When God Seems Far Away

Hebrews 13:1-8

August 28, 2016

Mark S. Bollwinkel

            When you stand in the checkout line at the grocery store, do you, like me, enjoy reading the headlines of the weekly tabloids?  The National Enquirer, The Weekly World News, The Globe, The Sun, The Star contain such articles as “Montana Cannibal serves BBQ kid to his neighbors”, “Boy sneezes and his eyes pop out”, “Fire and Brimstone Preacher Spontaneously Combusts”, along with a headline article entitled, “Girl gives birth to a 32 Pound Baby!”

One of these tabloids ran a piece entitled, “Jesus Virus!” which explained how a mysterious computer virus was attaching itself to pornography programs, wiping them out and replacing them with scripture verses.  The author claimed this proved the existence of God.

            The existence of God has been the subject of theologians and philosophers for centuries.  And here we can buy Divine proof right in our own supermarkets!  What a country!

            This particular tabloid article on the “Jesus Virus” touches on a basic human need.  We want proof.  We want miracles. We want evidence that God is for real.

            Because God sometimes seems so far away.

            John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Movement, was an outstanding Christian leader, theologian and preacher.  But things didn’t always go so well for him.  He was a failure as a missionary to the colony of Georgia.  He returned to England in 1738 full of “discontent and self-reproach”.  In spite of the major contributions of Wesley to the faith, there were significant times when he doubted God.

            Albert Schweitzer was a brilliant theologian, organist and humanitarian.  He left fame and fortune in Europe to be a missionary doctor in West Africa.  He won the Nobel Prize for Peace.  But did you know Albert Schweitzer had a nervous breakdown during his imprisonment in Southern Germany as a World War I POW?  This man of peace could not reconcile the reality of a world at war with his ideals.  It took him four years to recover.  Even for Albert Schweitzer there came a time when God felt very far away.

            We might not want to admit that most of us are familiar with the sense of God’s absence.  We go to church on Sundays.  But few of us do not know the anger and sadness of unanswered prayer.  Few of us have not had to endure tragedy, dismay or disappointments in life.  Haven’t we at times felt all alone and abandoned by God? Don’t we also want proof of the Almighty’s existence?

            If God seems absent, I’d suggest it has more to do with us than God.

            I was a Little League coach for four years when my boys were younger.  To be honest with you, the hardest part of coaching a Little League team is the parents.  I once had a father yank his son off the field in the middle of an inning because the boy had missed a pop fly.  He had struck out the previous inning.  The father had been yelling at him from the stands.         Something about the little boy missing the pop fly motivated the Dad to march right out onto the field, grab his son by the arm, scold him in front of everyone and insist that he be benched.  This was an eight-year-old.  The kid was in tears.  The Mom was in tears.  I had to stop play while I asked the father to leave the field.  We had set up specific rules as a league for coaches and umpires to stop play if the parents were misbehaving and continue to suspend play until the adults left.

            The father was so caught up in “what other people would think”, as if his child were an extension of the father’s ego. So caught up in pride he could not even see the child’s need or ability.

            Any of us can fall into that place of tunnel vision when we block the reality of others with our own needs.  I can get so caught up in what I have to do that I don’t even see the people around me, like my wife or when my kids were little.

            I think we often do that with God.  We get so caught up in our busyness, our anxieties, and our own agendas that we pay little attention to the presence of God in our lives.  That may be one reason to explain those times when God seems far away.  They correspond to times when we are so full of ourselves that there is little room for God.

            I had the privilege of traveling to South Korea in 1978 to interview pastors involved in rural development.  I met one such pastor who had just been released from prison.  His efforts to organize a farmer’s rice cooperative were deemed subversive by the Korean government.  He spent a whole year in jail away from his wife, children and congregation.  He described his cell as a concrete square, 8 feet by 8 feet, with a small opening outside for ventilation but no window.  During the winter it would go below freezing.  He had only one thin blanket.  The pastor told me that his jailers allowed him a copy of the Bible for his personal use and that by reading it, he could literally warm up his body.

            After living almost five years in former colonies of the tropical world, I have often wondered how God can seem so close to those who suffer injustice, poverty and oppression while so often for those of us in the comfortable and prosperous world God can seem far away?  If church membership is any indicator of spiritual commitment, we have to wonder.  The religious affiliation rate in Germany and England, birthplaces of the Protestant church, are now below 10% of the population.  Their cathedrals are empty, now simply museums to the past.  Over all church membership across the United States is declining, with fewer people finding religious organizations relevant for their lives.  Yet in Africa, South Asia and Latin America the churches are thriving.

            God may seem distant to us because of the indifference afforded by our comfort and affluence.  May be we don’t think we need God as much as others do.

            Let’s be honest, as much as we might long for God’s presence we also fear it.

            Religion is for Sunday.  Life is for Monday through Saturday.  What does God have to do with paying the mortgage or getting the kids to piano lessons on time?  People who take God too seriously end up giving their money away or running off to become missionaries or spending too much time at church volunteering.  Maybe we keep God at a distance because we fear it would change our lives?

            United Methodist Bishop William Willimon, and former Dean of the Chapel at Duke University, tells the story of a professor there who had close connections with atheists in Russia.  Over lunch one day Rev. Willimon asked his colleague what his Russian atheist friends were like as people.  “That’s just it”, he replied, “They aren’t any different.  They are no different in conversation, morality and outlook than your average American.  They make their decisions, spend their money and decide on what they will do tomorrow the same way that we Methodists do.  When it comes down to it, it is as if we are all atheists.  We all live as if God doesn’t matter.”

            The writer of the letter to the Hebrews lists some of the characteristics, which identify a person for whom God does matter. “Mutual love…hospitality…compassion for those suffering…honoring marriage…contentment…courage…”  They make for a unique way of life.

            My father, Cal Bollwinkel, grew up in a household in New York City and Northern New Jersey where faith mattered but not in a stuffy, rigid way.  Prayers before meals were expected, as was attendance at his Lutheran church.  Most importantly his own parents by word and deed expected him and his brother Hank to treat all with curiosity, to always be honest, to do what they could to help others along the way.

            My Dad fell in love with radio as a boy and made professional broadcasting his goal after he returned from World War II to finish college.  It was at Michigan State University that he met my Mom.  After their wedding it would be in Michigan and Indiana that he would begin his career.

            You may not be aware that radio and TV broadcasting is one of the toughest, most competitive businesses in the world.  Few people can succeed in it.  Fewer make an entire career of it, but my Dad did.  At his retirement we heard the accolades that were spoken of him throughout his career; “Cal Bollwinkel is the nicest man in this business…Cal helped me get my first break…I could always go to Cal whenever I got into trouble…”

            My Dad always had a commitment to community service and volunteered in a variety of ways, winning recognition for his work with the Cancer Society in Sacramento.  He was an active leader in his United Methodist church and wouldn’t miss a Holy Communion service if you paid him!

            As a kid, when it came to fishing and camping my Dad was useless.  His idea of roughing it was staying in a Motel Six.  Quiet and emotionally reserved by nature and upbringing, it was easiest for us to talk baseball.  Yet his commitment to family, my Mom and me, was unequivocal. 

We had some conflicts back in the 1960’s, which we overcame.  He would have been the first to tell you that he could have done some things better as a parent.  He would have been the last person to claim perfection.  Yet Cal Bollwinkel with real commitment and to the best of his ability lived as if God mattered.   “Mutual love …hospitality …compassion for those suffering…honoring marriage…contentment…courage…” defined his life. 

            There are many who haven’t been nurtured by the love of a father.  I grieve that the absence of parental love is all too common.  I rejoice in the survivors who have found their way none-the-less or who are still on the path of healing.  God is with you.

We all may be searching for proof of God, but Divine reality can be as close as a parent’s love.     For those of us who are parents, or grandparents, or who aspire to be adult role models for children, could our children stand up before the world and say that they have seen God at work in their lives because of you? 

That is our challenge and our opportunity.  Are we living in such a way that the young ones in our midst know that God is close at hand?

              Because in the end, if God seems far away, guess who moved?

            Amen.

           

           

God Isn’t Done with Us Yet

I John 3:1-3

August 21, 2016

Mark S. Bollwinkel

            On the fourth of June 1783 in the market square of a French village named Annonay, not far from Paris, Joseph-Michel and Etienne Montgolfier took a giant first-step toward human flight.

            Tethered above a smoky bonfire was a huge cloth balloon, 33 feet in diameter.

“In the presence of a ‘respectable assembly and a great many other people’, and accompanied by great cheering, the [air machine] was cut from its moorings and set free to rise majestically into the moon tide sky.  Six thousand feet into the air it went and came to earth several miles away in a field, where it was attacked by pitchfork waving peasants and torn to pieces as an instrument of [the devil]” (Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, Ballentine Books, New York, 1986, pp. 133-137).

            Benjamin Franklin was one of the “respectable” observers there.  He was in France as Ambassador from the new American states.  He was asked what possible good this balloon experiment could be, and he replied, “What good is a newborn baby?”

            Later, he would write in his journal, “This balloon will open the skies to mankind” (Fulghum).  However prophetic those words were about the potential for human flight, his first remark described that potential best.

            “What good is a newborn baby?”

            Infants are totally dependent, utterly selfish, and completely rude as they burp and fill their pants whenever they please.  Babies cry when they want, wake their parents whenever they want and are exhausting to live with.

            Yet we put up with these inconveniences, gladly, because in holding that small creature, we hold all that is important and possible.  The baby will grow and learn and explore new things.  The baby, by nature, will never remain the same.  It is an instrument of change, of progress, and of new life.

            When Ben Franklin compared the first balloon to a newborn, he was not only talking about a technology that would revolutionize the world.   He was also pointing to a fundamental truth about human life.

            To be alive, means to grow and change and explore.

            To be alive, means to risk and learn.

            That is what babies do, along with spitting up and smiling.

            That’s what it means to be a child of God.

            It’s easy to forget that when you turn 40 and you’ve got bills, teenagers and careers for which to be responsible.  Change is threatening when people are counting on you.  Middle age is not a good time to rock the boat.  Rather it is a good time to buy a house, invest in stocks, and compliment the boss.

            It is easy to forget that being a child of God involves risk when you’re 60 years old.  You’ve got to plan for retirement.  You might face your first surgery or see your kids divorce.  Some of your dreams have come true.  Some have been broken.  Now are the years when you are supposed to enjoy the “dues” you’ve paid.  We don’t think of 60 as an age to change, so much as an age to hold on to what you’ve got.

            It is easy to forget that being alive is all about growth when you are 80.   When many of the ones you loved are already gone.  It hurts just to get up in the morning. Routine becomes crucial.  Simplicity becomes a requirement.  Existence is risky enough without having to consider learning new things, making new relationships.

            A reporter was interviewing an old man who was celebrating his 100^th birthday.  “What are you most proud of?” he asked.  “Well,” said the man, “I’ve lived 100 years and haven’t an enemy in the world.”  “What a beautiful thought.  How truly inspirational,” commented the reporter.  “Yep,” added the centenarian, “I’ve outlived every last one of those SOBs!” (Sons of Bums)

            Of course, it is possible to live a long and healthy life and never get the point of being alive.  In fact, the quality of our living has got little to do with the number of years on our driver’s license.

            John Gardner, former Chairperson of Common Cause, gave a speech in which he described the plateau many people discover in middle age.  “So you scramble and sweat and climb to reach what you thought was the goal.  And when you get to the top, you stand up and look around and chances are you feel a little empty.  Maybe more than a little empty.  You wonder whether you climbed the wrong mountain” (“Oasis”, March 1976).

            People 35-45 often describe their lives with the sudden feeling of, “Well, it that all there is?!”  It can be pretty depressing.  It wasn’t the goal itself that was so exciting as much as “the getting there”.

            At 100 years of age, Grandma Moses was painting.

            At 92, George Bernard Shaw wrote another play.

            At 89, Albert Schweitzer headed a hospital in Africa.

            At 80, George Burns won his first Academy Award.

            When he was 90, Pablo Casals, the renowned cellist, was asked, “Why do you still practice so many hours a day?”  To which he responded, “Because I think I am improving!”

            It is not the number of years that determines the quality of our living so much as our commitment to grow and learn and risk.

            In our scripture lesson this morning, John writes to his small church in a time of great difficulty and trial.   They are being persecuted by Jewish authorities and the Romans for their faith in Jesus.  The stress under which they live divides them by anger and fear.

            The apostle writes one of the most beautiful and profound letters of early church history, in which he describes love, forgiveness and the peace available to us in Jesus Christ.

            He also reminds them that they are “children of God”, encouraging words to a church living in a hostel world; “Beloved, we are God’s children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be…”  John is talking about their hope in the coming of Jesus at the End of History.  Till then, we who are faithful are to remember that God loves us and is forming us into the people God intends us to be.

            John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Movement, talked about Sanctifying Grace; the nurturing love which God bestows upon us after we have made our commitment for God, forming us into the people we are meant to be.

            This sanctification is a never-ending process in the life of the believer, as each and every day, each and every challenge, success or failure, is used by God as an opportunity for us to grow.

            In each decision we make at work or at home, in each conversation with friend or customer, God is actively present, seeking to lure us to the best for us and for others.

            Sanctifying love is formative and challenging.  Sometimes tough, sometimes limiting, that love is always there and will not let us go.

            The Christian life is one committed to continual growth and change, one trusting God’s working and testing and nurturing in our lives.  Regardless of age, success or comfort, we are the ones for whom “it does not yet appear what we shall be…”

            Larry Walter might illustrate the point.  He could be considered a lunatic or a hero.  He might have been both.

            Walter was a truck driver.  He would sit in his lawn chair in his backyard in Los Angeles and wish that he could fly.  The time, money, education and opportunity for Larry to be a pilot just never came.  So he spent a lot of summer afternoons sitting in his backyard in his ordinary old aluminum lawn chair, just like the ones we all have in our backyards, dreaming about flying.

            In 1986, when he was 33 years old, Larry Walters hooked to his aluminum lawn chair, 45 helium-filled surplus weather balloons.  He strapped on a parachute [good idea!].  He carried with him a CB radio, a six-pack of beer, some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches [bad combination!] and a BB gun to pop some of the balloons when it came time to come down.

            He thought he would go up a couple of hundred feet over his neighborhood.  Rather, when he let go of the ropes, he shot up to 11,000 feet, right through the approach corridor to the Los Angeles International airport.

            You can only imagine what the pilot of the Sheriff’s Helicopter must have thought when he found a man with a BB gun, hovering in a lawn chair at 11,000 feet!

            When he came down outside of San Bernardino, Larry was arrested and paid a big fine.

            When asked by a reporter why he did it, he said, “You can’t just sit there and dream.”  When asked if he was scared, he answered, “Wonderfully so.”  When asked if he would do it again, he said, “Nope.”  And asked if he was glad that he did it, he grinned from ear to tear and said, “Oh, yes!” (Fulghum, pp. 138-140) 

            I would not recommend that anyone ever try such a thing ever again.  But the spirit of the event was inspiring.

            These are anxious times.  Threats of international terrorism, gun violence in our communities and the most bizarre election cycle in recent memory have most of us on edge.  The media exploit our worries and daily blow things out of proportion while ignoring real human suffering and potential here and around the world. 

            Our personal lives may face illness, economic and/or relationship stress.   Don’t beat yourself if you find these times confusing.  There is a lot to be confused about to be sure!

            As difficult and painful as life can be, even in crisis, new opportunities open possibilities for us to grow and prosper, especially in our relationship to God.

            We will only be defeated if we stop dreaming, if we stop growing, if we stop learning new things.  Regardless of our chronological age the quality of our living is determined ultimately by our capacity for hope. 

            As General Douglas McArthur once put it, “You are as young as your faith, you are as old as your doubt.  You are as young as your confidence, as old as your fear.  You are as young as your hope, as old as your despair.”

            God who is not distant but present in our lives actively seeks to guide us on the way.  If convinced that we have become all that we ever will be, whether convinced by failure or physical limitations or heartbreak, remember this, we are children of God.  

And God is not done with us yet.

            Amen.

           

Is God Still Speaking?

Philemon 1:1-20

August 14, 2016

Mark S. Bollwinkel

            Preachers usually ignore the letter of Paul to Philemon.  It contains no parables.  It has no dramatic appeal for faith, conversion or service.  One of the benefits of following the church appointed schedule of Sunday morning scripture lessons we call the “lectionary” is that it forces us to consider texts we would rather just avoid.  The Bible has much more to it than the Beatitudes and Ten Commandments.  Sections such as Philemon are difficult to understand or appreciate.

            Philemon is simply a personal letter from the apostle Paul to a dear Christian friend in Colossae (Colossians 4:9) regarding Onesimus a runaway slave.  The runaway slave becomes a devoted member of Paul’s community and a beloved servant.

            Consider that prisons in the first century CE did not have food services, laundries or medical clinics.  It was up to the friends and families of the prisoner to feed and care for them.  There was constant traffic in and out of a jail by such people under the watchful eyes of the guards, vigilant not only for security but for potential bribes.  Such friends and family brought in food, washed clothes and tended the wounds of the prisoners.  Slaves were also allowed to continue serving their master if the master were imprisoned.

            Paul sends Onesimus back to his master Philemon with a letter in hand.  Paul wants Onesimus to meet his legal obligations as a slave.  He wants Philemon to treat his slave with forgiveness.  And!  Paul makes a pointed request for Philemon to donate Onesimus to him and send Onesimus back to Paul because Paul really needs his service while he is in prison.

            There is no appeal by Paul to free Onesimus from slavery.  There is no condemnation of slavery as an institution.  In fact, Paul accepts the institution as “business as usual” (note; I Corinthians 7:20-24, Colossians 3:22-4:1).  One of my New Testament professors at seminary suggests that in the first century 90% of the world’s population were slaves or indentured servants.  Slavery was an accepted and normal way of life.  As such, the apostle wants Onesimus to face the consequences for his illegal flight.  Paul clearly wants and needs the services of a slave for himself while imprisoned.

            This may be hard for us to hear.

            You and I find the notion of slavery barbaric and intolerable.  It is awkward for us to hear Paul, one of our Christian heroes, speak so complacently about such an evil business.

            We forget that the end of legal slavery is recent to human history.  The first nation to ban slavery, England, did not do so until the 1700’s.  Our own nation didn’t do so till just 140 years ago.  Although slavery is now illegal throughout the world it still exists as an underground trade.  According to the US State Department 20-30 million people live in slavery or indentured servitude today, more in numbers than any time in history.

            Slavery was accepted as a normal part of life in Biblical times.  It was not considered wrong.  In the Old Testament we find numerous verses describing the rules and regulations for the treatment of slaves (note; Leviticus 19:20, 25:39-55, Deuteronomy 21:10-14 as a few examples).  Slaves were taken as captives in war.  Adults sold their children or even themselves into slavery to pay off debts.  It was a legal punishment for certain crimes.  Those born to slave parents, became slaves themselves, mere pieces of property for their owner.

            In the New Testament slave labor was considered basic to the economy of Palestine and the Roman Empire as a whole.  No New Testament writer spoke against slavery as an institution.

            Jesus did not condemn it.

            The Bible assumes slavery to be an acceptable part of life, while we find it repulsive.

            No wonder preachers avoid Philemon like a plague!

            Forgive the history lesson but it does raise an important question about how we approach the Bible.  What do we do with these texts?  If the Bible is irrelevant for us today in certain passages, is it meaningless in others?  Can we pick and choose what is relevant and ignore that parts that don’t speak to us?

            The answer to our dilemma really depends on how we are going to read the Bible.

            During the Civil War, Methodist preachers in the south cited verses in the Old and New Testaments to justify from their pulpits the “holy necessity” of slavery.  Today White Supremacists in Idaho, California, Germany and South Africa cite certain Biblical passages to prove their convoluted doctrines of racism.

            The Scriptures were written and compiled over an 1,800-year period, involving hundreds of people.   The Bible contains 66 books, thousands of chapters, hundreds of thousands of words.  Someone can justify just about any crazy notion by picking out a Biblical verse or two as a proof text.  [Please note Genesis 6:4 of the KJV, “There were giants in the earth in those days…mighty men which were of old, men of renown.”  Notice there is no mention of “Dodgers” in the Bible only “Giants”!]

            What if we took Psalm 137, verse 9, out of context, “Happy shall he be who takes your babies and dashes them against the rock!”?

            Frightening, sick and sometimes powerful people have throughout history, and still today, approached the Bible first with their hatred, bigotry and politics in mind.  They have come to the Bible not to listen, certainly not to learn. 

Rather, this is how we should read the scriptures.

First, each and every word, every verse, every chapter must be taken in the context of the whole.  We call the Bible the Word of God, from Genesis to Revelation.  Each bit of that whole is best understood in relationship to each other.

Psalm 137 is a song of lament and despair by the Jerusalem exiles, held in captivity in Babylon following the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE.  They longed to return to their homes.  They longed to see justice done to those who brutally destroyed their dreams.  These are the people who ignored the prophet’s warnings.  These are the people who wait for the new Messiah to usher in the reign of God. 

Yes, they sing about revenge on the children of their Babylonian oppressors.  They also sing, “By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion…how shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?”  Their children shall one day leap and sing for joy when Jesus is born in Bethlehem, marking the end of their suffering and the beginning of God’s promise for a new covenant, just as the African slaves in the southern states of American shared their songs and hope in the Gospel.

The Bible records the relationship between a people and the One God, the God of love, who seeks to save them.  Each verse must be seen in light of this overall message.

We do a great disservice to the Bible when we pick it apart, holding up this part while ignoring that part, citing this verse here, while ignoring that verse there.

Second, we need to respect the historical context out of which the Bible was written, respect it for its richness and its limitations.

That the Bible condones slavery does not mean the Bible is irrelevant for us today because we no longer do.

The Bible contains dietary laws against eating pork and shellfish, and mixing dairy product with other foods.  That we now have refrigeration making such injunctions unnecessary does not make their intent irrelevant.  That the faithful believed that the Almighty God even cared about their daily health and safety still speaks to us today.

Most of the Bible reflects a dominant paternalistic culture that de-valued women, considering them as less than full human beings.   We no longer think that way.  That does not make the Bible irrelevant.  It does make Jesus’ respect for, and inclusion of, women in his ministry even more astonishing.

God is a God of history, involved in the lives of human beings.  Thus, their history and circumstance helps to form the Word of God they were given to speak.

It’s crucial for us to know that and understand that history in its own context rather than imposing our own point of view.

Thirdly, we must remember that God is still speaking.

One of the most important things the Bible records is how God continually breaks into human history with a new Word.

Yes, Paul assumed the correctness of the institution of slavery, but listen to a radically new Word from God when Paul writes to Philemon, urging him to welcome his run away slave home “no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother”.

Philemon had a legal right to have Onesimus put to death as a runaway slave.  Few masters would treat their slaves as equals let alone as members of the same family yet Paul will go on to write in Galatians that in Christ we are no longer “male or female, Jew of Gentile, slave or free” (3:27-28).

Paul says this in a society that accepts slavery as the norm.  It is a radical breaking of traditional social barriers.  He suggests that there is a radical equality in the Body of Christ that the world cannot understand, an equality that points to God’s promised future when all will be free.

Paul did not think of himself as a social revolutionary.  He does not condemn the institution of slavery.  But his proclamation of the gospel is revolutionary none-the-less.

            This is one important reason that the early church understood the letter to Philemon as sacred.  It’s another example of how God breaks into history with a new Word.  The words in Leviticus and Deuteronomy regulating slavery were not God’s last words on the subject.

            The Word of God is a dynamic and active force in creation.  God did not stop speaking once the Bible was complied as we know it in the 4^th century AD.

            In the 1700’s in England, and in the 1800’s in the United States, God spoke a new Word; slavery was an abomination to be banned from the earth.  Those words might not be found in the Bible, but God’s intent for all people to be considered free, certainly can.  We are called today to continue to fight slavery wherever we find it!

            In the 20^th century, God spoke a new Word to us about the status and role of women.  They are not second-class citizens.  They deserve complete respect, safety and opportunity as all others.  Those words might not be found literally in the scriptures but God’s intent for such equality certainly can.

            If we come to the scriptures with our minds made up about what we want to find there, we will not hear what God is saying, then or now.   The Bible is no historical relic to be kept on the shelf.  It is still the sufficient rule and guide for understanding the Word as it is spoken today.  If we come to the Word with open hearts and minds the Bible can feed us.  It can point us to the direction of God’s constant care.

            So what might God be saying to us today, here in Carmel-by-the-Sea?

            What new and transforming Word might be right in front of us to hear?

            That is, if we think that God is still speaking…

            Amen.

           

Centering On the Spirit 

Luke 12:13-21, 13:22-24 

August 7, 2017 

Mark S. Bollwinkel

            In the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says, “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.  For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life and those who find it are few” (7:13-14).

            The “broad way” is the way of conventional wisdom (note: Marcus J. Borg, Jesus A New Vision, Harper San Francisco, 1987, pp.104-ff).  In Jesus’ day it was conventional wisdom to place one’s security in your family’s name, in your wealth and possessions, in one’s honor in the eyes of others and especially in religion.

            Eternal salvation depended on following the details of religious rules and regulations. Those who went to the sacrifices in the Temple, those who paid their tithes to the priests, those who followed the 613 basic rules of orthodoxy were closer to heaven than those who didn’t.

            For Jesus, security in life could not be found in family name, wealth, honor or religious piety.  The only security in life was to be found in God.

            Is it so different today?

            The Broad Way is to trust that accomplishment and conformity will make us safe.  The Broad Way is to work 60 hours a week making money to pay the bills we stay up at night worrying about, while a “Born To Shop” sticker is glued to our car’s bumper.  The Broad Way is to think we are better than others because we live in America or because we are middleclass or because we are in church this morning.

            The Broad Way is the conventional wisdom that convinces us we can make this life secure with what we buy, through what we earn, by what others think.

            For Jesus, the only security in life is to be found in relationship to God.

            Before Jesus concludes “…enter through the narrow door…” in this morning’s scripture from the gospel of Luke, he tells the parable of the “rich fool” who builds bigger barns while investing little in his spirituality (12:13-21).  There Jesus warns, “Take care!  Be on guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”

            He can’t be talking to us, can he?

            He is talking about a “rich man”.  Few of us consider ourselves “rich”.  The average medium annual income for an earthling is $1,250.   If we live on $ 34,000 or more a year, we are among the wealthiest 1% of the earth’s population (Daily Mail, 1/5/12). 2.8 billion people live on $2 or less per day. 

Let’s be honest, we’re “the rich”.

            Jesus is talking about people who believe that “when I earn enough money, when I pay off the bills, when I have enough saved, then I can sit back, relax and enjoy life.”

            Do you know any people like that?

            Jesus is talking about us!  And he is warning us that building bigger storehouses for our “stuff” cannot save one’s soul.

            The Broad Way is to live convinced that our efforts to earn money and the approval of others is the only way to make life worth living.  It is a life full of exhaustion and anxiety.

            The Narrow Way is to live convinced that the life worth living is a gift of God.

            Jack and Doris lived the Narrow Way.  Both were schoolteachers all of their lives, working with kids.  In spite of their modest incomes, they saved and invested most of what they earned.  By the time I met them in their retirement, their net worth was over a million dollars.  But you’d never know it by appearances.  They didn’t dress in fancy clothes or drive expensive cars.  Their house was small and a vacation for them was a trip to visit relatives in Texas.

            They were the largest donors to our small church in Reno.  They contributed thousands of dollars to other causes in their community.  They were active everyday, collecting food for the Food Bank, teaching English as a second language to refugees, working with a host of service organizations in the community.  Their home was full of friends and family.   Dinnertime was a joyous occasion.

            They were not prudes.  Neither were they pious, in the stuffy, self-righteous sense of the word.  They loved to argue politics, laugh at a good joke and sing the music of the church.

            Doris was diagnosed with cancer two years before anyone else knew.  It wasn’t that she was hiding anything.  Her family was aware of what was going on.  But this illness that would eventually take her life just was never as important as all the causes and friends and the church that she lived for.  She took her medicine and followed her doctors’ orders, but the cancer wasn't the first thing on her mind.  Serving others and her God was.

            The last six months of her life were painful and limited.  She died with Jack by her side, just after her pastor left with a prayer.  Her funeral filled the church and we cried and laughed and sang.  She will long be remembered by her students, her friends, that little church and me.

            Although materially comfortable, her life was not defined by her possessions.  Although open to tragedy and suffering, her life was not defined by her worries.

            Jack and Doris were people of the Narrow Way.  Not centered on what others thought of them or what they owned, but centered rather on the Spirit of the loving God.  And as such they were free to love and live as few of us do.

            We have folks just like Jack and Doris in this congregation, folks who follow the Narrow Way, folks who have learned that life is more than the “stuff” we accumulate and worry so much about.  They teach us by their examples.  They are teaching me.

            We will be receiving the sacrament of Holy Communion this morning.  In this worship we will be offered a tiny piece of bread and a swallow of grape juice.  It may not seem like much, but they are symbols of so much more.

            Of forgiveness.  Of a new chance in life.  Of the invitation to walk in the Narrow Way.

            Our lives need not be prisoner to the stress of anxiety over things we cannot control.  Our lives need not be limited by the illusion of “enough”.   Rather, our lives can be defined by the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord, which simply calls us to find life’s meaning and purpose in love and compassion. 

Amen.

Putting Our Money Where the Heart Is

Luke 12:32-40

July 31, 2016

Mark S. Bollwinkel

On October 19, 1991 an urban fire sweep through the Oakland Hills just east of San Francisco.  Wind, temperature, humidity and fuel conditions here perfect for the fire to build into a fire storm.   25 people were killed, 150 injured, over 3,000 homes and apartments were destroyed including the home of Don and Betsy Minkler, Bonnie’s parents and my in-laws.

They choose to rebuild their beautiful home there.  Betsy lives there now.   Don passed away from Alzheimer’s eight years ago.

A year after the fire, the Roble Road neighborhood held a party to honor the firefighters who tried to save the homes in that area…two of whom had to jump into the next door neighbors’ swimming pool to survive…they said they knew her home was a special place.

Today at the base of the hill you can see a memorial park dedicated to the lives lost and the brave and men who fought that fire.

They are heroes indeed.  Like the firemen, police and paramedics who went up the stairs as the towers came crashing down in New York on 9-11, uniformed “first responders” are a special breed of people, willing to risk their lives for others.  And we are grateful for their service.

In the face of natural or human disasters it is often asked by parents and grandparents “What do we say to children?”   Fred Rogers of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood would respond, "Look for the helpers. No matter how bad things get there are always those who choose to help.  Look for the helpers."

We all want to be those kind of people.   What can we simple citizens do when disaster threatens?  We’re not heroes.  We’re not trained to daily put our lives on the line for others.    In the face of this week’s Soberanes fire right here in our area, what can we do to help?

Although it may sound simplistic, we can make it easier on the “first responders” by taking their advice preparing our property for wild fires.    We can have Red Cross and emergency earthquake kits on hand.   We can develop a family disaster communication plan so you and your loved ones can know if you’re safe and sound.  (If you don’t know how to text on your phone learn how!  When disaster strikes and the power is out, texting takes only a fraction of the energy of the microwave system to get your message through, far more efficient and the system will be up and running way before phones or radio.)

Carmel Chamber of Commerce is collecting blankets and cell phone chargers for the evacuation center at Carmel Middle School.  Neighbors have been collecting food, water and supplies.   And although it may seem insignificant, we can donate money to local fund raising efforts supporting the disaster response in our area.   These things may seem small in comparison to the sacrifice we ask of our “first responders” but they are never-the-less important.

Money is so loaded a subject in church it makes many preachers hesitant to bring the subject up.   The problem is that Jesus wasn’t.   Jesus wasn’t reluctant at all to deal with such a powerful force in our lives in the light of faith.

There are more than 700 verses in the Bible dealing with money or material wealth.   Most of Jesus’ parables concern money or possessions.  For Jesus the issue wasn’t so much money in itself as how we get it and what we do with it once we have it.

He says in our lection this morning, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.  Sell your possessions, and give alms; provide yourselves with purses that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

Jesus knew the depth of anxiety that is rooted in our lives about money.  Jesus is fully aware of how our envy and compulsion for money and things can eat away at our relationships and self-esteem.

In Luke, Jesus urges us to have confidence that the Kingdom of God we seek is not a futile search for something beyond our grasp.  We are to seek intimacy with God and others confident that God wants us to have it.  It is something we can count on.  Thus we can be free from fear about our material wealth.  It can’t buy us security anyway.  Often it only gets in the way of really living.

There is a warning implied in Jesus’ message, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”  For many of us that would mean the MasterCard, our mortgage company or our stock portfolio is where we are putting our hearts because that is sure where we are putting our money.  Are you losing sleep over money problems?  Then that is where your heart is.

Remember, Jesus doesn’t question money itself so much as what we do with it.  Jesus is not an ascetic.  When he suggests that we sell our possessions he is not suggesting that we all go live in caves.  Meeting our financial responsibilities and providing for our families is essential stewardship of God’s resources.  But Jesus is challenging us to consider if we are putting our money where we want our hearts to go.

It’s not about the amount of money we donate to good causes.  It’s about the heart with which we give.

Dr. Russell H. Conwell, author of the book Acres of Diamonds (1890) tells this story:

At the turn of the 20th century, at an east coast city, a sobbing little girl stood near a small church afraid to go into a Sunday school room.  She wore shabby clothes and was dirty.  The Pastor guessed that she had felt uncomfortable and took her into the class himself, where she was welcomed and included.

Two years later the child lay dead in one of the poor tenement buildings nearby.  The parents called for the pastor who had befriended their daughter to handle the final arrangements.   As her poor little body was being moved, a worn, crumpled purse was found.  Inside was 57 cents and a note, “This is to help build the little church bigger so more children can go to Sunday school.”  She had saved up the money for two years.

A newspaper got a hold of the story and published it.  Church members made large donations as a result.  Checks came from far and wide.  Within five years the Sunday school fund had grown to $250,000, all because of the little girl’s witness of faith.

The next time you are in Philadelphia, look up Temple Baptist Church, with a seating capacity of 3,300 and Temple University, where hundreds of students are trained.

Have a look at Good Samaritan Hospital and at a Sunday school building in the same complex, which houses hundreds of Sunday Schoolers each week.

In one of the rooms in that building may be seen the picture of the sweet face of that little girl whose 57 cents inspired a century of ministry.   

Little things can make a huge difference.

Jesus’ point is that it’s not about how much we give it’s about the heart with which we give.

Remember the ice bucket challenge a few years ago?  Sponsored by the ALS Association it raised over $115 million.  It went viral with celebrities such as Bill Gates pouring ice cold water over themselves challenging others to do the same while donating.  This week a genetic breakthrough discovered through research funded by the ice bucket challenge was just announced.  It will really make a difference in the effort to fight this disease. (http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/27/12296666/als-ice-bucket-challenge-research-funds)

Whether it’s contributing to the Walk to End Alzheimer’s, or attending the Wayfarer Women’s luncheon, to donating to the American Red Cross Soberanes fire response, even our smallest gifts can really make a difference.

Whether all you have to give is your time, a talent, your presence simply being there or some of your money, be thankful for the opportunities to give.

Those responding to this week’s Soberanes fire remind us again and again, “We make a living by what we earn.  We make a life by what we give.”

Amen.