A Collect For the Victims of Addiction

Blessed Lord, you ministered to all who came to you: Look with compassion upon all who through addiction have lost their health and freedom. Restore to them the assurance of your unfailing mercy; remove from them the fears that beset them; strengthen them in the work of their recovery; and to those who care for them, give patient understanding and persevering love. Amen.

BCP

Worthwhile Investments; a sermon for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Mark 12:38-44

³⁸ As he was teaching, he said, “ Watch out for the legal experts. They like to walk around in long robes. They want to be greeted with honor in the markets. ³⁹ They long for places of honor in the synagogues and at banquets. ⁴⁰ They are the ones who cheat widows out of their homes, and to show off they say long prayers. They will be judged most harshly. ”

⁴¹ Jesus sat across from the collection box for the temple treasury and observed how the crowd gave their money. Many rich people were throwing in lots of money. ⁴² One poor widow came forward and put in two small copper coins worth a penny.i⁴³ Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “ I assure you that this poor widow has put in more than everyone who’s been putting money in the treasury. ⁴⁴ All of them are giving out of their spare change. But she from her hopeless poverty has given everything she had, even what she needed to live on. ”

Let the words of my mouth

and the meditations of my heart

be pleasing to you,

LORD , my rock and my redeemer.

We’re at church. This is the place where, week after week, you have somebody asking you for money. We take up regular offerings every week, most of which, admittedly, support my salary. Awkward to stand in front of y’all making that request. Six out of fifty-two weeks every year, we take up special offerings for something with the global United Methodist Church. We take up special offerings immediately after major disasters. We could probably fill up every other Sunday with special offerings for Wesley Foundations and camps and ministries with minorities and food banks and thrift stores and South Sudan and whatever else comes up that needs the support of local churches.

At the same time, we don’t talk about the way we are called to invest responsibly here, locally, in our own households.

In fact, you know what? We don’t talk about personal responsibility much at all. And I suppose that’s my fault.

I talk about our calling. I talk about what it means to follow. You know, discipleship and stuff.

But I’m not sure I often go in the direction of defining worthwhile investments.

Folks generally know better than to have these arguments around me, but once upon a time in Cullowhee, North Carolina, Karoline got involved in a conversation about giving in the church. Another student who attended the Wesley Foundation with us was arguing that wealthy people who made comparatively enormous investments were giving sacrificially. For example, if Jay Leno chose do make a $100,000 donation to a local non-profit, approximately what it might cost him to purchase and repair one of his fleet of luxury or one-off cars, that would be a sacrificial gift comparable to what we call the widow’s mite.

That infuriated Karoline, because the math simply doesn’t work. And in no way, shape, or form is it appropriate to talk about the sacrifice of a luxury as if it’s the same as the sacrifice of a meal.

If you have more, more is expected of you. It’s really that simple.

But we are a society that has embraced and uplifted greed to the point that accumulating wealth is considered the highest of all attainments.

All of them are giving out of their spare change. But she from her hopeless poverty has given everything she had, even what she needed to live on.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, giving is a thing that our family struggles with. And it’s not just because we have diapers and constantly changing wardrobes to deal with investing in. We are also dealing with serious debt, the largest part of which is in student loans. We have more academic debt than all our other debt combined.

So when Bishop Swanson asked me, on the stage at Annual Conference, with all the other ordinands a year and a half ago, if I was in debt so as to embarrass myself, I had a serious problem answering.

Was a Master of Divinity at Candler School of Theology in Atlanta a debt I collected that is embarrassing? Was it a worthwhile investment?

I believe in education. I believe in the power of wisdom and knowledge. I believe it is a gift God gives us.

But the amount I am paying for that education is embarrassing enough that I haven’t announced to you this morning what the actual number is.

What is a worthwhile investment?

Is it land? That’s something our founding fathers valued enough to protect it as a fundamental human right. Ownership of property, which is absolutely not a biblical value. The Bible teaches us that we don’t own anything. We take care of certain things. We invest them in worthwhile ways.

What is a worthwhile investment?

Stocks? Sports? Entertainment? Books? Technology?

Our reading from Ruth and from the Psalms this morning point to children as a worthwhile investment.

Well, they are an investment. That’s for sure. And they are worthwhile, without a doubt. Our lives are richer by far because of Noah and Sarah and Rebekah. Everything means more. Everything is redefined by the gift of children.

But in no way is the way that God gives more clear than in our children, who are ours for only a fleeting time before they are their own people, making their own decisions and mistakes and investments.

But the situation of Ruth and Naomi is not the same as ours today. Naomi is without any hope of dignity or even sustenance without a male heir. The book of Ruth, really, is her story far more than it is Ruth’s. It is the story of how she secures her own future through Ruth, directing her toward Boaz in rather graphic detail that I will not unpack for you this morning by pointing out the meaning of the euphemism, “uncover his feet.” You can do that yourself.

We are people who are far more propertied and comfortable than they. Our children do not secure our future in the same way that Ruth’s son did.

Nor are our children “like arrows in the hand of a warrior” in the way that the Psalmist speaks today. We don’t collect them to be used as weapons or as bargaining tools. They are not property. They are people.

When Karoline and I invest in our children, we are investing in the future of our community, the future of our world. We are developing disciples for the inbreaking of Christ’s Kingdom. We are readying them to make their own choices and invest in what they value. Sure, we hope they believe in what we believe in, but we can’t ultimately define that for them.

So if we invest wisely, in the future of our communities and in the Kingdom, then our children are a wise and worthwhile investment.

And maybe that’s where the rubber meets the road. We shouldn’t be asking what organizations have the right name, what kinds of groups or things we should be investing in. We should be asking if what we are investing in will help break God’s Kingdom into this reality, whether how we are investing will actually help that happen.

When I invest my finances into something, am I ensuring that my finances will promote something God wants, or am I just pouring money into a pit to be eaten by monsters of greed and corruption?

A few years ago, a friend had an opportunity to lead his ministry in participating in the shoebox ministry. You know, Samaritan’s Purse/Operation Christmas Child thing. He had the presence of mind to make a phone call to their office and ask exactly where the donation was used that is included in every single gift box.

They refused to answer his question.

I have a hard time investing in a ministry like that.

When I invest my finances in something, I want to make sure they are being used for ministry.

When I invest my time in something, I want to make sure my time is cared for and that it makes a difference. When I covenanted that I wasn’t in debt so as to embarrass myself, I also covenanted not to spend my time frivolously. Sometimes I’m good at that, and sometimes I’m not. But I’m making a point of improving.

When I invest my energy into something, I want to make sure that my energy is being used to do good, not to do harm, and to help people realize how close God is to them.

I am striving to make all my investments worthwhile. And there are loads of ways to do that. There are as many ways to do that as there are gifts that God is giving me.

If a poor widow can bless God by giving the very thing she needed to live on, then shouldn’t I, whom God has so richly blessed, give everything I have to bring God’s Kingdom today?

Forget the tithe. The tithe is a cheap excuse. Here, let me write a check and feel like I’ve done my part for the church.

God doesn’t want your tithe. God wants your life.

Is your life a worthwhile investment?

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

On That Day; a sermon for the Feast of All Saints

Isaiah 25:6-9

⁶ On this mountain,

the LORD of heavenly forces will prepare for all peoples

a rich feast, a feast of choice wines,

of select foods rich in flavor,

of choice wines well refined.

⁷ He will swallow up on this mountain the veil that is veiling all peoples,

the shroud enshrouding all nations.

⁸ He will swallow up deathr forever.

The LORD God will wipe tears from every face;

he will remove his people’s disgrace from off the whole earth,

for the LORD has spoken.

⁹ They will say on that day,

“ Look! This is our God,

for whom we have waited—

and he has saved us!

This is the LORD , for whom we have waited;

let’s be glad and rejoice in his salvation! ”

Revelation 21:1-6

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ² I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ I heard a loud voice from the throne say, “ Look! God’s dwelling is here with humankind. He will dwell with them, and they will be his peoples. God himself will be with them as their God. ⁴ He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more. There will be no mourning, crying, or pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. ” ⁵ Then the one seated on the throne said, “ Look! I’m making all things new. ” He also said, “ Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. ” ⁶ Then he said to me, “ All is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will freely give water from the life-giving spring.

John 11:32-44

³² When Mary arrived where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “ Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. ”

³³ When Jesus saw her crying and the Jews who had come with her crying also, he was deeply disturbed and troubled. ³⁴ He asked, “ Where have you laid him? ”

They replied, “ Lord, come and see. ”

³⁵ Jesus began to cry. ³⁶ The Jews said, “ See how much he loved him! ” ³⁷ But some of them said, “ He healed the eyes of the man born blind. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying? ”

³⁸ Jesus was deeply disturbed again when he came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone covered the entrance. ³⁹ Jesus said, “ Remove the stone. ”

Martha, the sister of the dead man, said, “ Lord, the smell will be awful! He’s been dead four days. ”

⁴⁰ Jesus replied, “ Didn’t I tell you that if you believe, you will see God’s glory? ” ⁴¹ So they removed the stone. Jesus looked up and said, “ Father, thank you for hearing me. ⁴² I know you always hear me. I say this for the benefit of the crowd standing here so that they will believe that you sent me. ” ⁴³ Having said this, Jesus shouted with a loud voice, “ Lazarus, come out! ” ⁴⁴ The dead man came out, his feet bound and his hands tied, and his face covered with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “ Untie him and let him go. ”

Let the words of my mouth

and the meditations of my heart

be pleasing to you,

LORD , my rock and my redeemer.

The raising of Lazarus is perhaps the most awe-inspiring miracle that Jesus performs. It’s a moment of the Divine hand reaching into humanity and radically changing the order of life and death. It is a moment that is particularly holy, particularly righteous.

But it is a moment that is bathed in distinct humanity. And I mean, several different flavors of mundane, real humanity.

Do you hear the grief in Mary’s voice?

“ Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. ”

Do you see the tears in Jesus’ eyes?

“ See how much he loved him! ”

Do you hear the skeptical voices?

“ He healed the eyes of the man born blind. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying? ”

Do you hear pragmatic Martha, reminding Jesus:

“ Lord, the smell will be awful! He’s been dead four days. ”

Do you see yourself in the family gathered there? Would your reaction be different?

What about the times you’ve been in the shoes of some member of Lazarus’ family? I know we’ve been through a lot in the past year, and we’ve screamed Mary’s complaint at God, and we’ve wondered if Jesus is really all he’s cracked up to be, and every so often we’ve seen the face of Christ crying with us.

That is the promise of Emmanuel, of course. God is with us. And that is the promise that we can tend to forget when we focus too much on texts like Isaiah and the Revelation.

We read those and think, Yeah, God is preparing a house, a banquet, a new everything!

And that’s a valid point.

Thanks be to God that on That Day,

He will swallow up death forever.

The LORD God will wipe tears from every face

Thanks be to God that

There will be no mourning, crying, or pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

Thanks be to God for That Day.

But That Day doesn’t mean God is neglecting what we’re experiencing right now, in this moment, in this grief, in this trouble, in this joy and celebration, too.

In fact, That Day doesn’t mean that it’s not happening right now.

Christ has already defeated death. Christ has already destroyed the power of hell.

The promise to us is that we get to participate in the end of death and hell. We get to be agents of freedom and salvation. We get to be bringers of the kingdom today!

And on this Festival Day, we get to celebrate that fact, and celebrate all those who have made us able to feast today.

Today we celebrate the Feast of All Saints. I want to invite us to the table this morning and offer us a chance to participate in salvation with those saints who have preceded us and with those who will come after. That is the joy of this table. It is a place and time when space and time converge, a means of grace, a moment when eternity narrows down into this place and time, and this moment joins with all other moments at the table, including that great feast that Jesus is preparing for us on That Day.

This day, we saints feast with all the saints, and this day we recognize and name them and celebrate them and each other.

So as you come to the table this morning, I invite you to take a candle from our basket and light it in memory of your own saints. You can name them aloud, or you can name them in your heart. And you won’t remember everyone. Nobody expects you to. You know, if you get back to your seat and you think of them, name them from there.

And as our lights collect and brighten this space, know that in their flame is the prayer for and our prayer with the saints, who still pray with us today, near to the heart of God where prayer never ceases.

Today, in the face of death and hell, let us celebrate the defeat of death and hell, and prepare a table in the midst of our greatest enemies.