16 Then someone came to him and said, ‘Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?’ 17 And he said to him, ‘Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.’ 18 He said to him, ‘Which ones?’ And Jesus said, ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; 19 Honor your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 20 The young man said to him, ‘I have kept all these] what do I still lack?’ 21 Jesus said to him, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ 22 When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
The wind and waves of Lake Erie’s storms can drive a boat of any size far off course or even sink them. When a Gale warning sounds by the Weather Service or Coast Guard, boats rush for the safety of a harbor and either dock the boat, tying off on cleats or dropping anchor. By tying off on an immovable dock, the boat ensures that neither the wind nor waves blow them away. By anchoring in a shallow harbor, the boat ensures that neither the wind nor waves will cause them to drift off. By being attached to something greater than the storm, the boat will not be harmed and lost during the “gales of November.”
In our story of the Rich Man and Jesus, we are told of a Jewish man who has kept the commandments his entire life but was extremely attached to his possessions. I believe the entire point of this story is to reveal to us the challenges of attempting to be attached to God and something else, in this story, money. Not only would a boat being anchored to two fixed points tear the boat apart, but so would a person being attached to God and Money be pulled apart. How can you serve both? The difficult reality of this story is that the Rich Man was never really attached to God, he was only attached to his stuff and when called by Jesus to give up one to gain the other, he couldn’t do so. He was crushed.
Are we not the same? We profess to be attached to God, but we are also attached to our Churches. Our Churches have a legacy, and property, and building, and endowments; and we are quite attached to them. But are they the same thing as being attached to God? Perhaps the real test of who we are really being attached to, lies in the challenge of Christ to sell everything, and follow me. If we can’t let go of our buildings and follow Christ, who are we really attached to? If we can’t let go of our property and our programs and follow Christ, who are we really attached to? If we can’t let go of our Church’s legacies and the endowments left to them and follow Christ, then who are we really attached to? Like the Rich Man when commanded by Christ to do this, we go away crushed, because we have much, and we are quite attached to them and are not really interested in being attached to God.
The great problem beginning to be revealed is that over the past century, we as churches have invested heavily in the wrong things. We invested in property, but the resources needed to care for that property are scarce. We invested in buildings, but the boiler needs to be replaced, and the wiring needs updated, but we cannot afford them. We have legacies of our parents and grandparents and endowments left to the Church from estates of previous members, but the interest in them alone cannot sustain mission work, they must be used to maintain the Status Quo. We have attached ourselves to the Institutional Church instead of God, and the Institutional Church cannot sustain and provide. We have attached ourselves to a worldly, temporary thing that cannot provide Divine, Eternal Things. We have docked or anchored in the wrong thing and have been blown away by the wind and waves of Pandemic and Recession. We have attached ourselves to what we can see and control instead of attaching ourselves to God which we can only see by faith and have no control over but must follow.
Jesus said to him, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ Perhaps these words of Jesus still stand for us today. Perhaps Church was never just about the tangible things of life, perhaps they were just symbols of the Greater, Divine things of God’s life given to creation. Sanctuaries were meant to be houses of prayer and connection to God and neighbor; they have become about entertainment and splendor. Communities were meant to be about nurturing people with love and forgiveness; they have become about suspicion of those different and judgment of the next generations. Churches were meant to be missionaries into the neighborhood with compassion and justice; they have become about escaping from our neighbors and hiding with like-minded people. We have become more attached to our blessings than God’s mission in giving those blessings. We want to have Church, not be Church.
Now we can see again why Jesus was crucified and resurrected; to forgive these sins of ours and to re-create a community of disciples attached to God instead of our stuff. This Lent what do we need to let go of; to take hold of Christ and therefore God? The Sunday Morning Show? The Sanctuary to hide in? The Endowment or Golden Calf? The building, the property? Through Christ, we are forgiven and being made new. Will we have any faith to follow him and to obey him or will we just go away grieving, because we are attached to our Church instead of being attached to Him? Will we anchor ourselves in Him and withstand the storms of life or will we attach ourselves to the Institutional Church and be washed away? Choose faith and follow Christ! Choose faith and start truly living! Amen.
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