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Today's Gospel brings us a lot to think about in regard to
what real wealth is in terms of our understanding and what God's understanding
of wealth really is. We are in a kind of worldly bondage to what we “think” is
freedom... This illusion of freedom is the justification of our
willfulness and indifference towards others. The true wealth of God is a
treasure in the heart. Can you fathom that for a moment? This is when you give
yourself away. This is when you surrender to battles that you cannot win. Every
day both kingdoms duke it out whose to rule.
Do you let the ruler of the world win or do you let the Kingdom of God
reign? Even battles that you did not deserve to be entangled in bring both the
worst and best out of us. We all put it under the umbrella of being human but
maybe we shouldn't continue doing that. Why can we not try to work with our
shortcomings and reap the gifts that God has given us, within us?
If the true wealth of the kingdom of God is a flourishing
human being built upon a foundation of love what then is the true poverty? The
true poverty is when we build walls. These walls are when we justify hatred and
evil and starve others with our indifference and greed. We may not understand
how God flows through us where He needs us to be a voice to others to come to Him.
This may be even more so when we have built monuments to and of what we think
are “wealth.” When we think of justice in our world we think of marching and we
think of doing things to make statements and perhaps it still comes from an old
natured place because we can't break away from that willfulness, or sense of
self.
The voice of the prophets had to break the willfulness with
a willingness. This is a willing voice to have hearts hear what the Lord really
needs taught. All of this may sound like poetry, like a sketch of what God is
saying in Jesus’ message to the Pharisees and to those who’ve built many a
self-righteous fortress of greed and indifference going against
God. The struggle is still very real even when we sense the Lord
working in our hearts… Our willfulness
finds ways to divide us. Much like death divides us from life. This one
solitary earthly life on a floating rock in space doesn’t necessarily challenge
us enough to live like the seemingly carefree birds as Jesus said “…who neither
toil nor reap but Your Heavenly Father feeds them.” There’s a key Word right there—FEED. Like
bread upon the waters, the Good News calls us to come and follow.
No matter where the world places you… the unconditional Love
of God disciplines the heart to see your neighbor with their light as well as
see where we fail and only see darkness.
I have seen both sides of the divide between wealth and poverty in terms
of the world, but the Lord Jesus Christ has helped me over the years to see
where my true wealth is as well as where my soul is truly impoverished. Just the other day, I was looking at the back
of one of my many crosses. This particular cross had the faded raised letters
upon it saying Christ is counting on You. This was the cross I received coming
down from my first mountain top. This
path didn’t necessarily lead into another valley but was to become a crossroads
to where God needed me to go. This New
road was ministry and that was literally sixteen years ago.
My early renewed faith was structured by mentors and two
churches. Only nearly thirteen years later I would see my ordination. This was
and still is a great treasure to me to begin to go out beyond myself to truly
begin to learn and grow in serving others. Being in the muck and mire of the
world can be seen at times as living into “hell” or can be seen more as a
challenge from God to look once again through the heart’s eyes of a child-like
faith. When I daily pray to the Lord, I
feel at times to be lifting these prayers and seeing myself when I was very
young. The Gospel we have this morning has Jesus continuing to reach out and
indirectly teach the Pharisees to hear with renewed ears… The passage ends with
Him saying that ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will
they be convinced if someone rises from the dead.’
Jesus was alluding to both what He knew would be coming as
well as what humanity needs to realize about New Life being the true wealth,
we, His disciples must follow. Tapping
into the wealth of the gifts we have the capacity to share such as kindness,
forgiveness, mercy, peace, generosity, love and all good and Godly fruits… This
is the opposite of what worldly wealth is built upon. The rich man didn’t ever
really come around to understanding this even when he was in Hades, he just
asks for help not even fully wishing to repent for his attitude. That’s a very hard road to choose for it is
purely willful not to even make the effort to change even when you succumb to
being within a hell you actually helped to create! It reminds me of this great Toby Mac song—
‘Lose My Soul.’ One of the lines in it says I don’t wanna gain the whole world
and lose my soul. Eat, drink and be
merry calls us afterwards to be responsible. That part we forget quite often.
Seeing both sides of the divide, how we “choose” to live and
how God would like us to live reminds me of thinking about the continuing
plight of homelessness in America. The “death
work” of politics has completely usurped the personal and spiritual
responsibility we have, to reach out and truly help serve those in need with
restorative justice. Justice is mangled
with our need to dominate as well as money rules our world even more than ever.
The homeless villages I recall seeing when I lived in Las Vegas, I had to
wonder just what kind of help from their neighbor were they really
receiving? They legalized pot to help
with the public schools there… but somehow or another the monies went into a
rainy-day fund instead. Their highways’
public walls and parks seemed to spare no expense. They were sculpted, painted and their roads
had not even a blemish upon them. Many
of these walls hid the parts of Vegas that perhaps the visitor shouldn’t see.
Las Vegas is just one city, and one example. When we look at
the whole of America today, where are we going spiritually in the sense of
flourishing as God is hoping, needing for us to flourish in? Are we tapping
into the light, living and being hope-filled about everything that comes on our
life’s journey’s way? Each and everyone
of us are truly a part of God’s plans for He made us—we are His children of
Grace and Promise. Why then didn’t God create perfection? That’s a funny
question to ask but truly it is probably the most human question to ask. Living
life to its fullest has a very different meaning for us then what God has in
store for us. God gives you everything you need to be content with. This is a beautiful truth especially if you
begin to really sense God active in your life.
The valleys and the mountain tops still are very present but so is the
capacity to develop a faith that can and will move mountains.
Perhaps a faith that did move mountains was the fact of
Lazarus was simply being, existing in the sight of those believing they were
the ones living life to its fullest? His being was not quiet, his suffering had
its own voice. The rich man didn’t really hear his voice until he was need of
help. Of all figures for him to plea for help, it would be Abraham, one of the
great sojourners of walking by faith into the unknown. Truth be told every time I think of a great
pioneering couple, I think of Abraham and Sarah. These were two people who faced a seemingly
giant impossibility of both making a great nation and having children. You could perhaps even hear them saying to
God when their miracles happened, “say what God?” I think we’ve all been there
at different times in our lives when we hear God in our hearts saying you’ve
got to go for it. It’s going to happen
BUT… The but part is our end of what we
must do to prioritize. It is here we
either fall into bondage or free ourselves with the Gospel to be and own
responsibility God’s style.
This kind of responsibility is allowing God to take the
reins of our hearts to lead lives that are of a different kind of wealth. All around us on this floating rock in space,
we call earth is true wealth. God’s mighty spirit is one of being a gentle
creator, a divine artist with a divine loving plan for all things. The moment we think it is something else or
the moment we take it for granted or abuse it is when we begin to deny God’s
Grace and His Good works, in essence turning our hearts away from His guiding,
ever-present light. A faith that can move mountains builds and does possess a
life that is truly wealthy… Just a week
or so ago, I lost a very special gift that a friend of mine gave to me that I
used to keep in my front pocket… This
was a coin that said Trust on one side and on the other it held a simple quote
from Proverbs: “Trust in the Lord with
all of your heart and lean not on your own understandings.” Lazarus’ will to
persevere, with perhaps a trusting faith-filled heart for God had him meet
another man of great faith and trust in God, Abraham. The everlasting arms of
God became his true wealth while the rich man found nothing.
Let us Pray,
Loving and Ever Gracious Lord Jesus,
Continue to encourage our hearts to trust in the journey
You have written within the story of our lives
May we continue to grow in humility, perseverance and
gratitude
You are our True wealth, Your light ever inspires us
In Your Name we lift this prayer.
AMEN
Sunday September 29th,
2019; 16th Sunday after Pentecost; Year C; Proper 21; SOLA
Lectionary
Sermon by: Reverend Nicole A.M.
Collins
Psalm 146; Amos 6:1-7; 1 Timothy 3:1-13;
Luke 16:19-31
