Pew Sheet, Sunday the 3rd of August 2025 Seventh Sunday after Trinity / Proper 13

In our Old Testament reading this week, we hear the writer’s frustration that his search for worldly wisdom and earthly pursuits has come to nothing. The book’s supposed author, King Solomon, is believed to have written it towards the end of his long reign (c970 to 931 BC) which was initially marked by his great wisdom and military success in extending the territory of his father’s kingdom, and building the Jerusalem temple, one of the most extravagant and beautiful in the ancient world. Solomon’s reign soon became mired in political and religious controversy however, when he started allowing his foreign wives and concubines to worship their own gods, which caused outrage, and led to his being unpopular at the end of his life. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon reflects that all his successes are meaningless, and do little to satisfy the deep longing of his soul as he realises in old age, that he has spent his entire life striving to achieve things which do not ultimately satisfy, and has paid too little attention to the most important thing of all, his relationship with, and obedience to God. In a sense, Solomon is like the rich man in the story which Jesus tells in Luke 12, in which a man has spent his whole life striving for worldly wealth (with which Solomon was blessed in great measure), only to ignore those things which will stand him in good stead for all eternity.

It seems strange that one who had spent seven years of his life and expended so much money and effort building a temple for the one true God evaluated his life’s achievements so negatively. Yet Solomon realises quite belatedly, that his greed, his lust, and his striving for earthly wealth and power have blinded him to his spiritual poverty, even while surrounded by evidence of a lifetime’s achievements. In a sense, despite his supposed wisdom, he has led an impoverished life, but rather than following his father’s example and repenting of his sins, he dwells instead in self-pity and remorse. This is why in Colossians, Paul calls us to set our hearts on things above - where Christ is, so that our lives are lived with an eternal, rather than an earthly purpose, and we seek God’s priorities rather than our own, for idolatry is not just the worship of golden calves or foreign gods, but can be seen in materialism, careerism, endless approval seeking, and even in religious pride or ill-founded religiosity.

The things we spend our time, our money, and our energy on show better than anything else what our lives’ priorities are. Are they mere vanities, or are we truly setting our minds – and our efforts – on those things which are above

and have eternal value? Only we can truly answer that question for ourselves, but it is a question best asked sooner rather than later if we are not to look back with regret, as Solomon did in his old age, and appraise them so pitifully in the light of eternity, only to feel that our lives, like his, have largely been wasted.

Collect

Generous God,
You give us gifts and make them grow.
Though our faith is as small as a mustard seed,
Make it grow to your glory and the flourishing of your kingdom,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Ecclesiastes 1:2; 12-14; 2:18-23

Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

I, the Teacher, when king over Israel in Jerusalem, applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to human beings to be busy with. I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me – and who knows whether they will be wise or foolish? Yet they will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labours under the sun, because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom, and knowledge, and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun? For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.

Colossians 3:1-11

So, if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. These are the ways
you also once followed, when you were living that life. But now you must get rid of all such things—anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!

Luke 12:13-21

Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.”

Post Communion Prayer

Lord God, whose Son is the true vine and the source of life,
Ever giving himself that the world may live:
May we so receive within ourselves the power of his death and passion that,
In his saving cup, we may share his glory, and be made perfect in his love,
For he is alive and reigns, now and forever.

Next week’s activities:

Most of our usual midweek activities are taking a break in August and will resume next month, but please check with the churchwardens for more info.

Monday (Jean-Baptiste Vianney, Curé d’Ars, Spiritual Guide, 1859)

Tuesday (Oswald, King of Northumbria, Martyr, 642)

Wednesday (The Transfiguration of our Lord)

Thursday (John Mason-Neale, Priest, Hymn Writer, 1866)

Friday (Dominic, Priest, Founder of The Order of Preachers, 1221)

Saturday (Mary Sumner, Founder of the Mother’s Union, 1921)

Pastoral Care: Phone 07305 271 148 or email [email protected]