Matthew 6:19-21
“Celebrate: Where Are Hearts Are”
Preached Sunday, October 31, 2021
In middle school, my class was given an assignment: pick a topic you are passionate about and give a speech/presentation on it. The objective, of course, was for students to practice their public speaking skills but at the time, we were all just excited to truly be able to pick any topic. But I had a realization, even at that young age, which has stuck with me all these years since. I love watching people talk about things that they are passionate about, that fill them with life, that give them a glow of excitement. As I watched my classmates I realized that I had never seen some of them so animated, so filled with life. Honestly, so...beautiful. I remember thinking, “Wow! Who are these people all of a sudden?” And, because I was already steeped into church, I remember thinking: “Is this how God sees them?”
Throughout the class’s speeches I started looking at every speaker through new lenses - I was trying to look at each of my classmates as God sees them. Not as people in different friend groups or jocks or nerds - but to try and see each of them as God saw them - as full, unique, beloved children of God. The memory sticks with me all these years later because that day, for just a brief window of time, I think I did look at my classmates like God looks at them - children, worthy of love. Seeing them so full of passion and life made that easier for me. And to this day, still does.
So today I want YOU to think - what are you passionate about? What fills you with excitement and life and puts a kind of glow around you?
Moreover- as a collective community, as a church - what are we passionate about? What fills us with life? What gives us a glow? What causes people to see us through the eyes of God?
Our Vision team sought out to answer these questions. And you have heard a lot about this work already...
And what I want to drive home today is that we didn’t just make up that stuff. We didn’t make up our mission statement or our shared values - we looked hard at our church to see what fills us with life. We asked - How does God see us? In the passions God gave us, the abilities and Spiritual gifts God has given us, the things that God believes we can do…
That’s what we identified. That’s what we sought to name - to name that which gives us life, that sparks passion inside of us, which helps us see each other as individuals and each other together as a community and people looking at us from outside - gives all of us that glow that is the image of God inside of us shining forth.
So today, today we are going to celebrate that. We are going to name the mission God has called us to. We are going to name the values that we share. We are going to name what we are to do together as a community. We are going to name and CELEBRATE these things. How will we celebrate them? We will celebrate by doing one of our favorite things, lifting our voices in song, singing hymns that directly relate to our mission, our values, and our strategy. My prayer is that the singing of these hymns will be a celebration of who we are and where our hearts lie, in our joyous and caring Christian community.
Jesus tells us where our treasure lies, there our hearts will be. It’s kind of a chicken and egg situation. Do we give our treasures where our hearts are? Do our hearts follow our treasures? The answer, of course, is yes. And it truly works best when our treasure and hearts are in the things that fill us with joy, that bring forth the imago dei , the image of God in us, that do the work of God in this world.
And for us here at Grace, that’s well...us, here at Grace. This joyous and caring Christian community that has been a gift in each of our lives, that bolsters our faith, that works to change our community and world to make it look a little more like God’s Kingdom, overflowing with life and love.
In this morning’s reading from Exodus, we see a people whose hearts and treasures are in their faith community. The Israelites are building their sanctuary. And that’s the mission God has given them.
Mission: build the sanctuary in order to love God with all their heart, soul, and might
They have a leader: Moses
They have workers whose hearts are invested so they give of their time and their skills:
“Moses then called Bezalel and Oholiab and every skillful one to whom the Lord had given skill, everyone whose heart was stirred to come to do the work”
Then, even in ancient times, monetary gifts and items were needed to do the work of the faith community - and the people, the Israelites, their hearts are completely in this and so they pour their treasures into it - tying their hearts to the sanctuary even further. And an amazing thing happens! They give so much they have to be told to STOP giving!
“Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing; for what they had already brought was more than enough to do all the work.”
Friends, we have the mission - to invite all into a joyous and caring Christian community
We have the leaders - humbly, me, alongside so many of you who lead our church
We have the workers - again, so many of you who give your time and talents to the church
And yes, we have the monetary gifts. Thank you so much for your continued generosity - I would like to tell you today that we have more than enough for the work before us and to restrain you for bringing anything more! And that is not yet the case - and we can pray that one day it will be so!
So as we now celebrate who we are through sharing our mission, values, and strategy - I pray that your hearts are stirred for this community and for this work, that through our celebration, you may search out where you heart is in this community and to find the joy when are treasures, our time, our talents, our whole lives match with where are hearts are.
Now - let us celebrate and sing!
In middle school, my class was given an assignment: pick a topic you are passionate about and give a speech/presentation on it. The objective, of course, was for students to practice their public speaking skills but at the time, we were all just excited to truly be able to pick any topic. But I had a realization, even at that young age, which has stuck with me all these years since. I love watching people talk about things that they are passionate about, that fill them with life, that give them a glow of excitement. As I watched my classmates I realized that I had never seen some of them so animated, so filled with life. Honestly, so...beautiful. I remember thinking, “Wow! Who are these people all of a sudden?” And, because I was already steeped into church, I remember thinking: “Is this how God sees them?”
Throughout the class’s speeches I started looking at every speaker through new lenses - I was trying to look at each of my classmates as God sees them. Not as people in different friend groups or jocks or nerds - but to try and see each of them as God saw them - as full, unique, beloved children of God. The memory sticks with me all these years later because that day, for just a brief window of time, I think I did look at my classmates like God looks at them - children, worthy of love. Seeing them so full of passion and life made that easier for me. And to this day, still does.
So today I want YOU to think - what are you passionate about? What fills you with excitement and life and puts a kind of glow around you?
Moreover- as a collective community, as a church - what are we passionate about? What fills us with life? What gives us a glow? What causes people to see us through the eyes of God?
Our Vision team sought out to answer these questions. And you have heard a lot about this work already...
And what I want to drive home today is that we didn’t just make up that stuff. We didn’t make up our mission statement or our shared values - we looked hard at our church to see what fills us with life. We asked - How does God see us? In the passions God gave us, the abilities and Spiritual gifts God has given us, the things that God believes we can do…
That’s what we identified. That’s what we sought to name - to name that which gives us life, that sparks passion inside of us, which helps us see each other as individuals and each other together as a community and people looking at us from outside - gives all of us that glow that is the image of God inside of us shining forth.
So today, today we are going to celebrate that. We are going to name the mission God has called us to. We are going to name the values that we share. We are going to name what we are to do together as a community. We are going to name and CELEBRATE these things. How will we celebrate them? We will celebrate by doing one of our favorite things, lifting our voices in song, singing hymns that directly relate to our mission, our values, and our strategy. My prayer is that the singing of these hymns will be a celebration of who we are and where our hearts lie, in our joyous and caring Christian community.
Jesus tells us where our treasure lies, there our hearts will be. It’s kind of a chicken and egg situation. Do we give our treasures where our hearts are? Do our hearts follow our treasures? The answer, of course, is yes. And it truly works best when our treasure and hearts are in the things that fill us with joy, that bring forth the imago dei , the image of God in us, that do the work of God in this world.
And for us here at Grace, that’s well...us, here at Grace. This joyous and caring Christian community that has been a gift in each of our lives, that bolsters our faith, that works to change our community and world to make it look a little more like God’s Kingdom, overflowing with life and love.
In this morning’s reading from Exodus, we see a people whose hearts and treasures are in their faith community. The Israelites are building their sanctuary. And that’s the mission God has given them.
Mission: build the sanctuary in order to love God with all their heart, soul, and might
They have a leader: Moses
They have workers whose hearts are invested so they give of their time and their skills:
“Moses then called Bezalel and Oholiab and every skillful one to whom the Lord had given skill, everyone whose heart was stirred to come to do the work”
Then, even in ancient times, monetary gifts and items were needed to do the work of the faith community - and the people, the Israelites, their hearts are completely in this and so they pour their treasures into it - tying their hearts to the sanctuary even further. And an amazing thing happens! They give so much they have to be told to STOP giving!
“Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing; for what they had already brought was more than enough to do all the work.”
Friends, we have the mission - to invite all into a joyous and caring Christian community
We have the leaders - humbly, me, alongside so many of you who lead our church
We have the workers - again, so many of you who give your time and talents to the church
And yes, we have the monetary gifts. Thank you so much for your continued generosity - I would like to tell you today that we have more than enough for the work before us and to restrain you for bringing anything more! And that is not yet the case - and we can pray that one day it will be so!
So as we now celebrate who we are through sharing our mission, values, and strategy - I pray that your hearts are stirred for this community and for this work, that through our celebration, you may search out where you heart is in this community and to find the joy when are treasures, our time, our talents, our whole lives match with where are hearts are.
Now - let us celebrate and sing!
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