Revd Sara's Reflections - w/c 3rd August 2025

Revd Sara’s Reflection Sunday August 3^rd 2025

Bible Reading: Luke 12:13-21

Responding in music

Before you read this reflection on the Bible passage, you might like to sit and listen to (or sing along with) either or both of these hymns. If you have access to a copy of Singing the Faith, you could read the words as you listen.

How do they speak to you today?

545 STF – Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart 

615 STF – Let love be real, in giving and receiving

In today’s gospel reading from Luke chapter 12, Jesus responds to a man’s request about dividing an inheritance with a story that cuts right to the heart of how we live and what we value. He tells the parable of a rich man whose land yields so abundantly that he builds bigger barns to store it all. His future seems secure; he says to himself, “you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God calls him a fool, because that very night his life will end and his treasures will mean nothing. Jesus concludes with a challenge: “So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

This parable is not a condemnation of wealth itself, but of misplaced trust and disordered priorities. The rich man’s mistake is not that he had a good harvest, it is that he imagined security, purpose, and meaning could be found in accumulation alone. He thought life was about having, rather than being—about storing up, rather than sharing. For those of us who seek to follow Jesus in an open-hearted, justice-focused way, this parable asks tough but essential questions: Where do we find our security? What are we building our lives around? Are we focused only on our own comfort, or are we using what we have to serve others, to build community, to create a more just and loving world?

Jesus invites us into a different way of living—a life rich not in possessions, but in compassion. A life where grace is the currency, and generosity is the measure of abundance. This kind of richness looks like lifting others up, investing in relationships, and working for the good of our neighbours, especially those whom society leaves behind. At the same time, the parable reminds us of life’s fragility. It is a call to live with urgency and intention, not putting off love or justice until some far-off “someday!” because someday is not guaranteed. What we do with our time, our resources, our hearts, matters now. So today, reflect on these questions: • What “barns” am I tempted to build – places where I hoard security How might God be inviting me to live more generously, to become “rich toward God” by sharing grace, time, resources, and love?

If today were my last, what legacy of compassion would I want to leave? Discipleship, Jesus shows us, is not about gathering more for ourselves, but giving more of ourselves. Not about building bigger barns, but building deeper relationships. Not about chasing what fades, but investing in what lasts: love, justice, kindness, peace. May we, in every choice we make, seek to be rich not in what we own, but in what we give, and find our truest security in the grace and love of God

love and prayers

Revd Sara