Stewardship Campaign Kick off Sunday October 11, 2009 “With God, All Things Are Possible” Reverend Michael D. Powell Mark 10:17-27

I want to start with a disclaimer. I did not choose today’s scripture! I’ve heard it said that nothing happens by chance, but when the lectionary offers up a passage like this one, on a day like today, I can’t help but wonder about God’s twisted sense of humor.

The words we just read are too familiar, and too emotionally laden for us to really hear them. We all know that Jesus said that it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to get into heaven. It's a vivid, maybe even a humorous image, unless you happen to have a little money. Then it’s not so funny. Besides that, this is definitely not the time for badmouthing money - so let’s talk about heaven instead. Heaven is not in some far off place or distant future, somewhere then and there. Heaven is within, and it’s possible for us to experience a taste of heaven right here and right now!

The context for this morning’s teaching is the story of a young man who asks Jesus what he must do to “inherit eternal life.” Or, in other words, “get to heaven.” He’s a good man who follows all the biblical commandments, but he knows that there’s still something lacking. He doesn’t feel the fruits of the Spirit that would indicate that heaven is in his heart.

In verse 21 the scripture says that Jesus “looked at him and loved him.” And you know that when Jesus looks at you he really sees you. Wouldn’t you love to be that man? Imagine the love in the eyes of Jesus as he looks at you. Wouldn’t you love it if someone were to write that once upon a time Jesus looked at you – saw you through and through - and loved you still?

And then Jesus did something even more extraordinary. He personally invited this young man to become a disciple, to follow him in living completely for God. I want to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, don’t you? You want to follow him, don’t you? Let me read it for you: “Jesus looked at him and loved him.” But then, Jesus, the great physician, the healer of the heart, discerned a blockage in the flow of God’s love. There was something, some lack of trust, or misplaced trust that was clogging the arteries of the young man’s heart. Jesus recognized that a kind of spiritual angioplasty was necessary, so that’s when he said: ‘One thing you lack. Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’”

Well, we at Morningside are not biblical literalists, so that gets us off the hook a bit. Jesus is talking symbolically, and money is a very powerful symbol. We print, “In God We Trust” on our money, but in spite of the words it’s very easy for us to trust in money instead of God, making, in fact, a false god out of money. It’s very easy to slip into hoping and praying for money to provide the things that only God can provide, things like true happiness, genuine security and lasting peace.

That’s what Jesus meant when he said that it’s hard for someone who trusts in money for his or her security to experience the joy of heaven. Money isn’t a bad thing; it just isn’t God. Love of money, to the point of worshipping money, gets sticky and becomes a kind of spiritual cholesterol, blocking the flow of God’s love into our hearts.

But there were people of wealth even in the early Christian community, people who loved God and who used their money to share God’s love, opening their homes and helping to provide for Jesus and his disciples in order to further their ministry. Those homes were, in fact, the first churches. The misuse of money can block the flow of God’s love, but the wise use of money can help to channel the flow of God’s love. Money can be a spiritual tool for building up and helping to maintain the Body of Christ. It can help provide a taste of heaven, both here and now as well as in the future. We are planning for the future, and we are not just talking about putting on a new roof or installing a new boiler. We are working together to build up the House of the Lord, the spiritual Body of Christ.

Why are you here this morning? Some of us would say we’re seeking spiritual community. That means a lot of different things. It certainly means a sense of comfort and belonging, and the healing power of comfort and belonging is an indisputable fact. But spiritual community is also more. Being in spiritual community provides a sense of purpose and meaning in our lives. As people of faith we believe we’re part of something bigger than ourselves, that we were created by God to live for more than ourselves. Perhaps Tielhard de Chardin said it best: “We are not earthly beings trying to have a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having an earthly experience.” We were created to grow to heaven. That is both comforting, and challenging.

We’re here in part because Jesus said so many hopeful, beautiful and inspiring things about God’s love and grace. We live in troubled times, and we need to hear those comforting words of grace. But Jesus also said some very challenging things that are discomforting and hard for us to accept. We need to hear those words as well, because they are growth provoking.

When I read words like Jesus shares this morning, they make my feet hurt, because he’s stepping on my toes. By nearly every standard in this world, except my own of course, I am a rich person. I make more in a year than many people make in a lifetime. And I’m not alone. We are a church full of camels, and these words of Jesus are hard for us to hear. But they shouldn’t be, because they’re words of life, full of hope and promise. Jesus ends his teaching with a promise: “With God all things are possible.”

We are part of a historical process. Once upon a time, just 54 years ago, on October 8^th, 1955, the first organizational meeting and worship service of this Morningside church family took place. Two months later, on December 4^th, the first 60 charter members were received. That was the seed. Morningside began as the dream of a few people who possessed a vision of the future. We have inherited that dream and we are living that future now. The question is - do we still have a vision of the future that will be our children’s and our grandchildren’s inheritance? Are we still dreaming? It’s Stewardship Sunday. What are the chances for a better tomorrow?

We were born to grow into the future. I’d say we were born for heaven, and our vision for Morningside is that we help to establish just a bit of that heaven right here and right now, on this particular chunk of God’s green earth. And we might ask, just as did the disciples of old: “Do we have any chance at all?” Jesus was blunt. ‘No chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you let God do it.” The future is now. We love our God and we love our church and, with God’s love and God’s guidance, all things are possible. We were born to be stewards of the dream, caretakers of the vision. Thanks be to God. Amen.