Sunday Service 6th September
6/9/26
Call to worship Mike
Hymn CH4 201 O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness
Intimations
Prayer of approach
Scripture Luke 12:13-31 Reader
Hymn CH4 Jim
Address
Offering
Prayers of intercession and offering
Hymn CH4 685 For everyone born, a place at the table
Communion Mike
Hymn CH4 192 All my hope on God is founded
Sending out
Go now in Peace/Threefold Amen.
Welcome to our meditation for 6th September.
Although you won’t notice the difference online, this reflection is really important in the church that meets in the buildings. They are having a joint service this Sunday and then all the service times are changing in anticipation of a union between the two churches.
So it is a time of uncertainty, reflection, maybe even worry.
And this reflection seeks to tackle some of those concerns.
But we will look at that after our reading from Luke 12: 13-31.
Sermon
So...our last Sunday at the old times.
An exciting time, or a worrying times.
The thing is this isn’t even the end of it; this is just the beginning of so many possible changes.
My mum was a worrier, she worried about everything.
She worried when her girls were out late at night, wouldn’t go to sleep until she heard the door close when they got home.
Funnily enough if the girls didn’t go out she worried as well...don’t they have any friends? They need to socialize more.
When I first sat my degree exams in microbiology that was a stressful time, I was terrified that all those years of studying might be for nothing if I did badly in the final exams. And my mum was as worried as I was.
Six years later and I am taking my first Divinity degree exams...and I am so relaxed about them.
Because academically, for me, doing first year degree exams after having done 4th year final exams, is a bit like having just finished primary seven work, and someone asking you to go back and do primary 1 work.
Well after the exams my mum phoned and asked me how I was getting on and I said, ‘Fine.’
And she went into panic mode, ’You’re not fine. You’re obviously in denial, everything has gone badly and you don’t want to admit it.’
The irony was the one time she stopped worrying was when the doctor told her she had terminal cancer. I suppose she thought there was nothing to worry about, things couldn’t get any worse. Go figure.
So how are you doing in the worry front just now?
Our reading today is borne from a time of great uncertainty.
Should we follow the way of the Pharisees who seem to be really religious, or this new Jesus guy? That’s a big decision when your soul is on the line.
And then there are those with practical worries.
An inheritance that seems to be unfairly shared...in a society where most are living at scarcity levels if that decision goes badly then people could starve to death.
And in the midst of this Jesus tells a parable.
There is a rich guy, has everything.
And God gives him a great harvest.
So what to do with this harvest.
Well he has his own needs...but they are covered.
Then he needs to think of his future, so he stores the excess...so that is covered.
But there is still more left over.
So what to do...well he would need a bigger barn to store that stuff in.
So instead of resting, enjoying what he has been given, he spends effort knocking down the barns he has, building bigger barns.
And once that is done he feels very pleased with himself.
He even gloats that through his own efforts he has guaranteed his future is secure.
And wouldn’t you believe it, that very night all his exertions catch up with him and he dies.
And God is not happy with the guy.
Think about that...the guy has done everything to make sure that he doesn’t need to worry in the future...and God is really not happy with him.
Where does that leave us?
Aren’t we having meetings to try and work out how to make the future go more smoothly?
Aren’t the Kirk Sessions working away to try to make the transition easier for both churches?
If we plan, like the rich guy and all our plans go well, is God still going to be angry with us?
And it’s not about greed here.
It is so easy for us to say, ‘Well the rich guy was obviously greedy. God was punishing his greed’
And then for us to say, ‘We aren’t that greedy. We give to the church every week so this passage has nothing to teach us.’
And we forget that 99% of the people Jesus spoke to were poor, living off subsistence crops. So if this passage was for them, then it is for us too.
Well let’s try to work out why God is unhappy.
And as always God is concerned about our heart and whether our heart is tight.
So what is going on in the parable?
We have a guy...and that in itself is important. It is one person.
Not a family.
There is no mention of sons or daughters or wives, or even workers.
This is a man who is on his own and thinking only of himself.
And if he has isolated himself then he has to do that, he has to think for himself and care about himself because no one else will.
But equally, because he is only concerned about himself he has no thought for other people.
We know that because of the solution to his problem.
His problem was...I have more than I need.
His answer, build bigger barns.
He never once thought...I have more than I need, I could share the excess.
What would have happened if he had?
He might have made friends.
He wouldn’t have been alone.
When he collapsed there might have been someone there that could have helped him.
When you live alone the only person that matters is yourself, the only person you care about is yourself.
The thing is, you don’t need to be rich to have that attitude.
In the world we live in it is very easy to have that attitude.
Charity begins at home...the trouble with that phrase is that often charity never gets past our home.
Even churches can be like that.
I was hearing of a church in another presbytery that was meant to be linked with another under their presbytery plan the way Alva and Menstrie is.
Now one of those churches didn’t have a minister...the other church did, but that minister didn’t want to take on the new responsibilities of another charge...
so that minister convinced his Kirk Session just to keep on fighting it and fighting it.
Years and years went by and the church without a minister was left without a leader or leadership throughout that time.
Eventually it was appealed to the presbytery to force the other church to do something...the other church threatened to leave en masse if they forced the issue, and presbytery caved in, and reclassified the church without a minister to be a church that should be closed.
It is so tempting in a time of uncertainty to try to hold on to what you have.
It is so tempting in a time of uncertainty to try to horde to make sure you have enough for a rainy day.
It is so tempting to in a time of uncertainty to try to hold on to the things of the past, because the past worked, we are here today because the past worked.
Unfortunately the answers of yesterday will not solve the problems of tomorrow.
I am sure that when Jesus told the parable of the rich fool and got to his conclusion that the man was a fool for doing what he had done...that nearly everyone in that congregation was saying to themselves.
‘It’s Ok for Jesus to say that. But we are living in uncertain times and if we don’t look after ourselves then who will?’
So Jesus gives another path.
Trust in God...don’t worry.
Everyone here has clothes on their back...so why are you worrying about the clothes you wear?
Everyone here has food in their stomach...so why are you worrying about the food you eat?
Instead of hording and holding on to what you have because you are scared of the future...why don’t you share with others because you trust God is looking after you?
We have an uncertain future.
And it is tempting to double down and protect what we have.
But it is not God’s way.
God’s way is to share.
He shared a universe with us.
He shared a world with all its resources with us.
He shared his Son and his message of hope with us.
If we actually trust in that God...
If we actually believe in that God...
If we actually follow that God...
Then the path that God wants us to follow is a path of sharing;
sharing our time, sharing our talents, sharing our commitment, sharing our expertise, sharing our fellowship, sharing our visions, sharing our grief, sharing our compassion, sharing our concerns.
That way, instead of worrying if the other church lot are taking from our resources, we can trust that the other church has our back.
And let’s be blunt about it...
if our path isn’t about sharing, then why did Jesus command us to take communion,
a ritual where we literally share with those around us...
but, what is even more important, is realising what we share...
what we share is the gifts God has given us.
Let us pray
Do Not Worry...
That’s Ok for you to say God,
you don’t have families with all their messiness to think about.
You don’t have world leaders that seem hell bent in destruction and self interest.
You don’t have limited resources and the potential for you to be evicted from your house if the mining works underneath start to move.
It’s not that we aren’t listening to your advice.
But any time there is silence and we have those rare moments of quiet, worries creep in;
friends with cancer,
loved ones who are losing their mental capacity,
wars far away that affect our food prices.
We worry.
And not only about others, but about ourselves
whether we have enough energy and can we meet the demands of the day?
Help us to move away from these thoughts.
Not that we want to stop caring, not that we want to be indifferent...because sometimes our temptation is to eliminate worry in our lives by trying to block out the world and not care.
Instead help us to see that we do not need to face the world alone and with only our own resources.
You want to walk with us, you want to share your wisdom and compassion and understanding with us.
You want us to share with others...others that can share with us.
Remind us that you are the most abundant God, seeking to create a generous abundant people.
A people that are reassured that you are with them, that have the peace of knowing that they are not alone, and that together we can walk this uncertain path with the certainty that we are moving towards your purpose.
May we wholeheartedly seek your kingdom,
bearing your light in a world of darkness,
proclaiming your love in a world of isolation,
acknowledging you before others so that they may see the source of our hope,
and holding close to the one treasure that cannot be taken from us...your love.
Amen.
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