Jesus said to his disciples, "Do not be afraid, little
flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell 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.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Let us pray. May the words of my mouth and the meditation
in our hearts be always acceptable to you, Holy One, Giver of all things. Amen.
Last week when we gathered here to worship I opened my sermon with
the announcement we had surpassed one ton of produce, 2000 pounds had been
donated to our east side neighbors this growing season. In the past week, we added over one thousand more
pounds. I suppose when we pick 50 pounds
of tomatoes a day, plus all the rest, that’s the kind of volume we’ll reach.
We talked about abundance, about how when we live in abundance we
are able to give from who we are and what we have—those spiritual and emotional
and skills kinds of gifts—in addition to those “stuff” gifts—when we are
willing to open up our literal and figurative barn doors to let it go into the
world.
Today, Jesus reminds us to not be afraid to give of ourselves
because what we have been given initially
and forever comes from God. So what
we think we are giving from ourselves is really a gift originally given to us
by God. We are giving out what God has
given!
Jesus is telling us to hold fast to the gifts God has given, also,
when he says to make purses that do not wear out. Purses that are strong enough to hold the
treasures God has provided each of us from heaven. We are to protect ourselves from all that
distracts us from those heavenly gifts, so that we are more able to give out
from those purses the perfect gifts God has given us.
That seems confusing. First,
we are reminded that all that we have and all that we are comes freely from
God. Then we are told to sell it and
give it away. But then, we are told to
have really well made purses to hold all that we have and all that we’ve been
given. What?
It begins to make sense when we focus on what Jesus said
next. “For where your treasure is, there
your heart will be also.”
And it really is about focus.
What are the things that hold your attention, that take your time,
that distract you?
I received a quote in my email inbox earlier this week. Br. Curtis Almquist from the Society of Saint
John the Evangelist wrote this about being a steward: “We are not ‘owners’ of anything but
simply temporary stewards in life, entrusted with various ‘goods’: [goods, like]
qualities, gifts, distinctions, appointments, gadgets, properties,
relationships which – sooner or later – are going to pass away from us. And in
the meantime we take what we’ve been entrusted and offer it back to God,
recognizing that all of it is very temporary.”
It is temporary. There’s beauty in temporary. We know our lives are temporary. We know we have the ability to change our
lives, our attitudes, our “stuff,” even our friends. Because we can change, we are able to
re-evaluate who we are and what we do at any time.
But one thing that we really need to
keep constant is our focus on where the treasure is. Jesus wants us to focus
on where the treasure is. And the
treasure is in heaven. It is God.
Now, heaven is one of those very abstract concepts that in all
honesty we really cannot comprehend, so focusing on heaven may be too
intangible or too ethereal for some. And, to be honest, I don’t think Jesus
means we are to ponder too much about what heaven looks like or what we think
happens there.
I think, instead, Jesus wants us to focus on God. That is what the main message is throughout
scripture. Put the focus on God. Put the focus on what God is asking of you,
of us.
Here in this place we currently put a lot of focus on the Peace
Garden. And there are so many reasons we
should! This week, we were a feature in
the national Episcopal publication, Vestry Papers/Vital Practices. Our garden is being highlighted because of
our unique Easter concept: that from
death comes resurrection; that from fear and hate can come abundance; that with
abundance comes giving freely and unconditionally to others. The crosses in the garden are something that
draws attention to what we are doing.
This is one ministry that has embraced volunteers from around the
city, so we do not carry the full responsibility of the garden’s care. Even so, we do focus on the garden, and it
seems as if it could be considered our primary ministry right now.
But not everyone is focused in on the garden. And that is not only okay, it is necessary
and required! We have other ministries
we do or that we participate in that need attention, too. Ministries that we find in our purses with the
other treasures provided by God and are also given out in good measure. They are ministries where we focus and work to
further God’s kin-dom.
What I am hoping you will think about is how we here at St. Alban’s
can focus on what we do and why we do it so that we can be more deliberate
about what it is we believe God has tasked us to do. What gifts are in our barns and our purses? What are those things we have within us that
never fully empty when we give them away?
How do we protect our gifts?
Simply put, where is St. Alban’s ministry focus? Does it reflect our heart? Does it reflect our faith?
In the next few months I hope we will look more carefully at how
we see ourselves as a faith community in the world. Because the garden is so visible, it has
become a wonderful symbol of who we are in the world. Because our baseball diamonds will be filling
with more and more kids in the next months during Fall Ball practices, we will share
our space with a family-focused, family-active organization, bringing a variety
of people to St. Alban’s. Because
Worthmore Academy will bring at least 20 students to our building every school
day, we will become a place filled with the sound of children during the
week.
With these very visible ministries we need to also pay attention
to how we worship each week, how our music program will evolve, how our
educational offerings will develop and, we will need to continue to pay
attention to what our building and our grounds look like, what maintenance they
require, what emergency repairs need to occur.
And, of course, we need to take care of our spiritual needs, our prayer
lives, and our individual and communal relationship with the Holy Trinity.
That is beginning to sound like quite the list! Even though it seems daunting, we have the
ability and the capacity to take the time we need to do the things we need to
do in the best way we can for the glory of God.
It is easy to feel overwhelmed, to even feel distracted from one
thing to another, even in the church.
Honey-Do lists always seem to begin with one simple thing to be done but
then to get this done you have to do that, and sometimes this and then more of
that. Sometimes the original project has
morphed into something huge and hairy with lots of legs! And wow…that can be scary and overwhelming.
That’s when it is time to draw a deep breath and re-focus on the
ultimate treasure. Re-focus on God. Re-focus on what is most important to the
relationship with God. Re-focus,
sometimes learning that what has always been done may not be what needs to be
done this time around, or maybe it does, with a twist or a tweak.
The Stewardship team is meeting after the service today. They are coming up with ways to help us
creatively consider how our time, talent and treasure will become the tools in
our well-crafted purses and strongly built barns. For their work to be most effective, we will
need to know from each of you what gifts of time, talent and treasure are
inside your purse or your barn that you are willing to share.
The Finance team met this past week. They are working with the vestry to put
together a budget that includes the things we need to run a church, yes, but
also that includes some hopes and dreams that will help us fling open the barn
doors and loosen the drawstrings of the purses to be even more able to give
from the abundance of God’s resources and to spread God’s love to the world.
These two teams will work hand in hand with the vestry to help us vision
and discern how we believe God is calling us to be in the world. They will help us evaluate and grow. They will, in all likelihood, also help us
purge some of the “stuff” that distracts us so that we can focus better on God’s
will for us.
These things will happen because, as Jesus reminded us in this
story from Luke: For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Let us pray. God it is so easy to be distracted when
there are so many good things for us to do to further Your kin-dom. Guide the people of St. Alban’s as we discern
how to do what you are calling us to do.
You are our treasure. Thy will be done. Amen.