Submit Your Own!

Plant Trees
By David von Schlichten

Sermon on Mark 13:24-37

St. James Evangelical Lutheran Church, Youngstown, PA

Sunday, November 30, 2008,

First Sunday of Advent, Year B

(word count: 1036)


Keep Awake; Plant Trees

Advent is about the coming of Christ, past, future, present. Today's readings give fluorescent attention to the Second Coming, to the coming of Christ at the end of this world. The day will arrive on which Christ will return to earth in the ultimate way. As we confess in the Creed, “Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead.” Maybe in another 2000 years, maybe before today sets, Christ will return at the End of this world.

When we Christians think and talk about the Second Coming of Christ, we tend to have one of two attitudes. One attitude that some of us Christians have about the Second Coming is that of obsession. Such people read book after book about it, scrutinize Revelation for clues about when the Second Coming will occur. These folks swear that we are in the Last Days. They believe that the Bible points to many of the events of our time. Some Christians obsess over the Second Coming.

A problem with obsessing over the Second Coming is that Jesus tells us in our reading from Mark 13 that, no matter how hard we try to figure out if Christ, is about to come back, we will never know for sure until afterwards. Only the Father knows the when of the Second Coming. Christ will return like a robber breaking into your house.

Besides, does God really want us to spend valuable time fretting over the Second Coming? Wouldn't it be a holier use of our time if we obsessed over new ways to help people, new ways to care for the needy, new ways to end bickering and back-stabbing? Obsessing over the Second Coming is understandable, but it would be wiser to obsess over how to glorify God by helping people, especially since we cannot know for sure when the Second Coming will happen anyway.

While some people obsess over the Second Coming, other people ignore it. The ignoring is the second attitude. They flush their lives down the toilet. They are careless about God and helping people, act as if they have decades to burn, live as if there will never be an End. The problem with such an attitude is that the Bible makes it plain as perfume that there will be a Second Coming.

So if obsessing over the Second Coming is unwise and indifference is unwise, what is the wise attitude? Jesus tells us in Mark 13 the right attitude. “Keep awake,” he says. He does not say, “Obsess over when the Second Coming will happen,” and he does not say, “Ignore the Second Coming.” He says, “Keep awake.” In other words, always be ready for the Second Coming. Keep awake.

So how do we keep awake? The two greatest commandments are to love God and to love the neighbor, so keeping awake demands love. Love God by going to worship, praying, giving offering, studying the Bible, remembering your baptism, repenting of your sins, eating and drinking the body and blood, helping people in need, keeping the commandments. No matter how lousy the economy is, keep on loving God and loving the neighbor. Do not give up. Keep awake. If we do that, then regardless of when Christ returns, we will be ready.

In fact, if we keep awake, if we focus on loving God and loving the neighbor, then we will see that, in a sense, Christ already comes to us right now. Christ will come in the supernal way at the end, but Christ comes to us now, too.

As we heard last Sunday in Matthew 25, when we help people in need, we help Christ. We encounter Christ. Moreover, we who keep awake also discover, by the Spirit's guidance, that Christ is with us each Sunday at worship. He tells us in Matthew that, where at least two of us gather in his name, he is with us. We encounter Christ, also, in reading Scripture, for it it is the Word of God. Further, as the Book of Concord teaches us, we encounter the real presence of Christ in holy communion. When we love God and neighbor – when we keep awake – Christ reveals himself to us.

In this new Church year, what are new ways that we baptized witnesses can love God and love the neighbor? Thanks be to the Holy Spirit, we at St. James do much, from the Angel Tree to Operation Reindeer to Meals on Wheels to fundraisers for the Blackburn Center. What more could we do as we keep awake, obsessing over loving God and loving others?

In Africa, a couple decades ago a woman named Wangari Maathai started planting trees to help fight erosion. Now she has helped to plant over eighty-million trees and, in so doing, has helped to improve dramatically the environment and economy in Kenya. It all started with planting a few trees. Dr. Maathai is keeping awake. What more could we do as we witnesses keep awake?

As we think, pray and talk about how we can keep awake, obsessing over loving God and neighbor, we recall the first coming of long ago. There will be the Second Coming, and Christ comes to us now. In addition, remember that first Advent, that first coming, of long ago? Picture it. In the evening, Christ celebrates the Last Supper. Jesus urges the disciples to keep awake in Gethsemene. At midnight they put him on trial. At cockcrow Peter denies Jesus. At dawn, he stands before Pilate. Then they crucify Jesus. His nailed body hangs against the clouds. The sun turns dark. See him. Christ hangs in power and glory on the cross, with us, gasping toward death.

Christ came to die for all. The wood of the manger turns into the cross. Let that Good News keep you up, obsessing over holy love.



Response to Steve and Rick
By David von Schlichten

Steve and Rick,

Thank you for providing your sermons at the cafe.

Rick, I value your proclamation that the text leads us from self-centeredness to caring for others.

Steve, I am grateful for your explanation that the sheep and goats story must be understood in the context of Jesus' teaching ministry so we recognize that this passage is not declaring works-righteousness.

I hope others will offer feedback, even though the Sunday in question is behind us.

Yours in Christ,

David von Schlichten, Lectionary Blog Moderator



Another view
By Rick Brand

Text : Matthew 25: 31-46 “When did we see You?”

 

NOT ALL ABOUT ME.

November 23, 2008

Northminster Presbyterian Church

Roanoke, Va.

 

     “Did you ever have to make up your mind?  Pick up on one and leave the other behind?  It is not often easy and not often kind,  Did you ever have to make up your mind?

Did you ever have to finally decide? Say yes to one and let the other one ride. There are so many changes and tears you must hide. Did you ever have to finally decide?   Some of you may recognize those questions that the Loving Spoonfuls used to ask. Of course, we have.  All the time.  Everyday we make those kinds of decisions. Paper or Plastic?  Fast food or salad?  CNN or Fox News?  Take this product and ignore that one. Hire this person and fire that one. Life is constantly forcing us to make choices. But at the same time, we think having choices is what makes life good.  We like having choices. We think it gives us a sense of power, a sense of being in control of our lives.  Did you ever have to make up your mind?  Certainly, I do it every day all day.

            Not only do we have all those choices and decisions but most of the time we make those decisions in our favor.  I make most of my decisions based on whether or not it will benefit me. I make them from my perspective.  I pick up the one that is best for me. I chose those things that benefit me the most.   I think that is pretty cool, but my sisters never thought it was very nice.  I cut the pie so that I get the biggest piece and I am very happy, but the rest of you are not very pleased.  When my sisters got to make the decisions and made them in their favor, I scream for justice. It was not fair, I yelled. 

            Virginia does not like it when North Carolina tries to make all the decisions about the use of the water from the Roanoke basin in North Carolina’s favor.  Most of your co-workers do not like it when you make most of the decisions at work in your favor when you try to turn up the thermostat.  The people in the Middle East are not happy when the U.S. makes all our decisions in their countries on the basis of American self-interest.  Yeah we have often had to make up our minds and make decisions.   We have made most of those decision on the basis of what is best for me, from self-interest, and yet somehow, somewhere, we realize that somebody else will have settle things a different way. Isn’t that the most common comment you hear when there is all this talk about bailing out Wall Street or bailing out the auto industry?  They are not bailing out me. They are not helping me pay my mortgage.

            So maybe that is why this story of the Son of Man coming with all the host of heaven, coming as the one who does finally have to decide, coming with the nations of the earth before him, coming to finally have to separate those who are part of the Kingdom of heaven and those who have no interest in that kingdom is such a blessing.  Immediately the story forces us beyond where we live most of the time because the story is not just about “just me.” It is not a story about individual salvation. It is not concerned just about getting you or me to heaven.  It is a story about all the nations of the earth.  It is a cosmic story about the fundamental reality of the kingdom of God. The text underscores the completeness of the Son of Man’s decision in two ways – the Son of Man is surrounded by all the angels in heaven and all the nations of history are before him.  The Son of Man is having to finally decide.

The Sheep are divided from the goats.  It is not just Christians from Jews, Jews from Muslim, Americans from Iranians. But those who are sheep from every nations are separated from those who are goats in every nation.

            Jesus tells us that the separation comes about on the basis of the things that we have done in our ordinary average days.  As we went through the routines, the car pools, the junk mail, the emails, the fast food lunches, the quick trips to the grocery stores, the things way we acted form the forks in the road that separated us from others.  Which of courses, means that there really is no “ordinary time.”  All time is touched by eternal significance. This is Christ the King Sunday in which we bring to an end the 33 Sundays which have been called Sundays of Ordinary time, and on this Sunday we declare there really was no ordinary time, all time is charged and full of the holy and eternal purposes and opportunities.

            When the Sheep asked how they got over here, the Son of Man says it was pretty simple. When they saw Him hungry, they fed him. When they saw him naked they clothed him. When they saw him thirsty, they gave him water. When he was sick, they came to help.  Ahh, but the real secret is that they did not know it was Jesus. The sheep did not know who they were helping. The Sheep did not know they got brownie points for being good to those who needed help. Those ordinary people who the sheep felt compassion for and helped because those people needed help turned out to be the incarnation of Jesus.  The sheep offered their help with no anticipation or understanding that helping those who were in need had any way of helping themselves. Their acts of compassion were not rooted in self-interest. They did not do them as a way of helping themselves.  The gift of food, water, clothing, visits, and care were given  because there was response of the human heart to a need.

            There is a tv ad that is being shown in my community, it is a national ad so perhaps you have seen it.  The commercial starts with one person doing an act of kindness for another person, and a third person seeing that act of kindness. Then third person does an act of kindness to a fourth person, and that person does an act of kindness to a fifth person, and all of them do the acts of kindness without there being anyway for them to benefit or to make it pay off for them.

            The goats have continued to live out of their own self interest and even when they asked why they were goats, and told that they had not feed the hungry, clothed the naked, given drink to the thirsty, and so they had not shown compassion to the Son of Man, the goats said, “Hey, if we had known it was you and that it mattered we would have been more than happy to feed, cloth and visit the sick.”

            Those who are welcomed into the kingdom of God are those who have discovered that great joy of compassion for those God loves and who live out of that compassion instead of living out of their own selfishness.  Marcus Borg, a New Testament scholar of national reputation, says that we follow Jesus when our passion, our love of God, is so great that we forget ourselves in God’s passion for those things God loves, the world. Those who find themselves in the kingdom of God are those who find a way of forgetting about self and what is best for them and find a way to live and enjoy life for the good of all. The Kingdom of God is available and visible wherever we find that we are able to pick up the needs and the concerns and the opportunities for all creation and leave behind that constant temptation to make our decision on the basis of what is best just for me.  The Kingdom of God is enjoyed and visible now and always in the times when we become caught up in the delights, in the pains, in the work, in the struggles for justice for others that we forget all about whether the decisions we make are beneficial to our self interest or not.  We see some sheep begin to gather when right after a tornado people begin to show up to help the victims collect their belongs.

            Isn’t that what Jesus says in other places about those who would follow him must be willing to lose their lives so that they may gain their lives.   The Son of Man comes to finally decided and we are shown again that the finally decision is given to those who get so involved in the ordinary lives of the ordinary people in the ordinary days that they forget about protecting their own self interest and become full of the joy of sharing that life with others.

            Which brings us to this table. Which is why this table is so central to what we believe about life, about God, about salvation, about love. It is the table where we remember that the one who comes as the Son of Man and who welcomes into his kingdom those who triumph over their own selfishness, is, in fact, the one who put aside his own self-interest, but did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but gave it up so that He might assume the nature of a human being, a slave, and bearing that likeness of humanity, he humbled himself and in obedience accepted even death –death on the cross.  The Kingdom of God comes to those who make their decisions out of compassion for others, and not just the others in our own family, and offers to them the same importance they once thought of themselves. This is a table which celebrates the kingdom that is created by those who can finally decide not to live out of their own agendas and their own personal wishes, but who live out of God’s compassion for all creation.

Come now to the joyful feast of the people of God.

   

Beautiful
By Steve Schuette

 Proper 29 A.  from Nov. 21, 1999.  Mat. 25:31-46 by Stephen Schuette.
The weather has continued and continued and, well, it has changed these last two days, with the wind and cooler temperatures finally coming, especially on Friday.  But it was in the 70's again this last week, and today promises to be above normal also.  On Thursday I ate my lunch outside, in the back yard, sitting in the warm sun, and feeling strange about it...even a little guilty.
Yes, guilty!  Or at least uncomfortable - unable to fully enjoy it without second thoughts about its appropriateness.  If you know about Garrison Keillor's Lutherans who live in Lake Wobegone, I admit that I am somewhat similar to them.  So if unusually warm weather comes, I'm not sure that I deserve it.  Maybe it would have just been better if, on Nov. 18th,  I'd eaten lunch inside after all!  I just couldn't shake the feeling that it just wasn't right...
I put it down to the serious bent in my personality, and something of the independent spirit of my Father, which must somehow be in the genes.  And I can appreciate the fact that there may be many of you who don't understand any of this, and are never troubled with these kinds of confused feelings.  If so, you are the well adjusted ones.  And I'd encourage you to continue to enjoy it.  For beautiful days ought to be enjoyed as beautiful days.  If you have no difficulty doing that, then this part of the sermon isn't for you.  But if some of you are troubled occasionally by these things, then, well, as Joan Rivers used to say...we need to talk!  This place is, truly, the place to talk about these things.  If you have trouble receiving gifts, because you feel you don't deserve them; if you have trouble relaxing because nine times out of ten you can't let go of all the things you think you should be doing; if you are type-A and believe deep down that you never get something for nothing, and that you must earn your way, all the way; if God's grace is difficult for you to believe and accept, then, truly, we need to talk.  Because, you know, God has been trying to talk to you long before this sermon began, and will be trying to talk to you about these things long after this sermon ends...
It is a beautiful story, really.  It comes at the very end of the Gospel.  In fact, it is the very last story or parable that Jesus utters in this Gospel of Matthew.  After this, the plot begins to unfold rather quickly, and all the events of the last week in the life of Jesus move along in their way.  So this passage, here, today, marks the end of Jesus' teaching ministry, before his teaching gives way to God's action.  And since this is the last Sunday of the church year - the church year beginning next Sunday with Advent, it is appropriate to look at this last story.
It is a story of judgement, and how, finally, each one will be judged.  And the thrust of the story is this recognition of action performed - beautiful deeds of love and service, feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, visiting those in prison.  It is a beautiful list of beautiful actions - people reaching out to other people and meeting their needs and bending toward them in care and concern.  And it would be well and good to appreciate just the wonderful, simple beauty of this story and the sheep standing on the right hand of the king, welcomed there, affirmed by him.
The trouble is, sometimes some people, including people like me,  let their seriousness get in the way, blocking their appreciation of what the story says.  I begin to think about how much more I could have done.  Maybe I should get busy.  Maybe I haven't fed the hungry or clothed the naked or done enough.  And I know there are some of you out there who tend to think the same way.
During stewardship season, we asked you to tell about a person in the Bible whom you relate to, identify with, and fill that out on the card.  Do you know the person mentioned more often than any other?  Martha.  You know Martha.  She's the one who serves and serves and serves, while her sister Mary sits at the feet of Jesus, listening to him.  Workaholic Martha complains to Jesus about her idle sister.  "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me." After all, feeding the hungry and giving drink to the thirsty is a lot of kitchen work.  Viewed through the eyes of Martha, it's not so beautiful.  It's almost a grind.  And you remember, too, what Jesus says to her: "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things;  there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her."
And we Martha-types are that way.  We see all the work, all the efforts that's needed, so that the beauty of this story of Jesus might just blow right past us.  Let there be no confusion: Jesus is not turning the grace of God on its head, and here, at the end of his ministry.  He's not suggesting that we earn our way into heaven. When you look carefully at the story, you can see that's not what he's saying.
First, this is the end of Jesus' ministry.  These are words that Jesus is leaving with folks who have heard all the other words that have come before.  The good works that we might perform come after...after.  They are evidence of faith already gained, not, in and of themselves, the way to secure salvation.
Second, notice the way that they didn't even know what they were doing, while they were doing it.  "When?" they ask.  When did we see you hungry and feed you, naked and clothing you, sick and care for you?  They didn't know what they did.  They were just doing it.  It flowed out of them, simply because of who they were.
Third, notice the greeting that the king gives: "Come, you that are blessed by my Father..."  There is a gift of grace already bestowed.  It's not that they earned a blessing, but the deeds they do are signs of the blessing they've received.
Fourth, it says the righteous will "inherit" the kingdom prepared before the foundation of the world.  An inheritance is something received, not because of what you've done, but because of who you are, and the relationships that you share.
This text is not about work - work that is demanded, work that must be done under heavy expectation.  This is about the joyful service, the fruits of the spirit, that flow out of the heart of those who know the love of the Lord in their lives.  This is beautiful, this is joyful.  This is meant to give us a new appreciation for life and how the love of God makes us beautiful people toward one another.  And yes, there is judgment.  But I believe it is a judgment of those who do not see the beauty of love shared.
In the discipline of philosophy there are three divisions.  There is the study of metaphysics.  This tries to answer the question of what is real.  There is ethics, which asks the question about how to know what is good, and right, and just.  And finally aesthetics - aesthetics - which asks what is beautiful.  And I think we tend to interpret scripture much more from the first two than the last.  And certainly the Bible does have something to teach us about what is real - God is real.  And it teaches us about how to make ethical choices. But maybe we don't pay as much attention to the way that the Bible teaches us what is "beautiful."  But, in fact, the vast majority, seems to me, centered on the beautiful.
The first story begins with miracle - beautiful miracle - God dividing the light from the darkness, the heavens from the earth, creating all that is.  After each day, after each effort at creation, God stops and the end of the day and says, "It is good."  Like an artist who steps back from the canvass to look at it, and then is happy with what is seen.  God creates a beautiful world.
Then there's Noah, and the flood, and finally the rainbow - a promise that is painted in the sky.  And there's the star when Jesus is born, and healing, and stories...stories that describe God's relationship with us and what our relationship with each other might be like in the Kingdom of love.  It is beautiful, all along, beautiful.
And part of our job is to appreciate all the beauty that is there, and to serve God, not because we have to (which is forced and pushed) but because we may (which is something that flows from the beauty of faith).
Mother Teresa was known for the way that she saw beauty everywhere, in everybody.  She saw the dying of Calcutta, India, not as burden people, but as beautiful people, given to the world by God, and returning to God.  I think she saw it, as Stephen Covey has said, that "We are not human beings on a spiritual journey.  We are spiritual beings on a human journey."
So, when visiting in the United States she stopped at Maryhouse, a shelter for the homeless.  She stopped not only to talk with the administrators and leaders, but also with the residents.  Lena was there, lying on her church bench outside the chapel, observing all the activity with great scrutiny when Mother Teresa came by.  An introduction was made.  "Mother Teresa, this is Lena.  Lena, this is Mother Teresa."  Mother Teresa reverently clasped her hands together and gently bowed toward Lena.  "Pleased to meet you, Lena," she said softly.  Lena looked inquisitively at this unusually attired nun and asked with her characteristic lisp, "Where are ya from?"  Calcutta, India, "Mother Teresa replied, and again, bowed to her low, respectfully.  Puzzled, Lena asked, "How did ya get here?  Did ya come on roller skates or toothpicks?"  "No."  Mother Teresa chuckled.  And she flapped her white sari with both elbows and said, "I flew!"  And they both laughed, beautifully, Lena's face bright, glowing at the fun.  Each of them saw and appreciated the beauty of the other.  (From Lectionary Homiletics, Nov. 1999, p. 25; also The Catholic Worker)
Saints, you know, are people who can see the beauty in others, and the beauty in creation.  They see it all, and everyone, as part of the beauty of God.
On our Memorial Sunday we remember those we have lost, those who were close and loved.  And we mark it with beautiful things.  We light candles.  We pass out flowers.  And we think of the beauty that our loved ones brought to our lives and to the world.  And when we think of that, we ought to see their beauty as God's great gift to us - an everyday miracle - beautiful.
It is a beautiful story...neighbor reaching out to neighbor, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for the sick.  It makes me think of another beautiful passage, from the psalms, almost a painting in words:  "Behold how good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!  It is like the precious oil on the head, running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes.  It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion.  For there the Lord ordained his blessing, life forevermore."  (Ps 133)  The Bible has a lot to teach us about what is beautiful.
And now, when a beautiful day comes, I'll tell you something that I'm going to try to remember too: enjoy it!  Receive it as God's gift.  And think of everything beautiful in the world as God's gift, meant as a gift for you.  Think: "This is the day which the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it!"

Let us pray,
O God, you bless us in countless ways.  You fill our lives with beautiful gifts of grace everywhere we turn.  And you invite us to see the beautiful face of Jesus in everyone we meet.  Open our eyes.  Help us to see the light of our "Beautiful Savior" in those you have given to us to serve.  Amen.

Trillionaire Slaves
By David von Schlichten

Sermon on Zephaniah 1:12b, 1 Thessalonians 5:9,

and Matthew 25:14-30

St. James Evangelical Lutheran Church, Youngstown, PA

Sunday, November 16, 2008,

27th Sunday after Pentecost, Year A

(word count: 857)


Trillionaire Slaves


We do not give God enough credit. We short-change God.

For instance, many of us come to worship on Sunday but then go about the rest of the week as if God does not really make a difference. We believe luck, fate, superstition, and hard work make a big difference from day to day, but God? Oh, he's good for the occasional miracle and for some spiritual comfort, otherwise God doesn't do much, or so we act.

We fuss over guardian angels, but then we fail to go the extra step and give God the glory. Isn't God the one who sends the angels? The angels know to give God the glory. We short-change God.

Similarly, many people short-change the Church, which comes from God. It's sweet and nice, full of feel-good sentiments and helpful rules but, for the most part, it doesn't really make much of an impact. We treat the Church like a feel-good club that you can join if you want but that you can ignore if you want. It doesn't matter. Go to church, don't go. Whatever works for you. It doesn't matter.

We hear just such an attitude in our first reading, Zephaniah 1. In verse 12, the writer reports that many people are saying, “The LORD will not do good, nor will he do harm.” He's just there, watching us as if we were a TV show. Thousands of people in Zephaniah's time thought that way. “God doesn't do good, doesn't do bad. He's just up there, hanging out, watching the show.” Deism.

The people of Zephaniah will soon learn that they are wrong. God announces that he will squeeze them with wrath. The people of Zephaniah are about to learn that God does make a difference.

Are we, the baptized believers, going to experience the wrath of God if we think that God does not make a difference? No. 1 Thessalonians 5:9 tells us, “For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” We will receive, not God's wrath, but the jackpot of eternal life. As Luther writes in the Book of Concord, Christ has bought our salvation, not with silver and gold, but with his precious blood. The Redeemer paid the ransom to rescue us from wrath.

However, even though, because of Christ, we will not experience the wrath we hear about in Zephaniah, we are still not to underestimate God's impact on our lives. As in Zephaniah's day, many of us live as if God does not make much of a difference. We short-change God by underestimating him.

So what specifically does God do for us in our lives today? Let us count some of the ways. For starters, Luther tells us in the Book of Concord that the Father gives us life. Are babies being born? That would be the Father's doing. The Father also gives us food, a place to live, a paycheck, clothes, medicine, people who love us. Do you have any of those things? You may not have all that you want or need, but whatever riches you do have are evidence that God is active in your life, making a difference. Let's not short-change God by under-valuing him. Let's praise him by sharing the wealth he gives us.

Luther goes on to tell us in the Book of Concord that the Holy Spirit is with us, active, right here, right now. The Spirit is the one who gives us faith to believe. The Holy Spirit is the engine powering the Church. The Holy Spirit enables us to repent and believe that God will forgive us. This worship service is evidence of God's activity in the world. If it weren't for the Holy Spirit, there would be no worship service, no St. James. The Holy Spirit makes baptism, holy communion, forgiveness of sins, the sermon, and the healing service all possible. Let's not short-change God by under-appreciating him. Let's praise God by sharing the wealth he gives us today.

Best of all, Luther reminds us in the Book of Concord that salvation, eternal life, is because of Jesus Christ. If it weren't for Christ, we'd end up prisoners in hell, penniless, senseless. Because of Christ, we have life. Let's not short-change God. Let's praise God by sharing the wealth.

Like the people in Zephaniah's day, many of us act as if God and his church do not matter much, that God is just up in heaven watching, inactive, that the Church is just a nice club that you can take or leave. The reality is that God, the Trinity, without ceasing deposits riches into our accounts. Every day, the Lord fills our accounts with riches. God is not bankrupt, and neither is the Church. God is giving us riches through our basic needs, through worship, through forgiveness, through eternal life. The Trinity has entrusted us with a fortune, is here, active in your life, right now. Good and trustworthy slaves, we are wealthy. We are God's trillionaire slaves. God makes a difference in your life now.



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