| Mark 12:41-44 "Some Things Are Priceless" |
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| Written by Rev. Don Lee | |
| Saturday, 11 November 2006 | |
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He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. 43 Then he called his disciples and said to them, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. 44 For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on." Prayer: Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle within them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth. Amen. One of our saints, Jenna Woesterhoeff recently shared a story with me. She was so tickled with herself that I wanted to share it with you. She said three men, an orthodox Jewish Rabbi, a Indian Hindu and a lawyer were on a trip when their car broke down. They pulled up to a farm house, where the owner offered to let them spend the night. Unfortunately, he said, he only had room for two, the third would have to spend the night in the barn. The Rabbi graciously replied, “No problem, I’d be happy to take the barn.” No sooner had the two bedded down when a knock came on the window. It was the Rabbi. “I can’t sleep out here,” said the Rabbi, “There’s a pig in the barn and such a thing isn’t kosher.” The Indian Hindu replied, “No problem, I’ll take the barn.” It wasn’t 15 minutes later when a knock came on the window. It was the Hindu. “I can’t sleep out here, there’s a cow in the barn and we revere them as sacred. It doesn’t seem right for me to sleep in such a sacred place.” This time the lawyer piped up, “No problem, I’m fine with pigs and cows, I’ll sleep in the barn.” It wasn’t 15 minutes later when a knock came on the window. It was the pig and the cow. (pause) What intrigued me about Jenna’s joke were its competing concepts of the sacred and profane. Several years back we had a non-Christian religious group borrow our Covenant Center for a gathering. Needless to say, the fact that they brought in a large gold statue generated some lively discussion in a meeting of our leadership. Some felt it quite inappropriate, while others who had no problem with it. I don’t pretend to judge either position. I think people have a right to their convictions (even if I don’t agree with them). But as a pastor with a seminary education who has served in the church for a good portion of my life, I will tell you that this was not a Kingdom issue; a personal issue for some, no question, but a Kingdom issue? No. However hard I try, I cannot imagine God pacing around in heaven mumbling, “Oh my gosh, Hindu prayers coming from a United Methodist church. What am I going to do? I am so confused!” The idea that God has somehow “lost sleep” over this makes no theological sense to me. Besides, we as God’s people are as guilty as anyone of having idols. And if you don’t believe me, take a look at your budget and as they say, “Follow the money….” As Jesus said, "For where your treasure is, there your heart shall be also.” Matthew 6:21 So what makes something sacred? My best answer? It becomes sacred “to us” when we connect it to the holiness or presence of God. Remember the story of Jacob ladder in Genesis 28? He awakes from his dream saying, “How awesome is this place. This is none other then the house of God, and I did not know it.” With a pillar of stone Jacob marks the spot as “sacred ground.” Many of you have a sacred space in your home, a place you go to meet God. The truth of the matter is, my eight year old could care less if a certain spot in our home is sacred space. If it’s in his way, he’s coming through! Besides, if that’s where I’m hanging out, sometimes he just wants to be close to me while he reads a book or plays a game or sings his favorite TV show theme song…loudly, and over and over and over again… For many of you this sanctuary is a sacred space. But let me tell you, for the children of this church it’s an inviting space for SACRED PLAY! I personally like that image! And for our youth, this “sanctuary” is truly what the word implies, a safe place to crash with friends in between activities. One of our members, Ben Huseman recently gave me a tour of an exhibit at UT Arlington Library entitled “Mapping the Sacred.” Plumbing the archives of the school he has assembled a collection of maps that reflect the religious worldview of the times. One of the things he pointed out is how the cartographer’s “cultural baggage” was carried into the creation of each map. You see, what makes something sacred TO US is the connection to God “WE” give it. The overall witness of scripture, however, claims a much broader definition of the sacred. The Bible says God is everywhere and in everything. Psalm 139: 7-10 says, 7Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? 8If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. 9If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, 10even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast. And in Acts 17:28 the Apostle Paul argues, “For in [God] we live, and move, and have our being. God is everywhere and in everything. Why is this important? Because this is not the worldview most of us live out of! To us the story of an impoverished widow giving all she has to God as an act of worship, while noble, is both culturally irrelevant, not to say downright irresponsible! Imagine if your grandmother announced she was giving all her money to Benny Hinn Ministries or any of a plethora of TV evangelists, would your family have something to say about it? Why if this poor widow came to Holy Covenant we’d offer financial assistance, food to eat, and help her find a place to stay. We’d discourage her from putting her Social Security check into the morning offering. And if she did, we’d probably try to give it back to her! Here’s the problem: However well intentioned this behavior is, it diminishes this woman’s sacred worth and with it, the gift she offers us. This is not to say poverty and suffering should be ignored. Remember God’s economy is different then ours. We tend to focus on externals. God looks at the heart. In our rush to help, we too easily write off the sacredness of people, and in so doing, dismiss not only their suffering and their story, but the means of grace God intends them to be in our lives. What would it mean for us if we truly lived out of the worldview that “God is everywhere and in everything?” I’ve been reading a book that really opened up this scripture to me. The book is entitled “Presence.” I’d like to read you a passage by one of the authors: (Read from book) It dawned on me that what this author is describing is a radical transformation of his worldview. Despite his tremendous loss he discovers that life is good and the future reality that his life might create, still unwritten. And he had to lose everything before realizing this! And that’s when I had one of those “AHA” moments. When Jesus looks at this woman in our gospel reading, he doesn’t see someone to “fix.” Jesus sees a person of great faith and sacred worth: someone we can learn from. If we could embrace the worldview that says, “God is everywhere and in everything” then instead of seeing the woman in our scripture as poor and needy, we might recognize her as someone who is wealthy beyond imagination. -She can teach us what Jesus means when he says, “Blessed are the poor, the hungry, those who mourn…” -She can teach us that God is good to us even in times of loss. -Her hope and certainly bring new meaning to Jesus’ words, “I am the resurrection and the life.” -Her great act of faith testifies to what it means to love God with all your heart and not hold anything back. And she is saying to us, “Child, keep your head up and look forward.” There is potential for great faith, holiness, and spiritual gift-giving within you!” You don’t have to lose everything to encounter the God who is everywhere and in everything. For most of us, the commitment to live a generous life is just a few steps away! And church, if you can believe this, there is nothing too great for you to accomplish for God and God’s Kingdom! I want to end by reading you Jesus’ words from the Message paraphrase of the Bible: V. 43“The truth is that this poor widow gave more to the collection than all the others put together. All the others gave what they’ll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn’t afford-she gave her all”. Pray with me, “God, we love you. We thank you. All of our resources come from you. We rejoice in your presence.” Amen. Wars and rumors of war, kingdoms and nations rising up against one another, earthquakes and famines; Jesus’ apocalyptic “world prophecy is in fact front-page headline news! Surely this is not the world that God hopes for us or our children. I believe that God is moving us a church to work together creatively to create sustainable change: A different future for our world. The question is what role does God’s Spirit have for us in this? As the church, we must earnestly seek together the vision God is now birthing out of the diversity and uniqueness of our combined voices. Granted, for some a shared vision may never go far enough but when it is the product of the Holy Spirit working in the life of the Church, it is sacred, full of power, and authentic to the witness of this church. At least 2 things contribute to our shared vision. 1) Our unique understanding of what it means to be family. Having come from a pretty dysfunctional broken family, the church, imperfect as it is, became the one stable relationship in my life as I was growing up. What does it mean to be family? One of my favorite bible stories is of the Good Samaritan. On the surface it doesn’t appear to be a story about family. After all these are two strangers; One who is robbed, beaten and left for the dead, the other, a traveler who goes out of the way to help this stranger in need. What creates tension in the story, however, is that the victim is a Jew, and those who walk by refusing to render aid, also Jews. By the way, when we read these stories it is important to remember that Jesus is a Jew speaking to fellows Jews about the way they should treat one another. Jews identify themselves as Sons and Daughters of Abraham (and Sarah). That strong familial identity still exists today. But in Jesus’ parable, it is someone outside the family, a Samaritan, who stops and renders aid. In Jesus’ day, there was no loss of love between Samaritans and Jews. But the Samaritan demonstrates what it truly means to be family by overlooking their differences and doing the caring thing. And that, according to Jesus, is what family is supposed to do. In a very real way the church has been my “good Samaritan.” In the aftermath of my parent’s messy divorce, my own parents and extended family weren’t able to truly “be there” for me. Talk about disaster, war and famine! It was the church that cared enough to stop; who treated my wounds and bandaged them; who spoke words of reassurance and comfort; who invited me to their table. Jesus’ mission, carried out primarily among Jewish communities, always pushed the boundaries of who deserves to be included in family: The poor, the widow, the orphan, the leper, and the prisoner. The Beatitudes, the Golden rule, the Lord’s prayer, the parables, teach us how to behave as family and I might add, how not to behave…that family does not strip members of their dignity; beat them up (verbally or otherwise), and leave them half dead. God’s beloved children deserve better then that. The after effects of God’s going, is not destruction but life, and life abundant. One of the things this church really does well is to treat others as family. I’ve seen members reorganize their entire lives to care for someone with cancer. You’ll get up at 4 A.M. in the morning so you can feed the homeless; you’ve emptied your pantries to help feed the hungry; you take a week off from work to go on a mission trip. You hand me checks saying, “Don, put this where it is needed most.” I see you forgive liberally. Of all the churches I have been privileged to serve or be a part of, this church is by far, the most non-judgmental, compassionate hearted. As a church we go beyond the humane thing, stopping and calling for help. We do the loving thing; we go out looking for the wounded! Programs like CHAP and Harvey’s Kids, our partnerships with Austin Street and Interfaith, our food pantry and ESL classes; our support of Christ’s Foundry and Nancy Boye, our missionary to Latin America; are all expressions of our missional identity. That identity recognizes our own brokenness and embraces Jesus’ teaching that only the one without sin is worthy of casting stones. Thus we leave our stones in the garden where they belong. We are all family, and our definition of family is constantly growing in ever widening circles. Our unique understanding of family is just one of the aspects of Holy Covenant’s identity that contributes to our shared vision. 2) The 2nd thing that contributes to our shared vision is God’s gift of our diversity in unity. Recently I described my own family this way. We’ve got married, singles, divorced, remarried, living together, Hispanic, Argentinean, Asian-American, natural born, adopted, resident alien, RCC, United Methodist, Southern Baptist, agnostic, bi-polar, ADD, Republican, Democrat, undeclared, rich, poor, middle, step moms, step kids, 2nd wives, eccentric, exotic, and looney…I’m telling you its a veritable circus! I think that describes well, Holy Covenant. I don’t believe that God’s intent is to homogenize our church. We are to celebrate the diversity of backgrounds, religious beliefs, and unique gifts. We acknowledge our differences, and place them within the context of our unity as the church of Jesus Christ. On a relative scale, there is no justification for breaking the unity of the church, according to the Apostle Paul. He writes in 1 Corinthians 8:9-13; 9 But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if others see you, who possess knowledge, eating in the temple of an idol, might they not, since their conscience is weak, be encouraged to the point of eating food sacrificed to idols? 11 So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed. 12 But when you thus sin against members of your family, and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them to fall. While he’s speaking of eating meat used in worship of foreign idols, I think the jest of what he is saying is this: We cannot allow our differences to dissolve our unity. And so he writes in Ephesians 4:1-3, I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. If you have your bibles turn with me to 1 Kings 3:16-28. King Solomon is asked to judge between two women with competing claims to a baby. This is before they knew what DNA was. When King Solomon threatens to have the child divided in two, to appease both women, the real mother pleads with the king asking the child be spared and given to the other woman (which is, of course exactly what Solomon had expected the real mother to do). This is how he knows who the true mother is; she refuses to sacrifice the child to get what she wants. Vs. 28 All Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered; and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him, to execute justice. When there are competing claims about what vision God has for the church, how do we reconcile the differences? Is it merely a case of divide and conquer? The majority rules and the rest can go somewhere else? Are we are willing to sacrifice the child (so to speak) to win the argument? I’m not going to answer that for you. All I’m going to say is if we get there and find that many were sacrificed along the way, I’m not sure we’ve been just or loving. I love this church and I believe it’s worth fighting for! This does not mean that you cannot speak to your beliefs or that if you see an injustice that you cannot address it. It means that this must all be done in the context of the church’s unity. I like the way the Message version of the Bible translates verses John 6:43-44, Jesus said, “Don’t bicker among yourselves over me. You’re not in charge here. The Father who sent me is in charge. He draws people to me-that’s the only way you’ll ever come. Only then do I do my work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End. “But Don, the church’s shared vision doesn’t go far enough,” some might say. I defer to the wisdom of Archbishop Oscar Romero who once said: It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us. No statement says all that could be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection. No pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the church's mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything. This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own. Amen. Pray with me, “God, we love you. We thank you. All of our resources come from you. We rejoice in your presence.” Amen. |
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