God's Love Letter and Tina

Expectations

We expect the Gospels to reassure us so that we find security in Christ. We expect the Gospels to tell us of God’s love for us. We expect the Gospels to tell us that we may rest in the comfort of that generous love, grace and forgiveness that God provides.

Our passage today begins with words that seem to live up to that expectation.

Luke 12:32 NRSV

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Amen. If we could just stop right there and spend an entire day breaking down what this amazing news means for us, I would be a happy camper.

We hear Christ telling his disciples and telling us, that we have no reason for fear. Christ is reassuring us and giving us that security that we deeply expect and cherish.

We hear of God’s Will for us… and what is that Will? It is that you and I be heirs of the Kingdom of God. And not just because God has been mulling it over for a time and decided it couldn’t hurt… no.

God’s intent in this is not like being at our first school dance and slowly edging out onto the floor as we check to see if anyone is judging us.

No, this is Christ boldly declaring the news from the Father that God has looked upon you and claimed you without a second thought. You are called to the Kingdom of God not on a wishy-washy decision by God but on a exuberant decree that God is making throughout the cosmos that YOU belong to GOD.

Each breath Christ takes, each word he speaks, each moment he spends on the cross… they are proclamations from God to declare that God is standing up for us and with us. God is calling us and claiming us. It is the Father’s Good Pleasure, Jesus says.

Thank you Jesus, is our response. Our expectations of hearing a word of security and comfort have been fulfilled and then some. We are not only accepted at the table of God’s grace but we are welcomed with eagerness to be brought in as members of God’s family. It is a beautiful thing that Christ speaks here.

This is the Gospel Message that we have been yearning to hear. The message that helps us rest easy in the comfort of God’s love for us.

It is like the beginning of a love letter to the church—one that is addressed to you and to me.

Expanding Expectations

This love letter that Jesus offers here first reassures of that security that is longed for… that is expected. It continues with that awe-filled news that it is in the Father’s good pleasure to make us, the church, part of the Kingdom.

And in the very next breath after receiving this good word in Jesus’ love letter to the church, we hear another word.

And then… Jesus keeps talking.

Luke 12:33–34 NRSV

Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Through Christ, we first heard of God’s love for us. This is the good gospel news that we receive and that we had been longing for. But now… now he shares with us a bit of coveted information:

And in the very next breath after receiving this good word we hear another word.

How do we show God our love in response? That’s what these two verses are really getting at. How do we show God our love in response?

Now let me be clear, this is not a make or break for the relationship. God’s love for us is not in question. Jesus does not set this up to be a causality statement.

Jesus doesn’t say: First love God and then God will love you back. No. Jesus declares God’s unswerving love for us and then gives hints and tips on how to show God the love we have in response.

It’s similar to when Ashley not so subtly suggested to me once upon a time that giving her a small kitchen appliance is not particularly romantic. Flowers maybe, but not a food processor.

What I failed to realize was that the food processor… while perhaps intended as a well-meaning gesture, ultimately meant that I was offering her something so that she could make food more efficiently… for me. I suppose in hindsight, that was not so romantic.

I sometimes wonder if we treat God like that as well. Offering up to God that which we think will pay us back and help fill our own needs and wants.

Here, Jesus gives a hint on how to show that love back to God in a good and appreciated way.

Surprisingly, it’s not about buying fluffier cushions for the church pews because our rear ends had been suffering on the old ones. Although, in some cases that might be a pretty warranted gift.

No, Jesus instructs the disciples of both then, now, and the future that the way to show our love to God is to sell our possessions and give alms to the poor.

Allow me to say a quick word about the larger context this is sent into. Throughout the books of Luke and Acts, which have both been ascribed to the same author, we hear a pattern that the theologian behind the quill was not concerned that possessions were inherently evil. Rather, Luke’s concern was of our heart being more attached to things than the people around us or to our God.

The early Lukan communities had wealth. We here in the United States likely have more in common with the Lukan communities than any of the others.

In the writings of Luke, we hear an awareness of social injustices of significant economic inequalities between the rich and the poor. We hear of those who have access to food and those who do not. We hear of those who have access to shelter and those who do not. We hear an emphasis in the writings of Luke that the church—especially the privileged churches and members who have wealth, have an opportunity to heal some of those injustices.

The words we hear emphasized from Jesus in this gospel are words that speak to us, here, in the United States.

We hear the love letter unfolding a little like this:

Dear Church,

I, the Lord your God, maker of all things. Creator of super novas and dung beetles. Master of storm and sea. I, the Lord, love you. From the highest mountain top to the deepest crevice in the ocean, I proclaim that love for you. You are mine and I rejoice in you. So do not be afraid for what I am about to tell you.

Love your neighbor, and do it boldly. You that have some, share with those who have little. Care for one another as I have cared for you.

Stop wasting life and energy on things that matter so little. Put your heart not into the things of life, but into the people of life. It is the people who have the true value, not the possessions.

As you love your neighbors, where ever they come from and whatever they look like. As you love your neighbors, you love the creation that I, the Lord your God, cherish most.

Trust in me, your God. You will be provided for no matter what. Help make my promises of love made known and visible to those around you. Share the good news and act on it.

Love, the lord your God.

Next Steps

So, Dear Church, what does this mean for us?

That’s what I’ve been asking myself this past week as I have been doing the church’s business at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

We have discussing issues that in essence ask the question, “Who are we as church today? How and where are we being called to respond to God’s love letter?”

Through this last week, I have discovered a few things about the church. Things that I probably already knew but were emphasized to me.

The first is that we do not all agree on what a good response to God’s love letter might look like. Perhaps unsurprisingly, we don’t all agree on everything… and, actually, we have a hard time fully agreeing on anything.

The lady that I sat next to in the Churchwide Assembly was a pastor from nothern New York and had been to several assemblies in the past. This was my first. I leaned over to her for one of the votes on the first day and mentioned that I hoped we could get unanimous support for it. She grinned and said that no vote ever gets unanimous support. And she was right.

Even on items like to end debate on a subject that had been dragging on, we could not get complete agreement. The closest we came to full agreement was in passing a memorial to condemn white supremacy and Christian Nationalism. We voted 893 in favor, 5 against.

I also learned that although I was in the majority for the vast amount of votes, there were times that I found myself in the minority vote as well. It is a strange thing to see 70 or 80% of the church vote against your opinion when you think you’re correct.

But even though we really never were able to fully agree what a response to God’s love letter to us might be, I did see a tremendous passion for engaging the issues of the world today. I saw people who came together from across the country and, truly, across the world, who spoke to the hope of a better place for all. We spoke of sharing the Good News and acting on it—sometimes quite boldly.

You may or may not agree with what I am about to say, and if not, that’s ok. But on Wednesday a group of somewhere between 600 to 800 of us marched through the streets of Milwaukee in a fashion that revived to me images of the Civil Rights Marches of the 60s.

We had some different ideas on occasion of how to help our neighbors, but the desire to help was there in everyone.

We marched to the ICE facility in Milwaukee and boldly called for the reunification of families with their children. We called for the laws to be carried out equitably for all immigrants and that individuals who claim asylum have their opportunity for a time in court to plead their case. And if you are interested in talking with me more about this, please let me know and we can set up an appointment.

All that said, I have to say, that march scared me. Not because I was against any stances we were making… I agree with them fully. Rather, I was afraid because I felt like I was getting out on the dance floor for the first time and I didn’t know what people might think.

I went anyway… because I felt it was the right thing to do. But, to my shame, I was not on my way rejoicing—I was dragging my feet.

Coming Home

As I began the long trip home yesterday, I had the many things from this last week rolling around in my mind, including that march.

On my late evening connecting flight from Houston to OKC, I made my way onto a crowded plane with wondering how these coming weeks and months might go after some very bold statements were made by the church body.

As I sought a place to park my rear for the flight, I spotted an open seat next to a well-seasoned black woman.

Her name, as it turned out, was Tina. I asked Tina permission to share with you her story today.

Tina is 74 years old. She was returning home from Atlanta, Georgia where she grew up and where she moved away from 41 years ago. She was there for her Grandmother’s funeral who had died just weeks before turning 105 years old. She was very much looking forward to getting into her own bed again and snuggling up with her dog.

As we shared stories, I mentioned to her about my travels to Atlanta two years ago and how I had been impacted at the Martin Luther King Jr. Museum and National Park.

She nodded and told me that was good but didn’t say much more. After a bit more conversation, I started doing the math of her having moved away from Atlanta 41 years ago.

And it dawned on me that she might have lived in Atlanta during the Civil Rights Movement. In a moment marked with hesitation and humbleness, I asked her if my math was correct. And she nodded… and then she began to tell her story.

She was 10 years old when Doctor King became leader of the American Civil Rights Movement. Tina’s mom was deeply involved in the movement. Both Tina and her mom marched alongside the Reverend Doctor King through the streets of Atlanta. She told me of the fear she experienced on those marches.

And then she told me about the schools as they were being desegregated and the buses were ordered to go through the black neighborhoods, bu buses would pass by the bus stops.

So Tina, along with other children, would lie down in the streets to force the buses to either stop or run over them.

She told me that if adults would try it, that the buses would have run over them—but that the drivers were not allowed by law to hurt the children. That said, the bus drivers would push the limits and creep the bus up as close as they could to the children lying down on the road, trying to scare them into moving out of the way.

She talked about how her grandmother’s cousin had been hung in Atlanta… while she was pregnant. And that while she hung they cut open her belly.

Tina told me, it was a terrifying time for her. And, she told me that for her, today is also a time that brings her deep fear. But that she would always continue forward.

She talked about how her grandmother’s cousin had been hung in Atlanta… while she was pregnant. And that while she hung they cut open her belly.

My own experiences of being afraid of being judged by going to the march in Milwaukee paled [motion to skin] in comparison to Tina’s experiences.

Breaking In

Like the thief that we hear about in the Gospel story that broke into the house, Tina’s story broke into my soul.

As I was wondering with some angst how news might be received of me being in a march for the rights of our refugee siblings in Christ, I realized how little I had on the line because I had my skin in the game.

In that love letter from Jesus, we are called to focus not on that which brings us temporary comfort but rather to focus our efforts in the uplifting of those who are most vulnerable in our world. And, while we might not always agree in what that looks like, Christs calls us to wrestle with that question.

Perhaps you feel called to aid the migrant. Perhaps you feel called for the person in prison. Perhaps you feel the call toward the person suffering from racism, sexism, or religious persecution. Perhaps you feel called to the hungry or the hurting.

Whatever you feel called toward, be reminded, first and foremost that in this challenging and at times uncomfortable work, God is our wing-man or wing-woman or wing-person, whichever you prefer, as we get out on that dance floor and get to work in the world.

You are not stepping out there on your own. You have a God that loves you to death, even death death on a cross.

And remember to not be afraid, little flock, for it is indeed the good pleasure of the Lord your God that you receive the Kingdom of God.

I pray that you too might be blessed with this uncomfortable reassurance of God’s love letter to the world.

I pray that you too might be blessed with this uncomfortable reassurance of God’s love letter to the world.