Power of Fire - Luke 12 - Proper 15 C

Power of Fire

Tony E Hansen

Reflection based Luke 12: 49-56, Psalm 82

Opening prayer

We continue in our journey through Luke 12. To recap, we were told the parable of rich fool. We were told to not worry for “how does worrying add a single hour to your life?” We were told to not be afraid and to make sure our hearts reflect the treasure of God rather than broken worldly items.

Jesus tells us to be watchful and alert “to have your lamps lit” for we do not know when God is coming for us. Are you ready to have that conversation with God? Are you tending God’s garden in a good way or are you hurting those around you?

After this whole teaching, Jesus declares that he will bring fire and division. This invokes images from baptism where John told us that John would baptize with water but Jesus will baptize with fire. There will be separation.

Fire isn’t just destruction and damnation but also purifying and bringing light- not just light but divine light into our broken world and broken visions. Fire is a divine symbol.

But why have division? That isn’t the goal. 

Division is going to manifest because of this gospel.This however isn’t just about relationships going sour or family civil wars, but how people hold onto old ideas and how God breaks forth into this world with a whole different set of commands and ideas. 

There is going to be a clash and inevitable tensions as people want to hold onto what they know as familiar and convenient. People want to look up at the sky and tell you the weather - “rain is coming.” Even the people and teachers around Jesus clash with these ideas because it reveals hypocrisy and elitism from those who want to maintain a world order that benefits them.

Following Jesus and the word of God requires us to see through all of that and to recognize truth for Truth. It doesn’t require walls, a building and specific words we say on regular basis, but it does require our hearts, our minds and our souls to commit to these words and to let those words manifest in us as agents of those inclusive words - even when the world wants to practice division and exclusion.

God upends all of that - even the words of preachers that want to profess division instead of inclusion.

How many times has the church divided over questions of faith, teaching, process and its role in our lives?

Ministry and church is about putting in the work to do what Jesus tells us.  It is not listening to materialism and the latest marketing fads that boast continuous fun and great times while delivering fleeting experiences that leave us lacking.

It is not going to pointless work to punch in the time card so we can go home, or goto school to prepare for tests. Church is not watching our little screens for meaningless content. These devices and that content are designed to take attention away from the world and away from what needs to change. 

We are too busy with pointless discussions that shower damnation upon whole groups of people we have never met . Many undermine the value of humanity as a community but instead reinforce hatreds, negativity, and violence as proper means - even though it actually perpetuates more violence and hatred.

Our world is enough for us to throw up hands and wonder how did it get so bad…  How can we return to some sense of order? 

Questions what order do you want? One where people tell you what to do and how to do it? No, BUT that is what we are getting.

Perhaps, it is the “who” was the problem - so where is Jesus in this?

What do we return to that was so gracious? Do we forget that we had just as much tension then as we do now - you just see it more now.  It is available to you 24-7 in your pocket. That is part of why I have pulled back from social media because it has become so depressing, time consuming and generally bad. 

Those algorithms aren’t calculating for us to see the good society except maybe the cute kittens, but to cause visceral emotions, angers and reactions that have us wanting more. The grief we felt for January 6, 2021 seeing people beat up police officers and the capitol building, that was over 4 years ago; so we forget that today because they were justified and angry.

People feel justified and angry today to allow the state to prune people’s rights and to force others to believe the farce. People don’t want to understand nuance and other people because that would take time away from our busy screens. We have ridiculous arguments over things like gender identity. 

How someone identifies themselves (a personal, private conversation between them and God) should be the least of our social concerns, but instead, that becomes forefront priorities, Why? 

Issues like these are meant to distract us and divide us even more. As long as we play into that narrative, the real issues and opportunities will be simply missed. 

Meanwhile, people are burning down the structures and institutions that have brought us knowledge, technology, biology, governments, and even faith. Institutions should be questioned and their priorities examined. They are, after all, human institutions.

People are not waiting for test results. People are tearing down those that appear to have colluded against us, have failed us and continue to fail us. 

In doing so, instead of correcting the problems, forward looking and building technology for the future, people are looking back and rewriting the problematic narratives we had witnessed into some nostalgic realms but with false pretenses, aka “whitewashing.”

How could Jesus possibly bring more division to us who are already well divided?? Surely, Jesus is upset at those people for bringing division and not me for my part in this whole thing.

What have you and I done to prepare this world for God to break forth and to bring us into community together?  

What have you and I done to welcome whether we agree or not? What have you and I done to cast judgement aside as God’s duty instead of ours? 

Have you and I truly taken up a cross with Jesus or just play the part?

The power of fire can be to burn and to destroy but it can be a source of inspiration to do great things. Fire can be revealing. So today what does God’s fire reveal to you?

Thanks be to God

Do Not be Afraid - Luke 12 - Proper 14 Year C

Do Not Be Afraid

Tony E Hansen

Sermon based upon Luke 12:32 -40, Psalm 33:12 -22, Genesis 15:1-6, Hebrews 11

Opening prayer

Do not be afraid! What is the first thing people do when someone says do not  x y z ... we do ! (How many people go to the window to look for a tornado instead of a safer room?)

Last week, we read from Luke with the parable of the selfish landowner, and I posed to you the words “for where you treasure is, there your heart will be also” to summarize what Jesus was telling us. Essentially, the problem of the selfish landowner is greed and that his heart was focused upon himself and his worldly accumulation without regard for any other person or God.

His "treasure" turned him and his focus away from God because people with big egos want to think it is all because of themselves.

That person gets scolded, “you fool… so it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

So this continues that discussion and adds more context,

Luke 12 starts with the words “Do not be afraid,” which announces to us as readers that some good news is coming.

“Sell your possessions and him alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out…” …not exactly things are wanting to hear.

“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit…you just be ready” because you do not know the hour when you will meet your Maker. Ominous and frightening??

This could be a warning but more of a "be ready" for that meeting.

What must you do to be ready??

Psalm 33 gives us more context, “A king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by great strength…” no .. “Truly the eye of the LORD is upon those who fear God those who hope in God’s steadfast love…”

Hebrews 11 recalls that faith in God is how Abraham received so much abundance. So too with us, we ought to understand that our abundance is not only of our own hands but thanks to God and thanks to the gifts given to our heritage.

Love, hope and faith in God's love for us and our ancestors. For without the gifts and lessons given to them, we wouldn’t be where we are today. Thus God reminds us to study our history yet again. Further, we ought to be thankful to God for all of our abundance that we have been given.

We could be vain like the selfish landowner thinking that it was all due to the great 3 - “me, myself and I,” but we were born into this world, into family, into community, into our place in history. We may not think all of it as grace all the time, but that you are experiencing this grace here and now is worthy of praise by itself because we cannot pretend to think we did all of it ourselves - not even a chance.

We were, and are blessed, with all that is around us, not just possessions, but all Creation with wide landscapes of beauty, birds in the sky, fish in the waters, gardens of produce and flowers, and even the big python in our neighborhood. 

(I wonder if Jake the snake is responsible for the rabbit and squirrel population decline?)

Genesis reminds us that we are mere stewards of this creation, this abundance, that God has given to us. When we follow the divine commands, like Abraham before us, God will be our shield, and we acknowledge that God blesses us with much that we cannot comprehend.

Jesus tells us to be ready and alert because the True Master is coming and we don’t know when.

Therefore, the themes of the parable and this Good News is 1) to not be selfish and egotistical, 2) for us to be thankful (aka to recognize) what God has done for us, and 3) that we are to share that goodness with those around us, instead of hoarding it or worse, turning away from God. Do this as a habit instead of convenience.

Thus, you have a good reason to get off the couch and be ready for God.  You have a reason to share your abundance, your smile, your good spirit and your beautiful presence. 

When you do this, when you embody God's love in your soul, you will see God in more places of this world and in more people of the world. When you do, your reward will be the treasure you truly seek and your heart will thank you for it.

When you do not, you turn cold, selfish and alone. Then, when the Master comes knocking and finds you wallowing in arrogance or self pity, don’t look surprised. 

But you don’t have to…

Be not afraid of the good work! 

Be not afraid of being too old, injured and tired because God reveals ways for you to renew and to live today. 

Be not afraid of being too young and vibrant because God wants your enthusiasm and energy.

Being alert is doing God’s work; making our faith be our guide and be a revelation of God through us. 

Being alert is not wasting a moment or breath that God has blessed us, but finding opportunities to teach, guide, grow and live with God around us and with us.

Being alert is understanding how God has helped our ancestors, our parents to bring us to be who we are today - don’t  discount your history but instead learn from it. There are lessons that they have learned and are gifts for us to heed today. 

Be not afraid of what people will say about you when you walk with God as your shield, doing the things God asks and having faith in the true words of God in your heart and soul.

Be not afraid of that treasure for it is abundantly yours in this moment and time.

Thanks be to God.

Possessions are Punishment - Luke 12 - Proper 13C

Possessions are punishment?

Tony E Hansen

Reflection based upon Luke 12:13-21; Psalm 49; Ecclesiastes 1:12,2:18-23

Opening prayer

I am not entirely sure how I ended up at this point in my life. 

For years, I was scrapping pennies and nickels to pay bills or to eat.  When I was working part time, I often did not get enough hours to cover the basics, and I came close to being evicted from an apartment.

Little by little however I kept taking steps, even though some might think it folly. (For we all know that the system is rigged.) 

I would work out. I finished school and more. I volunteered with area organizations. I rose in martial arts. I found jobs. I moved to Des Moines from Iowa City.

Somehow, I can pay bills (I still don’t like it). I still have student loan debt, but I have a decent place, vehicle, a nice garden and stuff. I often like to share time and all of that with people in my life. Maybe, this is “vanity of vanities.” (Aka ego.)

More importantly, I have my cats, my mother, my son, my friends and my family. (Some I am more grateful to have than others, but nonetheless).  I still do plenty.

All along the way and even today, as I have mentioned, that all of where I am today could be taken away or be destroyed. When is the next shoe going to drop?

Yet all of what I said revolves around “I” and there is much more than just me.

That is part of why I continue to volunteer and to do ministry.  Especially with ministry, I realized that I may not have recognized Providence at work even when such was the case. It wasn’t just me and “luck.”

There have been ample opportunities for me to fail and there have been many times when I have - due to poor decisions (a few too many) or just plain bad luck.

Yet each time, I get back up and move to the next point - maybe with a couple bruises from falling down, but I get back up and keep going forward. There were lessons (perhaps divine inspiration?) Some I have yet to heed.

Now at almost a year after divorce, I explore more than I have before. It is interesting that I keep finding God around the corner, on the hill, in my office, and in the people around me. 

“Truly, no ransom avails for one’s life; there is no price one can give to God for it.”

For all that I have and all that might get, I cannot use any of that to bribe God for more life or more anything really.

Faith in our stuff is folly, and yet, we find places to store it. New storage units are built all the time. People accumulate stuff and more stuff.  Then, we don’t realize how that stuff actually owns us because we pay to keep it.

We are told throughout our lives to save and put away for the rainy day. When we live abundantly and have these gifts bestowed upon us, we ought to be grateful and thankful to have them.  

Yet, when the rainy day comes, some learn they haven’t prepared enough. 

If you think that rainy day won’t come, let me remind you that everyone of us will meet our Maker. 

The question for you is on what terms will you be meeting??

The parable about the egotistical and selfish man gathering and storing wealth (or stuff) in Luke 12 reminds us of this. 

This isn’t to admonish folks for gaining abundance, but where is our focus and what do we do with that abundance.

We can store up all of this worldly wealth and think “I succeeded and I can be proud of what I did.” I can stand in the middle of my place with my cats curled up around me and perhaps smile.

Yet, that misses the mark and we forget there is more than worldly goods. As one commentator says, we don’t have to be particular wealthy per se to be bound to our stuff. “Possessions are their own punishment.”

Even for the minimalist, stuff is stuff but that stuff represents something. It represents value. What value does it represent? What value have I attached?

If my focus is only upon me and my stuff, that is ego, vanity and I will never be truly happy because there is always more stuff I can get from Amazon or wherever. There is, however more to life than shopping carts, phones, devices, vehicles and such. 

None of that goes with us when we die. None of that can be offered to St Pete at the proverbial gates.

Besides in our society everything is disposable, experiences are fleeting and the next big thing is to be announced at the upcoming great marketing event. So whatever happiness you attribute to something today will diminish over time (guaranteed.)

What can be offered at the gates is something less physical than stuff but more rewarding than any of it - something more rewarding than our greed.

There is something sustainable and actually nurturing - that can be found in our Creator. Something we ought to value. To truly live is to live with people and to be in the community and to see God working in that community.

Do you really need that storage unit to store more ? Do we really need that extra shirt or new device? Perhaps, shut off your device for a moment.

Instead ask, Where do you put your value? In stuff, in people, in vanities, in faith or in God?

For where your treasure is, that also is where your heart is. Have something meaningful to give to God when you meet. 

Maybe, it is time to let go of things and our stuff and let God. 

Thanks Be to God