Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand...
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?...
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
What will you do, with your one wild and precious life?
A guy comes up to Jesus, and says, "Teacher, my father has just died, and my older brother is not sharing the inheritance with me. Tell him to share the inheritance." Jesus says to the man, "I am not a judge over you and your brother; there is nothing I can do." Then Jesus uses that moment to teach everyone around them. "Be on your guard," he says, "against all kinds of greed, because life does not consist of the abundance of possessions."
Life does not consist of the abundance of possessions. Pretty countercultural. Then Jesus goes on-- Once upon a time, there was a guy who had a lot of stuff. He had so much stuff—he was a farmer and he had silos full of grain, he had barns full of motorcycles and ATVs and tractors, he had an amazing amount of stuff. One day he looks at all of this, and thinks to himself, I don't have enough room for all of this! I need to build more barns. So he decided to build more barns, and he thought, well, when I get these barns built, and I have room for all my stuff, then I'll be able to eat, drink, and be merry. That night he died. His stuff wasted away. He didn't get to eat, or drink, or be merry. Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, because life is not your stuff!
Jesus continues. Stop worrying. Stop it! Stop worrying about what you're going to eat, about whether you're going to have enough food; stop worrying about what you're going to wear; stop worrying about the sub-prime lending market; stop worrying about the stock market, your retirement, health care- stop worrying! Stop!
Which one of you, by worrying, has added even one hour to your life? Not one of you. Consider the ravens of the air-- they don't worry, they don't labor, they have enough stuff. The flowers in the field, so incredibly beautiful-- they wither and die; and they are nothing in God's sight compared to you. So stop worrying.
You don't have to labor or worry for the kingdom of heaven; it's right here. It is God's good pleasure to give you the kingdom of heaven. That's one of the things that I love about Mary Oliver's poem. There is this simplicity in her poem, in just being in this field, and knowing that being in a field and paying attention is enough to experience the kingdom of heaven. She doesn't need anything more. The kingdom of heaven is here, and now.
Jesus continues. So, sell your stuff. Give the proceeds to the poor. Where your treasure is, that is where your heart will be. In the Gospels, Jesus talks about many things—prayer, love, forgiveness; but more than anything else, Jesus talks about our money and our possessions. More, even, then he talks about love. Why do you think that is?
I think it is because Jesus knows the power that our stuff, that our money, our possessions, and our anxiety about our stuff, holds over us. Jesus knows the grip that our stuff has on us. I can be so distracted by thinking about what I wish I had!
Last weekend I was at a friend’s house in Napa. He is a wealthy farmer, a vineyard owner, and he has lots of barns. In his barns he had ATVs, and motorcycles, and he collected cars, and he had real pinball machines and video games-- it was amazing! My kids and I had the greatest time. But all I was thinking as I was leaving was how I needed that stuff. Then, I was missing out on the kingdom of heaven all this week because I was thinking about how I needed that stuff! And when I'm not thinking that I would be happier if I had some of that stuff, I'm worrying about what's going to happen to the stuff that I do have. So I end up missing the kingdom of heaven that's right here, in front of me. I just don't see it.
It's God's good pleasure for us to enjoy the kingdom of heaven, but we don't see it, so Jesus has to tell us again, and again, and again—Life doesn't consist of your stuff!
Now, the good news is, the great news, is that Jesus gives us the solution. And this time, what he says isn't vague or ambiguous. It's not like the time that Jesus says to love your neighbor. We can spend a lot of time trying to figure out what that means! It's not even about forgiving someone; it's not even about praying. The solution is simple, concrete.
What Jesus says is, give stuff away. Be generous. Give stuff away. That's it. It is that simple—give stuff away. Jesus wants us to give stuff away for two reasons. One is, if I'm focused on holding tightly on to my stuff, and actually wanting to add to my pile, if I give some of that stuff away, and I realize that when I give stuff away that I don't die, and in fact my sense of life is not diminished at all, then I am even closer to the kingdom of heaven. I become more alive as I give stuff away. I'm not less; I am more. Then, stuff and my anxiety about stuff diminishes. It loses its power, it loses its grip on me, when I give stuff away.
But that's not the only thing, and it's not even the biggest thing. In this Gospel passage, Jesus says, "Where your treasure is, that's where your heart is going to be." Now, because I'm not as smart as Jesus, I'm going to put my treasure where my heart already is. But what Jesus is saying is, if I want to train my heart, my heart will follow where my treasure goes. My heart will follow my stuff.
If I invest a lot of money today in the stock market, then I know that all this coming week the first thing that I'm going to be doing in the morning is watching the market. My heart is going to go there. Last weekend in Napa, I invested my attention in all of these toys, and all I could think about all this past week was these toys. My heart is so fickle, it will follow my stuff.
So, all you have to do, if you want your heart to be in the kingdom of heaven, is to give stuff away. Be generous. Then, your heart will be invested in this life of generosity. The kingdom of heaven is found in this room. It is found in the relationships that we have. It is found in the interdependence we have between one another, and not merely between one another here in this room, or in our families, but also with those who aren't here. With those who are hungry, with those who are lonely. And if we are generous toward them, that is where our hearts will be! The kingdom of heaven will blossom inside of us.
Don't give where your heart already is; give to where you want your heart to be. Don't give based on how much you care; give based on how much you want to care. Think of the person that you want to be, and give like that person would.
A few weeks ago I was having dinner with a friend. She's one of those people whom I know will always be closer to the kingdom of heaven than I. She understands how the kingdom works. She's a person close to my own age who has never been a homeowner, and she was about to buy her first home. She was having a hard time with it, because along with becoming a property owner, there is all of the stuff that you have to get if you are going to own a home. She said that she was wrestling with this property ownership and how that related to her own core values—namely, to hold onto things lightly, and to hold on to people tightly, and to be generous.
I was blown away. If I were more spiritually advanced, it would not have been such a shock, but as it was I was blown away. I've never thought of generosity as a core value. For me, retiring well is a core value, and then generosity is what I have left over after I've taken care of the core value. But for her, generosity itself is the core value. Holding on to people tightly and things lightly is a core value, because life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. Where your treasure is, whether it's in your stuff, or in people, that's where your heart will be.
So tell me—what is it that you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? Amen.