Sermon - Take care one's life does not consist in the abundance of ones possessions

“Take care one`s life does not consist in the abundance of ones possessions” In the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit. There is a story of a young girl on a world cruise having dinner one evening at the captain's table . She notices that seated next to her an elderly lady had on her finger the largest diamond ring she had ever seen . “What a beautiful diamond” she exclaims “its enormous” . “Are yes” the owner replies “it is the Gootennhiemer diamond” , “but it comes with a curse” “A curse? ” “Yes Mr Gootennhiemer” Wealth is not a curse , wealth is not a vice . What we are being warned about in this morning`s gospel is greed . The greek word , Luke`s uses here is “pleonexia” an insatiable desire to always want more and more and more and more . The ancient world likened “pleonexia” to an illness called dropsy . Those with dropsy always craved for more water to drink and yet the more they drank the worst they became. Wealth in itself is not wicked , the Good Samaritan used his wealth to good effect . In Bishop Richard Harries book “Is there a gospel for the rich?” he argues the economically successful are not barred from salvation what matters about my whopping city bonus is what I do with it” . “It is those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God” that concerns Jesus . The perilous human condition is not the well healed life but the unexamined life . Where do our priorities lie ? What do we really build our lives around ? Where in the end do we place our security our sense of self ? The builder of barnes in this morning parable is about to have his life examined , is about to discover what his life really consisted in. Was he rich towards God ? In last weeks Guardian there was an article entitled “Living with less has enriched me” The writer Kar Dunlop found herself in a situation where circumstances forced her to downsize to a flat 10 times smaller than her former home . “Its transformed me from a shopaholic to a minimalist” A small place forces you to pause , ask : Do I need it ? Where am I going to put it ? She no longer has a television , “but why should you need one” she writes “when all around you events unfold before my eyes from my vantage point I can see all that is going on in my street” . She has rediscovered her neighbours . She is becoming rich in other ways . Being rich towards God is being able to enjoy the world around us without wanting to posses it . Being rich towards God is being able to take delight in the world He has made because we are no longer anxious about loosing a part of it or wanting always to acquire it . And because we are no longer anxious about wanting something or loosing something we can give them our undivided attention and simply enjoy them for what they are . And of course this includes our relationships as well . True wealth is an inner disposition of trust that what we most need will always be given to us in our moment of need and not before .This inner wealth is not a possession I can hoard or gloat over and inspect as a miser hoards and counts his money . This inner wealth becomes accessible only as the occasion demands . It lies latent within us and it is only the circumstances of our lives that call it forth . It is when we face a crisis that we discover resources within ourselves we were until then unaware . We can not store or possess these resources they only surface when we need them and for the most part we are unaware of them . This richness towards God is trusting that He will always give us the resources , the wealth we need when the moment comes and not before . So we have no need to trust in what we posses , rather we can begin to live without worry and without fretting . “Do not be anxious about tomorrow, says Jesus “tomorrow will take care of it self ” . If we can truly live from this one statement of Jesus , not to be anxious about tomorrow then we are truly rich , rich towards God . Amen.