Saturday, August 17, 2013
“Warnings and Encouragements” Luke 12:49-56 Humber United Church August 18, 2013
“I have come to set fire to the earth! And how I wish it were already blazing! I have an immersion to undergo - how pressured I feel till it’s over! Do you think that I have come to bring peace in the Land? Not peace, I tell you, but division! For from now on, a household of five will be divided, three against two, two against three.
Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother- in-law.”
Then to the crowds Yeshua said, “When you see a cloud-bank rising in the west, at once you say that a rainstorm is coming; and when the wind is from the south, you say there will be a heat wave, and there is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky - how is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time? Complete Jewish Bible)
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Wow! Did Jesus really say these words? Did he actually say: "Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” I have to say when I read through this passage, my immediate response was “I don’t want to try preaching this!” It really doesn’t fit with the picture we have of Jesus, or his mission, does it? We have it in our heads that this man was always about non-violent resistance, peace, care. What on earth is this?
This is the real drawback to picking short texts out of longer pieces - we get a little tiny piece, that really doesn’t make sense unless it’s put into the whole of the context.
Luke’s twelfth chapter might be called “Warnings and Encouragements”. Like the “Blessings and Woes” of the beatitudes, it’s a traditional way of teaching.
So we have to look at the twelfth chapter. Jesus starts his teaching by a few words of warning against the Pharisees. Then he tells the story about the Rich Fool, and follows that with the famous "Don’t worry" speech. Then he follows that with the story of the watchful servants who keep the lamps burning, waiting for the master to return. Jesus follows this with elaboration on what it means to be good stewards. Then we have today's lectionary passage where Jesus insists that he came to bring division, not peace, but he ends the discourse by specifically providingan encouragement to interpret the signs of the times. He says they can tell what the weather will be by looking at the sky, or the direction of the wind, and asks “Why can’t you open your eyes to what's going on around you - the injustice and hypocrisy.”
In Verse 41, Peter asks "Lord, are you telling this parable only to us, or to everyone?" Although Jesus never really answers the question, Luke infers that Jesus was indeed addressing the first part to the disciples, but addressing the second part of his discourse with the words: "He also said to the crowds..."
Look at the first part - this probably rang very true to the disciples - who were asked to leave everything behind and make a decision that would put them at odds with their families, and the religious and government authorities. It would put them into the "rebel camp."
This message about Jesus bringing division became true for the disciples in other ways; most all of them became martyrs for their faith. The world was not quite ready for Christianity until the conversion of Constantine and the Roman Empire in the 4th century AD.
One of my student colleagues when I was studying for the DMin degree, was a Jewish man who had converted to Christianity, and then was ordained an Anglican priest. His parents, who were fairly conservative Jews, had a funeral for him - essentially he was dead to the family. Yet Warren’s parents somehow came around, when his sister married a Scottish Presbyterian. I remember him describing the pain the family and how he was shunned for a long time. I did the wedding, because he felt doing it himself would refresh the pain.
Think about those ministers of the Gospel who have exercised and do exercise radical discipleship. Those who stood with Martin Luther King, for the ordination of women, for the ordination of gays, those who standing for equal rights for all. Injustice and maltreatment of people is still rampant all around us - in the work place, in schools, shopping centres; look at the Olympics in Russia - but people are speaking out; there is a growing movement to take the Olympics out of Sochi, and move them to Vancouver. A couple of weeks ago I spoke about the Danes and the Norwegians resisting Hitler; the church leaders who resisted and fought against apartheid. Think also of those people like Gandhi - who are not Christian, and who yet stand for the kind of peace and equality of Jesus. Isn’t that
German pastor/theologian Martin Niemoeller who survived Dachau and Sachsenhausen, is accredited with this poem.
First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the socialists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Catholic.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.
Jesus’ message is in fact, not about dividing families so much as letting the people around us know that the kind of peace we advocate is peace for all, not peace at the expense of others. Jesus tells us today to become radical disciples. Let us no longer just listen and observe, but rather interpret the signs of the times and act, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Sources:
1. Peace-But Not At Any Price! a sermon based on Luke 12:49-56 by Rev. Frank Schaefer
Saturday, August 10, 2013
God Hates Our Worship????? a sermon based on Isaiah 1:10-20 Humber United Church August 11, 2013
Isaiah 1:10-20 (based on "The Message")
“Listen to me, you leaders schooled as if in Sodom!!! Receive God’s revelation, you people schooled as if in Gomorrah!!
“Why this frenzy of sacrifices?” God asks. “Don’t you think I’ve had my fill of burnt sacrifices, rams and plump grain-fed calves? Don’t you think I’ve had my fill of blood from bulls, lambs, and goats? When you come before me, whoever gave you the idea of acting like this, running here and there, doing this and that - all this sheer commotion in the place provided for worship?
“Quit your worship charades. I can’t stand your trivial religious games: Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings! Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them! You’ve worn me out! I’m sick of your religion, religion, religion, while you go right on sinning. When you put on your next prayer-performance, I’ll be looking the other way. No matter how long or loud or often you pray, I’ll not be listening. And do you know why? Because you’ve been tearing
people to pieces, and your hands are bloody.
Go home and wash. Clean up your act. Sweep your lives clean of your covert evil doings, so I don’t have to look at them any longer. Say no to wrong. Learn to do good. Work for justice.
Help the down-and-out. Stand up for the homeless. Go to bat for the defenseless.
“Come. Sit down, and let’s argue this out.” This is God’s Message, says Isaiah: “If your sins are blood-red, they’ll be snow-white. If they’re crimson red, they’ll be like wool. If you’ll willingly follow, you’ll feast like kings. But if you’re willful and stubborn, you’ll die like dogs.” That’s right. God says so.
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Woooo. Ouchie! Get the sense that God is just a tad ticked off? Hotter than Death Valley in the middle of July? Who can read these words, without getting reduced to ashes? God is the Sovereign Mad Hatter who shoots at us with firebrands of finger-pointing and indictments. And sitting squarely in the bull’s eye of God’s displeasure, it seems, is our most treasured sacred cow, the one which garners more comments and complaints from congregations than just about anything else. And here is God, attacking the time-honored practice of worship altogether.
You can almost see the smoke and flames, hear the thunder. All of the promises and the covenant have been disregarded. Yet when the people come to worship they offer sacrifice of animals, incense, and as God says - insincere prayer. God says “who asked you to do this? I didn’t!” God says that the worship practices of this people are a travesty - charades, smoke and mirrors, talk of religion and faith even while the sins and evil continue.
What is it about worship that’s got God’s dander up? What makes God’s nostrils flare so? Note, that it isn’t the ‘order’ of worship. If that were all, we could just tinker and make a few editorial changes in the bulletin. God isn’t particularly upset by the content - the call to worship and prayers of the people are fine. I don’t think God even gets too upset about the chaos of Passing of the Peace. Nor do I think God is really worried about whether our responses are Taize, or verses from old hymns.
What has God incensed is that worship lasted only an hour on the Sabbath; there were people consulting their portable sundials and signaling the priest from the rear, if worship went overtime. People didn’t want to spend any more time than they had to in the temple - there were other things to do. Worship was fine, but don’t take any more time than necessary to get through the rituals. Fire up the altar, light the incense, pray hard - and get it all into an hour.
God’s original intent was that worship would be a 24/7 expression of faith. For too many Israelites in Isaiah’s day, worship was an intentional, carefully enacted-performance. The rest of the week they went back to live the way they wanted with no reference to God, and certainly no interference from God.
Hypocrisy is the sin here - singing one thing and doing another. Offering prayers but never being part of an answer to prayer. Preaching against the enemy on Sunday, and making lucrative deals with the enemy on Monday. God says to these worshipers, "cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow."
The great Danish philosopher and theologian Søren Kierkegaard, says that worship minus direct impact on our neighborhoods = silly geese. Here’s a paraphrase of his story. There was a barnyard full of a gaggle of geese. Each Sunday they gathered to hear wonderful words about creation, God’s plan, and extol the glorious destiny of geese. "We were meant to become air-borne on the winds and to soar in the heavens," the leader of the flock would tell them. At the mere mention of heaven the ganders would cackle and the rest would curtsey. After the meeting they would waddle home. But that’s as far as they ever got. They grew fat and plump and at Christmas they became Christmas dinner - that’s as far as they ever got. Behind the story of tubular necks and webbed feet, Kierkegaard saw weak worship that had its “performance” of religion once a week, but failed to impact the neighborhoods in practical ways.
There is a television drama called “Hitler: The Rise of Evil”. One of Hitler’s arguments in the early years was that people were indifferent, didn’t care about their country. He was able to play on emotions and fan the flames of racism and hatred, yet few in Germany stood up to him. The church was conspicuously absent in opposing him, with the sole exception of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Indifference, and fear, prevented those who might have stopped him.
Since we are hearing Kierkegaard, let’s take a look at Denmark during the war. Denmark had an uneasy kind of agreement with Hitler, and yet was able to refuse to allow his excesses. By far the greatest success in Danish policy toward Germany was the protection of the Jewish minority. Throughout the years of its hold on power, the government consistently refused to accept German demands regarding the Jews. They would not enact special laws concerning Jews, and their civil rights remained equal with those of the rest of the population. German authorities became increasingly exasperated with this position but concluded that any attempt to remove or mistreat Jews would be "politically unacceptable."
Of particular note was the Norwegian resistance to Hitler following Hitler’s ultimatum. King Haakon reported the ultimatum to his cabinet, mindful that although he could not make the decision himself, he could use his moral authority to influence it. He told the Cabinet:
“ I am deeply affected by the responsibility laid on me if the German demand is rejected. The responsibility for the calamities that will befall people and country is indeed so grave that I dread to take it. It rests with the government to decide, but my position is clear. For my part I cannot accept the German demands. It would conflict with all that I have considered to be my duty as King of Norway since I came to this country nearly thirty-five years ago.”
Nor, he said, could he appoint any government headed by the man namedQuisling because he knew neither the people nor the government had confidence in him. However, if the Cabinet felt otherwise, he himself would abdicate so as not to stand in the way of the Government's decision.
Nils Hjelmtveit, Minister of Church and Education, later wrote: "This made a great impression on us all. More clearly than ever before we could see the man behind the words; the king who had drawn a line for himself and his task, a line from which he could not deviate. We had through the five years [in government] learned to respect and appreciate our king and now, through his words, he came to us as a great man, just and forceful; a leader in these fatal times to our country".
Inspired, the Government unanimously advised the King not to appoint any government headed by Quisling, and telephoned its refusal to Bräuer. That night the government's refusal was also broadcast to the Norwegian people. The government announced that they would resist the German attack as long as possible, and expressed their confidence that Norwegians would lend their support to the cause.
Here’s another story - from the American Civil Rights movement:
"I walked down the sidewalk on my way to seminary and I could see the blood still on the bushes where one kid got shot. So I went to church that Sunday needing to, hoping to, hear a word from God. I needed to hear the gospel help me to make sense of the bloodshed and hatred. Instead, I sat through the entire liturgy of the worship and not one word was said about the tragedy that had rocked Chicago during the past week. It was as if nothing had happened; as if God had nothing to say about the tragic week I had lived through."
Today, in North America, we are seeing a rise of precisely the kind of thing these stories describes. More and more political leaders are pushing back the rights of women, and legislating that if a woman miscarries without a doctor present, she has to turn herself in to the police. People are arrested for peaceful demonstrations which involve singing and handing out flowers. We are seeing a rise in a police culture that shoots first - or tasers first as the case may be - and has no skill in dealing with mentally ill, confused, or just lost people. Republican leaders have stated they would rather ruin the whole of America than allow medical care for everyone. In Canada we have leaders who are concerned only with big corporations and big profits. Ordinary people don’t count any more, and any contrary opinion is seen as “terrorist”. Is it really so far from now, to a return to oppressive and repressive regimes which do not tolerate contrary opinions, who have government “hate” lists? And yet they present themselves a religious Bible-believing people who follow the example of Jesus.
And Jesus comes into the temple in Jerusalem, all those hundreds of years later, and sees that nothing has changed since Isaiah’s words? Jesus throwing animals out, turning over tables, money on the ground, claiming that worship has become an excuse to take advantage of people. It’s not accidental, this story about Jesus. There is a clear parallel.
Yet God does not write this ancient worshiping community off as a hopeless case. God does not splutter like an exploding volcano ready to burn a sinning world away in wrath. Nor does God sit dispassionate and aloof, no longer caring about the people who perform "worship charades" on Sunday. God says “Come on, then, let’s argue this out.” and God holds out hope. "If you become dead serious," God says, "then I’ll transform you just like colors can be transformed from red to white or white to black."
God says stop doing wrong, learn to do right, defend the oppressed. Worship is meant to strengthen and prepare us so that who and what we are has a positive impact in our neighbourhoods. It means that when someone speaks hatred against Moslems, we are willing to speak back. It means when someone is treated poorly because of their colour, faith, economic status, we speak back. True worship doesn’t begin when we walk *in* the door of the church, and it doesn’t end when we walk *out*. True worship *begins* when we walk out the door, and come into contact with the world, with all of its failings. True worship has no end, and isn’t confined to a time or a place. Particularly in these times, when phobias and fear of those who believe differently provokes legislated, and unlegislated injustices, we who are Christians must exercise our worship in a way which counteracts those injustices, and holds them up to the light. May it be so.
Sources:
1. Telling the Truth about Worship a sermon based on Isaiah 1:1; 10-20 by Rev. Thomas Hall
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_Denmark
“Listen to me, you leaders schooled as if in Sodom!!! Receive God’s revelation, you people schooled as if in Gomorrah!!
“Why this frenzy of sacrifices?” God asks. “Don’t you think I’ve had my fill of burnt sacrifices, rams and plump grain-fed calves? Don’t you think I’ve had my fill of blood from bulls, lambs, and goats? When you come before me, whoever gave you the idea of acting like this, running here and there, doing this and that - all this sheer commotion in the place provided for worship?
“Quit your worship charades. I can’t stand your trivial religious games: Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings! Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them! You’ve worn me out! I’m sick of your religion, religion, religion, while you go right on sinning. When you put on your next prayer-performance, I’ll be looking the other way. No matter how long or loud or often you pray, I’ll not be listening. And do you know why? Because you’ve been tearing
people to pieces, and your hands are bloody.
Go home and wash. Clean up your act. Sweep your lives clean of your covert evil doings, so I don’t have to look at them any longer. Say no to wrong. Learn to do good. Work for justice.
Help the down-and-out. Stand up for the homeless. Go to bat for the defenseless.
“Come. Sit down, and let’s argue this out.” This is God’s Message, says Isaiah: “If your sins are blood-red, they’ll be snow-white. If they’re crimson red, they’ll be like wool. If you’ll willingly follow, you’ll feast like kings. But if you’re willful and stubborn, you’ll die like dogs.” That’s right. God says so.
************************************************************
Woooo. Ouchie! Get the sense that God is just a tad ticked off? Hotter than Death Valley in the middle of July? Who can read these words, without getting reduced to ashes? God is the Sovereign Mad Hatter who shoots at us with firebrands of finger-pointing and indictments. And sitting squarely in the bull’s eye of God’s displeasure, it seems, is our most treasured sacred cow, the one which garners more comments and complaints from congregations than just about anything else. And here is God, attacking the time-honored practice of worship altogether.
You can almost see the smoke and flames, hear the thunder. All of the promises and the covenant have been disregarded. Yet when the people come to worship they offer sacrifice of animals, incense, and as God says - insincere prayer. God says “who asked you to do this? I didn’t!” God says that the worship practices of this people are a travesty - charades, smoke and mirrors, talk of religion and faith even while the sins and evil continue.
What is it about worship that’s got God’s dander up? What makes God’s nostrils flare so? Note, that it isn’t the ‘order’ of worship. If that were all, we could just tinker and make a few editorial changes in the bulletin. God isn’t particularly upset by the content - the call to worship and prayers of the people are fine. I don’t think God even gets too upset about the chaos of Passing of the Peace. Nor do I think God is really worried about whether our responses are Taize, or verses from old hymns.
What has God incensed is that worship lasted only an hour on the Sabbath; there were people consulting their portable sundials and signaling the priest from the rear, if worship went overtime. People didn’t want to spend any more time than they had to in the temple - there were other things to do. Worship was fine, but don’t take any more time than necessary to get through the rituals. Fire up the altar, light the incense, pray hard - and get it all into an hour.
God’s original intent was that worship would be a 24/7 expression of faith. For too many Israelites in Isaiah’s day, worship was an intentional, carefully enacted-performance. The rest of the week they went back to live the way they wanted with no reference to God, and certainly no interference from God.
Hypocrisy is the sin here - singing one thing and doing another. Offering prayers but never being part of an answer to prayer. Preaching against the enemy on Sunday, and making lucrative deals with the enemy on Monday. God says to these worshipers, "cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow."
The great Danish philosopher and theologian Søren Kierkegaard, says that worship minus direct impact on our neighborhoods = silly geese. Here’s a paraphrase of his story. There was a barnyard full of a gaggle of geese. Each Sunday they gathered to hear wonderful words about creation, God’s plan, and extol the glorious destiny of geese. "We were meant to become air-borne on the winds and to soar in the heavens," the leader of the flock would tell them. At the mere mention of heaven the ganders would cackle and the rest would curtsey. After the meeting they would waddle home. But that’s as far as they ever got. They grew fat and plump and at Christmas they became Christmas dinner - that’s as far as they ever got. Behind the story of tubular necks and webbed feet, Kierkegaard saw weak worship that had its “performance” of religion once a week, but failed to impact the neighborhoods in practical ways.
There is a television drama called “Hitler: The Rise of Evil”. One of Hitler’s arguments in the early years was that people were indifferent, didn’t care about their country. He was able to play on emotions and fan the flames of racism and hatred, yet few in Germany stood up to him. The church was conspicuously absent in opposing him, with the sole exception of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Indifference, and fear, prevented those who might have stopped him.
Since we are hearing Kierkegaard, let’s take a look at Denmark during the war. Denmark had an uneasy kind of agreement with Hitler, and yet was able to refuse to allow his excesses. By far the greatest success in Danish policy toward Germany was the protection of the Jewish minority. Throughout the years of its hold on power, the government consistently refused to accept German demands regarding the Jews. They would not enact special laws concerning Jews, and their civil rights remained equal with those of the rest of the population. German authorities became increasingly exasperated with this position but concluded that any attempt to remove or mistreat Jews would be "politically unacceptable."
Of particular note was the Norwegian resistance to Hitler following Hitler’s ultimatum. King Haakon reported the ultimatum to his cabinet, mindful that although he could not make the decision himself, he could use his moral authority to influence it. He told the Cabinet:
“ I am deeply affected by the responsibility laid on me if the German demand is rejected. The responsibility for the calamities that will befall people and country is indeed so grave that I dread to take it. It rests with the government to decide, but my position is clear. For my part I cannot accept the German demands. It would conflict with all that I have considered to be my duty as King of Norway since I came to this country nearly thirty-five years ago.”
Nor, he said, could he appoint any government headed by the man namedQuisling because he knew neither the people nor the government had confidence in him. However, if the Cabinet felt otherwise, he himself would abdicate so as not to stand in the way of the Government's decision.
Nils Hjelmtveit, Minister of Church and Education, later wrote: "This made a great impression on us all. More clearly than ever before we could see the man behind the words; the king who had drawn a line for himself and his task, a line from which he could not deviate. We had through the five years [in government] learned to respect and appreciate our king and now, through his words, he came to us as a great man, just and forceful; a leader in these fatal times to our country".
Inspired, the Government unanimously advised the King not to appoint any government headed by Quisling, and telephoned its refusal to Bräuer. That night the government's refusal was also broadcast to the Norwegian people. The government announced that they would resist the German attack as long as possible, and expressed their confidence that Norwegians would lend their support to the cause.
Here’s another story - from the American Civil Rights movement:
"I walked down the sidewalk on my way to seminary and I could see the blood still on the bushes where one kid got shot. So I went to church that Sunday needing to, hoping to, hear a word from God. I needed to hear the gospel help me to make sense of the bloodshed and hatred. Instead, I sat through the entire liturgy of the worship and not one word was said about the tragedy that had rocked Chicago during the past week. It was as if nothing had happened; as if God had nothing to say about the tragic week I had lived through."
Today, in North America, we are seeing a rise of precisely the kind of thing these stories describes. More and more political leaders are pushing back the rights of women, and legislating that if a woman miscarries without a doctor present, she has to turn herself in to the police. People are arrested for peaceful demonstrations which involve singing and handing out flowers. We are seeing a rise in a police culture that shoots first - or tasers first as the case may be - and has no skill in dealing with mentally ill, confused, or just lost people. Republican leaders have stated they would rather ruin the whole of America than allow medical care for everyone. In Canada we have leaders who are concerned only with big corporations and big profits. Ordinary people don’t count any more, and any contrary opinion is seen as “terrorist”. Is it really so far from now, to a return to oppressive and repressive regimes which do not tolerate contrary opinions, who have government “hate” lists? And yet they present themselves a religious Bible-believing people who follow the example of Jesus.
And Jesus comes into the temple in Jerusalem, all those hundreds of years later, and sees that nothing has changed since Isaiah’s words? Jesus throwing animals out, turning over tables, money on the ground, claiming that worship has become an excuse to take advantage of people. It’s not accidental, this story about Jesus. There is a clear parallel.
Yet God does not write this ancient worshiping community off as a hopeless case. God does not splutter like an exploding volcano ready to burn a sinning world away in wrath. Nor does God sit dispassionate and aloof, no longer caring about the people who perform "worship charades" on Sunday. God says “Come on, then, let’s argue this out.” and God holds out hope. "If you become dead serious," God says, "then I’ll transform you just like colors can be transformed from red to white or white to black."
God says stop doing wrong, learn to do right, defend the oppressed. Worship is meant to strengthen and prepare us so that who and what we are has a positive impact in our neighbourhoods. It means that when someone speaks hatred against Moslems, we are willing to speak back. It means when someone is treated poorly because of their colour, faith, economic status, we speak back. True worship doesn’t begin when we walk *in* the door of the church, and it doesn’t end when we walk *out*. True worship *begins* when we walk out the door, and come into contact with the world, with all of its failings. True worship has no end, and isn’t confined to a time or a place. Particularly in these times, when phobias and fear of those who believe differently provokes legislated, and unlegislated injustices, we who are Christians must exercise our worship in a way which counteracts those injustices, and holds them up to the light. May it be so.
Sources:
1. Telling the Truth about Worship a sermon based on Isaiah 1:1; 10-20 by Rev. Thomas Hall
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_Denmark
Saturday, August 3, 2013
“Living in the Present” a sermon based on Luke 12:12-23 Humber United Church August 4, 2013
Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” Jesus said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” He said to the crowd, “Take care! Be alert to all kinds of greed; one’s life is not abundant possessions.” Then he told them a parable: “A rich man’s land produced abundantly. He thought to himself, ‘What should I do? I have nowhere to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and store all my grain and my goods. I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. The things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store treasure for themselves but are not rich toward God.”
*****************************************************************
This past week, I was invited to a friend’s house for an afternoon by the pool. It’s a beautiful setting, garden and trees all around, sheltered so the neighbours can’t really see; the trees go right down the back to the bay. There’s a couple of chipmunks living under one of the trees, and they zip up and down, and don’t seem too afraid. The pool is a warm 85 degrees - and it’s a slice of heaven to sit out there with a nice glass of something in hand, soak up sunshine and just be.
On first read, it feels a bit like today’s Gospel addresses life and leisure. Yet a closer look seems to be sifting what’s important and what’s extraneous. Time is short. Jesus isn’t exactly specific, but still clear-headed enough about what will happen in Jerusalem. So with his own death before him, Jesus preaches his often-heard "No Fear" sermon one last time.
"Stand up to authorities, don’t cower!" he says, "they can kill your body-but that’s all they can do; you're much more than a body. Remember, it’s God who holds your entire life - body, soul, and spirit. How much are a couple of parakeets? Pocket change, right? God doesn't overlook a single one. God pays even greater attention to you, down to the last hair on your head. Stand strong for me among people you meet, and when they drag you into police interrogations, I'll give you the right words to say. "No Fear!"
As he begins to move into his second point, a listener breaks up the meeting with an off the wall remark: "Hey, Jesus, would you please tell my brother to give me a fair share of the family inheritance." So much for the sermon, we might think. The interruption is embarrassing. The guy’s one concern has even shut out Jesus' words. Jesus snaps back: "Mister, who do you think I am? Some judge that God has personally assigned to you? Take care, my friend, about greed; there's more to life than getting things. "
Jesus, being Jesus, tells a story about a landowner who has a bumper crop. If there is a problem its a good one, right? Jesus says that this man demolishes his existing buildings to make room for the surplus So now he needs an adequate facility to expand the business. So far, we're exactly in line with this fellow, right? We rebuild our churches, or add air conditioning or something, 've torn our barns down in order to build bigger ones. Jesus allows us to hear this guy as he talks to himself; a sort of brain to wallet to soul meeting.
Wait a minute - just live off the interest? Kick back and do whatever we want whenever we want? “Fool” says God. "Tonight your very soul will be required of you, and then who'll get your stuff, because you certainly won't."
Is this a story about greed? Or is it a story about priorities, about figuring out what we really need and what we don’t. Remember the Lord’s Prayer says “Give us the bread we need for today.” Yet here’s a wealthy man who builds even bigger to store up amassed goods. Could he maybe not do something else with the extra food ?
Talking about amassing goods. Through part of July I’ve been packing up for Toronto. A lot of what came here was amassed goods - stuff which we picked up over the years, stuff we had when the kids lived at home - and as I looked at it - a lot of it was stuff we don’t need back there. Lots went out to the Salvation Army and other places - and yet, there’s still a lot. I looked at things I bought here, and decided they don’t all need to go. What do we really need? Who knows what will happen tomorrow, or next week, or next year? And what will happen to all the stuff?
When I returned to Japan in February, together Norio and I spent a good four days just cleaning up things. There were things that had not been used in many years, but were still there anyway. Nine bags of very old used clothes went out; there are still six bags of good used clothes which will go to Fukushima, for families who lost everything in the tsunami. I wondered, though - what was mother thinking, holding on to all that? And I know the answer - life through the war was a struggle, and they barely had enough to eat, let alone enough to wear. Both Norio’s mother and father went to work in post-war Japan in order to survive. So the amassing of things was also a symbol of having lived through hard times. We don’t have that kind of reason - not really.
Christians believe we go on to another life after death; the early Jews believed in reincarnation, which gradually was suppressed and became resurrection; Buddhists and other faiths believe in reincarnation - the soul has a choice to come back here and work to enlighten other beings, or, to go on to the next life. Yet all we have in this fragile human form is the present.
I read a statement years ago which went “I believe in life after death, but I believe I should live my life as if there isn’t one.” The philosopher who wrote this was making a point - it’s the belief in life after death which allows us to behave badly, confident that God forgives everything in the end so it really doesn’t matter what we do here. We can be greedy, amass piles of possessions, treat people poorly - and get away with it if we confess our sins and ask forgiveness. That, he said, was the reason he preferred to live his life as if there were NO life after death. To him it meant that this life, here and now, is our only shot at making something good of our life and the world we live in.
And in this Gospel Jesus reminds us that life is not given meaning by the things we have or where we live or what car we drive, but in our relationship with God and with each other. The psalm reminds us that only God can give us what we truly need, that God's love is certain.
I don’t know about you, but I really like the new Pope Francis in Rome. I want to read some of the news release from Reuters press, when the Pope was a “no show” at a concert.
“A last-minute no-show by Pope Francis at a concert where he was to have been the guest of honour has sent another clear signal that he is going to do things his way and does not like the Vatican high life.
Minutes before the concert was due to start, an archbishop told the crowd of cardinals and Italian dignitaries that an "urgent commitment that cannot be postponed" would prevent Francis from attending. The prelates, assured that health was not the reason for the no-show, looked disoriented, realising that the message he wanted to send was that, with the Church in crisis, he - and perhaps they - had too much pastoral work to do to attend social events.
The picture of the empty chair was used in many Italian papers, calling his decision "a show of force" to illustrate the simple style he wants Church officials to embrace.
Since his election on March 13, Francis, the former cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina, has not spent a single night in the opulent and spacious papal apartments. He has preferred to live in a small suite in a busy Vatican guest house, where he takes most meals in a communal dining room and says Mass every morning in the house chapel rather than the private papal chapel in the Apostolic Palace. The day before the concert, Francis said bishops should be "close to the people" and not have "the mentality of a prince".”
Pope Francis follows in the footsteps of Archbishop Oscar Romero, both of them steeped in theology of the people and liberation theology. I think he’s making strong points with his lifestyle. Maybe he is saying that if we live our life here as if this is all there is, we have to get it right on the first try, there is a larger onus on us than if we can get away with relaxing because in the end God forgives us and we have a new life when we leave here.
Jesus isn’t saying don’t have any fun, don’t take moments to eat, and drink and enjoy the company of good friends! That's what summers and families are about. Jesus had fun, laughing and dancing, attending parties - he wasn’t dead serious all the time. But he *is* saying life is about a whole lot more than just that. Jesus is saying we *don’t* know when the end will come, so rather than behaving as if we can relax and store up for the future, we really do need to live into the now in a way that will make us better people, and make the world a better place for everyone to live. May it be so.
Sources:
1. How Much Is Enough? a homily based on Luke 12:13-21 by Rev. Thomas N. Hall
2. Reuters June 24, 2013 Vatican City
*****************************************************************
This past week, I was invited to a friend’s house for an afternoon by the pool. It’s a beautiful setting, garden and trees all around, sheltered so the neighbours can’t really see; the trees go right down the back to the bay. There’s a couple of chipmunks living under one of the trees, and they zip up and down, and don’t seem too afraid. The pool is a warm 85 degrees - and it’s a slice of heaven to sit out there with a nice glass of something in hand, soak up sunshine and just be.
On first read, it feels a bit like today’s Gospel addresses life and leisure. Yet a closer look seems to be sifting what’s important and what’s extraneous. Time is short. Jesus isn’t exactly specific, but still clear-headed enough about what will happen in Jerusalem. So with his own death before him, Jesus preaches his often-heard "No Fear" sermon one last time.
"Stand up to authorities, don’t cower!" he says, "they can kill your body-but that’s all they can do; you're much more than a body. Remember, it’s God who holds your entire life - body, soul, and spirit. How much are a couple of parakeets? Pocket change, right? God doesn't overlook a single one. God pays even greater attention to you, down to the last hair on your head. Stand strong for me among people you meet, and when they drag you into police interrogations, I'll give you the right words to say. "No Fear!"
As he begins to move into his second point, a listener breaks up the meeting with an off the wall remark: "Hey, Jesus, would you please tell my brother to give me a fair share of the family inheritance." So much for the sermon, we might think. The interruption is embarrassing. The guy’s one concern has even shut out Jesus' words. Jesus snaps back: "Mister, who do you think I am? Some judge that God has personally assigned to you? Take care, my friend, about greed; there's more to life than getting things. "
Jesus, being Jesus, tells a story about a landowner who has a bumper crop. If there is a problem its a good one, right? Jesus says that this man demolishes his existing buildings to make room for the surplus So now he needs an adequate facility to expand the business. So far, we're exactly in line with this fellow, right? We rebuild our churches, or add air conditioning or something, 've torn our barns down in order to build bigger ones. Jesus allows us to hear this guy as he talks to himself; a sort of brain to wallet to soul meeting.
Wait a minute - just live off the interest? Kick back and do whatever we want whenever we want? “Fool” says God. "Tonight your very soul will be required of you, and then who'll get your stuff, because you certainly won't."
Is this a story about greed? Or is it a story about priorities, about figuring out what we really need and what we don’t. Remember the Lord’s Prayer says “Give us the bread we need for today.” Yet here’s a wealthy man who builds even bigger to store up amassed goods. Could he maybe not do something else with the extra food ?
Talking about amassing goods. Through part of July I’ve been packing up for Toronto. A lot of what came here was amassed goods - stuff which we picked up over the years, stuff we had when the kids lived at home - and as I looked at it - a lot of it was stuff we don’t need back there. Lots went out to the Salvation Army and other places - and yet, there’s still a lot. I looked at things I bought here, and decided they don’t all need to go. What do we really need? Who knows what will happen tomorrow, or next week, or next year? And what will happen to all the stuff?
When I returned to Japan in February, together Norio and I spent a good four days just cleaning up things. There were things that had not been used in many years, but were still there anyway. Nine bags of very old used clothes went out; there are still six bags of good used clothes which will go to Fukushima, for families who lost everything in the tsunami. I wondered, though - what was mother thinking, holding on to all that? And I know the answer - life through the war was a struggle, and they barely had enough to eat, let alone enough to wear. Both Norio’s mother and father went to work in post-war Japan in order to survive. So the amassing of things was also a symbol of having lived through hard times. We don’t have that kind of reason - not really.
Christians believe we go on to another life after death; the early Jews believed in reincarnation, which gradually was suppressed and became resurrection; Buddhists and other faiths believe in reincarnation - the soul has a choice to come back here and work to enlighten other beings, or, to go on to the next life. Yet all we have in this fragile human form is the present.
I read a statement years ago which went “I believe in life after death, but I believe I should live my life as if there isn’t one.” The philosopher who wrote this was making a point - it’s the belief in life after death which allows us to behave badly, confident that God forgives everything in the end so it really doesn’t matter what we do here. We can be greedy, amass piles of possessions, treat people poorly - and get away with it if we confess our sins and ask forgiveness. That, he said, was the reason he preferred to live his life as if there were NO life after death. To him it meant that this life, here and now, is our only shot at making something good of our life and the world we live in.
And in this Gospel Jesus reminds us that life is not given meaning by the things we have or where we live or what car we drive, but in our relationship with God and with each other. The psalm reminds us that only God can give us what we truly need, that God's love is certain.
I don’t know about you, but I really like the new Pope Francis in Rome. I want to read some of the news release from Reuters press, when the Pope was a “no show” at a concert.
“A last-minute no-show by Pope Francis at a concert where he was to have been the guest of honour has sent another clear signal that he is going to do things his way and does not like the Vatican high life.
Minutes before the concert was due to start, an archbishop told the crowd of cardinals and Italian dignitaries that an "urgent commitment that cannot be postponed" would prevent Francis from attending. The prelates, assured that health was not the reason for the no-show, looked disoriented, realising that the message he wanted to send was that, with the Church in crisis, he - and perhaps they - had too much pastoral work to do to attend social events.
The picture of the empty chair was used in many Italian papers, calling his decision "a show of force" to illustrate the simple style he wants Church officials to embrace.
Since his election on March 13, Francis, the former cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina, has not spent a single night in the opulent and spacious papal apartments. He has preferred to live in a small suite in a busy Vatican guest house, where he takes most meals in a communal dining room and says Mass every morning in the house chapel rather than the private papal chapel in the Apostolic Palace. The day before the concert, Francis said bishops should be "close to the people" and not have "the mentality of a prince".”
Pope Francis follows in the footsteps of Archbishop Oscar Romero, both of them steeped in theology of the people and liberation theology. I think he’s making strong points with his lifestyle. Maybe he is saying that if we live our life here as if this is all there is, we have to get it right on the first try, there is a larger onus on us than if we can get away with relaxing because in the end God forgives us and we have a new life when we leave here.
Jesus isn’t saying don’t have any fun, don’t take moments to eat, and drink and enjoy the company of good friends! That's what summers and families are about. Jesus had fun, laughing and dancing, attending parties - he wasn’t dead serious all the time. But he *is* saying life is about a whole lot more than just that. Jesus is saying we *don’t* know when the end will come, so rather than behaving as if we can relax and store up for the future, we really do need to live into the now in a way that will make us better people, and make the world a better place for everyone to live. May it be so.
Sources:
1. How Much Is Enough? a homily based on Luke 12:13-21 by Rev. Thomas N. Hall
2. Reuters June 24, 2013 Vatican City
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