What Costume Would You Wear? - Luke 18 - Proper 25C

What costume do you wear?

Tony E Hansen

Sermon based upon Luke 18: 9-14, 2 Timothy 4

Opening prayer

Halloween is just around the corner so let us consider what costume you would wear.

We continue our journey through the parables of Jesus in Luke.  Last week we read about the widow and unjust judge that reminded us to be willing to offer grace, forgiveness, and justice to folks not just because they pester us but because God has already done that for you and me. 

Here, we find Jesus talking to “some” people likely wearing expensive clothing and Jesus told a parable about these curious examples of “so-called” righteousness vs someone who might humble themselves. 

They are curious because first we hear about the Pharisee who does all the right things by fasting, giving money and praying.

The Pharisee prays thankfulness to God, however it is not for all the gifts that God has given. It feels more like a half-hearted thanks (if you can call it that.) This prayer casts judgement upon wide swaths of people.

This is the kind of prayer people pray when they think they have it all figured out because they do all the right things. They go to church, and they sing great hymns. They give money (thank you for helping to keep the lights on!)

They hear the words of wisdom spoken and discussed. They pray often. They love church even and they love religion.

Somehow, they miss the point of the journey. That loving God and loving neighbor means more than doing the dutiful bits that pronounce our faith. For that is a faith that is only skin deep, if even that much.  It is prideful, boasting and lacking substance because I am not one of “those people.”

Great!

They do all these bits for church and then get up from the pew with head held high and a decent swagger as they walk out the door. It is a presentation and a show. 

The person sitting right next to them could use something besides a show. The person sitting right next to them might just be one of “those people” that they have taken pride in not being.

God calls us to love and love means to be there for people and to do something besides a presentation. We are called to do and to be the church in heart, mind, attitude and how we conduct ourselves and how we interact with our neighbors that are sitting right next to us and those we don’t even know. 

No show is needed for that and no judgment called for; just a willingness to roll up sleeves and do what God has called of us.

Then there is this tax collector who can’t even look up with some serious remorse weighing on him. 

Tax collectors were viewed as corrupt and greedy. They represented the injustice of broken political systems because they often profit from the system. 

We know plenty of people like this today. Could be a politician, but also a mechanic, plumber, computer engineer, athlete or clergy even. They manipulate, distort, evade accountability, and ultimately hurt people. Sometimes, they reward themselves and colleagues for doing it.

Yet there has to be a limit. A point of recognition that all of that has a negative price that is not valued in dollars and cents or stock portfolios. 

So on the face, two very opposite people here. A dutiful religious person that does all the right things Jesus would like and a conniving greedy person that enriches themselves, quite likely at the expense of others.

Do you recognize either or both of these people? Or are they wearing costumes?

The representative image of these people are wide apart, and what they do is equally different. 

The religious person is only thinking about themselves and their conduct as righteous. They are not “those people.” Contrarily, the tax collector is grieving, recognizing and coming to terms with a lifestyle that has not been abundantly generous or righteous. Of that recognition, he declares himself to be a sinner and humbles himself.

Do we want to be either of these people, these costumes? 

I would think not and the good thing is that we don’t have to be either of them.  In fact, I submit we might take parts from both of them.

While we don’t need to live a life that hurts people or extorts or demeans people, we should live a life that is generous and dutiful. We should goto church and hear the good news, but we should not use those words as a shield from doing the necessary good. 

The Bible should not used as a weapon against people but for people. It should not be a barrier to being what God wants us to be but instead is an invitation to do the necessary.  

For otherwise, that is just as hurtful as someone who is actively extorting and manipulating.  For “show" is manipulation in a different way.

It is a disguise and costume we put on because we leave the good meaning of the words and the commands in the pews. 

We should be willing to recognize where we fall short, and that we don’t live the life we should. We should recognize that we are sinners, but also have the courage to repent, make amends when we can, and to live the way God wants for us. 

Thus, when we pray, we do with humble heart and then get up and face God and our neighbors not with judgment, but embrace how we live together in community, whether we agree, have same hair styles, skin color, belief system, nationality, orientation or ancestry. 

Beloved, God wants us to live in that community, to build that church together, and to be there for each other. Further God wants us to leave the judgment to God, instead of ourselves. 

Then you too can say you “have fought the good fight, finished the race and kept the faith.”

That is Thanks Be to God

Cost of Discipleship - Luke 17 - Proper 22 C

Cost of Discipleship

Tony E Hansen

Sermon based Luke 17: 5-10, Psalm 37, Habakkuk 

Opening prayer

Increase my faith? Why do the apostles ask Jesus this question?

If we look at the opening verses of Luke 17, Jesus tells them to be on your guard and to rebuke offenders, but “if there is repentance, you must forgive.”

The apostles asks to increase their faith for doing this. Why? Because forgiveness is not an easy thing to do especially when we have been personally been hurt and harmed by someone .  Our faith in people , in a person, can be literally shattered to a point that it impacts more than just that person or that situation.

Even more so, we do things in our lives that we feel proper and respectful because we believe we are to get rewarded. 

Jesus here challenges us and these proper notions. Jesus challenges our priorities.  What would expect things be done for us before we are willing to do the right things? What is the cost of discipleship?

That is transactional thinking.

We do that with people and we do that with God. Unfortunately we do even less. 

When we pray, we arrive with a wish list but rarely do we come with what we do for the wish list to be granted.  Even if we did, is that really what God is to us?  A vending machine where one can order what they see and think they want, pop in a coin, and presto I have what I want.

That isn’t how faith works. It is something more than seeing before believing.  It is something more than a selection from the market counter and haggling over price. 

Faith is things unseen, unknown, and untouchable and faith is something that can grow from the size of transactional idea into a way of life. 

What we do with faith is like mustard seed but we plant it, tend it and nurture it to grow. We have faith that it will, in fact, grow - even during hard times. That is when need faith the most. 

We forget that when times are good, and we forget to thank God for the good times. 

When we practice faith in the good times, when times are bad, we have muscle memory and a path through what ails us.

Yes faith takes practice because when we need it is when we need it the most.

That won’t say it is easy, but the point of faith is not ease and knowing. Precisely opposite!

It is what we don’t know. It is unequivocal trust in the divine and that trust is not in vain. Incidentally, where is your trust? In the machines and algorithmic designs?? 

We are commanded to do God’s work and to be God’s face on Earth without question and without guarantee of reward. We are to forgive even when we don’t think it is deserved. We are to extend grace even when it feels futile or exhausted.

Faith is not transactional, for faith by itself is beyond any transaction. Faith doesn’t need a market, a buyer and seller. Faith is letting be that which we don’t know all the answers and assuredly, we do not. 

In that way, we grow beyond what we think we know and want or think we need, but allow God to be what we need - not just a convenience store checkout with our expectations. We realize our limitations as people and we realize capabilities by not forcing. 

To think otherwise, is to think small, “less than” and in terms of coins in a purse. To have transactional faith is to put God in a box for one to open on occasion like some memorabilia or keepsake. There is more to God than that. There is more to faith than nostalgia or memories.

A bill is coming due and what are you going to do to pay?

We do the work , we live the life and we forgive. The bill is coming due for your soul that is not in money or broken ideas. It is a way of living and being with our neighbors. It is living with he love of God - not just because we say cute words or raise our hands at the good moment. 

That is the cost of following Jesus. That is the cost of discipleship.

What is good about that is that grace is freely given and the love of God and forgiveness is always available to us.

Faith in God is understanding that and understanding that the cost of discipleship is a blessing rather than a burden because we get some much more than we ever could put in.

That Beloved is…

Thanks be to God 

What Would Make You Change - Luke 16 - Proper 21C

What Would Make You Change?

Tony E Hansen 

Reflection based upon Luke 16:19-30

Opening prayer 

When I was getting ready to do some work and paint rooms in the house, I had bought all the paint I needed plus supplies. I thought this would be a great chance for bonding time for friends because I was going to do a whole house makeover. Plus, I could use some help and company.  

I messaged my friends and told them about the project and that I would have plenty of beverages and eats.

Oh the excuses that came back… turns out that only one dared to come and help. Otherwise, it was a big goose egg.

In the story of Lazarus and the rich man is a story of opposites - both in life and in the afterlife.

This is a common theme in life (not just in scripture ) : those who have and those who do not.

It is a common refrain from Luke to warn us of contentment with wealth and to warn us of actual danger of ignoring people right at our doorsteps.

Too often, we distract ourselves with things, eats or colorful clothing but do nothing for those we meet or in our reach - those who could use a little empathy or compassion or plain decency.

Sorry folks, that is not ok. It’s not ok to hide behind walls of ignorance and letting the dogs show compassion for us. We let our walls hide ugly truths that are all too convenient to avoid. We are too buried in our screens to care.

In our contentment, we gather things…hoarding them in piles. Then, We throw away food and things. We throw away with ease.

In Luke, we are reminded that inaction to help those in need is a haunting sin that can and will earn torment….. if we persist in our folly.

Yes inaction to extend God’s love forgiveness and compassion on this earth can earn you a ticket to Hades and fire. Why ?

What is the greatest commandment? To love God AND to love our neighbors- even the ones who struggle, are poor, injured, sick or incarcerated- even those who were just being who they are and looking for a better life for themselves and their families.

Like other commentators, I was drawn to the question that is posed by the end of this parable.

In the end of the parable, the script flips for Lazarus and the no name rich man in the afterlife. The no name guy is looking up and pleading for another chance. Interestingly if not for himself then he does think about his brothers. 

However the no name man now is told no. For he and the brothers have chances in life to heed to message and warnings, there is no chance to change that afterward.

No Jacob Marley here, no ghosts of Christmas visits. 

The lessons we have been given and are given are for us to embrace and embody today. The lessons are clear to love God over wealth AND to love our neighbors as ourselves, tend to them, feed them, teach them, and be with them, especially in their hour of need.

The question for us is what, who or rather why do we hold back?

What is holding our faith and compassion hostage? Who prevents us from extending grace to neighbors? I have to work and tend my yard. If parents want to argue, I have to take care of my children. Even folks who are taking care of their parents, I would submit get them to walk with you and teach them how to love so that you both extend grace. Be an example and lead them. Besides why put the excuse on your children if doing the right thing is necessary?

Yes why are we holding back? What would it take? If someone came back from the dead to warn you or to show you options, would that change the perception or would they be reduced to nonsense, hogwash and phooey. I mean ghosts and talking dead are not real anyway right?.

Is that what you say about Jesus?

Is that what you say about the scriptures every Sunday?

Read and repeat some phrase you heard, but it stays in the book, in the pews, in the church halls… Or is there something more to this?

Do we just go through the motions so we can go on through the rest of our busy lives? More of that work? For what?

… In order that we can be miserable paying bills, being slaves to social media, forgetting we even have neighbors or succumbing to the next fab craze so we can buy more useless stuff that does nothing but collect dust… this what we live for ?

Again what would it take to change all of that?

What authority do you really have to deny the commandments of our Creator and Savior? What excuse do you have to deny people justice when the government or people promote gun violence and systemic injustice ? Why do you continue to ignore climate change rather than preparing and adapting? What excuse do you have to be blind to the structural failures of corporate power to provide compassion and grace when they fire employees just before eligibility to take pensions? What excuse do you have to allow government agents to tear apart families? What excuse do you have for taking food out babies’ mouths so that privileged folks can live large off the backs of middle class people while rotting out said middle class? 

The large ugly law passed in July shoves burdens and concerns onto the poor, the youth and generations yet to come while savoring all that gluttony today, especially for the wealthy..

Inaction is as complicit and guilty as is voting for fools that condone these.

This isn’t asking help to paint a house or tape up borders around rooms and trim? This isn’t just a couple hours of work because there is much more at stake than casual deference to sore arms and physical work. 

This is reminding us to transform US, our souls, our attitudes and our eyes to see and witness. For us to do that which God calls us to do.

Carter Heyward writes that if we discover the house has structural problems, we don’t just go around changing wallpaper and rearranging furniture. We have to address the actual issues, perhaps dig deeply into the foundations. To our question, some of the what’s and whys are due to systemic structural problems in society - a broken world??

Yet if we decide to simply ignore them in vain (they are vain) hopes that they may magically rectify themselves, we have created even bigger fiction to go along with our deception. We are living examples of inaction and rejection of actual truth.

We therefore have an obligation to ourselves, to God, to our neighbors to be more than nothing. We are not to keep pushing the blame around like barges of trash for other places…we are not to keep pushing blame onto scapegoats and more hysteria. That is more excuse making.

People, we need to change - not into bad ideas and facade of years past, but change into God’s workers here on Earth.

We are to meet the issues with the urgency deserved… to see them, to call them out and to change them.

Yet that does not happen if we don’t do the necessary- something more intimate, more personal, and more powerful.

That change requires us to look into the mirrors of our souls when we see injustice, when we see oppression, a person hungry, or when we see bigotry. Move to action. 

We cannot continue to turn a blind eye and expect to be rewarded like dogs waiting for scraps. Assuredly if we do that, we will have what we deserve. 

For God knows there is so much more we can and should do.

So I ask you, what will it take for you?

Thanks be to God