Other readings for this week also referenced:
the
holy gospel according to luke, the 12th chapter. glory
to you, o lord.
32Do not be
afraid,
little
flock,
for
it is your Father's good pleasure
to
give you the kingdom.
33Sell
your possessions,
and
give alms.
Make
purses for yourselves
that
do not wear out,
an
unfailing treasure in heaven,
where
no thief comes near
and
no moth destroys.
34For
where your treasure is,
there
your heart will be also.
35Be dressed for
action
and
have your lamps lit;
36be like those
who are waiting
for
their master to return from the wedding banquet,
so
that they may open the door for him
as
soon as he comes and knocks.
37Blessed are
those slaves
whom
the master finds alert when he comes;
truly
I tell you,
he
will fasten his belt
and
have them sit down to eat,
and
he will come
and
serve them.
38If
he comes during the middle of the night,
or
near dawn,
and
finds them so,
blessed
are those slaves.
39But know this:
if
the owner of the house had known
at
what hour the thief was coming,
he
would not have let his house be broken into.
40You
also must be ready,
for
the Son of Man is coming
at
an unexpected hour."
the
gospel of the lord. praise to you, o christ.
-----
a while back, i
heard a riddle filled with wisdom that kindergarteners could get in a
heartbeat, but confounded many adults who heard it:
what is greater
than god, more evil than the devil, the poor have it, the rich don't need it, and
if you eat it, you'll die?
do you know the
answer?
while i
disagree with the middle part about the poor and the rich, the answer is:
nothing. nothing is greater than god; nothing is
more evil than the devil; and if you eat nothing, you’ll die.
so in the face
of that wisdom, that nothing is greater than god, what do we have to fear?
“do not be
afraid.”
over and over,
it seems, god reassures us that we do not need to be afraid. perhaps we are a bit slow at catching
on. there are, after all, plenty
of reasons in this world to be afraid.
politics seem
to be based in fear mongering—or maybe it’s just a fear that nothing can get
done in dc.
the weather
grows ever more extreme and erratic.
for me, the
list of things i need to do—from packing, cleaning, and good-byes to approval
interviews, first call paperwork, classes, and assignment—seems to get scarier
every day.
do not be
afraid.
i only have so
much money, so many resources, so much time left. it’s not enough—it’s never enough.
there are so many
things in life to fear: spiders, heights, violence, an unlived life, injury,
unemployment, death, and disease.
and even still, jesus says, “do not be afraid, little flock.”
"do not be
afraid, abram, i am your shield; your reward shall be very great."
do not be
afraid, abram. "look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to
count them." "so shall your descendants be."
do not be
afraid for god, your god, is the
architect and builder of the great heavenly city, prepared for you.
do not be
afraid, little flock, it is your father’s good pleasure to give you the kindom.
do not be
afraid, [names], emily, for i am with you.
the thing about
fear is that although it can get a bad reputation, it can also be necessary—even
helpful to our evolution and development.
my fear of spiders, for example, keeps me from getting bit by poisonous
spiders. other fears are evidence perhaps
of a lack of trust and might need to be overcome. that’s where faith and courage come in.
you see, you
can’t have courage or be courageous unless you first have fear. and fear is a natural first response to
an unknown or something we’re not familiar with. courage is acknowledging our fears and facing them—doing it
anyway. when we were at
confirmation camp, the campers and adults had the chance to do the high ropes
course. while i was watching them,
the most impressive ones weren’t the ones who did the course or the climbing
wall the fastest, but rather the ones who were afraid, and still made the climb—still
tried to do the course—facing their fears head-on.
in today’s
reading from genesis, abram comes out with his fear that he will have no
offspring—that his heir will not be his own child. he tells god, and when god responds, he trusts in god’s
promise for his life. that is
faith: trusting in god and in god’s promises for our lives, even when it’s hard
or scary.
do not be
afraid, god has already given you all that matters. do not be afraid, salvation is for you all. do not be afraid, money and possessions,
or the lack thereof, are not greater, or more important, or more powerful than
god.
god’s desire
for us all is abundance—love and community. and god provides this.
jesus’ words of comfort are that “it is your father’s good pleasure to give you the kindom.”
all that is
left is to sell our possessions and give alms.
while i think
that that would be easier than packing up the parsonage to move to chicago, i
don’t know how practical that is for my ability to live in chicago. but, if the invitation is to re-examine
my attachment to my possessions—to figure out where my treasure—and therefore
my heart—is; is it in heaven? in
my room? in a bank? i can wrestle with those questions.
i can think
seriously about what material possessions i value, what non-material things i
value, and then think about where they are. do i store them up here on earth? do i store them in a bank vault or safety deposit box? do i keep them, like fine china, packed
away waiting for an occasion nice enough to use them? or do i entrust them to god?
when i figure
out where my treasures are, then i can consider where my heart is and where i want it to be. it is our promise from god that where
your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
that’s how our treasures
can come in really handy. it is
hard to just start trusting god or to simply decide to love and trust god more. there’s a lot going on that can make us
fearful and distrusting; that can make it hard, but one of the ways we can
begin to put our trust, our faith, our heart in god is by putting our treasures
there. giving our money to god,
giving our families and ourselves back to god in baptism. giving our fears and insecurities over
to god in prayer. there are many
treasures in all of our lives from toys and money to people and memories.
what is keeping
me from entrusting my treasure to god?
what is it
about my treasure that i cling to it so tightly?
what power
closes my hands around my treasure so that they will not open to receive god’s
grace: the body and blood of christ, given for me?
there is a
quote from archbishop fulton sheen, who lived and served in new york in the
early 20th century. in
the quote, archbishop sheen points out that “you must remember to love people
and use things, rather than to love things and use people.” in our culture we easily learn how to
love things and use people. and
perhaps that is why we keep coming back each sunday.
because it is
here that we learn to use things, water, bread and wine, with god’s word, in
order to love people. each week
god pours unconditional love and grace upon us, loving us more fully than we
can understand, so that we might learn also to love others, and merely use
things. so that our treasure
becomes relationships and people, which we can entrust to god along with the
things we use.
as i’ve been
getting ready to leave this place, to move my things and find new
relationships, there are a lot of unknowns in my future, yet each week i am
reassured that god knows me, loves me, and feeds me—inviting me anew each week
and each day into the waters of baptism and a life of grace. and so, just as we ourselves have been
entrusted to god since our baptisms, all that we have and all whom we love can
be put in service to lead our hearts ever closer to god, our Ultimate Treasure.
thanks be to god.
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