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Healing & Liberation

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Published: Monday, 19 September 2022 13:10

Message for Pentecost 11 given on August 21, 2022 on Luke 13:10-17 at St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Richardson, Texas

Sometimes other people’s freedom offends us. It would be nice if this could simply be a lovely healing story, freeing the bent-over woman of this painful ailment preventing her from living a full life. She could not look her loved ones in the eye, view the blue sky, or spy stars at night with her grandchildren.

But Jesus’ action to heal and liberate her from this debilitating ailment offends the synagogue leader, and I imagine many others—it breaks all the rules of rest and sabbath and what is considered work and what is not. Thus, it evokes an uncomfortable question, one which the passage does not allow us to ignore: “Who’s healing offends us? Whose liberation from a life of being bound by pain, breaks rules that we hold dear or deem important?

Perhaps it is uninsured or unemployed people who offend us—they receive medical care in emergency rooms that they will never pay for while we are working hard to make our insurance co-payments.  It may be immigrants at our southern border who are offensive—their numbers are increasing as they flee poverty, gang-related violence, abuse, and other issues. The number of immigrants who are victims of violence include sexual abuse making immigration a question of healing, especially for women and girls, but they may not being following our laws. Perhaps we struggle against other medical issues today—parents providing their trans youth healthcare; women seeking autonomy and privacy in reproductive healthcare—wherever you stand on these issues, there is opportunity for offense.

"But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “'There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.'”

Anyone whose healing does not follow the rules we keep for our life and that we hold as “just” and right, or in today’s world, familiar to our experience, can easily become offensive.

A spiritual mentor taught me to ask a few questions, to reflect and pray, before reacting or responding any time I am offended. “What part of me is offended and why? What am I afraid of losing? What am I afraid of not getting?”

Usually, it is my ego that is offended. I am following the rules, I am working hard, or I am doing things how they are supposed to be done! Sometimes I believe I have the right information about a situation, or even, I am on God’s side or the side of justice or why doesn’t everyone just think the way I do?! Wouldn't life be easier if everyone just thought the way I did? (haven't you ever thought that?!)

The part of me that’s offended is always the part that likes to be in control with outcomes that feel the safest to me, but then I am not listening to what God requires of me in the situation, or who I need to listen to or to learn from, because all I am thinking is about me—of course that is the nature of the ego. Even if I deeply disagree with someone or a law or a policy, I can listen to their viewpoint, and try to understand their fears, and seek a common humanity. This is why I need to understand my own fears. Because even after prayer and meditation and I believe I really have discerned God's will in a situation, God never gives me a pass on treating people with love and compassion, no matter how much I might disagree with them--and this is something we are not very good in our divided country.

So, what are we afraid of losing when we are offended? It can be different depending on our personality and make up, but for most of us—we are afraid of being left out, or left behind; we are afraid that we do not matter, that we are not worthy or wanted, that we are not important or special; we fear that we will be betrayed or will fail, that we cannot be ourself or have needs. And if any of those fears become true and real, how will we get our bearings in the world, provide for our family, be safe, and imagine a future? We are afraid of not getting what we need.

We do understand the synagogue leader’s reaction to the healing of the bent over woman: just stick to the rules, Jesus and stop healing on Sabbath! Finding a common humanity when we are offended and divided on important rules and issues is difficult spiritual work.

The woman is not the only one who is bent over; fear bends us over ourselves, making it hard to see another’s humanity, hear their story and fears and hopes, or to listen to the kind of healing that will bring them liberation. 

For the Sabbath itself was established out of liberation and freedom. The Ten Commandments begin with this statement in both Exodus and Deuteronomy: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of slavery.”

The commandment to remember the Sabbath and to rest comes from the God who liberates from slavery, which means that now the people do not have to work 7 days/week. The Hebrew word for Sabbath is shabbat, which as a verb means “stop”—just stop from labor. God is God and you are not. The world can turn without you and your busy-ness. On the Sabbath you worship a God who frees from slavery and oppression—which is also how Jesus describes healing the bent-over woman from her ailment—“Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” You are liberated from your slavery to sickness.

What is truly offensive to God is not breaking the rules—which Jesus does not actually do, because healing is not forbidden in the Sabbath law, and it is God’s power that heals anyway—but rather, what offends God is using rules to keep people bound! It is not that rules and the Sabbath do not matter, of course they do, but do not use something intended for good as a tool of oppression!

“Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” Jesus liberates her from being bound by pain, by isolation, by fear that accompanies her condition. Jesus’ healing was a true act of Sabbath—freeing her from slavery to illness and allowing her to stop and rest from sickness, and embrace new life!

The woman stands upright for the first time in 18 long years! She sees the face of God in Jesus, she feels the blood flow through her back and neck, she beholds the beauty of the Temple, she looks into the faces of people whose voices she has heard, but whose appearance she can barely recognize, she will see the blue sky and the stars twinkling at night, and praises pour forth from her mouth.

Jesus invites us to receive this same healing, wholeness, and fullness of life that God desires for all of us. What is the healing that you need today—what has you bent over or afraid?

• Perhaps it is a physical ailment for which you seek healing.
• Maybe it is anxiety or depression.
• It may be guilt over what you have done, or anger over what someone else has done.
• Perhaps it is grief, and sadness over the loss of a dearly loved one.
• It could be the on-going stress of pandemic, inflation, and weariness from it all.
• Or it may be that you need healing from being offended at those you do not know or understand as God opens your heart to a new response and deeper conversation, trusting that God in Jesus Christ will provide all we need.

Just as Jesus was present for the bent-over woman in the synagogue, Jesus is present here today, with us now. His risen presence dwells in each of our hearts and fills us with forgiveness, and new life in the bread and wine at this table where he sets us free from all that binds us and bends us over.

Jesus heals us with his very life, restoring us with all of the love, wholeness and hope we need to rise up and stand tall, facing one another in the joy of the Lord who takes no offense at any of us, but invites us with openness and grace to receive the healing touch of our Savior’s love.

During Communion, after you receive the elements, you can go up to the altar railing and kneel for individual healing prayer with two of our members. Those who prefer to stay on level ground and not to go up the steps, can go to the entryway where another member will pray with you sitting in a chair.

Also, the baptismal font will also be a place for individual private prayer for anyone who feels the urge to make a recommitment of your faith, and to renew your baptismal vows.
Come to the right side of the font, you can kneel or stand. If your faith has felt lukewarm and you need your faith re-invigorated, or if you want to know where God needs you to serve, the Holy Spirit will be your prayer guide! Don’t be shy, if you feel the urge to come to the right side of the baptismal font for your own individual prayer, then you are the reason I am making this invitation today!  Also, I invite anyone on Zoom to mentally go to the right side of the Baptismal font for prayer, because the Holy Spirit is not limited by space, and the Spirit will show up for you as well.

Because now, none of us are surprised or offended at anyone else’s healing or liberation, so be free—be as Sabbath-free as the bent-over woman, to receive Jesus’ healing touch—cry, praise, rejoice—however the Spirit moves you!

Then we can all go from here, as agents of healing and hope, helping God’s people be free, whole, and upright, with fearless faces shining outward and upward, with the love of Christ. 

Image: Watts, George Frederick, 1817-1904. Hope

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Embody the Word

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Published: Thursday, 08 September 2022 01:38

Message for Mary the Mother of Our Lord Sunday on Luke 1:46-55 give on August 14, 2022 at St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Richardson, Texas

Many people I know have a love-hate relationship with their bodies—they love that they can do things we all enjoy—like taste great food, play a sport or exercise, embrace the people we love, go swimming to cool off in this heat, and heal after an injury or surgery.

But then, many also hate or feel conflicted about their bodies, or parts of their bodies—certain parts we want to be different, our hair or lack thereof, how much we weigh, how hard it is to stay in shape, chronic health issues, the frustrations of getting older and things not working how they used to.

For centuries, Western culture has not helped us in this regard. Plato—who has had more influence over Christian attitudes about the body than Jesus himself, viewed body and soul as enemies; he thought that matter and spirit were in conflict with each other, and we have been living out this struggle ever since. Many Christians have falsely believed if we could “die” to our bodies and its needs, our spirits would rise.

The translations of the Apostle Paul’s writings (in Galatians 5, for example) about the desires of the flesh verses the desires of the spirit, have not helped our cause. When Paul refers to “flesh” everyone thinks he is talking about our bodies—piling more shame and struggle on top of our body/spirit dichotomy. But Paul is talking about worldly, selfish desires, our sinful nature—which includes a whole host of things—like greed, fits of rage, jealousy, and envy—and not just body-related sins like drunkenness and immoral behaviors.

Given all of this, it is hard not to view our bodies as the part of us we must discipline, subdue, tame, shame, scold, and force to shape up, and slim down. It’s exhausting just thinking about it. After centuries of body rejection and poor body theology; we can swing from substance abuse or addiction, eating disorders, self-harm and other behaviors that hurt our bodies on the one end, over to cosmetic surgery, salons and gyms going to an extreme, that make our body and appearance a cultural idol on the other.

I can go from eating too much to searching for the highest rated eye cream for women over 50 in one afternoon (in one hour, actually!). Then when we pack for a trip I hand Dan a fistful of my toiletries and quip, “well, 60 can’t be the new 40 out of quart-sized bag!”

But then Mary, the Mother of Our Lord lovingly and unexpectedly inserts herself in the middle of these hot, sweaty months when we are not sure bodies were a good idea at all. I always forget that Mary Sunday comes in August until Dale (our Director of Music Ministry) reminds me. So here she is, when we expect her only near Christmas, with images of a human body giving birth to God, and in so doing, inviting us to wonder anew what it means for all of us to embody Jesus, the Christ. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth.” And of course, I am—we are—so focused on all the wrong things.

Because Jesus came through a body, a human body. A body like yours and mine. A poor teenage, peasant’s female body. For God, for Jesus, for Mary, for Christians, for us, there is no split between body and spirit because God became a body in Jesus.

Writer Cole Arthur Riley says it this way:

For me, the story of God becoming body is only matched by God’s submission to the body of a woman. That the creator of the cosmos would choose to rely on an embodied creation. To be grown, fed, delivered—God put faith in a body. In Mary’s muscles and hormones …. And when Christ’s body is broken and blood shed, we should hold in mystery that first a woman’s body was broken, her blood shed, in order to deliver the hope of the world into the world. . . .I believe that the spiritual realm is so enmeshed with the physical that it is imperceptible.

My soul magnifies the Lord,
  and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
  Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
  and holy is his name.

“The spiritual realm is so enmeshed with the physical that it is imperceptible.”

Mary experienced no duality between body and spirit. Neither did Jesus—that is the very message of the incarnation and our confession about it—fully human, fully divine—body and spirit operating as One soul--“the spiritual realm is so enmeshed with the physical that it is imperceptible.”

Of course, we believe that the physical is tied to the spiritual in our faith—we confess it every time we say the Apostle’s Creed – “I believe in the resurrection of the body.” This affirmation goes back to the 2nd century! We do not believe that only the spirit lives on. Paul tries to explain this in 1 Corinthians 15 with his understanding of the resurrection of the dead—that God gives everyone who has a physical body, a spiritual body in the resurrection.

Our body is part of God’s work of salvation.

Franciscan priest, Richard Rohr says it this way:

Christianity makes a daring and broad claim: God is redeeming matter and spirit, the whole of creation. The Bible speaks of the “new heaven and the new earth” and the descent of the “new Jerusalem from heaven” to “live among us” in Revelation 21:1–3. This physical universe and our own physicality are somehow going to share in the Eternal Mystery. Your body participates in the very mystery of salvation.

“Your body participates in the very mystery of salvation.” This is the gift that Mary offers us. She teaches us how to receive this mystery with praise and gratitude. Mary shows us how to respond to it—“let it be with me according to your will;” how to carry it, give thanks for it, trust in it and move forward living life, not with a love-hate relationship with a body/spirit split, but rejoicing that our body is part of our whole soul that God is using as a dwelling place for Christ. The body does not hold the soul, rather the soul contains the body and spirit. 

My soul (body and spirit) magnifies the Lord,
  and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
  and holy is his name.

When we view our bodies as part of our soul in which Christ dwells, where spirit is present and part of how God works in us and through us in the world, we can pay attention to our bodies in a new way, as a spiritual resource. God put faith in Mary’s body; a healthy theology of the body invites us to trust God’s faith in our own body.

Of course, we already listen to our bodies with hunger, tiredness, pain, and other signals. Many of us listen to other bodily cues as well: Paying attention to gut feelings when making decisions. Listening to the sensation that signals you are not in safe space or with a safe person.

I am inviting you to bring this body awareness into your spiritual life and prayer life if you have not already explored this before. Pay attention to your body when you pray and when you move throughout the day. What sensations does your body have when you experience peace? Exercise? Your favorite Music? Nature? Being with people you love? Work?

Psychologists teach us that all our emotions are experienced in our body as well as our mind. And the body never lies. If you have a hard time knowing how you feel, close your eyes and mindfully scan each part of your body top to bottom and pay attention to where in your body you store and signal different emotions. Scan your body to listen to how it feels, what it needs, how you can care for it, and love it as a vessel of your spirit and the indwelling Christ.

When we treat our body as a spiritual resource—as part of our soul—we can listen to the wisdom it is holding, how to live peacefully within our limitations as we age, and most importantly, we can listen to what the indwelling Christ is revealing to us about embodying his love for others in our world today. For that is really where Mary, the Mother of our Lord is leading us—we hold the risen Christ in our whole soul, so that we can be led into the world to be the hands and feet of Christ, embodying the kingdom that Jesus died for and that his Mother sang of –where no bodies suffer injustice or poverty or oppression. She could envision the wholeness and justice of Christ’s body in the world because she experienced the wholeness and peace of her own body and spirit in God’s claim upon her complete life and soul.

So, we go from here joining Mary in her humble song, unified in body and spirt, trusting God’s faith and salvation for our whole soul, singing,

My soul magnifies the Lord,
  and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
  and holy is his name.

 Image: Roy, Jamini, 1887-1972. Mother and Child

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The Perfect Gift

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Published: Monday, 22 August 2022 19:44

Message for Pentecost 9 on Luke 12:32-40 on August 7, 2022 at St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Richardson, Texas

Have you ever had that experience when you were so excited for Christmas or a birthday celebration because you had found the perfect gift for a loved one and you could not wait for them to open it? Can you think of one of those gifts that you were thrilled to give because it was just right? Of course, we try to get meaningful gifts all the time, but once in a while, we have that experience of getting something extra special.

About 20 years ago, Dan needed a new jacket–he had mentioned in passing that he liked those bomber-style leather jackets, but it was really not in our budget since I was staying home with the kids and they were all involved in activities.

I was not making a lot of money with my home business, but I decided I was going to figure out how to buy Dan a leather jacket. I booked extra appointments, sold extra products, and before Christmas, I made enough money to buy Dan this beautiful black leather jacket with a zip-in lining so he could also wear it in the St. Louis winter. I could not wait for him to open it. He was so surprised, and truly loved it.

Giving my husband whom I love, something that he wanted and needed that made him feel special and loved gave me such delight and pleasure. Don’t you love that feeling? Is that not why we buy gifts after all? Not just to please the person we are giving them to, but because giving them something special also gives us pleasure and delight?

Jesus said: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

We do not often think of God’s delight and pleasure in giving us, God’s beloved children, the special and wonderful gifts God wants us to have. No, many of us were raised to believe that God is grumpy, judgmental, and stingy; that we are always supposed to appease this God with our prayers, our good thoughts, and our better behavior so God will toss a few meager morsels of forgiveness or blessings our way even though we do not deserve it.

But this is never the God that Jesus describes! Jesus shows us a God who is an intimate, close and loving parent who cherishes, knows, and provides for the people God made and loves: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

Jesus describes God's generosity as One who gives out of pleasure, and delight, out of being well-pleased (like God was at Jesus Baptism and his Transfiguration!). God gives to treat us specially, and with joy, like a loving mother caring for her children, like someone gifting their beloved with the perfect gift, like a father doting on his children.

Think about it: If we experience such joy in giving something just right to those we love, imagine that feeling of love multiplied a gazillion-fold to infinity, by the God of the universe who desires to give us the fullness of God’s presence in Jesus, in love, in forgiveness, in community, and in the Spirit’s power!

• Can you imagine this?
• Can you imagine God’s pleasure in giving us grace, and all that we need?
• Can you imagine God’s delight in giving us the ability to love?
• In giving us family and the church to help each other?
• Can you imagine God’s joy in giving us the ability to share generously? In giving us the Spirit to multiply goodness and Godness and justice in the world?

God’s up there thinking, “ooh this is awesome! I can’t wait until they open and experience these gifts! When are they gonna get it?” How much longer ‘til Christmas?!

When we embrace this God that Jesus really shows us, we begin to understand why he starts this passage with “have no fear, little flock.” God delights in giving us all that really matters. Then there is nothing to fear–nothing we lack, nothing that we need beyond what God willing and lovingly provides for us. Indeed, what is there to fear when we completely trust that God loves and provides for us now and in the life to come? God can’t wait for us to know and fully grasp what we’re getting!

When we embrace this loving God who delights in giving us love, community, forgiveness, daily needs, and the gift of Jesus Christ–the very gifts of the kingdom for us, the rest of what Jesus says makes more sense: for Jesus calls us to treasure the God who treasures us. Jesus invites us to make an unfailing treasure in heaven that is above all else.

1. Jesus asks us to also delight in loving God, as God loves us! We treasure the God who treasures us by putting God first in our lives by giving God our time, our prayer, and our gratitude.
2. Then Jesus asks us to treasure God by generously sharing God’s gifts to us, with those who need extra help. As we treasure God, God’s gifts multiply—like loaves and fishes!
3. Finally, Jesus calls us to treasure God by finding ways to live according to God’s design for human flourishing–which includes that all are fed, clothed, housed, and given opportunity for livelihood—that’s what the kingdom of God looks like!

Jesus clues us into the great reversal of the kingdom with his veiled story about himself as the master who returns and serves the slaves their meal. Has not our master and Lord come to feed us all with his own body and blood and given himself to save our very lives? God has treasured us so much to give his only Son for us, feeding us with bread and wine of forgiveness.

Then he asks to go from this table and embody a society where the imbalances of the world are set right–and all have an equal seat at the table of God’s treasures. And we can do all of this without fear, little flock, for our loving God delights in giving us all we need now, and forever in Jesus. We trust that as we share God’s treasures—God’s love, God’s forgiveness, God’s resources, they multiply! And so does our experience of God’s blessings—more delight, more love, more joy!

Did you know that Dan still wears his black leather jacket today, 2 decades later? Not as often in Texas–but it’s still in the closet and whenever it’s cold enough, he wears it. It has been repaired, restitched in places, re-lined, and specially cleaned. Other clothes have been passed along, and replaced, but this jacket remains. Why?

• It’s not because he loves leather–if that were true, he’d toss this jacket and get a new one.
• It’s not because we can’t afford it–we are much better off than we used to be, and he could buy any jacket he wants.
• Dan still wears a 20-year-old jacket because he treasures it as a gift of love, and he feels treasured and loved when he wears it.

It is God’s good pleasure and delight to give us the kingdom and all that we need. In Jesus Christ, we feel treasured and loved taking the same careful stewardship with all of God’s gifts––to treasure them, make them last, re-stitch, recycle, caring for creation and the people God made—feeling loved and treasured with every good gift–

• every moment of forgiveness,
• each experience of prayer,
• every blessed meal,
• each worship service,
• every clean drink of water,
• each piece of music that helps our spirit soar,
• every sticky kiss from a child.

And when we have something we no longer use or need, we hold it lightly and pass it on, advocating for that day when all will be fed and housed.

We do not know when Jesus will return in all his fullness, but when we treasure the God who treasures us, Jesus enables us to take good care and have no fear, little flock.

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Essentials for Life

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Published: Tuesday, 16 August 2022 02:01

Message for Pentecost 8 on Luke 12:13-21 on July 31, 2022 at St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Richardson, Texas

What does life consist of? That is the question that sits at the center of our story from Luke’s Gospel today. The man in our story is sure that he knows — and he is not getting what he wants. So he seeks out a judge, an arbiter to decide in his favor.

It was customary in Jesus’ time for rabbis to give a legal ruling in disputes. It sounds like a straightforward request to settle an inheritance; to get the older brother to fulfill his duty to share the correct share of the family money with his younger brother. But Jesus senses something else going on in this young man’s mind and heart other than the settling of the books, and distributing one’s fair share of the inheritance.

Jesus does not satisfy the man’s request because he knows that the man isn’t simply seeking fairness — he is seeking his own material gain. This man’s motivation is not justice, but greed.

Greed is a common experience for all of us. That’s what one of the main levers that advertisers use — they know we want nicer things and more things — and so they dangle all sorts of luxuries before us with great promises that a new car or a new house or a new pair of tennis shoes or a new set of clothes will make us happier and more content. Now, on the one hand there is nothing wrong in having possessions — a car, a house, clothing, and so on. Our problem as humans is the easy tendency to put our possessions above people, to place money over relationships, to value cash before community, and worst of all, to love goods more than God.

Greed — that is wanting more and believing that life consists of getting more, always trips us up doesn’t it? Whether it’s inheritance, marital disputes, divorce, child support, or resolving family conflicts, it often comes down to the money–who’s got it, who’s spending it, how much is enough, and what about me? Like the man in our story, we all have an underlying fear that we are not going to get our fair share. Greed can spur disputes about money or inheritance can cause irreparable family rifts–I know of a number of families where the adult children do not speak to one another after the parents died and the children could not settle the estate. It is so easy for money to be more important than relationships. 

We also cling to our possessions in hopes that they will help secure our future. This haunts us like a nightmare repeating itself unbidden in the dark of night. Will I have enough? What if I run out of resources? What if a disaster strikes? Again, the wise person does try to plan for the future. God wants us to participate in our own well-being. That’s why we buy insurance, that’s why we save for retirement, that’s why over the last four years we have started an Endowment and a Capital Campaign, why we steward the building–faithfulness includes planning future missions. Yes, God protects us against evil that can destroy the soul. but God also gave us brains to figure out ways to protect our lives — things like vaccines and healthy living patterns, and wise financial management, and on-going mission beyond our lifetimes. But how quickly this planning for the future can drive us into a fearful greediness that puts possessions, money, and stuff over people, relationships, and God.

Knowing this, not just about the brother in front of him, but all of us, Jesus does not settle between the man and his brother. Rather, by telling the parable of the Rich Fool, Jesus invites the man and us into an alternate way of seeing what life consists of as we live in a world in which everything is a gift from God.

The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’

Wouldn’t it be nice if the story ended there? I wish this were a story about the wisdom of building bigger barns so you don’t have to worry about anything. But, as is so often the case with Jesus, there is always more to the story.

But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

The tragedy of the story is the man thought that he was the captain of his destiny. He put all of his energy into securing a future that, in the end, he did not control. You notice the pronouns in the story were “I” and “my” and “self.” There are no relationships, no mention of family or God or community. He is curved in on himself so much so, that he cannot see anyone but himself.

But Jesus’ parable forces us to ask other questions, How much is enough? How much do you need? What does life consist of? And when death calls — and at some point, death will always call — it does not matter how wise an investor we have been with our earthly resources. They will no longer be ours and then our eternal wealth will begin to matter: “what investments have we made in our relationship with God?”

I want to share with you a painting that illustrates the way that this parable invites us to reconsider our relationship with our possessions. It is by Texas artist Jim Janknegt (look at the picture posted with this sermon).

Here is the painting. There are two houses, one large and one small. Which house would you rather live in? If you are like me, you would like the biggest house. There is more space. It is more comfortable. You can store more possessions.
And that's exactly what the rich man prefers. His large buildings allow him , eat, drink space for nice furniture, art, and possessions. He has a nice bedroom upstairs where he can dream of his worry-free life. This is a house in which he can eat, drink, and be merry. But there are other symbols - cactus in the yard, it's very stark, shadows over the house, the owner is alone and his back to the neighbors house.

There are possessions one buys around outside - jewelry, electronics, house for sale, bull-dozing a house to build a bigger one, newscaster with a skull–horrors of the day.
There are sales pitches in the words behind the items: 

• “But one Get One Free”
  “Essentials for the Home”
  “50% Off Sale”
  “One-Day Specials”

But there is a problem with this man and his large house. While it gives you the security and comfort we all want, it prevents you from having relationships. It puts possessions above people and cash before community. This is symbolized by a piece of art inside his home–it’s a sculpture in his living room. It looks like a child with the center hollowed out or the heart cut out – a symbol of the kind of life and soul one has who only has relationships with possessions, and not with people. This is also a symbol of what happens to the larger community by his hoarding of grain. By not putting his extra grain into the market, he drives up the price of grain for the poor. His selfish practice gives him economic power and status in the village as others become more dependent on him. The rich fool wants to control the market at the expense of his neighbors. Those who control market forces for unreasonable profits, leave the stomachs of the poor empty. 

And do you remember what happens in the parable when the rich man gets everything he wants? When he gets his security and your happiness? God comes and tells him, “Fool, tonight you lose your soul. And what you have provided, whose will it be?” This question underscores that the only relationship this man has is with his stuff, possessions and money.

But there is another house in the painting... a house that none of us would prefer. But look inside this house. Here is a whole group together–perhaps a family or a family with friends or relatives over. People of different ages. And they are sitting together at a table, sharing a meal and having fellowship. Fellowship is a word that comes from two other words: “with” and “bread:” fellowship. Our companions are the people with whom we eat bread. Their house is small, there is not much, but they have everything they need. They have everything we need:

• Toys in the grass
  Tree of life above the home
  Flowers on the stoop
  Their house is full of life and love and light.

Think of the most profound times of your life — the ones that brought you the most joy, the most peace, the most purpose. Were they joyful, and peaceful, and purposeful because of your possessions, or because of the relationships you were enjoying– with your parents, or your siblings, or your spouse, or your children, or your grandchildren, your close friends or neighbors. Were they transformative because you were gathering things unto yourself, or sharing your time and your abundance and your love with others? Were they meaningful because you were thinking about yourself, or because you were grateful to God that your life was blessed and good?

There is nothing wrong with having what we need. There is nothing wrong with having a comfortable life, planning for the future, or securing our retirement. But when those things define who we are and begin to take larger importance in our life than our relationship with God and with others, then Jesus wants to pull us back into deeper relationship and alignment with this parable into what life really consists of–relationship with God and with each other.

Security, happiness and joy come, not from what we have, but from God who gives us everything we need to have joy, and peace, purpose, and love. Wealth does not come from packing our possessions into bigger storage units, but from sharing what we have with others.

This becomes easier when we remember that all our possessions belong to God. We are not actually the owners of our stuff, we are administrators and stewards of the things God has given us, and given us the ability and opportunity to work for. And when we shift to this perspective, our actions change too. We no longer build bigger houses or storage lockers to protect our belongings, we build bigger tables to share the blessings of God, and that’s what it means to be rich toward God. That’s what life consists of in the kingdom of God.

And that’s a great mission image for lives and for St. Luke’s today–building a bigger table where more people, more diverse neighbors, more of all kinds of people can build life-giving relationships with the God who provides us with everything we need–along with a community with which to grow and deepen our relationship with God. In this community we are reminded that the essential for every life is faith and the most valuable possessions are free–the gift of grace and forgiveness in Jesus Christ, along with hope, and love which we share together.

In Jesus Christ, we have a God who walks by our side, who fills us with strength and peace, and who accompanies us in every breath. He comes to us at this table with life abundant and bread to share, asking us to hold fast to the relationship that lives beyond this life into eternity, and then calls us to extend the table, so all might know his never-failing love and power.

So come to this table–where we can eat, drink and be merry, for Christ is our bread, and we are God’s people together, sharing what life really consists of—the goodness of God in Jesus Christ. We can go from here using our blessings to build a bigger table, so all might eat, so all might hear, so all might be loved, so all might experience that the best and most secure gifts of life are absolutely free and abundantly given.

Art by James B. Janknegt https://www.bcartfarm.com/wfs15.html.

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