Sermon by Rev. Anna Flowers

United Church in Walpole - Oct. 23, 2016

 

Matthew 6:19-21

 

If I ran into you at Stop 'n Shop and asked you "where is your treasure?" I bet you'd probably look at me funny. You may even wonder to yourself if you missed the boat and it's national "talk like a pirate day" -- which is a real thing and happens every year on Sept. 19th! Because talking about treasure is a little bizarre in our daily life. We don't really think about having "treasure" - let alone where we put it. Sure we have houses and cars and furniture, maybe even some family heirlooms - but treasure? What's that? It sounds like a fantasy.

If I asked a kid the same question, they may be able to relate a little better. Kids know they have treasures. Kids collect things - they collect rocks and shells, stuffed animals, pokemon, video games, you name it. You ask a kid to show you their treasures and they'll gladly give you a tour of all their most prized possessions. They're the things that are most valuable to them - and what they spend the most time with.

As adults we have treasures too. We put a lot of time and money into various things in our lives. There's just one big problem - most of us don't really know what it is we spend our time and money on. Or if we think we know, often times we are wrong.

I used to watch this Canadian TV show called "Til Debt Do Us Part." The premise was basically this tough-love personal finance guru named Gail trying to save couples who had seriously lost their way financially. It always started with the couple talking about how out of control they felt they were, and then Gail would come in and, as a first step, in her super wholesome Canadian accent, she would ask them where their treasure was. Not in those words of course. She'd ask them what they spent their money on. The couple never knew.

So then Gail would go on a treasure hunt. She'd not only look around the house for expensive items, but she would also analyze their credit cards and bank statements and find all the hidden treasure. And the couple was usually shocked at what she found. She'd find things like hundreds of dollars a year stored up in small, incremental video game purchases. She'd find treasures stored up in fast food that seemed cheap, but that added up quickly. She'd find treasures stored up in all kinds of places that the couple never realized had gotten so out of hand.

As viewers it was so easy to shake our heads at the miserable folks on TV who seemed so clueless about what was piling up in their houses and depleting their bank accounts. But the reality is that if someone went treasuring hunting in my life, I would probably be shocked too.

The dangerous thing about not being aware of how much time and money we spend on the things we don't really need - the things that don't matter - is that it takes us away from the things we do need. The things that are vital to our spirits: things like love; things like community; things like God.

It wasn't an accident that the show was called "Til Debt Do Us Part." For each of the couples with these money problems, the issues they had around money were ruining their relationships. 90% of marriages break up because of money problems. Jesus said: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

In the church we are sometimes shy talking about money. But we shouldn't be. It's an important spiritual pathway - or barrier - to God, depending on how we use it. Jesus talked about money all the time. It is one of his most common teaching topics in the gospels.

In today's gospel text Jesus tells us not to store our treasure in material things on earth. Don't waste time and money on things, he tells us. But "store up treasure in heaven." Let your time and your money bring your closer to God. "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." That last phrase is an important phrase. It doesn't say that where our hearts are, our treasure is. But rather is says that where our treasure is, our hearts are. Jesus is telling us that our hearts follow our treasure - and not the other way around.

Today we begin our stewardship season. This week we'll be mailing out pledge cards to all our members and friends. And if you get one thing out of my sermon today, let it be this: please don't see pledging as an obligation, or a chore. Don't think of it as another expense you have to pay. But see this time of stewardship for what it truly can be: a time to go on a spiritual treasure hunt.

Our church is inviting you over the next two weeks to sit down with yourself or with your partner and try and take stock of all the things you spend your time and money on. Big and small. Try and be honest with yourself and figure it out. If you're good with accounts then you can dive into your expenses and try and find yourself, where you are - where you've drifted - try and find your heart in those numbers. But if you aren't so much a numbers kind of person, you may have to sit in prayer. Actually, all of us may be wise to sit in prayer. Ask yourself: Is it well with my soul? Or does my life feel overwhelming and exhausting? Do the things I have make me happy? Do I spend my time doing thing and being with people that I love, or that I feel called to serve? Am I investing my treasures in ways that bring me closer to my family? To community? To God?

Then come up with some goals for yourself. Goals not just for your money but also for your time, because both time and money make up the treasure you have. Be ambitious with those goals! Have faith in today's gospel message and know that where we decide to invest our time and our money is going to be where our hearts are invested. The decisions we make will fix our hearts in those places.

And just so you know the kind of treasure-hunting and heart-investing I'm asking you to do, here's a sneak peek at my own goals:

1.      I want to invest my heart in my marriage.

2.      I want to invest my heart in my daughter's future. I'd like to start saving for her college.

3.      I want to invest my heart in eliminating poverty around the world.

4.      I want to invest my heart in God. I want to fix my heart on God. With both my time and my money.

 

That last goal means I want to be better about my prayer life. I usually start each day praying in our chapel here but sometimes I get sidetracked by emails and to-do lists and I never feel as good in my soul when I miss my prayer time. So I'm going to save that time for God.

But I am also going to fix my heart on God with my money and that means that I will be investing it here in our church community. Because I believe that God is working through our community right now, and I believe that God has big plans - big dreams for our church and I want my heart to be here. I want my heart to be a part of those dreams.

Sometimes as church communities we do the same things that we do as individuals - we don't realize what we're investing our time and our money in. We spend a lot of time worrying about things that don't matter much. Not intentionally, but because it's easy to lose track. It's OK if we do that some. All communities - like all people - do it. But let's also take this time, this stewardship and budgeting season, to remind ourselves as a community of why we're here. And what we want to spend our time and our money on collectively - what we want to invest our hearts in.

I've only been here for 2 months now, so I can't articulate yet the precise way that God is calling us to be a beacon of light in our community today. We will be spending time this coming year figuring that out together. But I can tell you what I believe the overall mission of the church is. I can tell you want I think being Church means and the way that God works through the church:

●       United Church in Walpole, as a church of Jesus Christ, is here to proclaim the good news of God's love, and justice, and freedom in ways that change people's lives.

●       As a church of Jesus Christ, we are here to connect people to God and to their neighbors - to inspire them to discipleship so that they become the hands and feet of Christ, loving and serving this community and the wider world.

●       As a church of Jesus Christ we believe that saving the world starts with being saved ourselves - turning our hearts to God - fixing our hearts on God. We do that with our faith and our devotion, with our time and our money - not once and done, but again and again and again each time we fall short or fall away.

●       And as a church of Jesus Christ we teach people that no matter how much we fail, no matter how tough life gets, no matter how bad we have been - God never gives up on us. And because God never gives up on us, we never give up on each other.

 

That's what we do here. That why we show up on Sunday. That's why we teach in the Sunday School and sing in the choir. That's why we pay the heating bill! That's why we meet for Bible study. That's why we sing together, laugh together, work together, pray together - because God is working through us, church. God is working through us now and into our bright future. And I want to invest in that. Look for my treasure and I hope you'll find it here. I want to fix my heart right here, with this gathered community.

Because when I die, and the big treasure hunt begins. When God looks over where I spent all the treasure of my life, when God sees just how much of that treasure I gave to Dunkin' Donuts iced coffees! - I hope God also sees this community. I hope God sees how much time and treasure I invested in the church, and in service to the world.

Because if you and I live lives like that, if we invest our souls like that, then arriving at heaven won't feel so different after all...