Rich Toward God
What does it mean to be “rich toward God?” Jesus encourages us to be “Rich” – “towards God.”
Today’s Gospel, at first read, is a little hard for us. After all, we want things to be fair. So why wouldn’t Jesus take the young man’s side? We don’t know the back story on the young man who asked Jesus to be the arbitrator of his father’s estate. But at that time the tradition wasn’t what we consider “fair.” The elder brother got a double portion of the estate. That’s not fair. But remember, Jesus is in the midst of a teaching on learning to pray, to seek, and to trust in God above all things that are earthly and temporary – and into that conversation, up pops a question about dividing up the family inheritance. The man is a little tone-deaf. Is he listening to Jesus? Or is he so focused on his own self-interest that he can’t think of anything else?
But Jesus isn’t to be distracted by questions of wealth management and so instead of taking his part, he warns the inheritance seeker: “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” It feels like a harsh rebuke. Isn’t he just asking for fairness? But Jesus knows his heart – and ours - and the temptation of counting our wellbeing in terms of how much “stuff” we have.
And so, Jesus tells a parable about a rich landowner. The actions that the rich landowner takes sound reasonable. After all, we are taught to save up for the rainy day. It’s even Biblical. Remember the story of Joseph who set aside a good portion of the grain in the 7 good years so that there would be food for the people during the 7 years to follow? The landowner has all sorts of plans on how to use the abundance of grain that he has received. And that, in itself, is not the problem. Notice how many times the landowner uses “I” or “me” or “my.”
He calls a board meeting of “me, myself and I” and begins by taking his own council and says: ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ 18 Then he said (to himself), ‘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. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’
In that little dialogue with himself, his soul, he says I or my or refers to his own soul 12 times. Perhaps a little self-absorbed? Is he really going to tear down his barns and build larger ones himself? Are there no workers with whom he could share? Does he not live in a community? Is the abundance of grain that he has received all his to hoard? If we remember back to the story of Joseph, the reason for building the storage bins during the years of good harvest was to save food for the people to eat in the seven years of famine.
As theologian Debie Thomas writes, “In the carefully curated narrative of a proud, ‘self-made man’, Jesus sees an isolated, insecure soul who has forgotten human connection, forgotten God’s generosity and provision, forgotten that possession is not stewardship, and forgotten that in the face of Death (the great equalizer) we are all naked paupers but for the grace of God.”1
Jesus wants us to be rich – but not in temporary physical things, not in money or status or the stuff in our closets or the number of followers we have on social media. So what does it mean to be “rich towards God?”
Maybe it means for guarding against our/my desire to hold tight to what we/I have or I/we think belongs me? And, instead remembering that I am but a steward of these gifts for a time. Maybe it means prioritizing relationships and caring for the neighbor, the other, the one in need? Maybe it means loosening our grasp on what we have always done and instead, fervently asking, praying, seeking God’s wisdom and God’s Holy Spirit to direct our plans and our dreams for our future.
When I look back at the history of Faith-Lilac Way, the brightest times that stand out for me, are when you have done just that – listened to and responding to the Holy Spirit calling you to care for the neighbor, to love one another and to praise and worship God together.
I’m often asked about the name of the church. I assumed when I first came, that it was a merger of two churches. But no. It was a compromise. The organizing pastor, Pastor Seebach, went door to door as Robbinsdale and Crystal were just being built and before the sidewalks had even been laid, inviting people to come to a church that he was organizing on Lilac Way. And people responded and gathered in the basement of the Masonic Temple on Sunday mornings to praise God. But the church needed an affiliation and so Pastor Seebach went to a Lutheran church body – I think it was the United Lutherans – and asked if he and this new church located on Lilac Way, called Lilac Way Lutheran, could affiliate with them. The church synod elders said yes, but “Lilac Way” is not a proper name for a church. They wanted the name to reflect the values of the church. Pastor Seebach said, “Faith” of course, and so they compromised and named the church, “Faith-Lilac Way.” I like that this church began by listening to one another and the Holy Spirit and then coming to a compromise that honored both the desire for our values and our location to be included.
Faith-Lilac Way has also been a leader when it comes to caring for the neighbor. While Pastor Ingman was here, there was a growing concern that people in the neighborhood were going hungry. Our congregation joined with others to create the North-Suburban Emergency Area Response – we know it as NEAR food shelf. Members of our congregation have been active supporting it by volunteering and by giving to this ministry ever since.
And that’s not the only neighbor focused ministry that the Holy Spirit has led Faith-Lilac Way as a church and as individuals to be engaged in. Many of these ministries address food insecurity and are in collaboration with other churches. These programs have changed over the years – what began as Dinner at your Door has become Meals on Wheels; Kidpack which provided snacks transitioned to become Every Meal, providing whole meals for kids and their families over the weekend. Volunteers put the meal in kids’ backpacks at school.
When I first came to Faith-Lilac Way, a couple of leaders wanted to respond to need that they saw in the neighborhood – children needed help in school – and so, guided by the Holy Spirit, we began a “Study Buddies” program. Lots of adults signed up to help a child learn to read, do math and learn to study. I think we as adults gained as much as the children did from those encounters.
Finding affordable Senior housing in the neighborhood was a problem for some of our members and neighbors in 2008. Pastor Bob Wertz and other leaders on the church council had a vision of building beautiful senior housing apartments next door to the church. The congregation rallied and with help of the Holy Spirit and with the partnership of other organizations and neighbors, we went to the Robbinsdale city council to ask for permission to change the zoning. We then worked with Commonbond who built RobbinsWay next door. Since then, God has blessed us with many opportunities to do ministry together with the residents of RobbinsWay.
Loving and serving the neighbor has been and continues to be how the Holy Spirit has led Faith-Lilac Way. And, we increasingly have found that we can do God’s work better when we partner with other churches and with our neighbors. Wildfire, a group of six and then eight churches, began around a pastor Bible study in the neighborhood. It was truly the work of the Holy Spirit – and so what began as a group of three churches around a bonfire, became a Holy Spirit guilded WILD fire. And so, what began as churches doing large group Confirmation programs together once a month has grown to encompass many other ministries that we can do better together.
It is out of this sense of collaboration and Holy Spirit nudging that we are now exploring what it could look like for us as a congregation to do more ministry together with First Lutheran and Cross of Glory. We are at the very beginning of asking these questions: Is God making things new? In our shared neighborhood is God creating a space and a place for new possibilities for ministry? How is the Hoy Spirit calling us?
We are in a liminal time. We are, as it were, standing in the doorway, and praying for God to lead us in this next chapter. We will be gathering after worship to talk and pray about what God may be inviting us into. And, at the same time, Cross of Glory Lutheran and First Lutheran are also gathering and having these conversations. There are many questions, the answers to which we do not know yet.
But this is not something to fear. Because we know that we are not alone. God is with us. And God is with the people of Cross of Glory. And God is with the people of First Lutheran. And when we ask and trust God to lead us – we will experience life-giving renewal. As Paul writes to the Colossians, “In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian (who were the most barbaric of all), enslaved and free, but Christ is all and in all.”
And so, friends in Christ, rest in the promise that Christ is all and in all and let us sing together, pray together and rejoice together that God is at work in us and with us today and in our future as well. Thanks be to God. Amen.
1 Debie Thomas https://www.journeywithjesus.net/essays/2291-rich-toward-god
August 3, 2025 + Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran + Pastor Pam Stalheim Lane