Sometimes I will look at the bulletin board, read a fortune and wonder what
possessed me to keep it. Surely it was not how to learn how to say “cat” in
Chinese. It must have spoken to me somehow!
One I found didn’t sound very Chinese but did sound very much like
Jesus, so I kept it. It says: Your faith will overcome your fear.
Today, in the Gospel, we have also have a collection. Not of
fortunes, but sayings of Jesus.
First, Jesus reminds us not to be afraid. “Do not be afraid,
little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom”
(12:32).
Next, we he exhorts us to make treasure for ourselves in heaven that
no thief or moth can steal or destroy.
Then we hear Jesus spin a scenario where he talks about the
blessedness of the servants who are dressed and ready for action with their
lamps lit when their master returns. How pleased is the master? He is so
pleased that master serves the servants dinner!
Finally Jesus tells us to be watchful and ready. As ready as a
homeowner keeping an eye out for burglars.
It sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? We make indestructible treasures
for ourselves and making them is what the master should find us doing when he
returns. It is how we stay ready for his imminent arrival.
Except that we are distractible, afraid and anxious. Like the urge
to touch a wall when the sign says, “wet paint”, when we are told not to be
anxious, that’s all we can think about. You parents know this: there is always
someone out there, on television, social media, the internet, even friends and
family who are always telling us to “look out!”, “be careful!”, or sharing some
story of a disaster that has befallen another family with another baby or child.
It’s true, we always want to be ready, just in case! I carry an
umbrella in my car. Just in case it rains. And guess what happens: when I am in the office and it
starts to rain, I will get wet running to my car to get that umbrella!
We human are funny critters! Try as we might, sometimes even those of us with the deepest faith will choose to look at life through the lens
of our fears. And I don’t mean the fear of the Lord (the deep awe and reverence
for God) that the Bible tells us repeatedly is the beginning of wisdom. I mean
the mis-placed faith that, so long as we are anxious, chaos will be kept at bay
from our personal cosmos. I mean the faith that our anxiety forms a protective
shield around our life. It results in the fear that, if I feel a moment of
peace, must be because there is something I’ve overlooked. This is what turns
faith into superstition!
In today’s passage from Luke, Jesus tells us not to be afraid, but
that doesn’t mean we are to be passive or asleep at the switch. We are
instructed to be dressed for action, to have our lamps lit, to be prepared for
the return of the master, to make purses for ourselves that do not wear out, to
place our trust in an unfailing heavenly treasure that no thief can steal, and no
moth can consume (12:33).
We are all wrong about fear. We think it is our protective shield.
But it turns out that fear is the thief. When we dwell on our fears and our
anxieties, they become our treasures. Jesus says, “Where your treasure is,
there will your heart be also” (12:35). Faith is the genuine treasure we are to
be accumulating, but we get it backwards when our fears fill our hearts and
faith can’t get in.
The bad news is that we are householders whose homes are threatened by the fear that has come to steal our faith.
The good news is that
we do know when the thief is coming. The thief is fear and anxiety. We know it's there by our racing heart, our fitful sleep. When the "what ifs" and the "if onlys" begin to dominate our thinking, then we know the thief of anxiety is trying to break in! So how can we
keep our house of faith from being broken into by fear and anxiety?
Jesus tells us that if the householder had known at what hour the
thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. Well, we do know! And Jesus promising us the resources to keep fear from stealing our faith. He is
promising to turn the tables and to empower our faith to counter-act our surplus of anxiety and fear.
When I was a Chaplain, I knew a doctor who was Hindu. He talked
once about how to cope with the stress of modern life, “Live in the past and
you will be depressed. Live in the future and you will be anxious. Live in the
present with gratitude and you will be at peace.” For the Christian the message
is that that we need to be preoccupied, but not with fear and anxiety. We are
invited to be preoccupied in the present looking forward with Christ into God’s
hope-filled future.
As we learn to pray and discover that even the most mundane,
everyday chore is also a prayer—both a gift from God and a gift to God—then we
find our orientation changing from fear and towards faith. From scarcity into
abundance.
In baptizing AJ today, you are introducing him to the rhythm of
sacramental living—of Eucharistic community, daily prayer, and studying and
meditating on God’s word together in church and as family and even by
yourselves—and are also inviting him to
join you—the parents, sponsors, friends, family, and this Christian community—into
a lifelong process of immersing yourselves in God’s time, into God’s always
unfolding present!
The last time I cleaned out my wallet, I found two old fortunes:
“An unexpected event will bring you wealth,” and “If you put up
with small annoyances you will gain great results.”
Who knows why I kept them? Who knows if they will come true? But move over fear and anxiety, here are some
promises of Jesus that are far more reliable than any fortune cookie fortune! Jesus’
promises, which are about to renew and take on with AJ, answers the fears beats
in our hearts and breathes in our communities:
Strive for God’s kingdom and these things (food, drink, clothing) will be given to you as well.” (Luke 12:31)
“Do not be afraid…, for it is God’s good pleasure to give you the
kingdom.“ (Luke 12:32)
Here is a link to the bulletin for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost at St. John's Episcopal Church, Clearwater
Here is a link to the Scripture readings.
Here is a link to a video of the sermon.
Here is a link to a video of the liturgy.
No comments:
Post a Comment