“Fearless Investing” – investing resources of time, ability, passion, money, love – investing all of it into someone or a project of some kind – with the full realization that we may never know the impact – we may never know the yield, the result of that investment – but nevertheless, we trust and believe that it will make a difference – that God will bless that investment with an amazing yield at a time and place as yet to be determined.
Mark 4:1-9
Again he began to teach beside the sea. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” And he said, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”
What a celebration it has been. There are no superlatives left after this week of baseball. Congratulations Cubs Fans!
And I actually think this kind of sums it all up…
Now, as a bit of an objective outsider to all of this Cubbie stuff – FYI – I did not stay up to watch the end of game 7 – but Sarah did get me up when the Northbrook fireworks started.
That said, I have grown in my appreciation of the devotion and the emotional release that was involved with this World Series. This week I visited with Gloria Dei members Ed and Betty Laatsch – Ed has been in the hospital a bit as of late. And they told me about their first date – which was a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. And by the way, they have been married 66 years. For them, the Cubs have always been a part of their lives – and this week was the ultimate.
And perhaps you saw this story too – among the dozens and dozens of touching things to come out of the World Series experience was a man who drove all the way from North Carolina to Indiana to listen to the game with his father. Not such a strange thing, except his father died in 1980. They both had promised each other that when (not if) the Cubs made it to the World Series, that they would listen to the games together.
So, there he was, sitting in the cemetery next to his father’s grave, cheering on their team.
A promise kept by a son to his father.
This week our focus is on Fearless Investing. And I think this is a perfect fit for a week when we celebrate a Cubs World Series victory and as we remember those who have gone before us on this All Saints Sunday. Both cause us to think back on those people in our lives who instilled values and faith – who shared their passions and loves with us – even to the point that those passions and loves became our own.
These are the same people who invested in us – invested time and wisdom and resources – maybe a parent or grandparent – an aunt or uncle – a neighbor or coach – a friend. Perhaps there were times when that person saw something in us that we did not recognize in ourselves.
Now, when we think about financial investments – for the most part, we can keep pretty close tabs on those. We can track the rate of return month to month or year to year – even day to day in some cases. If the results aren’t there – resources can be moved around and reallocated.
However, the kind of investments we are talking about today are a little different – first off a definition:
/in·vest·mənt/
the act of putting resources into something or someone in order to achieve a result.
When we invest – or if you will – fearlessly invest in people or in God’s work – we are most certainly hoping to achieve a result – we are most certainly hoping for a return on those resources. But those results may be a little more difficult to track – those returns may be hard to quantify. Because part of the equation involves time and timing – and another part is location and where the Spirit moves.
We hear this in Jesus’ teaching in the parable of the sower – listen for the timing and for the location:
As he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” (Mark 4:4-8)
Location, Location, Location – four different places – seed falling on the path, on rocky ground, among thorns, and finally upon good soil. You would think that the sower would know not to drop seed on the path or the rocky ground or among the thorns – and perhaps those were not intended – but when the seed hits the good soil – it has found the place where it is able to do what it was created for – and the yield is incredible – off the charts.
Sometimes this happens because we don’t recognize where we are. I think about students who are searching for what they want to study in college – for the career path that they will enjoy or that will fit best with their skills and gifts. I think about my own experience, first of getting quickly weeded out of Biology and then Business and then finally finding a home in the Psychology and the History departments.
I think about how the Spirit moves us – sometimes gently, other times with the 2×4 upside the head. If I would have kept pounding away in the Biology department – I would have not been happy, my grades and my attitude would have reflected it – my outlook on the future would have been very different. Allowing myself to be pushed and redirected to other places and people, allowed a new path to be made.
So we have location – but what about timing – timing is trickier still. Jesus talks about the sower experiencing yields, presumably in that season, that are off the charts after sowing in the good soil.
But what about those times when we might imagine there is an amazing, off the chart yield coming, but it may not be coming in this season – in fact we may not ever know the yield of our investment because of the timing that is involved.
I think about teachers who share a year with a classroom of students, and how they may never know the impact they have had on those students.
And this goes in a similar way for Sunday School and Confirmation teachers – high school youth leaders and pastors too – not to mention neighbors and coaches and family members and all kinds of people.
This is Fearless Investing – investing resources of time, ability, passion, money, love – investing all of it into someone or a project of some kind – with the full realization that we may never know the impact – we may never know the yield, the result of that investment – but nevertheless, we trust and believe that it will make a difference – that God will bless that investment with an amazing yield at a time and place as yet to be determined.
Investing our resources for the sake of God’s world is risky. It takes courage – it takes trust. As we invest – our time, talent, and treasure – no doubt some will show an immediate impact on people and places – we will be able to recognize and celebrate the yield, but just as often that investment is more long-term with no apparent, immediate results.
Investing ourselves is an exercise in trust – trusting God to use what we offer to grow the lives of others – to impact the world in ways that we might not be able to imagine and ways in which we may never see the result. Jesus talks about this kind of investing yielding a 30, 60 or 100 fold return, which equates to a 3,000, 6,000 or 10,000 percent interest rate!
When we trust in God and invest fearlessly, there is no limit to what God will do through us in the world.
Two questions this morning as I close:
When you look back – who is it that invested in you?
As you look forward – how and in whom is God calling you to invest today?
Let us pray: On this All Saints’ Sunday, God, we thank you for those who have gone before us – those who believed in us, invested in us, made a way for us – we are grateful. We pray that in the same way, you would inspire us to grow in our investment in others and in those things that bring about your desires and hopes for the world. Help us to be fearless and to trust in you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Rev. John Berg
Gloria Dei Lutheran Church (ELCA)
Northbrook, IL
