St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Owings Mills MD
August 3, 2025
Year C, Proper 13: The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
Hosea 11:1-11
Psalm 107:1-9, 43
Colossians 3:1-11
Luke 12:13-21
Rich Toward God, Together
Well, it’s almost two weeks later, and I’m still buzzing about the “Introduction to Community Organizing” meeting that we had in our Parish Hall.
I was really pleased by the strong turnout – a great showing by St. Thomas’ parishioners and also some others from a couple of other local churches, and also Owings Mills Elementary School and Owings Mills High School.
I was impressed by the quality of the conversation, how much skill was gathered in our Parish Hall, but not only skill – a deep desire to do good, to find new ways of being even more effective in dealing with the many challenges we face – to find new ways to help people right here in our own community – maybe through this process called “Community organizing.”
I first learned about community organizing about 18 years ago.
Back then, the Bishop of Newark required all of us newly ordained clergy to attend a week-long community organizing training session.
There we learned some of the same principles that we talked about at our intro session the other day. We especially learned about power – what it is and how we can harness it, use it, to do good.
We learned about tension – something that most of us instinctually avoid, but it can be useful in holding leaders accountable and moving things forward.
We learned about and practiced one-on-one relational meetings, how to really talk and listen with someone, how to discern common interests and ways we might work together.
A very helpful skill that I use all the time.
But what I remember most from that training was a comment made by the facilitator, who told us that he didn’t like the word “empowerment.”
You hear that word a lot – “empowerment” – and it’s usually meant positively, you know, giving people a boost, giving them the tools they need to succeed – “empowerment.”
But the facilitator said “empowerment” is condescending, it sounds like we’re somehow giving power to people.
While, in fact, people have plenty of power – they just need to realize it and work together to use their power to make change.
I saw this at my church in Jersey City, where much of our community organizing work was around decent and affordable housing.
Early on, we had an action in our parish hall about the disgusting conditions in some apartment buildings owned by slumlords – some of our parishioners lived in those buildings.
And one of those parishioners stood up in the parish hall packed with people, including many elected officials. Behind her, on easels, were enlarged photos of her apartment: holes in the ceiling, broken cabinets – just a mess.
And in front of all those people, she bravely told her story.
And, as she spoke, you could almost see the lightbulb switching on above her head as she realized that she had power – that together we had power.
The action continued with us walking over to one of those apartment buildings so the politicians could go in and see the conditions for themselves.
And, sure enough, on the next business day, the housing inspectors were dispatched throughout the city and hundreds of citations were issued.
The slumlords didn’t know what hit them!
Although not specifically religious, I’m convinced that community organizing is holy work.
It’s holy to build relationships with our neighbors, to use our gifts to strengthen and improve our community, to help people realize that they have God-given power.
To use Jesus’ words in today’s gospel lesson, community organizing is being “rich toward God.”
Rich toward God, together.
In last week’s sermon, I talked a little about your extraordinary generosity, the overflowing generosity that I see here just about every day.
To make my point, I used the classic New Jersey example of a ride to Newark Airport. It’s kind of a big ask back home but it’s a way bigger ask here, yet I know that, in a pinch, I could ask some of you for a ride up there and that you’d do it.
And sure enough, after each service last Sunday, some of you said, yep, if you asked me, I’d be there for you.
(One parishioner came up to me and said, nope, she wouldn’t drive me to the airport. But she would hire a car service for me. That’s pretty good, too!)
Quite a contrast with the man in today’s gospel lesson.
This rich man has done very well for himself, so well that he’s run out of room to store his crops.
Rather than sharing what he has – the thought never seems to occur to him – he starts a building project, constructing new, larger barns to hold his abundance.
And then he thinks, he’s all set for many years to come, many years of relaxing, eating, and making merry.
Ahh…
But none of that wealth will be any use to him on the day of his death.
Jesus’ lesson is pretty straightforward, and certainly one that we – who by the world’s standards are very well off – need to hear, again and again.
Life is not about how much stuff we have.
And we all leave this world emptyhanded.
But as I reflect on this man – this man who was so selfish, and so shortsighted – I’m struck by how alone he is.
The question, “the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” is poignant. Maybe there is no one.
There’s no mention of family or friends or neighbors. He might have shared his abundance with them. Jesus’ stories often include a big party, but not this time.
Maybe the man was planning to “eat, drink, and be merry” all by himself.
There’s also no mention of the workers who must have planted and harvested the crops – the workers who built the big new barns - the workers whose skill and muscle helped produce all this wealth – no mention of sharing anything with them.
There’s no mention of the poor, who were probably right outside his door.
The rich man doesn’t even pray – he offers no words of thanksgiving for his many blessings.
This rich man is all alone, so alone that the only person he talks to is himself, his own soul.
A bad place to be.
You know, isolation and selfishness are kind of like the chicken and the egg.
I’m not sure which comes first.
I am sure, however, that one big reason why you are so generous – even generous enough to give me a ride to Newark Airport – is that we are together.
Being part of church, being part of this church, encourages us, inspires us, challenges us, to be generous – to share our abundant gifts with the church itself – to share our abundant gifts with refugees and school children and hungry people.
Being part of a church, being part of this church, encourages us to explore new ways of being generous, invites us to sacrifice a summer afternoon to learn about community organizing.
And, also, when we’re part of a church, we are regularly reminded of ultimate things.
Even if our barns are full, someday our life will end and we will be asked to account for how we used our gifts, how we shared our abundance.
God has given us so much – so much wealth, so much skill, so much power.
So much love.
With God’s help, may we continue to use our gifts in service to others.
May we be rich toward God, together.
Amen.
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