This weeks readings are all about the difference between the rich and the poor. The first time I had to preach on this subject I was very worried..the people on the Roseland are famous for being rich...who was I to burst their bubble?
In the old days if you were born poor you stayed poor by and large. Education and social mobility has changed all that.
I was born into an extremely poor family. Both parents worked but dad's wages were spent on drink...mum kept us going but I wore clogs to school and even they were in poor repair . Food was good at the weekends tailing down to bread and jam on weekdays.
Now by anyone's standards we are rich. Not super rich but comfortable, able to live in a lovely home and take wonderful holidays. So according to this weeks gospel David and I are not going to get into heaven...camels through needle eyes stand a better chance.
The congregation I will be preaching to this Sunday will be in simliar situations. Tread carefully I tell myself.
Those who are old and live on Final salary pensions are by today's standards very lucky indeed...we may be the last generation of affluent pensioners. But we did work hard for it.
If you've become rich by being greedy and by hurting other people then maybe this passage applies to you. .Helping those people who are not as fortunate as ourselves , paying our taxes , being thankful for everything we have got.....these are the main ingredients of living a good life I think....
Good luck with the camels Lord. They can bite!
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1 comment:
I've always thought that trying to get a Camel through the eye of a needle would be a bit difficult, they'd need to be reduced to a microcosm, probably in pourable form :(
But I suspect that we are indeed fortunate to retire on a reasonable pension (I have two as I retired twice).
But, even on these pensions, living where I do, it is quite expensive and costs keep piling on. I just thank God for the blessing of the security that pensions give us.
It seems to me that most people are comfortable will also be among those who also give to help others. They can afford to tithe their incomes a bit to that effect. I try to do so and many others in our church do.
We have a Trio - DBF coming to the Parish this Sunday to talk about giving and where the money goes. I wonder how many will turn up for it?
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