Week beginning Sunday 10th of August
Lectionary Reading: Luke 12:32–40

SESSION THEME:

Where Your Treasure Is

Trusting God, Living Lightly, Watching for Grace

Opening Reflection

Jesus speaks into the heart of our anxiety and longing. In a world where we are told to strive, hoard, and protect, he says: “Do not be afraid.”

These words are not soft sentiment, but radical reassurance. We are invited to trust, to let go, and to live awake – open to grace, attentive to others, and grounded in God’s abundance.

What we treasure reveals our heart – and God wants our hearts to be free.

Wondering

I wonder what makes you feel anxious or afraid

Read the Text

Luke 12:32–40

You might want to read this twice, or hear it aloud in different voices.
What phrase or image stays with you?
You might want to share these briefly with the group

Key Insights to ponder together

Radical Trust in a God of Abundance

(v.32) “Do not be afraid, little flock…”

Jesus begins with tenderness. Not warning, but comfort. The Kingdom is not earned through performance but given in love.
Richard Rohr calls this the divine flow: a river of grace moving toward us, not away.
Sam Wells reminds us that God doesn’t stand over us demanding outcomes – he is with us, delighting to give.
For liberation theologians, these words affirm that God’s heart is with the poor, the excluded, the “little flock.”

Ponder
What if you believed the Kingdom was already being given to you?

Living Loosely for Others

(v.33–34) “Sell your possessions and give alms… where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

This is not just about charity, but about choosing a new centre of gravity. Rohr speaks of the need to let go to go deeper.
Gutiérrez and liberation theology remind us that almsgiving isn’t just generosity – it’s justice, dismantling systems that keep others in lack.
Sam Wells would ask: What relationships do we treasure most? The invitation is not to live empty, but free – to invest in people, not possessions.

Ponder
What holds your heart right now? What would it mean to “treasure” your neighbour?

Readiness as Relationship, Not Anxiety

(v.35–38). “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit…”

Jesus isn’t urging frantic busyness – he’s inviting attentiveness. Rohr calls it contemplative readiness: a heart awake to God in the ordinary.
The astonishing reversal here is that the Master becomes the servant. In Wells’ theology, this is abundance in action – love that stoops to serve.
The lamps we are called to light are not just for our own path, but to illuminate hospitality, justice, and tenderness.

Ponder
Are you living alert to where God might already be showing up?

Hope in the Unscheduled

(v.39–40) “You must also be ready…”

The Son of Man comes at an unexpected hour – in the interruptions and surprises of real life. Rohr speaks of the God of the thresholds – appearing where we are least prepared.
Liberation theology challenges us to see that Christ comes to overturn injustice – not just in our hearts, but in our structures.
For Wells, this is about being with the moment: not waiting for heaven someday, but seeing Christ here, now – in the stranger, the poor, the unplanned encounter.

Monologue:

Hope in the Unscheduled

Based on Luke 12:39–40
(ask someone in the group to read the following )

I was there. Not close enough to touch him, but close enough to hear. And he said it so simply, so clearly – You must also be ready.” No trumpet. No threat. Just that quiet voice that unsettles something deep in you, as if he was speaking not just to us, but through us. And I remember thinking, ready for what? I used to imagine the Messiah coming in a blaze of glory. Clouds parting. Armies kneeling. A calendar date circled in red. But Jesus – he never speaks like that. He speaks of weddings, and lamps, and a knock at the door when the night is darkest. He speaks of a master who surprises his own household – not to judge, but to serve. And now this: the Son of Man comes at an unexpected hour. It’s hard, isn’t it? I want to be ready. But I want to know when. I want control.

He offers something else – presence.
Now I see: it’s not about a schedule. It’s about a threshold. God doesn’t wait for us to be composed and prepared. God breaks in – like a thief in the night, yes, but not to steal… To disrupt. To reveal. Some call it “the God of the thresholds – showing up when life is raw, unscripted. In a funeral procession. At a protest. In a chance meeting you didn’t expect but can’t forget.

I used to think readiness meant stockpiling virtue or planning some great act of faith. But now I wonder if it’s simpler than that. Maybe readiness is just paying attention. Maybe it’s making space at the edge of your plans – for someone else’s pain. Maybe it’s being with the moment – treating the now as sacred, not as something to get through on the way to something better.
And yes – he spoke of breaking in. Not just into our hearts, but into the structures we cling to. That’s what makes me nervous. What if the kingdom isn’t just gentle gracebut also a great undoing? What if Christ comes not only in prayer, but in the poor? Not only in peace, but in protest? Maybe the unexpected hour isn’t out there – some day in the future. Maybe it’s this hour.

This breath. This conversation I was too distracted to notice. This cry for justice I’ve learned to tune out. So now, when I hear him say, “Be ready,” I don’t think of apocalypse. I think of openness. To mystery. To mercy. To being interrupted. And I wonder…

What if the door he’s knocking on is my own?

Ponder
What if the door God is knocking on. is my own?
Are you open to grace even when it doesn’t look like what you expected?

I Wonder…

• What helps you live with less fear and more trust
• Where is your treasure right now – what is holding your attention, time, or energy
• Who might be the “little flock” in your community today? What would it mean to treasure them
• Can you name a time when God came to you in a surprising or unscheduled moment
• How can your church live more “ready” – not for fear, but for welcome.

Prayer

Generous God,
You do not demand, but give.
You do not control, but invite.
Teach us to let go of
what holds us back –
fear, pride, possession, and hurry.
Help us to treasure what matters:
compassion, presence, justice,
and love.
Light our lamps again,
that we may be found watching –
ready to welcome you
in every face,
every moment, every surprise.
Amen.

Action for the Week

Choose one small act of letting go and one act of watchful love this week:

• Let go: Clear out something you’ve been holding onto unnecessarily – a possession, a grudge, a fear.
• Watchful love: Choose to pay attention to someone you often overlook. Make time for presence. Practise being alert to grace.

PDF

You can download the printable bible study here