Matthew 6

6 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before others in order to be seen by them, for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

2 “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your alms may be done in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.[a]

5 “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.[b]

16 “And whenever you fast, do not look somber, like the hypocrites, for they mark their faces to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.[a]

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust[b] consume and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust[c] consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

One of the hardest life questions is “What do you really want?” I often ask this question when I’m coaching someone, and the typical answer might surprise you. People fall silent. Sometimes we have spent so long meeting expectations, worrying about money, or wondering what others think that we have trouble hearing our own desires. We lost touch with our deepest self. The question can surface something in our awareness. We are following a script for our lives that isn’t what we truly want.

People often say, “Follow your heart.” But the heart doesn’t hand us a finished map. I find it hard to strip away all the layers of things driving me. I made many of my biggest decisions following my heart, and few turned out the way I expected. I went to college thinking I would be a star basketball player. I loved basketball, but it wasn’t much fun being the shortest guy on the team. So, I moved on, and a new door opened: news director of the college radio station. I loved radio, but I felt too much distance between the microphone and other people. I wanted to work alongside them for change.

My heart understood something important at each stage, but never the whole. Basketball taught me teamwork. Journalism taught me clarity and the seeking of truth. But my true treasure was always beyond the moment. That longing is why we need ongoing spiritual discernment. It’s why almost all of us know U2’s chorus, “But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.”

It shouldn’t surprise us that we find it hard to know what we really want. Our deepest longings are grounded in something bigger than we are. Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” Even my best intentions and highest ideals leave me restless, because my heart is not big enough to satisfy itself. I can’t get no satisfaction…until I come into alignment with the bigger movement of God’s Spirit. When I anchor myself in the wider reality of God, I find the courage, compassion, and steadiness I need.

Matthew’s words in today’s scripture come from the Sermon on the Mount, the central summary of Jesus’ teaching. Jesus said that even our most spiritual acts can be done for the wrong reasons. It’s good to pray, but if we pray to be seen as pious, we aren’t really praying. It’s good to fast, but if we advertise our suffering, we miss the point. It’s good to give to relieve suffering, but if we blow a trumpet so everyone sees our gift, it becomes about us rather than compassion. Checking the right boxes only takes us so far. Jesus asks us to look beneath the religious activity: What are we seeking? Whose attention do we want? What love is taking shape in us?

Store up treasures in heaven, Jesus said, because earthly treasures can be eaten by moths, consumed by rust, or stolen. Does that mean our good deeds earn points in heaven to be redeemed for fabulous prizes later? I love getting points, but points aren’t the point. Heaven is wherever love comes first and we have chosen to dwell. In Jesus’ day, treasure was what you stored away to feel safe: grain, cloth, coin. I don’t think Jesus would tell us that retirement savings and church endowments are not sins; but to be good stewards. We can spend our lives protecting what we have while postponing the good we could do. Nothing we store can finally keep us safe. Jesus asks a harder question, “Where is your ultimate trust?” If money is our answer, too much will never be enough. Our hearts are restless until they rest in God.

We often assume our giving will follow our hearts. But Jesus says our hearts will follow our treasure. What we give ourselves to shapes who we become, and that is true for a congregation, too. Where we put our money, time, and attention shapes the church we become. Our mission statement names the life we hope to practice together.

First, we strive to be rooted in the unconditional love of God. Generosity defines this congregation. It is about more than money, though money helps. When you pledge, you are not just funding a budget or a 501(c)(3) called the Congregational Church of Boothbay Harbor. You are making an act of faith, a desire for community and compassion, and an act of trust in leadership and in each other. I see generosity in the pots of soup and coffee hour baking, in your work for the Fuel Fund at the Holiday Fair, in long hours of committee work, bell rehearsals, and choir. Generosity is rooted in love because it comes from faith that there is enough of God’s love to go around. So we can pool our time, talents, and resources to create something bigger than ourselves.

Second, we welcome everyone to grow with us. Welcome is more than a sign that says, “All are welcome.” It is a commitment to create belonging. Every community has habits that make some people feel at home and leave others wondering whether they belong. A welcoming church examines its own habits. This congregation did that in 2012, when you voted to become an Open and Affirming congregation, welcoming LGBTQ people, and we continued it by holding the first Pride event in Boothbay last summer. It takes visible work outside our doors to show God’s extravagant welcome.

Our capital renovation was also about welcome. “Everyone is welcome—but you will have to manage the stairs.” “Everyone is welcome—but you cannot reach the chancel.” “Everyone is welcome—but you may not be able to hear.” The renovation brought our building closer to the welcome we proclaim. It reminds us to look for the barriers we build without noticing, which are hurtful to anyone on the other side.

We can become so good at welcoming one group of people that we overlook who is still missing. We have done an excellent job of welcoming people who retire here or come for the summer. We had significantly more people in worship this summer, sometimes more than 20 people in the choir. More importantly, we create community for new people, a summer home away from home. We are vital and strong with the Baby Boomer demographic. Perhaps that is a sustainable model for church…for awhile, maybe even another decade. But what can we do now to create a legacy for the future? Who can we serve and welcome, people who need compassion and community before they retire? 

Bringing Sarah Whitfield on staff to serve families and children is a good step, and I am grateful you are committing resources to it. But it will take more than Sarah and a good Sunday School program. Many of us grew up when the cultural tide was coming in for church life; now the tide is going out. That calls for new thinking and a willingness to experiment. Are there ways our generational perspective excludes others without our noticing?

Third, our mission is to cultivate faith, justice, and joy. Let me start with joy. Joy is essential to justice. Many movements to make a better world become grim and angry. Anger can motivate us to challenge injustice, but if love and joy do not temper it, we only create cycles of blame and retribution. We must make room to be joyful together. Our music gives us so much joy; our bells and voices lift our weary hearts. Joy is a form of resistance in a polarized and angry culture.

But we cannot let our joy blind us to hard truths in these perilous times. Harsh deportations, food insecurity, and carelessness with God’s creation are grave injustices. It takes faith and hope not to be overwhelmed. I am grateful for your focus on our neighbors, like the Fuel Fund’s work to make sure no one goes without heat this winter.

What do we really want? Beneath the expectations we carry, beneath our fears about the future, what is the deep longing we can no longer ignore? Stewardship begins with making room for that question—and allowing God to enlarge our answer.

We have been entrusted with a life, with one another, with a world God loves. What will we give ourselves to? What is worthy of our courage, our devotion, our years? We can spend a lifetime gathering things that cannot satisfy the hunger that brought us here.

Jesus calls us to seek a treasure deep enough to claim our whole lives: the love of God that roots us, the belonging that draws strangers together, the justice that restores dignity, the joy that gives us courage to keep loving. This is a treasure we can spend our lives discovering and never exhaust.



“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” May we dare to place our treasure where God is calling us—and let our hearts follow, until we find ourselves loving more of this world than we ever thought we could.