November 25, 2018 Free Stuff

November 25 2018 Pastor Jacqueline Hines Free Stuff Joel 2.21-27, *Matthew 6.25-33

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A comedian went on and on about how we humans get carried away with stuff….he noted that we have a house, just so we can keep our stuff…we buy a bigger house because we have more stuff…we lock up the house so no one can get our stuff…stuff is so ridiculously important…some days. [slide #  1  closet bursting]

You may remember the Band-Aid commercial…. [  slide # 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxgBXJM6zJ8   ]

We humans are stuck on stuff. Typically, our closets are full of things we do not wear. Habitually, we fill our pantries so full that hundreds of dollars’ worth of food can go years past their expiration date.

My high school Spanish teacher was from Cuba and she told the wartime story of rationing. Gas was rationed, sugar was rationed, (what else? – ask congregation). Years after the war, my teacher found a five pound back of sugar in the back of the pantry. It was a reminder of the war, and it was a reminder of the insecurity we feel when there seems to be a lack. We deal by gathering more goods rather than gather together in the name of God. [slide #  3   dealing with too much stuff…]

God can handle any season of lack. If God is all we have, God is all we need. We may lack some things, and we surely in many cases have more than enough, even after we have shared with others.

I had a light bulb moment   [slide #  4  aha…]  after hearing a sermon in New Haven…. As always, God helps us to see the light and grow.      [ slide #  5   several bulbs ]  

   The lesson I learned is simple - We do well to purge….  [slide # 6  baskets/bins]

The Holy Spirit can help us to let go and let God, to be secure rather than insecure, to trust God will provide what we ultimately need, to trust God to be enough instead of being afraid of not having enough, instead of trying feverishly and recklessly to take care of ourselves. [slide #  7 children taking bags out]

We can trust God to take care of us. Jesus tells us not to worry…about what we eat, drink, wear,…worry does not help, worry does not make anything good happen. “Worry is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere” so says Erma Bombeck. [slide #   8  rocking chair]

And Christians know, the more you pray, the less you'll panic. [slide 9 pray more…] The more you worship, the less you worry. [slide #  10 worship more…]

The Holy Spirit will help us to get past our issues and move by faith into freedom from stuff. The Holy Spirt can fill us until we are overflowing with trust and care and we have less room for fear and worry and the desire for more and more stuff. [slide #  11   letting go..forward]

The stuff God gives us is free and it makes us free and it frees us up to give more and be more and value the most valuable things in life – doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God. God is faithful and powerful enough to guide us to a better place. [slide #  12  I made all this….]   

The hardest thing we can do is to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, and be ready to let go and let God. We may never be perfect disciples, but if we follow, there will be little doubt in anyone’s mind that we are disciples, even if we are like the cracked pots in the story you probably heard about at one time. [slide # 13 cracked clay pot]

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master’s house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years, this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water in his master’s house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. “I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you”.  The bearer asked, “Why? What are you ashamed of?”  The Pot replied, “For these past two years I am able to deliver only half of my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master’s house. Because of my flaws, you don’t get full value for your efforts”.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion, he said, “As we return to the master’s house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path.”  As they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it somewhat.  But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, “Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you’ve watered them. [slide #   14  water pots…flowers] For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master’s table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house.”

We are all on a journey to fulfill God’s purpose and plan. Whether we are weak or strong, God makes us beautiful and blesses us to make this world beautiful, too. [slide #  15  beautiful by the hand of God.] Amen. [slide # 16 pray more, worry less]