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

The Great Loving Reformed Church - Matthew 22 John 8 - Proper 25A

The Great Loving Reformed Church

Tony E Dillon Hansen

Sermon based upon Leviticus 19: 1-2, 15-18, Psalm 1, Matthew 22-34-46, John 8: 31-36

Opening prayer

People like to test Jesus. When people test, Jesus shows us and reveals to us.

Here, Jesus whips out this passage from Leviticus; that the greatest commandment is to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. 

The most holy and sacred thing we can do is to love.

That is love without precondition and without judgment. That is love without bounds. That is the love expressed by volunteers giving food and clothes to the homeless because as part of H.A.N.D.S, the “D” is to “Demonstrate radical hospitality one burrito at a time with grace love and respect.” 

There are many ways we can “Demonstrate” love, but remember we are talking about the Gospel of Matthew. Love isn’t to be boastful, and it is isn’t about a “show,” but instead what is in our hearts. That love is given without condition or judging. It is what God sees in us “the why” that matters.

There are many ways in which love comes quite naturally. That is love of a parent for their child that sees all the possibilities even when we mess up. 

That is love of friends when we know we can do better, and we stay friends, even though we fail at times. 

That is love between spouses, when the times aren’t easy, but we made a commitment to each other - a bond - a promise and secured that through love.

Love ain’t easy, but love brings so much to us.

So we all have experiences of this and we know when love expressed to us and with us fills entire rooms and homes with powerful emotion. It fills hearts with calm and peace. That love, when we share it, that love does magic beyond anything we can measure.

That is why Jesus lifts up this command, this law and scripture as the greatest. 

We, on the other hand, want to put stipulations and such onto our love. For all of the ways in which I mentioned, our love goes only so far. 

Further, people will give excuses for why love shouldn’t be extended. “You people are just posing as homeless.” “My friend needs to pick themselves up by the bootstrap and get their act together.” “My child believes things that I don’t so I can’t help them.” The list goes on and on. 

That is us following the wicked, but our Psalm tells us “the righteous will not stand in the judgment” because it does things to us. 

It closes us off and turns inward and cold. It ignores the plight of neighbors whether down the street, our family, or across the world in Palestine and Israel or Ukraine or Africa. 

People need love more than ever. They need God’s love shown to them through us. 

You know what? You and I need it too. 

God gives us this promise, and that promise is for us to share.  That love is for us to share because again, think of how a room full of love feels. 

This isn’t some elaborate rhetorical gem.

It is truth, and as John 8 reminds us “if you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”

It is more than just truth. It is the sacred law, and this isn’t a broken government law. This is divinely given from our Creator. 

Leviticus 19 declares “You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great.” God’s justice shall be your justice. “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge … but you shall love …” 

It seems easy for us to want to bear grudges and want vengeance for things done to us, but if we walk with our faith and true love in our hearts, there is no need for such wants.

Richard Rohr writes, “Perhaps once we can see God in plants and animals, we might learn to see God in our neighbors. And then we might learn to love the world. And then, when all of that loving has taken place, when all of that seeing has happened, when such people come to me and tell me they love Jesus, I’ll believe it! They’re capable of loving Jesus. The soul is prepared. The soul is freed…” 

We don’t need to hold grudges. We don’t need to hold onto negative thinking. We don’t need to harden hearts. What good does it do to us except provide more anger, hate, and isolation? 

We, instead, need to see the world through eyes of Jesus, and let our faith work. Let the love of God work.

That love given freely to us should be extended from us the same. There are no excuses. 

There is the Word of God lived out through us and our love. With that love, there are no wants. Suffering just goes away because we witness love in people all around us, and we witness love within us.

Why?? Because you and I are worth it. Yes! You and I matter! Our brothers and sisters deserve this love! You and I deserve this love. We don’t need to sell ourselves, our souls or those around us to “indulgences.”

That is why Jesus came to us and why Jesus teaches us these revolutionary ideas. That is why the love of God is so powerful, so healing and so comforting.

That, Beloved, is why we can celebrate Reformation Sunday. 

We lift up the words of Jesus (the law of God) to each other and with each other. 

Whether we agree or disagree, there is love of God here and for us. Our Church is an action Church (a doing Church). It is a Church that is you and I filled with that love who share that love beyond the doors of the sanctuary and beyond the Sunday mornings. 

Open your eyes to what God has given to you and me and to all those around us. Open your heart and let God be with you in that love. Be the love that you wish to experience. 

When you do, the rewards are beyond comprehension.

Beloved that is…

Thanks Be to God

What Calf Do you Worship - Matthew 22 Exodus 32 - Proper23A

What Golden Calf Do You Worship? 

Tony E Dillon Hansen

Sermon based upon Exodus 32:1-14, Matthew 22:1-14, Psalm 106, Philippians 4:1-9

Opening Prayer

When we read this familiar text from Exodus about how people were persuaded to give all the gold items they had in order that Aaron can build a calf. That is some sales pitch! Makes me wonder how did he convince these people to do that? 

They were so lost that they were willing to give up prized possessions. 

When we ask for stewardship for our church, I doubt many of us would be willing to give up prized possessions.

Yet Aaron was able to get these people to give up their gold and then melt that into this thing we call a calf. Suddenly, it is a festival?  Everyone is worshiping this “idol” , this thing, that was all their gold. 

The irony is thick. 

That raises these questions. What gold do we worship today and why? What do we place before us that blinds us from God and what God wants of us? 

You know we do this because every newscast tells the value of something, the interest rates, price of gas, the stock prices, and the latest fads. And we all eat it up without question. When we talk about doing the right thing for Ukraine or Israel or pick something, often the question is how much money do we send and for how long? 

Doing the right thing however doesn’t have a “price tag” but it does have rewards beyond dollars and gold. Doing the right may not be easy, but the result has value - real tangible value that endures recessions and hardships. Doing the right thing means sometimes we have to be patient and to listen.

We can come up with all kinds of excuses, and I have heard many in my time. Lots of “I would but…”

Just like in the parable of the wedding banquet where this king invites a number of guests and they all give quaint little lies and laughs but refuse the invitation (einladung in German). I, like the king, would be baffled and maybe a bit upset. Yet, if I prepared a whole bunch of food and festival, and people don’t come, find some people. I am knocking on doors and calling folks. 

That is when the festival really begins. When we truly invite and welcome whoever we meet, then community, church and God’s love flourishes.

That is our God. You have been called, will you answer?  

You may not even know it, but God has set a banquet for us and is coming to your door - to find you. Not to scare you but with welcome robe of love.

That is a constant theme in Matthew. Finding - even we who don’t know it or don’t think we are worthy. God is looking for you and wants to celebrate with you. How exciting that can be - if you are willing to answer the invitation. Or do you have another excuse?

God invites us in many ways and asks us to lean into our faith. To lean into the promise instead of trusting in the fake ones all around us. Gold is just a metal. Cash is worthless when you can’t use it and especially when we are dead. All the world material we have is nothing when have no purpose and no meaning. That is when we lose faith and when we lose sight of God,

That is when we give up possessions out of fear, anxiety, or some false promise because we fail to listen or to remember, and we fail to have faith in the promise given to us. 

That is God calling upon you to join us at the table, and we are to extend that welcome in our lives as well. 

So God is there setting a banquet and sending out invitations. God is waiting for us to join - to respond. For we have been chosen, but are you willing to answer? 

Beloved the lamp is lit, the table is set, banquet is made. You have been invited. Put away the excuses. Listen not to the fake and the material wants, but open your heart to the promise and join in God’s love today.

Do what’s right and let your faith lead you and help you extend that love and that promise to those around you. 

Then you will recognize the false idols, the calf in your life and when you do, put it away. See how worthless it is. When you truly accept God’s love in your life and your actions, then you can understand that love is a celebration of the best of us.  

That Beloved is 

Thanks Be to God.

What Happens When We Reject God - Matthew 21 - Proper 22A

What Happens When We Reject God

Tony E Dillon-Hansen

Sermon based upon Matthew 21:33-46, Psalm 19, Isaiah 5:1-7

Opening Prayer

I love the verses of Psalm 19 because it reminds me that my words and thoughts have to be acceptable in God’s sight. Therefore, I intend to share with you that which I feel is acceptable before our Creator. I may screw up once in a while, but I will let the Lord guide me to where I need to be and what I need to say.

People often want to think that because they have a thought - that it must be true and must be what others think. Do we know anyone like that?

Yet that is another example of our ego projecting rather than letting God happen. That is determining that our words are source of truth and we confuse truth with want. This is a measure of church because we know people here, in church, that think because they do things or come to church more often that they somehow deserve more. 

Thank you for attending, but that isn’t the point of church. Pure attendance and listening to the word is nice is missing something. It misses what Jesus wants us to do - to be truly welcoming and graceful not just in the walls of a sanctuary but in all the areas of our life. 

That is why being a Christian is a life style and “way” of living because the “way” of Jesus requires us to do things, to speak with humility and to act with grace in our hearts.

When we fail we go astray we have prayers like these psalms to help us find our path back to God. "Whatever gains I have come to regard the as loss because of Christ.” (Philippians 3:7) Whatever I get from my work in this life and in my actions, I have nothing without God as my guide. Whatever money I have, house, car or job …these are nothing without the living presence in our breath and soul.

This parable of the wicked tenants as it is often called is a warning to leaders about how we care for our flocks and the people around us.  It is also a warning to us as regular, normal folk in how we manage our relationships and how we care for others in our community.  This is our Earth and the only one we have.  This is our life and the only one we have. The question is whether we are doing things to lift God’s presence here or not. 

We can build wonderful places and work wonder in gardens. 

In our recent trip to Europe, I saw magnificent structures and I saw the horror of war destruction left to remind us the true cost of destructive behavior. The St Nikolai Memorial was a giant cathedral (rather a ghost of one) that is burnt out facade of its former glory. It is left as a reminder of the cost of war and as a memorial to all those who perished due to the war as well Nazi crimes. I felt compelled to kneel and pray in what would have been the steps to the chancel of an ornate sanctuary but instead looks directly into the sky with only fragments of the original shell left along with its tall burnt out steeple behind me.

Visiting the memorials in Berlin as well as Neungamme, outside of Hamburg, furthered that reminder. That hate when left unfettered, unabated results in the destruction of targeted people but also includes those who inflict the hate and violence. You could feel the weight of guilt as well as the agony and horror of violent hate.

It fits well with this text too because when we lie, when we hate, or we forget to do God’s work, that is when we forget God and reject God. That is when we follow our ego instead, and that can leave behind destruction Because hate can turn violent (as it often does) because people reject reason and reject God.  

This violence carries with it a heavy penalty that may be visible like the burn marks on what was left of that church or the slabs of concrete where thousands were forced to live and forced to work under extreme horror and left to die of starvation or disease - if not outright murdered.  This violence leaves scars, and also ones that are not visible - the ones inside and the ones full of regret and suffering.

When we don’t take care of God’s world with God as our God, this can be the result. When we don’t care for our neighbor as ourselves, we let evil result. When we don’t check our ego and instead let God’s love be our love, then that is not God’s love. 

However if we check the ego, and we let God be the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts, then we let God be with us and in our world. 

Reject hate, reject lies, reject violence, and stand up for Justice. Let God guide you and show you. Then we can be so much more than our struggles or our earthly hunger. 

Let that love (God’s love) be all that you need.

That Beloved is …

Thanks Be to God.