Sermon from October 11, 2009

All Souls, Berkeley
Proper 23/B ~ Stewardship
Job 23:1-9, 16-17
Hebrews 4:12-16
Mark 10:17-31

Gracious God, take our minds and think through them;
take our hands and work through them;
take our hearts and set them on fire.
Amen.

Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

Yes, this is the Good News of Jesus Christ. And my hope today is that you too will go away shocked and grieving.

No really, I’m serious.

I think the key to this passage isn’t Jesus proclaiming how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God, nor the beautiful statement that for God all things are possible, nor even the whole last part (that is just sooo Jesus) that is all about reversals.

The key to this story is that the rich young man is shocked and goes away grieving. Because Jesus looked at him. And loved him. And told him come, follow me.

And that’s exactly what the rich young wanted to do, right? Because even though he was wealthy, even though he was a “good person” and had kept the commandments, he knew in his heart that he was missing something.

And so he ran to Jesus and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” In other words, ‘what must I do to share fully in the life of God, because there is a God shaped hole in my life right now.’

I don’t know what he expected to hear. We have the benefit of knowing Jesus better than the rich young man, in some ways—because we could probably have guessed that Jesus would come up with something crazy like selling everything you own as an answer to that question—and it seems like that wasn’t the answer the young man expected.

And yet. And yet maybe it was.

Maybe this man already knew in his heart that his possessions were in fact possessing him and that they had become a barrier between himself and God, and were tainting his relationships with others.

Maybe he asked that question, hoping for that answer, knowing that hearing it from the lips of Jesus would confirm what he already knew.

+++++++++

I’d like to share a story with you. Every week I meet with a group of local women clergy—we’re Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists and UCC folk—and we spend time together studying the lessons for the following Sunday and talking about how and what we will preach. This week one of my colleagues told us this story and gave me permission to tell it to you:

For a long time this woman was really focused on clothes—she always wanted to buy the newest styles and latest fashions, but because she is a sensible and centered person at heart, she always bought things at Ross Dress for Less. And so when her spouse called her out on her behavior—buying way more clothes than she needed—she always justified her shopping because she wasn’t spending that much. But over time her closet and her drawers filled up. And the weight of the clothes and the compulsive consumption began to build up. She began to feel guilty. And then one day she went to Ross to buy one thing she really needed. And sliding into her pattern she filled her cart with lots of great clothes—all of them bargains—and she went home. Only this time was different. When she got home she laid all of the new clothes out on her bed and looked and them. She then had the courage to ask herself truthfully the question she already knew the answer to: do I need these clothes? And the answer she felt in her bones was NO. And so she put them all back in the bag, took them right back to Ross and returned them. She reflected that she walked away after that feeling 100 lbs. lighter and free at last.

++++++++

Possessions are a two edged sword. It is good to have things: a home, food on the table, favorite books, nice clothes. But in our materialistic world it can seem as if everything around us tells us that we need more. And the more we have the more important it all becomes to us—until we spend our time, our talents and our treasure on the maintenance of what we have and the acquisition of more.

There’s an even sharper sword though. Our letter to the Hebrews today tells us this, “the word of God living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

This is the sword that the rich young mad felt in Jesus’ words. And he was shocked and went away grieving.

But why was he shocked and what was he grieving?

It is so easy to assume that he was shocked because he was told that being a wealthy, good person wasn’t enough – and that he went away grieving because he didn’t want to sell what he owned. And maybe that was it.

But the Gospel never actually tells us what he ended up doing.

Maybe he was shocked because Jesus saw that narrow place between soul and spirit, knew him fully, and still loved him.

Maybe he went away grieving not for what he was asked to give up, but for all the time he had spent being possessed by his possessions instead of the love of God which Jesus freely offered him.

+++++++++

Last week Phil asked the question, “Can you have a 30 year fixed mortgage and still follow Jesus?” I’m going to tweak it a bit to fit the context of our Gospel story and ask, “Can you have a 30 year fixed mortgage and still have eternal life?” And I think the answer to that question can be yes.

Jesus isn’t trying to keep us out. Jesus just shows us how it is we keep ourselves out. And he does this by handing each of us the missing puzzle piece that fills in the God shaped hole in our lives.

Because I think we do all have God shaped holes in our lives. It may not be the shape of possessions or clothes. But each of us have something in our lives that we are too attached to, and when we are honest with ourselves we know that those attachments, as much as the objects themselves, separate us from God.

I’m not asking you to share with me what your God shaped hole look like. But I am asking you to ask yourself – what is it that you use to try and fill that hole? What separates you and God?

That is why I hope everyone here goes away shocked and grieving today—because I hope that we all take a close look at our God shaped holes and ask Jesus the questions that we already know the answers to.
I hope that each of us can more authentically live into our relationship with God so that we put God first, above all things – our possessions, our wealth, even our time.

And I hope and believe, that after the shock and the grief, we will know joy. The joy accepting God’s love and the joy of participating in God’s mission of justice, compassion and reconciliation in this world.

+++++++++

That’s a lot to ask I know, and realistically, for most of us it’s a lifetime of work. A continuous cycle of filling in what may be many pieces in our God shaped holes.

But wherever we are in our journey, still afraid to ask the question we know the answer to, or in shock, perhaps still grieving, or even rejoicing, I believe we are all called to Gather the Harvest and Sow the Seeds as a part of this community of God.

For those of you on our mailing list you should have received in the mail this past week an invitation to an evening of dinner, fellowship, music and celebration—our Stewardship Dinner on October 25th. If you did not receive one, no worries, there will be information and sign up tables in the Parish Hall during coffee hour for the next few Sundays.

But in the next month, as we take time to reflect on thankfulness and joy, giving and abundance, our shock and grief, I would want us to make connections between our belief, our actions and our giving.

Stewardship is all that I do, with all that I have, after I say, “I believe.”

That’s one of the definitions of stewardship I found on the website of The Episcopal Church and it’s a good one—not to cheesy and to the point: we believe and then we act.

That is the story of the choice of rich young man, he believed in the Good Teacher and that led his action. It is the story of my friend who literally laid her ‘belief’ out on her bed so that she could claim what she truly believes in. We too are believers and so it is also our story—for we are all called to choose how to use our possessions in meaningful and substantial ways—one of them being the support of this community of faith.

But there’s another way to think of stewardship—one that can cut like a sword, separating for us even more clearly how we live our belief.

There is old saying in the Episcopal Church that praying shapes believing. I believe it is also true that stewardship shapes believing. How we spend our time, where we use our talents, where we spend our money says a lot about what our priorities really are.

Our giving shows us what we believe in.

I know that this gives me pause as I look at my household budget. Do I believe in Comcast each month more than God? Do I believe in Starbucks each day more than All Souls?

And you know what? I know the answer to those questions. And I’m going home shocked and grieving, and I hope you will too.

~AMEN~