The Good News!

Welcome! I am the Rev. Ken Saunders. I serve as the rector of St. James Episcopal Church in Greeneville, Tennessee (since May 2018). These sermons here were delivered in the context of worship at the various places I have served.

[NOTE: Sermons (or Homilies) are commentaries that follow the scripture lessons, and are specifically designed to be heard. They are "written for the ear" and may contain sentence fragments and be difficult to read. They are NOT intended to be academic papers.]

Sunday, August 8, 2010

RCL Year C (Proper 14) - August 8, 2010

The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III
Christ Church - Cleveland, NC

RCL Year C (Proper 14) - August 8, 2010

Isaiah 1:1, 10-20
Psalm 50:1-8, 23-24
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
Luke 12:32-40

Last week, we talked a bit about priorities, and setting the priorities for our lives in order to live into the kingdom of God… About how our priorities become messed up, and skewed all out of whack, as we pursue the devices and desires of our own hearts.

In the gospel text from Luke this morning, Jesus continues that message, but he basically says, "Don't be afraid. I will give you the Kingdom of God. Use the gifts that God gives you so that you have permanent benefits – and – then you will be happy – if you are ready for my return."

Or, we could even paraphrase it in a more simple way, don't be afraid, enjoy your stuff and be happy. This sounds like a wonderful, simple, easy lesson! But there is one problem - None of us can do this!

Most of our lives are spent on a never-ending journey, running around in circles with one foot nailed to the floor… searching for something that can give us hope and meaning to our lives.

We surround ourselves with all kinds of “if only” promises to ourselves – holding onto a false idea of hope…

• if only we had enough time… then we would be more involved…
• if only we made enough money… then we could give more to the church…
• if only we had a full time priest… then the pews would be full and our programs would be busting at the seams.
• if only we had things exactly the way they were when I was a child in this parish – back when times were good… then we would be just fine…
• if only we were able to keep this building exactly the way it was when it was built in 1827… then somehow we wouldn’t need to go out and invite our neighbors to church, they would just want to come.
• if only we had enough money in our plate… then we could give 10% to the diocese

In this mornings lesson, we find out that Jesus came to earth to take the "if only" phrases out of our lives. So, let’s examine the gifts promised to us in today's Gospel lesson and look at how he eliminates the "if only" phrases from our lives.

"Don't be afraid."

To live into the Kingdom of God is to live in a realm without fear. Jesus said in our lesson that we are not to fear! - because it is God's pleasure to give us the kingdom. The absence of fear is achieved only when we are filled with love. By being filled with the love of God is the door we open to enter the Kingdom where there is no fear. This is good news! But it is scary.

Perhaps this is the reason that the first thing that ALL of the angels say when they appear in a passage of scripture is “don’t be afraid!”

"don't be afraid." Now, there is some irony in all of this. Living without fear because we are filled with the love of God… This can be a scary concept!

The next promise from Jesus in this text is that we should enjoy our stuff forever. We have all heard the phrase that “we reap what we sow.” We can have an “eternal” purse. There is that text that says we are to "lay up treasure in heaven."

But - the treasure of heaven, or the stuff in an eternal purse, is not money at all. There is no divine Swiss bank account! Just like I said last week… You can’t take it with you! The treasure of heaven is the relationships that we build here on earth.

I don’t think that we completely understand the consequences of giving to God and what it means for the work of God to be done in this world. We are not just talking about money here… Part of that work is sharing the good news about Jesus by the way you live your life... When this good news is shared people are drawn to God. They are led to claim Jesus as Savior and submit to his authority. Then the ultimate reward is to enter that realm of love we call the kingdom of God… and that kingdom is eternal!!

We are the treasures of heaven for each other! Jesus ' invitation is deep… we are to send our treasures on ahead of us in the form of relationships grounded in the love of God.

The final promise of Jesus in this morning’s lesson is happiness. So far, we are called to live unafraid after giving away all our stuff. Now we are told that this is the way to happiness…

The word "blessed" in this passage is most appropriately translated as happy. The text calls "blessed" or "happy" those who are ready for the Lord's return. So, how can we be ready for the Lord's return? Some interpret this question in a very moralistic way.

But, as we know – being ready for Jesus' return is a little more complicated than that. The readiness we are dealing with this morning has very little to do with morality. Though morality and virtue are good in and of themselves. They need no justification.

In reality, none of us is ready for the Jesus’ return just because we are good – regardless of how good we think we are, readiness for Jesus' return is grounded in the quality of the “relationships” that we have with each other and with Him. This readiness is a result of the love we have for each other and for Jesus…

Our “if-onlys” can be turned into true hope if only we can discover how to live without our "if onlys" by learning through the relationships on our journey together. Everything that we are seeking in life are ultimately discovered by being with each other and seeking it out together.

The Christian life that Jesus is promising in this text is very much like this. In relationship with Jesus and through learning about him together… we grow into the promises of today's Gospel lesson. As we grow in love and community with each other, we grow less and less in fearful…

As we grow in love and community with each other, we become more and more focused on eternal relationships… As we grow in love and community with each other, we await Jesus' coming not with dread, but with joy.

Perhaps it is scary to think about living this way, but remember the first thing that angels says, "don't be afraid!"

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