Preparing for Worship - July 31, 2022

The Scripture readings for this week cause us to think about our lives and what we are really focusing on as important. The Psalm is Psalm 100. The author is filled with joy, gladness, singing, thanksgiving, praise, and blessing, as he enters God’s house, because he remembers the goodness and steadfast love of God, who created His people and continues to care for them as His precious sheep.

In contrast, in Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14, and 2:18-26, the author of Ecclesiastes, most likely Solomon, is cynical and sees, even as king, a lot of “unhappy business” and vanity in life, like trying to catch the wind. He works hard and yet what he has built might go to someone who is a fool. There is much sorrow, and his heart cannot find rest. Yet he knows that only the hand of God can give him enjoyment and wisdom, as he seeks again to trust in and please Him.

In the Gospel lesson, Luke 12:13-21, Jesus warns about “covetousness” and focusing on the “abundance of one’s possessions.” He then tells a parable of a rich man who finally thinks he has “ample goods laid up for many years” and can just relax and enjoy himself. He was a “fool,” for he died that very night. “So it is,” Jesus said, for anyone who “lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

How can we be “rich toward God?” Our Epistle lesson, Colossians 3:1-11 tells us that by “setting our minds” on “Christ, who is our life” and our guarantee of our eternal future in heaven. Even in this life, “Christ is all and in all” believers, and He can help us live with our “new self” in Him and battle the old, sinful things in our lives that are hurtful to us and others, as we await His “appearance in glory.” 

The alternative Gospel lesson, for St. James, is Luke 23:26, 32-46, where we hear of how God’s plan of salvation was completed for us by the work of Christ on the cross. He prayed for the forgiveness of all our sins and earned that forgiveness for us by His sacrificial death in our place. Then, because His mighty resurrection was coming, He could also promise to the criminal and to all us who trust in Him, “You will be with me in Paradise.”