Abundant Gifts!

How is your heart today?  This has been a trying season for many of us, for this community of faith:   As we approach the final stages of construction and prepare to move back to 245 Post Road E., we are excited, but also a bit road-weary.  We’ve said goodbye to beloved members, those saints who have died and left heart-shaped holes among us. Some of us are navigating illness, or a strained relationship or financial trouble.  Daily we are confronted by distressing headlines:  an Ebola epidemic that won’t quit; a refugee crisis that persists. Our country remains enmeshed in military conflicts in the Middle East, and violence erupts here at home in unexpected ways and places: in a Washington high school; on a street in Ferguson.  We are living in profoundly unsettled times.  It’s hard enough to navigate our own troubles, much less respond with courage or compassion to the global-sized troubles that we read about in the daily news.   It could make anyone a bit heart-weary, heart-heavy.

Thankfully, Jesus knows something about hearts, and all the pain, distress and fear they can contain. “Do not be afraid,” He says. “For it is God’s good pleasure to give you the kin-dom…God wants us to be a part of God’s beloved community.”  Just before the verses we read this morning comes that passage about the ravens and the lilies:  “What have you to worry about?  If God feeds the ravens and clothes the lilies, what more will God do for you, God’s beloved people?”  It’s a word of assurance: assurance of God’s abiding care and devotion.  And it comes with a challenge:  “Trust me,” Says Jesus.  “Trust me… and let go.”  Let go of the things you possess, the things that possess you. Let go of all the stuff that fools you into feeling secure in times of distress:  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

It’s counter-intuitive, isn’t it?  Especially for those of us raised to plan ahead, save our money, insure ourselves against future troubles.  It’s just common sense to hold on to what we have, isn’t it? Don’t we have a responsibility to our families?  “Jesus:  you don’t want us to be reckless, do you?  After all, we are not ravens or lilies.  We’re people.  People with electric bills and college debts, medical expenses and families to care for and mortgages to pay and…”

“Trust me.”  Says Jesus.  “Trust me and give something away.”

It’s the fundamental choice we face every day:  whether to cling or let go; whether to grasp or to give.¹  Our impulse (my impulse) is to respond to the stress of circumstances beyond our control by holding more tightly to the things we DO control.  To hold more tightly and not let go.  But where does that get us?  In a pickle.  Or a pickle jar.

Do you know the tale of Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins?  It’s a favorite in our household.  The synagogue in a local village has been seized by goblins.  In order to banish them, Hershel must outwit the invaders and light the Hanukkah candles.  So when one of the goblins arrives, Hershel greets him and says, “Have a pickle.” You know those jars full of big, sour-crunchy pickles?  The greedy goblin reaches into the jar and grabs a whole handful of pickles, but when he tries to pull his fist out of the jar, he can’t.  “I’m stuck!” The goblin complains. “You’ve put a spell on this jar to hold me fast!” “That’s right,” says Hershel.  “It’s a very powerful spell. You came tonight to stop me from lighting the Hanukkah candles.  Now I am going to light them while you stand with your hand in that jar.”²

Of course, Hershel knew what the goblin did not:  That the easiest way (the only way) to escape was to let go of those pickles.  That’s what Jesus is talking about:  Letting go of the pickles!  Letting go sets us free:  free from anxiety, free from fear; free to love and to serve with abandon.

In one respect, that’s exactly what we do at Thanksgiving:  we serve with abandon: we gather in the harvest, pile high the produce, prepare our favorite recipes, peal and mash and roast and bake…then release all those dishes out into the dining room, or into Hoskins Hall:  lay it all out on the tables to share.

Now, during the rest of the year, my family tends to hoard special foods:  the homemade rhubarb jam someone gave us last fall; the extra spicy mustard I found in my stocking at Christmas; the plum preserves and fig sauce we bought on a whim.  On Thanksgiving we open the cupboard and pull out all our treasures, those jams, pickles and sauces that we’ve been accumulating, rare treats we’ve tucked away for some special occasion. Thanksgiving is the day we finally open all those jars and pass them around.  We release them into the appreciative hands of our guests.  We let them go.

“OK,” you might say, “But Jesus wasn’t talking about jam and pickles.”  You’re right.  Mostly.  Jesus was talking about our money. And our stuff.  And our time…  And jam and pickles.  Jesus was talking about allthe things we love too much and hold too tightly; all the things that can get in the way of loving and holding onto God.

His point was that we would be better off if we stopped worrying about ourselves and our stuff and started investing in God – and God’s kin-dom.  In the words of Quaker elder and educator Parker Palmer, we need to ask, “What do I want to let go of and what do I want to give myself to?”³  Ask that question, and see if everything doesn’t shift.  Ask it, because where we direct our energy, where we plant our feet, where we put our treasure, our hearts will follow.  Give yourself – your time, your talents and yes, your treasure to help build God’s beloved community – welcome the stranger, feed the hungry, free the captives, tell the stories and love all God’s people – and you may just find your own distress diminished, your own heart expanded and your love for God increased!

It’s a nice metaphor – letting go of pickles; sharing your jam.  But am I actually suggesting that we give away more of our treasure during difficult times, that we make a pledge to Saugatuck Church – maybe even increase what we give?

Yes, I am! Especially now.  Right now, in this unsettled time and place, right here, in the middle of the muddle; right now, amidst heart-ache and heart-break…and stay with me.  Here’s why:  Because I believe that giving, investing our treasure in our shared ministry, in God’s work in our midst, investing in our shared faith journey here at Saugatuck Church, is heart-mending work.

Really, you already know this:  Think about the last time you took a break from your busy schedule to make a meal for a grieving neighbor; or knit and give away a prayer shawl, or help rebuild a house destroyed by flood, or provide the spread for our fellowship hour after worship, or contribute presents for our Angel Tree, or drive someone to the doctor’s office, or volunteer for Community Plates (transporting leftover food from a local supermarket to a nearby food pantry), or make the prayerful decision to devote a portion of your income to support the ministries of Saugatuck Church.  Think about how that felt:  Good, right?  Fulfilling.  Maybe even amazing.  That’s what I’m talking about:  Giving away what we have is heart-mending, soul-expanding work.  Sharing our treasure blesses those to whom we give, but along the way – and here’s the rub, the delicious, holy irony – it heals us, too.

Sisters and brothers in Christ:  today is the special occasion we’ve been waiting for.  Now’s the time to open wide our cupboards, reach way back into the corners, pull out all our finest treasures and spread them out on the table.  Now is our chance to let go of the worry and the wondering about whether there’s going to be enough.  Just let it go.  Because this we are promised:  that God will take our treasures – whatever we offer – and do amazing things with them.  Like it says in the letter to the Ephesians:  God will accomplish – among us and through us – abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine. Not just a bit, not just a token, butabundantly more:  More laughter, more learning; more people singing, and children growing; more games on the Great Front Lawn; more feasts in Hoskins Hall.  More healing prayers; more deep connections; more justice pursued; more troubles shared; more hearts mended; more lives transformed. That’s what we have in store! That’s what we can give ourselves to.

So tell me: how can we resist?

Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Scripture Texts

LUKE 12: 32-34

32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

EPHESIANS 3:16-21 – NRSV TRANSLATION, REVISED

20 Now to God who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, 21 to God be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.