“Discovering Our Buried Treasure


Sermon Delivered By Rev. Dick Stetler – November 10, 2019

Centenary United Methodist Church

Psalm 145:1-10; Luke 20:27-38

 

    A number of us have been fascinated with the excitement of people who have discovered their DNA by sending off a sample of their saliva.  The results tell them about their ancestry from geographical locations all over the world. Tiger Woods, has disclosed that he has major racial markers indicating that his ancestors were White, Black, Native American and Asian.

    All of this excitement has grown from the curiosity of science to understand the genetic makeup of the human body.  Great discoveries have surfaced ever since the entire human genome has been mapped and each gene's purpose has been carefully documented. A lot of research is being done by altering genes so that they can reverse the destructive nature of certain forms of cancers. 

    One day soon, stem cells will be injected into the optic nerves of people that may restore the sight of those who have lost their eyesight. Researchers are also seeking the formula for greatly slowing the aging process.  Naysayers are accusing scientists of playing God, however, what remains mysterious at the moment only propels human curiosity to gain more understanding of how everything works. 

    Understanding life has become quite an adventure.  Every one of us is an individual that is distinctively different from anyone who has ever lived. I recall reading a study that was done with identical triplets. Their picture together was uncanny.  Each one of them, while flawlessly identical, evolved with completely different personalities, skills, and qualities of spirit.

    One of the next frontiers for humanity will be to understand the origin and nature of the spirit by which each of us lives.  The medical community has determined that there is a linkage between a person's habitual attitudes and their health.  People who have taught themselves how to be happy, creative, resilient, and self-disciplined also have a strong tendency to develop healthy bodies.

    Like learning about the human genetic structure, what is the origin of a person's preferences to become a hopeless romantic, an accountant, a visionary, or a writer whose imagination takes readers on one nail-biting adventure after another?   Equally, what is the origin of the spirit that allows people to deliver their abilities with confidence, kindness, and a contagious friendly attitude?

    In our Scripture lesson this morning, Jesus may give us a hint that fuels our curiosity about what may be packed inside our physical forms when we are born,  These qualities are what make each of us one-of-a-kind. 

    The Jews had a keen interest in maintaining the integrity of a family's paternal genealogy.  If a man died before he and his wife bore a son, his brother had an obligation to marry his brother's widow.

    The Sadducees were a class of people who did not believe that anyone survived their physical death.  One day a group of them wanted to see how Jesus would deal with a highly unlikely circumstance. They came to him with a question. A man who had seven brothers married a maiden.  The couple had no children and the husband died. His brother married the woman and soon he died.  This happened to all seven brothers and finally the woman died. The question they posed to Jesus was, "If people do not die as you suggest, whose wife will she be since she had married all seven brothers?"    

    Jesus told them that in our physical world, people marry, however, when they leave their existence here, there is no longer any need to marry. Everyone is God's creation and each becomes like angels who are incapable of dying. (Luke 20:34f) In other words, all of us are eternal spirits that have incarnated on the earth through the birth-canal of our mothers.  We would not suddenly become eternal beings as a result of first being a very limited human. 

    In our physical world, everyone has choices to make when they face fears, anxieties, stress, and loneliness.  Here, everyone will also choose a mate that helps to continue the existence of our species.  Here we learn to love, to be kind, and to serve one another in some vocation. This process is explained when Jesus left his existence with God to become one of us.  (Philippians 2:5f) Presumably, all of us make the same journey.

    When we are born, we come loaded with a hidden blueprint of who we are that remains locked inside of our cocoon until we access it and develop what we find.  Many people are so enamored by the physical world that they develop skills necessary to engage the world and become a success. 

    An infinite amount of talents and abilities may go untapped when individuals choose to become an accountant like Zacchaeus who we considered last Sunday.  He became a wealthy chief of all the tax collectors in the area of Jericho.  After spending a day with Jesus, an entire area inside of Zacchaeus was accessed and allowed to surface.  The result was transformative enabling him to become generous.

    A number of years ago, during one of the roles that I assumed outside of my duties as a pastor, I attended a conference in California.  Our speaker one morning was Maya Angelou.  She wasted no time in launching into her topic by telling our group that she had been raped by her mother’s boyfriend when she was a young girl.  When she told her mother what had happened, the man was promptly arrested and held in custody until his trial.

    Several weeks later, two police officers came to her home to report that the man had been killed. The officers indicated that there was evidence that he had been kicked to death by inmates who despised child-molesters.  Maya suddenly realized the extraordinary power of her words.  After hearing this story, Maya immediately became a mute.  For over six years she never uttered another word.  Her words had caused a man to die.  Even though he had raped her, she felt responsible for his death.

    Every talent and gift that Maya had within her body was held hostage by her guilt.  People with academic credentials told her mother that Maya was developmentally falling behind her peers in every respect.  Her mother gave in to the pressure from these knowledgeable people.  She withdrew her from school and sent her back to Arkansas to live with her grandmother.

    Her grandma loved Maya the moment she arrived.  She told Maya to sit on the floor each morning and back up into her as she sat in a chair. Her grandma braided her hair and spoke gently to her as she gave Maya verbal variations of the same theme. She would say, "One day, Maya, you are going to be a wonderful, warm, loving teacher who will inspire many students." 

    Maya told our audience that as she sat there allowing her grandmother to perform wonders with her hair, she kept thinking to herself,

Girl, what are you saying?  What do you know about me?  We are back on these dusty roads of Arkansas where we will remain invisible for the rest of our lives. 

    Then she interrupted herself and said, "We black women can call each other, 'girl,' and its okay."  The audience erupted into a sustained laughter. 

Her point was that her grandmother became a great shaft of light whose daily loving words literally pulled Maya out of the darkness where her own thinking had taken her.  Her grandmother believed in her and kept telling her that when she was ready to use her words, she would do so. 

    Maya said, "That day came and since then I have not been able to shut my mouth."  Then, with a deep spirit of humility Maya told us:

I have 55 honorary doctorates.  I can teach in Spanish and French.  I sit on the Board of Directors of Harvard University.  I am on the faculty at Yale University.  My poetry has been read by millions of people all over the world. 

    Two of her many books tell her story in their titles; I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now. 

    It was an unforgettable experience to be in the presence of this remarkable woman whose life had become inspired by a grandmother who had the patience to love a young granddaughter who had not started to access her life’s treasure.

    That treasure was inside of her since the day she was born.  Where else would it come from?  She incarnated with a remarkable potential but it remained buried, hidden, and untapped until her grandmother repeated a different daily narrative to Maya.  Those words enabled Maya to untangle the web that she had woven by her own emotions and thoughts.

    Imagine what women, in general, have accomplished because they were born in a culture that lifted up a new narrative concerning the role of women. Women today are becoming creators in every profession.  Leadership is not gender-specific.  That reality is finally being recognized by most western cultures.

We live in a world that needs all of us; we do have a voice and we need to use it. We are infinite beings who have the ability to bring into our material world information, abilities and talents from the world of our origin. Does our immortality matter?  You bet it does!  When we discover, access and bring to the surface of our lives our buried treasure, we bring attitudes and goals that everybody needs. 

    This is our time to step up, and like that grandmother to Maya, help others to discover and to bring to the surface their hidden treasure. Within us is a yearning to produce buds that will flower and bear fruit that will create all of our tomorrows.  Let us smooth the path for our future's arrival with our loving presence.

     

CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER

Loving God, we confess that we always struggle between trusting you and the fears that we create by living in our world.  How wonderful it is when understanding and wisdom inspire us to reveal your likeness. Thank you for your guidance that often comes to us in a form that is highly personal.  Inspire us to want our natural responses to produce fruit that is helpful, kind, and accepting of everyone just as they are. Guide us to develop faith and trust that our presence will continue to bring healing into all our circumstances.  Amen.

PASTORAL PRAYER

How wonderful it is, O God, to be together in our sanctuary, an environment that helps to focus our attention on matters other than the distracting cares of our day.  Why is it that so many people squander their energy on complaining when all of us should be celebrating the Golden Age in which we live?  We have so much for which to be thankful, particularly your presence during the rough patches we experience as well as those moments that bring such joy.  Thank you.

Today we pause in respect and gratitude for the men and women who have fallen in battle defending what too many of us take for granted – our freedom.  We also celebrate the lives of those who continue in their vigilance to protect us from those whose ideologies clash violently with humanity’s purpose and need to live in societies where freedom reigns. The enemies of freedom have forgotten that we are all your creations.  Today we ask for blessings on all of us that live the value that freedom brings to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  May we be encouraged by the words of Jesus, "There is no greater love that this – that a person is willing to give up his life for others." 

This morning we ask a special favor.  Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day for many of us.  This is our moment in time to showcase what following your son has done for us.  Fill each of us with energized enthusiasm that no matter what happens or how hectic our experience might become, help us to remember that we are your daughters and sons that want to make your love visible through what we do.    We pray these thoughts through the loving spirit of Jesus, the Christ, who taught us to say when we pray . . .