterian for the past few years have aided Family
Promise in helping over 80% of our families move into their own housing and
stay there. Together we have served over
200 individuals through over 50 families.
THANK YOU. There is also the
Promise Tree that will be launched soon.
This is an opportunity to impact families directly and there is no
minimum or maximum amount expected. We
provided examples of items our families need to show where the funds go.
A quick story and I will end. I was speaking to the children of this summer
camp about the impact that they were having on families and children just like
themselves. I, of course, stayed away
from the normal explanation of “return on investment” and how every dollar
donated turns into $2.50 of program impact because we leverage volunteers time
and item donations like the cleaning items and personal hygiene items they were
collecting. I knew well enough to be
age-appropriate. I asked, “Who benefits
from these items?” They remembered that
it was homeless children. Then, I asked,
“What do you think the children will feel when they receive these items?” The
children were spot-on with their answers: happy, glad, thankful, etc. Then, a little girl, very astute, raised her
hand to add, “I benefitted too. I feel
those exact same feelings. When I am
helping somebody else, I am benefitting because I am happy and thankful too.”
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