Magical, Invisible, but fair dinkum Treasure (Pentecost 17C) 2nd Oct 2022

PROPER 22 (27)  Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost  Year C  October 2, 202

Lamentations 1:1-6 and Lamentations 3:19-26 or Psalm 137  •    2 Timothy 1:1-14  •   Luke 17:5-10

 

When I’m at school teaching children, at the end of each lesson, I give two students the opportunity to choose something from the Magical, Invisible and Imaginary Treasure Chest.  I think I’ve been doing this the whole time I’ve been teaching, but can’t remember where the idea came from.  I like to think it is something that God dropped into my mind.  Believe it or not, I have witnessed some children after a lesson fighting over an invisible bouncy ball.  Which made me laugh, and their next teacher, confused.

 

Saint Paul writes to Timothy about a treasure.  He tells him to guard the good treasure entrusted to him.  I think we, unlike children, forget that we have a treasure.  We can’t physically see the faith we have and so we don’t realize the priceless gift that it actually is.  Unlike my classroom treasure chest, our treasure, though invisible is NOT imaginary.

 

The ancient Israelites, over and over again, took their faith for granted.  This was a people like none other.  They were a people who were rescued, when they were slaves in Egypt, by the parting of the Red Sea.  The nations around all heard of the story at that time, and were afraid of them because they had such a powerful God.  Over and over again, God saved them miraculously and assisted them in battles, but the people forgot that they had such a great treasure.  Some of those people chose to make idols and worship other Gods.  Others simply grew so familiar with the story that they grew numb to the wonder and the reality. 

You know, I always expect that the children at school might grow bored of the treasure chest…. But they don’t.  Perhaps it is because it is presented to them as treasure.  Saint Paul, deliberately presents Timothy with the understanding that his faith is a treasure.  And I’m thinking that we need this message today also.

 

We walk this earth, going about our everyday business, and the pressures of life make themselves a priority.  In the midst of these, how much impact does our faith have in that day-to-day life.  We, gathered at church, probably do turn to God with decisions and problems.  We are the people of faith… But do we have the awe, wonder and gratefulness that comes from realizing the incredible treasure that our faith is?

 

In our reading from Saint Paul, we also read that this faith was alive in Timothy’s mother and grandmother.  Timothy had a legacy of faith in his family.  I wonder if your family is the same.  

 

On my facebook page, posts often pop up with quotes from Mother Theresa and C. S. Lewis… to name a few – these are my favourites.  These people are those who have gone before us and left a legacy that we share.  As Christians, these people are our family and they have left us a wonderful gift in their own faith and it helps to shape ours.  In fact, we all play a part in shaping the faith of each other.  We will leave a legacy for our children and for our community. 

 

In families, often heirlooms are handed down and they are priceless treasures.  The particular shape of these treasure can influence the direction of our lives, because where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  I recently reconnected with an older cousin who knew our Maltese Grandmother much better than I did.  She informed me that our Grandmother would cook meals and sew clothes and give them to people who she knew were struggling.  My cousin obviously treasured this generous spirit in our grandmother, the evidence being that her own work involves advocating for those who are in need.

 

Do we treasure the faith that God has given us through Christ Jesus?  Of course, we do… otherwise we wouldn’t be here.  But do we have that same sense of awe, wonder and gratefulness over this treasure, that those children do when they have the opportunity to choose an item from the treasure chest?

 

Do we see our faith as a precious treasure like an heirloom, worth passing on?  It is certainly a treasure, but I pose the question because when we consciously ponder what it is all about, passing this faith on is something we will do naturally and spontaneously. 

 

Gospel means GOOD NEWS.  It is Gospel because it is the Gospel truth.  The story of our faith is Fair dinkum.  It isn’t a fairy tale passed on to keep us in line.  It isn’t a philosophical pondering, conjured up to give us a sense of purpose for life and death- even though it does give us purpose and does keep us in line.  The Gospel is a reality.  Jesus was an historical figure and he made claims about himself that we believe because eye witnesses saw him raised from the dead and because we too have his Holy Spirit in us bearing witness to his reality and the truth of God.  God is real.  He is Alive, he loves us and died for us so that we should never need to suffer separation or rejection from God…  we are unconditionally loved and accepted by God because of Jesus Christ.  Saint Paul tells us that Christ has abolished death and brought life and immortality.  That is no small prize!!!

 

Those who have gone before us have paved the way and passed on faith to us, but more than that, they should be an inspiration, encouraging us to take up this mustard seed faith and move mountains.

 

Or do we, like the disciples, feel we need more faith?

 

It would seem that the disciples wanted power.  Wouldn’t it be great to lay hands on someone and see them healed?  Wouldn’t it be great to have the faith to walk on water?  But do we realize that this is a desire for power?  It is sometimes a fine line.  We want to do God’s will but we would like to see those things happen because then people would sit up and take notice.  If there were obvious miracles, we would feel we would have the respect of the community.  It's nice to be respected in the community and, as a church, we’ve have had this for many years – until the Royal Commission into child abuse.

 

Regardless of public opinion we should remember that God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but a spirit of power and love and self-discipline.  The power he gives is the power to love others – when we maybe, would rather not.  The power to stop from causing harm and thinking of others before ourselves.  When we walk in this kind of power we find we have the power to be his witnesses… the power to stand firm in the face of oppression and persecution.  “For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.”

 

Saint Paul encourages Timothy, “Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God,…”

 

Jesus answered the disciples request for more faith by reminding them of their place.  We are the servants of God.  We don’t actually have much in the way of power, in and of ourselves, but we are children of God who has ultimate power.  However, the gift he gives us is faith.

 

When we say, “yes, God I believe.  In you I trust”, God gives us his faith.  When we are baptized, we are given the Holy Spirit, and a gift of the spirit is faith, but what Jesus is telling his disciples is that they already have absolutely everything they could possibly need.

 

Jesus was born as one of us.  He was both fully human and fully man.  I truly believe it works this way…. Jesus chose to live within the limits of humanity, though he was God incarnate.  Every miracle that Jesus performed was done, not because he was God and could, but through trust and reliance on God the father…. In the same way that we can.  Every difficult situation was faced by Jesus through his reliance on God the father… he faced each one with the limits of humanity – and this is why it was such a big deal, all that he accomplished for us… he did it within the limits of humanity, relying fully on God the father.  The temptation to take up his Godly powers would have been enormous, but he went to the cross for you and me, out of love.

 

A 20th century Bible preacher, Major Ian Thomas used to say, “All of Christ in all of you. You can never have more. You need never have less.”   

This is our faith.  Christ living in us by his Holy Spirit – Christ in us is the hope of glory.  This is the treasure that we have.  When we were baptized, we were given all.  God has already given us everything. 

 

So, does this clarify that we don’t need anymore faith?  We already have everything.  The important aspect of faith is not how much… but who.  Our faith is in God and he is powerful – not us.   As Major Ian Thomas also is quoted as saying, “Make sure it is God's trumpet you are blowing- if it is only yours it won't wake the dead, it will simply disturb the neighbours.”

 

Saint Paul tells Timothy to “rekindle” the gift.  This is perhaps our take away message for today.  We have been given the gift of faith.  It is something beyond amazing and incredibly powerful, but it may need rekindling.  To now quote Spiderman, “With great power, comes great responsibility”….  Our faith is a powerful gift, but it is given to us for the good of our community.  God sent his son because he so loved the world… that means, there are a whole lot of people out there, with whom God also wants to impart this gift of faith.  We are his hands and feet.

 

Our mustard seed size faith is inconsequential.  If I only had a little bit of faith that my chair would hold me, it would make no difference.  The important aspect of faith is what it is in.  If the chair is reliable, it will hold my weight despite my doubts.  God is reliable.   All of Christ in all of us and that is all we need.  Let us rekindle the gift, by being mindful of the incredible treasure we hold.

To be a faithful steward .... September 18, 2022

 PROPER 20 (25) Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost Year C September 18, 2022

 

Throughout my experience with our lectionary, it never ceases to amaze me at how God uses the set readings to coincide with events.  Here in today’s reading we have the call to pray for everyone, and especially for Kings and rulers.

 

In the last week we have had the death of the Queen.  Mostly we live our lives not thinking too much about the royal family, but for most of our lives the Queen has been there… known as defender of the faith, and maintaining the status quo.  Now the crown will go to her son – the baton will be passed to another.  Do we expect the status quo to remain or do we expect change?  Regardless, we are called to pray for our leaders.

 

It isn’t just for our Monarch, that we are exhorted to pray.  We are to pray for all in high positions and all in leadership.  When our government has an election, we may be personally praying for our preferred person to be elected, but what do we do when the “other” person is elected instead? Hopefully we realize that we need to pray for them. 

 

In these last few years, all of our politicians have been under extreme pressure.  They may have made decisions that we agreed with, and they, more likely, made decisions with which we strongly disagree.  Do we get on our soap box and call out their sins?  Might I suggest, the less we agree with a leader, the more seriously we need to be praying and interceding for them… maybe even fasting and praying.  I emphasize, we ought to pray FOR them – praying God’s blessing and that they come to know His saving grace.

 

It is God’s will that everyone be saved and come in to the knowledge of truth.  Especially that politician with whom we disagree.  It IS God’s will that we live lives that are prosperous and good, and it is also His will that all be saved.  If we are not stepping up and praying for our leaders with whom we disagree, we are not doing that which we are called to do, as made clear by St. Paul.

 

When we pray God’s blessings for those with whom we disagree, it changes things.  In the very least, it changes us.  We become more aware of the humanity… the cares and concerns of the person we are praying for.  We become aware of the other person’s perspectives.   We may still disagree with them, but we may become more understanding and more compassionate towards them.   All in all, it makes the way that we will approach areas of conflict, different, and the way we talk about those people, more the way that God would have us talk.

 

God is trying to tell us something…. What is it?  Here it is, in our reading from Saint Paul.  God desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.  We all have a part to play in this.  Have we forgotten our call to go into all the world, making disciples? and have we become unfaithful stewards of the riches we’ve been given?  We are the managers in God’s kingdom.  All of us in the church are called to play a part in passing on the Good News about Jesus Christ coming to save all people.  How are we going with this?  Are the people that God has put in our charge, saying the same as those we read about in the words of Jeremiah; “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”?

 

Imagine that…  Not consciously, but spiritually, there are people that we are meant to be sharing the Good News with and their spirits cry out, “we are not saved”.   These are people who, in the plan of God, we are meant to impact their lives…

 

We, the church, have been entrusted with the riches of salvation and the knowledge of truth.  We know that we belong to God and have assurance of his love.  We have the knowledge of God’s ways, and knowledge of what he says is good and what is not, and we understand his heart of love.  Yet, to put it in terms of the Gospel reading; have we “halved the bill”….watered down the Gospel, made friends with the ruler of deception, by showing that we can be cunningly deceitful such that we are accepted by all, and not been faithful with the true riches of God’s grace, mercy and truth?  There is a song we will sing later with words, “Then the glory of the cross is a propaganda gloss.” (God of Jeremiah)

 

I don’t have the answer to this question, but I pose it, because this seems to be the challenge in our readings for today.

 

Our Gospel reading seems confusing at first.  At a glance it seems to be in support of the dishonest worker.  However, the parable is told to explain the difference in attitude.  A dishonest worker has an attitude that is completely self-focused.  He is not concerned at all about the master, or the master’s wealth, but he is concerned about insuring his own position.  The dishonest manager “Made Friends” much the same as a mafia manager might do so.  He cut their debts to another, but in doing so, he ensured that they became indebted to himself.  Exactly like we see in the movies, where someone is in debt over their head and bailed out, only to find themselves indebted in a more sinister way. 

 

Our attitude needs to be completely different.  Our priorities must centre around God’s concerns, and we need to have a heart that reflects God’s priorities, rather than our own.

 

There is a story about a preacher on the Titanic, John Harper.  John led his young daughter to a life boat and, being a widower, was entitled to get on that life boat with her, but instead he chose to provide the masses, who were drowning, the chance to know Christ.  There was an officer who rebuffed him.  John could have been offended and left that officer for dead, but instead he gave the officer his own life jacket, stating that the officer needed it more than him.  He swam to as many people as he could, sharing the message of Christ and eventually died.  Four years later, at a survivor’s meeting, one man testified that he was the last convert of John Harper.

 

John Harper had the heart and the priorities of Christ.  He knew that he was secure in the love of God and saved by the sacrifice of Jesus.  This life is important, but nothing about this life is more important than being saved by Christ and secure in the knowledge of the truth.

 

At this point we need to reflect on just what it is about our personal relationship with God that makes it important.  There are many stories about people who were terrible sinners and when they were introduced to the love and mercy of God they responded with repentance.    The Bible tells us it is the kindness and love of God that brings people to repentance.  We need to understand that people experience the love and kindness of God through us. 

 

Though there are people, acutely aware of their failings, there are many more people who, though they occasionally stuff up, their sins are nothing so startling, yet these people also respond with absolute dedication to God.

 

Consider King David.  He was known as a man after God’s own heart.  Or consider even Jeremiah the Prophet from whom we read today… or countless other prophets and people who have been prepared to, or even given their life for the truth and Good News of God.  I think there is really just one thing in common.  All had a knowledge of the truth of God and all understood his goodness.

 

God is!  Those who know God, know that he is the ultimate reality and all of this world finds its meaning and reason only in the light of that fact.  The fact that this very real God loves us is the Good News.  There is always an aspect of realization of one’s imperfections when we come face to face with the reality of God, but the love of God that we experience through the sacrifice of Jesus is truly Good News.  Christianity is unique in that God came down as one of us to save us.  He showed us his great love and did for us what we can not do for ourselves.  The love of God is constant and it is promised that there is nothing, neither Angels, demons, things present or things to come that can separate us from the love of God that we have through Christ Jesus.

 

This is the key.  Those who have experienced the love of God are those who have impacted the lives of others with that love of God.  John Harper knew the love of God and we know his name today and his amazing story of preaching as the titanic sunk.  Saint Paul made history with his fearless preaching in so many places, some also coincidentally with the back drop of sinking ships.

 

We need to search the scriptures, pray and ask God to reveal his deep and abiding love for us.  When we know this love, God will be our only master and we will respond by reaching out in love to others…. We will be faithful stewards.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners

 Fourteenth After Pentecost - Year C YOU CAME FOR ME!

 

In Arabia and the Sahara there is a particular wind condition they call Samum.  There is a different kind of wind that they utilise to separate the wheat from the chaff, but when the Samum blows it destroys, and human life becomes intolerable.  The temperature of this wind condition often reaches 55 °C and the humidity of the air sometimes falls below 10 percent.

The prophet, Jeremiah, uses this image to describe the army that is to come against God’s people where the good and the bad will be swept away together.  It is an extreme picture that he paints when he says, “I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light”. Etc..

What’s more upsetting is that this event is described as being sent by God because of his fierce anger.  It is from readings like this that people, understanding superficially, may come to know God as a wrathful God and not one of love.

 

It is important to understand more deeply, just what is going on here.  It is written for our benefit and it is written because of God’s grace and love.  It is never God’s intention to destroy or harm us, but sin is not tolerated. It separates us from God, causes harm and destroys relationships.  

 

Often it seems that we shape God to fit our own convenient image.  This reading from Jeremiah reminds us that there are times when God says, “enough”.  It is much like a parent who will warn and warn and warn children and finally follow through with consequence.  Jeremiah speaks of God’s judgement.  God has a right to judge and he is the only one really qualified to do so. 

Jeremiah speaks God’s words and says, ‘For my people are foolish, they do not know me; they are stupid children, they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good.’ 

Understand what is happening here.  This is not a wrathful God.  This is a patient and loving God who has warned and warned and guided, but the people refused direction.  The people were doing evil.  When evil is done, people are hurt.  Imagine someone harming your own children.  Would you not also make a judgement, put your foot down and demand a consequence?  God’s actions, even his judgements, are because of love.

 

How do you see the nature of God?

 

In many ancient cultures the gods were wrathful and needed sacrifices to appease them.  In the Israelite culture sacrifices were all pointed to repairing relationships.  There were the sacrifices to atone for sin and also offerings of thanksgiving… an acknowledgment of giving to God that which he had given to them.  All in all, it was a way of staying in right relationship with each other and God.  Most importantly the sacrifice of the Lamb of God at the time of the Passover was a foreshadow of the sacrifice of Jesus.  Involved in the annual Passover ceremony is an interesting part, where drops of wine are taken from the cup and placed on a plate.  It is to symbolize the plagues experienced by the Egyptians and an acknowledgement of the pain and suffering of those people who were the enemies of the people of God.  Do we have such empathy for our enemies?

 

God is God.  He is beyond our understanding and, though he has all power and authority, He treats us with so much mercy and grace, beyond what we deserve and so much so that he willing came as the son of God, suffered and died for us.

Saint Paul was someone who hurt God’s people.  Not only did he hurt them, he was instrumental in their death.  It was Paul who petitioned to chase down the Christians and at whose feet, those who stoned the martyr, Stephen, laid their cloaks. Paul was surprised that God accepted him and amazed at the grace he received.

 

It truly is beyond our comprehension.  Perhaps it is true that our own experiences of human interactions colour our understanding.  How can we believe in such a merciful and gracious God if we have not experienced mercy and grace from others?  Mostly we expect God to be wrathful because mercy and grace are beyond our normal experience with authority figures. 

 

I do not know what experiences St. Paul had before surrendering his life to God, but we do know that he was from an influential family, a free citizen of Rome, a zealous Pharisee, and he was an eloquent and very well-educated man.  Paul thought he was doing God’s work when he was persecuting Christians, and his conversion was possibly the most dramatic in the Bible.  God spoke directly to Paul and a strong light from God blinded him.  Paul became immediately aware of his sin.  It was sin done in ignorance, but still sin.  Paul says that God’s acceptance of him shows us the extend of God’s love, grace and mercy, as he describes himself as a foremost sinner.  A similar sentiment shared by the writer of Amazing Grace, John Newton (former slave trader).  Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and as a sinner, I am most grateful.

 

The sinners of Jesus time accepted the grace and mercy of God most readily, yet those who claimed to be working at promoting God’s kingdom often rejected him, sometimes simply because he seemed to be accepting the sinners.  I am wondering if these people also had an innate sense that God was a God of wrath.  They had been taught that God was all good and only the good could enter the kingdom of God, so it stands to reason that their image of God was such, that he would exclude people.  Surely, those who were not perfect could not enter the kingdom of God, and those who could be easily named as sinners were, pretty obviously, those who would be excluded.

 

I hope we know that none of us is perfect.

 

I suspect that deep down we all know this.  Those of us belonging to the church, also deeply believe in the truth of God and that God being perfect only accepts the perfect into his kingdom, and we have a fear that we don’t measure up.  We believe that Jesus came to save us and we believe that God loves us.  Or do we?

 

I ask this and bring this to our attention because I personally have struggled to believe that the God of the universe could personally love this one single person here – me!  And when things in my life go wrong, I immediately use it as proof to myself that I’m not good enough and God is punishing me.  Maybe I’m an oddity and I’m the only one like this, but I suspect I’m not, and that others feel this way too.

 

You know, I’m actually not afraid to look at these uncomfortable feelings and fears, because I do know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is gracious and merciful, and he does love and accepts me, and he does love and accept you.

 

Saint Paul personally experienced the surprising mercy of God.  He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God accepts us.  In our Gospel story Jesus tells a parable about leaving the 99 sheep to find the lost one.  The point of the story was to explain to the pharisees that those so called sinners, were the precious ones that God was going after, to look for, to find and to save.  Who, in the story, do you relate to?  Who are you in this story?  Are you the pharisee – one of the 99 sheep, drifting along, feeling invisible in the crowd? or are you the lost one?

 

We need to understand that each of us is meant to read this story, putting ourselves into the position of the lost sheep.  We are not invisible to God… we are the “ONE”.  Jesus searches for us… he not only finds and saves us, but he is the author and perfector of our faith…  he teaches us and guides us and keeps us.

None of us is perfect, but that is why Jesus came, suffered, died and rose again.  It was a plan for God to have us so united with Jesus through our baptism, that our identity is Christ.  We are clothed in Christ and therefore, in him, we are perfect.  We are accepted.  Love, grace and mercy is all ours.  We need not fear or feel invisible or not good enough.  We need not be afraid and wonder if we are good enough to be accepted by God….  It isn’t about being good enough, but the fact that our identity is in Christ.

 

As Christians we strive to do what is right, but not because we are expecting judgement, but because what is right is what is loving and we, through our baptism, have the nature of Jesus.  The Holy Spirit in us is the Spirit of Jesus, influencing, teaching and encouraging us to be Christ like. 

 

As a singer, I was once told that the art of good singing was to “get out of the way” and let our natural voice out.  In other words, our inhibitions, bad posture etc, can get in the way of letting our voice naturally flow out.  In the same way, we as Christians have the Holy Spirit… God within us.  We also need to learn to “get out of the way” and let the Holy Spirit work and flow naturally through us.  That might be as simple as adding to our morning prayer, “Christ, work through me this day”.  God gave us free will and we will always have it, but if we want God to work through us, we need to give him permission.

 

Jesus came into the world to save the sinners.  Note also that the lost sheep was part of the flock….  Jesus welcomed the worst of sinners, but he deliberately uses this parable to show that he came for you and for me.  We are Jesus hands and feet… we are the body of Christ…  Will you give Christ permission to work through you and continue his saving grace and mercy, seeking out the lost and bringing them back to the fold?   Lord Jesus, live through me this day and always.  AMEN.