We build up bookshelves of helpful titles and a closet full of fitness equipment. We lock ourselves in our palaces and wonder why we are not at peace. Where these three stories come together is that what God desires for us is not the things that we can clutch and grab, but relationships and generosity and compassion. The Old Testament lesson says that it is this dynasty of David that is a holy dynasty. One that is built and filled and sewn through with a society rich with holy steadfast love for all God's people.
I don’t know if the author of the Quiltmaker's Gift was trying to write a Franciscan theology primer, But she did. Francis of Assisi was born into a world where the church was falling down. It was broken due in part to its tendency to wanting to be a worldly power and build palaces and hoard treasures. It isn’t a far-fetched argument to suggest that the church world we have known in the 20th century was much the same. There's a very present fussiness all over the church today that comes from realizing that in following Jesus as a way of life, we have to give up the kind of power that can be held and grasped.
Sometimes we comfort ourselves with an ideology that larger numbers will secure a future that we cannot begin to imagine. If you listen to the heart of the Old Testament lesson today it's clear message is that it is only by being God's people, by being a lineage of steadfast love, by becoming a just community that we have security. It is by being peace for all, it is by being people of deep demanding compassion that we build a home for God.
There are concrete ways and methods to improve our ability at being the king out in the world. There are ways we can learn to get better at being a beloved community and to be better stewards of our treasures. There are ways to turn around and invite strangers to welcome newcomers into this treasure sharing adventure of Jesus. We can and should seek after such guidance.
Yet maybe an image is more useful for today. The people of God and the places they gather are intended to be more like a beating heart something through which all flows the good and the bad and beating with life and goes back out never completely resting but finding peace just the same. Yoda was right the future is hard to see, it is always in motion. And part of what the layers of centuries of hope and disappointment that are present in this Old Testament text, much of what they offer to us is that the things that we put our confidence in are not what God has confidence in.
Yet maybe an image is more useful for today. The people of God and the places they gather are intended to be more like a beating heart something through which all flows the good and the bad and beating with life and goes back out never completely resting but finding peace just the same. Yoda was right the future is hard to see, it is always in motion. And part of what the layers of centuries of hope and disappointment that are present in this Old Testament text, much of what they offer to us is that the things that we put our confidence in are not what God has confidence in.
I serve as priest and pastor or ‘sheepdog’ because I trust that more of the world more of the crowds would know peace and wholeness ff they could let go of enough to begin to turn into life together in Christ. Life together that wholeheartedly incarnates God's steadfast love. I believe that God has called all of us to share the compassion and love we experience in the body of Christ. And if we don’t experience compassion or love in the body of Christ, then we have to let go and rebuild, just like Francis.
However, we cannot build the palace and expect our neighbors to inquire just by its being here. Build it and they will come only works in fantasy movies. Neither can we fill it with precious objects and expect the preciousness to convey itself to the world. Furthermore, we cannot escape from the neighborhood. We need rest, but so does the whole neighborhood. We come to this place and this time with a lovely palace and a world of natural treasures, and we are not to keep lists but to go to the crowds, go ladle love, carry compassion, turn over treasure.
Sometimes we come to the duties of faith, come to the way of love like the Greedy King looking for one thing to give away. We find something, something small and unremarkable. And we make the move, we give it away Not with hope or delight but with desperation or resignation. We don’t expect this to change us, but it does. What we started with meh becomes oh. What action of the Christian life, is your blue marble? I invite you to take a half marble. Easy to keep in your change pocket less likely to roll away. Take it and let it remind you of the king's marble. That one turning that one letting go that changes everything. What might be the one thing that you could start with to begin again in Jesus’ way? Is it learning or turning? Is it rest or forgiveness or listening? Or is it getting up out of your palace and connecting with the stranger?
It does not matter what your marble is, God can work with it and all we have to do is try. Yoda was wrong, God can work with try. We do not know what the future will bring there is no magic spell or treasure that will lock down your dreams into reality. Instead, it is by being people of steadfast love that we have a legacy. It is by being people of Jesus’ compassion that we have a dynasty. It is by being God’s people who are connected to the needs of the world and sharing the treasures of God’s palace that we build a home for God’s healing grace.
However, we cannot build the palace and expect our neighbors to inquire just by its being here. Build it and they will come only works in fantasy movies. Neither can we fill it with precious objects and expect the preciousness to convey itself to the world. Furthermore, we cannot escape from the neighborhood. We need rest, but so does the whole neighborhood. We come to this place and this time with a lovely palace and a world of natural treasures, and we are not to keep lists but to go to the crowds, go ladle love, carry compassion, turn over treasure.
Sometimes we come to the duties of faith, come to the way of love like the Greedy King looking for one thing to give away. We find something, something small and unremarkable. And we make the move, we give it away Not with hope or delight but with desperation or resignation. We don’t expect this to change us, but it does. What we started with meh becomes oh. What action of the Christian life, is your blue marble? I invite you to take a half marble. Easy to keep in your change pocket less likely to roll away. Take it and let it remind you of the king's marble. That one turning that one letting go that changes everything. What might be the one thing that you could start with to begin again in Jesus’ way? Is it learning or turning? Is it rest or forgiveness or listening? Or is it getting up out of your palace and connecting with the stranger?
It does not matter what your marble is, God can work with it and all we have to do is try. Yoda was wrong, God can work with try. We do not know what the future will bring there is no magic spell or treasure that will lock down your dreams into reality. Instead, it is by being people of steadfast love that we have a legacy. It is by being people of Jesus’ compassion that we have a dynasty. It is by being God’s people who are connected to the needs of the world and sharing the treasures of God’s palace that we build a home for God’s healing grace.
Amen.
Grace Episcopal Church
Pemberton, New Jersey
July 22, 2018
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