Being a Welcoming Congregation

  

14th Sunday after Pentecost

Hebrews 13, Romans 14 & 15, Luke 14 

25 August 2013

Elizabeth M. Deibert    

If you have glanced at your bulletin insert, you will see that we are reading four different scriptures.  Short ones!   Two of them – Hebrews and Luke were actually on the schedule for next Sunday but I brought them forward.   Romans 14-1-15:13 is a whole unit on being welcoming and understanding of others.   I excerpted just a few verses from each chapter.   Listen for common themes about what it means to welcome another and about who should be welcomed.    The Greek word for welcome is deeper than our usual meaning.   It means to accept as a partner or close friend, not just to be warm and friendly.

Hebrews 13:1-2

Let mutual love continue. 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.

Have you ever had a friendship that was a one-way street?   To achieve real mutuality each person needs to have the five C’s.   Curiosity enough to ask good questions.   Tell me about your family.   How long have you been in Florida and from where did you come?  Concentration enough to listen well and to ask follow up questions.   Control enough to let them have their own perspective, without trying to force them into your mold or to try to fix them according your own perspective.   Clarification to clear up misunderstandings.  Compassion enough to care more about them that about yourself.  

Have you ever noticed how some people turn the conversation right back to themselves, after you answer one small question?  Mutuality involves both people utilizing the five Cs – Curiosity, Concentration, Clarification, Control, and Compassion to make the relationship work.    Now the other point from Hebrews is that we welcome/show hospitality to strangers – not just the people who are familiar.   It is so much easier to talk to your friends.    Take the path less traveled – reach out to ta new friend in coffee time.  Entertain an angel.

Romans 14:1-3

Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. 2 Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. 3 Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them.

Romans 15:1-3a

We who are strong ought to put up with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Each of us must please our neighbor for the good purpose of building up the neighbor. 3 For Christ did not please himself;

For the early Church, the great divide was between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians.   The weak in faith are those rule-bound folks, who believe all must agree with them to be the true church.   The strong understand grace but grace is not grace when it is thrown in people’s face.   So those who have moved beyond being rule-bound to the higher ethic of love should not offend the ones who still are.   They should respect them.   God has welcomed them all.    We do not welcome people into the church to quarrel with them over non-essentials.  As the old saying goes:  In essentials, unity.  In non-essentials, liberty.  In all things, charity or love.   What are our essentials at Peace?   Trust in Jesus Christ is the only faith statement required – define it as you will.   Beyond that we try when we chartered as a church to articulate simply our core beliefs as these:

• God is clearly revealed in Jesus Christ.
• Worship honors God.
• Prayer is a vital part of our relationship with God.
• The Spirit of God speaks through Holy Scripture.
• The sacraments of Baptism & Communion seal our relationship with Jesus Christ.
• The Church is the Body of Christ through the Holy Spirit.
• All people are created in the image of God.  
• God loves all people and expects us to love one another.
• God is compassionately involved in the world.  
• God expects us to work for peace and justice for all.    

So we respect differences of opinion on political, theological, and social matters, as long as those positions are in line with this simple set of affirmations.

The question I have about respecting and articulating differences of opinion is this: when does your advocacy for a particular point begin to exclude someone?   When does your strength of opinion, wound the weaker in faith?  For instance, how can we have honest dialogue about what does it mean to say that “God expects us to work for justice and peace for all” without stepping on each other’s political toes.

 

The Apostle Paul, himself a Jewish Christian, seemed more interested in removing the “hot button” issue, in avoiding damaging conflict in the life of the church than he was to have the so-called weak, corrected.   He puts the burden on the strong in faith, those who know better, to bear with the weaknesses of the weak – not to look down on them.

And finally we turn to Jesus’ teaching of those who were powerful, respected, and rule-bound.    At a dinner party, to which he was invited by the Pharisees and lawyers, Jesus challenges the status quo, the Eastern culture, which placed high value on social strata.

Luke 14:12-14

He said also to the one who had invited him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14 And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."                       (New Revised Standard Version)

A meal is not usually the place where you challenge the host.   No, usually guests are exceedingly polite to their host.   Jesus did not abide by this social custom.   He challenged host of the dinner to be invitational to those he would have preferred to avoid.   Indeed the rules of a Pharisee or scribe’s religious and social existence demanded that he avoid these people.   Who do you avoid?   Who do the rules of the world tell you to avoid?   Who would you find it least comfortable to invite to dinner?   That may be the very one Jesus would have you welcome.    Who are we inviting to church?   Who are we welcoming?  I have always liked the United Methodist slogan:  Open hearts, open minds, open doors.   I hope we believe in our heart of hearts that all people are created in the image of God and are loved by God.   Neil MacQueen sent me an interesting article Friday on being invitational instead of welcoming.   The point of the article is that we should not be sitting on our backsides, waiting for people to come to us, but going to them.   We should not be welcoming them because it is good for us, welcoming them because they can help us build a sanctuary on our new property.   No, we are invitational because we too are the unlikely dinner guests of Christ.   We have been graciously welcomed, loved, renewed.   Christ has included us, so we in his name include everyone who wants to join us in seeking him.   Every conversation and every meal becomes an opportunity to be welcoming toward those whom Christ loves.   Every Sunday after church my mother and brother share their best meal of the week with the most irritatingly needy person in the Faison Presbyterian Church, not because it is fun, but because it is right.   I can remember in my childhood how much I hated that she would come over and spoil an hour of our Christmas morning.   But I learned by painful repetition what it means to welcome the weak.   Through the mutuality of our love, centered in Christ, we will all grow into the likeness of Christ – together. 

 So let us dine together at Christ’s table as friends, different from each other, but one family, united in love.

The Endurance Test Called Life

 

13th Sunday after Pentecost

Hebrews 12:1-15                       

18 August 2013

Elizabeth M. Deibert                   

Last week we read Hebrews 11, the litany of those who lived by faith, who lived according to the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  We remembered Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Leah, Jacob, and Rachel, the twelve tribes of Israel and many more.   We remembered all those who have gone before us – that great cloud of witnesses who cheer us on when the race of life is difficult.   

Now in chapter 12 comes the encouragement to endure faithfully as our forbearers did.   We are challenged to look to Christ’s example and find in him our source of strength to persevere through hardship, to face life’s discipline with courage and hope, knowing that Christ perfect/completes our faith.  He fills in the gaps, where we are weak.

Hebrews 12:1-15

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

3 Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart. 4In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as children—
‘My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, or lose heart when you are punished by him; 6 for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves, and chastises every child whom he accepts.’

7Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children; for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline? 8If you do not have that discipline in which all children share, then you are illegitimate and not his children. 9Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share his holiness. 11Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. 14 Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and through it many become defiled.

(New Revised Standard Version)

We Deiberts have had a difficult week, as we’ve lost two close friends in Alabama from the same circle of companions, two men in their fifties.   One committed suicide and the other had an aortic tear – both died with suddenly.   Both couples had recently suffered through divorce, and now death came too early or so it seems to those of us who loved them.   

I have been grateful this week for this family of faith –for the freedom I feel to be authentic, to share my own personal pain.   I have a pastor-friend who recently told me he had something very challenging going on in his family, but he was not comfortable talking to anyone in his congregation about it.   I am grateful for the safety I feel in being real with you, sharing honestly, when my heart is drooping and my knees are weak.   Thank you for carrying my burdens.   The load is lighter when shared with true friends in Christ.

None of us can run this race very easily without help.   We need the support of faithful friends.   Our friend Jim’s load got too heavy.   He could not endure the deep and dark valleys in this race of life because of the pain of isolation and the guilt of sin.   Hebrews 12:1 tells us to lay aside every weight and the sin which clings so closely.   I believe Jesus is even now perfecting the faith of dear Jim, who in life could never lay his burdens down.    Jesus is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.   So he blazes the path, and then comes along and helps us get to the finish line of holiness.   

Sanctification is the five dollar word for holiness.   Without holiness no one will see the Lord, so I certainly am glad for the grace of God in Christ making me more holy.   There’s always this tension between faith as a gift, and faith as the thing for which we strive.   I have always appreciated the way A Declaration of Faith speak about this tension:  The Spirit makes us aware of our sinfulness and need, moves us to abandon our old way of life, persuades us to trust in Christ and adopt his way. In all these things we are responsible for our decisions. But after we have trusted and repented we recognize that the Spirit enabled us to hear and act. It is not our faith but God’s grace in Jesus Christ that justifies us and reconciles us to God. Yet it is only by faith that we accept God’s grace and live by it.

Hebrews 12 also reminds us that hardships can be a means of God’s parental discipline to help us grow in holiness.   As parents raise children, they often make decisions and impose negative consequences for certain behaviors that do not please the child, but when the child looks back with a mature perspective, the child sees that it was helpful.   Discipline yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

How does a runner train for a race?   By running often and to the point of pain and exhaustion.   Why do we think the race of the Christian life should be so comfortable and easy?   No, we are called to throw off the baggage (too much stuff can get in the way of faith) and we are supposed to sling off sin, as runner would remove a bulky sweatshirt or heavy backpack.   

The backpack we have filled with regrets, bitterness, and shame needs to be set down or shared with someone else who can shoulder the load, so can can keep on keeping on.

Do you remember when you were little and needed help with something and a parent or older sibling would come along and fix it for you?  Or a teacher would guide you to the right answer on the page or a friend would point out something that you did not see.  Jesus fixes, he perfects, he guides, and renews our weak faith, our broken faith.   All we have to do is look to him.   This life is a endurance test.   Sometimes in this marathon, the hills are steep, the road is curvy, and the terrain rough.   Sometimes we get distracted.   We wander on side roads, wrong paths, and eventually admit to God and ourselves that we have lost our way.   Sometimes we get tired and weak, especially if we are trying to go it alone, not sharing our struggles with our Christian brothers and sisters, nor even with God through prayer.   At such times it seems like we will never muster the faith to go on.   

Look to Jesus, remember his suffering.  If you fix your eyes on Jesus, you will have strength to walk on, though the road is steep.  So walk on, my friends, following Jesus your pioneer and perfecter.   Walk on, remembering the saints, living and dead, who are cheering you on, and offering you guidance.   Walk on, no matter how hard.   We walk with God, my brothers and sisters.  Keep pressing on.  If you are struggling with chronic pain, chronic doubt, chronic anxiety, or chronic depression, know that you will make it by the grace of God.   Walk on.  Press on with your walker.  Walk on with your own two feet.   Ride on in your motorized wheelchair, or be carried up the trail by some devoted saint, knowing that you will make it.   Yes, you will make it to the finish line.   And make sure you are always ready to say to the Lord of your life, “I have fought the good fight.   I have finished the race.   I kept the faith.”  And God, who is waiting eagerly and lovingly for you, God as Jesus Christ who came to earth to save you, will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

By Faith Alone

 

12th Sunday after Pentecost

Hebrews 11                           

11 August 2013

Elizabeth M. Deibert                   

There is a very good chance that the book of Hebrews was written by a woman named Priscilla, who with her husband Aquilla, was leading a church in Rome.  Although for many years, thanks to the dominance of the King James Version, Hebrews was falsely attributed to Paul, there was documented doubt of his authorship as early as the 3rd century.   Hebrews could have been written by Barnabas, Apollos, or even Luke, but I put my faith in Priscilla, especially as female authorship would be a good reason for early scribes to remove the name and turn it into an unsolved mystery.

The central theme of the epistle is the doctrine of the Person of Christ and his role as mediator between God and humanity, but among the most inspiring chapters, we have 11, 12, 13 – our readings for the next several weeks.   Today’s reading invites us to sit down and hear the recitation of our faith family’s history.   It is a long, because there are so many people of faith who came before us, and this is a short list.   So we read them to remember our heritage, much like you would go to Ancestry.com to discover your own personal heritage, or even better, you would listen to your parents or grandparents tell stories about the family, some which get exaggerated in the telling.   

My mom loves to tell the story of her grandfather who lived to be 92 and walked the post office every day of his life, including the day he died.   I enjoy walking and hope to be like able to stay active like this man I never knew.   My mom talks about her mother singing solos in church.   I was named for that grandmother and though I do not remember her, I know we can connect via music.   Not all our family stories are positive – my grandmother Elizabeth suffered from mental illness in the days when shock treatment and long hospitalizations were commonly practiced.   She had lots of support but still it must have been a hard life for her and her husband.  It is the same with the Biblical narrative. Some of the stories are the history of struggle, of pain.  Thereby, they teach us to cling to the faith, by which alone we live.  Some of the stories are exaggerated through years of oral history, thereby teaching us not to worry as much about the facts as the faith they impart.   Hear now the stories of the faithful in our reading from Hebrews 11:  

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible. 4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain's… 5 By faith Enoch was taken so that he did not experience death… 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 7 By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warning and built an ark to save his household… 8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old-- and Sarah herself was barren-- because he considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, "as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore." 13 All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them… 17 By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son... 20 By faith Isaac invoked blessings for the future on Jacob and Esau. 21 By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, "bowing in worship over the top of his staff." 22 By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions about his burial. 23 By faith Moses was hidden by his parents for three months after his birth, because they saw that the child was beautiful; and they were not afraid of the king's edict. 24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called a son of Pharaoh's daughter, 25 choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin… 29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land… 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. 31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace. 32 And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets-- 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented-- 38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. 39 Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect. 

(New Revised Standard Version)  

What is faith and how do you know if you really have it?   Most of us have considered that at one point or another.   Hebrews 11 opens, Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.

Young’s Literal Translation (Greek word for word) puts it like this:  And faith is of things hoped for a confidence, of matters not seen, a conviction.   The Common English Bible, says, Faith is the reality of what we hope for, the proof of what we don’t see.   The New Century Version:  Faith means being sure of things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it.    And the New Living Translation:  What is faith?  It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen.   It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see.

Faith is at the center of Christian life. We profess that we have been saved by faith, and that we now live by faith. But what does it really mean to have faith? What does it really mean to believe?

This is an important question, especially in our day, because for a great many people, faith has first and foremost to do with the assent of the mind. For them, to have faith means to give our intellectual agreement to a proposition, to believe that a claim or statement is true. There are a great many Christians who understand their faith in this way. They have given intellectual approval to certain claims or statements about God, about Jesus, about the Bible, and about the human condition. But when faith is understood primarily in this way, it becomes a just matter of the head rather than of the heart. When Christian faith is seen as an assent of the mind, the emphasis shifts to holding the correct views, believing the right things to be true.

Genuine faith involves trust. Christian faith, Christian belief, has to do with a radical trust in God which grows with the practice of trusting. It does not mean trusting in the truth of a set of statements about God; it means trusting in God.

Example:  When our firstborn Emily first went away to college, we had to trust in God that she was okay, even though we could not verify that with our eyes, with our own experience.   We had to trust, as we have with the other children, between phone conversations, that all would be well.  We got to practice even more trust in God when she went to Greece to study abroad – just about the time that the movie, Taken, was in the theatres.   I did not see it then because my trust was too fragile, but I have seen it now. 

   

Then there was the year in Korea, and many of you remember that fretful night when we had to trust in God that Catherine, barely 21, in Korea visiting, would find a way to get for Emily would get the medical attention she needed, after a seizure-like experience in the middle of the night.   Emily is now in Switzerland for a few weeks, visiting her boyfriend.   There was a mishap in the surprise visit she was paying him, and so she got stuck alone in Milan and he did not know she was there. Last I heard, which was 1:00 pm on Friday, she had still made no connection with him or his sister who was to pick her up.   But I have been practicing my trust in God that Emily is fine, even with no evidence that this is the case.    Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

I have never seen God.  I have only seen evidence of God’s goodness.  I have felt God’s love in a mysterious sort of way.   But I have chosen to commit myself to a life of faith.  I have felt sufficiently inspired by the Spirit of Jesus Christ to give myself over to this faith.   What about you?   Have you made that conscious choice?  All people have passions/causes/relationship into which they pour themselves.  Whatever it is, this new person/thing/cause captures our attention and awakens our devotion.  We believe in what we are doing, and we commit ourselves to it with our whole being.  We continue to push forward even when obstacles arise or doors close.  Because we believe in it, we persevere.   

That’s what it means to have faith in God – it is to make that relationship foremost.   This act of commitment, of devotion, can happen suddenly or gradually, but it is surely renewed by repetition -  such as participating in worship, saying prayers, reciting creeds or other statements of faith, hearing sermons, singing hymns, taking communion, making offerings.   All these activities provide space for building the faith to stay convinced of things we cannot see, and assured of things for which we hope.   For some it is easier to believe in mysteries, for others, there is a desire for fact. Yet what we have is faith, ours along with witness of so many others who have gone before us.   When your faith is weak, remember the faith of those who came before you.   By faith alone we live.

Our Foolishness

 

11th Sunday after Pentecost

Luke 12:13-31                       

4 August 2013

Elizabeth M. Deibert                   

Do you know how much money I have spent in the last month?   Andrew’s fall tuition for college came due.   Two ten year old AC units in our house needed replacement.  If I stop to think about how much money we have spent and what that money could have done for the poor, I wonder just what God is trying to teach me, as I work on this parable of the rich fool.  Now it is not that I think I should not pay for my children’s college education.   It is not that I think I should live without air conditioning in Florida.   But what choices can I make in my own life that will enable me to be generous toward others.   It is troubling to me that our Mission Beth-El is having to close its Mission Peniel, a ministry to migrant farmworkers in Immokalee where at 400-700 people would come for a hot meal of beans and rice every Friday night – due to a shortage of funds.   We who live in middle-upper class USA, are caught up in a vicious cycle of bigger/better supersize me foolishness that makes us prisoners of a lifestyle that is more complicated and decadent than it needs to be.   We are trapped in sin by the extravagance of our lifestyle and competitive drive and luxurious desires, but the good news is God’s forgives us and invites us to be transformed, day-by-day, into people whose generosity is greater than our sin, whose freedom and joy is found in giving not getting.  

Hear the Gospel:            Luke 12:13-31

13 Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me."  14 But he said to him, "Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?"  15 And he said to them, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions."

16 Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly.  17 And he thought to himself, 'What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?'  18 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.  19 And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.'  

20 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?'  21 So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."  22 He said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.

24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!  25 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?   26 If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest?  27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.

28 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you -- you of little faith!  29 And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying.  30 For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them.  31 Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

(New Revised Standard Version)  

Hymn – Bigger Barns

You ever think about what it will be like to share an eternal life with children who died early, due to simple diseases we could have prevented or cured, with the kind of medical attention we consider a given?   You ever wonder what it will be like to sit at Christ’s banqueting table in the heavenly realm and eat with people who spent their entire lives consuming daily mush while we were going to fancy restaurants eating rich food, and letting good vegetables spoil in our refrigerators?   You ever wonder how it will be to converse in an eternal dialogue with those who lived in mud huts while we lived in extravagant, carefully decorated houses?  I do, and I think that my conversations about AC trouble or closets too small or garages too crowded will be sort of awkward in that context.

Stop and think with me for a moment about what attitude Jesus challenges in the scripture we read.   A man wants Jesus to intercede for him – to get his brother to share the inheritance.  Remember in the first century, a first-born son would have nearly total control over the inheritance.   So it seems this younger brother wants his fair share.   His mistake was to think Jesus preferred him to his brother.  And Jesus says to the crowd, not just the man, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions."

Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.   Whether your context is a village mud huts or a gated community of houses valued at half a million and up, greed is a potential.   One’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.   I expect God will have more to say to me about greed than the person who lived in the mud hut.   I figure God’s love will be overwhelming, and my sin, well, I’ll wish  I’d been more generous.   So why not start today.  The parable is about a farmer who produces more than food than expected, or we might say an investment that produced more than expected, or a family that had more than needed.   Do the farmer, the investor, and the family, increase their own capacity to keep the extras, or do the farmer, the investor, and the family say, “Wow, God has given me more than I actually need.  Instead of a bigger barn, bigger house or bigger retirement account, perhaps there is someone who needs this more than I do.”   

Some of you did just that when you decided to give to the Peace building fund.   You saw that God could use to accomplish far greater more, if you shared what you had, rather than guarding your life’s earnings so zealously.   More people will find peace with God through your generous giving, and you yourselves will have more peace because of trusting God enough to let go and give.   

The parable says the rich fool dies right after building his super-sized barn.   And Jesus comments, “So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."   It is not that God smited him for building the bigger barn, but that those who aspire to “eat, drink, and be merry” find that what they were trying to achieve – this perfect lifestyle of ease – is not really going to happen.   How many celebrities who are dripping with money, seem very content?   Their lives are usually a mess.  Much money is made by the gossipy news created by rich people’s messy lives.  It’s sad, really, but we all keep buying the myth that with enough money we’d be happy.  

It is really a matter of being both content with what you have and generous to share with others.   We should be concerned with collecting meaningful experiences, memorable moments, special friends, not stuff, not things.   

This brings us to the second half of the passage, the part where Jesus is talking to his disciples and he says, “Don’t worry about your life – what you will eat or drink – what you will wear.”   It is not a bad thing to eat cereal for dinner.   It is not a bad thing to wear clothing that is out of style.  Styles are so crazy, you can wear nearly anthing with anything these days, so who really cares.   Find your freedom.   Find some contentment.   Be more like the sparrows and ravens and the beautiful lilies of the field.  

Start somewhere and simplify a little piece of your life.   Simplify your possessions by giving away stuff so you have less to keep organized, less to manage.  Get rid of stuff while someone else might actually want it.   If you hang on too long, it is of no use to anyone.   Simplify your time commitments, so that the people and things that really matter get your focus.  Just like you cannot have it all, you cannot do it all.  Simplify, so that you have time for what really matters.   Simplify your debt.   If you are paying too much interest because of previous judgment errors, stop and re-organize your budget, so you have more control.  There are experts who can help with that – for free.   Ask me, if you don’t know who.   Simplify so you’re not stressed out always about money.  

Simplify your pleasures – not everything that is fun and relaxing costs money.   Stop entertaining yourself with purchases – that’s a bottomless pit.  You will never be satisfied.   If you find shopping for things you don’t need tempting, stay away from stores and internet shopping.   Find ways to enjoy what you already have at your fingertips.   

Simplify your eating and exercising.  Eat more real food than processed.  Eat proteins and veggies and if the ingredient list is long, don’t eat it.   Walk places – even if inside your own home.  Get up and move, bend over and stretch, and stop keeping unhealthy things in your house to tempt you.   Simplify your screen time.   I don’t know how to tell you what that looks like for you, but for me it is stopping all computer time for a full day every week, and making sure I’m not watching much tv news or tv garbage during the week.   Limit yourself to certain times of the day or night, but don’t leave that screen running all the time.  Take a short walk.   Make contact with a friend.   Pray for fifteen minutes.   Simplify your life.   

And when you’ve simplified, you will have more energy for what matters, which includes being generous of spirit, generous of time, generous with money.  That is a life of abundance.   When I first looked the scripture this week, I thought, “Oh my, how do we approach this?  The simple life is not simple.   But simplifying life is liberating.  It gives life to others.   We cannot change overnight, but with daily adjustments, we grow into the glory of Jesus Christ, who was willing to give us his all.  

So don’t be discouraged or overwhelmed with what you have, the decisions and choices you have already made, the financial traps in which you presently find yourself.   But begin today to trust God and be more generous, because with God you are free to be different going forward.   With God you have everything you need, so you do not have to be trapped in anxiety.  With God you have forgiveness and healing and the potential for transformation and peace.   With God you always have hope, because what seems impossible is possible with God.   With God, sacrifice and simplicity leads to abundance, not scarcity.  

So instead of living loaded with shame over our crowded closets and garages, instead of living loaded with shame over our lifestyle choices, our poor eating and exercise habits or our lame tv watching and internet surfing, let us keep turning to God and being generous with God’s people in need.  Consciously and daily give up worrying about having a perfect meal, or having a perfect wardrobe or perfect house or car or yard or vacation or retirement plan.   Join me as I commit again today to find in God my refuge and my strength, to find in God the contentment that always seems to elude me.  With God I can say to myself, I am content.   I have everything I need, so “Why should I feel discouraged?   Why should the shadows come?  Why should my heart be lonely and long for heaven and home?  When Jesus is my portion, a constant friend is He.  His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.  I sing because I’m happy.  I sing because I’m free.   For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.”