What story does your checkbook tell?

     Jesus' sermon on the mount continues this week from Matthew 6, as he talks about God's care for the sparrows of the fields and the lilies of the valleys.  He reminds us that no one can serve two masters, for we will either hate the one or love the other.  Jesus is explicitly talking about money in this passage, and he tells us not to worry about what we will eat or wear, for God provides.
     One of my good friends and mentors once told me that a checkbook is a theological document - it tells the story of one's faith.  Where do you spend your money?  In what do you invest?  These are first and foremost questions that deal with faith.  Do you worry about money?  Or do you worry about what you have or don't have?  I remember when I was younger I thought I might die if I didn't get a pair of Guess jeans.  Everybody was wearing them, but they were not something my family could afford.  I remember thinking that other people would notice if I didn't wear this particular brand because it was 'cool'.  In my adult life, it became not clothes as much, but decorating the house.  Did our home meet the standards of the day? 
     There is a teaching that says income should be divided into 10, 10, 80.  10% is what you save each pay check, 10% is what you give away (also called tithing), and 80% is what you spend.  One thing I am curious about, however, is who this formula serves?  90% of this goes for the self - retirement, food, clothing, shelter, transportation, entertainment...and only 10% goes to others.  When Jesus tells us to seek first God's kingdom and its righteousness, I wonder if he only wanted us to seek it 10%?  What would it look like, if instead of worrying about our retirement accounts we were worried about the people in Cedar Rapids who weren't eating dinner?  What would it look like, if instead of worrying about securing our own financial well-being we were worried about that of our neighbors?  What would be happening in Wisconsin if that were the case?  Or Washington D.C.? 
     If Jesus was serious about money and not worrying, and sparrows work right up until they die, perhaps retirement is something we needn't worry ourselves with...maybe.  It is just interesting to contemplate the meaning of Jesus' words.  It also leaves me wondering, what story does your checkbook tell?

How is your foundation?

     This week we will hear more about Paul's letter to the early church in Corinth.  We have been hearing from the first couple chapters the last few weeks, and thus far it has been obvious that Paul is writing to a church that is experiencing some conflict - over a lot of things.  Recently we heard about the conflict over who started the church: Paul, Apollos, or Cephas?  This week's reading is from 1 Corinthians 3.10-11, 16-23 and Paul goes into the foundation of the church, Christ.  He very artfully says, "According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ."  Paul was one of many builders in the church in Corinth and they had to carefully think and pray about how best to build the church.
     I think Paul's letter could just as well have been written to St. John Lutheran in Ely, Iowa.  Thankfully we are not experiencing conflict, but we are at a point where we need to be thinking about how to build Christ's church.  God has blessed us and we are bursting at the seams - during worship, coffee hour, education hour, and during the week!  What a wonderful dilemma to face!  In 1854 a group of German and Czech immigrants started a new community of faith and called it St. John.  With Christ as the foundation, our community has experienced several changes in the 157 years it has existed, and yet here we are!  Precisely because Christ is the foundation upon which our community is built, it is able to withstand cultural, societal, and physical change.
     When Paul tells the Corinthians that they are God's holy temple, he was talking to them as a community of faith, but I also think he was talking to them as individuals.  You (fill in your name), are God's temple.  When Christ is the foundation of your life, that temple is strong and sturdy, and your light shines for all to see!  Paul goes on to say in his letter that everything in the world belongs to us, and we belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God; therefore everything in the world belongs to God.  How do we tend God's belongings?  How do we steward (care for) God's gifts to us?  Lastly, and the mystery for this week, how is your foundation?

How does Christ make your journey different?

     Jesus packs another wallop for us in this week's gospel lesson.  We read from Matthew 5.21-37 this week, and it is a series of Jesus' teaching on anger, reconciliation, murder, lust, adultery, and swearing.  Anger has suddenly escalated into murder. Lust has escalated into adultery and torn out eyes and cut off arms.  Divorce becomes adultery, oaths become something from the evil one.  To those who would say Christianity is all about rules, I think Jesus' teachings for today give a big boost to your side of the argument.
     Right before Jesus begins this series of teachings, he says that unless our righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees (the best of the rule-keepers), we will not enter the kingdom of heaven.  And then Jesus starts in today's lesson.  He takes the rules that the Scribes and Pharisees know and he modifies them, re-interprets them into something totally different.  You shall not murder.  A pretty easy command to keep.  Until Jesus reinterprets it to say that murder is anything that takes life - anger, insults, bad thoughts, and arguments.  Yikes!  I think even the Scribes and Pharisees would quake at this - who can live life never getting angry?  Jesus himself became angry! 
     One of my colleagues said, "I wonder if Jesus is saying all this with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek."  Is he making a point rather than being literal?  After all, if we were to do what Jesus said shouldn't there be a lot more one-eyed, one-handed Christians running around?  What man, after hearing that having lust for a woman is equivalent to adultery would then turn around and divorce his wife on the grounds of adultery?  I saw a bumper sticker today that said, "Faith is a journey.  Not a guilt trip." 
     Jesus' words can easily have us falling into a guilt trip - we just can't seem to follow the rules because as soon as we think we are following them, we find that we've been messing it up all along.  Or maybe there's some sin that you continually struggle with.  White lies, or overeating, or lust, or...  But thankfully faith is a journey, and in Jesus' teachings, he is inviting us to come along with him.  He is inviting us to a different way of life, one in which we rely on him instead of rules.  One in which people are reconciled and live in community with one another.  One in which no one is objectified, but all are seen as beloved creatures of God.
     So if faith is a journey, I am left to ponder this mystery: How does Christ make your journey different?

Does salt lose its saltiness?

     Our series on the Sermon on the Mount continues this week with three separate 'lessons' from Jesus.  The first is from Matthew 5.13, "You are the salt of the earth," the second is Matthew 5.14-16, "You are the light of the world," and the third is Matthew 5.17-20, "[Jesus] has come not to abolish the law, but to fulfill."  I think that we are fairly familiar with the first two sayings.  Salt of the earth and light of the world are often used to describe Christians and the Church, in fact, we often refer to individuals as 'salt of the earth people.' 
     I am intrigued by Jesus' third saying.  He says that he has not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.  He then goes on to say, "therefore, whoever breaks^* one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."  I'm not sure about you, but in reading the law (often called the Torah or Pentateuch, they are the first five books of our Bible) we know that it is impossible to fulfill every letter of the law.  The law was given as a gift to God's chosen people after God had already made the covenant with them.  Staying in right relationship with God was dependent God's people being righteous - being who God created them to be.  We know from reading time and time again in our Hebrew Bible that God's people could not be righteous and kept turning from God.  So God in Jesus has fulfilled what we cannot: right and perfect relationship with God.
     On the cross, Christ's righteousness becomes our own righteousness.  It is, as Luther says, an alien righteousness, something given to us totally outside of ourselves.  It is not anything we can earn or accept, but we can be only passive recipients of Christ's righteousness.  With our righteousness being that of Christ’s, surely our righteousness will exceed that of the Pharisees and Scribes, as Jesus says in verse 20.  What a gift!  Because of Christ’s righteousness we are able to enter the kingdom of heaven – not only after death, but right now, in the present!  God’s kingdom is here on earth in bits and pieces, and we are blessed to experience it every now and then.  Right relationship with God, reconciliation with neighbor, living as salt and light, these are all signs of the kingdom come. 
     We give thanks for this alien righteousness, but it does leave me with the mystery: if Christ’s righteousness is our own righteousness, then how does salt lose its saltiness?