Introduction to the Theme: Watched video “Hoarding Love” by Rev. Dr. Emile Townes at:
https://www.theworkofthepeople.com/hoarding-love.
“Sharing the Love”
Rev’d. Tanya Stormo Rasmussen
The Congregational Church of Hollis, U.C.C.
14 February, 2021
6th of 6 Sermons in “The Holy Habit of Sharing Resources” Series
2 Peter 1:3-11 (CEV)
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Today is our last Sunday working with the Holy Habits theme of Sharing Resources. And as we wrap up this theme and prepare to move into our Lenten theme next week (“Again & Again: A Lenten Refrain”), I thought it might be helpful to give a quick summary of how we got here.
Shortly after our congregation adopted the Strategic Plan in 2017 that lays out our jointly-discerned vision, I did a sermon series on the Book of Acts. From June through November that year, we worked our way week by week through the entire Biblical book, learning about some of the dynamics, the challenges, the successes, and the lessons that the 1st-century Christians and churches present to us as we embraced what we had discerned about our 21st-century calling and context as disciples and church. The thinking was that, as we were re-committing ourselves to doing the work of Jesus Christ through this church in new ways, we would benefit from being reminded of the stories and commitments of the earliest Christians. Our aim, as we’ve been Building Our Vision across the past several years, has not been only about bricks and mortar, but also about developing our understanding of how we’re called to live out this vision and divine calling in our daily lives.
A year and a half ago, in the summer of 2019, a dear friend and clergy colleague in London strongly recommended Andrew Roberts’ book entitled Holy Habits, and the accompanying missional discipleship series. It’s a program that was developed and is being used by Methodist and United Reformed Churches throughout Great Britain, and explores ten different “holy habits” of devoted Christian disciples. There’s one particular passage, from Acts 2:43-47 (which I’ll read in a couple moments), that alludes to the ten different habits we’ll have explored by the end of it. We’ve taken a close look at the first six so far; they include: Prayer, Worship, Fellowship, Biblical Teaching, Gladness & Generosity, Sharing Resources,{Breaking Bread; Serving; Eating Together; and Making More Disciples}.
As we’ve explored the Holy Habit of Sharing Resources, we’ve learned that: First, from the beginning we (humankind) were created in God’s image, with our own gifts of creativity and dominion, to help with stewarding and tending to the creation that God designed to flourish. In the very first chapter of Genesis—the biblical story that addresses the question, “How and why are we here?”, the book that gives us a narrative about our most fundamental human qualities, choices, and inclinations, and about God’s—we read that, after all the creating work was done, “God saw everything that God had made, and indeed, it was very good.”[1] So, there was (and still is!) enough for all of creation to flourish when it is managed in accordance with God’s original vision; when we properly share our resources.
Next, although God endowed us with the gift of dominion with which to steward all things well in cooperation with God, human beings have from the beginning been inclined to covet more control; to pursue power and authority that belong to God alone, and to accumulate things and use our dominion to dominate, to see “others” as a threat rather than as fellow members of the same body with whom mutual sharing will strengthen ourselves and the whole. This is how so much of the world came to see life as basically a zero-sum economic game, where the only way to ensure our own survival (to say nothing of flourishing) is to accumulate, or hoard, as much as we can for ourself. Sharing is optional, as opposed to being at the very heart of the divine design as our faith teaches us. And so, human beings can wind up becoming very territorial, materialistic, and emotionally and spiritually guarded—because we absorb and begin to live by the world’s false narrative that there’s not enough.
According to Luke in Acts 2:43-47 (this is the passage that alludes to the ten different Holy Habits), the earliest Christian communities, by living as closely as they could to the teachings and example of Jesus Christ, demonstrated a lifestyle different from the world’s—and they flourished, to the astonishment of those who observed them. It says, “…Everyone was amazed by the many miracles and wonders that the apostles worked. 44 All the Lord’s followers often met together, and they shared everything they had. 45 They would sell their property and possessions and give the money to whoever needed it. 46 Day after day they met together in the temple. They broke bread together in different homes and shared their food happily and freely, 47 while praising God. Everyone liked them, and each day the Lord added to their group others who were being saved.”
As Luke demonstrates in that picture of church life, sharing resources is fundamentally about sharing life: our stories and songs, our truths, our experiences, our possessions, our food, our love.
Finally, sharing entails not just giving, but also being willing to receive—to open ourselves to what others have to offer in terms of their stories, their truths, their experiences, their offerings of whatever resources they might share with us, so that both of us might feel the richness and abundance of God’s goodness. It is this mutuality of sharing, this giving and receiving, that keeps us tethered to the truth and recognition that we are all members of one Body; we all are participating in a divine reality and agenda far greater than our own individual story.
And that brings us to today. Which, of course, is Valentine’s Day. The day when the commercial world might just buy into God’s vision of true love abundant enough for everyone … at least, long enough to sell us cards and roses and chocolates to indicate that we love the receiver, even if we mighthave a difficult time sharing the truth of our love in other ways. Because, of course, genuine love—the love that Paul described, that we mostly hear about at weddings but about which Paul was writing about to an entire community of Christians, not just marriage partners—genuine divine love is counter-cultural. It’s not the sort of love the world teaches us to practice or demonstrate with everyone, as Paul was doing.
If we buy into the world’s dominant storyline, we might wind up believing that the love Paul describes—God’s love; divine love—is limited in its supply. But just because we don’t experience as much of it as we might like doesn’t mean that there’s not plenty, any more than the fact that there are hungry people means that there’s not enough food in the world to feed everyone. As Paul said about the infinite fortitude and longevity of divine love, “It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”
Friends, divine love is the limitless resource at the heart of all life. It’s divine love that gave rise to life and community, and it’s what sustains our life and activity today, even when we cannot see or believe it. And if it’s at the heart of all life, then it’s a resource that’s always available to us.
The author of 2 Peter was writing to a number of little churches—some of them communities that Paul himself had written to previously—and encouraging them to reject the dangerous doctrine and practice of some ‘false teachers’ circulating in the churches at the time. According to New Testament scholar and professor Duane Watson, “Christian morality excluded the early Christians from many aspects of business and social life. Businesses and social clubs often held meetings in temples associated with the worship of pagan gods. The idolatry and sexual immorality associated with this kind of worship precluded Christians from participating in such meetings. Any teaching justifying a Christian’s renewed participation in these activities would have been tempting to new converts who were accustomed to the benefits of these social events.”[2]
As Prof. Watson explains, when the Parousia—Christ’s return to render final judgment on the world—didn’t happen within the first generation as some of them had expected, these false teachers began to deny that any divine judgment would ever take place. They were spreading the word that Jesus’ message of grace meant that “anything goes”—that his death and resurrection were a sort of “get into heaven free” card. If you just claimed Jesus as your savior, then all sorts of self-indulgent, self-interested behaviors that more closely resembled the world’s values than anything Jesus himself ever taught or demonstrated, were fair practice. By their thinking, because all was forgiven by Jesus at Calvary, no sort of transformation or renunciation of worldly values was required.
But Jesus said, “The kingdom of Heaven is among you.”[3] And he taught his followers to pray, “… Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…” In other words, requesting God to help us build heaven here, now, in this world, with our transformed behaviors. To help us be the change we want to see in the world.
The author of 2 Peter reminds the early Christians (and us) that “We have everything we need to live a life that pleases God,” and therefore each of us should, “Do our best to improve our faith. [We] can do this by adding goodness, understanding, self-control, patience, devotion to God, concern for others, and love.”[4] These other traits of divine love are added to our own character as we reject society’s mantra that our mission in life should be to acquire things, and instead practice the Holy Habit of Sharing Resources—most importantly, the greatest, most powerful and infinite resource of divine love.
This seems like an appropriate reminder and intention-setter as we move into the penitential, circumspective season of Lent this coming week. Some people make a Lenten practice of “giving up” or renouncing something they really enjoy, and they use their craving for that desired thing as a prompt to be in prayer and a deeper awareness of the love of God that gives them strength to conquer temptation, among other things. It’s certainly one good way of relating more closely with Jesus, who spent 40 days battling temptations in the wilderness and getting more clear about who and what his life was ultimately committed to.
Maybe this year, instead of merely giving something up, we could consider sharing our resources in new ways. Spending a bit of time each day to intentionally consider how we might share (which is to say, give and receive) divine love in ways that help our spirits grow. After all, love, as Rev. Townes pointed out in our video, “…is all about opening oneself up to the vast world all around, and the leading of God’s spirit. Love does not keep us where we are; it’s always pushing us to our better selves. Reaching out to others; being present to each other; looking each other in the eye and saying, ‘I see you’; being with each other; allowing others to tell their story, being willing to share our own. Love helps us open up all those things in the human spirit, and more.”
As we continue our journey in faith, individually and as a congregation, may we discover the transforming truth of a love like that shared with us, to share with others. Amen.
[1] Genesis 1:31
[2] New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. XII, p. 325.
[3] Luke 17:21.
[4] 2 Peter 1:3, 5-7.