Things that matter more than coffee?

Sermon for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 13, Year C (July 31, 2022).

View the scripture readings and the Collect of the Day: Proper 13C (Track 2)

Preached at Christ Episcopal Church, Jordan, New York

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Edited Transcript

May only truth be spoken here, and only truth be heard: in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

I invite you to be seated.

So as some of you know, I’ve been at a conference since last Sunday. I went to a conference called the College for Congregational Development, which gives church leaders tools and practices to help our congregations be more faithful, and live into who God is calling us to be as a congregation. But I'm not going to talk about that this week. I'm going to talk about coffee.

Coffee is very important to me. I only drink it once a day. In the morning, I only have one cup. But I'm very particular about how it's made. And so for me, when I have to go to a conference for a week in an unknown place, and I do not know how they're going to do the coffee, I get a little anxious. And I had heard from people who've been to this retreat center in the past, that this coffee left something to be desired for those of us who like our coffee strong.

So I decided that I would go to this conference prepared. And I brought instant coffee. And not just any instant coffee, but the Starbucks instant coffee packets. And I also bought this canned cold brew coffee that my brother had introduced me to. It's very fancy. They sell it at Wegmans now. It's got nitrous oxide in it, like kind of like there is in canisters of whipped cream. So when you open the coffee can, the nitrous oxide foams, and this makes it into this fancy latte. And I bought eight of these fancy little latte coffees for my seven day conference.

I got to the retreat center, and I lined up my fancy coffees in my room. And I said to myself, Meredith, you're all set. Relax, don't worry! Day one of the conference, I woke up, I drink my coffee, I felt really good and went through the whole day. Day two, same thing. I woke up and drank my coffee. I knew I had enough for the rest of the week.

And it got to be about three o'clock. On that second day. I was in my small group, which was about eight people. And I we had been working really hard. You know, this is the conference kind of, you know, you wake up, eat breakfast, learn and be in conversation until lunchtime. You get a short break, do it again until dinnertime. And then do it again until like eight o'clock in the evening. So by the by the middle of the second day, everyone was dragging a little, we weren't used to this pace. I had a headache. I looked around in my small group and a lot of people were saying, oh, you know, we could really use some good coffee.

I went up to my room. And I looked at the cans of coffee all lined up.

And I said to myself, if I share these, there won't be enough for the rest of the week.

Now it was a good thing that I had already been looking at the readings for Sunday. Because I knew what you know: I knew what I had to do with my coffees.

The the rich man in this parable: he's got enough that he can finally relax. And he says to himself, what will I do now that I finally have enough for many years? And I can see this whole conference stretching ahead of me and I have plenty of what I need to get me through it. I can see my life stretching ahead of me, and I finally have plenty of what I need to get me through it.

His land produces abundantly. He has so much that he can't fit it in his barn. So he's got a problem. He says, What will I do? I know, I'll build a new barn, a bigger one, so I can finally hold all my stuff.

What we notice about this parable is that, unlike a lot of Jesus’ other parables, there's only one person in it. This man is having a conversation just with himself. And he's solving the problem just by himself. And when he thinks about who will have the benefit of his abundance, he thinks: It's me, I will have the benefit of my abundance. And when he thinks about where that abundance came from, he says: It's mine. I made it!

We don't hear about a family or friends or neighbors. We don't hear about the servants that I'm sure did the harvesting. Even if this, even if this guy helped, right? I'm sure he didn't get this whole harvest by himself. And who was going to build that barn? Who was going to tear down the old barn and who was going to move all that stuff into the barn? So this parable is kind of haunted by the people that this man doesn't see. He only sees himself.

And it's also haunted by God, who interrupts him just when he thinks he's set for life. God says, You didn't get it at all, did you? You're looking ahead for many years and thinking you have enough. But you've missed the point. Tonight, today, right now. This is your life, which is being demanded of you. Right now is when I give an account for what I've made of my life.

And when I account for what I've made of my life, do I point to my things? Many of us have walked with someone, a loved one, as they've approached the end of their lives. What is it that mattered? Was it the things? Or was it the people? Was it the connection? When it's time to give an account for our lives, I think we think of George Bailey and It’s a Wonderful Life. Remember how the angel says to him at the end: no one is a failure, who has friends.

At the end of our lives, we know that all that stuff—as all the readings tell us—all that stuff is going to end up somewhere else. No matter how much stuff we have, it doesn't have the weight to keep us here, it doesn't have the weight to extend our lives or make any meaning out of it really. It's the people in our lives that give our life weight and meaning.

And that's why God calls this man in the parable a fool. Because he looks ahead to many years of being by himself. With his stuff.

And Ecclesiastes, which, you know, I I really I think this guy must really be fun at parties. “All is vanity.” The word translated “vanity” is the Hebrew word hevel. Hevel is one of several words in the Hebrew language for breath. Another word for breath that we see very often in the Bible is ruach. That's the breath of God that moves over the face of the waters at the beginning of creation. That's the wind that blows through the apostles at Pentecost. Ruach. It's a powerful wind that activates people. It’s the breath that God puts into the body of Adam in Genesis.

But hevel, which is translated throughout Ecclesiastes as “vanity,” means breath, but in a more negative sense. It means the “merest breath,” vapor. Hevel is the brother of Cain, we know him as Abel, his name is Hevel in the original Hevel, the first to die, the first human being to die. Barely there. Barely there at all.

So hevel, to say, all of this is vanity, all of the things that this man stores in his barn. They’re vapor. They're the merest breath. They’re there, and then not. They have no weight, no substance.

And I think what we can see in this parable is that if we're not wise, we too can find ourselves living a life that is almost without weight, almost without substance. What gives our life substance are the connections.

In Colossians, the writer says, now your life is hidden in Christ. Your life has meaning in Christ, in the Body of Christ, which is made of the connections and the relationships between us. When God says, Your life is being demanded of you! Look at Colossians and see how it says, Your life is in Christ. Your life belongs in the Body.

Your life, the real substance, the weight, the meaning of your life is in the people that God has put into your life for you to love. The people that God has put into your life for you so that you can know God better.

Because you know, who made all the stuff? God! And we can't make more or less of the stuff of the universe. But being made in the image of God, we can make more of who God is, which is Love. We can add, we can feel the weight of our own lives by glorifying God in our love for one another. By using the vain substance, the stuff, to connect with one another.

I did share my coffee. And at the time, it was not easy for me. I gave up a sense of security that I had come to the conference with. But you know, I left the conference with some wonderful new friends. And several times I had people tell me, you know, when you brought that coffee down to share with us, I felt taken care of, you know, I felt like someone noticed me. And I said you know that's it's so nice to hear that because boy, did I not want to do that!

So I invite you this week to notice if there's an opportunity for you as you move through your week, to add to the weight of the glory of God. To add substance to your life on the scale by adding a connection or relationship. I invite you to add meaning, through the people in your life and to look for opportunities to love more. Amen.