Good morning, friends! I’ve brought visual aids….
About a week after I agreed to do today’s reflection, sight unseen, I did my morning rounds of household tasks before sitting down, at last, to read the lectionary.
I want to set the scene for you:
- First I checked my moth traps: this is a pheromone trap for clothes moths; it lures in the males, who think they’ll mate with that alluring smelling creature inside, only to get stuck on the glue lining the enclosure. Last November I realized that we had moth larvae eating our beautiful wool carpet from their safe spot under the sofa – a sofa bed for larvae beneath the sofa bed for humans. Once I started looking around, I also found scads of them eating my second best shearling slippers in the closet, and I am still catching them in a dozen or more traps all over the house. I don’t know what they’re eating, but it’s driving me nuts! If I catch one, I’m glad, because that’s one more whose young won’t be eating our cashmere sweaters. But I’m torn, because it means they are still emerging from SOMEWHERE, eating something! What precious item are they nibbling upon? What will it take to rid us of these meddlesome creatures?
- My pocketbook: this was sitting on the desk where I sat down to work. Some of you may know that I have a great fondness for these custom made leather goodies from a place in Santa Rosa. This one (dragon purse) is the one I bought last year, when the old one finally wore out – or so I thought! And this one (rose purse) is the one the other one was replacing. Aside from dragons vs. roses, can you even tell them apart? I bought this one in 2018. After six years of daily use, the zipper was broken and it was showing signs of wear. After I bought the new one, I sent the old one back to Santa Rosa; for $65 plus $10 shipping, they replaced the zipper, the strap, the trim and the hardware, reconditioned the whole thing, and voila! Truly, a purse which never wears out!
- Right next to the desk was this suitcase: I found this cast-off but useable carryon in front of my neighbors’ house, and decided to make it our “go bag” – you know, the bag you fill with necessary items that you can just grab and go when there’s an emergency – like a tsunami, or fire, or earthquake. Documents, cash, charging cords, water, a portable litterbox, food for your cats, snacks – you know the drill! But one of the issues that comes up around go bags is that thieves target them; I’ve heard from my neighbors how when burglars broke into their house the first thing they looked for was their go bag, because they know folks keep cash in there.
So, here we are: Make purses for yourselves which do not wear out – which moths cannot destroy! You never know when the thief will come, so be ready! I’m all set, right? Needless to say, I had a very good chuckle, and also a LOT to think about as I read the gospel lesson!
Well, okay, but seriously; much as I would love to think that Jesus would appreciate my taste in leather goods, and approve that I patronize small local businesses and try to keep things out of the landfill, we know that Jesus is not talking about protecting our material valuables, making sure to rid our homes of moths, or that we buy a REALLY well-made custom pocketbook maintained by local artisans, because it will last so well, or making sure our go-bag is packed and ready, or how to keep thieves from finding the valuables therein. He is, of course, telling us that our real treasure is in heaven, and the best way to secure that treasure is through following his teachings of love and service and giving here on earth – and not putting our faith in earthly treasure.
But while he tells us to sell our earthly goods and give the money to the poor, I still believe that we do actually need to provide for ourselves during our time on earth – we don’t also want to have to ask for alms, after all! But one of the underlying concepts here is also this one: you can’t take it with you. Recalling last week’s gospel lesson, we might be thinking of building a bigger barn to hold our goodies – when we might go tonight! My dear mother of blessed memory once said to me that Americans are the only people on earth who think that death is optional. So, how do we find a balance?
The timing of all of this is extra interesting to me, because now that I am “retired”, I’m finally ready to get serious about estate planning. I imagine everyone here has already given a lot of thought to this. Should we file for social security now, or wait for a higher payment? Do we have enough savings to live on for the rest of our lives? How long IS the rest of our lives? What if the market crashes and inflation wipes it out? Will we have any left over that we need to make plans for? If we do, how much, and how do we divide it up? How much for our children, our grandchildren? How much do we leave for our beloved community, the long-term health of St. Alban’s, of Calliope, for the poor and hungry who will be here after we leave, and for the care and maintenance of our precious earth, democracy, and all that other good stuff? And tied up in all of that – knowing that no matter how well we plan, we might die tonight. The thieves may come in the night anyway. We might spend that money on a bigger barn and never get to use it! And being reminded of our own mortality is so hard.
Last week, Reverend Jim talked about Jesus’ parable about the guy who had the huge harvest and whose plan to solve his storage problem was to build a big barn and live comfortably off the goods for the rest of his life – eat, drink and be merry! And that God told the man he was going to die that night – don’t bother with the barn, dude! And Reverend Jim said that the main problem with the rich man’s plans was that they gave no thought to everyone else; he failed to share his goodies with others. That is something I know will stay with me as I begin the work of planning.
But the fact remains: no matter how well we plan, we might not see tomorrow.
A couple of weeks ago, Calliope presented a truly transcendent concert; you know the one – the jazz Celtic harpist, Destiny Muhammad and her trio. After a series of gorgeous pieces, she closed with one called “I AM”. It included quotes from scripture, memories of reading the King James bible with her mother, and then – then: she talked about planning for tomorrow, when tomorrow may never come. She was going to eat her childhood favorite ice cream, Carnation Neapolitan, TODAY, because tomorrow is not promised. And then she exhorted us to tell everyone that we love that we love them TODAY, because tomorrow is not promised. And she got up and went to just about every person in the room to tell them that she loved them. And that was the way the concert closed.
Well, I don’t have a nice solid answer on how to balance planning for the future with living right here and now, but I feel like Destiny Muhammad’s message builds beautifully on Christ’s message to us: it’s all about the love. We should share our treasure as an act of love for one another, and treasure isn’t only money – acts of love are themselves our greatest treasure! Acts of love include sharing deviled eggs and coffee cake at coffee hour – is there a greater treasure than Eric’s deviled eggs, or Beth’s coffee cake, or Becky’s pot of coffee with cinnamon? How about that basket of tomatoes from the garden you gave your neighbor. How about when you greeted strangers and friends on the street, patted their dogs and cats, watered the plants at the church, welcomed the new neighbors, thanked the clerk at the store and the customer service rep on the phone, your doctors, your pets’ veterinarian, your siblings in Christ? All of those acts of love are part of your treasure. Thank you for sharing it!
So, friends: following that profound example that Jesus and Ms. Muhammad made to us: here goes – I love you all. I am grateful to you all for this community. I’ll keep on trying to figure out how to do our estate planning, bearing in mind that tomorrow is not promised. And as I go, I will try to bear Christ’s words in mind: “Do not be afraid, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”