For the Least of Us - Matthew 25 - Reign of Christ

For the least of us

Tony E Dillon Hansen

Sermon based upon Matthew 25:31-46, Psalm 100

Opening prayer

Happy Reign of Christ Sunday!

What does that mean?

It may be too tempting for us to go about our lives and complain that we don’t get enough respect or don’t have opportunities. Then shift blame to someone else, like our misery is not our doing but someone else’s.

I have often seen folks complain about people getting food stamps or unemployment checks and then complain when they don’t get their government money - like government money is only for the few and privileged.

Well aren’t the people on the corner going back to a nice apartment and nice cars? Really?  Panhandling is a charade?

When I have helped to run charity drives at work for food banks or families in need, there were people that absolutely refused to give anything.

People will complain about people for many reasons, but to knock someone who is already down, what does that say about that person?

Yet, if you are here in the church, if you are listening to the words of Jesus and you see this happening in your actions and thoughts, you are not heeding the words of the Lord.

No matter how we try to twist it or bend the rules, this is basis of what Jesus says. That in order to be among the first , one must be willing to be among the last.

“Just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.  

Christian is not just a nice title or things we put on walls. This a main theme of Matthew that of words, deeds, robes and such, these are meaningless when our hearts and minds are not filled with God. To be “Christian”, we must embody the words of Jesus - even when it feels difficult.

Just as Jesus described throughout Matthew (and Mark and Luke). Ministry is not about privilege and honors but what we do in God’s name - how we are the face of God to someone who needs it - how we are the image of Christ to people here on this Earth. That image is revealed in our actions and thoughts not just in a nice hall with stained glass windows on a Sunday morning , but in our daily lives. How do we live out these principles of extravagant welcome when even we need a little love in our hearts and little love extended to us?

Yes many of us here need some love - today - now - and you know what? You deserve love too. You need to share some love, first and foremost, with yourself. Learn to give yourself some of this blessing, and know that god loves you. Why? Because God loves you just the messy way you are.

Further, God wants for you to extend that extravagant love to others around you and especially those that really need it.  

This is love is for those at home and at the dinner table. This love is for those in the nursing home and hospitals. This love is for those who don’t have a home and lost a job. This love is for those who lost loved ones, who are searching for meaning, who are questioning the reasons why. You know who they are. Are you one?

This action of sharing love does things too. Not only are you doing what God tells us to do, but it raises our church and our community. It invites people to belong where they may not felt included. This act of sharing, much like what we do at UBFM, is without judgment but with a lot of love grace and caring.

No matter who you are or your time on this journey of life, you are welcome to the love of God. And if you feel imperfect and perhaps messed up, that love comes with gift of forgiveness - for you, for me and for those around you.

Yes love and forgiveness poured out for you who are well-to-do. You who are suffering, you who are struggling, you who are in sorrow, you who are black, white, Latino, woman, man, child, queer, indigenous, parent, alone, in prison, or sick. This love and forgiveness is especially for you.

That Beloved is the reign of Christ. This is a reminder that all life bears the image of God (Genesis 1:26:27) When you see someone, find God in them. Robes, and special clothing not needed. Places of honor unnecessary because the place we need to be is in the community with all the people. 

With the holidays upon us, the things we need are not on the shelves of stores or in the malls or in car lots. We remember to lift up love and forgiveness even to those we may question. For love and forgiveness is given to us and judgement is left to the Lord. 

So extend that love and forgiveness. Start now. Look to your left  and right, the person behind you or in front. 

Take a moment and practice sharing that love - reach to them and tell them God loves them and that they matter to you - that you love them. “Make a joyful noise.”

Now when you go out the door, don’t leave that love here. Take it with you. Take it with you where you go and smile because the love of God is with you. 

Know that the Lord is God. God made us and we are children of God. (Psalm 100)

Share that love with thanksgiving and praises.

That Beloved we do because …

Thanks Be to God

Cost of Foolishness - Matthew 25 - Proper 27A

The Cost of Foolishness

Tony E Dillon Hansen

Sermon based upon Matthew 25:1-13, Psalm 78, Joshua 24: 1-3, 14-25

Opening Prayer

What is the cost of Foolishness? That is our question this day.

This passage from Matthew talks about these bridegrooms that go and wait for groom that arrives later than most think, but only half of them are prepared to meet this would-be husband.

Those that weren’t have to go and fetch sense at the wrong time of day (or night).

Since we are talking bout Matthew. Being ready means something more than just saying the words. It means something more than wearing the dress, but also a state of mind and actions. 

Yet foolishness does something by doing nothing. It forgets, it doesn’t bother with questions, it doesn’t even consider the question. Foolishness leaves things that should not be and hides truth with excuses and rhetoric. 

It is the person who lets their car repairs go without attention and suddenly they can no longer stop. It is the person who ignores the doctor instruction to lose weight, stop smoking, or avoid alcohol and then wonders why they have huge medical bills.

Foolishness is telling the expert how things should be done but have no idea what that plan entails, who it impacts or how the many ways it could go wrong. Not prudent but ignorant. You’ve met this person.

Foolishness is the one who is drunk, drives and ends up killing the mother of kids in school.  The cost can be enormous - beyond measure.

I have done my fair share of foolish, and in each instance, I walk out with pain and misery. Yes foolishness does things besides causes us to scratch heads. It is the root of folly. It is ignoring basic fact. It is ignoring neighbors and our responsibility. It has costs and it hurts.

Foolishness is more than just not filling the lamp - remembering we should be the light of the world. It is the absence of taking heed, of caring and especially of understanding. I mean why should I care or attempt to understand?? Why should I worry what happens to those kids who don’t have a mother anymore? That is pouring out the fuel to burn.

I have learned German language so that I could speak with German folks when we were in Germany. Was it folly to spend time learning a language I would use with people that knew better English than us? I submit not because I could tell people appreciated hearing their “Muttersprache” or at least the attempt. 

Which is far more than we do here here, but often many simply demand that one knows and speak “American.” To be bilingual here is for some reason to be scorned and ridiculed. In fact, the mere presence of intelligence is feared and scorned as some sort of trickery. Excuses are given to ignore facts. That my friends is foolish.

That is why we have broken government, broken schools, broken institutions because we want to believe lies and folly rather than actually read and learn. It is the people in the back of the classroom making fun of those actually trying to learn the issues and lesson. You can see them and hear the jeers. That my friends is foolish.

When I tell you about experiences with the homeless, people will cast doubt and say they are just people making thousands of dollars, parking their cars block away only to “tug our hearts” on the corners. I can’t tell you how wrong that impression is. That my friends is foolish on many levels.

When we do these foolish things, we ignore our responsibility. We ignore humanity, and we ignore what we are taught -what we are commanded to do. There are costs both in real money and actual pain.

Yet our broken society celebrates the jeers, the material and the foolish too often. That is a broken society, broken people, looking for answers in the wrong places. That is people covering their eyes from the possible - covering their eyes of God. That hides the cost of not doing- not having faith. That my friends is foolish.

Because when we need God the most, when we are questioning everything, when we don’t have the answers, when we need guidance, when we can’t see the light at the end of the path, when we have just had enough… that is not a time for foolish… that my friends is when we need to look to our Creator. 

There is where we can find answers, peace, and love.  There is when we think not only about ourselves but we see the person on the corner as a person with the sign, who just a day ago was kicked out of the house. We don’t know the where or why’s, but they are homeless nonetheless. 

When we aren’t foolish, we might understand the panic of someone who just lost a job or someone who lost a spouse to a heart attack. We see the mom crying over a child murdered. We see the plight of millions stuck in unnecessary wars. 

There is where we take down the curtains of hate and fear - the curtains of foolishness. That is where we tear down the walls of fake invincibility and let the light of God shine upon us and reveal to us. That is the where we truly see. That is when we are more than just words, but God’s work on this earth - action and invitation. Thus invite the love of God.

And yes - That is why we need to keep fuel (the fuel of love, faith, and hope) in our lamps because we need to be the light of Christ to those around us when they need it. 

We see ourselves in our neighbors. Even more, we see God in them and in us. Plainly, we see God.

That Beloved, is where we find wisdom in love because in love we see God.

Yes we need to keep fuel in our lamps because we never know the day nor hour when the groom comes.  When God comes, let us be ready and inviting. 

Thanks Be to God