Hi everyone,
Welcome to worship for this 21st Sunday after Pentecost, landing on October 13, 2024! It’s also Thanksgiving Sunday and I am thankful that you are able to join us this day!
The bulletin for this service can be found here. You are welcome to follow the service using the bulletin, which will have the order and words of worship and the sermon, or just with the words on your screen. The sermon is also included on this page below the video itself.
If you’d like to enhance your online worship experience, you are invited to have a candle in your space, lit at the beginning of worship and then extinguished near the end of the service after the sending hymn, when the altar candles are extinguished. You are also welcome to participate in communion if you are comfortable, by having something small to eat and drink ready for the appropriate time. Further instructions will be given during worship.
May God’s unending grace and mercy be upon you and fill you with hope and joy, this day and always!
May your Word, O God, living and active, pierce our hearts and open our minds, that we might see you in and around our community and world, through Jesus Christ. Amen.
So I have a bit of a confession to make: I spent a lot of money this past week. Amazon had another Prime Day for some strange reason and then there was this random warehouse sale that we went to, and well… one thing led to another and now we have a lot more stuff.
Well, maybe not a lot for some people’s standards, but for me, as a middle-aged dad with a modest-paying job acting as the main bread winner of the house, it was a lot. Or maybe it just seems like a lot because I don’t usually spend that much on a regular basis, unless I’m paying for car insurance or something. Or maybe it looks like we splurged because we bought some stuff that will be nice to have, but we don’t really need it. Or maybe in the back of my mind, I think that we might have spent too much, to the point that I’m calling this a confession, because deep down… I feel kind of guilty.
Why you ask? Well, because I’m cheap. I have to be. I need to be. I can’t afford not to be.
Now you might be thinking, cheap? You? You don’t look frugal. What, with these flashy clothes and that fancy car and a dumb racing simulator steering wheel, but believe me, I really do pinch those pennies. I rarely buy anything that isn’t on sale, my car is coming up to 15 years old now believe it or not, and that simulator wheel was very second hand which I just happened to get for a pretty sweet deal.
So yeah, I’m pretty cheap.
But don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about my compensation here or anything, this congregation has been more than fair with my salary. What I’m saying is that life… or at least life here in the Lower Mainland… is expensive. Housing, food, gas, it’s all so expensive. It’s like I don’t need my degrees in theology, I need them in finance just so I could figure out how to live in this part of the world.
Again, I’m not at all complaining about my pay here at the church, I know I’m not here to get rich. But I guess I’m just saying that sometimes, especially in weeks like these when I feel so bad for spending so much money, I wish I was rich. I wish I didn’t have to worry about money so much and didn’t feel the need to constantly pinch those pennies. I wish that I could be more carefree when it comes to finances, because maybe then I would be more happy? Or at least, I’d have all the things I want, like a new racing simulator wheel instead of a used one.
And I’m not sure there is anything wrong with that. I’m not sure if there’s anything wrong with wanting to be comfortable, nothing wrong with hoping to be financially independent, nothing wrong with wishing to be rich.
I mean, everyone wants that, don’t they? Isn’t that the goal of life? It sure seems like it for us in our time, and I would argue that it was the case back in bible times as well. Back in those days, being rich wasn’t exactly common. Or at least, the commoners weren’t rich. Being rich meant you were powerful, important, and feared. Being rich was something that brought out admiration from others, respect, and maybe even a little envy. Being rich meant that you had somehow found favour in God’s eyes, and were blessed. That’s sort of what we think now too, isn’t it? At least, that’s what the rich would like everyone to believe. And in a way, I think most people do. The poor folk, the rich folk, and likely even the disciples did as well.
So when Jesus told this rich man in today’s gospel lesson to sell everything he owned in order for him to get into the kingdom of God, the disciples were probably taken aback a little because it would have been such a foreign idea to them. Why would he need to purge his blessings? And when the rich man dropped his head and walked away with his tail between his legs, it’s almost as Jesus stops them from reaching out with a sympathetic hand with his words, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God.”
Wait, what? Doesn’t having wealth mean that you’re already in the kingdom of God? Doesn’t having a lot of possessions prove that God has been watching over you and caring for your every need? Doesn’t being rich mean that God loves you the most?
So understandably, the disciples were confused. And almost right on cue, Jesus knows this and reiterates and clarifies, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God.” Hang on, that doesn’t clear anything up at all! In fact, it kind of makes things worse. Is Jesus saying that it’s not just hard for the powerful and respected rich, but it’s hard for everyone else as well? He can’t be saying that, can he?
But then almost to relieve them of their anxieties, Jesus qualifies that with the very famous, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” So we’re back to it being difficult for just the rich then. Still a tough one to swallow, but we’ll allow it because we’re off the hook. Or are we?
The disciples wonder out loud, “then who can be saved?” almost as though they were fishing for a response from Jesus, something like, “well, you of course, my good and faithful servants.” That would have made things a lot easier, wouldn’t it? Take the load off the disciples and let them know that they’re in.
But Jesus doesn’t do or say that. Instead, Jesus says, “for mortals it is impossible.”
Well, that makes matters worse. It’s impossible for all of us? Even this very disciplined and morally righteous rich guy who wasn’t just good, but gooder than good since his youth can’t be saved? Even those who are poor, maybe a little less cultured, or a bit rough around the edges, those that Jesus said he forgives? They can’t be saved? And even these disciples, who gave up everything, their families, their friends, their nets, their boats, their very lives to follow Jesus and now he’s telling them they can’t be saved either?
Then what chance is there for even us? We who are so far removed from those times, we who reside in a totally different culture and climate from when these bible stories occurred, we who do what we can to the best of our ability to look like good Christians, rich in faith, secure in our identities, and receptive of God’s blessing. Are you saying we can’t be saved either?
Essentially, yes.
By the standards we put in front of ourselves, yes. By the standards that God puts out in front of us, yes. By the way we see the world, the way we act in the world, and the way we want this whole world for ourselves, yes. We cannot be saved.
Not on our own at least.
We cannot be saved by our own merit. We cannot be saved by being disciplined enough and not break a single rule since our youth. We cannot be saved through our wealth and riches. No, we are all equally unsaved and equally unable to do anything about that. For us, it is impossible.
But as Jesus says, with God…. with God all things are possible.
Possible in that it is God who saves us, rich, poor, and everything in between. It is God who saves no matter our background, upbringing, and culture. It is God who saves us through lavish grace and mercy, welcoming us with open arms into God’s kingdom, where we are called children of God, empowered to be God’s hands and feet in the world, serving God and neighbour for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is God who saves, because we can’t do it on our own.
So you see, my friends, we might want to be rich with earthly wealth, but that doesn’t change our position with God. We might cherish our rich morality and faith, but that won’t change our position with God. We might even just not care about anything and live cheque to cheque or nothing at all, and that cannot change our position with God. in fact, nothing, not trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or angels or demons or even death could ever change our position with God. That is, born citizens of God’s kingdom, held in love by God’s hand, and saved by the grace that sent to us Jesus Christ our Lord. For God, all things are possible.
So on this Thanksgiving Sunday, may we give thanks for all the blessings that we have, all the riches that are given to us, and all the love of the universe shown to us by the God who gives us strength. Thanks be to God. Amen.