YOU WORRY TOO MUCH

September 19, 2010
Pentecost 17
Jeremiah 8:19 - 9:1
Luke 16:1-13

Dramatic Message prepared and presented by
Alex Bois-Bonifacio and Alvin Bonifacio

AT THE COFFEE SHOP
Jen sits alone at the coffee shop table reading what looks like a magazine. Will enters the coffee shop holding a portfolio and after getting his coffee, he notices Jen and sits down.
ENTER WILL

Will
Jen. Hey Jen... JEN!

Jen
Hmm? (she looks up) Oh, hey Will.

Will
What’s got you so captivated? Is Cosmo really that interesting? Are you reading 10 ways to find the 21C man?! (he chuckles to himself, proud of his own wit)

Jen
What? No. I’m just reading Luke.

Will
Luke? What? (he looks over her shoulder and then slowly removes the magazine to reveal Jen reading the bible) So what’s with the facade?

Jen
What? I don’t know. I just didn’t want to stick out like a sore thumb.

Will
Oh. But we’re always in here talking about some piece of scripture or other. So what’s the text for this week anyways?

Jen
Luke 16:1-13 it’s the Parable of the Dishonest Steward

Will
Tell me about it.

Jen
Well Jesus starts to tell this parable about a steward who basically gets caught fixing the books and is going to get fired by his land owner. So the steward goes out to the farmers who owe the landowner money and tells them to change their bills to a lesser amount. The steward figured to himself that he was no good as a day labourer and would end up unemployed and when that happened he wanted to be able to call on the farmers and hoped that they would remember that the steward had cut them a deal and that they would in return help him out. When the landowner finds out what the steward has done he commends the steward for acting shrewdly.

Will
Wow, two big taboo topics all in one! You aren’t going to ask me who I vote for next are you?!

Jen
Ha. Ha. So what are you reading then?

Will
I’m not reading really. I’m not doing anything actually. I’m stuck.

Jen
On what? Glue!

Will
Seriously? That was worse than my kids and they have an excuse...

Jen
You’re their teacher! Oh that’s two points now!
Will just stares at her with his teacher face until she notices him,

Will
Are you finished?

Jen
Sorry, Mr. B. (pause) For real this time, why are you stuck?

Will
Well, now that I’m a teacher I have to make some financial decisions for my future and I don’t quite know what to do. There is retirement to think about and life insurance. I should probably plan for my medical expenses as I get older... the list just goes on and on. I mean, I almost didn’t come in here today, I don’t know that I can afford this coffee! (he looks at his coffee)

Jen
Ok...Ok. Well you’re in luck I happen to be pretty good with money. So let’s just go through it.
Jen starts to look through Will’s papers...

Jen
Well you definitely don’t need both of these.

Will
(quite anxiously) But I might need that money. How do I know what’s going to happen? Shouldn’t I plan for emergencies?

Jen
I’m not suggesting you don’t plan for the future. I think it’s a great idea! No one could have grown up with my dad without hearing “More people should plan for the future! If they did, I wouldn’t have to keep paying taxes!”
Will stares at Jen as if she is from Mars

Jen
Yeah I know it doesn’t make sense! Let’s just focus on you then, ok?

Will
(Still uncertain if he trusts her after that) Sure?!

Jen
Again, I think planning for the future is a great idea, but I am pretty sure you don’t need two emergency savings accounts.

Will
(Still anxious) OK. Then I will put that money over here into something else I need.

Jen
Will this is a great plan. You seem to have thought of all the basics and plan excellently for your future. You even have money to spare.

Will
Oh no I don’t. I don’t want to be SOL like that steward in Luke. There’ll be no pan handling in the retirement home for me.

Jen
Hey! The steward was commended for his shrewdness not chastised! That’s the point William.

Will
Huh? I don’t get it. What’s the point?

Jen
Well, along with the parable Jesus told the disciples,
And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth* so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.*
10 ‘Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. 11If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth,* who will entrust to you the true riches? 12And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? 13No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.’

Will
This is Luke right?

Jen
Yeah??

Will
Oh whatever! He’s the bleeding heart liberal that tells everyone to give away all their money to the poor and marginalized. Of course you can’t serve God and Wealth with him!

Jen
Yes, scholars believe Luke to be a social advocate, but the gospel writer isn’t saying give away everything you have to the poor. This is about the steward, remember? He was the go between man. The Landowner was the rich one, not the steward. He worked on a commission. Some scholars even believe the amounts he cut off the farmer’s bills was only his commission! But if that were really the case his actions wouldn’t have been dishonest!

Will
So... Yeah I don’t get it.

Jen
Well Parables are about the kingdom of heaven and are not allegories. Jesus isn’t telling this story so that we go and act like the steward. There’s more to it, I think. I think Jesus was trying to get people to think about God and Wealth. That’s what I was thinking about when you walked in. How can I or you plan for our own future and think about God at the same time?

Will
And? How can we?

Jen
Well I don’t know. You came over and sat down! I didn’t finish my thought?! Gees!

Will
Ok just let me think. The text said,
If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth,* who will entrust to you the true riches? 12And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?

Jen
Exactly Will! You are brilliant!

Will
I am?

Jen
Yes! Money is God’s. It does not belong to us, but is provided to us for temporary use. Money, the economy, ownership...none of it is static or stationary. It all circulates moving from you to me and forward to the next guy. I think that’s what Luke is always talking about. It’s not, give away your money but pass along God’s wealth.

Will
So when Jesus said you cannot serve both God and Wealth he was saying... I lost it!

Jen
He was saying do not be held by fear or anxiety about money. Plan for your future wisely.

Will
Jesus wasn’t just talking about my RRSP was he?! (Jen shakes her head no) I didn’t think so. Jesus was talking about planning for the kingdom of heaven too.

Jen
Yes.

Will
(looking down at his portfolio) Great! Now I’m stuck again! What am I supposed to do now, miss financial guru?

Jen
Will, what if you freely gave away what you didn’t need? The extra, whether large or small, and knew that everyone else would too?

Will
I wouldn’t need to be anxious anymore.
Jen starts to gather her things...

Will
Wait you still didn’t tell me what to do with my money.

Jen
I know. EXUNT

Will sits back in his chair, looks to his portfolio and then back where Jen left, and lets out a small, soft laugh.

NOW AND LATER

September 26, 2010
Pentecost 18
1st Timothy 6:6-19
Jeremiah 32:6-15

(prayer)
Churches can be places of deep history. It is part of the nature of church - we are keepers of an ancient sacred story.
But there is a danger when we live in the past. Because in every way that truly matters, we don't. "The time is now." It always is. Faith must have relevance for today: building on the past, regardless of the past, in spite of the past.
//
We all have our ‘personal history’ that has brought us to this moment in time. It is valuable and it is important – it helps define who we have become – who we are in this moment.
Something drew each one of us to this gathering this morning. Think about it for a moment. What brought you here?

That is the path that invited you to this place and space. And that is the really amazing thing, isn’t it. Our paths are converging for a while. That’s a miracle in and of itself: that in this busy, diverse world, we have found something in common – even if it is just a place and a time.

The obvious next question is, now that you are here, what are you seeking, what are you yearning for? I wonder how much variety we have out here, just this morning. And the mix changes with each new soul that joins us.

Legendary folk musician, the late Gamble Rogers once said commenting on playing a concert at some small forgettable tavern that his booking agent set him up with because it was on the way between two more significant gigs. He looks out at the crowd and he thinks: What do they need? I don’t have that. I have a guitar, I wonder if it’ll be enough. I have words, I wonder if they stand a chance to be heard?

Preaching is like that sometimes. We may be here together, but we bring our own histories and our own yearnings – is this service enough, can it be heard. I doubt it.
After 20+ years in this and other pulpits I am coming to a comfort with that. I simple offer a reflection on a common scriptural heritage.
//
//
Timothy was a young leader in the early Christian church. The Apostle Paul was his mentor. According to the book of Acts, he joined Paul in some of his missionary travels. Timothy in many ways symbolized the emerging Christian church. His mother was Jewish, his father non-Jewish: Gentile (sometimes in the New Testament, labelled Greek). Paul spent much of his energy teaching the church on a unity that transcends our divergent past. It was Paul who wrote to the Galatian Christians: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28).

After Paul was imprisoned, the work of sharing and spreading the gospel fell to the next generation, including Timothy. The context of the letter we read part of today is Paul’s advice to his young protégé. Now, Biblical scholars are almost certain that the version we have in our New Testament was written after Paul’s death. The two letters to Timothy and Titus are collectively referred to as the ‘pastoral epistles’ – the pastoral letters. Part of these letters are devoted to how the church should function. It describes the roles of local leaders, etc. Paul died in prison sometime in the late 50s of the first century. The church had not yet grown into the structure that the letters describe. So, even though they claim to be written by Paul, it is far more likely that they were written by Paul’s companions still in leadership within the Christian movement, a few decades later. We might call this fraud or plagiarism, but at the time, it would not have been scandalous for followers to carry on the authoritative name of a great leader of the past.

Having said that, I suspect that the kind of advice that the letter describes in our reading today, is the kind of words that might have been shared between Paul and his non-imprisoned companions. Perhaps, the origins of this letter are some fragments of actual correspondence between Paul and Timothy that dates back to Paul’s life. They may have simply been expanded later as the needs of the church dictated.

So ignoring the maybe 20 year lag in exactly when the letter was written, we can still see the words in the context of advice from the veteran to the rookie. Please forgive me the technically of language, but, as I talk about it, I’m going to talk as if Paul is the author and Timothy is the reader.
//
In the passage from first Timothy today, we hear advice on how to gage what is important in life. The description from Paul is that of comparing ‘enough’ with ‘excess’. Paul contrasts ‘need’ with ‘greed’.

“If we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. [Desiring riches can trap a person] by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.”

The advice for this new generation of church people is to put their energy and focus in their share ministry and an eternity within the loving embrace of God, not in the acquiring of ‘stuff’ that is tied to this short life. ”For we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it.”

Paul is not telling everyone to live at the basic subsistence level. He encourages people to use their resources generously and for the common good. He is just telling people set aside their greed. To live in the now, holding to the hope and promise for the future. And the encouragement is to live with a compassion for each other.

Inter-related compassion is always the first causality of greed. Greed inherently involves tightening the circle of who will benefit from the spoils of greed. For “now”, we are invited to live more simply than complex. More focused on the real value of community health and well-being – for our bodies, our minds, our souls.
//
The Jeremiah passage shares a similar basic context to Paul’s time (although they were separated by almost six centuries).
Jeremiah, like Paul, is under arrest. He is writing while under guard at the behest of the Judean King, Zedekiah. Paul lived at the time of the Roman Empire; Jeremiah lived during the expansive years of the Babylonian Empire. Being under the thumb of a world power was never easy, in any era. For a local community, it meant that there was much beyond your control. Zedekiah was, in fact, losing the battle to save Judah from being swallowed up by the empire. What the king could control was imprisoning people who suggested that there was some navel gazing that should happen within Judah – some refocusing of people’s priorities, especially in matters of faith and service.

Jeremiah (and Kind Zedekiah) knew that the country side (the agricultural life-blood of the nation was sure to be under Babylonian control for many years. Now, Jeremiah still believed that Jerusalem might avoid being overrun militarily, but it was sure to be under siege and would very likely eventually need to surrender for pure survival reasons. In the end, the walls were breached and the city was laid in ruins, most notably the magnificent temple built during the reign of King Solomon.

Even without knowing this future, Jeremiah knew that the Judeans would not control their lives for quite a while. It could have been a time to simply give up. Many of the leaders and elite members of the society and temple hierarchy had all ready been taken into exile; the peasant population were being driven out of their lands and forced to resettle across the eastern wilderness. What hope was there? Almost none. Certainly not in the life times of those still huddled within the walls of Jerusalem.

So what does the prophet do? He buys up some family land. He does it making sure that all the details are followed to the letter: making sure all of the ’hath-s are crossed and the sh’ma-s are dotted. The documents are sealed away so they will endure the time to come, preserved for the future, in case anyone wished to challenge who owns the land once belonging to Hanamel.
I’m sure that this transaction was done for a few reasons: one very practical one was that it helped out Hanamel - getting cash for land that was about to be (or had already been) annexed must have been quite a blessing. The other reason for Jeremiah’s actions were purely symbolic. He had no chance of ever enjoying this land, either as a place to live or as an investment. He was in jail and the Babylonians were taking over everything. Jeremiah’s actions were meant to be a vote of confidence in the future. As the text says: “Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.”
//
So, our scriptures to invite us to ponder the call to live in the NOW and to hope in the LATER.
//
<<>>
//
Living in the “now” invites us to really decide on what is important. It is important that all have food and shelter, at the very least. As far as whatever excess we have beyond subsistence, we are to be mindful of our part in a wider community – to not be isolated with greed or the love of acquired processions.
Living in the “Later” is to trust that God is our companion and guide into an uncertain future. to express this future hope. Jeremiah was thinking in terms of the life experiences of a generation that will follow. The First Timothy letter looks beyond this life and uses words like: ”Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life.” With that in mind, we might want to amend this message title to “Now and Forever”.
We express this hope when we say the Lord’s Prayer. We follow the common protestant tradition of adding on a doxology at the end: "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen" or in the modern ecumenical version For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and for ever. Amen
For some people of faith, it is an ‘either-or’: now or later; us or them; this world or the next.
The biblical encouragement seems to a ‘both-and’ situation: now and later; us and them (we); this world and the next. As is strongly implied in the letter of 1st Timothy, we are to strive for balance – our needs and our abilities all considered in how we live our lives.
//
Something to think about.
Let us pray:
Help us embrace our call:
to celebrate your presence, O God,
to live with respect in Creation,
to love and serve others,
to seek justice and resist evil,
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
our judge and our hope. #264VU “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wis

FINDING WAYS

September 12, 2010
Pentecost 16
Luke 15:1-32

(prayer)
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So Jesus told them parables ...
//
That’s the biblical context that the gospel of Luke sets for us. Jesus told three parables (three teaching stories) as a response to the ‘grumblings’ of his opponents. They openly wondered: Why would Jesus think it was a good thing to welcome those classed as unworthy? Doesn’t he know that it makes him look bad?
The implied attitude of the scribes and Pharisees was that the ‘sinners’ (those who has transgressed the Levitical laws of proper faithful living) and the ‘tax collectors’ (those who had become complicit with the systems of the Roman Empire’s occupation of Judea and Galilee) were beyond compassion and not worthy of attention.
If Jesus truly desired to be a respected rabbi, he would have to be more careful about the company he kept.
//
It turns out, however, that Jesus was being extremely careful about the company he kept. Jesus may have told some parables to try and explain his actions; but his actions themselves were a parable – the company Jesus kept was meant to send a message – it was an intentional lesson for anyone (including those scribes and Pharisees nearby) to see and respond to.
//
Luke chapter 15 gives us these three related stories on the theme of “lost”: the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son/brother. For the most part, these stories are unique to the gospel of Luke, found only there in the Bible. Matthew’s gospel does have a very similar version of the lost sheep story, but the lost coins and son/brother only come to us in Luke. Matthew includes the sheep story in a discussion on greatness. You may remember the account of Jesus inviting a child on to his lap and telling his disciples that Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child, welcomes me. In Matthew, Jesus goes on to say that we are not to stand in the way of these ‘little ones’ as they seek faith and grow in their own discipleship. Using a child as the example, Jesus was playing on a common attitude where people feel justified to judge and ignore. In many times of history and in many cultures, children are ‘to be seen and not heard’. Did you see the story on the news of the restaurant in the US that has put up the sign that “screaming children will not be tolerated”; they proudly proclaim that they will kick out any families with noisy children.
Hey I get it, trust me. For many years, Patti and I avoided restaurants because the needs of young children do not often mesh with the needs of other diners, especially those who have not had children or who have short memories.
It must have manifested itself differently in Jesus’ day, but children would have not fit easily into many aspects of adult 1st century society. Jesus knew that people disliked children ‘out of their proper place’. Expanding the metaphor, we can see that Jesus was also saying that it might be easier for some to ignore or judge those who were still maturing in their faith, just as it would be to ignore or judge a child out of her/his place. But Jesus says Do not despise these little ones – and then Matthew relays the parable of the lost sheep. Jesus’ summary hook-line is: So it is not the will of God that one of these little ones should be lost.
What Luke does (that Matthew doesn’t) is to put the parable in the first person. Matthew speaks in the general third person, ‘if a person has a hundred sheep...’; Luke brings the crowd right into the parable: ‘which one of you, having one hundred sheep...’
Whichever way Jesus may have actually spoke the parable and in whatever context, we are invited to see ourselves in the story and to examine our initial assumptions about how we think the world should operate and to feel the challenge to those assumptions that the story brings to light.
//
At first glance, in these three parables (lost sheep, lost coins, lost son), it may seem that Jesus is simply making the same point in three slightly different ways. And that is true at a base level. If something has value for you and it is lost, you do everything you can to find it. And when it is found, the response is ‘great gratitude’ and ‘celebration’.
The crowd listening to these parables would have no doubt got that point. In a way, the past actions of these ‘undesirables’ (in Luke) or the way children are to behave (in Matthew) have resulted in them being lost from God, and Jesus was doing all he could to find them and to celebrate their reunion with God. And further, Jesus was inviting those who felt comfortable in ignoring or judging to reconsider that aspect of how they live.
//
And so an obvious sermon on Luke 15 is to encourage an inward examination and honestly discover how we may have focus in our faith lives.
ÿ Are we distracted?
ÿ Are we off track, putting our faith energy in directions that don’t serve us well or Jesus’ ministry well?
ÿ Are we struggling with what to believe?
When we hear these parables in that way, we are putting ourselves in the place of the scribes and Pharisees, relating to the ones who have lost something and need to find it.
//
Good questions.
Good questions for us to bring to ourselves on a regular basis. I encourage all of us to consider these parables in that way. With the exception of the final parable, I think it is the only reasonable way to approach these lessons.
//
While it is a biblical image to view ourselves as sheep and Jesus as our shepherd, it is important to see that this metaphor is limited. It has its strength in the image of being guided, of following and trusting. It brings to mind the beloved 23rd Psalm:
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his names sake.
4(I am often told when I read this psalm in a modern English translation that it loses some of its value for some of you – so there you go – the good old King James Version.)
//
In any language, regardless of our direct experience with livestock or not, there is power in the image of us being sheep of Jesus’ flock. It’s a good one.
I’m just not sure that Luke 15 is one of those places where it works that well to see ourselves as the sheep. When a sheep gets lost, is it really not the sheep’s fault. Sheep are motivated by green pastures. If a sheep goes astray, it is not likely doing that intentionally. The sheep is not saying, ‘I am turning my back on the flock and setting out on my own’. In fact, its instincts are probably to do the opposite. The sheep just looks up after having munched on some tasty grass and realizes that it is alone. It was mislaid by the very one who was charged with caring for it. It’s not the sheep’s fault that it is lost.
The point is even more obvious with the second parable. The lost coin can’t think at all. It is not the coin’s fault that it is lost.
//
As I have looked closely at Luke 15, I do see the subtle differences in the three parables. And the difference seems to be with how things get lost – and in two of three the fact that the thing is lost is not the fault of what is lost.
//
There are different ways of loosing.
The sheep is lost, very likely because the shepherd is overwhelmed. When they are all together, a group of 99 sheep looks exactly like a group of 100 sheep. How can you possibly tell one is missing, until you count them at the end of the day.
I hear this parable saying that the busyness of our lives is definitely a factor in how we nurture and live out our faith; the overwhelming-ness of the things that fill our days (and nights) can distract us from our connection to God.
//
With the coins, there’s only ten, so the loss of one is not a result of being overwhelmed, it may be the result of a lack of attention: or to spin it more negatively: neglect. Some biblical scholars have speculated that the coins represent a valued heirloom or gift that the woman has. The coin may have had value beyond its monetary worth.
Maybe Jesus was trying to get us to examine the areas of complacency in our lives. Have we let the dust gather on what we should value more deeply?
//
Both the shepherd and the woman react the same way when the loss is realized. They intensely look for what is lost. The value come back to them quickly and they are not whole while the sheep or coin is missing.
[quick aside - With the first parable, it seems odd that the shepherd would risk leaving the 99 to go find the one: kind of counterproductive. Again, parables and metaphors have their limits. I have to assume that the shepherd had a sheep pen to keep other sheep from wandering or an assistant to help to watch the main flock while the lost sheep is looked for.]
As the darkness of night enveloped the land, the shepherd back-tracked the day until the sheep was found. The woman fought the darkness with a lamp and cleaned and searched every corner of the house until the coin was found. In both cases they were devastated that the item was lost. I imagine that they had pretty much come to the conclusion that it was lost for good. And so the emotional slingshot that must have been intense. When the sheep’s bleat was heard, leading the shepherd to it and when a glimmer of reflected light excited the woman’s fingers to grab the elusive coin: wow!
I imagine it was one of those moments that you are so relieved and happy at the same time, that you cry tears of joy. Crying for joy is one of those times when there is so much joy in you that it has to leak out. You can’t contain it; you can’t control it. This shepherd and this woman may have looked long into the night and yet the joy of finding what was lost was so explosive that they were knocking on their neighbours’ doors: “rejoice with me!”
Rejoice with me: joy-so-full that it begs to be shared!
//
//
While he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; the father ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.
“Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate.”
Joy-so-full that it begs to be shared!
//
The parable of the prodigal son is longer and is inherently more complex than the other two parables. Because the central characters are all human, we can see ourselves in each of them, not just the one who has lost something (in this case, the father). In fact, the father is sometimes the least related to character because his compassion is so obviously a metaphor for God’s compassion: ‘Oh, the father is God, so we must be one of the sons’. We are more easily drawn to seeing ourselves within the lost son and/or the older brother.
And that can be good. There is lots to learn in those two guys.
//
I love the last part of this story: the reaction of dutiful, good son.
“I have worked like a slave for you and I never get anything; this little sh** of a brother can’t wait for you to die to get his inheritance and so he demands it up front; but that’s not bad enough, he just leaves (more work for me) and he wastes it all. And you still welcome him back. I see right through him why can’t you?”
[aside – some day, I would like to dedicate a whole sermon just to the parallels and contrasts between these two brothers – it is rich material]
But for today, I will just say that one of the things that intrigues me about the end of this parable is that ... it doesn’t really end. When Luke stops the narrative, the father has sought out the older brother (whom he had noticed was not ‘enjoying’ the party); the older brother had expressed his frustrations; the father had offered his explanation. But that’s it.
So what did the older brother do? Did he hug his father and go in to reconnect with his brother? Did he stay outside unable to accept the unreasonable compassion of his father?
That’s why we easily see ourselves in the older brother. We are left to finish the story.
So what would we do? Can we believe in grace? Can we believe that God loves what we might wish to remain labelled unloveable? Wasn’t that the question that Jesus wanted the Pharisees and scribes to be thinking about as they criticized Jesus treating the so-called sinners with respect?
Can we believe that God is motivated to find ways for us to be found?
Something to think about.
//
When we see ourselves within the younger son, we may be inspired to ask: How have we taken advantage of others for our own gain and pleasure? How is it that this seems ‘right’ to us at the time?
And what might bring about a change in heart? We can imagine how one might have a ‘moment of clarity’ after hitting rock bottom and being left with no option but to slink back to those whose generosity we have abused in the hopes that they might have a bit more to give us. Remember that the son did not return because he loved his family or because he desired to reconcile. He was willing to accept the status of a well-cared-for servant or slave. He went for the food. If the first bite was some humble pie, he was prepared to do that.
What he wasn’t prepared for, was his father running to meet him with open arms. That completely messed up his plans. He even forgot part of his well-rehearsed speech. He can’t bring himself to ask to be treated like a servant, when he was so obviously being loved as a son.
Hearing this story from the perspective of the younger son, invites us examine our own selfishness ... and ... to explore our reaction to grace. Are we able to accept that we are worthy of God’s gift of love and compassion? Can we get those criticisms of the scribes and Pharisees out of the equation (whether they come from the outside or from within our own expectations)?
Can we believe that God is motivated to find ways for us to be found?
Something to think about.
//
//
The final story is most commonly known as the parable of the prodigal son. Prodigal means ‘lavish’, ‘extravagant’, even ‘wasteful’. The last one is certainly applicable to the younger son, who had a pocketful of riches and (as Luke says), ‘squandered’ his money. But the younger son is not the only prodigal in the story. Another way to examine this story of Jesus is to call it “the parable of the prodigal father”.
In the eyes of some (like the older brother), the father was wasting his love and resources on this wayward son.
We let ourselves off the hook if we limit the character of the father in this story to representing God. I think that Jesus wants us to examine our own ability to embody grace. And so, can we become the father in the story?
//
Yesterday was the ninth anniversary of the 9-11 attacks. Almost a decade later, we are seeing so much deeper divisions and hatred than existed on September 10th, 2001.
A small time pastor in Florida fanned the flames of hatred by threatening to burn Qu’rans with the sole purpose of insulting muslins and attacking the words they hold dear and connect them to God.
And in Manhattan and in the Midwest and small communities of the US south, people profess the value of the ‘right to religious freedom’ as long as it doesn’t mean that a mosque is built or expanded where it bothers me. And almost always, these words and actions are being expressed in the name of Jesus.
I must admit that I have literally yelled at the TV and the computer this week:
WHERE IS THE GRACE!?!
Where is the grace?
I know it’s out there in pockets. But when times get tough, I see so much selfishness and judgement and an ability to ignore others. I fear we are living in a world where grace is being lost.
//
So what are we going to do?
Click to another channel;
Sing ‘Jesus loves me’ and pretend that the problems do not exist.
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Or will we light a lamp and sweep and sweep and sweep until grace is unearthed enough for us to grab hold of it?
But even that is not the end of our calling (according to Luke 15), when we have found what was lost, we are to be open to God’s overwhelming joy and share that with others.
//
I doubt very much that Jesus would have been happy if the scribes’ reaction to his parables was for them to say: ‘okay Jesus, I guess if this works for you, go ahead’.
He wanted them to have that moment of clarity that they needed to embody God’s grace as well.
They (and we) are the ‘father in the story’.
We are to be ...
ÿ lavishly ...
ÿ wastefully ...
ÿ spilling over ... with grace and compassion.
Let’s find a way to do that. Let us pray,
Over-fill us with your grace, O God, so that we can spill it out into the world. AMEN.

#112VU “O God, How We Have Wandered”

LABOUR OF LOVE

September 5, 2010

Pentecost 15
Jeremiah 18:1-11

Philemon 1-21

(prayer)

ad lib sermon on transformation as a labour of love

God can transform;


Onesimus IS Paul because we are One in Christ


There is no more slave or free




Powerful statement in words; and transforming in practice!




Transformation is to be lived, practiced.




Where are we malleable; where are we hardened?


Are we open to transformation?



*Offerings*