Between Sundays Logo

Between Sundays for Week of August 1, 2022

Brothers squabble over an inheritance and ask Jesus to divide it fairly. Instead, Jesus tells a parable.  A rich man has land that produces abundantly.  Thinking only of himself, he decides to build a bigger barn.
While this parable nudged Pastor Amy to pare down her collection of cloth napkins, she suggests that it is not ultimately about how much stuff we have (or don’t have).  It’s about how our relationship with stuff leads us to sacrifice right relationship with God and neighbor in the process.
When “the land of the rich man produced abundantly,” he did not give thanks to God for the abundant harvest.  He did not notice who was hungry and in need of food. He thought only of the ways that these crops would secure his future – or so he thought.
Our future is not secured by our possessions.  Life is found not in bigger barns. Life is not found when we are curved in on ourselves, focused on me, myself and I.  Life is found in loving relationship with God and one another.
BLC is intentionally seeking to build relationships and extend God’s love in tangible ways.  Over the past few weeks, we have stocked the shelves at the Perinton Food Shelf, but the need continues throughout the year.  Can you add a few items to your grocery list each month?  We continue to collect items for Learning Links.  Can you add some to your shopping list?  (And watch your email for information about helping to distribute those supplies later this month!).  We show up each Wednesday to give away fresh produce at the Pines of Perinton. Do you have some extra produce from your garden or local farmstand to give away? Bring it with you and share the abundance!
Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions, Jesus says. How will you be part of sharing God’s abundance?

The Word Logo

In today’s sermon, Pastor Amy  considers the “stuff” of life. As Jesus makes clear that life is not about stuff, we consider what it means to be rich toward God and each other.

Click here to listen

Ponderings

The parable of the rich fool tells of a man who enjoyed the fruits of his land with nary a thought to the land itself or the hired hands whose labor built his wealth. Hearers of this parable may recall God’s warning to the Israelites in the wilderness when the land produced abundantly for them with manna and quails. They were only to eat their fill for the day. If they tried to hoard the abundance, it would immediately rot. In today’s parable, the rot extends to the rich man’s very life, urging us to reconsider an economy of extraction that exploits both land and labor. We might imagine how this story could be different if the man had thrown a banquet and invited his workers to the feast. We are not what we own but rather what we share and give to others.

(From Sundaysandseasons.com)