Sermon by The Very Rev Chris Yaw, 7/31/2022, Luke 12:13-21
When Joe Leader graduated from engineering school his main objective was to find a job to help him pay back his student loans.
He wasn’t picky.
Any job would do.
He just wanted to make money.
So, when the New York Transit Authority came to his school to recruit, Joe signed up for an interview and got hired as an intern.
There, he went out on the subway lines, following repair crews, and helping engineers with improvement plans.
It piqued his interest.
That internship turned into a job - and one that became increasingly more interesting.
“When my friends and I would go out at night and take the subway,’ he says,
’They’d quiz me: ‘What’s this?’ ’That’s a cable isolator!’
‘What’s this?’ ’That’s a third rail guard!’ ‘And on and on… it was fun!'
Joe’s interest kept growing - so he stayed on at the Transit Authority.
And within a year, he began to change.
Joe no longer looked at his job as a job - but as something deeper.
He’d look at a rivet in a subway track and think ’Someone put that in decades ago - and it’s still here - helping people get around and live their lives.’
And as the years went by, Joe began to see his work as much more than a way to pay his bills:
He says, “I began to feel like I was making a contribution to society.”
“I understood I was responsible for moving people every single day.”
’They were depending on me to work, see family, visit friends. That’s a big responsibility.’
Such care and interest led to promotions - so that today, many years later, Joe is a senior vice president of New York Transit.
He’s basically the lead engineer of the busiest subway complex in the country - overseeing 1.7 billion trips per year - that use 469 stations - and laid end to end, the tracks could take you from New York to Chicago.
Talk to Joe today, years after his student loans have been repaid, and he’ll admit that his opinion of his profession has drastically changed - that the paycheck is no longer the main draw to his work - and that today his CREDO is: Put People Before Stuff.
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‘Put People Before Stuff’
That’s our sermon title today - and I realize it is Christianity 101 - as you and I consider the words of this morning’s Gospel:
"Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”
We all get that - it’s basic stuff -
Joe Leader seemed to be ‘on guard’ at work - and chose to do something that’s beneficial for all of us who have a job - to look at it as a calling - a vocation - and not just a paycheck.
When pollsters ask people if people consider their jobs as vocations, a high percentage of teachers, nurses, and clergy say ‘yes’ -
But to affirm our work as a calling is to make the connection between what we do Sunday and what we do Monday - thru - Friday.
It is to see the unique and even divine purpose we have to design cars, raise children, tend to coffee customers, or whatever it is we do to channel our talents into the world.
What would it look like for you to consider what you do as more of a service to others than a way to make money?
How would we do that?
How would that affect our performance and happiness?
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Here’s a quiz for you -
Who said, ‘We have nothing to fear but fear itself?’
Did you guess Teddy Roosevelt?
You’re right...
And it was more than 100 years ago when President Roosevelt had a comment on this morning's text - he said:
"Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.
"The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits.
"As our true destiny is not to be ministered to, but to minister to our fellow humanity.”
Put people before stuff.
In the face of an ever-ambitious society rigged to pursue the shallow promises of happiness through wealth, we must keep our wits about us - and not be taken in by the hollow promises of a life filled with more ’stuff’ at the expense of addressing the needs of others.
This is where we go off the rails as individuals - and, as many experts warn, it’s where we may go off the rails as a society.
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Did you know that the income gap in America has now reached staggering proportions?
Have you noticed how the plutocracy is amassing unprecedented wealth?
Here’s a statistic:
In 1980 the top 1% wealthiest Americans took home about 12% of the wealth in this country. And the bottom 50% took home about 22%.
Today - those numbers have reversed - so that in 2022 the top 1% wealthiest Americans are taking home about 22% of America’s wealth, and the bottom 50% have seen their wealth cut - to 12%.
This is a staggering trend - and it’s only increasing -
By the way, to get into the 1% of America’s wealthiest means your net worth is $14million or more. 2/3rds of our 1-percenters are Republicans, 1/3 are Democrats. And neither of those folks are looking for any meaningful ways to pay less in taxes.
And speaking of taxes, rates for the rich remain historically low - our government is unable to impose proper taxes on the mega-rich, such that many of them boast about paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries.
So that if these wealth-gap trends continue to rise, with the economy benefiting those who need it least, experts warn we may see a change in our societal order.
Democracy may be threatened, as those who have the money may find ways to alter things - so that they can keep it… stay tuned
But how different we would be if we: Put people before stuff.
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Did you notice the curious way Jesus asked us to consider that word ‘Greed?’
Jesus asks us to ‘be on guard against all kinds of greed’ which makes us ask, ‘Why should we be on guard? Is something sneaking up on us?’
Yes, Greed is.
Especially when we consider ‘all kinds of greed.’
Because when we think about it, Greed takes on a number of guises.
Did you know that the Bible mentions 4 kinds of Greed:
Hoarding - which is collecting more than you need - we saw the rich landowner do that in our story
Comparison - This means getting things because other people have them.
Entitlement - That’s believing things are owed you that you believe are yours, but really aren't.
and Overspending - This is acquiring things you can't afford.
Many of us think of Greed as just the first kind - someone who gets a surplus, and instead of thinking about others, thinks of himself and chooses to hoard instead of share. And we think of ways we do the same thing when we get a surplus:
Do we remember charities when we get that tax refund?
Or when a bonus or inheritance comes our way?
How are we remembering others when those things happen?
Greed sneaks up on us when we play the comparison game as well.
This game tries to convince us that our identity rests in what we do, what we own, where we live, and who we hang out with.
Are we the prettiest?
The strongest?
The most popular?
The most powerful?
And it urges us to take steps to achieve these worldly goals - to make us greedy for the things others have - which can come into direct competition with the spiritual goals that Jesus asks us to strive for.
Of course, we need the approval and praise of others, we are hard-wired to seek it, it gets us off the couch and in the game. But Jesus asks us to anchor our identity in Him.
We are pretty enough, because God made us.
We are powerful enough, because God is our strength.
We are rich enough, because our contentment rests in God.
Are you content? Then you are rich.
Period.
I think it’s a fair guess that there are 1-percenters - those with $14 million dollars in this country who are not content.
I would argue that they are not rich.
If all your money still has you unhappy, then do you think more will help?
No, Christians are rich because we put our trust in God - in the Prince of Peace - who reminds us that all will be well in his loving hands.
How can we better anchor our identities in Christ?
How can we make his assessments of our situations, our assessments?
How can we better let go, and let God?
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I spoke with someone the other day who says it takes 5 generations for an immigrant to become and anti-immigrant. In other words, when my forefathers and mothers came to this country from Canada and Poland and were so happy to have the opportunity to live in the United States - it will take about 5 generations for their progeny to decide that immigrants should not be welcomed as their ancestors were.
Entitlement.
This is another form of greed:
And immigration is one way we see it manifested - especially when people who were, or whose ancestors once were, immigrants, have this change of heart.
Entitlement says others shouldn’t have the same chances, opportunities, and privileges we do.
As we know, this goes against the Jesus-Way, which reminds us that God created us all as equal - that God loves all people.
This God reminds us that mercy, compassion, and love are the most effective weapon against the entitlement form of greed.
So, in what ways does entitlement rear its ugly head in our lives?
In what ways might we consider ourselves better than others?
And how are we excluding others because we think better of ourselves?
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On the occasion of yet another of his corporate takeovers, and the massing of even more wealth, the oilman John D. Rockefeller was once asked, ‘How much is enough?’ to which he famously replied, ‘Just a little bit more than I already have.’
And this is at the heart of that aspect of greed called overspending.
Overspending is a signal that we don’t have enough. When we look less at what we have, and more at what we don’t have, we fall prey to it.
The other day my 3-year-old asked for yet another dump truck. I told him to wait until we get to the vacation cottage. Because there we have a whole slew of toys he only sees once a year. And, lo and behold, in re-discovering what he already had, he said, ‘Wow dad, look at all these trucks!’
The best way to get what you want is to want what you’ve got. We soon realize it’s enough.
in what ways is our overspending a signal of our discontent with what we already have?
How might we begin to consider that what we have is enough?
How is God calling us to spend within our means?
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"Be on your guard against all kinds of greed:
hoarding, comparison, entitlement, and overspending -
Put people before stuff - for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”
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No friends, it consists in knowing whose we are and learning to value the people God made us to be.
Each one of us are called to put people before stuff by seeing that we are called to be the best we can be with what we’ve been given.
Can I tell a story from our brother Martin Luther King, Jr. who said, “If falls to your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music… Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: "Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.”
Or maybe you’re a Bob Dylan fan, who was once asked about his vocation: “Mine? Not any different than anybody else’s. Some people have a calling to be a good sailor. Some people have a calling to be a good tiller of the land. Some people are called to be a good friend. You have to be the best at whatever you are called at. Whatever you do. You ought to be the best at it…” And we’re the best at it when we’re not in it for the money, we’re in it for the ways we can help others.
Here’s a final story for us -
And it actually happened right here - about 2 weeks ago - at the St. David’s food pantry.
That’s when a woman in the midst of a severe panic attack - emotionally fragile, disoriented, and really freaked out person - was dropped off at our pantry.
That’s right - someone just dropped her off -
And thankfully, one of our volunteers is actually a doctor - with experience in an emergency room - which is where this woman should have been taken.
But she was dropped off here, at St. David’s.
And that faithful volunteer dropped what he was doing - and he and Mike Stutso started tending to this woman’s needs - calming her down - getting her something to wear, something to eat - and finally getting from her - some phone numbers of family members to call and to tend to her.
Turns out this woman suffered from some sever mental illnesses and was off of her medication. She certainly had been ill for some time and had burned a lot of bridges because when the 5 family members who were called - only 1 of them answered the phone. He then said he would have nothing to do with her - and told us it was our responsibility to get her to a hospital.
Mike closed down the food pantry and devoted the rest of the morning to doing just that - calling the Southfield Police - who responded in a highly professional way - taking her to the hospital where she could be given the care and medication she needed.
What a great example of putting people first.
Mother Teresa once said that ’there is always the danger that we may just do the work for the sake of the work. This is where the respect and the love and the devotion come in - that we do it to God, to Christ, and that’s why we try to do it as beautifully as possible.’
Friends, take care, be on guard against all kinds of greed -
Put people before stuff.
Do the work for the sake of the work - And there, you will find greater reward.
Amen.