A math major friend of mine once joked that the world is divided up into two kinds of people: Those who divide the world into two kinds of people and those who don’t. Likewise our readings today from Ecclesiastes and Luke enable us to divide the world into two kinds of people: Those who believe that when the lights go out, that’s the end and those who believe that when the lights go out marking the end of our earthly passage that something else happens and continues to happen.

For the first group there is no soul, no meaning after death, only emptiness. For these folks the rule of life is “The one who dies with the most toys wins.” Their image of death is terminal or as a famous cartoon character once said, “That’s all folks.”

The other group believes or at least wants to believe that when the lights go out something happens. We are united with God who welcomes us home. We become like the prodigal son after a long journey away. God rejoices that we have come home. Jesus tells us that “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.” We may not think we deserve it. We may not think we earned it, but all of our misdeeds, all of our cruelties, all of the damage we have caused vanishes the moment we experience that final welcome home. Whatever physical and spiritual pain we have endured transforms into joy in our new dwelling place.

Like that clever ad on television lately that introduces the 57th president of the United States and then runs the tape of the person’s life back to the moment his parents met, let’s wind the tape back on these two kinds of people. You can find rich and poor in both types but let’s consider how they live and perhaps even why they live.

You would recognize many people in the “death is terminal” group. Some may give generously to charities because they think the cause is worthwhile. Some may give generously to their churches because they want to make their spouse happy or they want to fit into their community or even because they are not sure about all this Christian stuff so by giving they hedge their bets. This last category straddles both worlds. In their hearts they are saying “Just in case this Christian belief is 1, I want to at least have some possibility.” For this group, giving is strictly a matter of personal choice.

The book we call Ecclesiastes from the Hebrew Bible actually carries a Hebrew title of “The Teacher.” Martin Luther translated it as “The Preacher.” A seminary professor once told us that he thought the author of this book was clinically depressed. The book starts out with a lament of “Hevel, hevel … all is hevel.” The Hebrew word hevel means something ephemeral like a puff of wind, a mist that vanishes. It gets translated as “vanity.” “Vanity, vanity says the Teacher, everything is vanity.” The word hevel is found nine times in the excerpt we read today.

Now you might be thinking that this dour Middle Eastern writer who penned such well known lines as “Eat, drink and be merry” and “To everything there is a season” would fall in the death is terminal crowd but you would be wrong. Qoholeth or the Teacher as we know the author in English is arguably the most faithful figure in the Old Testament. What we don’t see in our reading today is that Qoholeth has spent his or her life trying to justify every action and every motivation by reasoning and she fails.

A few chapters later, the Teacher concludes “Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry.” He has carefully considered all of our busy-ness and since we neither have control over when we die or what happens to the fruits of all our labor, all the output of human labor is ephemeral, it is a puff of wind, a vanishing mist, it is vanity. The Teacher commends us to mirth and merriment because once we understand that all of our labor and everything that we think we own is vanity, only then can we faithfully acknowledge that God is Lord and sovereign over all of us and all creation. In absolute faith we eat, drink and celebrate the gift of life that God has given us. We do this every Sunday.

The rich man in Jesus’ parable also wants to eat, drink and be merry to celebrate HIS accomplishments and the abundance of HIS land. Today we would call this kind of person a “self made man” because he believes that he earned everything in his possession. There is not much room for God or gratitude or giving from the heart. The very idea of a sovereign God threatens this world view. Faith in something cannot be seen is not possible. For the rich man in Jesus’ story, when the lights go out, that’s all folks.

So we have two lessons where we are taught to eat, drink and be merry. The key distinction is why. The life of faith leads us to die in faith. We know that everything belongs to God. We know the ultimately we have no control over our lives. We know that in spite of what trials and tribulations we may have endured, God has done so many good things for us that we are grateful for living and for what we have. The life of faith leads us to give of ourselves in faith.

We have a huge opportunity before us. The renovation of these buildings and grounds will take substantial giving from all of us. We also have a stewardship campaign coming up. This church has relied upon deficit budgets for years where the endowment was drawn down bit by bit. To continue that policy is to suffer death by a thousand cuts. I have asked the vestry to begin a three year process of getting out of deficit budgets through reduced operating costs and increased income. My job in all this is not so much to stand here and encourage you to give. My number one job is to help you grow in faith. Sit alongside the teachers both Qoholeth and Jesus and consider their teachings because when you do you WILL grow in faith. And where your heart and your faith go, your giving will follow.