Money Talks: Week 3 Where did my money go?

Money Talks 3

 “Where did my money go?”

October 12, 2014

This message was shared by Pastor Kurt Jacobson at Trinity Lutheran Church, Eau Claire, WI.

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, grace and peace be with you all.

Today we’re finishing “Money Talks” and I hope this topic has opened some conversation with others about money and the management of it. If you missed either of the previous two messages, they’re on our website for you to read, watch or listen. Two weeks ago we faced the subject of ownership and management and the truth that we don’t own our money, but we are in charge of it. Last week we looked at the importance of a having a budget and if you’re not controlling your money, it’ll control you.

If you need help with managing money right now, here’s a good place to go first. Lutheran Social Services offers free and confidential budget and debt counseling – available via phone or online 24/7.

Today we’re going to consider how money and in particular, unsecured debt enslaves us. To start we’re headed straight to the Bible and a challenging thing Jesus had to say to some folks who were enslaved and unable to see it and unwilling to consider God as a source of freedom. He says this: I tell you most solemnly that anyone who chooses a life of sin is trapped in a dead-end life and is, in fact, a slave. (John 8:34 The Message)

Jesus is speaking to people of Jewish descent who resisted much of what he had to say. So these folks respond to Jesus saying “We are children of Abraham and we’ve never been in slavery to anyone.” Faithful Jews could tell the story of their history that once upon a time they were back in Egypt and “oh yes, we were slaves.” Then God led them to the Promised Land where they lived and then were taken over by the Babylonians and “oh yes, we got carried off into slavery again.” Then the Assyrians moved in and they became slaves again. These are the biographical chunks in Jewish history showing the rhythm of God’s relation with them. God was always rescuing them from slavery.

There’s a similar truth for us, though I believe we don’t think about it much. We’re constantly in danger of becoming enslaved. And money is one of the biggest things we get enslaved to. From it, we need God to free us. When Jesus said, “anyone who chooses a life of sin is in fact a slave”  it does apply to the predicaments and messes people get into with money.

You see, sin is a condition, not an action like lying, cheating, stealing. Sin is separation from God and it happens when you are not in sync with God. When we choose to go down paths in life not in sync with God – we choose sin. And we all do it. We will always do this and God is always reeling us in – to free us from sin.

This is true in lot of areas of life, including how we manage money. I like what this Bible translation says: anyone who chooses a life of sin is trapped in a dead-end life. When you are choosing a life that isn’t what God has in mind for you, you are on a dead end path. Money has the power to lead you down a path that isn’t necessarily good, even if it might be fun, attractive, or the path of least resistance right now. When money controls you, you are in essence, a slave. You’ve lost your freedom. That’s what Jesus is telling us.

I’ve heard this said: “Americans have become far too comfortable with debt.” Do you agree? With regard to the debt we hold, is it sometimes sin? Recall what sin is – a separation from God. The problem with debt is it makes us a slave to money, so that we can’t be a servant to God.

I get credit card offers in the mail regularly. Do you?  Usually inside the envelope is an insert with the title “Initial Disclosure Statement.” Recently I read that insert and do you know the word “debt” is never used. It’s “Unpaid balances.” This statement defines all the rights the credit company has over me. The credit card can make me a slave of that company.

I said last week a goal is to live free of unsecured debt. Carrying a balance on a credit card is unsecured debt for stuff you bought in the past that you’re still paying for today. Getting unsecured debt out of your life gets you off the dead end road.

If debt is a trap of seeking to have more – and things you can’t pay for right now – then what’s the answer? Contentment. Don’t chase after more. You’ll never be satisfied. Chase after contentment. There’s only one place from where it comes from. Contentment is the BENEFIT of seeking God. That’s what Jesus was saying in discussion with the Jewish folks. “If the Son sets you free, you will be free through and through.” Only with God in the picture, will you find contentment with your financial situation. When your life is spent on seeking God and letting God’s vision direct you, your finances can follow suit.

Yet, we all know people get knocked off the course of seeking God’s guidance for life. There are so many forces pulling at us, even when we’re at our best. Regarding money, I want to talk about three forces I call “green monsters.”  They knock us off the course of being good money managers.

1 The first green monster is this thing – a credit card. I can buy things with it, even when I don’t have money. They’re cool and colorful. Sometimes they have pretty pictures on them. There are 2.4 billion cards in in the world. (creditcards.com)  If you stacked them up it would be 70 miles high – 13 times higher than Mt Everest. They get the name green monster because a person making purchases with them will spend, according to Dunn & Bradstreet, 12-18% more than when using cash.

The monster’s ugly side is this:

• The average balance per credit card for an American is $3,779 with average consumer holding over 3 cards. (Cambridge Credit Counseling)
• Making the minimum payment will take 11 years to pay off this balance.
• It’s when the average credit card debt reaches over $18,000 do card holders seek help.

(“Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2007 to 2010: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances; Federal Reserve Bulletin, June 2012 Vol 98 No 2.)

In 2011 the entire credit card industry collected $18.5 billion in fees. bcsalliance.com/creditcard_profits.html) No wonder these little green monsters are so healthy at eating away at us.

2 Green Monster of Advertising: knocks us off course of being good money managers:

Some 3000 advertising impressions come upon us every day. They weave into our thinking and acting telling us we need things. Think about those impressions on your brain and the impact it has on you. What if you were bombarded with 3,000 bits of historical information each day? You’d have a PhD in history by age 12. Or what if you had 3,000 bible verses coming at you every day. You could easily be a Bible geek! Yet, we fool ourselves thinking “I’m not really affected by all that advertising. I can make my own decisions.” Right! Any idea what is spent on advertising in America? In 2010 it’s estimated the amount was $143 billion. Why? Because the businesses advertising made more than $143 billion because of it. We’re suckers for advertising and it influences us. We are slaves – we get trapped by this – and we go where they want us to go. Now I’m well aware that some of you work for businesses that advertise. It’s part of the system and the American economy in which consumer spending drives 70% of it.  I’m not anti-credit cards or advertising. But two words: be careful and be aware.

Advertising creates wants we didn’t know we had, and it turns our wants into needs. The other thing it does is turn your needs into things. You and I have lots of needs in our lives which are real, but very seldom are they things. Rather, they’re intangibles: people, relationships, purpose, hope. On these needs we spend little of our income.

3 Third green monster that knocks us off course is the disease of Comparonomics.

Nathan Dungan is president and founder of “Share Save Spend” over in Minneapolis. His book for parents “Prodigal Sons and Material Girls: How Not to Be Your Child’s ATM” provides lots of great parenting tips regarding money. But he also says this to us all: we determine our financial well-being not based on normal economic principles, like how well our material needs are met, or our budget is balanced. Rather, we determine our financial well-being by looking at the Jones’ next door and how our circle friends are living. Comparonomics. What we fail to ask ourselves is this: have we gone into debt to be the Jones? Are they happier? Are they living the way they live because it’s a perfect expression of the values they hold? Or are the Jones’ looking across the street at the Smith’s to measure their well-being? I’m willing to bet it’s the latter.

Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, says that comparison is the chief secular sin of our society. (jimcollins.com/articles) Comparison makes us do all kinds of things that are unhelpful and destructive. Comparison is the trap that makes you live someone else’s life and miss your own and the life God has in mind for you. Comparanomics often times produces debt. Debt can cripple us and put us on a dead end path.

Being in debt makes you unable to AFFORD TODAY. You can’t afford today when you’re living in debt. The average household today uses 14% of income to pay for revolving credit  (not mortgages).

Being in debt makes you unable to provide for your FUTURE.  If you’re having trouble paying now for yesterday’s spending – you’re not thinking about tomorrow.  God wants you to think about tomorrow, because your money is partly to provide for yourself later in life.

Being in debt makes you unable to be GENEROUS.  You were created to be generous. You’re not a storage facility – you’re a delivery station. God gives us two hands – one for getting – one for giving. We were created to be generous – and when we’re not that way, something is wrong.

Being in debt makes you unable to be CONTENT.

Do your own gut check – think of time you spend managing your money so you’re in control and confident about it? How much time do you spend each week stressing about money? If the second category is bigger – there’s a problem. Being in debt makes you unable to be content.

Being in debt makes you unable to RETURN to God.

God is saying “I want you to trust me with what’s going on in your life. I don’t want you to think this money is going to do it for you. I gave it to you for a reason – but I didn’t want you to think it would take care of all your needs. I’m the only one who can do that. I want you to trust me with that.”

You can find out if you are trusting God by being willing to return a growing percentage of money to God – and having God fulfill your needs, rather than holding tightly to money and thinking it will fulfill you. God wants you to be part of the network for the biggest, most important enterprise on this earth –that being God’s presence in the world through the Church. With all its imperfections and its worldliness at the same time – the church is God’s main stage for acting. Being in debt makes us unable to return to God and be a healthy part of God’s church.

These three – be generous, be content – being able to return to God – combine to make you available to God to enjoy money, managing it wisely to honor God and bless others.

Let’s pray:

God, we need you. We need you to be at the center of our lives and we need you to free us from all the sin that enslaves us – and separates us from you. For the blessing of money – we need your help to manage it faithfully – using it to enjoy wisely, to care for ourselves and to trust that as we share it, it will bless others. Each of us have our own green monsters – some because we don’t feel we have enough money and others because we have so much that we’re not using it to honor you and fully trust you to guide and center our lives. Help us all to come closer to you – to be set free from slavery and to serve you and your people in the ways of Jesus Christ, who sets us free. Amen.

 

Money Talks: Week 2: “Stressor and Stress Reliever”

Money Talks

Week 2:  “Stressor and Stress Reliever”

October 5, 2014

This message was shared by Pastor Kurt Jacobson at Trinity Lutheran Church, Eau Claire, WI.

Dear Sisters and Brothers, grace and peace be with you all.

Last week we started this three-part series “Money Talks.” The goal is to help us all gain a faithful understanding of God’s goodness in giving us money to manage and enjoy.  Last week we considered this important truth about Ownership and Management:  we don’t own our money, but we are in charge of it and God wants us to figure these two things out.

The truth is God owns all things – including our money. But we have the important and holy task of being managers of it. God give us money to enjoy, to secure our needs and bless others through how we manage it. Yet, for many people money is a source of stress.

The American Psychological Association reports the top source of stress in our lives is money with 71% say this applies to them. (from stressinamerica.org  February 2013) Maybe some of the stress comes from the fact that money can buy and sell almost anything these days. Human eggs and sperm are for sale. We pay kids to get good grades. You can even sell your forehead for advertising space. True story: Kari Smith auctioned her forehead on eBay for $10,000 and a Canadian Internet gambling company bit.

Today we are diving into what it means to manage our money the best we can, avoid stress and find stress relief. So the first thing we face is: we all have a choice with our money. We can control money or it will control us. Like never before, you have to know your values or the choices you make with money will be defined for you. One research firm (Yankelvich Research) states that we are exposed to up to 3,000 money messages in a day. Every time you pass by a label in a grocery store, all the ads in your mailbox, to the label on the clothes you wear, they all possess a money related message.

In having a choice with money, I wonder where you learned to handle money? Who taught you about money choices? Was it at home, at school from a good finance teacher? Did you learn to connect money, values and faith at church? Or did your money choices get shaped by the culture that always wants you to spend and not worry about managing money. (Video here)

You know, the world around us doesn’t want us to manage money closely or stick to a budget. We live surrounded by a mantra that doesn’t want us to make good choices with money.  “Why wait when you can have it now?” “Buy now—pay later!” “Easy credit terms!” “No interest, no payments until the day after Jesus comes again.” It all seems very enticing—and even more so when it means that you can have anything you want today! If you’re being controlled by that message and your money choices are defined by others, then money is standing right in between you and God. My hope is to provide you some tools and encouragement for developing a budget, getting control of spending and becoming a God-pleasing manager of money.

The Bible is full of examples of God teaching us to be bold managers. They include directives to make money grow and manage it aggressively. According to God, being a manager of money is non-negotiable. Don’t let money call the shots. Manage it – and do it faithfully.

The best way to do this is with the highly spiritual, sacred ritual of creating a budget. I want to introduce you to Jared and Rachel who learned the importance of becoming managers of money early in their marriage by making a budget. (Video about learning in Financial Peace University the importance and benefits to having a household budget)

It’s estimated that only 40% of American families have a budget. But it’s worth the effort. Lutheran Social Services (lssmn.org) offers free budget and debt counseling. You can access it via phone, online or in person. In developing a budget, you will define goals that combine your faith and values in God.

There’s a verse in Proverbs (21:20) that says “The wise have wealth and luxury, but fools spend whatever they get.” (NLT). Life can be much less stressful we plan and manage. In building a household budget, God doesn’t promise that you’re going to be rich. But God does have some goals for how you manage money. They’re all over the bible! Here are a few of the goals God sets for us in managing money:

Goal: live free from unsecured debt

Romans 13:8  “Owe no one anything, except to love each other”  The magnitude of unsecured debt is a huge issue for many Americans. The average US household credit card debt stands at $15,607. It is the third largest source of household indebtedness. Only mortgage and student loan debt markets are larger. (from www.nerdwallet.com). Have you looked at your credit card statement and noticed the little calculator on it that shows how many YEARS and how much INTEREST you’ll pay by making only the required minimum payment each month? Unsecured debt robs us of the ability to use our income for good things right now. Unsecured debt takes away ability the ability to gain control over money and be a good manager today.

Goal:  Building a savings equal to 3-6 months of income and investing responsibly for your future.

I Cor. 16:2 “On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up.”

The idea of having a savings account seems impossible for some people. I remember a day when I busied myself praying that my car wouldn’t break down because I had nothing saved to pay for a repair. But what was I thinking – that if it did break down, God would pay for it? God, in giving us money to manage also wants us to engage our brains. Planning ahead and doing the work of saving is a God-honoring effort.

Developing a healthy savings account for the unexpected, as well as for the future, is part of being a good manager and faithful follower of Jesus. I’m one of the 76 million baby boomers and my generation is coming into the retirement years. By all forecasts, we will overwhelm health systems and long-term care facilities in the next 30 years. We all know Medicare isn’t prepared to handle this and Medicare is nowhere close to being able to provide long-term care for those who haven’t saved for it. Huge issues face our country – and as people of faith called by God to manage money, building savings now to care for ourselves  – rather than expecting someone else or the government will take care of us, is a faithful goal for today. Making a goal now of having savings of at least 3-6 months of income can extend God’s mercy to others – especially those who have to live with us when we get stressed about money!

Goal: return the first tenth of your income to God in gratitude

Deuteronomy 16:17 (NLT) All must give as they are able, according to the blessings given to them by the Lord your God.

The next time you have some money in your hand, look closely at what it says. “In God we Trust.” Let that statement confront each time you hold some money. I used to be content to think that if each month I was able to pay rent and utilities, car insurance and the student loan, and save a little for the future, then I’d give something to God. But God says on our money, it’s a matter of trust. Trust that God has your back. So make a goal of giving .10 cents of every dollar you earn to God first, and trust that God will bring everything else along in your life, too.

Finally, after all the above, live contentedly on the rest of your income.

Matthew 6:25  Jesus: “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?”

After setting the goals to get out of credit card debt, build some savings, and giving just 10 cents of

each dollar to God, we have this final goal. Live contentedly on all the rest. All of it is up for your management discretion. Learn to live on what you earn and not on what you yearn. When you do, you’ll experience a peace and joy that cannot be taken away from you.

Becoming a manager of money takes discipline, prayer, a wise budget and a good dose of trust in God. But when you manage with these goals, you’ll be free from being controlled by money and being led by your wants, and freed to be a blessing to others. Amen.

Money Talks – Part One

“Money Talks”  

September 28, 2014

Psalm 50: 7-12

This sermon was preached by Pastor Kurt Jacobson at Trinity Lutheran Church, Eau Claire, WI .

 

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, grace and peace be with you all.

This morning we’re launching a three week series called “Money Talks.” The goal is to help us all gain a faithful understanding of God’s goodness in giving us money to manage and enjoy.

As a society we’re pretty interested in money. But we don’t talk about it much with each other. We like knowing how much some people make – but we’re not inclined to let others know what we make.

Each year when Forbes releases its list of the 400 wealthiest people in the world it makes headlines. We’re curious to see who’s on the list and how many billions they possess.

For us and most people in the world, the matter of having enough money is of some concern. Every day we’re surrounded with news about money. We read that 36% of American adults are saving nothing for retirement (according to bankrate.com). Student loan debt has tripled in last 10 years. One in six Wisconsin children under 6 live in households making less than the poverty level*. Some one-quarter of mortgage holders are underwater – meaning the mortgage amount exceeds the value of the house**. While most of us don’t live under the weight of such statistics, we do live with concerns about money.

Now, I’m not a money expert. All of you know more about money than I do.  But in this series I’m going to talk about some things few of us know much about. Jim Cramer isn’t talking about these things on Mad Money. Forbes doesn’t run cover stories on it. You didn’t learn it in economics class. It boils down to two things: you don’t own your money, but you are in charge of it. And GOD wants us to figure out these two truths.

You see, the big question isn’t how much money we have. The real question is about ownership and management. The amount of money we make isn’t helpful until we settle the question of  ownership and management.

How many of you think you don’t have enough money? I’ve been in that spot until I came across this website: globalrichlist.com. The built-in calculator asks you to enter your annual income to find out where you rank among the 7 billion people in the world.

If your annual income is $50k, you are in the top 1/3 of a percent of the world’s richest people.

If your household income is $150,000 you’re in the top 0.06% richest people in the world.

So, back to the common thought about having enough money. We need to get real, don’t we?

Comparing America with the rest of the world: Poverty level income for a family of 4 in America is $23,550 a year. Even with that income, the globalrichlist shows that such an income lands a family in the top 2.4% of the world’s richest people.  Whereas the World Bank sets the global poverty line at $456 in annual income. (from UnitedNations.org). I spend more than that on my dog in a year.

In the big picture, do we all make enough money? Our problem is something else and it’s settling the question of ownership and management.

Who owns our money? The truth is – it all belongs to God. You may not agree with me, but our faith and biblical evidence teaches that everything belongs to God. Who owns your money? GOD! You and I simply get some to manage for a while. Psalm 50:10-12 New Living Translation has God telling us: “For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird on the mountains, and all the animals of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for all the world is mine and everything in it.

If God owns all things … how can you and I own anything?

On the question of ownership – think of it this way. You own your money like you own your food; you get to consume and use food while it goes through you. But you don’t get to keep it. Food can change some things about you, but you can’t hold on to it. Thinking of owning money is like owning food – you get to use it, but you don’t possess it. Money you can buy you a house, but it can’t give you a happy home. Your money can make you look good, but it cannot make you be good.

The problem with ownership – if you persist in thinking you own your money is this: money will always stand between you and God. You will want it more than God. You’ll rely on it for security, happiness and a future, more than you rely on God. If you think you own your money, you’re going to want to have more of it in your life, more than you want God — because you’ll look to money to get you the things you think life is supposed to include.

Jesus said: You can’t worship God and wealth.” (Matthew 6:24) Jesus wasn’t making a rule – he’s saying there can be only ONE center in your life. God or money.

So, then what is money in our lives? Why did God give it to us?  I’ve got four answers:

1 Money is a source of JOY.  God gives us permission to enjoy everything God creates – including money. God truly wants you to find joy in what money can do in this world.

2 Money is for CARE – God knows all people have tangible needs: food, shelter, security. The Bible tells us often that God has the biggest heart for the people who don’t have those basics in life. God doesn’t want them to live that way and the Bible tells us that God expects us all to use our money to secure basic things to care for ourselves.

3 Money is a RESOURCE for our NEIGHBORS. God is thrilled that we have some money and abilities because God see us as invaluable in a network called the Body of Christ. God needs us to care for others in this body. God’s counting on us to use some of our money to care for other people.

4 Money is a TEST.  That may not sound comfortable, so what’s this about? God doesn’t make money a test for us. We make it a test. Here’s the scoop. Money is smart. It gets to know us – finds our weak spots and then starts to talk, because money always wants to call the shots. It doesn’t want us to address the needs of others, but rather fuels our wants and greed and the quest for stuff in our lives.

Money isn’t God’s way of tempting us. Jesus was asked once “what is the most important thing we should know?”  His answer was two part: First, was love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. That’s tough to do when we love money more than God. If the average American spent as much time getting to know God as time trying figure out the remote control for the TV, and cable box – this nation would have immediate spiritual revival!  If we love our money, it removes the primacy of God in our lives.

The second part of Jesus’ answer about loving your neighbor as yourself is this: you can only have ONE standard for love. Jesus says you’ve got to love your neighbor as you love yourself. That’s a problem again. We might agree with him, but we don’t practice it.  Think back to global rich list.  If a billion people on this planet live on $456 dollars a year – and we worry about having enough, do we really have one standard of love – one for us and one for them? It’s a huge challenge and GOD wants to help us figure it out. Jesus wasn’t just giving us another order here – he’s asking us what kind of view we have. He wants to know:

1 Are you going to have a GOD VIEW of the world, or

2 Are you going to have a ME view of the world?

A God view sees money as just one thing God shares with us to enjoy, to care for self and others. A ME view sees money as something we own and so with it we secure our own needs and enjoyment and we can never have enough of it.

I hope we all want a GOD view of the world. It’s possible when we see money as something God gives us to manage and there’s plenty of it for the whole human family.

People who hold a ME view of world, hold onto a scarcity model where there’s never enough, so I take and hold my money closely for my own needs and desires and expect everyone else to do the same.

I said earlier –we don’t own our money, but we are in charge of it and God wants us to figure these two things out. So the management question is this: what are you going to do with the money in your life?

God has a vision for this and it’s revealed in an Old Testament story of two elderly people named Abraham and Sarah. They’ve never had children and when they’ve given up hope God presents this vision to them:  “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless … all people on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:2) Amazingly, Abraham and Sarah give birth and a whole nation is born.

This is the vision God has in mind when God gives us blessings and asks us to manage them. In regard to money – is that not that all the families of the earth will be envious because we have so much, but all families of the earth be blessed through us by all the money we have to manage.

When we get the question of ownership and management of money aligned with God – then we’re ready to dedicate our money to God and that includes several things:

Dedicating to God my financial plans.

Proverbs 19:21 says “The plans of people are many – but it is only the plans of the Lord’s that will succeed.”  If you want your plans with money to succeed and fulfill a higher purpose in your life, you best sign on to God’s plan for you. If God doesn’t like the plans that you have for the money in your life – chances are that you won’t like it either, even if it sounds good right now. Ask God for insight on a plan for your money.

Dedicating your money to God also includes giving to God your financial problems.

God gives us money for good. But often we have problems with money. God wants your money problems. God can help you understand the solution to those problems. One of the things we’re offering as a church this fall is help with managing money in your life. Financial Peace University and The Legacy Journey are two classes starting soon that you can check out and register for today after worship.

God also wants you to dedicate your financial decisions.

It’s one thing to dedicate your plans to God – but every day we’re making financial decisions. Reach for your wallet or credit card, browse the web, use an ATM, go to a store and you are making decisions about what you value and how spending money honors or goes against those values. That’s part of managing and God needs to be included in that.

 God also wants you to turn over your financial worries.

This is different from financial problems. This is the emotional weight you feel because of money problems. Financial worries creates that pit in your stomach, it depresses and stresses, makes us angry, anxious and impacts our relationships. God doesn’t want you to have to worry. Let God help and be part of the solution.

Dedicating your finances to God includes your financial success.

 This doesn’t mean God wants credit for the success you have with money. God wants to be part of the joy! If you want your financial success to make an impact and make a difference then tell God “My financial success is YOUR financial success.  So, please God, make this a blessing and not a curse in my life.”

Lastly, the truth is that none of this matters if you haven’t dedicated yourself to God. You can’t dedicate your money to God without first dedicating YOURSELF.  God wants us to do that. As long as we’re holding back who we are – we can try to have God help us with our money saying “God, I want you to have the lead role” but it won’t happen until we give ourselves to God first.

Money is a good thing and has huge potential in your life. We don’t own it – but God gives it to us to manage for a while. Next week we’ll look at stresses and stress relief when it comes to money. If you know others who could be helped by gaining a God-view of money, bring them along. Then invite them to be part of two financial learning classes starting soon.

Prayer: God, you give us money to manage during our lives and there’s so much good in what you give us. But we know the burden that money causes in our lives. None of us are immune. Show us how to turn ourselves over to you and with us, the money you share with us. Forgive us where we’ve been irresponsible, selfish, foolish, and turn our greed into purpose, our worry into peace and debt into determination.  Thank you God for giving us life and promising us life abundant. We want you to help us have more of you in our lives through wise management of money. Amen.

* From  Nat’l Center for Children in Poverty – Columbia University  In Wisconsin, there are 682,388 families with 1,302,090 children. Poor Children: 18% (235,163) of children live in poor families (National: 22%), defined as income below 100% of the federal poverty level

 

**From Milwaukee Journal Sentinal July 2012, “Nationally, the percentage of homes under water was 23.7%.”

 

Grace is not Attractive

“Grace is not Attractive”                                                               Matthew 20:1-16

Rev. Sarah Semmler Smith

Trinity Lutheran Church

9/21/14

“That’s not fair!” Scientists differ on the age children begin to understand the concept of fairness. Some say the capacity develops around preschool, but a recent study shows that even babies can recognize unequal treatment. Dr. Jessica Sommerville of the University of Washington, had babies watched videos of crackers and milk being shared out. She said, “The infants expected an equal and fair distribution, and they were surprised to see one person given more crackers or milk than the other.”

“It’s not fair!” When I used to say that, my mom would promptly respond, “The Fair’s in August.” My mom grew up on a farm. The fair was in August.

How do you respond to your children or grandchildren when they exclaim, “it’s not fair!” in an oh so pleasant tone.

Have any of you used the classic come back ,“Well, Life’s not fair!” As adults, we know this to be true. We’ve seen it. We’ve experienced it for ourselves: When the person at the peek of physical fitness and wellness drops dead of stroke at age 50, but the chain smoker addicted to ‘cronuts’ lives to the ripe old age of 92. When someone gets a job or position not because of what know, but who they know. When corporations find loopholes in the tax code or skip the country all together to avoid paying their share. “That’s not fair!”

We have an innate sense of what is fair and what is not. In secret, we all wish that Karma really ruled the universe, Or, in the world of the parable for today—that, at the end of the day—if a laborer was overpaid for their work that on the way home their mule-cart would break down. That would even the scales!

This is a terrible parable. I’ve been wrestling with it all week, and no matter what way I spun it—it just kept upsetting me.

There stands the early morning shift with their hand out, waiting for their pay. They have toiled and gotten sunburned and back ached and bruised, pruning or picking or whatever it is you do in a first century vineyard.  They are tired. Ready to bring home their hard-earned subsistence living to their families. And they get their one denarius, and if that was the story, we wouldn’t have a problem.  That was justice on the part of the landowner: behaving according to what is right and fair.

But then, that isn’t the story, is it. The story goes, by the time the early shift had gotten paid they saw those who worked 2 hours, 5 hours, 8 and 9(!) hours less than them receive the exact same amount of coinage that now lay in their palm. I can feel the indignation rising in my throat on their behalf. The frustration. The anger.

logic of grace—of the unmerited gift—is not attractive.

Most of us, like  the logic of justice. Things we can earn and that are fair (and we can control?) It is comforting and nice to be able to tell our children that they live in a world where hard work pays off. It’s a common tune:

You put your hard work in,

You get the scholarship,

Go to the best of schools,

And get the dream job.

You get the spouse, the house, a girl-and-boy

The boat, the cabin, and all the joys;

That’s what it’s all about.

(or is that the Hokey-pokey?).

Work hard. Earn much. Earn not just money. Respect on merit. Good things don’t come to those who wait…but to those who work their tails off! Am I right? That’s meritocracy. Meritocracy–There’s a big word I came across this week. Meritocracy, a system, where if you work hard you can achieve great things. Its where many of us would like to believe we live in this great country. It’s the basis of the American ethos. That’s fair. That’s a just system.

But what if–what if that’s not God’s system. What if God didn’t get the memo about meritocracy, and God doesn’t care about Karma. Didn’t set heaven in tiers for the progressively righteous by the five star system. The worker in the vineyard who had the privilege of working all day, in God’s economy, does not achieve more. They achieve enough. And the ones who would have expected far less, receive a gift unimaginable.

Jesus, as he told this parable, has just gotten done talking to a rich young ruler, who thought he could achieve prime place in heaven by working to follow all the commandments, and then within a few moments, his disciples are found jockeying to sit as his ‘right hand in heaven.’ Maybe the reason Christ told this story is because he could see from the people around him how easy it is to believe that we are what we achieve; that we are worth our net worth or something along those lines.

Working hard to achieve something is not a bad thing. But we need to recognize that it comes with a mindset that can cost us much. We may find ourselves thinking:

“I just need to work harder in order to impress the boss, get the promotion, have the perfect home, perfect kids, perfect life…

I just need to work harder to get my life together, to stay organized, to be balanced, to find happiness.

Sometimes, it is just not possible to work hard and earn much, and the ‘American dream’ is not your reality.  Disability, lack of job prospects, disadvantaged upbringing, status of citizenship. Life is messy and unpredictable and often sends us two steps back for every one step forward. And when meritocracy is the reigning value within us, the self-talk can move from “I just need to work harder…” to a form of despair that says,  “I’m just not (good, perfect, powerful, smart, successful) enough.”

“I’m not enough!”

Thanks be to God, for this terrible parable. Where the kingdom of heaven is a place where whether you achieve your high dreams by working your tail off, or, if you’ve ended up short of that for whatever reason: you are enough. You are enough to earn the attention and the gifts of the owner of the vineyard.   Christ says.  “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Your are enough.

If we could only see ourselves the way…Jesus, or at least our grandma did or does.

If we could only talk to ourselves in the way we’d talk to a good friend when they were down.

There just is no way to merit this ultimate thing.  We can not earn our own value because it is intrinsic to us and to every human who has breath. Knowing and believing it, believing it, then living your life without the masks or armor or games? Those are different things.

The landowner, speaks back to the indignant early shift-worker, who thought they were more equal than those they had worked with. He says, “Are you envious because I am generous? Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?”

What belongs to God is mercy. We are wise to stop trying to earn what is given to us as gift.

As it turns out life’s not fair. And neither is God! God is inexplicably, frustratingly, generous.

Grace is not attractive. What a terrible parable, indeed.

Living Forgiveness

“Living Forgiveness”

Preached September 14^th, 2014 by Pastor Brahm Semmler Smith

Based on Matthew 18:21-35

I spent some time this past week reading a number of stories collected on a website called the “Forgiveness Project.”  If you Google their name, it will take you to their website and lead you to a wealth of information about this project.  The goal of “The Forgiveness Project” is to collect personal stories in examining and exploring the themes of forgiveness, reconciliation, and conflict resolution.  In using these stories, they hope to encourage and empower people to explore the nature of forgiveness and find alternatives to conflict and revenge.

And there are a lot of stories about forgiveness.  Stories from Great Britain, the United States, Rwanda, Palestine and Israel, Bosnia, from all over the world.  Stories that are emotional and moving in the face of some of the worst circumstances and acts of humanity.  Stories that speak of healing and wholeness brought about in a broken world through acts of forgiveness.  Stories like that of a mother named Mary Johnson and the boy who murdered her son, Oshea Israel in Minneapolis.  Initially, Mary writes that she was filled with hate.  Hate that consumed her.  But after some time, she found her faith challenging her and her hate, to the point where she went to the prison to meet with her son’s killer, and begin a long process towards forgiveness.  A process that led her building a relationship with Oshea, and helping him reintegrate into the neighborhood and rebuild his life when released from prison.  She took her experience to help create an organization that uses healing and reconciliation to break through the cycle of violence in families similar to hers and Oshea’s.

There is story after story like this on this site, that cause me to pause and say “wow.”  Wow.  Who are these people?  And how can they do what they do?  I have a hard time forgiving the guy who cut me off on Claremont Avenue or the coach who didn’t play me enough in high school basketball or my neighbor for mowing his lawn when my kid is trying to take a nap.  How do these people do what they do?  How do they forgive their child’s murderer?  Or the White supremacist who terrorized their family?  Or the drunk driver who paralyzed them?

In a number of their stories, the writers talk about some of the responses they got from others.  People who treated them like crazy, like they were betraying their loved ones, like they were doing something extremely radical.  I don’t want to simplify them or make it seem like these are simple stories with immediate, clean cut endings.  These stories aren’t simple.  The ways the many people describe forgiveness and the long, complicated, messy processes that lead them to that point are all different.  But for many, the point they reached, a point of forgiveness, was surprising and abnormal and radical in the face of what the world would have them do.

Why is it stories like this are surprising?  Shocking?  Not normal?  Why is forgiveness so hard for us?

We may pray every week, every day, as Jesus teaches us in the Lord’s prayer, “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us”, but we find more power and control in holding grudges and notions of vengeance and revenge.  Living forgiveness is not in our sinful nature.

Jesus knew this about us, and it comes about in today’s Gospel.

Peter asks him, how often should I forgive, Lord?  7 times?  That really is generous, isn’t it?  Any more than that would be nuts!

Hold on there, Peter.  Not 7 times.  77 times.  Or as many scholars suggest, 70 x 7 times.  490 times.  The point?  Forgive until the forgiveness takes!  Forgive until you actually mean it!  Forgive until the pain, anger and hate inside of you no longer consumes you.  Forgive.

Well, thanks Jesus, we, and Peter say.  I am not you.  Do you have any idea what you are asking?

Yes, of course he does.  This is the savior who will say from the cross, “forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.”  So he tells us this parable afterwards, about a servant who is freed from a debt by his king.  A huge debt.  150,000 years of earnings, $2.25 billion dollar debt.  He is freed from it.  And what does he do?  Rather than be gracious, he goes and demands that another slave pay up his debt to him, a debt of a couple of thousand dollars.  Miniscule compared to what he was just freed from.  And when he can’t, he throws the slave in jail, only to be found out by the king and told he must repay the entire $2.25 billion dollar debt he originally owed.

Jesus uses this over the top parable as a starting point.  A starting point to describe God’s relationship with us, and how God desires us to be in relationship with others.  A starting point that begins for us in our baptisms.  Baptism reminds us of the immense gift of grace and forgiveness we receive from God in these waters.  Forgiveness that we carry with us each and every day.

Which doesn’t seem to make it any easier on us.  We still struggle to live a life of forgiveness.

Thomas Aquinas says that God does not command us to do impossible things but rather commands us to do things that would be impossible if it were not for the grace of God.  I think forgiveness is probably towards the top of that list.  If it were not for the grace of God, I do not trust my own ability to forgive others.

But when we consider the great debt God has wiped clean for us in our baptisms and the forgiveness of every single one of our sins, the weight of our own forgiving really seems small.  It is through God’s gracious, loving act of forgiving us that we are able to forgive others.  Which means that forgiveness is about more than the isolated acts and words of individuals who seem so radical and crazy in a world stuck and payback and revenge.  Forgiveness is way of life that comes through our faith in Christ.  A way of life that breaks through the pain and destruction of an eye for and eye world, and offers a way to reconciliation and healing.

That is Jesus challenge and insight for us today.  May God continue to forgive us daily, as help us forgive those who sin against us.  Amen.

Rally Sunday

Rally Sunday

13^th Day after Pentecost-Year A
Romans 13:8-14; Matthew 18:15-20
September 7^th, 2014
This sermon was preached by Pastor Jim Page at Trinity Lutheran Church

Good morning. It’s great to see all of you here today since today is Rally Sunday which is simply the Sunday that marks the beginning of new programs of ministry for everyone in our church.

‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ is the beginning of how we evaluate our lives as Christians. Thing is, good people, many who claim to be Christians, have not lived out these words and hurt others. My goal today is to give you a new beginning in realizing God’s love for you and how three statements can shape your behavior to love everyone, especially those people who are hard to love.

When my wife, Michelle, and I were dating, we were both in graduate school; me at Luther Seminary and she was at the University of Minnesota. We began dating in late November and after the holidays, I planned on being at her parent’s New Year’s Day brunch so I could meet many of her relatives.

When I arrived, I was overwhelmed by all the people. More than a few people asked me this question, “What made you want to become a pastor?” All of them have a Roman Catholic background and have a deep respect for clergy so they had a few questions about the Lutheran tradition. Michelle’s uncle asked, “What do you like about being Lutheran?” I said, “Eating steaks on Friday during Lent” which brought on some laughter.

Back in my seminary dorm room that evening, Michelle and I were talking on the phone. I asked her how she thought the day went. “Well, we were laughing when you left.” Great and I thought ‘did I have something in my teeth’? Was my zipper down and no one told me? She said, “We were laughing because my aunt Ceil, who swears all the time, she didn’t say one swear word when you were here. We thought it was funny in that having a future pastor in the room led her to change her behavior.” We now have a joke in that family, if you ever want Ceil to not swear, simply put a pastor or a child in the room and all will be fine.

How true it is that our behavior reflects what we truly believe is important, right, and appropriate. For Ceil, not swearing in front of a pastor, or a future pastor, was the right thing to do. Such sentiments are magnified when we talk about love.
Love is something all of us know we should do but can we love everybody? For some, you know of a child or teen whose been bullied at school…how do you model love towards a bully? You may know of a person at work who just does enough to get by or you have a boss who is condescending…can you love them? That relative or friend whose lifestyle leaves you shaking your head in disgust…can you love them? These are just a few of many examples of when it is hard to love others. At times, walking on water would seem like the easier thing to do compared to showing love in our behavior.

God must have known we would struggle with this because Jesus addressed it throughout his ministry and the Apostle Paul’s words today are so convicting that lives will be changed for the better if we live them out.

In the 22^nd chapter of Matthew, there is a subtle confrontation between one of the religious leaders and Jesus. Matthew writes: One of them, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.”

Before the leader, or anyone listening, could raise their hand to ask a question, Jesus then said, “And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’. The second goes with the first one and both are equal in importance: Love God. Love Your Neighbor.

This is fascinating because Jesus was man from an obscure town born to a lowly couple. He had no influence. He lived in what many would call the ‘armpit of the Roman Empire’, no one really cared, no one really paid attention except the prostitutes, tax collectors and other outcasts of society. He could have said any one of a hundred powerful statements but God gave him this message for the world: love one another.

It’s so simple yet so remarkable based on our own experience because in your life, there are two categories of people who have influenced you the most. Their impact wasn’t in what they believed, it wasn’t because they were necessarily religious people. The two categories of people are those who’ve hurt you deeply and those who’ve loved you profoundly.

Many of us in this room, many in our culture have been hurt deeply by people who said the right things, who attended church nearly every Sunday, who believed all the right things, who from the outside looked like fine people. But behind the scenes, their behavior devastated you, destroyed your outlook on what it means to ‘go to church’ and it had a lasting painful impact on you.

At times, my wife’s aunt Ceil has trouble going to mass. Why? No, it’s not because of her affinity for poor language. It’s because of why certain men are in prison, specifically Roman Catholic priests, who abused children. From the outside looking in they appeared to many as fine people, those others can trust, who were an example of the Christian life! But their behavior towards innocent children is devastating.

On the flip side, you are successful, you were provided skills that helped you achieve great goals, you were taught how to care for others. All of this was done by people who may have had simple beliefs but they loved you. You can probably name one person who likely didn’t go to church too often and didn’t know every book of the Bible, but they loved you. You live as a husband, wife, parent, friend based on the influence of those people. It could have been a parent, a teacher, a pastor, a coach, a friend.

This is why the Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans, “The commandments are summed up in this way: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’. (Romans 13:8) Then he said, “And do this understanding the present time.” Don’t wait. Don’t wait for the person to apologize for their behavior. Don’t wait by avoiding the person who hurt you. Don’t wait to let your anger subside. Love now. At times it’ll be hard, it may cost you something, you may think by showing love is way of brushing everything aside as though it never happened. That’s not it. Love brings about healing, forgiveness and growth to a situation that was painful and dark.

It all comes down to this one question: What does love require of me? In this situation, in this relationship…what does love require of me? You can be one of two people in the lives of another person: you can either hurt them deeply or love them profoundly.
What does love require of me? God answered that question when you looked at a sinful world by sending his Son in order to bring the world back to God.
Jesus answered that question by dying on a cross for yoru sins and the sins of the world in order that you and all may have forgiveness and eternal life.
Paul answered that question when he traveled all over the ancient world as the greatest ambassador of spreading Christ’s message. He endured beatings, prison, shipwrecks, sickness…because he needed to share the message of Jesus Christ.

“What does love require of me?” How do we live this out…loving your neighbor as yourself?

These two statements give us a practical, seemingly easy way to do this: Don’t do anything that will hurt someone else. Don’t be mastered by anything.

1) What does love require of you? Don’t do anything that will hurt someone else. This is about your relationships in that you decide  regardless of how you view the world, I will not do or say anything to hurt someone. Every person you interact is someone God loves as much as He loves you. Even those who hurt you the most are the same people Jesus died for on the cross. What love requires of you is to decide to have a filter for your words and actions will not tempt, abuse or hurt another person.

2) What does love require of you? Don’t be mastered by anything. Whenever you are mastered by something, it’ll keep you from loving someone. No one should have to compete with alcohol, anger, your work schedule, your quest for having more stuff. Love requires that you get rid of anything that gets in the way of God being the master of your life. When God is your master, you can love others.

Finally, some of you are thinking of other people. “I am so glad my husband is here to hear this.” Or, “I’m going to call my kid in college and have them listen to this a couple times.” Isn’t that the perspective that when we hear ‘love your neighbor as yourself’ as being for someone else, that more pain is caused?

What would happen if everyone took these words seriously? Everything would change for the better: relationships would be strengthened, communities and our nation wouldn’t be so divided, the church would have greater influence.

For you, for us today, let’s make these words a reality. Let’s begin by saying: I’m breaking my bad habits and take better care of me. I’m going to confront the people that I haven’t love. I’m not going to be silent but make things better with the person that hurt me. I’m not going to be mastered by anything be it work, my temper, whatever it may be.

You can hurt people deeply or love people profoundly. 2,000 years ago someone asked Jesus while he stood on earth, “Teacher, what is the greatest commandment? Love God. Love your neighbor as yourself.” And the Apostle Paul said, “Do it now. Love now.” When love is seen, it is irresistible. Amen.

Living a Life that Matters

“Living a Life that Matters”

Matthew 16: 21-28

August 31, 2014   P12A

This sermon was preached by Pastor Kurt Jacobson at Trinity Lutheran Church, Eau Claire, WI.

 

Dear Sisters and Brothers, grace and peace be with you all.

This morning’s words from Jesus are among his hardest: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”  This is one of those passages most of us could do without. Jesus says other things we like better: “Come to me, all you who are weary and I will give you rest.”  Or “God so loved the world.”  Those are comfortable passages, safe, providing some cushion in a sharp and often frightening world.

But “deny yourself and take up your cross”? Who needs that, when it’s hard enough to pay the bills or face pressures at home or work, when it’s hard enough to just hold on to faith in a loving God in a world that is full of threats and fear?

Some context for this passage before us: The disciples and Jesus were off by themselves, taking a breather between rounds with their critics and doing big things like feeding thousands of people.Just prior to Jesus words before us today, he asks his disciples who they thought he really was, and Peter gave the right answer. “You are the Christ” he said, “the Son of the living God.” Jesus responds by rewarding Peter by calling him a rock, the rock on which Jesus would build his church.

But Peter’s glory doesn’t last long, and what happens next is the passage before us today. Jesus begins to tell his disciples what is about to be required of him, how he is about to walk right into a trap set for him in Jerusalem, where he will suffer, be killed, and be raised from the dead. In reaction to this news Peter explodes! “God forbid, Lord!” he says. “This will never happen to you.” This prediction is simply too much for Peter to imagine. He wondered out loud why wouldn’t Jesus go the other way and avoid such a horrible ending. Why would Jesus take a risk he didn’t have to take?

Have you ever known someone who went headlong into a situation full of risk? The news from time to time runs stories about them: the man who rushes into the burning building to see if anyone is still inside; the woman who plunges into the river to rescue a child caught up in flood water. Those are the dramatic stories, but there are quiet ones too: the doctor who travels to Liberia to care for Ebola victims; the teacher who quits her job in the suburban school and goes to teach kids in an inner city school.

It is only human to admire such people, but there is an equally human part of us that is taken aback by them and afraid for them. We hear of such people and the dangerous things they do and like Peter, we want to say “God forbid! Why would you do that? Why take such a risk, isn’t there an easier way to do what you want to do? What if you get hurt? What if you catch a disease or are killed? God forbid something like that should happen to you!”

That is, in so many words, what Peter says to Jesus, and right or wrong, Peter has a way of saying what the rest of us are thinking. Over and over Peter is the disciples’ spokesman who says the things the rest do not dare to say, or asks the questions they dare not ask. “God forbid, Lord!” Peter says when Jesus predicts his own death. Then Jesus explodes.

“Get behind me, Satan!” he says to Peter. “You’re a hindrance to me; you’re not on the side of God, but the side of people.” What a shock for the disciples to hear Jesus call Peter, Satan. Just a day earlier Peter was getting praised by Jesus for calling him the Son of the Living God. What did he do wrong? What was his sin? All Peter did was protest out loud the forecast that Jesus would suffer and die.

But as far as Jesus was concerned, it was Satan talking. Satan – the ancient tempter always seeking to give people the alternative to being faithful to the will of God. Satan – offering safer, flashier, enticing alternatives to doing that which God calls us to do and be. In this case, the temptation is for Jesus to play things safe, skip the trip to Jerusalem, elude his enemies and lead his holy revolution without placing himself at risk.

Think about it – why does Jesus silence Peter so harshly? Maybe it was a real temptation for Jesus to consider Peter offering him a way out, a detour around Jerusalem with all its risk of suffering and death. Perhaps this possibility seemed real to Jesus for a moment, before he clears his head and shouts toward Peter: “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not of God, but on the side of people.”

I’m a bit troubled by what Jesus says here. Does he mean that any of us who pray to be delivered from suffering, from death, are on the side of people – and that the side of God is revealed only for those willing to suffer and die? Does Jesus mean that all of us who want to be on God’s side had best get ourselves killed and soon? That troubles me. I want to believe that God gives me life, not that God is eager to take it away. Doesn’t God want me to be happy? Doesn’t God care about my comfort and safety?

The blunt answer, according to this bible passage, is “No!” God doesn’t care about my comfort and safety or whether I’m happy or not. What God cares about, with all the power of God’s holy being, is the quality of my life. Not just my life, mind you, not just the continuation of my breath and the health of my cells, but the quality of my life – the depth and scope of my life, and yours too.

The deep secret of Jesus’ hard words in this passage is that our fear of suffering and death robs us of life, because fear of death always turns into fear of life — which then moves us into a stingy, cautious way of living that is not really living at all. The deep secret of Jesus’ hard words is that the way to have abundant life is not to save it, but to spend it, to give it away. Why? Because life cannot be shut up and saved any more than a bird can be put in a shoebox and store it in a closet.

Life, yours and mine, cannot be shut up and saved any more than fresh spring water can be put in a mason jar and kept in the cupboard. It will remain water, and if you ever open it you can probably still drink it, but it will have lost its essence, its life, which is to be poured out, to be moving, living water, rushing downstream to share its wealth without ever looking back.

Peter wanted to prevent Jesus from doing that. He didn’t want Jesus’ life to be spilled, wasted. He wanted to save it, preserve it, to find a safer, more comfortable way for Jesus to be Lord. What Peter forgot was that Jesus’ supply of life was never-ending, like the water that continually streams from a spring, sent forth to refresh a dry, parched world.

Peter missed that part of what Jesus said – and to be honest, I have too. Perhaps you, too? Listen again: “Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” And on the third day be raised. Peter misses that part and so did I. We never got that far. We got stuck on the suffering and death part. We got that far and said, “God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you,” without finishing the sentence, without noticing that after the suffering and death part there is life again, abundant life, life for Jesus and all of us that can never be cut off.

You know, we will never get that far if we let suffering and death throw us off the track, if we let the fear of those things keep us from sticking our necks out, taking the risks that make life worth living. You can try to save your own life. You can try to stockpile it, being very, very careful about what you say yes to, and what you give to others. You can be fearful about whom you let into your life.

You can live that way, but don’t expect to enjoy it very much or accomplish much with your life. And don’t expect that when your life finally comes to an end, many people will notice that you are gone.  “For those who want to save their life will lose it,” Jesus says to his disciples, “and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”

My friends, living this life of faith is not about being a daredevil. My words today aren’t about signing up for skydiving lessons or doing dangerous things for the thrill of it. This is a message about a living a life that matters – a life for Jesus’ sake – and about refusing to put our own comfort and safety ahead of living a life that pours itself out for others as a matter of course; a life that spends without counting the cost, knowing that there’s always more life where our own life comes from. And even when our own lives run out, God will have more life in store for us, because our God is a God who never runs out of life.

Jesus says “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (v 25) Those will never be easy words to hear, but they are not, in the final analysis, an invitation to follow Jesus into death, but into life, both now and later on. We can only follow him if we do not get tripped up on suffering and death and so fearful and preoccupied by those that we forget who we are and whose we are and why we are alive in the first place.

You don’t have to live long to learn that there is a certain amount of pain involved in being human and a good bit more involved in being fully human, fully alive, especially in a world that counts on our fear of death and uses it to keep us in line. Jesus’ enemies counted on his fear of death to shut him up and shut him down. But they were wrong. He may have been afraid, but he didn’t let fear stop him. Jesus didn’t get stuck on the suffering and death part.

So what then for us today? The greatest hope to address the largest challenges that face human life in this world – lies in us, my friends. It lies in all who take up the cross, serving others with the abundant life that is born in us and yet awaits us, too – through Christ our Lord. Amen.

With acknowledgement to Barbara Brown Taylor for her thoughtful and inspiring insights on this text.

The Wise Man Built His House Upon a Rock

Matt 16:13-20
Pr. Sarah Semmler Smith
8/24/2014
Trinity Lutheran Church

When I was preparing to graduate from high school, my parents were preparing to move out of the house I grew up in and build their retirement home. One afternoon, my mom was sorting through things in the garage when I heard her call to me, “Sarah, do you want to hold on to these?” I couldn’t see her but I could tell she was smiling. So I went out to see that what she was talking about. When I saw what she was holding, I said “Yeah ma, that’s exactly what I need in my 10 by 10 dorm room next fall.” It was a gallon ice cream bucket, full of rocks.

For a short time as child, I collected rocks. I wasn’t a rock collector. I could not tell you the difference between an obsidian and a quartz. My rock collection was a hodgepodge of the most ordinary, mostly granite, most of them from landscaping rocks you had ever seen. I kept one because it was speckled and I found it pretty. Another because of how it felt in my palm. They had no value to be looked at. By my mom had kept them for nearly a decade. She saw that they had been, for some reason, extraordinary, to me.

Rocks (or a rock) is a theme at the center gospel story this morning. Who that rock is, what his role will be, and how it affects us is what we’re going to spend a few minutes pondering.

The story is actual set in a somewhat rocky place–Caesarea Philippi –a region that had many stone temples built to Caesar and also to the Greek god Pan. As they are going along in this rocky region, Jesus is inspired to ask his disciples what people are saying about him. “Who do people say that I am,” he asks. “John the Baptist” “Elijah” “Jeremiah” they say. “All good things, all good things” (like unpaid interns reporting poll numbers to their candidate).

But Jesus wasn’t interested so much in the climate of public opinion as the temperature of his disciple’s faith. So he goes a step further: “And you, who do you say that I am?”

Simon, the fisherman turned disciple spokesperson, speaks up: “You are the Christ, the son of the living God.”

And I imagine them walking along as they talked, but at this Jesus stops. And he gets that look on his face that a mixture of surprise/pride (familiar to a parents of young children) – at this un-prompted answer, so profoundly dead on. And then Jesus proclaims: “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”

Talk about a gold-star; a-plus; interviewing-for-internship-walking-out-as-executive VP-moment. Jesus is pleased with Simon’s response to say the least. By Matthew’s account, Jesus then and there gives Simon a nickname Peter.

We think of Peter as a common name, today. And yet, there were no documented instances of anyone ever being named Petras, which means,“Rock” in Greek or Aramaic prior to Jesus and this nickname he just gave Simon. I guess it makes as much sense as any nickname ever does to those outside the immediate context. Maybe Jesus knew the song “The wise man built his house upon a rock.” (Matt 7:24)

But was Peter, Rocky—the best choice Jesus could make, for his house? Looking at his record, Jesus could have given him this nickname for any number of reasons:
1) Rocks sink—Peter was the one who tried and failed to walk on water to Jesus, when it was said about him, sinking– “you of little faith.”
2) Rocks also trip you up—and Peter was the one whom Jesus said, “Get behind me Satan. You are a stumbling block to me.”
3) I’ve never heard anyone say, ‘So and so is as ‘smart’ as a box of rocks’ – Peter would end up denying Jesus three times in the span of as many hours before the cross.
4) But what Jesus also knew was that rocks—for all their faults– are also critical Foundation –Firm. Strong. In Jewish tradition the Jerusalem temple was built on a rock thought to be the center of the world, the present site of the Dome of the Rock. Rocks are necessary solid bedding to build anything of worth upon, and despite what else he lacked, Peter, Rocky, was solid in this: he gets who Jesus is and the power there-in.

“You are the Christ, the son of the living God,” he declares. This understanding of Peter’s? Was a gift. Not something you solve as in a math problem, or decipher as from putting together pieces of a puzzle. That kind of knowledge comes when God, for a moment, decides to pull back the curtain, and revealing something of Godself. Peter, fisherman, sinking, stumbling Rock—for some reason is the one gifted with the knowledge and bone-deep conviction that the Jesus who stood before him was as much of God as we ever hope to see. And he said it out loud.

Jesus, for his part, recognizes that Peter grasps what is un-teachable. Peter gets it, who it was in front of him, and this made Peter uniquely open to receiving the power of the living God. Jesus says, I’ve got a job for you. “You are Rock, on this foundation I will build my church.”

It’s interesting, that the word “church” (or ecclesia) is used by Jesus only here and one other place, not just in the book of Matthew, but also in Mark or Luke or John. In all of the gospels, Jesus is recorded using the word “church” just twice. Jesus, rarely talked about church! When he did, he wasn’t thinking of little white Ebenezer Lutheran or picturing the Crystal Cathedral, or even buildings with such fine architecture as this. The church was not a building to Jesus.

When Jesus used the word church/ “ekklesia” (Greek) he was thinking of a word which meant ‘called out’ and was used for local political assemblies. Jesus co-opts that word here for a new purpose: to designate the renewed people of God (the same covenantal people of YHWH) who would begin to gather and to love others and to pray in the Way of Jesus. The church was people. More than a fellowship of like-minded individuals who have formed a support group. The church was to be a community united by the very confession that we hear on Peter’s lip’s today: that Jesus is the messiah, the son of the living God.

That confession, is either ludicrous, and we can ignore it and get on with our lives. Or, it is true, a game changer. When you pray and follow a living-God, that opens up the possibility for unique things to take place. Namely, for even very different individuals to nevertheless combine their gifts, to make a difference in ways previously impossible. The church would be and is—a distinctive gathering of people ‘called out’ of themselves, and into fellowship with one another and service of the world, in Christ’s name.

Jesus says: “I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” The gates of Hades. Hades, here, is not a place of punishment. It is not a place of eternal torcher for those who did bad things. Hades, simply, is the realm of the dead. So what Jesus is saying, is that the realm of the dead, which no human being can conquer, is nevertheless not stronger than the church founded on the rock. Why, because it was Christ’s church from the beginning, and he was going to be doing the building– giving the church strength for good despite the forces of death arrayed against it.

This morning, we sit here knowing the gates of hades, the forces of death too well. We see them on nightly news; watch them unfold in our community; know them intimately in our own struggles and those of our friends and family. And yet the Holy Spirit continues to bring us together–gatherings of 300 hundred or 30 or 3–who confess this ludicrously mysterious creed: that Jesus is the messiah, the son of the living God. A group who gathers around this truth, is a kingdom and power counter to the kingdom of death. One that –with Christ, will always win in the end.

It began with one “Rock”—who got it. At present there are 2.2 billion Christ-followers around the globe. A random collection of rocks, not much to look at, we become extraordinary as God’s spirit collects us together, builds us up, and gives us a new name. Where who were individuals, we are Trinity, we’re the E.L.C.A. Part of something truly good and exciting. Greater than we ever could be on our own. Built up into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit. We are the church. It seems the wise man did build his house upon a rock after all.

Amen.

Expanding God’s Grace

Expanding God’s Grace
Preached Sunday August 17th, 2014, by Pastor Brahm Semmler Smith
Based on the text from Matthew 15:21-28

Sisters and brothers in Christ, grace and peace be with you all this day. Amen.

Have you ever felt uncomfortable? A time in your life when you felt out of place, or really awkward, or when you were just not at ease? A time that really took you out of your comfort zone, so much so, that it was a relief when you were able to get back into what was “normal” for you?

Maybe it was at a party where you didn’t know anyone, and you really didn’t have the energy to be extroverted that night and meet new people. Or your first visit to a country and culture that was different than the one you grew up with, and the cultural norms were hard to figure out. Or your first visit with your in-laws, or future in-laws, as they were sizing you up, wondering who this person was their beloved youngest child brought home. Or on a blind date that went terribly, horribly wrong. Or the first day on a new job, as you tried to keep your head above water and get the hang of things while surrounded by people who had been working at that job for probably 70 years.

Usually, we feel uncomfortable either when we don’t know many of the people around us or when we’re not sure of our role, place, or responsibilities. We’ve all been there – feeling left out, alone, out of our depth, unwelcome. It’s a lousy feeling. So lousy, in fact, that we’ll go to pretty great lengths to avoid it.

When I lived in Thailand after college, I was an outsider. And it was that year that a number of times, I really felt uncomfortable because of my lack of understanding of the cultural norms, and the fact that I stuck out everywhere I went because I was a large, white foreigner who couldn’t speak the language at all. Although the people I met were mostly really, really friendly and curious about me, I could not shake the feeling of being an outsider and the amount of discomfort that came with it. However, I knew that this was only temporary. I could handle it, even embrace it for a few weeks or a year, because I knew I could come home.
But what if this was a more permanent situation? Always feeling like you don’t make the cut, are on the outside looking in. When the society that you are in always keeps you on the outside, in the margins; who would rather ignore you, or stare at you, or insult you, rather than deal with you?

In our gospel reading today, we encounter someone who was an extreme outsider for Jesus and his disciples. Jesus and his disciples decided they had to get away from the Pharisees and crowds, and so they travel outside of Galilee and head west, to the cities of Tyre and Sidon. And while there, a Canaanite woman whose daughter has a demon finds him, and she won’t go away. She is Canaanite, not a Jew. Which is bad enough. But then her daughter is sick in some way, which to the original hearers of this story meant that obviously someone had done some kind of sinning to deserve such a lot in life. She’s living on the outside, and some would like to keep her there. Some, including those very close to Jesus, the disciples.

Which leads us to this fascinating conversation between Jesus and this woman. Fascinating, and also awkward and uncomfortable. The disciples cannot wait to get rid of her. And they try to get Jesus to send her away. But she doesn’t give up. She persists, and gets to Jesus’ feet, and she begs for him to help her.
And what is Jesus response? “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”
“It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”

Now, when I first read this, I get this sick feeling in my stomach. If I were sitting there watching this interaction, I don’t think I could handle the embarrassment of this woman. Really, Jesus? Really? I am not sure about you, but this is not what I was expecting from Jesus. I did not expect Jesus to call this woman a dog. This is Jesus, who we expect to tell us things like “blessed are the poor, the meek, the hurting, the mourning.”

Now, I know that many of us love dogs. I love my dog, and I think she is pretty great. But in no way, in no culture I have ever encountered, and definitely not in Jesus’ time, is calling someone a dog a compliment. So much on the margins of Jesus’ and the Jewish people’s concern, she is compared to a dog.
And so, what does she do? She throws Jesus’ comment right back at him. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ tables.” In this response, she places hope in what others throw away and take for granted. She trusts that this Son of David, as she calls him, has enough power that even a crumb of Jesus is enough to defeat the evil that has possessed her daughter.

The interaction between Jesus and this Gentile woman is very important, because we remember that Matthew is the gospel that is obsessed with the Jewish identity of Jesus and Jesus’ followers. In Matthew, we learn that Jesus is the Jewish messiah, the fulfillment of prophecy, righteous according to the law, Moses’ successor, and so on. Jesus is Jewish, only for the Jewish people. But she challenges this mindset, and in doing so, it makes me wonder, does this woman change his mind?

Is that even possible? Is it possible for Jesus to change his mind on something like this? What do you think? I think back to Moses and Abraham, who had to bargain with God a number of times for the sake of others. And yes, it seems like God changes God’s mind. It could be that this woman helps expand Jesus’ boundaries of who is meant for God’s kingdom. Because after hearing her response, he treats her very differently.
In fact, Jesus offers a statement that is just as bold and surprising. “Woman, great is your faith!” Great is your faith he tells this woman who he had just chided. Great is your faith, to a woman of another religion, who was not even of Jesus’ own people. Great is your faith.

It’s a little bit ironic, because in Matthew, Jesus is constantly telling his disciples, you of little faith. But this foreign woman of another religion gets told she has great faith from Jesus. Great is your faith, dear woman, for recognizing that a little bit of God can defeat the greatest evil.

This interaction would have been extremely challenging for those who were surrounding Jesus. Those who were part of the “in” crowd, especially the Jewish people. This interaction expands the notion of who God’s grace is meant for. No one should be on the outside looking in, no matter what society tells us. Which is a message I think we know from Jesus, but is one we need to hear over and over and over again. Especially when looking in the news the past few weeks. When faced with stories about rockets and missiles fired in Gaza and the thousands of civilians killed and injured, to an Ebola outbreak that has the entire continent of Africa fearful of those who are sick, to the racial tensions in St. Louis and other cities in our country, where there is major distrust between racial groups that is a legacy of the complicated and sin filled history of race relations in our country.

This morning, I am left with a few questions from what we learn from this story. How is our idea of who God loves challenged in this story? If we are honest with ourselves, we place limits on our love and on who we think God can love. We hold people at arms length because we would rather not deal with them. Instead, it is much easier to judge others at a distance than from up close. There are people we regard as less than dogs; who we would walk over and around and ignore more so than a sick dog on the street. Who are these people? And how does this woman, and Christ, challenge us to act? And change? Might we be called to enter into awkward and uncomfortable situations, looking to spread crumbs of hope in the name of Jesus Christ?

This random, nameless, outsider, reminds us to look for God in unexpected places and people. To remember, that we are all beggars, desperate for a piece of Jesus to break through the sin of our lives and the world. Amen.

Guest Preacher