September 6, 2009 - Proper 18, Year B (RCL)
This week on the news
I saw reports on two houses for sale.
The first
was the Montauk retreat
of Bernie Madoff
It sits right on the beach, closer than planning regulations would allow nowadays,
a bluff behind it
and scrub all around
screening it
from prying eyes.
The reports say
that it’s a modest home,
a mere 3100 square feet,
modest by local standards,
four bedrooms,
with the original formica countertops
and 1980s decorating;
but it’s clear from the pictures
that the decor
wasn’t particularly important, not when you have the ocean
right outside,
and every room has an ocean view,
not when you have a deck
a third of the size of the house again,
and a swimming pool jutting from it
towards the sea.
But Madoff can no longer enjoy it;
he is serving a 150-year sentence in a medium security prison in Butner, North Carolina,
and the house is apparently listed for $8.75 million
in the hope of clawing back a small part of the wealth lost
by investors in his Ponzi scheme.
The second sale
was a 157 acre retreat in the in the high desert of Rodeo, New Mexico. It included a five bedroom home, two guest houses, a swimming pool, five or so aircraft hangers and a couple of runways. Plus a general store, cafe, and movie theater, a bunch of vintage airstream trailers and a fleet of antique cars for guests.
It all sold for just over a million dollars, a mere fraction of its reported value.
The seller was John McAfee
who developed McAfee computer antivirus software.
He made millions on that
and then pioneered instant messaging.
But the recession hit him
just as it has done many others,
and he finally decided that he needed to downsize.
And so he’s sold three of his five homes. And when asked about it he said,
"At one point, I had five houses in five different locations and it's impractical, it's almost insane to have that much real estate. You can only be in one place at a time."
He points out that we live in a consumer culture, where personal worth tends to be measured by what you own. If you’re able to buy things, you should - whether you need it or not.
In the last couple of years, his wealth has dropped from about about 100 million dollars to about ten million. And so he’s reversed the equation. Now he’s selling.
And even giving things away.
And he says that he feels a new sense of freedom. He’s no longer tied to the properties, and maintenance, and the expenses, no longer tied to the image that he was trying to maintain.
And in an interview he concludes. "I think most people don't sit down and ask, 'What do I need?"but "What do I want?" Because we all want everything," he explained. "But what do we need? We don't need very much. We really don't ... The things we want and the things we need are two different things."
And so McAfee has moved to Central America, where he apparently is working to develop natural medicines.
“A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,” says the book of Proverbs, “and favor is better than silver or gold.”
“The rich and the poor have this in common:
the LORD is the maker of them all.
Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity,
and the rod of anger will fail.
Those who are generous are blessed,
for they share their bread with the poor.
“Do not rob the poor because they are poor,
or crush the afflicted at the gate;
for the LORD pleads their cause
and despoils of life those who despoil them.”
And there was another contrast this week, this time two funerals.
Friday night
saw the funeral
of Michael Jackson, finally laid to rest
more than two months after his death.
It was held in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California,
and was attended by a couple of hundred members of his family and friends, many of them celebrities.
As the service began,
his children placed a jewel encrusted crown on his gold casket.
Tears were shed,
stories were told,
and the “King of Pop”
was finally laid to rest.
His was a mixed life,
a life of phenomenal outward success
but of inner struggle.
Michael Jackson
never quite seemed to find
what he was looking for.
The other funeral
wasn’t reported
in the press.
Yesterday
I participated in the funeral of Father Roy Waywell,
Rector
of All Saints in Richmond Hill.
And it couldn’t be more different
A simple, plain
wooden coffin, draped with a white pall.
The only thing placed on it
was his stole.
A small church, packed to overflowing, with folding chairs in the aisles and around the altar.
There were remembrances,
of a man who was a good friend
and faithful priest,
a sermon
about heaven.
And we shared in the Eucharist,
remembering the Lord
who Roy had loved and served.
Afterwards
his coffin was carried between an honor guard of twenty or thirty clergy
before it was taken away in the hearse.
And I saw the acolytes
wiping tears away,
and at the meal in the parish hall afterwards,
curry and pasta and chicken,
met a family, former parishioners, who had flown up from Florida,
and friends from the UK
and many many people
whose lives
Roy had touched.
“A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,” says the book of Proverbs, “and favor is better than silver or gold.”
“The rich and the poor have this in common:
the LORD is the maker of them all.
Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity,
and the rod of anger will fail.
Those who are generous are blessed,
for they share their bread with the poor.
“Do not rob the poor because they are poor,
or crush the afflicted at the gate;
for the LORD pleads their cause
and despoils of life those who despoil them.”
It’s at times like these
that the wisdom of the book of Proverbs
is so clear.
Proverbs
is a collection of sayings,
sayings that cover
the full range
of human experience.
They advise on families and households,
friendships and business,
values and morals.
They are full of common sense,
the sort of wisdom
that seems obvious once you’ve read it,
but which sometimes feels far
from what we see around us,
common sense,
infused with the wisdom
of God.
Today’s Old Testament reading
is a selection of proverbs
about wealth.
And notice
that they don’t say
that wealth is bad.
Simply
that wealth
isn’t the highest goal.
There are more important things.
A good name.
Being generous.
Working for justice.
The great American dream
as it’s popularly portrayed
has always been about making it financially. Being a success.
Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.
Being able to afford a home.
Offering your children
a better life.
And yet, in the end,
those aren’t the criteria
by which most of us judge
a life well lived.
When it comes to obituaries,
we rarely see
“John was far more successful than anyone else in his family”
or
“Mary left an estate worth 3.4 million dollars, more than ten times what her parents left her.”
No, what we see, what we want to hear, is
“John was loved by his family”
or
“Mary brought such joy to those who she helped out.”
Our culture has a fascination with the rich and famous,
and we tend to think
that we’d like their lives,
but in reality
what really matters to us
is that we have lived well
and brought life to others.
And that’s what God values
as well.
There are no tickets
for the pearly gates. It’s one place
that you can’t buy your way into,
one place
where all the success in the world
makes no difference.
Standing at the pearly gates,
all that will matter
is whether we loved Jesus
and followed his commands,
commands to care for those in need
to love one another
as he has loved us.
But it’s not just about
the pearly gates.
Because the Proverbs have wisdom for now.
God is our maker,
and will bless us
when we live generously.
Bless us, perhaps not with riches,
but with the thankfulness
of those whom we help
and the love
of those whom we serve.
© Raewynne J. Whiteley 2009