“You’re Gonna Need A Bigger Barn [OR What If Political Conventions Began With Confession]  Luke 12:12-21 [22-31] and Colossians 3:1-11

Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church on July 31, 2016

[sermon begins after 2 Bible readings]

Luke 12:12-21 [22-31]  Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’ 14But he said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’ 15And he said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’ 16Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” 18Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” 20But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” 21So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’  22 He said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. 23For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!25And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?*26If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? 27Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;* yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 28But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! 29And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. 30For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31Instead, strive for his* kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

Colossians 3:1-11   So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, 3for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ who is your* life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). 6On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient.*7These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life.* 8But now you must get rid of all such things—anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive* language from your mouth. 9Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices10and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. 11In that renewal*there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!

[sermon begins]

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve watched bits and pieces of two political parties’ national conventions.  All the way around, it’s a big dose of presidential candidates, the people who support them, and their view of the world and America’s place in it.  One of the things I’ve been wondering is what the conventions would look like if they followed the traditional Lutheran worship liturgy.  “Liturgy” means the work of the people and there are a lot of people working pretty hard at those conventions.  At the very least, they’re already standing and sitting at intervals.  It’s a place to start.

Following the liturgy idea, what would it look like for political conventions to open with a confession?   Imagine people saying together:

“…we have sinned by our fault, by our own fault, by our own grievous fault, in thought word and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone…”

The thing is, we know because we confess week-after-week, that this is only part of the confession and forgiveness liturgy.  But imagine the conventions opening with that kind of confession – starting the conversation from the point of being convicted.  I know, I get it.  Confession and media hype don’t go hand-in-hand.  But there is something appealing about the idea.

Jesus is talking to thousands of people in the Bible story today.  Thousands of people.  Just a few verses before these thousands converge on him, he quietly teaches his disciples the Lord’s Prayer.  Pastor Ann preached these verses last Sunday and talked about our God who listens when we pray.  I had a conversation with someone during the week about the comfort we experience in the liturgy and the Lord’s Prayer.  Sometimes this comfort is disrupted by a powerful conviction.  The conviction of being on the wrong road with some part of life.  A conviction that comes through the liturgy’s familiar words of scripture, prayer, and hymns.  Convicted.

Pastor Tim Keller says, “If your god never disagrees with you, you might just be worshiping an idealized version of yourself.”[1]  I like Pastor Keller’s thought about God disagreeing with us. This disagreement is softer language for being convicted.  But who is right if God disagrees with us?  I’m going to guess God.

The Bible story in Luke is convicting.  A man from the crowd yells out to Jesus. The man wants his help to settle an inheritance dispute with his brother.  Jesus side-steps his question and speaks to the crowd:

Listen to verse 15: “And [Jesus] said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’”[2]

Jesus warns them against all kinds of greed.  You name it and you can be greedy for it – money, power, things, time, information, degrees, etc.  There’s all kinds of greed but Jesus takes a moment to name one in particular – the abundance of possessions – and tells a story about a man and his crops.  The man’s land produced abundantly.  He looks at the crops and starts talking to himself.  Something along the lines of “self, you’re gonna need a bigger barn.”[3]  Once this is settled, he updates his soul on the latest goings on.  “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for you for many years; relax, eat, drink, and be merry.”[4]

Apparently God has had enough of listening to the man speak only to himself, a first-person universe that includes only the man.[5]  In just three verses, he uses the personal pronoun “I” six times and the personal possessive “my” four times. Then, God calls him a “fool.”

A little background to this parable about the man and his barn in the 12th chapter of Luke.  In the middle of the 10th chapter, Jesus and a lawyer get clear about the priority of loving God and loving neighbor as yourself with the parable of the Good Samaritan.[6]  At the beginning of Luke’s 11th chapter, the Lord’s Prayer is taught by Jesus to his disciples, including praying regularly for God’s kingdom come and our daily bread.[7]  Now, in chapter 12, Luke tells the Parable of the Barn Man.  A couple things to note here.  Wealth and saving for the future do not seem to be the issue.  What does seem to be an issue is the Rich Fool’s first-person universe and the perversion of wealth and savings into greed.

Over the last few decades, wealth around the world has shifted to an ever shrinking percentage of people worldwide.[8]  Think “Roaring ‘20s.”  I’ve wondered about this shift of wealth and track its impact on the most vulnerable people in the world.  I’ve also wondered how the most vulnerable will react as it becomes more and more difficult to feed and raise their families.  I’ve wondered about civil unrest and the price that is paid in blood by the most vulnerable.  You don’t have to think very far back into history to see this at work.[9]  Although, for now, it seems that the presidential primaries have become a way to voice discontent.

Closer to home in the City of Denver, gentrification is out-pricing many urban families who move beyond the city limits along with the next rent increase. Many have lived in Denver for generations.  While a few schools are bursting at the seams, Denver Public Schools is anticipating a decreased enrollment, in part, because of this gentrification.[10]   It’s close to home for us as a congregation and community with some of us facing this very real possibility in our own families.

Human greed functions in every kind of economic system.  Capitalism is no different in that regard to socialism or communism.  There is also no pure form of economic system.[11]  For example, America’s capitalism includes taxation that pays for roads, emergency services, schools, and Social Security. Regardless, as the primary economic system, capitalism can cloak greed in a respectability that makes it difficult to begin a conversation about it.

Conversation partners are sadly lacking in today’s parable.  The man talks only to himself as he plans and builds.  This is where the church has something to offer.  Jesus says to be on guard against all kinds of greed and then tells this parable.  We are conscripted as conversation partners through the gospel.

As conversation partners through the gospel, we begin at the end – FREE.  Made free by Christ, hidden IN Christ as the Colossians reading reminds us.[12]  Already belonging to God beyond those pesky categories of Greek or Jew, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free;[13] and well beyond Independent, Libertarian, Democrat, Republican, and Green.  This freedom in Christ means that fingers don’t point outward first – finding a soul on which to throw the greedy label.  We point those fingers at ourselves.

Pointing our fingers at ourselves, we have a chance of seeing where we store up treasures for ourselves but are not rich toward God.[14]  Where we love possessions and money more than we love God and our neighbor.  Let’s start there this week with that level of honesty.  That greed no longer bankrupt our relationships with God and neighbor; that the gifts of mercy and generosity take hold through our baptisms.[15]  Trusting God’s final word of mercy through the death of Jesus, we find ourselves and our neighbors valued by God beyond anything any of us may possess.

By the power of the Holy Spirit through your baptism, may you be clothed with the new self, “which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator.”[16]

May God’s abundant grace free you from that which binds you. In the name of Christ (+), amen.

 

[1] Tim Keller (b. 1950 – present). https://twitter.com/timkellernyc/status/510458013606739968

[2] Luke12:15

[3] A nod to Peter Benchley and Carl Gottlieb’s screenplay for the movie Jaws (Universal: 1975).

[4] Luke 12:19

[5] Matt Skinner used this phrase in Sermon Brainwave podcast for Luke 12:13-21 on WorkingPreacher.org for July 31, 2016.  http://www.workingpreacher.org/brainwave.aspx?podcast_id=784

[6] Luke 10:25-37 – Parable of the Good Samaritan

[7] Luke 11:1-4 – The Lord’s Prayer

[8] CHAD STONEDANILO TRISIARLOC SHERMAN, AND EMILY HORTON. “A Guide to Statistics on Historical Trends of Income Inequality.” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, July 29, 2016.  http://www.cbpp.org/research/poverty-and-inequality/a-guide-to-statistics-on-historical-trends-in-income-inequality

[9] For example, The French Revolution

[10] Melanie Asmar. “Enrollment Drop Will Leave 100s of Teachers Jobless.” The Colorado Independent: March 16, 2016.  http://www.coloradoindependent.com/158050/enrollment-drop-will-leave-100s-of-denver-teachers-jobless

[11] American Government: 13b. “Comparing Economic Systems.” http://www.ushistory.org/gov/13b.asp

[12] Colossians 3:3

[13] Colossians 3:11

[14] Luke 12:21

[15] Romans 12:8

[16] Colossians 3:10

Esther: Fate? Luck? A Story for Our Time – Esther 4:12-17, Romans 14:7-10, and John 14:25-27

Pastor Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church on July 17, 2016

[sermon begins after 3 short Bible readings]

Esther 4:12-17 When they told Mordecai what Esther had said, 13 Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.” 15 Then Esther said in reply to Mordecai, 16 “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.” 17 Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.

Romans 14:7-10 We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. 8 If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

John 14:25-27 [Jesus said to his disciples]  “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

[sermon begins]

I went to a play called “Sweet and Lucky” about a month ago.[1]  Not your usual play in which you walk into a theater, sit down, and watch the actors on a stage.  “Sweet and Lucky” guides the audience in small groups, out of sequence from each other, across many rooms and sets as it tackles the idea of memory and how it works.

A relevant aside, I just found out last week that the show’s New York director, Zach Morris, is a confirmed son of the Augustana congregation. I mean that in the ritual sense.  Years ago, he affirmed his baptism in the rite of Confirmation here. His mother Maggie and sister Katelynn continue to worship here regularly.  Maggie handed me an article last Sunday about the play.  Funny how things happen like that and a connection can be seen only in hindsight.

And that takes us back to the play and why it may be at least loosely relevant to the sermon today.  At one point, an actor asked me if I believe in luck.  I said, “No.” She then asked if I believe in fate.  I said, “No…I think there’s an option that we aren’t able to understand.”  Just her luck that she got to talk with me, eh?  But her questions are onto something.  We are meaning-making beings.  Things need to mean something. If they don’t mean something, we’re stymied.  If they mean something terrifying, we’re still stymied.  We throw everything we can at situations to find some kind of answer to feel better about them. Whether it’s luck, fate, karma, God’s will, free will, or something else I can’t think of at the moment. Things happen and we start asking “why?” We want answers.  We are answer mongers and meaning makers.  When things happen, either we find answers or we make them up.

This reasoning out the “why” is the surface appeal of the Book of Esther.  Esther is an orphan 500 years before Jesus.  Not just any orphan, she’s descended a few generations from the Jewish people who were rounded up in Jerusalem and carted off into Persia by the king of Babylon. Esther is adopted by her cousin Mordecai and raised as his own daughter.[2]

Through a series of circumstances, Esther becomes the Queen of Persia, married to King Ahasuerus.[3]  She remains a Jew but this secret is kept from even the king himself.  Then comes Haman, second in power only to the king.  Mordecai refuses to bow down to Haman so Haman plots to murder Mordecai, and I quote the Bible story here, “by giving orders to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews…”[4]

Mordecai catches wind of Haman’s orders to kill the Jews. What follows are a number of servant delivered messages between Mordecai and Esther.[5]  Mordecai challenges Esther to save her people. Esther argues back that the king could have her put to death if she shows up uninvited.  And then comes Mordecai’s message back to her, “Do not think that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews…Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.”

Even Mordecai is looking for an answer to the “why” question while he’s looking for an answer to help his people.  The way he asks Esther to help implies that it is either her fate or God’s will or some combination of the two.  In the end, she resolves to help even through it could mean her death and she says, “…if I perish, I perish.”[6]

Esther’s story is cleaned up quite a bit for the G-rated worship musical the kids are preaching through this morning’s 10:30 worship. To get the full story takes reading this Bible book laced with dark humor and questionable outcomes. While reading, it’s engaging to wonder about your own life as reflected in Esther’s self-sacrificial courage, Mordecai’s righteous determination, Haman’s fearful self-preservation, and King Ahasuerus’ detached ignorance.

Esther’s story is meaningful and relevant to the current moment in the world. She begins in the royal court, a place of comfort tainted by episodic fear and indifference. Rattled by Mordecai’s truth, her acceptance of risking death has a self-sacrificial purpose – neither fatalistic nor nihilistic. She listens to him, formulates a dubious plan, and goes into action on behalf of her people.  And the parts of the story you just heard happen in only four short chapters with a little over half the book to go.

Mark George, my Hebrew Bible professor was asked why the stories in these earliest writings are the ones that remain.  Dr. George resisted pious or academic answers.  He said with high intensity, “Because they’re GOOD stories!”  He might have even had a fist in the air when he said it.  There was that much emphasis.  “Because they’re GOOD stories!”

They’re good partly because the stories they tell are about complicated people. Trusty Noah?  Read what happens after the flood when he builds a vineyard and makes wine.[7]  Faithful Abraham?  Lied about Sarah being his sister to save his own skin not once but twice![8] Biblical heroes are often as flawed as they are faithful.  That makes for good story.

It also makes for something more than a good story.  It means that we have a shot at seeing our particular iteration of flawed and faithful in the pages of the Good Book.

Esther is no exception to Dr. George’s “GOOD story” category.  In the face of Haman’s treachery and King Ahasuerus’ indifference, Esther is challenged to save her Jewish people, putting her life at risk to do so.  But the reality is that while we aspire to Esther, we’re regularly caught in moves that smack of King Ahasuerus’ ignorance or Haman’s power grab.  Comparing Esther’s self-sacrificial resolve to Christ’s self-sacrifice may get us a little further.  Today’s reading from the Gospel of John is good for this comparison.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus’ death on the cross is the inevitable outcome to his life-giving ministry.  Inevitable because the life he offers is one of mercy, freedom, and peace which is perceived as a threat by the people around him.  In his death no hand is raised against the people God so loves. Rather, Jesus is resolved to see it through. Resolve that ends in self-sacrifice on a cross.

Jesus’ resolute self-sacrifice means that Christians are neither nihilists nor fatalists.  Nihilists argue that life is meaningless. Fatalists argue that life is determined by an impersonal fate.  Paul’s words from his letter to the Romans reflect a Christian’s take on life – “We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.”

Paul’s words are a confession of faith.  Not a faith that protects us against the struggles of life and death.  Rather, a faith that confesses Jesus’ resolve to make redemption and healing known even from the most difficult situation.[9]  And still we may not see the redemption and healing except for time passing and hindsight, if we get to see it at all.

The readings today from Esther, Romans, and John, offer slightly different perspectives on fear, death, and peace.  In John, Jesus promises peace as the One whose ultimate self-sacrifice on the cross is purposeful rather than nihilistic – gathering us around the tree of the cross, transforming death into life as well as our self-preservation and indifference into action for the sake of the world God so loves.

________________________________________

[1] Zach Morris. Sweet and Lucky, a collaboration between Third Rail Projects and Denver Center for Performing Arts Off-Center.

[2] Esther 2:7

[3] Esther, chapters 1 and 2

[4] Esther, chapter 3. Direct quote is from verse 13.

[5] Esther, chapter 4

[6] Esther 4:16

[7] Genesis 9:20-27

[8] See Genesis chapters 12 and 20.

[9] David Lose. “Faith, Forgiveness, and 9-11.”  Dear Working Preacher… September 4, 2011. https://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=1595