The Servants’ Treasure
Preacher: The Rev. Andrew Van Kirk
Passage: Mark 10:35-45
Series: Treasure in Heaven Stewardship Campaign
Did you know Jesus gave out cool nicknames? True story. James and John, the two sons of Zebedee who lead off today's gospel story – Jesus named them Boanerges. Which is pretty cool sounding. But it is even cooler when you know what it means: "Sons of Thunder."
In the Bible, Abram becomes Abraham; Sarai Sarah; Simon becomes Peter; and Saul famously becomes Paul. But "Sons of Thunder" is hands-down the most kick butt of all the divine name changes in the Bible.
It's no wonder that James and John are the ones who come to Jesus and suggest that they should be the ones to sit at his right and left hands. They are, after all, the Sons of Thunder.
It's also no wonder the other disciples are a little resentful of the request. They already got the best nickname; now they want the best seats too!? What is with these guys? And so the other disciples get angry.
Which leads us to the part of the gospel reading I want us to focus on today. The part where Jesus, "Guys, you're doing it wrong."
And, in keeping with our "Treasure in Heaven" stewardship campaign theme, I want to point out a few places where we've tried our best to live into Jesus' words around here at St. Andrew's. Imperfectly, of course, but places where you can see the outline of what Jesus was talking about in our life together.
I said last week when we introduced our theme that true treasure in heaven not stuff to possess in the afterlife, but it is transformed lives – our own, and those of others. This whole attitude Jesus espouses, being a servant, slave of all, giving your life for others – that results in treasure in heaven. Here, let me show you.
The first thing Jesus does is draw a contrast with the Gentiles. "You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you."
In the ancient world, the important people made sure you knew it. They'd blow trumpets; force people off to the side of the road. Caesar, of course, demanded literal worship; but even the Roman soldier would demand deference and special treatment. One's greatness in the ancient world (and probably today's world too) was roughly defined by the number of people who they could make do their will. Which requires people knowing exactly who you are and how awesome you are; how much power you wield; how much money you have.
And to that, I give you this. This is an envelope. It is one of those return envelopes with the clear plastic window you get with a bill. "The Post Office," it says here, will not deliver" this envelope "without postage." The clear window has been covered up by 1 and 1/2 blue name tags. On the first is written the words "For God."
Inside this envelope was a $1 bill. We get these envelopes every couple weeks. The amounts inside are always small; though I remain mindful of the widow's mite. Indeed, this person may, from God's perspective, be giving more than all of us. I have no idea who it is though. But I know that each of them is a little earthly treasure, and a constant reminder that every dollar we receive and spend here carries enormous spiritual weight. We could, after all be spending this person's anonymous dollar.
But you know what's every bit as anonymous? The $45,000 anonymous matching gift that helped us end the Multiply Campaign. That didn't actually come in a "For God" envelope; but it may as well have. Same with the three-quarter of a million dollar growth grant we received last year. Those people don't lord it over us; they are not tyrants. We don't even know who they are.
These gifts of earthly treasure, from the smallest to the largest, enable our building treasure in heaven. And the anonymity of some gifts, from the smallest to the largest is a reminder that treasure in heaven – transformed lives here and in our community – is really what we are about; not about being great. Un-anonymously giving is great too; there's nothing wrong with that. I just want to point out, and let us celebrate, that we don't have a culture around here that has great ones lording it over us – and that enables us to build treasure in heaven rather than build up people's earthly glory.
The next thing Jesus says is "Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."
You saw some of our serving others in the preroll announcements this morning:
our sponsoring the Burks Ambassadors lunch for the young leadership cohort there;
providing popsicles for field day;
serving lunch and making dinner at Samaritan Inn;
and how our Daughters of the King helped put together a beautiful baby basket for a mom giving birth while living in a homeless shelter.
These are all treasures in heaven, and I could have pulled any of them out of our treasure chest. Except the popsicles; that would have made a royal mess. But the treasure I want to show you, one that I don't think you get to see much of at all, is this one.
This is a chalice. It is actually the chalice that the Congregation at Hidden Springs uses when they gather to celebrate Holy Eucharist.
Now, for you to see God's real glory in this treasure in heaven, I have to let you in on a secret I'm not very proud of. When we learned that a four-story (five story if you include the purely decorative architectural flourishes) senior living facility was going in across the street, we were a little anxious. Primarily, we were worried that the building would block our view of the fireworks on the Fourth of July.
We had seen the Planning and Zoning Commission exhibits. We knew the building was big. We couldn't tell for sure what it would do to our view. We had some other thoughts about ministry and such, but this was our primary concern.
We were so concerned that at our 4th of July picnic in 2018, before construction had really commenced, I took this picture. I took this picture because I had foresight and a plan. See, nine months later on April 11th, 2019, after they had topped out the Hidden Springs building, I took another picture. And, by carefully aligning the telephone poles in the two images, I produced this layered composite image. And it was this image that convinced us we could go ahead with our 4th of July picnic in 2019.
And after the event, I happily reported to the Vestry in my monthly Rector's Report, "Despite our fears about the new senior living center blocking the view, our 4th of July picnic and fireworks watching party came out just great! We could see! Glad that tradition can keep on going."
So…the thing is…despite how excited I was about God sparing our 4th of July picnic, it turned out that God had some bigger plans. God's plans looked like this:
He brought a retired Episcopal priest and her husband to Hidden Springs and to St. Andrew's in the middle of a pandemic; and she came, as Jesus said, not to be served but to serve. And so did the few people from St. Andrew's who went with her initially and started a Sunday service.
A congregation has grown around the worshiping of our Lord Jesus Christ over there. Over 40 people gather each Sunday morning at 11:00 am for worship; they sing; they read scripture; Deacon Logan is [going] over there today. They'll use bulletins that look just like ours – cause we made them in the office – except the print is bigger. They give to St. Andrew's. They are a part of our ministry as St. Andrew's.
St. Andrew's has become, whether you knew it or not, a two campus church.
And once a month, they gather to celebrate the sacraments. With them we are one body, in one Lord, because we share one bread and one cup.
But the real thing I want you to know about this treasure in heaven is that the Congregation at Hidden Springs serves. You never get to see this, but every month a little group of them drives across the street and comes in to unload 500 jars of peanut butter; or 300 pairs of gloves; or some ridiculously large quantity of whatever it is Hands & Feet is collecting. They knit baby blankets; go to the Samaritan Inn, pack boxes for Meals on Wheels.
And they serve one another in the Body of Christ. They have Bible Studies; they've trained Stephen Ministers. They have buried their dead; they have comforted the widowed and grieving; they've faced suicide and child loss and cancer and dementia and done it with hope and peace that only Christ can give.
They are giving their life for one another and for our community. The Congregation at Hidden Springs is undoubtedly one to the greatest treasures God has given us in these pandemic days. Our cup runneth over. Seriously.
Now you and I didn't do this; God did. All I want to claim is that this is the sort of greatness Jesus was encouraging his disciples towards, the greatness of being the servant of one another. The Congregation at Hidden Springs is one place you can see it at St. Andrew's; the way some of our biggest financial contributors shun even being known is another.
And in both cases, God takes those gifts and gives us great treasures in heaven.
And this is the sort of transformative work that we are asking you to commit to being a part of in our 2022 Treasures in Heaven campaign. There are dozens, hundreds, of other ways. Again, if you didn't hear me say it last week, the inside of your stewardship brochure shares a few more. And I'll pull a few other things out of this box next week too when we conclude our campaign. This season we're trying to help you see inside the treasure box, to see the amazing work made possible in this place and through our ministry by our gifts.
I hope you'll pray about your giving for next year and turn in an Estimate of Giving card next week. Doing so will us to plan our ministry, or work of transforming lives here at St. Andrew's and out in the community that leads to treasure in heaven.
