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Sermon September 25, 2022
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, MSW
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
16th Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 21, Track 2
https://lectionarypage.net/YearC_RCL/Pentecost/CProp21_RCL.html#ot2
Audio: /documents/Eucharist__September_25__2022
Video: https://youtu.be/HkqIgMx2iyU
…for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. 1 Timothy 6:7-8
Please be seated
Have you heard about Yvon Chouinard? Mr. Chouinard is the founder of the outdoor clothing company Patagonia. In a recent article the New York Times described him as an “eccentric rock climber who became a reluctant billionaire with his unconventional spin on capitalism.” That’s right…a reluctant billionaire.
His friend Tom Brokaw has taken many hiking, kayaking and outdoor trips with Mr. Chouinard and recently wrote how when Chouinard comes to visit in New York, he often brings his sleeping bag and sleeps on the couch.
Mr. Chouinard is now 83 and thinking about what to do with his company. He’s very concerned about the environment and climate change. So he forced his top advisers to find a way to use the profits of this very successful company to support efforts to combat climate change and protect undeveloped land around the world.
What they came up with is a Trust and a nonprofit. The voting shares of the company owned by the family, approximately 2%, have been transferred to the Trust. The purpose of the Trust is to make sure Patagonia is run as a socially responsible company and gives away its profits to projects that address climate change. Lest you think this was a strategy to avoid paying taxes, by donating to a trust, the family paid $17.5 million in taxes.
The remaining shares, which are common shares, were donated to a newly organized nonprofit, called the Holdfast Collective. It is a 501(c)(4) rather than a 501(c)(3), so it can make unlimited contributions to political efforts. The family received no tax deduction for this transfer of the common shares.
All in all, the family is making sure that all of the company’s profits, nearly $100 million a year, go to this effort.
As Mr. Chouinard said in a recent interview,
“Hopefully this will influence a new form of capitalism that doesn’t end up with a few rich people and a bunch of poor people. We are going to give away the maximum amount of money to people who are actively working on saving this planet.”
In another statement made after he’d made the Forbes list of billionaires, Mr. Chouinard said,
“I was in Forbes magazine listed as a billionaire, which really, really pissed me off,” he said. “I don’t have $1 billion in the bank. I don’t drive Lexuses.”
In other words, Mr. Chouinard does not have a love of money. He certainly has a love for this beautiful earth.
In our readings today, we once again hear about wealth and how our wealth can blind us to the suffering and plight of others.
Earlier this week, I was reading about the time of Amos. At one point in time, the people farmed the land and could support themselves. If they had more than they needed, they could sell it and earn some money. Any land left fallow for a time was used by herders to graze the sheep and other livestock.
Then the King decided that the farmers should grow only crops that could be easily sold and traded to other countries. This set up a system where the farmers could no longer support their families and ended up in much debt. The herders had nowhere to graze their animals. While the arrangement seemed to work well for the King; it created much poverty among the people. And God spoke through Amos.
In the letter to Timothy, we hear about how the love of money is the root of all evil. We are cautioned about extreme wealth and its consequences for the community.
In our Gospel, Jesus illustrates how often we ignore those living in poverty, who could easily live off the “crumbs from our table.” How often the rich man walks right by Lazarus, who had sores the even the digs would come and lick. What an awful existence. Yet, the rich man does nothing to ease the suffering of Lazarus. In the story, the rich man is tormented after death, while Lazarus is comforted in the presence of Abraham. The roles are reversed. Now the rich man is truly tormented and regrets how he lived. He wants to warn the rest of his family, but Abraham says they already have received warning enough.
And so we too have Moses and the prophets. As we discern and pray about how we will participate in the life of our parish during 2023, we can take stock of our personal lives and our life together.
Are our actions relieving the suffering of our neighbors or increasing it?
Are there people we ignore, walking right by them while the dogs lick their sores?
Are we so in love with money that we are in danger of being evil?
Do we love this earth and the creatures, insects, and plants that were created by God and who sustain us and make life possible?
How do our actions of giving our time, talent and treasure demonstrate our love God, our neighbor and this earth?
We may not have billions to give away and with whatever we have may we be generous and Jesus-like.
Amen
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/14/climate/patagonia-climate-philanthropy-chouinard.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/20/opinion/patagonia-yvon-chouinard-tom-brokaw.html
