James’ Epistles continues in today’s Daily Office, and we hear about priorities:
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.” Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.
Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts on a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you. (James 4:13-5:6)
Much is said in Scripture regarding our relationship to material things and wealth. Jesus talks about that topic more than any other. There is a way, Jesus and James tell us, that wealth has a way of corrupting us. Wealth corrupts us when we become consumed by it. The same can be true of the rich and the poor alike. Some wealthy people focus on it and how to acquire more, while some of the poor focus on wealth by wondering why they are not rich and how they can become rich. This inordinate obsession with wealth begets crimes of all sorts from those committed on Wall Street by money managers like Bernie Madoff to drugs dealers on the corner of 42nd Street and M1/2. They are obsessed with worshipping the almighty dollar and its short lived salvation.
Material goods have their place, but it is not at the head of the line. James tells us that we must keep things in perspective. We should do all things, even in our business dealings, as the Lord wishes. If we do as God wills, then there would be far fewer money managers like Bernie Madoff and drugs dealers on the corner of 42nd Street and M1/2. Our calling is to preach the Good News to them that there is much more to life than a dollar bill.
CALENDAR REMINDERS
Please remember to sign-up for Sunday Fellowship.
This year we will celebrate a Thanksgiving liturgy, along with the Feast of Christ the King, on Sunday, 21 November. After the Eucharist, we will have our Thanksgiving luncheon and hymn sing. Please invite your friends and family to offer thanks for all of God’s blessings. Please remember to sign up to bring a dish to share.
Big Mista BBQ fundraiser for the Community Garden, Saturday, 11 December. Melva Pope has tickets, so please pick some up for friends and family. There is also a Facebook page for the event. Here is the link to the Diocese’s website where Neil Strawder is featured front and center: www.epicenter.org. Help get the word out to everyone!
Advent begins on Sunday 28 November. We will switch to Rite I and we will begin Year A in the Lectionary.
PLEASE REMEMBER EVERYONE ON OUR PRAYER LIST, especially Pamela Bowser at M.D. Anderson, Joe Hogan and Carol Freeman.
Your servant in Christ,
Fr. Chester J. Makowski+
St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church
Galveston, Texas 77550
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.” Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.
Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts on a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you. (James 4:13-5:6)
Much is said in Scripture regarding our relationship to material things and wealth. Jesus talks about that topic more than any other. There is a way, Jesus and James tell us, that wealth has a way of corrupting us. Wealth corrupts us when we become consumed by it. The same can be true of the rich and the poor alike. Some wealthy people focus on it and how to acquire more, while some of the poor focus on wealth by wondering why they are not rich and how they can become rich. This inordinate obsession with wealth begets crimes of all sorts from those committed on Wall Street by money managers like Bernie Madoff to drugs dealers on the corner of 42nd Street and M1/2. They are obsessed with worshipping the almighty dollar and its short lived salvation.
Material goods have their place, but it is not at the head of the line. James tells us that we must keep things in perspective. We should do all things, even in our business dealings, as the Lord wishes. If we do as God wills, then there would be far fewer money managers like Bernie Madoff and drugs dealers on the corner of 42nd Street and M1/2. Our calling is to preach the Good News to them that there is much more to life than a dollar bill.
CALENDAR REMINDERS
Please remember to sign-up for Sunday Fellowship.
This year we will celebrate a Thanksgiving liturgy, along with the Feast of Christ the King, on Sunday, 21 November. After the Eucharist, we will have our Thanksgiving luncheon and hymn sing. Please invite your friends and family to offer thanks for all of God’s blessings. Please remember to sign up to bring a dish to share.
Big Mista BBQ fundraiser for the Community Garden, Saturday, 11 December. Melva Pope has tickets, so please pick some up for friends and family. There is also a Facebook page for the event. Here is the link to the Diocese’s website where Neil Strawder is featured front and center: www.epicenter.org. Help get the word out to everyone!
Advent begins on Sunday 28 November. We will switch to Rite I and we will begin Year A in the Lectionary.
PLEASE REMEMBER EVERYONE ON OUR PRAYER LIST, especially Pamela Bowser at M.D. Anderson, Joe Hogan and Carol Freeman.
Your servant in Christ,
Fr. Chester J. Makowski+
St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church
Galveston, Texas 77550
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