Pastor’s Corner – August 3, 2025
To Have or To Be – Luke 12:13-21, Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14, 2:18-30
Reading the gospel lesson for this coming Sunday reminds me of Eric Fromm, philosopher and psychoanalyst’s book, “To Have or To Be.” He emphasized that our lives can be lived in one of two modes: one centered on “having” things and one on “being” a particular kind of person. In our capitalist world, having stuff and more of it becomes the driving force of life but never a satisfying or fulfilling life. What Eric Fromm taught was that this endless desire for possession does not create meaningful life or what the gospel calls greed or described in the words of Ecclesiastes for Old Testament reading, “Vanity of vanities!”
Pay attention to how we use our language in relation to having and being. This will disclose our own relationship to things or stuff or our mode of being. One can “have” an education, get a degree or certificate. If this was the only thing that mattered then, cheating on exams or using AI to write your paper won’t really matter unless one is being educated where ethics and one’s integrity is part of the education. One can “have” a marriage or one can be married. One can “have” happiness or one can be happy. One can “have” peace or be at peace. The difference is between noun and verb, noun is static while verb is dynamic and ever changing, in line with reality of impermanence. Our use of language structure creates our reality in which we live. Rather than using the language “I have” we might consider using the language, “I am.”
Jesus said, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Then Jesus shared with a parable of a rich man, which we will explore this coming Sunday and ask ourselves what mode of being we are as a faith community, as followers of Jesus. Paul in his letters calls us to set our mind on things above, not on these earthly things. The conflict and violence we see in our world today is fueled by mode of having, endless having. It’s time to choose a mode of being, to love, to be merciful, to be compassionate and to be hospitable, to be inclusive. Thanks be to God.
Pastor Dae