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November 18, 2007
Scripture: Luke 21: 5-19
Title: “Gaining Souls”

This week, my sermon found me in the least likely place. I had taken a break from church work and had turned on the TV. It was time for afternoon talk shows and I thought to myself, Well, I’ll let my brain take about an hour break.

I began to flip channels and suddenly came to stop on a particular channel where this woman was sharing her story. This woman was confessing to the nation that she was a hoarder. She collected items all under the premise that you can never be too prepared. You never know when you might need something.

So she collects things and has a hard time throwing anything away. She just couldn’t bring herself to do it. It was unthinkable to throw things away because what if you needed that item one day? You wouldn’t be prepared for whatever comes your way.

This woman’s children had sent in video of their parents’ house. It was unbelievable. No one could live in this house. There was stuff everywhere. Their stuff had taken over their lives. Their stuff had cut them off from living their lives.

The children had sent in a video plea to help their parents. Their home was a health hazard and the stuff was destroying their family.

I was hooked. I wanted to know what would happen to this family. What would happen to their stuff? And I could sympathize with this particular woman because I have said the same things: You have to be prepared. You never know when you might need this item. I can’t let it go. This worn-out item might be the thing that saves me if I ever get in danger, while deep down I know that I have not used this item in 5 years, but… you never know when you might need that item. You have to be prepared...

The show finally wrapped up with the woman finally letting go of the things that she thought she needed in her life. This woman finally admitted that she realizes that she had lost her life to the stuff, that she had lost her family, that she really wasn’t living because she couldn’t enjoy anything anymore. She was so worried about needing her items and being prepared that she had forgotten how to live. She had forgotten what she was preparing for.

As the show came to end, the woman shared what she had learned from this experience. She said, “I was so busy preparing for something, for the unknown, that I had forgotten how to live. I realize now that I had put my trust in things and items for security and had forgotten about the important things in my life: my friends and my family. As soon as I let go of the preparing and the hoarding, I was able to find myself again. I was able to find my life. I found my soul.”

Finding your soul. Gaining your soul. Living life to the fullest.

That is what our Scripture is about today. Jesus is back at the Temple, teaching. And someone makes the comment about how beautiful the Temple is and aren’t we lucky that we have this beautiful building to remind us about God. The Temple is going to last forever as our testimony to God.”

And then Jesus says, “Well, not really. Nothing lasts forever. Not even this Temple that was built as a testimony to God. Nothing lasts forever.

The world as you know will come to an end. I am not sure when or where. Only God knows that. Just know that nothing lasts forever.

And you can see these light bulbs go off in everyone’s head. The world is going to come to an end. When? What can we do to prepare? We need to start collecting canned items so that we can make it through the end of the world. We need to make a checklist of “survival items”. We need to make sure that we have lots of batteries put away.

And so they ask: Alright, Jesus, you say that the world is coming to an end. When? How will we know? What can we do to prepare? What signs will let us know that this is coming?

And Jesus talks about wars. Jesus talks about famines. Jesus talks about earthquakes.

And you can see the crowd starting to think: Well, we had a war last year. And right now, we aren’t exactly in a famine situation but it could get that way…We need to prepare. Start collecting stuff so that we are protected and prepared for whatever comes our way. That is the only way we are going to be safe is if we are proactive and take control. We can’t let go of anything because you never know when that item may save you.

And Jesus keeps talking: Guess what? Before any of this happens, you will be arrested. You will be tried. And some of you may be put to death. And there is nothing you can do to prepare. There is nothing you can do to protect yourself. At that moment, all these items that you accumulated won’t help you one bit.

Family will turn against. Friends will turn against you. You will be hated because of my name. All of your most prized possessions will fade away and you will be left with no material items.

But this is good news!! I will be with you on this journey. In that moment when you lose everything that you hold dear, you will have the opportunity to truly live. You will be given the chance to gain your soul because you endured the trials and tribulations. You will be given the chance to gain your soul because you turn your life over to God. You will gain your soul because you trust in God’s grace to sustain you, trusted in God’s love to keep you from harm, trusted in God’s presence to give you hope to endure. Don’t put your trust in items to keep you safe. Don’t put your trust in being prepared for the end. Put your trust in God who will always keep you safe. Put your trust in God who will always sustain you and give you hope for the journey. Put your trust in God.

You will gain your soul when you put your trust in God and live out your calling as people of faith. Proclaiming the Good News of God, knowing that you are cared for, that you are safe in God’s presence, that you are provided for as one of God’s own children.

Jesus asks the crowd that day to risk losing all and to gain their souls. And he is asking us the same thing today.

And it takes us by surprise. These are not words that we want to hear. We don’t want to lose it all. We like to have our stuff around. We like to prepare for the worst. We like to prepare for upcoming disasters. We like to collect. We like to protect ourselves by preparing for whatever comes our way. It helps us feel in control in a world that is filled with chaos. We want to build buildings that will last forever and keep us safe. We want to know that we will never want for anything. It is scary to think that we could go without. We want to be proactive in our protection and our security.

And Jesus tells us that all of our efforts will not be worth anything when the end comes. Our buildings will fall away and crumble. Our safe environments will be chipped away because we will be persecuted because we proclaim Jesus’ name. We will be left seemingly defenseless. No family. No friends. No things to protect us. No stuff to help us prepare for the end.

The end will happen regardless of what we do, of what we have. We will have to risk losing it all.

And in that moment, we will be stripped bare of all the things that we think we need to survive and realize that we are left with just one thing: God’s grace to give us hope. God’s love to sustain us. God’s presence to strengthen us. We will be left with God.

And it is that moment that we gain our soul and begin to live our lives as people of faith to the fullest. We learn that we must place our hope and our trust in God’s grace and love and we will be sustained. And we will endure.

In that moment, We realize that as Christians we proclaim only God is everlasting and once we realize that we can start living in this chaotic world, trusting in God’s word to keep us safe. The only thing that is guaranteed for us as Christians is God’s love and God’s continued care! And that is the message that we are called to proclaim!

And we realize that it is our calling to live our lives as people faith, deepening our relationship with God grounded in an indestructible hope of grace that will sustain us in our chaotic and unpredictable world.

Yes our world will end one day. Yes, there will be wars and famines. Yes, there will be earthquakes. Our world will end one day. But we cannot stop living our lives as people of faith. We cannot stop living out our calling as people of God just because we are trying to protect ourselves from the unknown. We cannot stop doing ministry here on earth just because it is all come to an end. We don’t know when the world is coming to an end. that shouldn’t stop us from sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and sharing the hospitality of God’s welcome to all that we meet.

We have been given a job to do and that is to proclaim God’s grace to all of God’s children and tell them about God’s continued care.

God will be there for us always. God will sustain us. God will share God’s grace with us always.

God will always be there for us. May we always have the strength to endure towards the end and gain our souls in the process.

Rev. Heather McColl
Midway Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

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