Pentecost 12 C

BASE HEADER LEVEL: 2

Have you ever heard of imposter syndrome? It’s this psychological phenomenon where a person feels like they don’t deserve the success that they have. That they’re in a position where people look up to them and depend on them, but that they’ve just managed to get there through luck or deceit. No matter how well they do or what good things others say about them…they feel like a fraud.

It’s not true, of course, that person isn’t any more of a fraud than anyone else. But the feeling is real.

I wonder if anyone has ever felt like that while sitting in worship. I wonder if any of the disciples felt like that while sitting before Jesus.

Jesus said to the disciples:

““Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. “But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”” (Luke 12.32–40 NRSV)

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

We are often tempted to think about it the other way. If there’s a problem in where we want to be in our faith journey…in our process of spiritual renewal…we often try to fix it from the heart side of the equation. Ex. “I’ve just got to get my heart in the right place.” “My heart just wasn’t in it.”

…and sometimes that works. You know, a moving offertory piece, or mind-opening bible study, or (heaven forbid) an excellent sermon might reawaken something in us that brings us back and gives us new faith.

But, what about when that doesn’t happen? You’re certainly not alone if you admit to sometimes ‘going through the motions.’ When your heart just isn’t connecting, when your faith life or prayer life or spiritual journey or whatever you want to call it is just not what you want it to be.

If you’re at all like me and most of the people I know, there are times when your heart just isn’t into church. One response would be to blame the church. Maybe you’re right, who knows? I’ll try not to take it personally. But much, much worse: another response would be to blame your heart. To think: I’m just not good enough. I haven’t done enough. I’m just not really a church-type of person.

I talk with people all the time […]

That line of thinking often ends up being something like this: God’s gifts and promises are for people who are better than me. I’m just not sure if I really belong.

The thing is, though, this is how our Gospel lesson begins today:

Don’t worry friends. It’s God’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

It’s been God’s plan all along for you to have a faithful and full life. Here we were making it about us, and whether we could have enough heart to win God’s favor. No! It’s because God wants to give us the kingdom.

You see, who we are, and whether we’re good enough — that’s already been taken care of. God claimed you in the waters of Baptism, you already got the keys to the Kingdom!

And once you realize that: everything that comes after sounds different. Once you know that the Kingdom is already yours, when Jesus says, “Sell your possessions and give to those in need,” that no longer sounds like a burden or something to feel guilty about — it’s part of living in the Kingdom that we can do because God has freed us to be able to do it. God has freed us from needing to being measured by how much we have. We are free to do God’s will.

In fact, all of God’s commands change from a list of reasons to feel bad about ourselves, to the steps to living into the kingdom that we’ve already been promised.

So remember this?

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Now that we know that the kingdom is ours, we can hear this the right way. This is no longer an indictment of our greed. This is just some good advice. Do you want your heart to be in the right place?, it says, Put a little treasure in the right place.

Feel like your heart’s not in it? Put a little more of yourself into the right place and see if your heart follows. This is why Worship and Participation are practices of Spiritual Renewal. God is giving us a way to a new heart, a new mind, to being a new creation.

By worshiping, by participating in the fellowship of believers, we are putting ourselves, putting our treasures into God’s hands…and our hearts will follow.

Worship is not for professionals or for those who’ve got everything figured out. There will be times when you come to worship and your heart is not in it. There will be times when you get to the end of the Lord’s Prayer before you even knew what you were saying. Those are the times that I thank God for the person next to me, who was praying on my behalf. We worship because we are being molded into God’s people. We are living into the promise that God has made to us.

As we come together as one body…
As we listen to God’s Word…
As we share the peace with one another, no matter who they are…
As we pray for people near and far…
As we join for a simple meal in which no one goes hungry…
… it’s like we’re acting as if the Kingdom of God has already begun.

And while we’re acting as if … the Kingdom of God has begun. Don’t be afraid. It is God’s good pleasure to give it to us.