On March 4, 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his first inaugural address as President. Within the first several sentences of this address, he stated: the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. This simple statement is one of those “burned on your brain” statements. You’ve probably heard it dozens of times, even if you didn’t know who said it or why they said it. Roosevelt was speaking to a nation that was paralyzed by the fear of the great depression and war. He was speaking to a people who had lost hope. He was speaking to a people who were afraid. His words have spanned the generations.
In Luke, Jesus also repeatedly tells people do not be afraid. They are a people who have been economically and spiritually depressed by Roman occupation. They had lost hope and were afraid. Jesus’ words have spanned the centuries. As I was reading this passage in preparation for today, I thought about the fear that we live in. We too have experienced (and many still experience) economic hardship, we are engaged in an incredibly long war, and many of us have lost hope. We have been told by the media to be afraid…we see damage, destruction and death on tv, in the news and on the internet. The impacts of climate change, globalization, rising health care costs, war, poverty, hunger, violence…they have damaged our spirits as well. It’s hard to see, hear or experience the Good News of Christ when we’re afraid, anxious and fearful. And yet, Jesus speaks to us in the midst of this chaos and says “do not be afraid”. What is the Good News? According to Jesus, the Good News is that “it is God’s good pleasure to give to you the kingdom”. I’ve read this dozens of times over the years, and yet somehow this time I struck me differently. It is God’s good pleasure to give to you the kingdom. As I was reading the gospel and preparing my notes for today, Matt was watching a documentary about an American banjo player, Bela Fleck, who went to Africa to learn from and record an album with traditional musicians and singers. Many of these people had lived in fear for a long time…fear of poverty, hunger, HIV/AIDS, malaria, war, violence…and yet, in their music and songs, they laughed and rejoiced for the love of God they had experienced in their lives. Even in the midst of struggle, they could experience God’s good pleasure to give them the kingdom. For them, the kingdom was community, love, respect and kindness. There was a sharing of resources and a sharing of life. It is God’s good pleasure to give to you the kingdom. Last Sunday the Gospel challenged us to ask how we can be rich toward God. This Sunday, Jesus picks up right where he left off; he challenges us to re-examine what we value and what we fear. Do we value those things that we have stored up for ourselves? Do we give in to the fear that has been created for us by the world? Or do we value the blessings we have been given? Can we recognize the kingdom in our midst? Theologian Audrey West wrote about this section of Luke and said that God’s blessings are known most fully by those who are not afraid. When have you been at peace enough to fully experience God’s blessing in your life? Was it that moment when your child or grandchild was born? Or when you were diagnosed as cancer-free? Or the day that you got married? By not being distracted by our fears, and instead attending to the riches of the kingdom…our blessings, then we can be rich toward God and unafraid. Theologian David Schlafer said: “Being ‘rich toward God’ involves a ‘generosity of spirit’ that opens our perceptions toward manifestations of God’s generosity that are always present, but often at the edges of awareness.” It is God’s good pleasure to give to you the kingdom. The nerd in me just had to look it up…“good pleasure” can also be translated “divine desire”. It is a Greek verb that indicates that the action is already complete. God has already freely given of God’s good pleasure, God’s divine desire. God has already given us all that we need. But when we live in fear, we cannot experience this pleasure and desire. Jesus reminds us that it is up to us to respond…to be ready…to be attentive to God’s gifts of love and grace that are all around us. Where your treasure is there your heart will be also. For years the church has used this line as a catch-phrase for stewardship. There’s nothing wrong with that. Last week we heard Jesus tell his followers to be rich toward God, and we talked about how we feed because we have been fed, how we care because we have been cared for, and how we give because we have received. But if we’re afraid, then we can’t be rich toward God because we believe that giving will make us destitute and desperate. So we store up our treasures; we put that crust around our heart. And the result is that we stay in that place of fear and are unable to experience God’s good pleasure. But Jesus promises that in giving, we become mindful of God’s goodness and we become ready to receive God’s gifts. God’s treasure is the kingdom…not the kingdom that is “out there” somewhere, but the kingdom that is right here and now. And we are that treasure…the recipients of God’s good pleasure…God’s love and grace. We live on the brink of a blessing. God’s divine desire is for us not be afraid. God has freely given to us the kingdom. How will we respond?
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AuthorI don't know what the future of the church is, but I know that we will continue to be a place of sanctuary and hope, working towards healing in the world. Archives
October 2017
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