They don’t call it a rat race for nothing!  Life on a treadmill, constantly striving to earn more, buy more, get more, impress more…what does it get you in the end?  The ancient sage who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes concluded that it gets you nowhere!  All of this effort to produce and protect your wealth?  It’s meaningless.  It’s vanity.  It disappears with the wind when you die.  The writer of Ecclesiastes would go on to conclude that there is a better way than the rat race:  to be happy and do good while we live.  Eat, drink, find satisfaction in your toil—this is the gift from God.  Everything God does will endure forever.  Rest assured in that.

Although the writer of Ecclesiastes doesn’t use the word “contentment”, that’s what he’s describing, isn’t it?  Be satisfied with what you have.  Be happy.  Do good.  Trust God.  The writer of Ecclesiastes came to this epiphany after amassing great wealth, and indulging in every luxury available to him at the time.  Silver, gold, wine, food–he even tried having a harem!  But in the end he realized, none of that matters.  There is nothing better than to be happy and do good, and live in satisfaction and peace.

This ancient sage thought he would find contentment in having more.  But having more led to discontentment.  Adding wealth did not add value to his life.  I think all of us would love to have the opportunity to do our own personal research along these lines:  give me a million dollars, and I’ll let you know in a year or two if I’m any happier than before.  Would you like to try that experiment, too?

Unfortunately, I don’t know how we could go about getting ourselves into that kind of clinical trial.  But we can experiment with adding value to our lives in other ways.  Paul writes, “godliness with contentment is great gain”.  Did you ever consider adding value to your life by simply being content with what you have?

Paul is not talking about being content with things that really should be changed.  Last Saturday as I drove to help another United Methodist congregation with their disaffiliation discernment, I saw a church sign that said, “Are you satisfied in places where God is not?”  Paul urges us to leave behind our sinful ways, not be content in them!  The problem is, we are often content in areas of our lives where God wants us to change, and we are discontent with the things God wants to satisfy us.  Our marriages, houses, bank accounts, children, jobs, health—we are commonly discontent with all these things, but we feel fine about our selfishness and stubbornness!  Go figure.

Paul says if we can combine godliness with contentment—in other words, if we will seek first the kingdom of God while being content with what God has given us–that can add a lot of value to our lives!  Godliness with contentment is great gain.  If we were to experiment with cultivating discontentment with the things God isn’t satisfied with, and cultivating contentment everywhere else, we will have more peace and joy.  What do you think?

Today is All Saints Sunday, a day set aside on the church calendar to help us remember that we are not the first or only people on this quest.  We remember the loved ones who have passed on before us.  We remember the great cloud of witnesses—all the Christian souls who are together, urging us on, cheering for us and encouraging us from beyond as we are the body of Christ on earth.  We remember the mystical communion we have with God and with all people, living and dead and even not born yet, through Christ our Lord.  We may even especially remember today that small handful of people who made all the difference in our faith.

Today I find myself remembering my youth group leader, Fran Gore.  Mrs. Gore and her family owned a dairy farm.  She worked hard every day of her life, yet set aside Sunday as a true Sabbath.  She drove a wood paneled Jeep Cherokee long before SUV’s were trendy.  Hers was really a UV—no sport in it, all utility on the farm.  She prayed daily about the weather and her crops and her livestock and the price of milk per pound.   She never went to a fitness center, yet I’m sure she could bench press 200 pounds.  She was a strong woman, physically and spiritually.  Mostly what I remember about her is that she gave us her love.  She gave the kids in my church opportunities to ride horses and go on weekend retreats and learn to make homemade spaghetti sauce.  And she taught me to trust God.  She lived out this idea that godliness with contentment is great gain.  I imagine that for most of us, the special people who helped us grow in our faith embodied what Paul was thinking when he wrote, “godliness with contentment is great gain.”  There is nothing like remembering the saints to help give us perspective and strength to live wisely and well.

A few months ago I read an article in Guideposts magazine that I thought might be worth sharing on All Saints Day.  It was written by Francoise Malby Anthony who lives in South Africa. Everyone called her husband the Elephant Whisperer because he adopted a herd of nine “delinquent” elephants about to be put to death.  They were termed delinquent because they kept escaping from their protected habitat and roaming through populated areas.  This was very dangerous, and the authorities determined the elephants must be put down.  But Francoise’s husband Lawrence saw it differently.  He thought maybe the elephants kept wandering because they weren’t yet in their right home.

So he adopted the elephants and brought them to his game reserve, Thula Thula.  Night after night, Lawrence camped out with them, trying to earn their trust.  He talked and sang to them.  People in the community said he was crazy.  But little by little, the elephants took to Lawrence.  First the matriarch of the elephant herd, Nana, and then the rest.  They forged a deep bond.  The elephants stopped escaping and made Thula Thula their home.  The elephants were so content at Thula Thula, over the course of several years, their herd increased to 21.

But then something awful happened.  Lawrence, the elephant whisperer, died unexpectedly of a heart attack.  Franciose wrote that she was crushed by this blow and stayed in bed for two solid days.  Suddenly, she heard a lot of commotion.  Someone was yelling, “They’re here!”  She dragged herself downstairs and opened the front door.  Standing behind the fence that ran along the front of the house were 21 elephants!  They seemed edgy and distressed and stayed by the house for more than an hour.  They knew something was wrong.  Finally, they lined up one by one and, led by Nana the matriarch, made a solemn procession back into the bush.

Exactly one year to the day after Lawrence died, Nana again led the elephants in a procession to the house.  And the next year, and the next, on the anniversary of Lawrence’s death, they came again.  They mourned Lawrence as one of their own.  How did they know he had died?  How did they know to return on the exact anniversary of his death?  It is something beyond our ability to explain, except to say that Lawrence was their saint.  He gave of himself to give the elephants new life, and they never forgot.

People thought Lawrence was crazy at first for investing his money and time into this herd of wayward elephants.  But Lawrence felt a call to help.  Like Mrs. Gore, Lawrence’s love made a lasting impression.  They knew what Jesus said is true, that our life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.  It consists in an abundance of connection.

And connection is what All Saints Sunday is all about.  The writer of Ecclesiastes amassed great wealth, enjoyed every kind of creature comfort, but in the end, he wrote that it was all meaningless. The best we can do is to do good, enjoy life, and trust God.  The writer of Ecclesiastes felt connection with God could lead to contentment.  Paul goes expands on this philosophy and adds another layer: communion.  He wrote, “take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your confession of faith in Christ”.  While we have life on earth, we are developing connections that will last forever, and we call these eternal connections “communion”.  We have communion with God, with each other, and with all the saints.  There is something much bigger at work here—communion—a holy mystery.

Which is why I think Paul was able to write about contentment from prison.  Confined to an underground jail cell, Paul wrote, “I have learned to be content with whatever I have.  I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty.  In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need.  I can do all things through him who gives me strength.”  (Philippians 4:11-13)  Paul has learned contentment because he has felt the support of others who share in his struggles.  He knows that circumstances are fleeting.  His life does not consist in the abundance of possessions but in the abundance of connection.  Even alone in a dungeon, he is connected to Christ.  He is connected to all believers.  And this connection—this communion–is a mystery that sustains us and brings us joy.

Contentment stems from connection and communion.  Not from money.  Not from possessions.  Not from accomplishments.  We are not called to the rat race.  We are called to fight the good fight of the faith, and take hold of the eternal life offered to us in Christ.  We are called to make what really matters in the end, really matter to us now.

There’s an old joke I like to tell once in a while at funerals.  There was once a very rich man who had accumulated great wealth, and he was having a terrible time at the thought that, when he died, he would have to leave his great net worth here on earth.  So he began to pray about it.  He prayed and prayed, until finally, the Lord reached an agreement with the man.  He man could bring his wealth with him to heaven, on one condition.  Like the airlines, he would be permitted only one carry-on bag.  He could only bring one suitcase of money to heaven.

The man thought that over and decided it was better than nothing.  But he began to worry about what to put in the suitcase.  Would it be better to fill it with U.S. dollars?  British pounds?  Japanese yen?  Which one would have the greatest value in heaven?  Finally he decided that the best thing to do was to liquidate some of his investments into as much gold bullion as would fit in a suitcase.  That one suitcase of gold was worth millions of dollars, and the man was very pleased with his decision.

The day came when God called the man home.  St. Peter greeted him at the gate and said, “Welcome home, dear friend!”  But then St. Peter noticed the suitcase.  “What are you doing with that?”, St. Peter wanted to know.  “I’m bringing it in to heaven with me.”  The man explained his agreement with God. “That’s unusual,” said St. Peter.  “This has never happened before.  Mind if I take a look?”

The man opened the suitcase and proudly revealed his shining gold bullion worth millions of dollars. St. Peter scratched his head, amazed at what he saw.  “Pavement!” St. Peter exclaimed.  “Why in the world would you bring us pavement?”

If you’re looking for more contentment in your life, it’s not going to found in your next dollar earned, your next dollar saved, or your next dollar spent.  It’s going to be found in investing your life and your treasure in what matters, what lasts, what makes a difference.  Isn’t that what the saints you know have done?  May we be a people who come to know for ourselves that godliness with contentment is great gain.  Amen.

 

 

Benediction:  Paul wrote, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.”  What would it look like for you to cultivate contentment?  Would it lead to more generosity?  More joy?  More life???  We are called to fight the good fight of the faith, to make what really matters in the end, really matter now.  We don’t fight the good fight of the faith alone.  We are surrounded by a great could of witnesses, cheering us on!  They are witnesses to the fact that life does not consist in the abundance of possessions or wealth, but in the abundance of connection and communion.  Go in peace and serve your Lord.  Amen.