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Where is Your Treasure
Tony E Dillon Hansen
11 August 2019
A Sermon based upon Hebrews 11:1-3,8-16, Luke 12:32-40,
Isaiah 1:16-17
Let us begin with prayer. May the words of my mouth and
meditations of all of our hearts be accepted in Your sight, Our Rock and Our
Redeemer!
These past weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions
and work for me.
I travelled with a group from UUCC on a mission trip to
CRST. Statistical data of the Midwest shows the reservation as persistent rural
poverty. The Lakota people are proud of their heritage but mistrusting
of white man due to decades of neglect, hurt and manipulation. In this
environment, Brian, the founder of Simply Smiles, has managed to set up a
summer camp and community center in La Plant. His group is planning and
building a children’s foster care village adjacent to the camp.
Our mission for this trip was 1) to plan and run (with
Simply Smiles staff and interns) a summer camp for reservation youth and 2) to
begin building this foster-care village.
There were some great times and experiences with
piggyback rides, hikes, and otherwise, but 40 kids full of energy can be exhausting
after a few hours!
Of the construction, due to the high winds of South
Dakota, Brian opted to base the structure upon concrete reinforced steel. Each
slab weighs over 400 pounds and took no less than 8 people to move or place
each one. By the end of the week, we were all tired.
Still, the experiences with the youth as well as great
conversations with local activists and elders revealed even more depth to today’s
scripture lessons. The mission helped to put perspective about faith and
treasures - not only on the reservation but I believe in our lives
here.
What is Faith?
Hebrews defines faith as the assurance of things hoped
for and things not seen. Further, faith is a gift given to us by God – someone
we cannot see. Then again, our eyes can deceive us because we might use the
lenses of our ego to see rather than let God unfold it before us. (We have
talked a bit about this.) We want to
deserve rather than giving space for grace.
Faith, by itself, is not certainty. If you are
absolutely certain, then you leave no room for faith to work; you leave no room
to grow. When you leave no room for God to work, we are truly alone.
Faith when we fail.
This is especially important when we find ourselves certain
about doom and shame. When we fail is when faith becomes important because
we need someone to encourage us. (I wonder who.) We need reassurance telling us
there is more than failure.
Faith when we succeed.
As well, when things are going well (seeming to go our
direction) is when we should review our faith. We might give thanks for the
good fortune we enjoy, and we can observe those around us struggling. We can offer
support (instead of patronizing). It is a form of that “loving neighbor” thing
that Jesus talks about.
In fact, we know how easily good fortune can change into
something else… like that doctor’s report: one minute you are healthy and the
next you have cancer; Or one minute your pregnant and next your learn the child
wont survive childbirth; Or a person with years of service finds out the layoff
list includes them; Or when government promises to stay off your land but
arrives to take children out of your tribe; (or when a company wants to build a
leaky pipeline under the river that is water source for 6 states plus those
connected the Mississippi.)
So faith gives us hope and encouragement to live in the
moment; strength when we need.
Is Faith Our Treasure?
This speaks to what Jesus tells us in Luke. First, Jesus reassures
us with “do not be afraid” but follows with “sell our possessions and give
alms.” (What??!) I am not sure about you, but if someone told me this, I
might be little perplexed… because I like my stuff.
Yet, that might be the key here, it is just
stuff. I was reminded of this during the last week because my stuff embodies
my materialism – my unnecessary.
For example, I share this picture of Gandhi’s last
possessions and ask what is here. What is so important in the picture that
these were the last of Gandhi’s possessions. What about clothes,
jewelry, houses and other things? Why were they not in this picture?
Let me point out the incense and prayer bowl – perhaps Gandhi treasured
faith. Do you?
Where is Your Treasure
Jesus says “for where your treasure is, there your heart
will be also.” What exactly is your treasure and what would be in
your last ten things? Could you condense down to ten?
Of that last one, our privilege allows us to amass
“treasures” for ourselves, and we like to keep stuff for
ourselves. Yet, I remind you that you are talking about stuff; stuff
that can and does often collect dust – and will not follow you into the
afterlife.
Maybe, we fear scarcity - not having enough or running
out. I feel like this especially when we have guests where I want to
make sure there is enough for everyone and not run out. Yet, if you
look at our houses and rooms. What’s on our walls and around us that
we need to collect more? Inversely, What do we leave behind in the store or on
Amazon if we do not buy it?
Is this really how we measure our personal
worth? Is that where our heart is?
I did this exercise with Stephen ministers, and we asked
ourselves if we could whittle to just ten things. When all said and done, some held
pictures of loved ones, childhood storybooks or mementos of achievements. You
can imagine your special keepsake.
Of those ten things, to put this in perspective of those in
poverty or homeless, what if that was all you had? Even more, what if
someone took those things from you?
You may feel violated, angry, defeated or
cheated. You may cry and wonder “why me?”
I think this is where Hebrews lesson is important.
Again, the epistle encourages us to keep the faith even
when the world feels foreign and hostile.
When the world has us down, faith is where we can turn.
Even when the world gives us yet another shooting, faith is there for us – not
just to believe but as a gift – because in those trying moments, we need real
treasure when empty promises and material just don’t cut it. Faith is real,
tangible and not empty. Faith is there for us, to comfort us, to give us hope, and
to help us believe in something bigger than just us.
Yet, faith does not tell us where we are going to go or
what is going to happen, but faith is letting God reveal those gifts to us - not
relying upon earthly materials.
Children Can Teach Us about Hope.
It is amazing how well laughter of a child can open
hearts and smiles. It is amazing how
giggly kid on my shoulders can bring a smile even when hiking up a large hill.
On the reservation, I saw some of my own childhood
reflected in the youth. I recognized familiar language, clothes and habits. Youth have uncanny ability to reveal what
happens or what is said at home. The phrase “the apple doesn’t fall far
from the tree” fits.
As well, youth are amazing in resilience with ability to
turn bad situations into opportunities – or just fun. They have not etched
their lives in the concrete of adulthood. All I have to remember is how many
people have been in lower class struggle and made it out – of this I can speak
of my own experience. We did not have much, but I believed there was something
more than where I was. That hope is real treasure beyond the material or lack
of.
It however is a question of what we value as treasure and
what we do with the gifts we have. We have seen people that take their gifts,
horde them, and become greedy for more (like taking treaty land from the
tribes) – because someone thinks they deserve these. The question is what
are we going to do with the gifts and treasures we have – not just the material
ones?
Faith breeds hope; Faith fulfills the promise.
When I think about the youth on reservation, (yes I saw memories,
and) I also saw the hope and possibilities. This gave me more hope for our
wider global youth (not just those on the reservation) – that we can trust them
– we can have faith in them.
In fact, when I think about it; even when people seem
resigned to depression or oppression, they can and do find hope through
faith. How? If we reach into our childhood for a glimpse of hope and
promise, faith is right alongside.
My physical youth may be gone, but there is still a child
inside.
Maybe, that is the child in us (perhaps healing) but with
hope, with promise and with dreams. Maybe, that is the child in us that Jesus
calls upon to grow our faith as our real treasure.
Maybe, it was the child inside the elders and activists that
showed a determined faith in what they did as well as showed the people they are. They
want something more for the younger generations than what they
had. They were not concentrated on what they could see, but upon the
promise – that which cannot be seen.
That might sound similar to Abraham since he put faith in
the promise: the God that he could not see. God prepared a way for him and
Sarah because they just wanted a child. They had faith in God to give them that
hope, that child. God gave them (and you) the promise.
Maybe, that is what we need today. Look for your treasure
in your faith. Your faith breeds hope. That child inside you lives in hope and
promise. Let the promise be fulfilled; then you won’t have to whittle
possessions because that treasure is all you need.
So is your treasure where your heart is?
Thanks Be to God.
