Sunday Sermon: Living Generously, Part II:Beyond our Fear

Luke 12:13-35

            One of my earliest memories – as a very small child – is going to visit my grandma Mary in the Good Samaritan nursing home in Jackson Minnesota.  

            Grandma Mary was not my grandma – she was my great-grandmother, my mother’s grandma, and I must have been just four or five years old when we visited.  

            I remember going with my grandpa and my mom and visiting her in her small room in the nursing home. 

            She was sitting in a wheelchair, a small, frail woman with a warm smile.   

            There were no other children around – I was grandma Mary’s only great-grandchild – and I don’t remember so much about our visits, but I do remember that every time I came – she would open up a drawer and give me something to take home.  

            Maybe a handkerchief, maybe a small stuffed animal.  But she always found something for me to take home.  

            It was like she was slowly giving her life away, and she chose to give a small piece of it to me. And I don’t remember the items any more – but what I remember is the act of giving.  

            What a contrast to the rich man in Jesus’ parable today.  He had a green thumb.  His fields produced abundantly.  

            He was rich!  And then he had a problem – although I guess he didn’t think of it as a problem – he didn’t know what to do with his abundance! And only thing he could think of was to tear down his barns and build bigger ones.  

            Now he did not think he had anything to fear.  Now he didn’t have anything to worry about.  

            Now he possessed everything he needed – in fact more than he needed.  At least – that’s what it looked like.  What more could he need?

            What makes the difference between my great-grandma and the rich man and his bigger barns?  

            Sometimes I think it was just her age – sometimes you gain wisdom when you reach a certain number of years – that makes you feel differently about your life.  

            When there is more behind you than in front of you – some things seem more important – and other things seem less important.  My great-grandmother had already pared down from a farmhouse to a room at a nursing home. 

            She knew  that “you can’t take it with you” – so she was starting early, giving away the things she still had left, little by little.  

            But I think there’s something else as well.  I think that perhaps the rich man with his barns – and my great-grandmother

             – that they had different ideas of just what is valuable in the first place – they had different ideas about where their true treasure was –       and so they feared different things, and they placed their trust in different things. 

            Think about it.  

            The rich man was rich in property – and he was blessed in goods.  But you know what he didn’t have?  He didn’t have anyone to share it with.  

            He didn’t have relationships – either with God – or with a family or friends.  At the harvest, he didn’t think of having a banquet and inviting people to share it.  

            He didn’t have children with whom to divide it.  He didn’t have a partner to share his joy.  This doesn’t seem to bother him, though.   

            But my great-grandmother – well, I don’t know – because I only knew her a little, and I was very small – but I imagine.  

            She was a mother to my grandpa, and a grandmother to my mom, and a great-grandma to me.  

            And I imagine in my mind that those relationships were more important to her than any wealth she could have accumulated. 

             She had a son – and a grand-daughter – and she even had a great-granddaughter now.  

            Her legacy was not in things, but in relationships.  These were her treasures.  WE were her treasures.

            When Jesus tells us not to worry about our lives, but to seek first the Kingdom – I think that God is also thinking about relationships.        The ravens and the lilies receive what they need – but what we need most of all – more than barns and more than grain and more than a large investment portfolio – are relationships.   That's what they discovered when people studied children in orphanages.  they discovered that -- as much as they needed food and clothing and shelter-- they only thrived when they received touch -- when they were loved. 

             So when Jesus tells us to Seek first the Kingdom of heaven – I think he is telling us to seek this particular network of relationships – beginning with our relationship with God.   

            I remember once hearing a story about a young child who was on her way to visit her grandparents. “We’re going to grandma’s!’”  

            She said.  She didn’t say, “We’re going to “Bismarck” or “We’re going to “Conroe”. 

             Perhaps heaven is not so much a place as it is a face. THAT is the treasure.  

            For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.  

            I remember a stewardship program once which the title “Where your heart is.,…”  it’s an attractive idea.  

            Where you put your heart – your love – there you will invest your treasure.  

            It makes sense.  If I love something,  I will invest in it.  But Jesus says it the other way.  

            And it’s not quite the same thing.  “Where your treasure is – there your heart will be….”  Where you make your investment of time, or finances, of work – that’s where you will find your heart.  

            So, Jesus says, invest in the Kingdom.  Invest in the kingdom of heaven.  

            Invest in that network of relationships, starting with your relationship with God.  

            And Invest in the values of the kingdom of heaven –  where the hungry are fed, the homeless are given shelter, the poor and the brokenhearted are lifted up. 

             Invest there – and your heart will follow….  Invest outside yourself – where people are hurting, or hungry or lonely or doubting --- where people are thirsty for grace and to know they matter – 

            Stewardship is investing in the kingdom of heaven – investing in relationships 

            – including the relationships here – and in our neighborhood.  And your congregation – Grace – is a part of that.  

            When you give to Grace – you are investing in relationships – relationships that show the face of God in Christ, relationships that bring the bread of life to the hungry, relationships that show compassion to the lonely.  

            When I think of my great-grandmother giving away her things – to me – I think maybe she saw the future in my face.  The fourth generation.  

            She wouldn’t live to see me grow up, but she trusted the future.  That was her legacy to me.  

            And I hope that my hands can be as open as hers were.  

            As for us – we see the future in the face of Christ,  the one who died and rose, the one who gave himself for us.  

            Do not be afraid, little flock.  Open your hands and receive true treasure.  The kingdom of heaven is yours.  

            It is yours – to share.

            Amen

Sermon for Easter 4: The Gift of Community

Acts 2:42-47/John 10:1-10

            May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.  Amen.

            Back when I was living in Japan, my parents came to visit me. They spent three weeks with me, sightseeing and traveling around.

             We also toured the school where I taught and we met some people who gave them an idea of the mission of the Japanese Lutheran Churches. 

            I remember one day they met a man who wove hand-made baskets for a living.   

            What I remember about him was that he made these beautiful handmade baskets (My parents bought one – or maybe he gave them one), that he was disabled, and that he had a Christian testimony that he shared with them.

             If I remember right (and it has been many years now) someone gave him a Bible.

             He started reading the Bible, and he believed in Jesus and became a Christian just because of what he read. 

            That was amazing to me.

             Much as I believe that the Word of God has power, it is amazing that he came to Christ just by sitting in his room and reading it .

             He also said that for many years he had no way to get to church and didn’t know of any churches, so on Sundays he would read the Bible and pray in his house.

            That is a particular vision of what it means to be a Christian. 

            It is about our individual relationship with Christ. 

            It is about our own private devotion to Jesus.

             But it is not the vision that we have in Acts 2.  In this reading – which follows directly after Pentecost – one of the basic elements of being a Christian is being together. 

            And it is being a community in simple, but very particular ways.  They are:  devotion to the apostles teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers.  

            The church that formed on Pentecost found these the basic building blocks, the foundation, of their lives.  And it was a life together.

            So on Pentecost  the Spirit descended on the disciples who were gathered.  

            They spoke about God’s love and mighty acts in many languages.  Peter preached a powerful sermon.

             And on that day 3,000 people were baptized.  3,000!  

            So when I talk about Christian community as authentic community, please know that I am not necessarily talking about a small group.   

            But it is a group that sees devotion to Jesus as being about devotion to one another. 

            The community was one of true caring, learning and growing in Christ together, sharing their lives with one another, sharing meals – including Holy Communion – with one another –

             and praying with – and for – each other. 

            This community was not about ‘friendliness’ --- but about real friendship. 

            And one of the ways I see this manifested at Grace is in the fact that it is not just me that is willing to go and visit shut-ins and go to the hospital, but that we have a small group of visitors here who also go out with communion, with prayers and with friendship to visit. 

            One woman said this, after visitors from her congregation came to visit, “I wasn’t able to come to church, so the church came to me!” 

            Exactly. 

            That’s what community looks like. 

            In our Sunday morning class, we’ve been studying the Apostles Creed. 

            Last week we talked about the church.

             We might hear the word ‘church’ and immediately think about a building – this building – what a ‘church’ looks like to us. 

            But the word ‘church’ in Greek – the word is ‘ekklesia’ – really means a gathered people. 

            It is the people who have been called out and who have been gathered together. 

            It is the people who have heard their shepherd’s voice and who have been called together in community

            – to devote themselves to teaching, to share each other’s lives in deep commitment, to break bread together, and to pray – to experience the presence of God – and to share that with one another.   

            They are called out and they are called together, to share the mission of God, to share the love of God.

            And this – authentic community – is something that people are hungry for. 

            People want to be known.  Don’t get me wrong.  It is a little frightening to be known. 

            It’s vulnerable.  There is a downside.  We can be hurt, and we can hurt each other. 

            That’s why forgiveness is also essential for communities. 

            But there is also something powerful in this – in people who are willing to surround you with love in the middle of a crisis, -- in people who are willing to listen to you and pray with you,

            in people who are willing to roll up their sleeves and go out to serve with you

             – in people who are willing to crack open God’s word with you, and even admit that they don’t understand everything about it. 

            It’s powerful.  It’s life-giving.

            And there are two things that happen when we practice community – the first is that we become more generous. 

            Because we see that we belong to one another, and this is our community and we want to pool our resources so that we can do more things together. 

            We become generous with our time, and our gifts and our resources, so that everyone here – and people who are around us – can experience God’s generosity – God’s abundance.

            The second thing that happens is that we grow.  It’s true.  The early church grew.  The community was contagious.  People wanted to be a part of it. 

            Where have you experienced true community?  At Grace?  Somewhere else?

            How has it changed your life?

            How has this community been a gift to you?

            (write on an index card anonymously and put them in  the offering basket)

           

           

            The man my parents and I met in Japan – the one who became a Christian all alone by reading the Bible –his story has stuck with me in part I think because it seemed so unusual. 

            I can’t imagine coming to faith without people – witnesses – surrounding me, showing me the love of God, making those Bible stories real in my life. 

            But that’s what happened to him. 

            But of course, that’s not the end of his story.  When we met him, he was no longer alone.

             No, somehow a group of Christians found him – Lutherans from a place called Kosa Church. 

            They had a ministry to people who were disabled, and somehow they found him and invited him to come to church and worship with them. 

            They even offered to pick him up. 

            Of course he was eager to go and worship and study and pray with other Christians. 

            He became a member of Kosa Church – he was baptized there (even though he believed in Jesus he had never been baptized.) 

            The church often shared meals after worship on Sunday, and, just like that New Testament Church, they prayed together. 

            He met the woman who would become his wife.

             He continued to make his bamboo baskets, and he gave much of the proceeds of his work to the mission of his congregation. 

             He wanted people just like him to know the love of Jesus and not be alone. 

            In this world of isolation, in this world where we are so encouraged to go it alone and make it on our own – true community, authentic community – is a gift.

             It is a gift of the resurrection.  It is a gift of life – abundant life – life together. 

            And it is ours – to share.

            Amen

      Image by Vonda Drees.  Used by permission.      

Another Word for Stewardship

Sometimes I think there should be another word for "Stewardship".  It's always been the word we have used to describe the annual emphasis (usually in the fall) on giving financially usually to your local congregation.  Of course, in seminary, we learned that "stewardship" means something else -- it means taking care of something that belongs to Someone Else.  But still…..

We had the stewardship emphasis this past month, and we we did emphasize stewardship as taking care of the things that belong to God.  We did not emphasize our budget, but we prayed and we talked about giving and generosity, and how everything we have -- including our money -- really belongs to God.  We talked about giving as a spiritual discipline, like prayer.  And we planned a special Sunday -- today -- where we would have great music with the organ and the piano and guitar and choir, where we would receive our intentions and then celebrate with a special wonderful luncheon together.  But still…

I was talking with someone at the church during the week, about how we were planning this great event, with great music and great preaching and great food, and how I hoped a lot of people were able to come, and the person turned to me with great honesty and said, "Well, and then there are those who will intentionally stay away."

And even though I felt sad, I understood.  Part of it is that no one wants to talk about money, and there's nothing you can do about that.  And the word "stewardship" has this meaning that has connotations about being guilted and shaken down and provoked to "give more" to this institution that pays salaries and has to fix its building.  And then we get some money but it never seems like enough, so a feeling of failure pervades us.  But still….

Maybe we need a different word, one that somehow brings to our imagination all of the things we can do together, when we pool the resources that God has entrusted us with.  Maybe we need a different word, a word that brings to our imaginations the mission of God and all of the resources that God has given us, so that we can share it.  Maybe we need a different word, a word that makes us excited for the feast that we will share and the songs that we will sing, and the gifts that we will open -- gifts that we have given to one another.

Maybe we need another word, but what would it be?