Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4
Psalm 37:1-10
2 Timothy 1:1-14
LUKE 17:5-10
Seeds of Faith
I would like to invite the kids to come up front to help me with this sermon. [They gather at the head of the aisle, just before the steps.] Anyone here like to go on treasure hunts? [Hands, including from some adults.] Well, today we’re going to go on a treasure hunt. So, naturally, there are clues, which you can see in envelopes taped up around the church. They all have something to do with our Bible readings this morning, especially the Gospel reading, in which Jesus says something about seeds and faith.
[We find and they open Clue #1.] What’s this? [“A little packet of sunflowers seeds, with a picture of sunflowers on the cover.”] So inside are some really small seeds, which can grow and blossom into something beautiful and much bigger? [“Right.”] Who made the soil into which you would put the seeds? [“God.”] Who makes the rain which waters the seeds? [“God.”] Who makes the sun shine on the flowers? [“God.”] And who made the seeds themselves? [“God.”]
[We find and open Clue #2, which is two acorns.] “What are these? [“Acorns.”] What would happen if you planted these in the ground/? [“You’d get trees.”] Anyone know what kind of trees? [“Oak trees.”] [I then repeat the questions for Clue #1, and we establish that God made the acorns, the soil, the rain and the sun which are all necessary to create oak trees.] And oak trees can be really big, right, and strong! Two hundred years ago people made warships out of oak, it’s so strong – even though it starts out like this acorn.
[We find and open Clue #3, which is apple seeds.] O.K., we’re getting tougher clues now. Anyone know what these are? Well, I’ll give you some more clues: these seeds are also for a kind of tree, but one which produces a kind of fruit which is ripe this time of year and is nice and crunchy and good to eat. [“Apples.”] Right! [I then go through the same questions about who made the soil, rain, sun and seeds.] So, God can make a little tiny seed like this, and add ingredients to make it into a tree which can produce delicious, healthy food? [‘Right.”] Let’s see if this works with other kinds of seeds.
[The remaining clues are all typed on 3x5 cards inside their envelopes. On one side of the 3x5 card is a phrase from the Nicene Creed marked “seed”, and on the other side is a sentence marked “fruit.” The kids take turns opening the envelopes and reading each side of the cards as we go around the church, ending up at the pulpit. I repeat their readings louder, so that all could hear clearly.]
Clue #4:
“Seed”: “We believe in one God”
"Fruit” in faith:
THEREFORE, I am not alone.
Whatever I face, I can face with
the help of God and other Christians.
Clue #5
“Seed”: “We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty”
“Fruit” in faith:
THEREFORE I know that I can call
the greatest Power in the whole
universe my loving Father in heaven.
Clue #6
“Seed”: “We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth”
“Fruit” in faith:
THEREFORE I know that God made me
and everyone else, and we are all
priceless children of God
who deserve respect.
Clue #7
“Seed”: “We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.”
“Fruit” in faith:
THEREFORE I know that I, and all
other people, have a responsibility
to care for the earth
and all of its creatures.
Clue #8
“Seed”: “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ”
“Fruit” in faith:
THEREFORE I know that God
in Jesus Christ came down in person
to help our beautiful
but sometimes messed-up world.
Clue #9
“Seed”: We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
…for us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven”
“Fruit” in faith:
THEREFORE I know that Jesus came to give us
second chances by forgiving our sins
and helping us to learn to do the right thing.
Clue #10
“Seed”: “We believe in the Holy Spirit”
“Fruit” in faith:
THEREFORE I know I have a “coach”
who can guide and strengthen me
all through my life.
Now we’ve collected all of the clues. So where is the treasure? YOU are the treasure. You are all [I indicate the whole congregation] priceless children of God with limitless spiritual potential. If you embrace the smallest “seed” of faith, God can make that grow and grow into something truly extraordinary and wonderful.
Now let’s stand and say all these words of faith, and some more – the Nicene Creed.
The Rev. Dr. Francis A. Hubbard
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church
Riverside, New Jersey
October 3, 2010
Amos6:1a, 4-7
Psalm 146
1 Timothy 6:6-19
LUKE 16:19-31
Godliness and Contentment
Today’s scriptures paint a consistent, coordinated and vivid portrait of how rich people are supposed to behave – or else. Before we look at them in detail, there are two facts we need to remember. First, these readings are not political rhetoric from some self-appointed populist agitators. They are the word of the Lord, inspired Holy Scripture we need to pay attention to – or else. That’s awkward.
The other fact is even more awkward. By world-wide standards, nearly everyone in Burlington County is rich. Not just people in the wealthier towns, but here. By world-wide standards, if someone has a dwelling they either own or rent which has running water, indoor plumbing and central heat, and owns some form of transportation besides their feet, and has more than one pair of shoes, they – we – are rich. We may not feel rich, certainly not compared to those whose doings are so widely publicized like millionaire movie stars, athletes and business tycoons, bit compared to billions of people in the world, we are rich.
So, greetings, fellow rich people!
So, these readings are scriptures and they are for us, not just for Bill Gates and Warren Buffet (who incidentally often act like they really “get it”, based on the billions they are giving away).
The prophet Amos, the author of our first reading, was an outsider – someone from the southern Israelite kingdom of Judah called to visit and bring God’s word to the northern Israelite kingdom, Israel. Amos was a regular guy – a farmer, in fact – not an official member of the guild of the King’s prophets, men who mainly told the king what he wanted to hear. Amos was called by God to speak the truth to power – and he lived through it.
Amos especially denounced the top 5% of the population in income, those rich people in the capital city of Samaria who were “the idle rich” who enjoyed luxuries (like beds of ivory) while exploiting and living off the work of the rest of the people. He prophesied that they would go into exile and that their lifestyle would vanish.
Well, I’ve been to what’s left of that capital city of Samaria. You can walk through what used to be bustling streets where the ruins of pillars which once supported stores now stick up in the air from – dust. Nothing. Nobody. They are all gone. Last week, I mentioned Amos’ prediction of the exile of what became “the ten lost tribes of Israel.” That’s who we’re talking about. Things are very, very quiet in what used to be downtown Samaria. People didn’t listen to what Amos said about justice for the poor. He predicted that God would punish them. The results speak for themselves.
Our psalm today reinforces the picture of God as the one “who gives justice to those who are oppressed, and food to those who hunger.” “The Lord cares for the stranger; he sustains the orphan and the widow,” the psalmist says. The righteous, the psalm strongly implies, are those who likewise work for justice, care for the hungry, the stranger, the orphan and the widow, while the “wicked” are those who do not. Those who want to be on God’s side in the re-making of the world will do what righteous people do and become righteous.
There is a whole series of wonderful one-liners in today’s Epistle, this passage from the First Letter to Timothy. “There is great gain” – can you see the TV ads now which start out like this? But no, unlike the TV ads urging people to buy gold, or penny stocks, to go to a casino or to buy lottery tickets or whatever, today’s Epistle says, “There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment. [emphasis added.]” When was the last time you saw a TV ad promoting “godliness combined with contentment”? For the best and most important things in life, we have to create our own ads to promote them with ourselves. Or, even better, by our lives and our manner of living we can advertise both godliness and contentment!
Some people strive and strive to get and get and are never content. That’s sad – and so avoidable. Some people follow every urge and impulse which takes them away from godliness and end up as slaves to their own urges. How about some serenity and joy instead? “We brought nothing into the world,” the author writes, “so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.”
You know, I think some people in the current economic environment may be rediscovering the joys – and virtue – of simple pleasures. There have been a lot of injustices perpetrated on the majority of the people in the world by financial elites in the last few years – that’s my own opinion – but also some regular people have overextended themselves financially and gotten themselves hooked on too much debt. I listen to the news on the radio and the way some commentators report it, you’d think that people paying down debt and saving more money was bad! It is part of a major adjustment in this country – but if more people can discover the simple joys which are available inexpensively or free and have them as building blocks of a life of contentment, we will ultimately have a healthier, happier and holier society with more focus on peoples’ needs and less on what can become a literally endless list of “wants”.
[ I quote the hymn we sang just before the Gospel reading:] “’Tis the gift to be simple, ‘tis the gift to be free, ‘tis the gift to come down where we ought to be, and when we find ourselves in the place just right, ‘twill be in the valley of love and delight.” The valley of love and delight: sounds pretty good to me. The Shakers who wrote this hymn understood this 150 years ago; the author of the First Letter to Timothy understood this nearly 2,000 years ago. I bet there are some people right here today who understand about how much godliness and contentment can add to life. Let’s spread the word – and give thanks, as the Epistle says, to “God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”
There’s lots more in this passage. Please take it home and savor its words. But now let’s move on to the Gospel – Jesus’ story about the rich man and Lazarus. No, not that Lazarus, not the brother of Martha and Mary who Christ raised from the dead. This is another guy who happened to have the same name who was a poor man who was sick and hungry and lived right outside the gated driveway to the rich man’s house – and the rich man never even shared what fell off the table in his house with him.
Guess who went to Heaven and who went to Hell?
This is pretty simple. And it can also be hard. It is unredeemed human nature to think “me first, me second, me third, and anyone else when and if I get around to it.” And advertising and our materialistic culture reinforces that, so that sometimes even church-goers don’t pledge to charity.
There are consequences to “me-firstism.” Permanent, eternal, hellish consequences. Let’s all take this story home and read it as well this week. So, what to we do in response to these powerful scriptures?
Let me say that I’m working on all this, too: we are all works in progress, including preachers. So, I’m part of this adventure as much as anyone here may be.
First, as the slogan goes, “Live simply, so that others may simply live.” This can mean focusing less on our own consumption and more on what we can do to help others. Elda and I have tithed – given 10% of our income to charity, including but not limited to a church – ever since we were married. One of our joys is reflecting on how many lives we can lift up through our donations of time, talent and money. When God tells us to “love your neighbor as yourself” he expects us to do something.
“Live simply so that others may simply live” can also mean evaluating how we spend our money on necessary things. For example, conserving energy not only saves each of us money -- it helps the planet too, by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. If more people do that, fewer farmers in Bangladesh will lose their farms to the Indian Ocean, since global warming causes rising sea levels by melting glaciers and ice caps.
If we buy more of our food from our local farmers’ markets, that means we get food which is really fresh, it helps our local economy in Burlington County, and it means that less of the food we eat gets flown to us from thousands of miles away, meaning less expense to us – and oh yeah, fewer greenhouse gases, less global warming. Eating less meat and more high-nutrition vegetarian options saves money – and also lowers the environmental damage done by the meat industry, especially beef. There are dozens of things like this which regular people can do.
Second, “love your neighbor as yourself” also calls us to collective action. One person cannot fill the “Fishes and Loaves” food pantry for the hungry of Riverside, but together we can. And I see that the food pantry bin in the narthex is overflowing – well done, team! One person cannot cut extreme poverty in the world in half, but if Christians and all people of good will unite, together we can. One person cannot staff our town’s “Code Blue” shelter for the homeless every night that winter conditions are so bad that peoples’ lives are in danger if they sleep out on the street, but along with people from other churches in our area together we can.
A word about the Code Blue Shelter. Last winter was very tough. There were 53 “Code Blue nights” – a record. The people of the churches of our communities stepped up, and at the head of the line was St. Stephen’s, Riverside, with 10 volunteers who spent the night at least once.
This winter, we will invite anyone who served last year who can to serve again, and we will also be looking for new volunteers. Overnighting involves serving from around 6:30 pm to 7:30 am, including serving dinner and breakfast, and sleeping at the shelter, which is the parish hall of Zion Lutheran Church. Or, people can just come and help with meals if they wish. I will make a particular appeal, now and in the weeks to come: we will especially be looking for more men to help with this ministry. I will be one of the new male volunteers, but I sure hope I won’t be the only one.
-The words of the prophet Amos, the words of the psalmist, the words of the author of the First Letter to Timothy and the words of Jesus are all as timely as when they were first uttered. They are for all of us – and for our families, friends, neighbors and the world. Life is a team sport. Faith is a team sport. When one member of the team is suffering – like any of the millions of unemployed, the foreclosed upon, the homeless – other members of the team step up to help out, as a good number of the people of St. Stephen’s do right now within often extensive extended families.
In addition, if you trace all of our DNA back through the ages, scientists tell us now what the Bible has always told us: all human beings are related. We can join hands in this whole church – and imagine our hands linked with others all around the world – and say “we are family.” Sharing and caring can increase both our godliness and our contentment, which in turn can increase our sharing and caring, which makes the world a better place.
It’s hard to do sometimes. That’s why we need not only to make personal commitments but to be part of a community of commitment, to encourage and reinforce each other as we seek to be nothing less than part of the vanguard of the Kingdom of God. Together with Jesus, we can.
The Rev. Dr. Francis A. Hubbard
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church
Riverside, New Jersey
September 26, 2010
Amos 8:4-7
Psalm 113
1 Timothy 2:1-7
LUKE 16:1-13
Our Pyramids of Values
What is Jesus talking about in today’s Gospel story? It looks like he is commending a corrupt servant. And what do Jesus’ words have to do with today’s brief and powerful excerpt from the words of the prophet Amos, who clearly denounces those who cheat and exploit others for their own profit?
I have mentioned before that 1/6 of all of Jesus’ words as recorded in the New Testament and 1/3 of all of his parables are about our relationships with our possessions. Today’s Gospel is part of that package, part of his teaching about stewardship – about how we integrate our behavior towards our time, talent and money into our relationship with God.
The prophet Amos’ message is as simple as it is clear: “Rich people, don’t rip people off, especially poor people! God is ‘taking names’, and your names will be on God’s list for punishment if you do this.” We know from later history that the powers-that-be in ancient Israel did not listen to Amos, did not repent, and that nation was utterly destroyed by the Assyrian Empire in 727 B.C. Ever hear of “The 10 Lost Tribes of Israel”? That’s who I mean. Those tribes are still lost.
Amos’ words still ring true today to every nation today: treat everyone fairly and honestly no matter how little money or power they have, or God’s judgment will be severe.
But Jesus’ story at first seems to be paradoxical: how is the behavior of the corrupt manager in the story commendable? Well, it’s likely that when this guy in the story lowered the bills due to his master, what he was doing was eliminating his own personal add-on fee for himself which he had extorted from his master’s customers – or tenants – so that after he got fired – which he fully and rightly expected to be – the people who he – finally – had dealt honestly with would help him out. The dishonest manager was using his “street smarts” to save his own butt, in plain English.
And Jesus says to his followers: learn some “street smarts” yourselves and use them in the service of the kingdom of God as well as this guy used his own “street smarts” first to enrich himself illicitly and later to save his butt. There’s a thought. People who are trying to do the right thing can be just as canny as those who aren’t; no one should think that being naive or stupid is a necessary part of trying to be good.
Then Jesus makes an even bigger and more powerful statement: “No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
That may sound inexplicably harsh at first. People need to earn paychecks, right? Of course. Money itself is not bad. It all depends on where it ranks in your life. The Bible says that “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils” – not money, but the love of money. Jesus is telling us we have to choose which is most important in our lives: God – or money.
Money is a tool. It’s not good or bad in itself, it depends on how it’s used. A hammer is a tool. If it’s used to help someone build a Habitat for Humanity house, that’s good; if it’s used to bash someone’s head in, that’s bad. Few people are, thankfully, tempted to make a tool like a hammer the most important thing in their lives. Lots of people are tempted to make money the most important thing in their lives.
People live by a pyramid of values. By words and (especially) by deeds, people show what’s most important in their lives. Here is one Christian pyramid of values:
God
People
The Creation
Things
Symbols of things
As you can see, God is at the top – the highest value in a person’s life, just as Jesus repeatedly urged. Second highest on the pyramid of values is people, third is the creation – the universe, the earth, and all living creatures and living things. Fourth is things – inanimate objects like a table or a rug. And last is symbols of things.
This [I take out a dollar bill] is a symbol of things. This piece of paper does not, as itself, have much value. If you were cold, could you wrap yourself in it and get warm? [“No.”] Could you put it in a fireplace, light it and be warm for a while? [“No.”] If you had a cold, would it make a good tissue to blow your nose into? [“No.”]
This dollar bill only has value because people agree to assign a value to it. People accept it as representing so much labor of someone, and to swap pieces of paper like this – or their even less huggable plastic or electronic equivalents – for food, shelter, clothing, doctor’s bills, video games or whatever. Money is a tool, and as long as we put it in its proper place, it’s fine, and not a deadly spiritual problem.
But some people, whatever they might say, live their lives with this upside-down pyramid:
Symbols of things
Things
The Creation
People
God
For them, things are tools to get symbols of things (money). The Creation is nothing but a tool to get more money for themselves. People are tools to get more money for themselves. (Ever have a boss at work like this?) And God, if thought of at all, is merely thought of as a tool to get more money for themselves. Some churches have even stooped to this, the so-called “Prosperity Gospel,” praying, “O God, make me rich.”
Now, let’s look at these two pyramids. [I hold big pieces of tag board with each pyramid of values displayed, one on one and one on the other.] If the pyramid with God at the top were a real, three-dimensional pyramid, could it stand upright on the ground or on a floor in a stable way? [“Yes.”] When our values are in the right order, it makes our life strong whatever happens to us. If God is at the top, the pyramid is stable and strong, and the God-ward orientation of the pyramid percolates down from the top through all of the levels.
On the other hand, let’s look at the other pyramid, with God at the bottom. Would this be a stable three dimensional pyramid? [“No.” (This pyramid is the other one stood on its “head”, with the pointy-end down.)] Right. Try to stand a pyramid on its point and it falls over. Any three year old who plays with blocks could tell you that. With a pyramid of values like this, the person’s life crashes. Unless – they make it more stable by burying the point of the pyramid in the ground. So first, God “disappears” “below ground” in the person’s life, but that might not be enough to make their pyramid stable, so next, people “disappear” too, and maybe the Creation next, and perhaps these folks end up not even valuing their things – car, house, clothes, food – but only valuing their money.
That’s a life? That’s pathetic. It’s also Hell. Unfortunately, while building their own prison cell in Hell, they may also make life hellish for others.
All this may sound a bit abstract, so let me give some examples of what living by one pyramid of values or the other might look like. Let’s start with the upside-down pyramid, with money at the top.
Ever hear of a company named Goldman-Sachs? What kind of a person would you be if you labored long and skillfully to try to rig the financial system to make a few people fabulously wealthy while businesses went bankrupt, millions of people lost their jobs, home foreclosures rose dramatically and the poverty rate rose to the highest level in 45 years?
How far down is Goldman Sachs’ pyramid of values buried?
Or how about BP? The company had a lousy safety record before Deepwater Horizon failed so spectacularly last April. People? What about the eleven guys who were killed in the explosion? What about all those people in the Gulf who lost careers, jobs, a way of life? The Creation? Remember those pictures of oil-soaked pelicans in
the Gulf? There are days I’d like to take a truck load of their struggling, dying bodies and dump them on Tony Hayward’s picnic blanket the next time the BP CEO is watching yacht racing. You “want your life back”, Tony? How about the lives of God’s creatures, great and small? And millions more we can’t get pictures of because they suffocated at the bottom of the ocean, covered with goo. What does BP’s pyramid of values look like?
How about people like Michael Vick who organize dog-fighting rings for sadistic pleasure – and profit? How much of their pyramid of values is showing above the surface?
I could go on. I dare say all of you could come up with your own lists of people and organizations which have upside-down values.
So what does this pyramid [I hold up the tag board with the right-side up pyramid with God at the top] look like in action in real life? Well, we have to “open our eyes to see God’s hand at work in the world around us,” as The Book of Common Prayer puts, it, because generally people who live by these pyramids of values don’t make news.
It’s not an Internet sensation when someone has a simple, inexpensive meal once a week and uses the difference between that cost and their normal expense for a meal to buy food to put in the Fishes and Loaves food bank bin in the narthex.
It doesn’t make the network Evening News when someone picks up a person who is legally blind and drives her to church.
Oprah doesn’t interview everyone who spends a night at the Code Blue Shelter so that homeless people can have a safe, warm place to sleep in the middle of an ice storm.
Larry King doesn’t interview every caring adult who talks a kid out of using drugs, or every kid who goes out of her way to befriend a classmate who’s getting picked on, or every great-grandmother who brings her great-grandchild to Sunday School because otherwise he wouldn’t be able to come and meet Jesus. But all those people have pyramids of value which are pointed in the right direction.
Sometimes people do make the news for having the courage to put good values on the line when it is very hard. Remember the fire fighters who ran up the stairs of the World Trade Center on September 11 when everyone else who could was running down the stairs?
Most of us won’t be called upon to do something like that. But all of us are called to do something. It takes a lifetime to build a pyramid, but what counts is which way it’s pointed. You can have your pyramid of values this way [up] or that way [down, holding the poster boards, respectively, for those directions], but you can’t have it both ways. Pick one.
The Rev. Dr. Francis A. Hubbard
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church
Riverside, NJ 08075
September 19, 2010
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