The Gospel -Matthew 25:31-46
Homily by the Rev. Dr. David Smith
This is the last day of the Christian year. Next Sunday marks the beginning of Advent. Our annual journey through the liturgical calendar begins anew. Like any new year, it is time to reflect and plan. To assess who we are, where we have been and where we want to go.
Paramount on everyone’s mind of course is the economy, and as we begin to plan for our next year as a parish family, the economy will be part of the planning. One of the dangers of terrible economic times is that we have a tendency to become insular; to protect our assets, to hold tightly to what we have for fear of losing everything. But during days of economic crisis, the church needs to do just the opposite.
We Christians need to be looking around to see where we can help, rather than figuring out how best to hold on to what we have. God’s economy and human economy work very differently. God has given humankind all the resources we need to live. There is plenty of food to feed everyone in the world. There are plenty of resources to assure everyone has housing and medical care. Our planet and human resources are more than enough, and it is God’s will that we distribute them.
However, it is our tendency to hoard rather than distribute, to accumulate rather than give away. Interestingly enough, those who dedicate themselves to distribution usually find they have more than they know what to do with because the more they give away the more God provides so that much more will be given away. God is funny like that.
So, as we consider how much we will offer to God from our resources this year, we might want to consider God’s economy rather than our own.