1 Timothy 6: 6-19

Luke 16: 19-31

Tuning our Hearts

Elizabeth Macaulay

9/19/04

What does it mean to be rich?

In the secular culture in which we live, it means that through hard work, through ingenuity, through the luck of birth, perhaps, you have access to the basics of life; clothes, food, shelter, leisure time. There is enough to meet your needs, with some to spare. Sometimes even sumptuous things are to be had for the taking.

Being rich also means power and privilege.

Being rich means that those who have much have the luxury of choice. The power of privilege extends into many areas of life. Having power of privilege means being able to choose where you live. It means being a voice in setting rules for what is and is not acceptable. Throughout history, those who run governments are often the rich, because they have the luxury of time spent away from tilling land. They have servants and staff to do that work.

The rich set the rules.

What does it mean to be rich? It means that there is enormous power. If power is defined as the ability to get things done, the rich have at their disposal immense possibility in the “get things done” department.

That power brings with it enormous responsibility.

We, so many of us, are rich. We are people of privilege. As individuals, we have enormous power. We get to choose, most of us, where to spend money above and beyond the most basic of necessities. We get to choose, most of us, what to do with our leisure time, what rules we can afford to bend, where we get to live and what it is we dream for our children.

We have so much. And in our having, we are each charged with enormous responsibility.

We as a church are rich. We have an incredible heritage of ministry in this community. We have a building meant for constant use – and we seek to live into that promise. We have people who grace this place in worship and through classes and in circle meetings and we are rich. We have been the presence of Christ announced through church bells in steeple towers and through back to school backpacks for children and through the ways people learn and live faith because of this church.

We have so much, and in our having, we have an enormous responsibility.

We, as citizens of these United States, are rich in much. We have enormous power and privilege. We live in a country dedicated to the living of freedom and respect. Founded on the principle that all are created equal. We live in a country brimming with abundance.

We have so much, and in our having, we have an enormous responsibility.

We know that being people of privilege is not a self contained party in which we are called to slap ourselves on the back and stay within our comfort zones and eat and drink and turn the channel when the news would have us contemplate the many who are not rich.

We know this, because the Bible tells us so.

And there is, perhaps, no better lesson than this morning’s from the gospel of Luke.

We hear the story of the rich man. A man intent upon filling himself so full of things that he is made numb to the pain of the world around him. So busied is he in his world of purple sumptuous living that he does not see the man Lazarus who has collapsed outside his gate. So weakened by poverty and want is Lazarus that he cannot even fend off the dogs who lick his open wounds.

The rich man had the teachings of the prophets to guide him – teachings very clear about the critical importance of sharing bread and compassion with the hungry. But he was too busy to heed the words of the prophets until he found himself in a situation he could not buy his way out of – and STILL he treats Lazarus as though he is a servant meant to do his bidding.

Jesus teaches this lesson as a graphic illustration to ask the hard questions:

Who are the invisible poor in our midst we choose not to see?

Where is it that our power is squandered rather than used to build the kingdom of God?

What will it take for us to listen, to tune our hearts, to the teachings of our faith?

Because like the rich man in today’s lesson, we have teachers in our midst. The words are the prophets are written in scripture. Words from the Hebrew Scriptures about living justly and sharing abundance. Words from 1 Timothy which tell to use the riches we have to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share. Words from John Wesley, the man who began the Methodist movement who said people of faith are called to earn as much as every they can so that they can do as much good as every they can.

Are our hearts willing to tune into their message?

Lazarus lives yet because greed lives yet.

According to figures put out by the US Census Bureau In 2003, the poverty threshold for a family of four is 18,000. Mind you, that is four people living on $18,000 a year.

12.5% of the population of these United States live in poverty.

17% of children in our country live in poverty.

15% of people in our nation do not have health insurance coverage.

What has this to do with our faith?

Everything. We are the brothers and sisters of the rich man who finally got the point – but not until it was too late. We are the ones meant to be jostled into paying attention to the words of the prophets. Reminded that there is more to life than taking care of our own.

The Bible tells us so.

Lazarus lives yet. And so do we. So what do we learn from the teachings of this day?

We learn to see the people around us.

Now I have just a very small bit of an understanding of the pain that comes with being poor and invisible.

After our daughter Leah was born, we decided that my husband would go to graduate school in Pittsburgh. It was an opportunity to add skills he needed and so we both quit teaching jobs and moved to Pittsburgh. I wanted to be home with Leah, so I sought a job where I could be with her while her dad was in school, and he could tend her while I was working.

I supported our family by waitressing in one of the popular lunch places in a trendy area of Pittsburgh. Shadyside, if you know the area. A lot of very wealthy people enjoy coming into the city and having lunch after spending amazing amounts of money in the upscale shops there.

I learned the power of resentment while working there. I waited on women and men who came in full of confidence because of their buying power and they would not even look at me while placing their orders. I was a servant meant to tend them and meet their needs and between us there was the chasm of NO acknowledgement of our shared humanity.

I was grateful for the tips they left. I needed to please them in order for my family to eat. I was not in the place of starvation or dog sore licking but I came to know what it means to be a tool in the hands of those who had a lot more power, wealth and privilege than did I. And I did not like it at all, I did not.

How many of our brothers and sisters in this lavishly abundant creation we share feel that ache of resentment?

How will we tune our hearts?

What does it mean to be rich?

It means we open our eyes and see – even the things we do not want to see.

It means we acknowledge our privilege.

It means we use our power to bring about healing in creation.

And it means we refuse to walk over the carcasses of those thrown away by our society.

We look. We listen. We learn. We take action.

In so doing, we live our worship.

And we teach Samuel the way.

Amen.