Last Will and Testament

Today’s Old Testament, Epistle and Gospel readings all tell the same, simple message: If you live self-indulgent lives in this life, you will be punished in the next. If you live lives that indulge only your own pleasure in this life, especially if you neglect the poor and needy, you will dwell in eternal torment after death.

Amos was not one to mince words. "Alas for those who are at ease in Zion! Alas for those who lie on beds of ivory, and lounge on their couches and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the stall; who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp! They shall now be the first to go into exile… [exile from the presence of God]… and the revelry of the loungers shall pass away."

The first letter to Timothy is a bit more moderate, but the message is the same. "As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides… They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up or themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life." Only by generous acts and good works in this life may the blessings of eternal life be gained.  Or else.

Then there is the Gospel about the rich man and Lazarus. It is a relatively well-known story, following directly in Luke’s Gospel after the different parable about a rich man we heard last week. A rich man indulges his own appetites and pleasures while a poor man, Lazarus, outside his gate would be grateful for the crumbs dropping from the rich man’s table. They both die, and we are told of their fates after death. Lazarus is carried by the angels to be with father Abraham. The rich man is consigned to eternal fire and torment. Too late, he wishes he had acted differently in life.

The message from Holy Scripture is clear. If you live self-indulgent lives in this life, you will be punished in the next. If the message of these readings were a compelling one today, we would live in a very different world. If people really feared the threat of the flames of hell as a consequence for self-indulgence, we wound never have to talk about local or global poverty again.

If you live self-indulgent lives, indifferent to the needs of others, you will experience eternal torment after death. That’s it, really. The message of Scripture is clear. You will heed it, or not.

But I do want to use these passages as a springboard to discuss a related topic. Please get a Prayer Book and turn to page 445. This is part of the service of thanksgiving for the birth or adoption of a child. This liturgy is the descendant of a service that in the past was called "The Churching of Women", when it was presumed that women needed to be cleansed of impurity after childbirth before they could return to worship in the house of God. Now the service is wholly and simply one of thanksgiving for the blessing of a new child by birth or adoption. Look at the rubric that concludes the service.

The Minister of the Congregation is directed [it is not optional] to instruct the people, from time to time, about the duty of Christian parents to make prudent provisions for the well-being of their families, and of all persons to make wills, while they are in health, arranging for the disposal of their temporal goods, not neglecting, if they are able, to leave bequests for religious and charitable uses.

I’d like a show of hands. How many have legal, valid wills?

How many have up-to-date wills that you are satisfied with?

I don’t want a show of hands on this question, but how many have faithful wills? Wills that are full of faith. Wills that would be pleasing to God. The rubric reminds us that for parents, part of a faithful will is making provision for your dependents, but even for those of us without dependents, the question remains a challenge. Is your will faithful, pleasing to God? Some of you will remember my sermon a few weeks back when I talked about how we tend to define "my God" to our own liking to rationalize away the more difficult aspects of faith. I expect we do that with wills. But I am asking: Would the one true God of Holy Scripture find your will to be faithful?

I do believe in eternal life, that the sacred gift of life continues after death. I don’t know exactly what heaven or hell may be like. I’m a bit dubious about the tongues of flame. But it seems to me that spending eternity… spending eternity right in the nearer presence of God knowing that, at your death, an indifferent or self-indulgent will had irrevocably been put into effect… That sounds like a bit of hell to me.

The Prayer Book rubric speaks of making a will as a Christian duty for parents and for all people. Why? Why are we having this discussion in church, not just in the family living room or the lawyer’s office? There are three closely interrelated reasons to talk about wills in church.

First, as Christians, as people of faith, we are to take personal responsibility for our lives, to be responsible for all actions and facets of our lives. God gives our lives purpose and meaning. By Christ’s gift human life is holy. It matters what we do, how we live. All of the actions and assets of our lives are wrapped up in our call to be the Body of Christ. When we fall short, we take responsibility, repent and seek God’s forgiveness. Indifference and irresponsibility are sins that mar the holiness of our lives. Faithfully taking responsibility for the actions and the assets of our lives is a part of our Christian vocation.

Second, money is sacramental. We’ve heard a good bit about money and temporal goods in the Scripture readings lately. It may seem that Christians are meant to be indifferent to money, but, in fact, the very opposite is true. We are to take money and all of the temporal goods that are abundantly given to us, very seriously. Money is sacramental. Money is not one of the seven Sacraments of the church, given as gifts by Christ to the church. Remember the definition of a Sacrament? "An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace." We are sacramental people. We affirm that outward and visible signs from the tangible, temporal world around us can be conveyors of God’s grace. The bread and wine of the Eucharist, but also the touch of a human hand, the sound of a bird’s song, the gift of cold, hard cash. These outward and visible signs can be the ways by which God’s grace and love and reconciling presence is shared and made known in our world.

Money is sacramental, a means for sharing God’s grace. Does your will convey God’s grace? The Prayer Book rubric reminds those who are able to make specific bequests for religious or charitable purposes. Name the parish, or a ministry of the broader church, or an organization that does God’s work, if you are able, in your will. Use the final disposition of your temporal goods as a means of conveying God’s grace and love into the world.

Third, church is a place where we talk about death, where we do not deny or avoid the reality of death. We do not fear to face death. That may be easier said than done for many of us, but still, as Christians we are called to be always ready for death. No matter our age or the circumstances of our lives, we should be prepared for death. The rubric about wills is now placed in the Prayer Book in the service of Thanksgiving for a Child. A similar rubric has appeared in every English Prayer Book since the sixteenth century. In all previous books it appeared in the section on Ministry to the Sick. Having a faithful will is part of being prepared for death.

The church reminds us of at least three ways in which we should all, all of the time, be prepared for death. Having a faithful will. Having a clear conscience, by regular confession and reconciliation. And being in communion with God and one another through regular participation in the Eucharist.

In the 1928 Book of Common Prayer in the section on Ministry to the Sick, another rubric followed right after the one about having a will.

To be prepared to die: having a faithful will, a good conscience and being in communion with the living Body of Christ. I conclude with a prayer that speaks these aspects of our Christian hope. This prayer, too, has appeared in many Prayer Books. It is in the current Prayer Book in the Burial service, a service, remember, that is offered primarily for the living.