Year C, Ordinary 18 (Proper 13, P+8), 2019 – Storage Space

More Than Hearing

Hey everyone! We’re back from two weeks of vacation and right in the middle of Vacation Bible School! Our timing is questionable. Yet, we are ready to go with some illustrations and special effects for Ecclesiastes 1-2, Psalm 49, Colossians 3, and Luke 12. Three years ago, we looked at the Epistle and Gospel lessons for this day, and you can always go there and take a look at what we did with them.

The passages below all speak to how we make space in our hearts for God. Jesus states this explicitly in Luke – “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” The Psalmist is more pragmatic about life and death: “When we look at the wise, they die; fool and dolt perish together and leave their wealth to others.” Qoholeth tends toward pessimism and that everything is “chasing after the wind.” Colossians is the hopeful passage this week when Paul states that our lives are “hidden in Christ.” We have many paths from which to choose for sermons and liturgy.

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Smarts of the Week [01:58]

This week, we are concentrating on NATURE and SELF smart. As always, you can click our links at the top right corner of the page for resources about all the intelligences. Our worksheets are available for download, too!

NATURE Smart – [02:55]Download

SELF Smart – [03:55]Download

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Texts for the Week

Luke 12:13-21 – [06:03]

NATURE smart is not obviously present in this passage except for the wealthy man’s delight at an abundant crop from his fields. This got me to wondering what kind of crop it might have been, which led me to a few different websites with some really fascinating information about food production in our world. This may seem like a strange tangent, but if you update the story to include modern cash crops, you can see why the rich man was so eager to enlarge storage – he was now very rich!

For SELF smart, the question put to Jesus at the beginning of the passage struck David as a bit passive aggressive and a text-book case of triangulating. These approaches elicit responses in other people, so encourage your congregation to think about how they feel when someone tries this with them. Also, Jesus immediately identifies the reason behind the question and responds with this story about priorities.

• NATURE smart – [07:52]
  • a list of the ten crops that feed the world
  • National Geographic has an interactive map with the geographical location of production for these foods.
  • The Environmental Literacy Council has some recommended resources and links to treaties and farm bills.
  • According to Visual Capitalist, the most lucrative cash crop is marijuana.
  • The Food and Drug Administration has tips for safe food storage.
  • I also found an updated Tupperware system called Silo. Tupperware still exists!
  • Alan’s Factory Outlet has 15 tips for storing food in a shed.
• SELF smart – [12:22]
  • Here’s a brief article about the passive aggressive question the man asked Jesus from Psychology Today.
  • Here’s a little bit about triangulation at wikipedia.

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Colossians 3:1-11 – [15:26]

For SELF smart, give your congregation some tools to aid contemplation. David has a few links below that could help people focus their attention to “things that are above” in contrast to “things that are on earth.” A first step would be to define the two and make comparisons.

I didn’t think there would be anything for NATURE smart until I got to verse 9 where Paul talks about stripping off the old. It made me think of leaves falling off trees in the fall. Plants will drop leaves for a variety of reasons, not just seasonal changes. To illustrate Paul’s point about removing from our lives (and hearts and minds) the old habits of yesterday, bring in some fall leaves and talk about how it is necessary for the health of a tree to let go of them. This might help get you into a SELF smart meditation, too!

• SELF smart – [16:30]
  • Here is a meditation on vs. 12-14, which is next week, but it will give you an idea of the form.
  • Here is a meditation on visualization from ChristAudio.com
  • Here is a meditation from Encounter on vs. 2.
• NATURE smart – [19:31]
  • plants will abscise or cut away parts of themselves
  • leaf drop can signal a problem with a plant

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Psalm 49:1-12 – [22:28]

Again, I wasn’t sure I was going to find anything to hook NATURE smart people until the end of the psalm selection where humans and animals are connected by mortality. Are we also connected by an awareness of our mortality? I found a link to an article at Psychology Today that considers the possibility.

In SELF smart, ask your congregation to think about the way we are so prone to use euphemisms for death. Why do we do this? And how do we react when the subject comes up? The psalmist is very pragmatic about death; it’s going to happen to everyone and even the animals will not escape this fate. Is this attitude helpful or not?

• NATURE smart – [23:38]
  • Do animals have an awareness of their own mortality?
  • bios life vs. zoe life
• SELF smart – [25:51]

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Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23 – [30:44]

Continuing with the theme of death and the futility of getting away from it, for SELF smart help your congregation think about the options we have available to us to deal with the inevitability of death. Check out the worksheet for some options David lines up. Also, is our certainty of resurrection sometimes a “cheat” when we talk about death? Do we use this promise as a way of avoiding the topic? Give your people a chance to emulate Shakespeare and write a soliloquy a la Hamlet.

I think Qoholeth may have been less jaded about “chasing after the wind” if he had known about the wind chasers in South Africa! Or the people who run up the Himalayas! For a NATURE smart special effect, bring in a small(ish) kite and a fan. Set the kit aloft and then have someone else move the fan or even turn it off for a second or two to demonstrate the capricious nature of air currents.

• SELF smart – [32:00]
  • soliloquies and ponderings from Hamlet – “To be, or not to be” and “Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio….”
• NATURE smart – [36:18]
  • Would Qoheleth been so sour if he had known about this kind of wind chasing?
  • Wind chasing is also running around in the Himalayas
  • A quick Google search for “working in the sun” returned so many articles and tips that I’m just going to link to that page

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Photo credit: viteethumb at 123rf.com. Used by permission.

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