The Set Free Season

Author: Mark Fenstermacher
October 29, 2020

A few months ago I was walking through a park in suburban Virginia with my grandson, Grant. We came to several wooden cages in the forest preserve, just a few yards from the nature center. Each wooden enclosure was about six feet tall and four feet wide. Inside each there was a wooden perch, and inside each one of those enclosures was a bird of prey. One bird was an owl and another was a hawk. They had been injured and rescued. None of them could fly. Grant and I studied them for awhile. It was good seeing such beauty up close but there was something sad about seeing them like that: they were meant to fly, they were meant to hunt, and now their injured wings had consigned them to a wooden cage.

I've always wondered why Jesus brings up the subject of money when a "certain ruler" (Luke 18:18) comes up to Jesus and asks, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" The question isn't just about "earning" life after death, but it is actually a question about how can we be most fully alive right now. It's easy to exist but never get around to really living (Jesus refers to "abundant life" in John 10:10).

The man asking Jesus the question is apparently a man whose heart is devoted to God, who is radically faithful in obeying the Ten Commandments, but what is holding him back from being fully alive is his addiction to money and possessions. Jesus—as Jesus so often does— knows this almost instantly, and so Jesus brings up the subject of the man's addiction to money.

If the man were a red-tailed hawk, created to soar and dive, he has been put in a wood enclosure by his desperate need to hold onto what he has and grab even more. His addiction to stuff has taken from him the ability to fly...to live free and fully in God. Always worried he doesn't have enough, always imagining nightmare scenarios about what could devastate his 401.k or his holdings, the man lives for himself and passes by opportunities to respond to the need he sees in the world.

"There is still one thing lacking," Jesus says to the man. "Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."

We're about to have a conversation (November 8, 15, and 22) about living free called "SHINING OUT."

For several weeks we'll talk about how we can be fully free, resisting the temptation to let money and things control.

You may be leaning back, right now, working to come up with excuses that will allow you to stay away from worship on those Sundays. If you miss them, you'll miss some honest and loving conversation that may help you live more fully.

The reason we have this conversation in the church about money, things and a lifestyle of generosity is because we believe God wants us each to be fully alive. We don't talk about money in the church because a budget needs to be supported, but we talk about money because God loves you and God wants you to live a life that is full and abundant.

The happiest people I know are people who are joyfully generous. They refuse to let their possessions possess them, but in fact they let their love of God and their love for others take control of their financial resources. We give not because the church—or any other organization—needs our money but because we need to give. We soar when we give. We are who we were created to be when we share and give!

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We are inviting some of you to consider taking a major step in your relationship with God:

• If you are not now giving 10% of your income to God (this is called "tithing"), make a commitment to grow your giving to the 10% level over the next four years. Let us know that by picking up one of the 20 paper hearts you will find placed on the leading edge of the worship platform, write your name on it, place it back in the envelope and leave that sealed envelope on the stage.


• If you have not practiced the spiritual practice of making a faith-promise (pledge) to God, we invite you to take that step towards spiritual wholeness this year as we look ahead to 2021. In the past year, 84 households made a faith promise to God's work and we are praying that in 2021 that number will grow to more than 100.
  

Join us this Sunday at 8:30 (Classic) or 11 (Modern/Non-traditional) for worship either in-person or online. We'll be talking about the difference between fake freedom and true freedom (look at Galatians 5).

In grace,
Pastor Mark

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