Brett's Discernment

The Preacher's Mistake

The parish priest
of Austerity
climbed up in a high church steeple
to be nearer God,
so that he might hand
His word down to His people.
When the sun was high,
when the sun was low,
the good man sat unheeding
sublunary things.
From transcendency
was he forever reading
and now and again
he heard the creak of the weather vane a-turning,
he closed his eyes
and said, "Of a truth
from God I now am learning."
And in sermon script
he daily wrote
what he thought was sent down from heaven
and he dropped this down
on his people's heads
two times one day in seven.
In his age God said,
"Come down and die!"
And he cried out from the steeple,
"Where art thou, Lord?"
And the Lord replied,
"Down here among my people."

-Brewer Mattocks

I was blessed to preach this sermon at my home congregation, Christ the King Lutheran in Richmond, VA on 11/15/09. I was blessed to struggle with the texts - Exodus 16:1-12, Psalm 138, Titus 3:1-8, Luke 12:13-21. This sermon was for the ELCA Women's thankoffering service 2009, which at Christ the King especially means that all of the quilts made by the "Holy Tearers" (haha) quilting group are draped on the backs of the rows before they are sent and donated to various needy people/organizations.

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You may remember the reality t.v. show, “Extreme makeover,” where contestants would undergo radical plastic surgery and other treatments for a new look. Or maybe you are a fan of extreme home makeover, which comes quite close to the image in the parable today, of tearing down barns to build larger ones. These shows and the rich man in today's parable encourage us to ask ourselves this question:
What about myself would I like to tear down and build larger?

These are things we say to ourselves, like the rich man in Jesus' parable - “And he thought to himself, 'What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' 18 Then 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. And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' God said to him, 'You fool!”

I say to myself, what if things were different? But just like God in Jesus calls out the rich man in the parable, I must call myself out as the fool. And we all are when we ask and tell ourselves such things.

Think with me about the package of gifts, for better or worse, that we are given when we are born into our families. This is our barn. This is our inheritance.
In today's story, the man speaking with Jesus seems to want to take his inheritance early. In this culture, this would be the same as disowning one's family. Why do it? Because he thinks he can do better for himself. Striking out on his own.
In the parable the rich man blessed with overabundance seeks to improve his life by expanding his barns, his storehouses – because just what he has is not enough.
We make this assumption – that what we have (our barn) is not good enough. That being born into another family, with a different lot in life, a different job, a different role, a different name . . . different relationships, would somehow feel like a much bigger barn. What is behind this is this is the lie we sometimes tell our selves - “what I have is not enough.”

This is the exact opposite of the Israelites' experience in our Exodus reading. God has given a gift which means they can only have enough for one day. For one day. Forget bigger barns, the Israelites were so daily dependent on God, none was kept. I always think how amazing it is that God knew God's people so intimately to know that the people needed just enough for one day.

In my own world though, today's manna does not seem like enough. I say to myself, you have done well. Now what? I will make a plan . . .
And right there, in the very assumption that I will make a plan, is the greatest deception. Telling myself like the rich man in the parable, relax, you have done well. The deception is not in enjoying oneself. The deception is not even in having possessions. The deception is in thinking that I have earned it. On my own.
In reading these verses from Luke, it struck me as funny how the rich man in the parable speaks to his soul – and I say to my soul, soul. I find that often these little wrinkles of humor or oddity that stick out often hold important truths. The rich man is focused on speaking only to himself. Someone is missing from this conversation. What does God have to say about his and our barns?

So, thinking we have earned it, we say to ourself, it's time to build. We make plans to store what we convince ourselves we have earned all on our own. But the truth is, brothers and sisters, that Jesus exposes this lie we tell ourselves. In the parable, God says to the rich man, 'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' Making plans and storing goods is not the sin, but it is our self-dependence. We make plans, and we always will. But even more surely, we will die. Our barns and our plans will leave us. The rhetorical question is piercing here – the things you have prepared, whose will they be?

It is in the very fear of death itself that Jesus breaks grace into our hearts. This parable shakes us free of this lie that we can do it ourselves. We cannot. We will die. But we are not left alone. God is a part of this conversation and has something to say. God gives enough for this day.

In the Old testament, God gave manna each day. God spoke to the people with a dependence on God that meant receiving. And receiving only what was needed. God said to them as God says to you today, “Here is enough. I am enough.”

Where is our manna? Literally, manna was daily bread. And as we pray, “give us this day our daily bread,” what do we mean?

I find my daily bread, in these words from Titus -
The good news is, God says every day to me and to you – these words – “But when the goodness and loving-kindness of God our Savior shined, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy.” Daily God seeks to speak these words of grace to us. I like the translation and the image of Christ rising here as the sun – shining – our daily promise. That because we have Jesus who came down, all the way to the cross, we are saved by God's mercy. It doesn't matter what your barn looks like, or whether you are in the process of remodeling it yourself on your own. We do not do anything alone.
And wouldn't you know it, it's all because of our savior, Jesus who was born in the last place you'd think, in a barn, levels and destroys our storehouses of self-righteousness. We are not valued based on our barns, or any good works we could achieve with our possessions. But instead, God comes right in those big barn doors of our lives, whatever mess they may be, and wraps us in a quilt of tightly woven promises.

This quilt, is something that we cannot ever sell, build, or disown this inheritance given to us. We can share it. And we do. It's our call to the world. But most importantly, it's a new way of valuing ourselves. Just as the recipients of these quilts will not see them just as another blanket, but as a depth of warmth and love, God does not see the size of our barns or how we manage them, but only this quilt of promise, wrapped around us at baptism.

This is our daily bread. This is what we are here for, for the water of rebirth. Christ calls us into this relationship daily – and wraps us up in love. With this baptismal quilt wrapped around us, there is no need for a bigger barn. In these words, woven together for us, God speaks to our souls.

We realize that God has been shouting at the top of God's lungs, speaking to us.
In the waters of rebirth, saying to you - “you are mine.”
In the bread and the wine, saying to you, this is for you. This is enough for today.
And washed in the word, clothed in a quilt of God's promises, fed with enough for today, we are blessed. Amen.