Follow your treasure!

Hebrews 11:1-3; 8-16

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. 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.

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. 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. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 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. 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.”

All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.

Luke 12:32-40

“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.

“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

“But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit...

In one of the schools I used to visit as school chaplain, there was a poster on the Head Teacher’s door that asked: “What have you done today to make you feel proud?”

What have you done today to make you feel proud?

That came back to me this week as I read these texts - particularly the Hebrews passage, where we find these words:

Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God....

I wonder if that accolade - God is not ashamed to be called their God, would be attributed to us today?

God is not ashamed to be called their God.

In a similar vein to the question What have you done today to make you feel proud, we might ask:

What have we done today that would make God unashamed to be called our God?

That accolade is one not lightly given in the history of the people of God, a history liberally peppered with so much oppression and injustice.

Yet, of Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Jacob, people of faith, who followed where God called, God was not ashamed to be called their God.

Unless we’ve been living in a hole in the ground, we all know too well, that, everyday, God weeps at the way we treat one another and at the way we are so careless with creation.

And at how often, we do such things in the name of God.

God’s challenge to us today, people of faith, people who live in hope, people who are convicted by God’s will, God’s challenge to us is to set out, with God, to make a difference.

To leave what we know.

To stop being resigned to all that brings despair.

To step out and step up and make a difference.

God is calling us as he called Abraham and Sarah and Jacob and Isaac, God is calling us to leave what we know, to embrace the faith we profess and, by that faith, to follow God to the places we are called today.

Each of us here is uniquely called and gifted by God.

Each of us has a task to perform that no one else can do.

And, as we are called, those words from today’s gospel, go with us:

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

Do not be afraid...  Words God speaks again and again throughout history as words of calling:

Do not be afraid.

Why shouldn’t we be afraid? 

Because God gives us the kingdom.

Along with God’s call, and along with God’s gifting, we are presented with God’s kingdom.

Let’s think for a moment to whom Jesus addressed these words, words that inform and convict us today.

There was the crowd around him, who eagerly soaked up all the words that this teacher shared as he toured the region. 

There were his disciples, whom he was preparing to take on God’s mission.

And there were also the scribes and the Pharisees whom Jesus had consistently criticised for putting such heavy burdens on the folk by their teaching, heavy burdens that they didn’t  lift a finger to ease. Telling folk all that they must do and not helping them in  any way to see how that might be accomplished.

The crowd, the disciples, the Scribes and Pharisees.

All hearing this teaching that Jesus shared.

And the huge difference in Jesus teaching, from other teachers of the day was that Jesus teaching also provided the means by which the calling he set before us can be lived out.

Jesus presented the teaching and the way.

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

Christ presents us with all we need to live into our calling today.

Just as surely as Abraham was presented with all he needed to perform the task God set him, so we are presented with all we need to respond to God’s call today.

The question is - if God has already given us the kingdom, if the kingdom is here now - and not something that is to come - a long way in the future - why aren’t we seeing more kingdom signs in our world.

Why aren’t we seeing justice done, loved lived out?

I’d suggest that it’s because we don’t really believe that we can experience the kingdom of God today.

We’ve convinced ourselves that the kingdom of God is something for the future, something we can only experience in the future when God deigns to make all right with the world.

In spite of Jesus teaching, in spite of those words in our gospel: 

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

We don’t believe it is something we can really know today. 

We still think of God’s kingdom as a future event, unattainable in our time.

And yet Jesus constantly asserted that the kingdom is near.

We simply don’t believe it.

Because believing in the kingdom would demand too much of us.

Believing that we can be part of justice, that we can live in love means we would have to drastically change our way of life.

More than counting our blessings, we’d have to view our blessings as gifts for others - we’d have to see ourselves as blessed to be a blessing, view God’s gifts not as rewards for our faithfulness but as the means by which we see God’s kingdom today, when we share those gifts with others.

Even as believers, we often find ourselves asking: Why, God is there so much suffering in the world?

And God weeps.

Because we already have all that is required to ensure that no one goes hungry, that no one lacks clean water. 

We already have all that is needed for all to find shelter, for all to be clothed.

God has given and continues to give us the kingdom so that we can live in peace, sharing with all.

But we have made of that gift a pipe dream for the future... something we pray for.

And God tires of our prayers that are unaccompanied by action.

And let’s hear again those other words of Jesus contained in the text, words that are often misappropriated:

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

How often we interpret that as - Follow you heart, and the rest will fall into place.

And that’s not the message Jesus shares.

Jesus exhorts us to give our treasures - and then we will be invested in what we give away.

Giving away what we have, sharing the gifts we have been given, results in us being invested in seeing that those gifts are put to good use, that they bear fruit.

Do you see how that’s different to us “following our heart?”

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The task and the outcome is quite different when we follow Jesus teaching.

Of course it is our hope that we will find our passion by following our treasure - but we have to do it that way around - using the gifts we have been given, squandering those gifts, if you like, for God, so that we can find the passion that will follow.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Today we might ask - how are we going to begin to be the answer to the prayers we make in all sincerity and hopefulness?

How can we use our gifts in the service of God, finding passion through our giving?

And -

How can we live in God’s kingdom NOW so that God is unashamed to be called our God?

The unique call of God to each of us today is every bit as challenging as it was to Abraham and Sarah - to leave what we know, what has become comfortable and to step out in faith knowing that the promises of God and the kingdom, present now, are enough. 

And that the gifts we have been given are enough. 

Enough to sustain and enough to make a difference if we have the faith. 

Because faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

May we know God’s grace accompanying us today as we follow God’s call, as we step out and step up in faith.

May we share our gifts, discover our passion and know that, with God, we are enough.

God’s kingdom is here.

For the glory of God

Amen 

What is your name?

Luke 8:26-39

Jesus Heals the Gerasene Demoniac

Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me”— for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.

Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

This is one of those stories that I’ve often wished hadn’t made it into the canon.

But I also love a challenge, particularly in preaching.

And as I’ve dwelt in this passage this week, I’ve been drawn to  several things:

First of all the context in which this story is told:

In Luke’s gospel, this story follows on from Luke’s telling of Jesus calming the storm.

Luke’s way of establishing that Jesus has power over the elements.

From there, the gospel quickly moves on to portraying Jesus as a healer, a healer who, in this story, has authority over demons and then, the ability to heal the haemorrhaging woman and a 12 year old girl.

So - the context is of Luke drawing to our attention the power and authority of Jesus.

Then, I’m drawn to a man living amongst the tombs.

Cast out of community, banished to a place where he could do less harm because people feared him and his illness.

I’m drawn to a herd of swine, taking on the man’s afflictions and being destroyed - and, as a result of that, a community’s livelihood being lost.

And I’m drawn to the emotion that this story attributes to the bystanders - that of Fear.

The many onlookers , those who were there at the time and those who later came to see, were so afraid of what they were seeing that they asked Jesus to leave them.

As demonstrated in this text, fear is such a powerfully restricting force in our lives.

Fear shuts us down.

It crushes our imagination of what might be.

And even when the reason for fear is removed, as it was in this story, often our memory keeps us captive...

How do we see Jesus attempting to counter that fear?

He remains in their midst for a while, with the once tormented, now calmed man at his feet.

But sadly the onlookers couldn’t access the calm for themselves , they chose to hold onto their fear.

We’re hardly any different.

In all the things that we fear today, for ourselves, for our loved ones, for our country, for our world,

Jesus comes and sits among us helping us imagine a new way of being.

Jesus is Lord over all that imprisons us and holds us back, but, for many, finding freedom, in the end, can be just too scary... as the saying goes- it’s better the devil you know, isn’t it?

We fear the unknown too much to imagine the future with Jesus.

And we send him away...

So there’s much to be drawn to in this text today..

But let’s pause at verse 30, where we read:

Jesus then asked him - what is your name?

What kind of question is that - everyone, for miles around, knew of this man, the man possessed of many demons - they bound him and cast him out for his own and others safety. They called him Legion.

But Jesus asks him his name.

What is your name?

How would we answer that today?

What is the name we call ourselves?

What is the name we’ve taken on?

Is it a name, like Legion, a name that others have given us.?

So many of us have been given names that have stuck through the years.

The one who can’t sing...

The one who’s a bit slow...

The one who always acts the clown...

The one who will never amount to much...

The one who will always disappoint ...

The loner...

The socially awkward...

What is the name we’ve taken on?

And by what name would we like to be known?

I think that when Jesus asked the man his name, he was giving him the opportunity to choose the name he would like to be known by, a name that did not reduce him to his illness or to  who others judged him to be, but a name that he might embrace and live into instead.

A few years ago we had two African deacons working in the Presbytery I’m part of.

One was called Fabulous, the other was called Precious.

Just imagine living into those names... Fabulous and Precious.

What is the name you would like to be known by?

How might we, with God, imagine and live into that?

Author, Marianne Williamson, in a book called Return to Love, wrote these words:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.' We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

What, today, will bring us freedom from all the things that keep us imprisoned.

What will allow us to throw off the shackles of all the unhelpful and unhealthy identities we have assumed?

What will make us shine?

At the end of our story, Jesus sent the newly clothed man back to witness to his community.

We and our communities need more than ever today to experience the freedom that Jesus brings.

Jesus sends us to be witnesses.

Our playing small, our huddling together, our fear of the task before us serves no one.

We are born to sparkle - to manifest the glory of God that is within us.

So Go - you are brilliant, you are gorgeous, you are fabulous, you are talented children of God.

Go - witness with sparkle where your everyday takes you, for you are beloved of God.

Amen.

Dancing with God

Rublev’s Icon of the Holy Trinity

A sermon preached at St Ninian’s, Prestwick on Trinity Sunday 2019

Romans 5:1-5

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

John 16:12-15

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

That passage from Romans - we only read the first 5 verses, reminds me of so many sermons I heard as I was growing up. Filled with big, audacious, theological words.

Of course I didn’t understand them then - and I didn’t know what audacious meant.

But I loved the sound of them - and,  mostly, the preachers were charismatic enough, to keep my attention.

I’d love to tell you that all these years later, I have them sussed.

But that’s simply not the case.

But - what I did grasp as a child, and hold fast with now - is that, as we read there,  God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

Even as a child I knew myself loved by God and compelled, because of that love and in the power of God’s spirit to share that love.

In the words of the song:

God’s Spirit is in my heart

He has called me and set me apart

This is what I have to do

What I have to do

He sent me to give the Good News to the poor,

Tell prisoners that they are prisoners no more,

Tell blind people that they can see,

And set the downtrodden free

And go tell everyone the news that the Kingdom of God has come,

Go tell everyone the news that God’s kingdom has come

Last week we celebrated Pentecost, the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Today we celebrate the Trinity, God 3 and 1.

And I’m glad of those words of Jesus in our gospel reading - 

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, she will guide you into all the truth;

The doctrines of the church are hard to explain. The neat formulas and creeds and confessions drawn up by scholars in the early centuries and that we still adhere to today are clunky and dense - completely at odds with the liberating Spirit of God.

Our creeds and confessions and doctrines often inhibit rather than bring freedom and clarity.

They exclude and restrict.

But time after time, as a church, we have demonstrated that we’d rather have order than allow the Spirit to wreak havoc.

We’d rather keep things neat and tidy than let the Spirit have her way, blowing through our sanctuaries, upsetting our complacency, ruffling feathers and upending rules.

We prefer control to unpredictability.

Yet our God is an unpredictable God - who loves and loves and loves again, against all the odds.

And invites us to do the same, by pouring love into our hearts and giving us the Holy Spirit.

So, this Trinity Sunday, rather than even attempting to explain any doctrine or defend any creed, let me share with you this picture of God who is three and one, whose spirit is in our hearts, a picture that I have fashioned in words:

In the beginning

God gathered God’s self together

to create the universe

Fashioning with goodness the sky

with its galaxies and constellations

its suns and moons

its  light and darkness.

And there was some fun and mischief along the way

as God messed about with incredible light shows

and sent the planets into orbit

and played around with tides and seasons 

and day and night.

And then God created the earth

with its mountains and valleys

its oceans and streams

its continents separated by vast seas and deserts

its forests and ice caps

and plains of fertile land.

And God enjoyed attending to detail - 

the bumps and the curves

the flow from one landscape to the next

the separation of water from land

and earth from sky.

And God loved that beautiful world and wanted to share it.

So God created animals

For the hills and the plains

for the sky and the sea

for above and below the earth.

Each with a place and, largely, a purpose.

And then, with a flourish, 

involving dust and breath,

God created human beings

who would care for all of creation

for all that God had made

and who would be co- workers with God 

in nurturing and sustaining creation.

God saw that it was good and delighted in all of creation.

As it was in the beginning, so it is now.

God delights in us.

Desiring nothing more than relationship 

Inviting us to be part of

the divine dance

The dance of Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer

God invites us to be caught up

in the mystery that is God...

Instead, we spend our time 

trying to unravel that mystery

We tie ourselves in knots

instead of enjoying the different kind of knowing

that is offered by God

We distance ourselves

rather than entering into relationship

We ponder how we can change the world

when God’s invitation is simply to dance....

In that dance we discover compassion

that moves us to care for creation.

In that dance we discover anger

that fuels us to root out injustice.

And, in that dance

we discover freedom

made up of Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Goodness, 

Faithfulness, Gentleness, 

the fruits of God-control,

the elements of the dance

that sustain the world.

God’s laughter and delight 

and tears and compassion 

form the rhythm that draws us in

and sends us out 

to dance.

May we find ourselves caught up in the rhythm today, dancing with God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Amen.