A sermon preached in the Chapel of the Apostles’ in Sewanee, Tennessee, for morning prayer on All Soul’s Day, on Luke 12:13-31. You can find a video of the sermon here.
We live in a culture obsessed with advancement, with “making something” of ourselves. Our language betrays that we try to recreate ourselves in a cultural image of success. Like the rich fool in our parable, we toil, and we tear down our barns to build bigger barns. And that’s the best case scenario. If we fail to meet this standard—a certain amount of wealth, a higher degree of acclaim, a new level of prestige that comes with the next promotion or academic degree—when we fail to meet this cultural standard, we become anxious and worried. We strive and toil and work ourselves to death.
What do we make of these words from Jesus today, then? Could a more timely word be spoken to a culture that defines the intrinsic value and worth of people by what they can buy and how productive they are and how many vacation days go unused at the end of the year and how substantial their portfolio is? Jesus is calling us out here. He is telling us to seek a different way, to seek the Kingdom of God instead of the idols of the world.
Consider the lilies, how they grow, Jesus says. They do not work themselves to death, and yet, see how beautiful they are by just being. Look at how they are clothed with the glory of God. See how it shines through them. They are a vision of God’s love for God’s very Self, a portrait of praise to the Creator.
But can I stand before God like one of those lilies, with nothing in hand, with only myself as an offering? Can I leave those things for which I toil so much behind? Like the lilies, can I be content to be clothed with the glory of God, or must I cover it with clothes of my own making, with my own successes, with my own glory?
Today we consider those faithful ones who have died in Christ. Having commended them to God, we remember and pray for these faithful, the ones we love but see no longer, those who have gone before and whom, we trust by the mercies of God, we will see again. They have continued on, growing in more perfect service and being transformed in the light and love of God. They stand before God with nothing, and yet see how beautiful they are. They shine with God’s splendor, and their alleluias echo through the caverns of eternity. Yes, consider the faithful who have died, and do not worry, or toil, or strive. For like them, like the lilies and all of creation, we are meant to be clothed with the very glory of God.
Storied Grace 