From a Distance...

          The pictures at the beginning of the worship slides today were of Walnut, some were from high up, some from ground level and some in between. Isn't it interesting how our perspectives change, depending on where we’re at?

          From a distance we may not clearly understand what we see but up close we can see details more clearly. If we really want to see more detail we dig out the magnifying glass or maybe our microscope.

          Thinking about distance, let’s give some thought on how we communicate, with each other...and with God, and how we receive answers from folks we send messages to.

          It’s not unusual today to see people sitting at tables with their eyes looking down at their laps. No, they’re not praying. One could only hope.

          No, most of the time they’re texting, who really knows who and what or even why. Maybe they’re asking questions or maybe they’re the ones with the answers and they’re sharing their wisdom with someone on the other end, maybe even someone just across the table from them. Either that or they’re on Facebook seeing who posted some picture or quote or joke or some bit of news or messaged them.

          So, I mentioned praying, in passing. What about our communications, our prayers, with the Holy? How’s that going for you? Is God speaking to you…or are you still waiting for an answer?

          How do we communicate with God…and how does God communicate with us? Habakkuk had been communicating with God through his prayers and laments. He continued to pray…and wait…and pray some more…and wait some more. When we listen to God’s word from Habakkuk it sounds as if the writer is a little worried that God isn’t listening to his prayers. It sounds as if the writer thinks that God isn’t paying any attention to what’s going on.

          Habakkuk doesn’t give up. At first he’s complaining that God isn’t paying attention or listening to his prayers; then in the next part he changes his tactics and begins to compliment God on his positive attributes, not that he doesn’t also question “why” sometimes. And then he says, “I will stand watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.” He wanted to get higher up. Maybe he thought he’d get better reception there.

          And then…God answers. We may be amazed that God answered but Habakkuk wasn’t, or at least I don’t think he was.

          We read…then the Lord replied, “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.” God said, “Write it down…on tablets so a herald may run with it.” Write it down.

          Consider this. What if at morning prayers you are always complaining to God about the things going on in your home, or injustices in your community, or your state, or your country, or someplace specific in the world; what if this was your practice to pray for this every day? And then you decided to move your place of prayer to a higher place, to gain a better perspective, get better reception, and you waited for God to answer…as you continued to pray.

          And then…the Lord spoke, “Write it down on your tablets.” Would you get out your smart phone and begin composing the Message to send to all your Facebook and Twitter friends?

          God’s Message that Habakkuk was to give to the heralds was a warning. There was going to be an end to what was going on and if things didn’t change there was going to be an accounting and it wasn’t going to be pretty. Those who were taking advantage of their neighbors, abusing them, stealing from them, killing them, these things eventually were going to overwhelm them. All these things that they created with their own hands and worshipped weren’t going to be able to help them. The Lord was in his holy temple and he expected all the earth to be silent before him.

          We don’t know for sure if Habakkuk did what the Lord asked him to do but we do know he heard the Message and he answered God with a prayer.

          The Message he received was frightening. God was going to destroy the invaders and it wasn’t going to be fun to be around when that happened.

          Habakkuk knew how powerful the Lord was because he knew, he believed the Lord had created the world and everything in it. Apparently he believed in the Lord’s anger over the injustices taking place in his country. Even though the Lord might send famine and hunger to the nations, Habakkuk was going to continue to rejoice in the Lord and be joyful in God his savior.

          How many of us could say we’d do the same thing? It’s hard to be hopeful, trusting in God, when all around us the world is falling apart.

          And therein may be the answer. Habakkuk still believed. He had faith that the Lord God would make everything right again.

          There are people today who, since they haven’t heard God speak or seen any evidence of things getting better, don’t believe that God is.  And so they, like the people in Habakkuk’s day, rely on their own strength, creating for themselves idols out of steel and wood and megabytes to worship and do their bidding. God has answered so they are going to do it themselves. They just can’t wait any longer.

          Friends, look back in the Old Testament and read the stories of Moses, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These men, these patriarchs of our faith, waited a lifetime for God to answer.  And we expect God to be different today? Why?

          Friends, I believe God wants us to be like Habakkuk, to be tenacious in our faith; continuing to pray, maybe even changing when and where we pray and wait to see if God might not hear us better. Never doubting that God will eventually speak his word to us, maybe even asking us to “write it down on tablets” so it can be communicated succinctly and easily to all in our communities.

          So, good friends, leave here and go to the high places, the ramparts, and wait for the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God for his grace. Amen.

Obstacles to Grace 10.2013

This rollo is about the obstacles to grace. God through Jesus Christ has given us his grace to be in a personal relationship with him. But, being the way we are because of sin, we‘re not always able to receive the grace given freely to us by our God.
          The fact of the matter is we live in a broken world that doesn’t seem to be getting fixed very quickly. Every day when we read or listen to the news it’s very apparent that the world is in a mess. We live in this world, this very real world.

Every day we encounter obstacles to receiving God’s grace. Every day we do something that strains our relationship with God, our families, our friends, our neighbors, and those strangers we encounter as we go through our days.

If you look in your Bibles at Genesis 4:6-7 you’ll find God talking to Cain about sin. In this passage God lays it out for us… “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”

If we do what is right we’ll be accepted but if not sin is waiting to pounce on us. Every day, every minute of the day, sin is waiting for us to mess it up. And we don’t disappoint. At least I don’t disappoint. Every day I go to God and ask for his forgiveness because I’ve been pounced upon by sin.

Usually it’s because I let my ego get in the way. I forget that it’s not all about “me.”  This society in which we live is so focused on feeding our pleasure centers as fast and as thoroughly as we can.  That’s why fast food places do so well. They have become the experts at satisfying our appetites. And because they do such a good job at catering to our every need and want we become angry when we have to wait or whatever we’ve requested doesn’t exactly measure up to our standard of service.

Look at the word, sIn. How is it spelled, s, capital I, n? Oh maybe you capitalize the letter “s”.  In my example, talking about our egos and everything being about “me,” the letter “I” is capitalized. The “I” is capitalized because most of the times if we’re honest with ourselves that’s what gets us on the wrong side of the fence with God.

On the wrong side of the fence makes me think of sheep. I used to have a 100 head of ewes which meant that I also had 100 plus lambs and a couple rams. More than once they were on the wrong side of the fence…because they saw something there that they wanted and it looked better than what was on their side of the fence. And so, through the fence or over the fence or maybe around the fence they’d go. Did they ever find their own way back? Never in a thousand years. They always needed help, always.

By being on the other side of the fence they couldn’t be with the rest of the flock. They didn’t notice at first but then they would and that’s when I knew, because I could hear them crying. They were alienated from the flock and they wanted back in.

That’s what happens to us. We see something we want and somehow, we honestly don’t know how, we find ourselves on the wrong side of the fence. We discover that we’ve alienated ourselves from our family, our friends, and most of all, God. We realize we’ve made a mistake and we begin to cry.

What got us there? What do you think? Remember the question Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment and how he answered? ³⁷ Jesus answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’^] 38 This is the first and most important command. ³⁹ And the second command is like the first: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the law and the writings of the prophets depend on these two commands.”

Sin, these obstacles to receiving God’s grace, snaps us up when we fail to love…fail to love God with all that we are and fail to love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves.

Sin can also be more than that. Sin can be, and I believe is, anything that diminishes life, abusing our environment, abusing anything that God created, land, water, air, plants, animals, or people.

So, sin can be one of two types, something that messes up our relationship with God and/or anything the messes up our relationships with our people, family, friends, the community, the world.  

Reading God’s word we find words like idolatry, blasphemy, resisting God, ignoring God, disobedience, unbelief, ignorance, pride, and unforgiveness, either toward God or people. Each of these is something that keeps us from being in a right relationship with God.

Things that will hurt our relationships with others are: murder, addiction and abuse, lying, gossip or slander, stealing, coveting, laziness, and dishonor.

And then there’s our relationship with ourselves. We hurt ourselves by our lack of love, bitterness, and spiritual blindness. 

So, what do we do? My friends, God had and has the answer. The answer to all these obstacles, these sins is Jesus Christ. He took all these sins, our sins, upon himself and carried them to the cross. They were nailed to the cross with him. They were buried with him in the tomb.

Through Him we have been forgiven and made clean and acceptable in the presence of God. Through Jesus we recover our identity as children of God.

In John’s gospel 3:16 we read, ¹⁶ “God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life.

That’s it. If we accept Jesus Christ into our lives and rely on the power of his Holy Spirit then we are on the way to a new relationship with God.

A balanced life of grace needs three things, piety, study, and action. Resist evil and renounce the power of the evil one.

When we take Jesus into our lives our relationship with ourselves and our neighbors is mended. We discover anew who we are and we learn to love ourselves again. We work out our differences with our neighbors…or we accept them as they are, God’s children.

And when we encounter struggles, as we will, we know to turn to the body of Christ for prayers and support and love. We learn that we’re not in this walk alone and we value our support groups and long to be with them every week because they help us to be accountable for living and walking as Jesus walked.

And we learn to pray…pray for our leaders, those in authority over us, pray and love our enemies, feed and clothe the hungry and naked.

My friends, the life of a Christian is a daily decision to put on the yoke of Jesus, pick up our cross, and follow our Savior, Jesus Christ. It is a life that keeps the picture of the cross ever before us and paying attention to our relationships…with God, Jesus, and others. And friends, remember that God always has more grace for us than there is sin. As Paul said to the Romans there is nothing, absolutely nothing that can ever separate us from God’s love. In Jesus the Christ we can overcome any obstacle to grace.

My friends, God loves you and so do I. Thanks be to God for his grace. Amen.

Exiled

          What does it feel like to be in exile? Not having ever been in exile with no chance of ever coming home, I can’t imagine what it must feel like. Can you?

          But wait a minute. We actually might know people, family members or friends, who are in exile right in our community, maybe even while living in their own houses.

          Imagine waking up some morning and knowing who you are but not knowing what happened last week or even yesterday. You can remember all your favorite hymns and favorite scriptures that you’ve memorized but your grasp on reality seems to be slipping.

          The only constant you have is that the loving presence of family, and God, is the same yesterday, today, and forever. With that there is comfort and joy.

          Or what about those who have secrets that they can’t reveal to anyone or they would be ostracized and excluded from community and even family gatherings. 

          Imagine carrying this secret around with you every day and longing just to tell someone hoping to feel some acceptance and understanding without fear or rejection.

          But you can’t because you’ve seen others reveal their secrets and not be able to survive the criticism and shunning. You’ve witnessed families torn apart, friends become enemies, and even seen folks fired from their jobs. So, you can’t possibly let anyone know this secret buried deep within you.

          Look what happened to Jesus. He was whipped and mocked and rejected for being true to God and to himself. I wonder, sometimes, if he thinks it was worth it. That’s why I can’t tell you my secret because I’m not sure. I don’t believe society has changed. Won’t I receive the same tongue lashing and maybe worse, maybe my friends will turn their backs on me because I didn’t trust them with my secret.

          Living with this is like being in exile. I am in exile. What I know is true is abhorrent to others and it just tears me apart. I know who I am but I just can’t tell anyone.

          It’s only with God that I feel safe and comfortable. It’s only when I’m with God that I’m able to experience joy because I know he knows and I know he still loves me.

          Or maybe someone has lost their best friend, their partner in life, and their world has been torn apart. They still have to go to work, they still have to get their mail, they still have to buy groceries and go to meetings. They still remember the day they heard the words that he/she was gone.

          They’re filled with questions. Why me? Why now? Why did he/she have to leave me alone? How am I going to make it by myself?

          They walk and act as if they’re in a fog, just going through the motions dealing with all the everyday things of life but inside their heart is frozen in that time and space when they got the news and they can’t feel anymore, can’t feel anything. All they can think about is how they’re going to get through the day or this week or the rest of their life. They question where God is now when they need him so desperately.

          Maybe being in exile is like those who are autistic. They like the way worship services are ordered, the same every Sunday. They know what hymn is going to be sung by looking at the page number in the bulletin. They find it difficult to adjust when things change.

          They like the music but not if there’s microphone feedback or if it’s not too loud and people don’t clap too loudly.  If that happens they plug their ears with their fingers and make their own noise so they can’t hear the other noise. It’s frustrating when children mimic them.

          They like listening to the same words spoken at communion. They like how there’s always a loaf of bread and a cup and the same responses are spoken. They know them by heart. But they don’t like sharing the peace because people want to touch them, hug them, or shake their hand. And so, they say a little too loudly, “Don’t touch me, please!”

          They like being with people but sometimes they have to leave because they’ve had enough of us for the day. Sometimes they don’t understand why their family takes them out. They feel like they’re not part of the community. They don’t know why because they know they know things that some others don’t know but they don’t stay around to listen.

          These are examples of exile. Maybe one of these voices could be yours. Think about the different voices in our church, in our community. Think about those who might feel like they’re living in exile.

          May God fill us with his all knowing grace this day. Amen.

Faith…and Forgiveness

          Jesus said if our faith was no bigger than a poppy seed we could tell a mulberry tree to “Go jump in the lake.” That’s not very big. If you’d drop a poppy seed in the carpet you couldn’t find it without a vacuum cleaner. Faith, no bigger than a poppy seed, Jesus said.

          What does that say about our faith? I know, it’s meant to be a metaphor, but is that what Jesus meant? What if he meant it? What if our faith was no bigger than a poppy seed? Could we move trees or mountains or governments? I haven’t moved anything that big lately, so does that mean that my faith isn’t big enough?

          It could be that Jesus wanted his disciples to understand the power that’s contained inside just one infinitesimal seed. The seed doesn’t look very powerful and yet…when it’s buried in the soil and tended with water and nutrients it can grow into a tree 60-80 feet tall.

          Some folks are planting radishes in their fields this fall as a cover crop. Radish seed isn’t very big and yet it will grow a root 12-24 inches long and bring up micronutrients that will benefit the next crop planted. All that from little, tiny seeds barely covered with dirt…and all they needed was a little rain to help them germinate.

          The disciples came to Jesus after hearing him tell them that even if their friend sinned against them 7 times they should continue to forgive them.  They were to forgive their friend even if they thought he wasn’t being truthful. If he said that he wouldn’t do whatever he’d done again…and then did, they were to forgive them…again.

          That sounded impossible to them and so they asked for more faith. Jesus refused to give them more faith. He said they had enough. He said they had just the right amount.

          Faith, five letters, one small word and yet we’re not sure we have enough. We want more or we want a stronger faith. But Jesus says, “You don’t need more or less. You have just enough.” Really? Why doesn’t it feel like it? 

          I believe, then why can’t Aunt Jane’s cancer be cured? Why can’t our political leaders agree on bipartisan legislation that will bring peace to our nation? Why are there shootings every day in our cities? I believe in the power of Jesus. I believe in God. What am I missing?  Do you have the same questions?

          I’ve been a farmer. Every year Linda and I put seeds and plants in the ground trusting that they’ll grow and produce something good for us to eat. We have faith that what we plant will grow into what is pictured on the seed packet. Why do we keep planting seeds? We plant seeds because we’ve had some measure of success in our garden. We’ve had failures too but not so many that we want to stop planting seeds.

          So, what kind of seeds of faith are we going to plant? Every Sunday I ask you to pray for peace. Will we ever see a peaceful world? I believe one day we will. My hope is that we will someday have peace. That’s why I keep praying, and asking others to pray for peace.

          If we want a world that is peaceful, compassionate, just, loving and filled with resources enough for everyone, what kind of seeds do we need to plant?

          My friends, I believe with all my heart that it begins with every one of us. It begins with us speaking words, powerful words of peace, love, justice, compassion, words that will produce more words, kind words, just words that will flower and grow bigger than the biggest maple. Words filled with truth, God’s truth. Words filled with love, God’s love.

          Words aren’t very big. They don’t look very powerful on paper. If that’s true why do we continue to use them? I contend that we use them because they are powerful and we know it.

          We’ve seen how words can wound. We’ve seen how words can bring tears of joy to people’s eyes. We’ve seen how words can make Wall Street tremble and shake and stock prices tumble.

          So, why not believe that words, simple, truthful words can bring peace and joy and love and justice to a hurting world? What prevents us from testing this theory?

          Surely we have faith in Jesus’ words otherwise why do we come here to worship? Surely we don’t just come to visit our friends. We can do that at McDonald’s or Roberts’. 

          Maybe our prayers should be, “God give us more faith, faith that can learn from Jesus’ stories, faith that can question and wait patiently for answers. God give us faith to will lead us to act and to share our wealth with those who have nothing. God give us more faith in you and in our friends who are praying just like us. God give us faith and bless us so we can go out this week and tell your story of love and peace and grace.”

           Friends, we have just enough faith. Jesus said so. You had the faith to come here to worship. You have the faith go back into the world. Trust God’s grace and lean on his Word, Jesus the Christ. Thanks be to God for his faith-filled grace. Amen.

Have's & Have Not's

          This morning as you entered the sanctuary you walked right by poor, homeless people. Can you describe what they looked like? How many of them were men? How many were women? How many were families? What were their ages?

          I wonder how many times this past week, you and I, walked right by people just like these? I wonder how many people like these live in Walnut…and maybe we don’t even know. I wonder how many people we may have helped…but thought, “They’re just using the system. They don’t really need our help. They could find a job if they really wanted too. They’re just lazy.” These are the “poor.” And we don’t even notice them…or if we do we laugh at them or make fun of them or judge them.

          And…who are we? Who am I? I grew up on a farm. My Mom said we were poor. I never felt poor. We always had food to eat. We always had warm clothes. We always had a roof over our heads. We always had transportation. And yet my mother said we were poor.

          Who were you? What was it like when you were a child? Some of you here remember the Great Depression, the 30’s, when dirt poor really was dirt poor. People had land but it didn’t raise much of anything, dirt poor.

          All of us kids wore hand-me-downs. My brother wore my old clothes and I wore the neighbor boy’s old clothes. They weren’t worn out and, to me, they were “new.” We’d go to Ray’s shoe store in Avoca once a year and buy a pair of shoes. Those were our “good” shoes and the old ones became our chore, work, shoes. Sometimes the sole was held up with a rubber band and maybe I’d put a piece of cardboard inside because the sole had a hole worn in it.

          That may have been why Mom said we were poor because we wore hand-me-downs and home made shirts and dresses. Home made from feed sacks that Grandma washed and made for us. I never knew there were store bought shirts and pajamas until I went to school and saw what the other kids were wearing.

          We didn’t have a lot but we weren’t begging and we weren’t homeless, so I didn’t think we were poor. Today, there are many folks who are homeless, who can’t work, who live on the streets or in their cars.

          Compared to them I was “rich.” Compared to them right now I’m wealthy. Compared to them I am blessed.

          In the light of today’s gospel who am I, who are you, the rich man or Lazarus? I haven’t stepped over anyone lying on my doorstep and I haven’t seen anyone begging downtown but we all know there are folks in our community and in the surrounding communities who need help, who may be close, very close to be homeless.

          So, this has just been me talking to this point; what does Jesus say about this? What does he say we should do? Where do we find his words that tell us what to do?

          Go to Luke 6:20-26 to see how he recorded Jesus’ words, or Matthew 5:3-12, or Matthew 25:31-46. Luke 6 and Matthew 5 say that the poor are blessed, the hungry are blessed, and God blesses those who weep. And there are more blessings when people hate you and persecute you and mock you and curse you because you follow Jesus, the Son of Man.

          And…sorrow is waiting for the rich. Sorrow is waiting for the fat and the prosperous. Sorrow is waiting for those who are laughing now and those praised by the crowds.

          We’ve always read how God turns everything upside down, how God sees things differently than the world does, than we do.

          How is God speaking to us today? What impact are these words having on our hearts? When we leave here will we do anything different? What will change? Will anything change? Or will we keep doing what we’ve always done?

          Maybe people don’t know what to do. Maybe we don’t know what organizations to trust. Maybe we’re so bombarded with junk mail from Catholic Charities, Open Door Mission, Native American Missions, Bread for the World, and others that we don’t even open the envelopes but just toss them in the recycling box. Maybe we’ve become hardened to the poverty of the others around us.

          The lessons from the last few weeks were to help us understand who we are. The lessons were intended to be like these mirrors, to help us see ourselves more clearly and know who we are.

          Friends, we know who we are. We are the rich, the wealthy. We have things we can share. The question for us is, will we? Are we able to share our riches with those we look on as the dregs of our society? Are we able to allow them to share in God’s grace?  Are we able to see Jesus in these folks with mismatched clothes that smell a little odd? Are we able to sit and eat with them and talk with them? Are we able to invite them to share God’s peace and grace in the places we call home? Are we able to be the welcoming arms of God to these people?

          Remember how the rich man, Fred, wanted Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his brothers about what was waiting for them? And Abraham said they’ve had plenty of warning from Moses and the Prophets. If they didn’t believe them then a man coming back from the dead wasn’t going to change their minds.

          Friends, what is it going to take to change us? The lessons tell us that we can’t take our wealth with us. The lessons say that if we care for the poor and the hungry and the imprisoned and the naked that not only will they be blessed but so will we in ways that we can only imagine.

          My friends God is calling us to be prepared for Jesus to come again. Have we done everything we could? Have we loved them and loved them again and loved them yet again?

          Friends, may our hearts be broken and our eyes opened to those who around us who need our help…and love.

          Thanks be to God for his convicting grace. Amen.

Wisdom & Wealth

          At the back of the sanctuary as you came in this morning you encountered a street map of Walnut. You were asked to think about where the financial wealth in our community is located and then to consider where the social wealth of the community is located.

          After identifying the two locations, are they different locations? Do they overlap? And what do we mean when we speak of financial wealth and social wealth?

          Determining where the financial wealth is might be somewhat easy. Where’s the most money located, the Rolling Hills Bank, the Walnut Community School, and certainly the stores and shops located downtown, maybe the elevator?

          But, how do we determine social wealth? I’m not going to pretend that I totally understand or even know very much about social wealth but here’s my take on it.

          Social wealth is located in those areas where the community comes together and interacts and cares for each other. So, in that context I believe the greatest areas of social wealth reside in those places where the community congregates every day, places like McDonald’s, Kum & Go, Robert’s Bakery, Walnut Community School, Peace Haven, and every one of the day care providers in the community. Maybe I should add Glenn’s and Aunt B’s and the Post Office and City Hall because I have had some long conversations with folks in those places too. 

          Think about it. Where do folks gather and find out about what’s happened overnight in the community? How do we find out that someone’s fallen and broke a hip or there’s been a death in a family or someone’s traveled to the hospital? It all happens in these places over coffee and doughnuts and breakfast and dinner and supper. Therein lays the social wealth of the community. And how do we put a value on it? It does have value, but how much?

          You know how I’ve said that we are so blessed to live where we live; well, that has value and most times we take it for granted. We’re so used to us we don’t even think about it.

                So, how does all this tie in with today’s gospel lesson? The dishonest manager was corrupt, embezzling his boss’ money. And then to secure for himself some degree of comfort for when he’s no longer employed he calls in everyone who owes his boss something and has them reduce it thus endearing himself to them, hopefully to gain their favor when he needs shelter or food or help.

          And his boss compliments him for doing that and so does Jesus.  Only he puts it in a different way when he says, “I want you to be smart in the same way—but for what is right—using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you’ll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior.”

          Doesn’t that make you begin to think and ask questions. What does Jesus mean and how can we do that? 

          Remember back to earlier this year the lesson about the rich farmer? He told his listeners that only a fool stores up earthly wealth and doesn’t have a rich relationship with God. Jesus told them, and us, that we should sell our possessions and give to those in need. This will store up treasure for (us) in heaven…Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be (Luke 12:21 and following).

          So, today’s lesson about being smart by using adversity to stimulate creative survival and concentrating on the bare essentials so we’ll really live don’t you think that’s about building up wealth in heaven. Isn’t that social wealth? 

          So, do we want to change some things on our map? Are there more places of social wealth than we thought? And did you notice that I didn’t list one of the churches as a place of social wealth? Maybe I should have since caring and loving and praying for each other does take place here every Sunday.

          I guess the reason I didn’t put it on my list is because the community doesn’t gather here every day and we do in those other places. Doesn’t that make you say, “Hmmm?” 

          So many times we put the emphasis on saving for the future, building up savings account, stock portfolios and such when we should be thinking beyond that to what happens after we die, and we’re all going to die so we do need to consider that.

          What I’d suggest we do this next week is to pay attention to where God leads you to be in community with the others. And listen, really listen, to what’s going on in their lives. And then listen for God’s leading. How can we accumulate more wealth, the heavenly kind, through the week?

          And please remember it’s not about earning a place in heaven because we can’t do anything about that but we can honor God and give him praise by helping those we encounter every day, those He sends to us for help.

          And when we encounter difficulties then maybe, just maybe, there’ll be someone there to lend us a helping hand, someone God sends to us.

          Friends, go into this week being as smart as those who are accumulating financial but use those smarts to accumulate wealth in heaven.

          Thanks be to God for his blessed forgiving grace. Amen.

Lost

          Have you ever been lost? I mean really, really lost. So lost that you had no idea where you were and no idea how to get back to where you’d started; so lost that you had lost your sense of direction. Have you ever been that lost?

          I’ve been lost like that a couple times and it was really scary. I wasn’t lost in the way that Daniel Boone was, just wandering around until I found my way out. No, lost like I didn’t think I’d ever find my way out without divine intervention. Has that ever happened to you?

          I was just talking about being lost physically, without a map or a GPS. Thinking about being lost in a different way, have you ever been lost spiritually, in the same way, not knowing how to find the light or a way out?

          In both instances it takes, I believe, divine intervention, help from God, the creator to find our way out.

          Now some folks never, ever, get lost, never. They have an innate sense of direction and they just know how to get back home without any help. Wouldn’t that be great? Sadly, I’m not one of those people.

          Think about what you do when you discover, or finally admit, that you’re lost? Do you call a friend for help? Do you take out your smart phone and call up the GPS app? Do you open the glove compartment and pull out and unfold the paper map to get your bearings and find your way home? What’s your fall back plan for when you get lost, if and when you do, get lost?

          Okay, what if you discover or find out or admit that you’re spiritually lost? What do you do? What’s your fall back plan in that event?

          What do I do? My first reaction after I’ve said, “Shoot, I think I’m lost,” I pray. I pray when I’m lost in my car and I pray when I find myself lost spiritually. Prayer is my fall back plan in both cases.

          But what about those folks who never get lost or never know they’re lost even when they are in fact so lost they’ll never find the light without help? Could the folks who never take a wrong turn be lost?  Could the people who never know they’re lost actually be going in circles? How will either one ever get un-lost?

          They may not realize they need to pray because they don’t know they’re lost. And if somehow they found out they were lost they might very well not know what to do.     

          Someone has to do something, but who? That’s a very important question, who will help.

          Let’s look back at the very beginning of what we heard in the gospel this morning. The Pharisees and religion scholars were grumbling about the folks Jesus was associating with; they were “sinners and (he) eats meals with them, treating them like old friends.”

          What’s with that? Doesn’t he realize he could become contaminated by their sin? But, on the other hand, who else is going to help them, the Pharisees, the scribes? That’s not likely is it? So, their only hope is Jesus.

          And therein lies the answer, the only hope is Jesus. Our only hope is Jesus. And how can Jesus help them…or us?

          The two stories Jesus told what do they have in common? Both stories are about something being lost and someone who goes searching and finding the lost.

          So, if we’re lost who comes looking for us? Luke says that Jesus was eating with sinners.

          Does Jesus eat with us? Do we invite him to join us at our tables? Will he come even when we don’t invite him?

          Friends, the lesson God has been trying to teach us is that he’s been looking for us forever. He came here in the person of Jesus the Christ. He took all our sins upon himself and died for us on the cross. He was the ultimate sacrifice for us. He took all the blame for the wrongs we’ve done and the wrongs we will do tomorrow.

          Jesus took them with him to the grave and through him we’ve been made clean, spotless before God, our Father.

          Jesus is knocking at the door of our hearts and is waiting patiently for us to open them and invite him in. Even though we are sinners he comes looking, searching endlessly for us. He wants not one of his children to be lost forever.

          And when one more sinner is found the angels throw a party. There’s a whole of rejoicing going on when one more fallen person opens the door and Jesus comes in.

          Friends, we’re all lost and we need a new GPS to find our way back to the Light of the world, Jesus. God is calling you today. We’re all lost and we all need Jesus to help us find our way back.

          How’s that going to happen? It will happen when we pray for each other and ask for that divine intervention I mentioned earlier. God hears our prayers and he’s there with the answer, His Son, Jesus, the Christ, our Redeemer.

          That’s God’s grace my friends. We can’t pay for it, we can’t earn it, and we can’t pay him back for this gift. We just have to hold out our hands and let him lay his grace on us.

          What are you going to do now? Are you going to admit that you’re lost and you need, you desperately want someone, anyone, to find you?

          God loves you, my friend, and his grace is all you needs. Thanks be to God. Amen.