We brought nothing into this world and it is certain that we can carry nothing out, the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.

 These haunting words used at a funeral have been with me during the past few weeks.  The reason is that we have been clearing out sheds and discarding old papers.  It is just amazing how many things we accumulate during a lifetime.  It reminded me of an essential truth which is that we who try to walk by faith have to discover whether we get our sense of who we are by having or being. 

It is said that I am = what I have and what I consume.  It is a fact that 358 of the world’s wealthiest people have assets equalling 2.3 billion people in the poorest parts of the world that is 45% of the worlds population.  It is also a fact that since 1945 the world economy has expanded more than in all the previous centuries put together.  We are a having world.  I have a car a job a house a family we have moved on and even use this sense of having by saying things like I have worries or I have insomnia, I have a problem,  I have a happy marriage, previous generations may have said I am worried, or I cannot sleep, I am troubled, I am happily married.

 We can see this difference also when it comes to knowledge.  There is a difference between I have knowledge and knowing.  Knowing is that which penetrates the surface in order to arrive at the roots of something to have knowledge is to possess certain facts or data.  Knowing is the precursor for wisdom faith and Love.

In Having and being we can see this also worked out in matters of faith.  So faith in being mode is an attitude it is almost in faith rather than having a faith.  The God of the OT is firstly a God who negates idols – idols can be possessed where the God of the OT is never able to be possessed. All the mystics those in faith try to de-idolise God completely and in so doing in the end almost say that not even God’s qualities can be stated in order not to turn God into an idol that can be defined and therefore possessed.

Faith is active it is a process of self creation what Paul calls being in Christ and what the mystic Mr Eckhart called ‘Christ being eternally born in ourselves’.  In the gospels one of the central themes is that people must free themselves from all greed and cravings for possession and must be ready to fully free themselves from the structures of having and conversely that all positive ethical norms are rooted in an ethics of being sharing and solidarity.

 So then as we begin to bring Mary into this sermon the challenge to us is whether we get our sense of identity from what we have or from who we are.  From having or being? 

Jesus had nothing yet possessed everything  He followed his mother Mary who as far as we know had no wealth, no status, no education.  What she did have was a faith in God and with God.  God’ being filled her life and also gave her new life.  This happened because of her ability to let go of having in order that she could be possessed by her faith in the divine plan and purpose. Be it according to your word.

 How do you make God laugh?  Tell him your plans. Mary had no plans yet fulfilled her role as the handmaiden of the Lord and the mother of Jesus.

So for us the challenge is whether we can be inspired by her example and reflect on to have or to be.  Do we get the sense of who we are from our possessions our wealth our status our security or from this notion of being where we become in faith with God and interact with the Divine.

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