Vicar Karla Leitzzman
Several years ago now when I started seminary, one of the courses we were required to take that first semester was called Christian Public Leader, or CPL. Not to be confused with CPE which is Clinical Pastoral Education and an entirely different requirement but my sermon on my frustration of Lutheran acronyms will be another Sunday. Each week, we had both a large group class with a lecture and readings and then another day and time each week, we all met online with our formation groups. These were groups of seminarians all around the country engaging in a small group and a facilitator. The aim was to give new students a community and tight knit group right off the bat, and I was lucky enough to mostly really enjoy my group.
Our group facilitator serves as a pastor in Florida and had so many fascinating experiences as African American ELCA pastor in a very white denomination. He was incredibly kind and supportive, and whenever I think of him, I think of his constant refrain, “always be ready.” He started saying in response to new seminarians who were uncomfortable leading prayers when put on the spot. (One thing no one really tells you when you start seminary is that you will immediately start getting asked to pray with no lead up or warning. At first some find it daunting, but you’re told pretty rapidly to just get over it and let the Holy Spirit work.)
So, when Pastor Reggie asked a student to open or close us in prayer on the spot and it was evident there was some trepidation, he just said, “always be ready.” This always be ready refrain has admittedly stuck with me and not just for when I am asked to pray somewhere. It’s become emblematic to me of being ready to respond to God’s call, to always be ready to be aware of the ways the Holy Spirit is moving in unexpected ways.
We see today’s gospel lesson often utilized for stewardship Sundays as an appeal to not hoard wealth here on Earth and instead share the abundance we have. It reminds us to not cling to wealth and physical, fleeting things, to not measure our success by the amount of stuff we accumulate. That the more we measure our success by earthly metrics like how many homes we own, being able to afford, or finance, the fanciest new boat, or whatever it is, the more the gospel calls us to the countercultural act of looking for abundance and measuring success not by earthly means. I have also heard this passage used by a more charismatic part of our Christian faith that reminds people to always be ready for Jesus’ second coming and the inevitable rapture that will come as a result. Always be ready, never commit any sins, be the perfect Christian….or else. Which, let’s be honest is pretty near impossible to live up to.
But what is going on more broadly in this part of Luke? How do all of these chapters and passages work together? This is part of a bigger narrative of Jesus telling his listeners to be ready to follow God’s message of love, mercy, and justice. In today’s gospel reading, we get a kind and uplifting Jesus, one who tells us not to worry, who doesn’t chastise us. Next week, we will see a different narrative.
But what does being ready actually mean? Jesus says to make purses that do not wear out, so I guess I could take a favorite purse I got in Mexico City which recently broke to be fixed. But underneath all those seeming service things, what does it mean to “always be ready?” To not be encumbered by the perceived scarcity of this world to instead be open to God’s abundance?
Last week, Pastor Pam and our council here at Faith Lilac Way shared the news that we are entering a period of discernment with First Lutheran Church of Crystal and Cross of Glory to explore what it could mean to create something new together. There are obviously a lot of feelings about this possibility, and all of them are valid, and God meets us in each and every one of those feelings. And, if we were in a place where we clutched tightly to our own individual resources and ideas, we would have fallen short in this directive to always be ready. When we are willing to be open to the newness and abundance of the Holy Spirit, we are subsequently pushed to lessen our tightly held grasp on our individual resources.
There is so much I love about being the intern, or vicar, here at Faith Lilac Way Lutheran. The list of things I am grateful for is pretty exhaustive. One of my favorite parts, though, is that I am here because of perceived scarcity that gave way to abundance. With awareness of current and projected congregational resoures, it was determined that the vicar before me would be the last one. And then, after a longtime member of the congregation passed away, the congregation received an unexpected legacy or planned gift which was to be used for scholarships. This all happened right around the seminary called Pastor Pam and asked, even though Faith Lilac Way said they would not be taking any more interns, if perhaps you all might be open to a two year, part time intern. Because there was not really a designation for scholarships, the family said that using the legacy gift for an intern would be a wonderful use of these resources. And the rest is history. Here I am.
We never know when or for what we are going to be called to be ready. But in this case, I am very fortunate that Pastor Pam and all of you were ready. That perceived scarcity gave way to abundance and a new idea in the form of part time intern for two years who has another fulltime job. Many congregations would not have been open to that. You could have said, no we don’t have enough resources and this new legacy gift needs to be used for something else and a part time vicar? How in the world can that work? But. you were ready.
Being ready can be daunting and unnerving. We might not feel ready and find ourselves saying a variation of “Really God? Are you sure about this?”
One of my very favorite hymns, which we will sing in a bit here, is Will You Come and Follow Me. Honestly it always hits me in the feels, especially the fourth verse. “Will you love the you you hide if I but call your name? Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same?” What is the you that you hide? What are the pieces of yourself that you push down, that you squirrel away because you convince yourself that no one could love those parts of you? Think about that for a minute….. The me that I hide, I hide for a reason. The me that I hide is judgemental, quick to anger, sarcastic to the point of rudeness, angry. It gets hidden for a reason. And this hymn is basically saying, God loves all of those parts of me and calls me, and all of us, just the same. God says, you do not have to hide these things from me, I see them, and I love you just the same. Through grace, we are not the things about ourselves that we perceive are the worst of us. We are loved, and called, and named, and known just the same.
Being ready means being attentive to God’s call even when we might have some trepidation or nerves. It might mean straight up saying, “God I don’t like this. I have my reservations and I don’t feel ready. But I am going to go forward anyway.”
May we all continue to be ready, to be attentive to the ways we can be God’s church together. May we show up in our fullest selves, the parts of ourselves we hide and all. Because God meets us in all of it and then some more.