Jesus said, "do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven... .for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also".
I watched a television programme recently about a couple getting married in North
America. The programme was designed to shock, which it did rather well as it was a
show about uncontrolled excess, where the woman, marrying a multi-millionaire,
purchased whatever she wanted in order to hopefully extract from her friends and
relatives, a "wow" factor. She deeply desired everyone to be "wowed" by what they
experienced at her wedding, which she referred to as "the event".
Her husband often looked slightly pained as he shelled out tens of thousands of
dollars for cakes, dresses, ear rings, wedding rings, and a myriad of sparkly, dangly,
bits and pieces to adorn tables, chairs, lights and so on.
But he could afford it - he wouldn't really miss it.
The eventual sum spent was in excess of 500,000 dollars.
But this of course is chicken-feed compared to the millions that some professional
sports players, actors and rock stars spend on similar "events".
So what was the purpose of spending so much money on the wedding. Did it, could it, add anything at all to what getting married is actually about ? Does surrounding vows before God, with tens of thousands of dollars worth of bling, make them any more profound and glorious, than if they're offered in the setting of a makeshift church in a poor and dusty village in say, Africa ? Of course not.
So what was the point of spending such a lot on the wedding - well clearly it was in
order to try to impress other, like-minded people - to extract the compliments, the
"wows", the breathless gasps in the face of opulence and extravagance.
How very shallow and how very sad - that the simple eternal beauty of a wedding
should be obliterated by the tacky and short-lived glitter of human wealth.
Jesus warns us that to seek after the honour of men is deadly in its short-sightedness,
because those that do have their reward in full. It begins, and ends, in the time in takes
to say "wow".
At the other end of the scale, I spent nearly all of last week working with Revd Judith
Thompson, one of the two full-time hospital chaplains that we have in Worcester.
Hospital chaplains do not earn big-bucks, and I'm sure Judith wouldn't mind me
telling you that her car had holes in it that were certainly not part of the original build.
But she showed me riches beyond compare last week, an opulence and glory that no
amount of personal wealth could come close to matching.
Judith spent wealth, but the wealth she gave away was her time, her patience, her
empathy, her love, her faith. And she'd be the first to say that all of this treasure came
not from her, but from God, ministered through her, to those in need.
It was hard work, exhausting work, giving away self, for love of God and neighbour
requires true grit, but the grit is diamond. "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also - do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth, but store up for yourselves treasure in heaven".
So, on the one hand - the true treasure of what takes place at a wedding was lost under a mountain of fake earthly riches, and on the other, where we might not expect to find any riches at all - in the clinical, concrete and austere environs of a hospital, we find seams of pure gold. And that is how it is with God and with humans.
We think we know what riches are and where to find them, but in reality we fall short
of the mark time and time again.
Lent is a very good time for re-assessing where our heart lies, and where our treasure
is, both individually and corporately.
Let me take one example of how we might fall short corporately, that is, as a body of
Christians in this place.
This coming Saturday everyone is invited to come into the Priory building for a
couple of hours to consider how this place might be physically altered in order to
prepare for ministry in the 21st century.
Each of us will have ideas of what we think is acceptable and what is not acceptable
in terms of physically altering this building, and for some folk just the idea of
physically altering anything, brings great difficulty.
But as we go about the work of looking at this building and considering our ministry,
we need to pay close attention to our feelings and ask the question at every turn "why
do I feel the way I do" ?
Where does our treasure lie, where did the treasure lie of those who built this church in the first place ?
Surely the treasure that we have is not contained in the walls, windows and pillars of this building, the treasure is not the fabric, beautiful to many a human eye though it is. The treasure is to be found at the heart of the God in whose name, and through whose power, this place was built in order that God, not man, may be glorified.
So when we gather here on Saturday, let's gather in the spirit of Lent - knowing that our treasure is often of our own making and is as such, worthless. As we wander around this magnificent building let's remember that it isn't ours, but Gods - that it was built in his power, and for his glory - and not in our power or for our own glory. Perhaps then we'll see where there are seams of as yet untapped gold running through the stone, or precious gems waiting to be discovered in its vaults; treasures that enrich because they sparkle and glint in new ways, enabling many more to discover where their true treasure lies, hidden deep in the heart of God.
And what of ourselves ?
Very soon tonight we'll be invited to have the sign of the cross made on our foreheads
using ash made from last years palm crosses.
The use of the crosses to create the ash is very significant.
Do you remember what they were last used for ? On Palm Sunday we waved them in
the air to re-enact the first Palm Sunday when crowds of people welcomed Jesus as
"Son of David" into Jerusalem.
We too celebrated our allegiance to Jesus our King, but over the last 12 months we know very well that that allegiance has been tried, tested and broken many times. The palms of victory have turned to dust and ashes in our disloyalty, and we're anointed with them as a sign of our poverty and repentance.
"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ".
In the simple act of the imposition of ashes, we're reminded of where true poverty and
true wealth lies. In one of the prayers of St Claire of Assisi, she begins "all powerful
God, everlasting, just and good, of ourselves we are nothing but poverty...."
Of ourselves we are nothing but poverty, and the more we try to store up riches for
ourselves, the poorer we become, as our hearts move further and further away from
the source of true richness, the heart of God.
Of ourselves we are nothing but poverty, but of God, we become richer than any
human endeavour. This richness has to do with eternal, indestructible, incalculable
wealth, and is nothing to do with metals, gems, human power, skills, art or
architecture.
It is the profound wealth of the eternal God who made the heavens and earth and all
that is in them, including our very bodies and souls, through the outpouring of divine
love.
So as we begin our Lenten journey for 2008, let's begin by making a commitment to re-evaluate what we hold dear, to question the things we consider to be treasure, and to promise Christ that we will work hard over the next forty days to move our hearts closer to him, that we might desire to have nothing, yet posses everything. Amen.
Ian Spencer
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