Everyone is rich in this morning’s readings: the teacher in Ecclesiastes, the brother speaking to Jesus, the landowner in the parable; they are all wealthy and they are all unhappy. 

Despite their hard work and good fortune they cannot enjoy life, instead they are preoccupied with how to protect their wealth from others.  None of them want to share their good fortune: the words “I” and “me” and “myself” are littered throughout the texts.  The young man at least is talking to Jesus in Luke 12:13-21, the teacher and the landowner, on the other hand, are talking exclusively to themselves.  Wealth has become a trap which isolates them from others. 

They end up, not only resenting the others who may enjoy their success but their own lives too:  The teacher in Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14 -2:18-2, resents his labour: “I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun.” The landowner works harder and harder but never gets to enjoy the fruits of his labour, to “relax, eat, drink and be merry”.

This is not so much about money and what to do with it as life and how we live it.  How do we flourish and thrive? We expect too much of wealth if we expect it to provide us with a sense of purpose and meaning.  What seems to be missing from the lives of these unhappy rich people is other people, community, an acknowledgement that they are interdependent, a sense of being a part of and contributing to something meaningful that transcends their own life and labours. 

We are more than the sum of our labours, more than the size of our bank accounts, we are made in the image of a God.  A God who teaches us that life is not transactional, life is relational.  A God who gives us everything that we might enjoy it together.     

On Sunday 13th July at 6.30pm in church, our monthly choral Evensong service.

Some major roof maintenance started this week. The old roof is being re-covered but with new upstands and skylights ( to replace the existing, many of which are broken). The new ones are triple glazed, improving heat performance.