Before my first real job at a church after seminary – well, I shouldn’t say that. Absolutely strike that, because hospital chaplain is a real job. Of course it is. Before I got a church job, I worked as a hospital chaplain at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Big, big place. From time to time, I had to go to the cardiac care unit. I share that because that’s what I want our worship to be this morning. I want this to be our cardiac care unit. In the Bible, the concept of the heart is much more than simply the organ that pumps blood. It’s much more than that. The ancient Hebrews did not make a sharp distinction between physical and psychic powers. They would attribute psychological functions to certain organs of the body. We still do this today. We speak of the heart of the matter. His heart was really into it; his heart isn’t really into it. There are three Hebrew words translated as “heart” in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament. Listen to the Greek word in the New Testament, “kardia,” cardiac. Both the Old and New Testaments say that the chief organ that you and I have is our heart, and not just because it pumps blood. The heart in the Bible is the innermost spring of individual life. It is thought of as the ultimate source of all physical, intellectual, emotional and volitional energies. You know, volition? How we decide to make the choices that we do. Heart. The biblical heart is the part of us through which we achieve contact with the divine, contact with God. God touches our heart. So, I ask you this morning, how is your heart? How’s that part of you that connects with God? How’s your contact with the divine this morning?

Many of you will remember that in May I had surgery. I had carotid artery surgery on the right side of my neck, and it went really well. I’m knocking on wood as loud as I can. I stayed one night in the hospital. I hadn’t had any kind of surgery since I was in the first grade getting my tonsils out, so this was all really new to me. It was at St. Ann’s Hospital in Westerville, and I want to tell you that without exception every nurse and doctor I had was fantastic. One thing I didn’t know, and I learned right away – all nurses are 15 years old. (Laughter.) Time and time again, both male and female, another 15-year-old would walk in, smiling, very professional without exception. So sure, I was anxious, and I think I was feeling what you’re supposed to be feeling before surgery. I was in pre-op wearing that godawful gown, and they were doing all these things to me. Then the latest 15-year-old girl, happened to be a girl, the latest 15-year-old nurse came in, smiled at me and said, “Mr. Groat, now we’re going to take an EKG.” I said, “Really? I didn’t know. That’s cool. Cool with that. Didn’t know.” She said, “Yes, because of your father’s history.” My dad had open heart surgery twice. He lived to be 88. The nurse explained to me, “The doctor just simply wants to know how your heart is before surgery. We’re going to do the surgery.” I said, “Great, it makes sense to me.” And I got nervous. They’re going to give me an EKG. an electrocardiogram, right? So, she took it, and I’m very happy to tell you, she smiled at me, and her exact words – and I hope I never forget them – she said, “Mr. Groat, your heart is perfect.” So, I had problems with my neck, I didn’t have any problems with my heart. She said, “Your heart is perfect.” I said, “Great. That means I can connect with the divine. Right?” Because that’s what the Bible says. So, I said to her, “Great news. That way I can connect with the divine because my heart is perfect.” I didn’t say that. But I’m saying it today.

Psalm 51, I mentioned earlier, everybody agrees, all the smart people agree that it’s a prayer for help. Create – create in me what? Create in me a clean heart, oh God. That’s what this is about at this point. If we just say those eight words today, we get it. Create in us clean hearts, O God, so that we may connect with you, the divine. So, that word create. Somebody have the courage to tell me now, what is the first thing that God does in the Bible. Anybody? We worship a creating God. The first thing God does in the Bible, Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Our God is a creating God. Don’t answer this one out loud – Who wants to be recreated today? Our God is a creating God. The Hebrew verb that begins it all is “bara.” That’s “create.” That’s the verb that the psalmist uses this morning. Whoever this was who wrote this, that’s the first thing they said – bara. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Our God is a creating God. It is God’s fundamental character to restore, rehabilitate and recreate in us. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty.” Anybody ever feel formless and empty? “Darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” If Christianity is anything at all, and I’m obviously not a rabbi, but I think all my rabbi friends would agree with me, if Christianity is anything at all it’s about recreating, becoming new.

That’s what Paul Tillich said, the greatest Protestant thinker to ever walk the face of the earth. Trust me on this. A reporter asked him once, “Mr. Tillich, if you could sum up Christianity in one word, what would it be?” And Paul Tillich said, “New.” Wherever we are this morning, we don’t have to stay there. The whole point of Christianity, the whole point of Christ is new. Your soul and my soul, your soul is a gold mine. Dig. We do need to have some intentionality. Dig, dig deep. Create in me a clean heart. Show me what the treasure is.

Luke 12, the passage of Scripture that we heard just a minute ago and I’m paraphrasing, there’s that phrase again. It’s all over the New Testament. Jesus says it countless times. This morning, Luke 12, Jesus says to his disciples, “Don’t be afraid. I’ve got the answer for you. Ready for what the answer is? Sell all of your possessions.” So, we’re all going to do that today, right? You go first, you sell all of yours, and then I’ll sell all of mine. That’s what he says. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be anxious. Sell all of your possessions and go out and serve people. Sorry Jesus, we’re probably not going to sell all of our possessions today. So, I thought about it this week. If we’re not going to sell our possessions, maybe part of the message is, don’t let your possessions own you. Try not to let your possessions own you. Look for heaven’s treasure here on earth. That’s that phrase — wherever your treasure is, your heart will be there also. Look for heaven’s treasure here on earth. 

What are the heavenly treasures that we can find on earth? We know what they are. Paul tried to communicate that to us in the letters in Galatians. It’s toward the end. I’m sure you remember when he calls them the nine fruits of the spirit. There’re more than nine heavenly treasures on earth, but Paul listed nine fruits of the spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. I am today announcing that I am going to run for president of the United States, and those nine fruits of the spirit are my platform. I’ve got a campaign manager in mind sitting right there. That’s my platform. You think I’ll win? Love, joy, peace? They’re heavenly treasures and we don’t have to die to discover them. That’s what your heart and your treasure, that’s what I’m convinced Jesus was talking about.

OK, I’m going to finish with this. Create in us clean hearts. Show us where the treasure is. Our lives can be new through a power that is beyond us. It’s happened to you, and it’s happened to me. A day that I will never forget. The power took over my life and it changed me. It helped me identify what the treasure is. Not only did my dad have two open-heart surgeries, but he also had major abdominal surgery. He was in his mid-70s. We were living in Akron at the time, and I drove down for the surgery, came by myself, and my brother and my sister and my mother and I sat in the surgery waiting room. We were told that the surgery was serious, and it would probably take at least two hours. I have a lot of experience sitting with people in surgery waiting rooms. So, there we sat. About an hour and a half passed, and the nurse came over and said, “The surgeon just called from surgery and said this two-hour surgery is probably going to take at least four hours.” I have been with people when that happens and sometimes you know what that means. I sat there, and I didn’t verbalize it to my family, but I thought, “Wow, my dad might die. I might never see him again alive.” I had a lot of time to think, and here’s what I thought about. This guy his entire life never voted for the right person. Not once. He was wrong every time. He usually won, but he always voted for the wrong person, and he had many other views about society that were wrong. And he knew that I thought they were wrong. So that was on one side. It was always a source of anxiety for me. Then I started thinking. This guy loves me, and he loves my mother, and he loves his family, and he loves his grandchildren. This guy would do anything for me. Anything, if I went up and asked him for it – anything, he would say yes. All that other stuff went away. He was still wrong. But the love won, it took over. And it wasn’t me; it was a power beyond me. Something happened, something created in me a new heart. Something identified for me what the treasure of life is – cardiac care. He more than survived the surgery. He lived, I think, at least 10 or 12 more years. I went back home to Akron. He was in the hospital four or five days. And I timed it. I wanted to see him in his room on the day that he was going to go home, and I wanted to be with him alone, so I went, and my mother and sister were with me. We visited with him. We left the room. We were heading towards the elevator. I said to Mom and Jill, “Wait here a minute. I want to go and talk to Dad alone just for a minute.” My dad didn’t really say “I love you,” and that was OK. I went in to him and I said, “Dad, I just need a minute. There’s something I need to say to you.” I said, “I love you. Thank you. And you are one tough son of a gun.” Because he was, and I didn’t say “son of a gun.” And he smiled at me. Cardiac care. Don’t be afraid. Create in us a clean heart, oh God, and put a new and bright spirit within us. Amen? Amen.