Tuesday 31 August 2010

14th Sunday after Pentecost 29 Aug 2010 Sermon

14th Sunday after Pentecost 29.8.10 Total trust

When the earthquake happened in Haiti in January this year a local source said that in terms of religion Haiti was so many percent Catholic and so many per cent Protestant, but 100% Voodoo!

No doubt an exaggeration, but it has been a problem for the Church in many parts of the world that the Catholics in those places often hold another religion (and by necessity a false one) alongside of the Catholic religion. It is hard to convince people to give up something that has been part of their culture for a long time.

It can be a problem right here in Australia too, where it may not be voodoo but we are tempted to put our faith in other things besides God – perhaps money, insurance, friends, superstition, ... fate, destiny, the luck of the draw...one’s own abilities, working harder...

The thing we all have to learn is that we cannot improve on God. There is one God and only one. Every other ‘god’ is a false one. To try to work in other gods with the real God is to gild the lily, to try to improve something which is already perfect.

Today’s Gospel about lilies in the field tells us plainly to have trust in God alone, and reminds us how helpless we are to change things from how He ordains them.

But if we do trust Him we will receive everything we need for our welfare and enjoy great security as we go.

How comforting this passage is and yet how hard for us to live by this principle.

We are always tempted to try some other angle besides prayer, faith, and trust. Just a little improvement. I am sure God has my welfare at heart but just in case He forgets I will try a little of my own initiative.

So we tell a few lies; we cheat at business a little bit; we look to our own welfare in a way that seems wise to us, but actually if we disobey God in any of these details we are making things worse.

It amounts to going to false gods if we look anywhere else than to Him.

We are allowed to - and supposed to - exercise human wisdom and industry in terms of working for our bread, making plans for the future.

If you insure your house it does not mean you lack trust in God. If you seek a career which will likely provide you with a steady income that does not mean you doubt God will provide.
He uses these things to give us our daily bread over a longer term.

However the false part would be if we place total reliance on these things and never pray to God for His help.

I could be rich through business acumen and think that I do not need God, but I still need His help to maintain the economy that makes me rich. We see if the stock market crashes that wealth can be wiped out suddenly. Or one’s health can collapse, or war could break out etc.

So we do need God no matter how secure or clever we might think ourselves. And thus we turn to Him in the simplicity of the birds of the air and ask that He feed us.

And we remove from our houses all the good luck charms and new age trinkets and anything bearing a trace of a false religion. And we resolve to be honest in business and in speaking and living the truth.

We cannot improve on God; we can improve our relationship with Him; draw closer to Him and come to a more secure faith in Him.

This is what Our Lord is telling us to do today and He will help this to happen as He feeds us with Bread from Heaven.

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