So, what matters to you? What is most important in your priority line-up? Family, work, faith, fun? What if we were to live what matters most to God? What if that became our goal and our first priority? Our priority would be that we are concerned more about what matters to God than we are concerned about what matters in pleasing our employer, our friends, and our co-workers ... even more than pleasing our spouse. What would change in our lives if we put what matters to God first?

​Today in the Gospel Jesus tells the parable of the rich man and his bountiful harvest. The man tears down his barns to build bigger ones with more space in order to store all his extra harvest for his future. Jesus goes on to tell how that night the man died before he could enjoy all his good things; and then He goes on to say: “Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.” So, we, as Disciples, need to ask ourselves: just what does matter most to God?

In the reading from Ecclesiastes today we hear how nothing of this world remains and that everything else passes away. Do you remember the story of King Midas and how his touch turned everything to gold? We see by that story that it is easy for the “possessor” to become the possessed… So ask yourself: Does God care about your bank balance? Only in so far as how you use it in love to further His Kingdom. Does God care about your position of power? Only in how you treat His other children with love. Does God care about all your treasure? Only in that you share your blessings.

Know this: treasure is not the actual wealth, power and stuff you are blessed to possess—you know what that is: food, clothing, money, position, homes, transportation, a job—no; treasure is talent and ability and the priority for your time spent on earth. Even if you do not have the financial resources to throw your money at charities, (although that is better than nothing), how about lending a helping hand? What about the treasure of your time and talent? Remember: to those who are given much (earthly wealth, beauty, talent, ability, brains, etc.) much (more!) is expected. All the ‘treasure’ you have comes from God, and is a gift from God to be shared, developed and re-gifted for the Kingdom. That we know this, understand this, and live this, is what matters most to God, I believe…

We all share in the Father’s legacy of salvation and creation. Any negligence, or compromise or greed or waste on our part jeopardizes our relationship with Him—as any sin does. Our lives cannot be made secure by stuff.  Our life is in heaven and we do not enter heaven with stuff. The attitude of the “wealthy” is one of false security and self-sufficiency. (Vanity of vanities!) There is that old joke about the funeral director who attaches a u-haul to a casket in order for the deceased to take his stuff with him…

Last week we heard about the importance of persistence in prayer; this week it might be wise to apply this persistence to ponder and pray about what really matters to God: love in action for each other. I suspect His plans for us includes us growing rich in God’s sight: changing our selfish value systems, demanding economic justice for all, good stewardship of God’s Creation, sharing God’s grace, mercy, love, tolerance, patience and forgiveness to all we encounter in our every day lives. Because you never know when your life might be demanded of you. Now is the time to reconcile ourselves to God’s purpose, to our mission on earth. To what really matters: this is the wisdom of God!

Keep singing!

Elizabeth Dyc

Just a Note:   What also matters to God is that no matter what, you realize that you are loved.

In my Webster’s Dictionary under the definition for the word “persist” it says: “To take a stand, to stand firm (to go on resolutely or stubbornly in spite of opposition, importunity, or warning); to remain unchanged or fixed in a specific character, condition, or position; to be insistent in the repetition or pressing of an utterance (as a question); to continue to exist past a usual, expected, or normal time.” To persist is to persevere, to keep it up, to keep on, to carry on, and to stick with it. This is part of the advice Jesus gives His Disciples [and us] about prayer. He tells us to pray always and to be persistent.

​In the Old Testament reading today (the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time), Abraham keeps quizzing, keeps petitioning God about sparing the innocent people of Sodom instead of destroying all of the people (good and bad) together. He was persistent in his questioning, and God listened to his plea. We know that story’s outcome, but at least there was a possibility of saving any innocent people who might have been living in Sodom—thanks to Abraham’s persistence.

In the Gospel Jesus tells the parable about the persistence of a friend who needs something and Jesus says: “I tell you, if he (the home owner) does not get up to give the visitor the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.” This is the repetition or pressing of an utterance past the usual, normal time.

All of us who have had children know how they can wear us down with their persistence—“Mom. Mom. Mom…” Or we know about the energy of the young and why it is necessary to have someone to “hand off to” when dealing with children, in order to take a turn at rest from them. Their persistence in trying to get what they want is amazing and exhausting!

When I think of persistence, I think of practice. Trying to work out a difficult musical passage takes persistence—you have to keep at it, working the bits into a whole in order to be able to play/sing some difficult musical phrase. You have to stick with it, not give up, to carry on, to persevere in order to achieve the wanted result.

​The other part of today’s Gospel story about prayer refers to our personal relationship with God, the Father: He is our divine parent! Our relationship to God has an intimacy demonstrated by Jesus in His prayer today (the Lord’s Prayer), in calling our Creator “Father.” We are the children of a loving and bountiful God, who provides daily bread, forgiveness of sins, and eternal salvation.

Our dependence on God never ends, and our prayer must be as persistent and constant as is our dependence on Him. We understand that the “daily bread” is for the Eucharist and the eternal banquet in heaven, and that (God’s) forgiveness is needed to enter in⎯and may be in response to the forgiveness we extend to others. We are all in the midst of the “time of trial,” and we are given what is needed to persevere by the Holy Spirit to persist, to keep and carry on.

“And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” We know the Father is eager for us to receive all good gifts, and so confidently we ask, persistently we seek, and with blessed assurance we knock. We may find as we persist in our prayers that they change from petition to praise; from appeal to thanksgiving, “For the kingdom, the power and the glory are Yours, now and forever.”

Keep singing!

​Elizabeth Dyc

Just a Note:   Here are two versions of the Lord’s Prayer being sung and prayed.