A Sermon for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. Patricia Gillespie
Malachi 3:13-4:2a,5-6
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Luke 21:5-19
Psalm 98 or 98:5-10
Preacher holds a single red rose.
What does this mean?
A red rose is readily recognized in our culture as symbol of love. In they symbolic language of flowers it also can mean passion, courage, and respect. Rose leaves themselves symbolize "hope."
So if I give you this red rose,
what would you get?
. . . . . You get a flower.
You get only the symbol.
You don't actually get the love
though perhaps you hope for that
or perhaps the rose is a promise of that.
The flower can be a sign pointing to, or standing in for, something more.
Today, when you receive bread and wine. What do you get? Bread and wine? Body and blood? Forgiveness and community? Christ? Yes, all of the above.
The bread and wine are sacraments, a particular kind of symbol of sign, a sign that practically guarantees something more.
Anybody have their catechism memorized? Check the definition of sacraments on page 857 of your Prayer Book.
Someone read it: "The sacraments are outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace, given by Christ as sure and certain means by which we receive that grace."
Our tradition recognizes two great sacraments: Baptism and Eucharist. And then there are five other sacramental rites. But if you keep reading in the catechism you will discover that
"God does not limit himself to these rites; they are patterns of countless ways by which God uses material things to reach out to us."
(BCP 861)
Ours is a materialistic faith. We have beautiful buildings. And chairs and tables and books and dishes and more. But there is an invisible something more: beauty, comfort warmth, and the glory of God.
We have musical instruments, hymnals and musicians. Material things bringing spiritual joy, peace, even ecstacy.
Ministry has its "outward and visible" material things. We have a priest, evangelism programs, Sunday school materials, and more. And the inward and spiritual grace of caring and service, growing in faith.
People too are "material things" of faith. Your body, your time, your work all are outward and visible signs of God's presence at work in the world.
These material things are an outward and visible sign of our thanksgiving to God for all the gifts that God has given us.
But here in today's gospel Jesus hears people talking about the material beauty of the temple and even though they are gifts dedicated to God Jesus says they are going to be destroyed.
The material things themselves are not important They are only symbols .... signs pointing to what really is important, and that is God.
Jesus reminds us again and again that these symbols must never be more important to us than God. Because then they become idols. A temple of beautiful stones or a church with splendid windows, a Bible or a mission project, and even our religious practices, all can become idols if they become what is most important to us.
These "outward and visible signs" are only of value when they remind us of, and point us toward, what is of real value; that is, when they remind us of God: of God's love and forgiveness, of God's life-giving power. The material thing must never be an end in itself. A material thing can be sacramental when it brings us closer to God. A material thing is an idol when is so important to us that it becomes our god. Any material thing can be either sacramental or idolatrous.
Make a mental list: What things are sacramental for you? Pointing you toward God, bringing you closer. What things are idolatrous for you? So important that they sometimes come between you and God, between you and love or growth or life itself. Some things may appear on both lists.
Preacher holds up a twenty dollar bill. What does this mean?
A quick search on the internet will bring up two dramatic stories: One titled: "Money means everything" And another: "Money means nothing" The magazine Psychology Today even published an article about what money means, mostly focused on couples fighting about it.
Psychologists say (and priests agree) that many people will talk about anything, even sex, before they'll talk about their finances. Why is it so difficult for us to talk about money? Perhaps because money symbolizes different things to different people: power, control, security, or love, for instance.
The rose was much easier to figure out.
Some might say that money symbolizes the easy life. We can certainly buy a lot of those "material things" with it. Some might say that money symbolizes our work. Most folks have to work somehow to get money, so it is so often described as "hard-earned money.'
Maybe today's epistle with all its talk about work supports that last idea. And at the offering during worship we sometimes refer to money as "The offerings and oblations of our life and labor" Our money on the altar can be understood as offering ourselves to God.
In that case it the money itself is sacramental. Remember those other "outward and visible signs" of our materialistic faith mean we need some seemingly ‘unspiritual' things like finances and budgets for purchases and maintenance and salaries. Money as a sacramental sign is to support our other sacramental signs.
Yet too often for many of us money can become an idol. It can become an end in itself. Money itself becomes something we value most of all.
That's idolatry because money itself is only a symbol. The bottom line is that money symbolizes value.
You can tell a lot about what a person values by looking a their checkbook. I can see my own priorities pretty clearly there.
Money can become a deadly idol, separating us from other people and from God. Remember that the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy that "the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil" (1 Timothy 6:10). Notice that he is writing not about money itself, but about the love of money. That's the idolatry rather than the money itself. The problem is when we give to money the love that belongs to God and to God's people.
In response to Paul's comment about the love of money, author Ayn Rand writes, "Money demands of you the highest virtues" (Atlas Shrugged). Money can bring out virtues because it requires that we prioritize our values. Money can be "the creation of the best power within you" (Rand) symbolizing your efforts, your work, your abilities, and your life itself. In that case money is the fruit of God's love for you, the result of all that God has given to you. The money symbolizes your life.
When we offer our money to the church or to another charity for God's work and glory, the money itself is not the true gift. It is of no value in itself. The money is only a symbol.
When given away, money becomes that outward and visible sign of the true gift – the inward and spiritual grace that is thanksgiving. The gift we offer is a gift of thanksgiving. In giving money to the church, or to other charities doing God's work, we offer to God our thanksgiving for the greatest gift. The greatest gift of all is love.
God has given us love and life. We are truly blessed. Let us return our thanks to God.