An All the Way Journey

An excerpt from Pastor Mike’s Sermon given on September 4th at LCUCC 

Jesus tells us to let go of our possessions. In other words, let go and let God lest we hold on to our worry and our fear instead of knowing that the presence of God is for all of eternity and that the Love of God is eternal as well.  

We are being directed by the living teacher how to live a fully human healthy life, how to become a disciple of the Way by the teachings of Jesus. If we follow the one who shows us not by words or creeds but by life and deeds. Shows us not by vengeance and punishment, but by invitation and grace. Jesus shows us what it is to give up and die, so as to rise and live a fully human experience all the while being carried and cared for by the God of the temple and the God of the lilies, the God of Moses and the God of LCUCC, the God of all time of every place and of every heart of every soul 

But it is an all the way journey instead of a one and done. It is a journey all the way to the cross and the grave of our soul.  

This week I was looking through some books in the office and found one by Barbara Brown Taylor: An altar in the world. In it she shares a story:

Years ago, a wise old priest invited me to come and speak at his church in Alabama. What do you want me to talk about I asked him. Come tell us what is saving your life now he answered. It was as if he swept his arm across a dusty table and brushed all the formal china to the ground. I do not have to try to say correct things that are true for everyone all I had to do was figure out what my life depended on, all I had to do was figure out how I stayed as close to that reality as I could.

This sparked that same question in me as I thought about our sermon today. 

In the gospel of Jesus, we hear a pastoral perspective. We hear about the stories of healing and paying attention, of love and care that Jesus Christ showed by his life. As a matter of fact, Jesus Christ taught more by his life than his words. Follow me could mean follow my example in your life.

We also hear the prophetic voice of Jesus Christ that calls truth to power of that human sin of building an empire of greed and power instead of caring about the entirety of God’s creation. Today we hear that strong prophetic voice, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions 

In an answer to the earlier question that Barbara Brown Taylor brought up; How am I staying close to that reality of the God of all time and of every place and of every heart and of every soul. The very breath that we, that all of creation, breathe. How am I staying close to that God, the one who loved us into creation and breathed us into being. Yes!! That God.  

How am I staying close to that reality which is both out there and within us. That reality that is breath and sustenance. That Spirit of the living God who has been and will be with us as we travel this all the way journey with Jesus Christ towards personal and communal transformation, all the way with the one who calls us give it all up lest we create false idols and a God who only beckons a select few instead of a radical God who invites all of creation to come live within the divine presence and come home to the dwelling place of My grace and strength. 

I want to really zero in on that last statement that Jesus shared, give up your possessions and follow me. Because I stay close to that spiritual reality by looking for the invitation from Jesus to come and live. Sometimes it might be hard to find that invitation in some of the harsh words of Jesus. But in the end Jesus Christ is the universal invitation to a transformational faith journey all the way towards new life.  

What is the possession that is degrading the collective soul. You see that is the deeper spiritual truth that Jesus is getting at. Jesus may be getting at the possessions that we feel are a need instead of a want. 

I may not want to give up what I find important to me. But are these things important to the God of justice and abundance that Jesus speaks of?

Goodness is how I stay close to the reality of the world that we are all connected even though we may not be united. 

It seems to me that finding the goodness in the world is a much-needed spiritual practice that can save us from being drowned in the negative and hateful world. 

We are being inundated with that negativity and a sickening world view that the entire world is divided in two. That the universe is aligned, even set up by God, in some divinely inspired perpetual us versus them. We do, don’t we? Don’t We value that old us versus them world view. That zero-sum way of looking at the world. This may be what possesses our collective soul at times. Jesus is inviting us into a much more radical, different world view. 

In his book Saving God from Religion, A minister's search for faith in a skeptical age, Robin R. Meyers, a UCC pastor serving in Oklahoma City, helps us understand a world view that speaks of our connectedness: You cannot tap the tuning fork of existence anywhere without changing the music of spheres everywhere”.

When speaking of Benedictine Monks teaching lay people about centering prayer, he expresses this center as sounding like a God who is grounded in this world, revealed in human hearts that show compassion and kindness. A God who is both someplace and everyplace.

Jesus is helping us understand this notion today that this isn’t a five-minute trip to a corner store for some Kleenex. This journey towards knowing God revealed in everything and everyone is an all the way journey towards our own selves. It’s a lifetime of death and resurrection: of letting go of our possessions, grappling and grabbing onto another possession and then letting go of that thing we cling to so that instead of lurching from one thing to the next we keep our eye on the one who shows us the way towards being our most fully human selves. With Jesus, the Gospel, as our guide we give up that which holds us back from realizing our own fullness and humanity. We make room for all to realize their own full humanness.

So that we may hear Jesus talking literally about our economy as the possession or the material things of this world that become an idol. For we can certainly make the economy the god and the idol. We can make the nation or the country the idol. We can make our way of life the idol and hoard all the resources for our own gain at the expense of others.  

Again, how do I stay close to the reality of the God? I stay close to that reality by listening to this person of Jesus who teaches me not what to say, but how to be in the world so that the goodness of God is what I put into the world 

I hear the emotional intelligence of Jesus in his talk today as he prepares those who are following him to know that it may cost the giving up of those things that stand in the way of becoming a disciple, or from joining Jesus on this all the way journey towards personal and communal transformation.  

One quick definition Emotional Intelligence: the ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges and defuse conflict. 

That's what Jesus Christ may be saying. Is that these things will hold you back from seeing that we are all connected. It is that connectedness which can become counter cultural in a way that will divide families and communities. Possessions, or what possesses us will keep us from spiritual, communal, and personal transformation. This is much deeper than giving up a few cups of coffee.

Possessions can become the things that hold us back from seeing our connectedness to all others. If we are guided by this Gospel story, we will come to understand how possessions can become the idol and draw our attention away from God’s presence and the innate goodness that we are all born into.  

It has become clear that the most destructive aspect of our shared and connected lives is the extreme world view of individualism. This notion that we are all not connected, that our own individualism is the idol, and it is what possesses us to the point of separating us from that reality of God’s presence in everything under creation and everyone within creation.

It is an all the way journey towards personal transformation so that God can transform the world through our involvement in sustaining the beloved community that Marting Luther King Jr. spoke of, that Jesus spoke of as the Kingdom of heaven, Kin-g-dom God, the realm of God, the Essence of God. It can become difficult to see our connectedness in a world that promotes the individual at the expense of everyone. It can become difficult to see the good in the world when everyone is caught up in the individualism of our current time and place in history.  

If the last two years have shown us anything is that we are all connected. A single cell, in a single body, in a small region on the other side of the world spread and brought the entire world to a standstill. All in the matter of a few months the world grinded to a halt and millions of people lost their lives.  

The wildfires a few years ago are another example of how connected we are. Those fires that started about two thousand of miles away affected our climate here in Michigan. Do we remember how the sun had a haze for a few days while the smog from those fires made their way across the continent? 

We are all connected to everything under the sun and within God’s creation.  

I have heard pastors say I’m still in the Gospel story here. We know that sometimes we can get a little bit ahead of ourselves as pastors. Occasionally, we need to remind ourselves and the audience of that by saying, I’m in the Gospel story here. It may be hard to hear but I’m in the Gospel story. Give up your possessions and follow me.  

Give up those things that will hold you back from the all the way journey towards personal and communal transformation. Give up all that holds you back from realizing that we are all connected. All of creation is connected, intertwined to each other. You cannot tap the tuning fork in California without it affecting us here in little old Leslie MI.  

When we want to understand the goodness of God in our lives, we can rely on our connection to one another and all of creation to remind us that God is with us on this all the way journey. We are not left alone in our work or our lives in promoting the Kingdom of Heaven right here, right now. Looking for the goodness of God means looking for the goodness in our lives in this here place, here and now.  

Jesus Christ doesn’t tell us, go and do without me. He says, follow me to the kingdom here and now as well as the Kingdom to come.  

With Jesus as our guide and our teacher who is walking among us, we are being shown the connection between the material, the Bread, and the spiritual, the Cup of our Communion Table. 

With Jesus Christ as our guide on this all the way journey towards transformation we can see the goodness of God in all the times and all the places of our lives.  

Guided by this Gospel that has been laid upon our hearts the goodness of God guides our souls and we are all connected to that goodness.

Give up your possessions and follow the Word of God incarnate

Incarnate in all of creation

Alive in every heart

Give up that which possesses you

Make room in your heart for the goodness of God

Here

Today

Now

Forever more

Amen

If you were touched by this sermon, you may say the Amen out loud in your home, office or wherever you are reading. ;-)