Worship - 3 August 2025

Summary of this week's theme

At a funeral over which I once presided over in Canada, I was struck by the absence of deep mourning. It transpired that the lady, in her mid-60s, had lived with a patched-up heart since childhood after rheumatic fever and early surgery. She knew her life was fragile, yet bore two children and lived without complaint, always putting family first. What she left behind - a loving, cohesive family - was a quiet triumph in a world increasingly drawn to self-interest and material gain. Her life embodied Jesus’ great commandment: to love God and to love one another, beginning at home.

This kind of legacy stands in stark contrast to the parable Jesus told of the man who built bigger barns to store his abundance, living in denial of his mortality. That parable still rings true today. We see its modern equivalent in the ultra-wealthy demolishing homes in places like Palm Beach just to build larger ones, chasing more space, more status - more beachfront. Their lives reflect a belief that meaning lies in accumulation, not transformation. But Jesus warns: these things cannot save us.

The Apostle Paul likely knew both kinds of people - those living in gratitude and those chasing excess. In his letter to the Colossians, written to a city known for luxury, Paul calls on believers to ‘clothe themselves’ in a new self, visible and distinct. Unlike fast fashion, these spiritual garments - compassion, humility, patience, love - are rare and costly, requiring real change. The new self is not a private possession, but an outward testimony. ‘They will know we are Christians by our love,’ not by rigid rules or outward success as measured by the society around us.

This transformation is for everyone. ‘There is no longer Greek and Jew… but Christ is all and in all.’  The cost isn’t wealth - it’s faith, humility, and surrender. Sherlock Holmes once exploited the idea that in a crisis, people instinctively reach for what they value most. So what would we reach for? What do we truly treasure?

Life’s deepest joy is not found in possessions, but in relationships marked by love, generosity, and faithfulness. God’s love, burrowed into every season of life, surpasses tragedy and material scarcity. Wouldn’t it be better to build enduring relationships, rather than empty barns? Even a patched-up heart has room to love - and so does ours. As John of the Cross wrote: ‘In the twilight of life, God will not judge us on our earthly possessions and human successes, but on how well we have loved.’