Sirach 35:12-17
Psalm 84:1-6
2 Timothy 4:6-8,
16-18
Luke 18:9-14
It is
undoubtedly expected that on one’s return from holiday, one will have stories
to tell, and as I traveled through England and Wales in the last four weeks, I paid
close attention to places and events, looking always for the story, the place,
to share with you on my return. So, this
morning I’d like to take you to the east of England, an area known commonly as
East Anglia. It encompasses well known
places like Cambridge and Norwich, less known places like Castle Acre with its
ruined castle and Cluniac priory, and even lesser know places like Little
Snoring and Great Snoring, two small and – appropriately so – sleepy villages near
the north Norfolk coast. More
specifically I’d like to take you to the great catheral of Ely. A fair part of East Anglia is flat land,
and up until the 17th century was full of watery marshes. Commonly called the Fens, in the Middle Ages the
area was hardly the best place to the construct large buildings or towns. Nevertheless, it was on this shaky, marshy
ground that St Etheldreda established the monastery which would eventually
became Ely Catheral. Of all the places
she could have chosen, Ely made little sense.
In fact, Ely was actually an island and its name was derived from the
very creatures which dwelt in its surrounding waters; it was then known as the Isle
of Eels. All this being true, why did St
Etheldreda chose this spot? She choose
it because she felt she was called there by God as she wandered through the
area. Her conviction trumped any of the more
“practical” considerations; and after her death, a much larger church was
impractically built to house her remains and shrine. This was built primarily of stone quarried
and brought from some 50 miles away. Of
course at the time this would have a huge distance, particularly when one
considers the amount of stone which the building required. Through the years additions and repairs were
made, most notably when the central tower collapsed. To rebuild it new engineering was developed, always
with an eye to further beautifying the building, and always to the glory of
God. Today the building’s total length
is some 537 feet and at its highest point, the west tower, measures 215
feet. It soars over the surrounding flat
country, hence it is commonly called the “Ship of the Fens.” However, the really amazing detail in all
this, is that it is all built on a foundation of only six feet. The marshy, watery ground forbids anything
deeper. Still, it stands. Its building wasn’t the most logical or
financially feasible course to take all those years ago, but still it was the
sacredness of the spot and not the financial implications which governed the
decision.
This
morning we listened to the choir sing about another equally improbable place of
worship, the Temple at Jerusalem: “How dear to me is your dwelling, O
LORD of hosts! My soul has a desire and
longing for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God.” (Psalm 84:1) For the psalmist, the Temple is the center of
the world in which all creation can find shelter, and which provides sustenance
in the desert. Yet, thinking more
practically, if safety and shelter is what the early Hebrews longed for, why
did they settle on Jerusalem as a principle city. It is one of the very few, if not the only,
ancient city built on a spot without a river.
It is hilly and rocky. Again,
bringing to the city the building materials for this magnificent structure –
and doing so twice, since the Temple was destroyed at the time of the
Babylonian Captivity – bringing the materials was not an easy task. It was not for straightforward reasons that
the place to found the city and build the Temple was chosen; rather, it was a
commitment to an experience as a people, and the city’s special connection with
King David, as well as the sacred history of Judaism, for example it was
believed that the Temple mount was the place that Abraham almost sacrificed his
son Isaac. Lots of other places might
have made more sense, and certainly been a lot cheaper, a lot less complicated.
Now,
I tell you these two stories because I think they give the lie to a generally
accepted premise among many people – that money is the bottom line. Certainly, a lot of people will tell you, a
lot of people tell me, that at the end of the day money is in fact the bottom
line. However, I disagree. Money is not the bottom line. The bottom line
is what you spend your money on. Once
again, because it bears repeating: Money is not the bottom line; the bottom
line is what you spend your money on. How
you spend your money is more telling than
how much money you have. Think
about it for a moment, what gets the lion’s share of your resources, what gets
the bulk of your income? Whatever that
is, that is your bottom line; as
Jesus himself reminds his followers, “For where your treasure is, there your
heart will be also.” (Luke 12:34)
Wherever we put most of our treasure marks out what we most value. Be honest, what is for you? Your home?
Your children? Your vacation? Your car? Your relationships? Your
emotional well-being? Your church? Where do each of these fit in your schema of
priorities, and what does the schema say about your own bottom line? When we come to think about our stewardship,
it is important to bear this in mind and ask what our contribution to the life
and work of our church says about our own bottom line, about what we really
value.
What
is true for individuals is true also for communities, and as we look to end our
stewardship campaign our finance committee will soon begin to think about
drawing up a budget for the coming year; and here we too we will have to think
about our bottom line. I hope that we
can be honest about our bottom line, whatever that may be. At the same time, I want to believe that our
bottom line will be about more than just paying the bills – important though
that may be. I hope it will be led my a
vision greater than merely getting by, that it will be guided by where God is
calling us, and not just where we think we should go or want to go. Like St Etheldreda, I hope we will be willing
to a lay a foundation on the right place, the holy place, and not just the safe
or convenient place.
Built
on marshy ground, but making the glory of God and obedience to God’s call the
bottom line, Ely Cathedral still stands on that same marshy ground of the Fens. Even the Temple, while destroyed, still
stands in the religious consciousness as a symbol of God’s abiding presence
among human beings. Both remain in their
own way, because at some point in history someone was inspired by an extraordinary
bottom line, and it was to this that they devoted their resources. There is always a bottom line. It’s not money, but it’s what we you give
your money to. It’s whatever you give
your treasure to. That to which we give
little, we value little. It really is as
simple as that. Where your treasure is,
there’s you heart, that’s your bottom line.
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