Even though I’ve never served in it, I have learned that the Military works like the rest of life. There are those who are in positions of authority, and then there are those who really have the power. They have their hands on the behind-the-scenes real levers of power that get things done. It is not unlike the delightful 10 days I just spent with our youth on mission. Ask any of them—there are adults who are cool and there are those who are not. There are adults who command their respect and those who do not. It has to do with things like integrity, a sincere love for them, an understanding of what they’re going through, and more maturity than they have! These are the levers of power that allow adults to influence them. Between the Military and our youth, I would say that what the youth demand from us is the more godly. What they demand is an expression of that Kingdom of Heaven that we pray about in the Our Father, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven… The Kingdom is the source of those levers of power that influence what is important in life. When our personal dominion wields heaven’s levers of power we accomplish God’s will on earth.

If The Preacher from Ecclesiastes wrote today’s lesson today he might say, “I built for myself a tremendous retirement package: 401K plans, the stock market, money market accounts. I used my influence to create a positive political climate for investments. I bought a summer home in the Rockies, a hunting lodge in south Texas, and a time-share on the French Riviera.” And the world’s wisest man outside of Jesus concludes that it’s all vanity. He toils so hard to accumulate so much only to leave it to someone who may be a fool. Obviously what really counts is not achieved through our earthly possessions, it comes from somewhere else.

In today’s Gospel lesson a man comes up to Jesus with a property dispute. The Law provided that the elder brother should receive a double portion of the inheritance. Apparently the younger brother thought the division unfair, and appealed to Jesus for help. How much legal power Jesus had in this situation is probably questionable, the intent is more likely to shame the elder brother into a more generous division of assets. Jesus, however, refuses to get involved, instead He tells a parable. A rich man stashes away an overly abundant retirement package, but when he finally retires he dies. He leaves it to someone who may be a fool. Jesus is not saying that material possessions are not important, but that temporal things are powerful only in the temporal sphere, and the true believer draws his life from the spiritual sphere. He seeks to wield those hidden, behind-the-scenes, really-get-something-accomplished power-levers that change things forever.

All Summer I’ve been preaching about godly dominion, the exercise of power in the spheres of influence in your life in a way that serves God and not the world. That dominion is tied to the influence of these power-levers of heaven. Godly dominion means exercising them in such a way that heaven’s ends are met. Paul describes heaven’s power-levers in today’s Epistle reading. Paul tells us to put to death those behaviors that display a rebellion against God and an alienation from one another and the created order: impurity, dishonesty, misuse of the tongue and idolatry. Take on, rather, those things that draw us toward God, one another and the created order: humility, truthfulness, love, rootedness in the Word, worship and gratitude. These do not seem to describe political strategy as much as personal character. Remember “character counts” movement from the days of the Lewinski scandal at the White House? We were trying to say that who you are is as important as what you do. When it comes to wielding heaven’s power-levers, who you are IS what you do. The two are the same thing—character more than counts, it is everything. Why? Because life springs from the spirit. The quality of the soul will dictate the integrity of the investments. The quality of the soul will reveal the integrity of the politics. The quality of the soul will temper the health of the relationships. And trying to form the soul with investments and politics and relationships only reveals a sick soul.

Remember our kids: They are drawn to people who are honest with themselves and with them, who love them unconditionally, and who have a demonstrable maturity that can guide them. (Kind of like how God works with us.) These are the people whose influence is most felt in the lives of the next generation of leaders. But the principle is the same in all other areas of life: Who we are determines what we do, what we do exercises our dominion in the world. Who are we? We are children of the King of Heaven. We are broken by sin and do not fully reveal that heavenly royalty or wield that heavenly dominion, but we’re on a journey into the fullness of who we really are. When we actively pursue that journey we carry the world with us into the heart of God. This is Godly dominion.

Orville Johnson was an Arkansas farmer. He worked for many years among the Secoya people of eastern Ecuador, translating the Bible into their language. To us kids he was “Uncle Orv,” and we flocked to him. He always had a kind smile and a funny story. But more than that, Uncle Orv was not a phony. He never tried to bamboozle you except in fun, he always listened to you, and he usually had sound advice to give. He is in heaven now, but his godly dominion influenced a whole generation of young Christians—I know, because I am one of them!

Fr. Paul Moore+