How we play the game - Luke 16

How we play the game

Tony E Dillon Hansen

Sermon based upon Luke 16:1-13, Amos 8:4-7, Psalm 113

Opening prayer

The lesson is a difficult one because on one hand it looks like someone is being praised for being shrewd and being able to avoid paying for unnecessary things. Hmmm, Make money in dishonest ways and getting praises for it. What a legacy that leaves for people to follow. Is that what we want in our lives?

On the other hand, Jesus throws this line about not serving two masters. The cryptic message it is, but if we look deeper, we see what this story of the manager and the masters means.

As an athlete and sports fan, I always find it difficult even when my own team seems to “win” a game but it was some call “ugly.” The phrase will raise in the press days after “an ugly W is still W.” I will cheer it but will this rear some other way? Was it even true?

Wonderful! You know how to win at all costs. You know how to beat an opponent using shady methods. You figured out how to work the system, a flawed system with flawed referees and now you think you get to have praises?

Think about that a moment.  What does that say about us in our lives because we do this. I have done this. 

We may not do it intentionally, but we do it. Maybe we do this because the moment felt right - the “cause” was right. People will try to figure how they can lower the tax bill, heckle at a garage sale, try to reduce interest in items at an auction, or look at the homeless guy - say “at least I don’t have to beg for food.”

Seems a little pompous if we think about it, and it raises another question.

Who is the master in our lives? Maybe question “what" is master in our lives. Is it power, privilege, wealth, ignorance, ego? Or should it be God, should it be peace, love, grace and forgiveness? 

Jesus tells us we cannot serve two masters because we cannot devote attention that literally goes in separate ways. There is the path of playing a game as good as one can regardless of ethics or rules or the people - we may slight, guaranteed. We do that versus extending the love, grace and forgiveness that we are commanded. It is almost hypocritical to think we can divide ourselves like that, but people do. 

And we put people (friends) around us that will help reassure the way we play our system (Even in digital worlds of gaming). Who do we make friends and why? Why choose friends that will only reassure our brokenness? Maybe, we need friends that challenge us.

We go through life trying to navigate the rules we abide and those we skirt. We go through life determining  that there are some things that we can do and some that we won’t. (Don’t even ask me to pick up a snake. So I probably will never be a zookeeper.)

This parable is a mixed bag but it raises questions about how people rationalize things in their lives. One commentator points out rightly that many of us feel the pat on the back mentality expressed in this story of the manager. This person figured out how to play the system because we all know the system plays us. There is much truth in that, but it misses something.

We go through life - playing it like a chess match and congratulate ourselves for that good move. Yet, we lose sight, and we turn our focus onto something else- something broken and deceptive.

Ultimately, the lesson challenges us to consider the rationale of who is our master, who do we allow to help us make the rules or what in our lives do we consider so important that we might ignore or forget what is really important.

Let’s go back to that point: play the system or it plays you. How in the world do we ever think that we can use wealth and power without it corrupting us? Just because you think you know the game or how its played doesn’t mean we get to be “shrewd.” For what honor is found there?

What legacy does that leave?

Our shrewdness, use of wealth, and material often forgets and more overtly tramples upon those who have nothing. It is why many find it easier to roll up the car windows when seeing the beggar rather than extending a sandwich.

It is easy to complain to someone “why are you standing in line for food stamps” or “…crying about bad health care.” We cry foul about people around us when there is still a log in our own eyes. Plus, our broken world is always ready to remind us that the same world which we erroneously prize and navigate is a house of cards.

That is completely different than what the divine master does. God calls us to rise above the game, the pettiness, the shrewd legacy - to be our neighbors’ keeper as much as ourselves. 

God wants us to think not just about ourselves but those around us and to care for them. That divine nudge from God offers so much more than brokenness. God offers a promise, a holy and sacred forgiveness - no matter what you have done or not done. 

This is why we cannot serve both God and wealth because wealth deceives us into believing we should be proud navigating broken systems. God doesn’t need you to navigate any game, but gives a path to peaceful heart, calm from worry and welcome of love.

Therefore, extend your grace to someone (and yourself) who needs it. Remember, there is love and that brokenness is not forever. Remember, there is forgiveness, the possible; there is the horizon of God’s love - a new morning dawning for all. You need it too, and grace is there waiting for those around us and for you to learn, to grow and to be good people of God.

That beloved, is the master we should seek, and we don’t have to play games to get this love and grace. That beloved, is…

Thanks be to God.

Joy of Being Found - Luke 15

The joy of being found.

Tony E. Dillon-Hansen

Refection based upon Luke 15:1-10, Exodus 32:7-14, Psalm 51

Opening Prayer

Don’t you hate it when you go looking for something that you know you just had and just put it right here, but for whatever reason it isn’t there right now. My sunglasses tend to disappear a lot. You look and look, turn over couches, pillows and search high and low. It has got be here. Then you take amount and sit. You may even ponder the where’s or why’s. You may get distracted, and then suddenly you do something like scratch your head, and guess what, there they are!

I think that gives a snippet of what Jesus is telling us here. There is something to be said about these parables: the lady finding her coins and the lost sheep.  

We all have felt lost at one point or another in our lives.  We have all felt the bewilderment of wondering and trying to figure out where to look, what to do , who to ask or even question our very nature and self.

Then something happens along the way. There is a change. We do something different.  It could be that someone appears in our lives. It could be that we just stopped for a moment. It could be that scratched our head in disbelief.

In the moment when we don’t know where to turn, we are reminded there is someone waiting for us to call, to pray. Someone is ready to reveal to us what we need - maybe reveal to us what has been missing. 

It is in that revelation that we find respite from a world that demands so much from us and provides so much anxiety. Our world is anxiety. Yet the kingdom is near and ready to reveal to us all that is possible.

That, beloved, is the realm of love, peace and hope. That is the realm of unbroken promise, healing and restoration. 

The thing for us is to remember that wherever we are on life’s journey there is always a moment for us to sit, breathe, and ponder. There is always time for us to pause and reflect and realize what has been lost has been in front of us the whole time. Realize that our emptiness, our brokenness is not forever.  

This is the power of repentance for which Jesus and the whole heavens celebrate. For people that think they have it all figured out, we know too well, there is something missing. If you have the notion in your mind that you have all you need, wait a little longer, I assure you what is missing will be revealed. 

The power of true repentance isn’t some rhetoric set of lines we recite via a prayerbook or even the hymns we sing, although one may find great ways to meditate in them, the repentance is learning that our path is not fixed, our journey is not only made of turmoil. Our journey has grace and peace all around us. 

That is what we need this time, That is what we need when we don’t even know it. If you look back on things in your life you will see that spirit walking along side you, helping you, teaching you and guiding you.

When we open our minds to what is possible in spirit through meditation, prayer, and the pause, we will find.

Yes we will find all that we need. We will find that God is there. Grace is here. Love is here. 

That, my friends, is pure joy.

So yes we struggle, we lose things, we lose people and we lose ourselves. Yet we never lose God because God is the happy parent waiting to put a robe around us and welcome us back home. 

God is ready to wash away our tears and our iniquities. God knows we struggle and knows life aint easy, but the spirit is brimming with laughter and cheer at our return. 

God is waiting to have a feast with us to learn what we have learned, where we have been and what has been revealed to us. God knows it, but God wants us to know it too.

That, beloved is worth everything. That is the promise of repentance and the rejoice of heavens.

Thanks Be to God.

Take Up your Cross - Luke 14

Take Up Your Cross

Tony E Dillon Hansen

Reflection based upon Luke 14: 25-33

Opening prayer

To give up everything is to bear the cost of the cross. To lose everything is to understand a measure of what Jesus means here. That is a tough pill to swallow especially when we think of all of our current worries and hurts. Why add more?

It is easy for us to think of all the good things , festivals and celebrations. They are nice and they serve a purpose. They are there as nuggets for when times are tough and times of faith are questionable. 

For being a disciple is to be more than just the happy times. Discipleship has cost. The cost is real and felt throughout our lives in that what we do. This is not easy because being a follower of Jesus is not always easy.

There is a cost but what is cost to us? Is it putting money in the tray on Sunday, is it having to front the bill for someone who can’t, is it something else?  I submit to you the “cost” is something more than money and doesn’t even involve money or materials of any kind.  

The cost might be as described in Hebrew 12:11 as “discipline.” For no discipline seems easy or pleasant at the time. Yet over time, discipline reveals fruit and peace. Maybe cost should not be looked at as burdens but paths to transformation. A way to hope, to have faith and to grow in the love that is there, especially when times are tough. 

In this lesson, Jesus tells us this path means to give up everything. How can I give up more than I already have? I agree that yes, it feels like someone asking us for the impossible. I like my stuff just like all of us. But stuff distracts and stuff ignores truths. The necessary, the good, or the reward is far beyond any possession and not something we can package in a box or envelope. It is not money, power or fame, but grace and peace. 

This requires of us, demands of us, and challenges us to be more than we were yesterday and to help build people today, even in our sorrows and worries. 

This is what faith is. This is discipleship. A belief in something/ someone much bigger than we can possibly imagine. Someone who brings peace when all are fighting. Someone who encourages us to be with the poor rather than avoid them because they too are children of God. Someone who comes to us in the hour of despair and hurt to heal and to grow. 

Maybe we don’t give up everything but maybe we whittle that to ten. I once  shared a picture of Gandhi’s final ten things. What would your ten things be and why? 

This lesson from Jesus aligns with Asian traditions that say to let go of all we think and hold to witness the truth that is revealed. When we let go of our perceptions and our things, we are left with faith and what God has gifted us. Then, we gain so much more.

Jesus knows people and reminds us that people don’t go into things half-heartedly if they mean to do well or to finish the project.  This is called integrity.  In order to determine where we go and where we want to go, we take stock of what we have and what need to get there. We consider our foundation. 

A disciplined person will find their foundation in faith and discipline in that faith. One might see how that faith (that discipline) carries. In this faith and discipline, we quiet our minds and still our hearts to let God. Thus, the path is revealed because we still our minds and our hearts to hear God speaking to us in the many ways God does. 

That path is waiting for us, the journey is ours, the destination is to be revealed with so much potential. Jesus tells us what we need to get there, and that path does not need possessions, power or otherwise. Master Skywalker in the Star Wars sequels, says to Rey, “you have all that you need.” In other words, Jesus tells us so brilliantly, we have what we need, and when we understand this concept, we are able to grow into the promise that is set before us. 

Buddhist refer to this idea as release of attachments to find enlightenment.  Taoist understand that allowing nature to be "as is" is to see the full beauty of what is possible. What do we attach ourselves in our lives that we should let go. Not just objects, wealth or power but negativity as well because we all know the comfort and cost we erroneously find in negativity. 

How beautiful that we share a common bond with traditions around the world that understand how disruptive possessions and negative attitudes can be and how money and negativity distorts truth. Fundamentally, this is reaching into an idea of letting the spirit work.

Why?   Simply because we let let go and Let God. That is the cost of discipleship turned into something joyful and dripping with love. 

Listen and let God fill you. Listen to the spirit, and let that spirit work inside of you. Let go of everything and find everything you need.

So let go of all you think you need, need to hear, or need to have; and Let the spirit speak to you this day and bring you the love into your heart.

Thanks be to God.

Healed on the Sabbath - Luke 13

Be Healed on the Sabbath

Tony Dillon Hansen 

Reflection on Luke 13, Psalm 103, 

Opening prayer

A woman crippled for 18 years is healed this day.  What caused her ailment? We don’t know and it really doesn’t matter.  For how often do we see this in our lives and around us? And our reaction is disdain, neglect, maybe a bit of scorn, but our reaction is a familiar judgment.  They must’ve done something to deserve this, and therefore, we must somehow continue that abandonment, judgment or abject punishment. 

I mean for God’s sake ??

What kept her hidden from all the people around her all those years? After a while she probably just was fixture among them. No one is doing anything for her or with her.  She is isolated, exiled among the people.  

Along comes Jesus, who does what no one else would.  He does not ignore, does not scorn, does not judge.  Jesus comes to heal, and heal, he does. 

Now people are watching this with amazement.

There is always someone in the crowd that wants to complain. It really could have been anything that Jesus said or did. Were those the correct words? Did Jesus commit blasphemy? This happened on the sabbath, a traditional day of rest. 

Jesus disrupts and transcends tradition to bring life. Jesus listens to the spirit and works with the spirit.

Besides, How many people have that luxury of even having a sabbath? 

What a great seat it must be for this person complaining to be able to observe a sabbath and other traditions.  This woman for a good portion of her life has been relegated to the fringes of society, likely not having money, not having opportunities (like the complaining), and not having the support of the people who should be supporting.  They instead bemoan and complain.

People do that today about the panhandlers and homeless on the street. Why won’t they lift themselves by their bootstraps (if they even have any)? Why do I have to pay attention?

Jesus retorts, “don’t you have animals that need water and food on the sabbath?” Do you let them go thirsty and hungry? Would parents make sure their children have food and water or just say, y’all need to fend for yourself, even you the infant?” Ludicrous! 

We all have things to do and on the sabbath. I guarantee farmers still have chores on Sunday. The point of the sabbath is to stop and rest, but not at the expense of others around us. The point of the sabbath is to make time for the spirit to be with us and in us. 

When is a good time to do God’s work, to be God’s face, to be the one that saves? When is a good time to celebrate the spirit and to invite the spirit? When do you need the spirit?

Jesus calls these people who were supposed to be the leaders, the ones to care, the one's to support, the ones to do God’s work, especially on Sunday; these people are hypocrites. (Many in church leadership, including myself, could be called this.)

As stated before, this woman has been like this for years. People probably got used to seeing her like this, and Jesus upends this. Jesus flips tradition of 18 years of apathy, ignorance and disdain, to bring life, to bring healing and to lift someone who needs lifted.

Jesus invites the spirit to be with her, with us - you and me - and to lift us.

That is why we do church.  It is the mystery and miracles of our faith that bring us together . Together, we witness that spirit working.

Think what it must have been like for that woman to, finally, after 18 years have someone pay attention, someone show some love, and someone to be the face of God: To be free from the bondage of whatever ails.  

Don’t we need that today? Let Jesus free us from our bondage, our misery and find praise.

How thrilling that must have been and is why I love this work. Because I see this in people all the time. That exuberant joy and excitement of feeling, the witnessing of the spirit among us (all of us)  and especially when we need it the most, like my life currently, sabbath or not. 

We can reach into our faith and find blessing - a measure of grace. We are reminded then to share that grace, that blessing.

God is here, God is with us and God is healing.

Let Jesus do that for you today. Be healed, especially on the Lord’s day! Be healed and have life no matter what the leaders say.

Beloved, be healed and lift your head this day to the love of God.

Thanks be to God.

Where is your treasure - Luke 12

Where is your treasure?

Tony E Dillon Hansen

Sermon based upon Luke 12: 32-40, Isaiah 1:16-17, and Hebrew 11:1-16

Opening prayer

There is a lot to unpack. We continue this week in Luke 12 after Jesus has just told people parables about a rich man that stored all his wealth, all his “treasures”, but forgot to have wealth in faith and in spirit. For all the so-called broken wealth we can muster in this life will not travel well into the next. 

This causes unnecessary stresses too. Thus when we do this, we worry about the wrong things. We worry about accumulating world prizes, measuring ourselves against those arbitrary ideas of success which are simply broken promises of our world. Instead Jesus reminds us that we have all that we need in God.

25 “And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life?”

I am reminded of the first summer I spent with St John, I visited the Lakota people in the reservation in South Dakota. That experience changed me in ways I could not imagine. It also illustrated what Jesus is saying in this lesson.

For all of the needs and poverty on the reservation, the people held onto culture and each other. They held onto visions of the spirit in themselves, in everyone and in all things around them. 

A poster hanging in the community center read, “Only after the last tree has been cut, only after the last river has been poisoned, only after the last fish has been caught, only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.” This shows us how indigenous cultures value all of creation in the way God asked us, Christians, to steward this garden, our creation. 

To truly value the soil under our feet, the air we breath, the waters that quench our thirsts and realizing that money cannot be eaten or taken with us into the afterlife. 

I think that is what Jesus is saying with, “Where is your treasure is your heart is also.” That begs the question, where is your treasure?

What exactly is it?

Our broken world tells us to amass “treasures” for ourselves.  This stuff can and often does collect dust – and will not follow you into the afterlife. 

 

Maybe, we fear scarcity - not having enough or running out. Inversely, What do we leave behind in the store or on Amazon if we do not buy it? How much faith does that take?

Is this really how we measure personal worth?  Is that where our heart is?

It is amazing how giggly kid on my shoulders can bring a smile and open heart even when hiking up a large hill. 

As well, youth are amazing in resilience with ability to turn any situation into opportunities for fun. They have not etched their lives in the concrete of adulthood. 

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. I had faith, and with faith, I had hope. Love held our family together. That is real treasure beyond any worldly material. 

Hebrews tells us faith is the assurance of things hoped for and things not seen: a gift given to us by God.

What we do with the gifts/treasure we have?  St Paul says we are given 3 spiritual gifts of faith, hope and love. Do we value these as treasure?

When I think about the youth on reservation, I saw 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. They just need some love to grow.

 

In fact, when I think about it; even when people seem resigned to calamity, people can and do find treasure through faith. Maybe, if we reach into our childhood for a glimpse of hope and love in our lives, faith is right alongside. 

 

My physical youth may be gone, but there is still a child inside. Maybe, that is the child in us older folks (perhaps healing) but has hope, with dreams of God’s promise and feeling loved. Maybe, that child in us who Jesus calls treasure.

Maybe, it was the child inside the elders and activists that show 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 faith that things will get better .

 

They had faith in the Creator to give them that hope, to love that child. God gave them (and you) the promise.

 

Maybe, that is what we need today: A little faith in what we don’t see. Your faith breeds hope. That child inside you lives in hope and God’s promise of love. 

Where is your treasure?

Thanks be to God!

Prayer of Four Directions - Lakota Prayer

Prayer of Four Directions

East: 

All good things come from the east the freshening wind brings warm rain and sunshine. Each day guide us to see you in everything we do, everyone we meet. Be kind in your blessings, lord.

 

South: 

The warming south winds bring new growth, gentle rain, healing sunshine. Bless us with enough food and the good things from the earth. As we eat nourishing food help us to know you as the giver of all good gifts, lord.

 

West: 

The sun sets in the west giving us glorious colors in our life. Night can sometimes be scary. The darkness can also mean calming, healing sleep. May good dreams and deep sleep cleanse us from all that is bad or evil. Renew and refresh us, o lord.

 

North: 

North winds sometimes bring stormy weather and snow. Let your warmth in our coldness wrap us as with a blanket of love to keep away all that hurts. May all our people have warm houses and full tables against winter’s chill, lord.

 

From “The Lakota Prayer Book by Fr. Charles Flood, SCJ”

How We Pray - Luke 11

How do we pray?

Tony E Dillon Hansen

Reflection for Luke 11:1-13, Psalm 138, Colossians 2: 6-7

Opening prayer

The lesson this week is one of the readings where we get the Lord’s Prayer, A little different than Matthew. That version is a little bigger and address a different audience than Luke. Luke is teaching not just Jewish communities how to pray but also those who are not Jewish.

These familiar verses than we say on Sunday are bracketed by the submission and the discussion.  Teach us to pray the way John taught his followers.

Jesus teaches to pray with whole heart and mind asking for the gifts that we need and God will respond.  

In verse 13, “how much more will the heavenly God give the Holy Spirit to those who ask?” This prayer asks us to understand who God is because the prayer is about relationship with God. 

To whom do we pray is important because we can have trust in God - trust in that relationship.

Beloved children, this God is our parent. In days of Luke, a parent would decide whether one lives as part of the family, sold or even killed. That is pretty ominous until we look at the character of God. Luke is pointing out to us the nature of God as good and generous. 

That is why we can trust in the relationship with God because the relationship is based upon love not fear. This relationship is based upon generosity of God and persistence of us as believers to ask and have confidence in who we ask.

God is holy and good, trustworthy and dependable - will do more than any human can because God is good - all the time. That is what God does. This gives us context to persist. You can ask God for what you want with persistence because of the deep and abiding relationship with God.  

Then the next question seems, What is going to make the relationship better? You can almost feel a bit of vulnerability on our part.  Like we talked about in our recent lessons, to make our relationship better is to remember that to be human is to bear the image of God in our world - To practice that goodness in our lives. We know that can be difficult.

The prayer commits us to actions - keeping God holy and sacred name. Because we keep God holy, we can ask for daily bread; we can persist in our daily prayers. 

The prayer then commits us even more, forgive us as we forgive others around us. Yes forgiveness is a gift from God but also how we can better our relationship with God and with those around us.  

What exactly are forgiving and asking to be forgiven? Lying, cheating, stealing are sins. Mishandling someone’s property are trespasses. And loan debts? When someone wrongs us, what is our reaction but to make people accountable? Are debts really just borrowed property but the virtual and spiritual banks that we use to measure what has been done well and what has not? What is it that we hold in those debts? 

This comes from Leviticus and Numbers and the Year of Jubilee. For those that would like a literal reading of the Bible, this passage gets overlooked quite often - has never been actioned.

Luke then reminds us that God promises to listen; why would one ask for fish and get a snake?

It is funny in our lives, when we do pray for an egg and then get an egg - somehow we are amazed. Think about that. That gives us more of that image of God - how are we so amazed with the gifts we get?

If you were to write a version of the Lord’s prayer, what would you say? 

Better question, how do you pray? Is it with these words, with song, with quiet heart?  Why do you pray? Are you trying to right your relationships - to recognize the holy - to be the image of God to people around us?

Psalm 138 gives us another way to pray with poetic words, but challenges us to follow up our words with actions. Let our prayer be holy, let our prayers be from our hearts and let our prayers be great because God is great!

Thanks be to God