Sunday 31 July 2022 – The Seventh Sunday after Trinity

Collect
Lord of all power and might,
the author and giver of all good things:
graft in our hearts the love of your name,
increase in us true religion,
nourish us with all goodness,
and of your great mercy keep us in the same;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen

Ecclesiastes 1. 2, 12-14;2.18-23
Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

I, the Teacher, when king over Israel in Jerusalem, applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to human beings to be busy with. I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me —and who knows whether they will be wise or foolish? Yet they will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.

So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labours under the sun,
because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.

What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun?
For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest.
This also is vanity.

Colossians 3. 1-11
A Reading from the Letter of St Paul to the Colossians
If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth,
for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry).

On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life. But now you must get rid of all such things—anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free;
but Christ is all and in all!

Luke 12. 13-21
Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.”
But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly.
And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’

Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

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Reflection

Eccl 12. 1.2, 12 – 14; 2. 18 -23

This teaching from the Preacher is another difficult text. What’s the point?
Speaking of the meaninglessness of life he uses the word hevel which means breath or breeze, something ephemeral or even deceiving.

It reminds me of the dandelion seed head – gone in a puff of wind.

The Preacher is talking of the frustrations of everyday life and of human weakness – corruption, hardship, injustice – with which we are all too familiar. But also he speaks of futility, absurdity, impermanence. Here again is mystery. There are limits to our wisdom and understanding. We are not in control.

The same warnings are given in the Gospel parable (Luke 12. 16 – 21).

Such questions and worries all concern our life on earth now – the short term. What then is really meaningful? An answer is offered by St Paul (Colossians 3. 1 – 2).