This morning at Advent Lutheran Church (ELCA) we continued a summer sermon series: Stories That Shape Us: How Jesus’ Parables Transform the Way We See God, Ourselves, and the World.
Sermon
My message, ““Build Wisely is based on Matthew 7:24-27.
You can watch below or read the manuscript.
Excerpt
Let me introduce you to someone I learned a great deal about this week: Claudette. At age 59, she’s finding her way in life and doing so in a denomination in full communion with the ELCA.
For her story to make sense, I need to back up fifty plus years. One hot summer morning – perhaps a lot like this morning – 5-year-old Claudette was at her grandparents’ house. Thanks to the miracle of television, she saw Audrey Hepburn playing the role of nun and decided that she wanted to become a nun when she grew up.
Of course, she was only 5 and was growing up in a Southern Baptist family. And, as a good Southern Baptist, she professed her faith and was baptized by immersion at the age of 8.
Rather than being deterred by her theologically conservative family, she pressed on. Claudette’s single-minded focus led her to commit her first crime: stealing a library book. More specifically, she stole the book that the movie was based on and proceeded to read it over and over again.
The life she imagined for herself as a nun was radically different than her own life. Raised in a dysfunctional family her life was anything but stable. Her Dad was an addict. Her family struggled financially and moved often. Ultimately, her parents separated.
When she was 15 her Mom married again and she began experiencing what she would realize years later was depression. Then, at age 17, she saw her first nun in real life.
I’d love to tell you that she made a smooth transition from her childhood to realize her calling as a nun as a teenager, but that isn’t how her story unfolded.
Instead, she did what most people do. She went on to college, started a career, and got married. Only after working for 20 years in the advertising industry and going through an ugly divorce did she really start to pursue her calling as a nun.
When she returned to serious consideration, she was discouraged because her views on several key social issues were contrary to those of the Catholic Church. Just as she felt her dream was impossible, she discovered the Episcopal Church – a progressive Protestant denomination with nuns.
Once she learned more and felt ready to proceed in her new tradition she encountered an unexpected financial hurdle that delayed her entry into the convent by several years. Before she could get started, she had to pay off all of what had become a rather considerable amount of personal debt.
Several years later she achieved her goal of becoming debt free. At the age of 46 she joined the Community of St. John the Baptist and began to feel at home in a way she had never known possible. Six years later, Sister Monica Clare made her final vows in 2018.[1]
Sister Monica Clare’s story is far more complex than the summary I’ve related. Nonetheless, it’s clear she’s built her entire life around her calling as a nun.
This morning, God isn’t calling all of us to take a vow of poverty or to enter a religious order. God is, however, inviting us to build wisely on a firm foundation.
I imagine you’ve heard this morning’s Gospel lesson before – the story of the wise and foolish builders. It is relatively simple to understand, yet challenging to live out. You’ll notice that both characters are builders . . .
[1] Sister Monica Clare. A Change of Habit: Leaving Behind My Husband, Career, and Everything I Owned to Become a Nun (Crown, 2025).