ADVENT 3C – Zephaniah 3:14-20; Canticle 9 (Isaiah 12:2-6); Philippians 4:4-7; Luke 3:7-18 – 13 December 2009 – A sermon given by The Rev. Peter A. Munson for St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, Boulder, Colorado

The Good News of Sufficiency

INTRODUCTION – My ten coats

(Entering the nave with nine coats on me and one thrown over my shoulder)

John the Baptist spoke to the crowds (and even called them a “brood of vipers”) about bearing fruits worthy of repentance. He said they couldn’t fall back on claiming Abraham for their ancestor, because God could raise up children to Abraham from the stones they saw around them. And they were moved by John’s words and said, “What then shall we do?” (Luke 3:10) And he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” (verse 11)

I suppose I was moved by John’s words, too, because I started thinking about how many coats and how many hats I have. You see, of the items of clothing a person can wear, I am most into coats and hats. As the week went on, I kept thinking about my coats and hats. I kept thinking about how cold it has been – as you know, it has been below zero lately. I started thinking about how some people sleep out in the cold in this kind of weather, and how crazy that is. And finally, yesterday, I pulled them all out of my closet, and I really looked them over, and counted them. I discovered that I had 28 hats – eight of the winter/beanie/Santa variety, one of those hiking brim hats that keeps the sun off your neck (which I never wear), 18 baseball-style caps, and one dress hat. And I discovered that – not counting rain ponchos – I have ten coats. Two of them are dress coats, two of them are heavy winter coats, and the other six are various kinds of windbreakers and lighter-weight parkas.

I wondered if I could put all ten of those coats on at once, and I succeeded in getting nine of them on. Does anyone need ten coats? It’s sort of like asking if any woman needs 8 or 10 different styles of black shoes. Of course we don’t need them. We can make an argument that each one is a different style, and is worn at a different time. We can also be honest and just say, “Hey, I like coats! I like hats! I like black shoes!” But that’s not the same as saying we really need them. That’s not the same as acknowledging the truth, the truth that we live in a culture and a world which tends to look at everything through the lens of scarcity.

THE SCARCITY MYTH vs. SUFFIENCY IN GOD

Lynne Twist, in her wonderful book, The Soul of Money, says that the three prevailing myths of scarcity are: 1) there’s not enough, 2) more is better, and 3) that’s just the way it is. I’m not going to review her book here. Suffice it to say that she nails just about all of us – rich and poor, young and old, East Coast types and Westerners, Southerners and Northerners – when it comes to how much we buy into these myths.

She doesn’t tend to look at things from a Biblical perspective as much as I do, but the contrasting truth that she offers – what she calls the truth of sufficiency – is very Biblical. For example, as a short sample, just limit yourself to the readings from today.

From Zephaniah: “The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall fear disaster no more.” In other words, “You’re going to be okay, you’re going to be taken care of, for I am with you.” Everyone. “And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth.” (Zeph. 3:15b, 19b)

From Canticle 9 (Isaiah 12:2-6): “Surely it is God who saves me; I will trust in him and not be afraid. For the Lord is my stronghold and my sure defense, and he will be my Savior. Therefore you shall draw water with rejoicing from the springs of salvation…” In other words, God has your back and knows what you need, and will provide for you what you need.

From Philippians: “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:6-7) In other words, tell God what you want and what you need. And because God cares about you, because God is watching out for you, because God is going to provide for you in one way or another, the peace of God is going to descend upon you – if you will let it – and drive that worry away. In fact, if you keep reading a few more verses in Philippians, you get to this, from a man who knew prison, beatings, and all sorts of privation: “I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (verses 12-13) And elsewhere, when Paul appealed to God to have some sort of “thorn” taken away from him, a “thorn” he described as “as messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated” (2 Cor. 12:7), Paul heard God say to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” (v. 9) In other words, no matter what you are going through, God’s grace is sufficient for you – period.

And finally, in Luke’s Gospel, John the Baptist reminds all the people that bearing fruits worthy of repentance has something to do with recognizing the truth that there is sufficiency in God. There are enough coats to go around if everyone shares with each other. The tax collectors actually have enough to live on if they collect only what they’re supposed to, and not more. And the soldiers have sufficient wages, too, and don’t need to use threats or false charges to extort extra money out of the local people. And surely you remember that story about the five loaves and two fish feeding 5,000 men, plus women and children. It’s another story about the sufficiency of God. It’s a story about what happens when we share from what we already have. There is enough. Over and over again, there is enough.

REORIENTING OURSELVES

Repentance means to turn around, to reorient your life to God. Repentance has to do with something like scales falling from your eyes, so that you can see clearly once again – see the truth, and not buy into the lies of the Evil One. Repentance brings us back to that place where we started, to our baptism, when we vowed to put our whole trust in Jesus’ grace and love. (The Book of Common Prayer, p. 302) Repentance brings us back to our senses, back to our right mind, where we remember that a loving God is in control of the universe, and that this God – out of his love – provides for us… physically, emotionally, relationally, intellectually, spiritually – in any “-ly” way that you can come up with.

Lynne Twist writes about sufficiency in this way: “Sufficiency isn’t an amount at all. It is an experience, a context we generate, a declaration, a knowing that there is enough, and that we are enough… Sufficiency doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive or aspire. Sufficiency is an act of generating, distinguishing, making known to ourselves the power and presence of our existing resources, and our inner resources.” (The Soul of Money, pp. 74-75)

What are those existing resources? What are those inner resources? They are your faith, your compassion, your generosity, and all the unique gifts that God has given you. They include the Holy Spirit – the fire and passion and energy and creativity of God – dwelling within you. Your existing resources include every person in your support network – every family member, every friend, every church member here who lifts you up in prayer and listens to you and offers a hug or a meal or ride or a written card when you are hurting. Your existing resources and inner resources go so far beyond the clothes you own and the number of TVs and other gadgets that you have in your home and how much you have in your various banking and investment accounts. They are all the resources that remind you of how God has provided for you over the years, how God continues to provide for you, and yes – how God will continue to provide for you tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, the day after that, and all the days after that, forever and ever – amen!

We repent and reorient ourselves to God by coming back to that place of thanksgiving and gratitude. Did you hear it in the canticle?

“And on that day you shall say, Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his Name;

Make his deeds known among the peoples; see that they remember that his Name is exalted.

Sing the praises of the Lord, for he has done great things, and this is known in all the world.

Cry aloud, inhabitants of Zion, ring out your joy, for the great one in the midst of you is the Holy One of Israel.” (Isaiah 12:4-6)

This is part of our calling as Christians – to proclaim the sufficiency of God to a world that is dying in the rat race of “not enough”. No, it will never be enough when you squeeze God out of the picture, when you don’t trust in God, when you don’t take stock of all the ways that you have already been blessed by God. But with God all things are possible, as Jesus said. With God, there is enough, and you are enough. And as Lynne Twist correctly puts it, “Knowing that there is enough inspires sharing, collaboration, and contribution.” (The Soul of Money, p. 87) And there is an energy associated with all of this. Again, Twist writes: “When we let go of trying to get more of what we don’t really need, we free up an enormous amount of energy that has been tied up in the chase. We can refocus and reallocate that energy and attention toward appreciating what we already have, what’s already there, and making a difference with that… When you make a difference with that you have, it expands.” (Twist, p. 88)

CONCLUSION

I like all these coats. But you know what? I can give some of them away to folks who need them way more than I do, and I will still be covered – literally. I can give away three coats that I really like, and still have one for each day of the week. And 28 hats? That’s almost one for each day of the month! I did have one for each day in February! I’m going to give away 14 of them – winter ones and summer ones – and I can still go a fortnight without wearing the same one twice.

Perhaps today or sometime this week, you can go through a closet at your home, and decide if there is some perfectly good stuff that you can give away. And while you do that, think about the sufficiency of God. And on that day, give thanks to the Lord and call upon his name. Sing the praises of the Lord, for he has done great things – for me, for you, for all of us – and this is known in all the world. At least it’s known to those who are paying attention.