Monday, September 30, 2019

preaching quotes continued...

Bridging Chasms

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Proper 21
Luke 16:19-31


Lately, JESUS in the Gospel of Luke
Has a lot to say about riches
…and wealth
…and the meaning of money

Last month
It was the story of the rich fool
Building all those barns
To store his bumper crop
a cartoonish-like character
Talking only to himself
Never grateful
Never concerned about others 
Just pacing back and pondering what to do with all his fortune
…And…as luck would have it…the next day he died.
That is one way to get rid of the problem of what to do with an overwhelming bumper crop!

And last week
Was the tricky story about the dishonest Steward
With that famous last line
“You cannot serve both God and Money”

And then today we have the familiar story of
The Rich man and Lazarus…not to mention Amos, Psalm 146, and Timothy

Jesus in the Gospel of Luke has a lot to say about riches, wealth and money.


In my 4 ½ year career as a wandering preacher
I remember only once telling a full-fledged joke in a homily
It was here
3 years ago
When we last heard this parable

The joke was one of those cheesy 
St Peter at the Pearly Gates jokes.
I did it to illustrate how today’s gospel passage is a type of story
motif that was popular in Jesus’ time
And it still lives on in all those St Peter and the Pearly Gates jokes

The point being
That today’s parable is not a story told to give us a picture of the architecture of heaven and hell
It is a reversal story…a crystal clear warning story
A story about not procrastinating
If we wanted a bottom line/bumper sticker version 
it might read
“Live your BEST life NOW!”  
(...but I want a little more;)

First a retelling…always dangerous…but fun anyway:

SO there was a multigazillionaire
Who dressed in $1000 jeans, $500 white t-shirts and Italian leather loafers
Which he wore without socks
and one day
he thought he would take a walk in the beautiful park across from his estate.
1) Though he had had a large breakfast 
He wondered to himself
“I just might feel like eating something while I am out
…best to be prepared”
And he asked his cook to make him a picnic lunch…just in case
2) Then he wondered “If I do get hungry, I’m not sure what exactly I will get hungry for” 
…so…again BEST to be prepared
so he asked his cook to make 5 different sandwiches 
…meatball, Italian sub, BLT, tunafish, and a Rueben…best to have all the bases covered…just in case
3) He also wasn’t sure…IF he did get hungry…just exactly HOW hungry he would get…
…so BEST to be prepared
He asked the cook to and make each one a foot long…just in case

Prepared for any eventuality, he strolled down his tree lined driveway and approached his gate.

As he unlocked the gate to his property, there was Sam…of course.
…yep, Sam…always present…day after day…year after year… Sam.
Multigazillionaire knew his name
because he was a constant presence at the gate. 
Covered with sores and beyond half-starved Sam longed for a bite of the left-over crust of just one of those ‘just in case’ sandwiches.

Locking the gate behind him
He gave his ritual line to Sam “Have a good one!”
Mutigazillionaire left for his stroll with his ‘just in case’ picnic basket

When he returned
An hour later, carrying his still full ‘Just in case” picnic basket
The multigazillionaire was having trouble with the lock on the gate
So he bent down and asked Sam to hold his picnic basket with the five foot-longs getting soggy inside
Having jiggled the lock open, he reached down to grab his ‘just in case’ basket…And he thanked Sam for being so helpful.

He ‘saw’ Sam…Physically…their worlds actually touched.
he even knew his name. 
But what he saw was a thing…a fixture
…a kind of entry table that proved helpful now and again.
He did Not see a fellow human being.


So far…we have a very vivid colorful parable. 
Not at all mysterious to understand really.
In fact, it is OBSCENELY clear.

In most stories of this type
---think: Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol---
The one in need of new insight or conversion
Is given a glimpse into the future 
and then begs for a second chance…usually yielding a nice happy ending
…like for Scrooge

That does not happen here
For one thing…Scrooge wasn’t dead yet.  And our Rich man was.
The time for repentance and change and new awareness is now…
While on the green side of the grass…as my Dad says

The parable makes clear that the way the world works
Is not how God works
Our petty social categories don’t translate
Money is not a sign of God’s favor
Nor is Poverty a sign of God’s displeasure

I think
It is the ending of the parable that gets interesting
Still blind to Lazarus
The rich man wants to send word to his brothers
Notice how gentle and patient and kind Abraham is…calling him ‘child’ and asking him to remember
But he squarely dismisses his ask:
“Look, caring for the poor is nothing NEW
You’ve heard the law and prophets…
every. single. day. of. your life.
You’ve had more than enough time”

The tricky part about this parable is remembering who the audience is
We are in the travel narrative
And as we’ve been moving along in Luke’s Gospel
…On the way to Jerusalem
Things are heating up
The soundtrack is getting more ominous…the bass is getting more and more pronounced
Jesus goes back and forth 
speaking to the crowds,
and then to the disciples, 
and then to the Pharisees. 
Different audiences, need to hear different things.

This parable is directed at the Pharisees---
A few verses prior to today’s text it says:
“The Pharisees were money lovers. 
They heard these things (Jesus’ teaching about money and wealth) and mocked him.
And then he (Jesus) directed this parable to them

The parable is directed at a particularly obtuse fraternity of Pharisees
AND the disciples and the crowds---just like us today---
We are in the position of overhearing(like when my sister would get in trouble…I would listen just outside the door wanting to overhear everything…hopefully learning something)

Today...as I overhear the Rich man’s pleading:
“…but…but…how about if someone goes to them from the dead!”
I ask myself
Do I listen?
… to the voice of the prophets?
Do I believe that someone did come?
And has been raised from the dead?



Jesus came
He died…as a Lazarus figure…abandoned, alone, on a cross
But that wasn’t the end
His presence was made known to those who loved him
He rose from the dead and was alive in the midst of those gathered in his name
So REAL was his presence
That, around that presence, 
a community grew and grew and keeps growing still

And all of us here…we are inheritors of that community

We aren’t Lazarus
We aren’t the multigazillionaire
we aren’t the stubborn unbelieving brothers

We are Over-Hearers
We have tasted that same presence 
We have taken the name Christian

Each time we come here and pray our prayers
And recite our creeds 
and say AMEN
We recommit ourselves to Christ
to a life of Christian discipleship

This side of death
The Chasms are many
Divides…too deep
Too many locked gates
Walls…too high
But ours is a mission of 
Bridging Chasms

I’ve been taught that homilies are supposed to both comfort and challenge
Today it seems that the challenge is clear enough
Comfort isn’t quite the right word
…but I want to name the grace in these pews
Here, in these pews
is grace at work bridging chasms.

That ramp outside…that welcomes Scotty and Gwen and anyone who comes to this place unable to walk up those steps.  
I don’t know the story of how it came to be
But that ramp and the commitment and effort and money…that brought it to be
…bridges a Chasm

And the work of the food pantry volunteers
and those donating to the effort
That work is a participation in Bridging a Chasm

The work of marching in solidarity with the marginalized
Participates in bridging a chasm

I got an email a couple days ago from a friend who teaches at St Meinrad.
The St Meinrad faculty comes to New Harmony for a retreat every year
And every year those ‘Catholics’ come through those always open doors
To pray evening prayer in these pews
Those always open doors
Bridge a Chasm

And individually, as teachers, and artists, and merchants and business people of all kinds…retired or still at it
Can you imagine all the ways that the lives in these pews are bridging chasms?

Seeing the unseeable
Caring for those left out or left behind
Feeding the hungry
Clothing the naked
setting the oppressed free
these are not only moments when the kingdom of God is made visible
they are moments of bringing life from death
moments of Bridging Chasms

My friends
We belong to the risen one
And Bridging Chasms is just what we do!

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Being Rich Toward God

August 4, 2019 (forgot to post this last month;)
Luke 12:13-21

Pentecost 11, Proper 13, Year C



When I read the Gospel out loud to Rob early this week he said: 
This one is pretty clear.  Don’t be greedy.

And then there’s the corresponding sayings:
“You won’t ever see a U-Haul behind a hearse”
“You can’t take it with you”
“There are no pockets in shrouds”

But it isn’t satisfying to me
Because one thing we can be sure of
Is that when Jesus tells a Parable
There is trouble in the text!
Parables always upset the apple cart.

Retell
What does it actually say?
The occasion is a question from the crowd
Presumably, there are two brothers having a dispute about inheritance
And then it doesn’t say: Don’t be greedy
It says beware! Be on guard against ALL KINDS of greed…
(because greed is sneaky)
And then it tells the parable
Which is interesting because it is in response to someone who wants more possessions
By telling a parable about someone with an abundance of possessions

The land of a rich man produced abundantly
and he thought to himself
What should I do? I have no place…
and then he said: I will do this…
And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul…

So this is kinda Comic
We have a guy having a conversation with himself
And then he has a conversation with himself 
Within the conversation with himself!
It’s a short parable
It has one character (until God comes into the story)
6-I’s and 2-Psyches/Souls
The UnHoly Trinity
Me, Myself, and I

What doesn’t it say? What’s missing?
The parable never gives the rich man credit for his wealth.
And yet the man
Never mentions the bountiful Land
Or the blessing of good weather
Or the hard work of the laborers 
No words about family 
or community
No mention of anyone or anything that had a role in producing this bumper crop

NO…the parable paints a picture
of a man in complete isolation
A man whose vision begins and ends with himself
A man whose only conversation is a monologue

And conversations with oneself
Even ones as robust and active as this one
Rarely yield a depth of wisdom

Fool!!!
He is a FOOL not because he makes provision for the future
But because he believes that by his wealth he can own his future
He gives infinite value to finite things
A conclusion he came upon---all by himself

And what he missed out on
All wrapped up in himself as he was
What he missed was the gift of gratitude
But how could there be gratitude?
Gratitude is a response…it implies a gift
It is always directed toward another…and there was no other in sight.

(describe the painting)


In a sense 
Rob was right
WE KNOW THIS
We know it isn’t that God doesn’t want us to save for retirement
(which is perhaps a convenient interpretation for me because Rob would be out of a job)
It isn’t that God doesn’t want us to eat, drink and be merry
…enjoying what God has given us
WE KNOW from the Gospels themselves
that Jesus spent lots of time around tables enjoying the gifts of life’s richness

But Jesus in the Gospels is also very clear about where ultimate meaning lies
And we KNOW that too
We KNOW it 
We KNOW that being rich in God is what will keep us from turning all those other things (money, fame, approval) into idols 

But what we DON’T know
Is how to keep 
WHAT WE KNOW --- right here---
Front and center
In front of us as we go through our day’s decision making

What I don’t know is how to keep from being seduced and tempted 
Over and over again by the desire for more
A desire that blinds me to
WHAT I REALLY DO KNOW!

Two stories from the past week
How to be and how not to be
Rich toward God

I went to a funeral on Thursday
The mother of a large family died
The father died several years back
There was a family business
And I don’t know what happened but
It had to do “with getting one’s share”
Three of the children are not on speaking terms
And the priest…who was a friend of the family
Took several occasions…
And almost begged for reconciliation in the family
I don’t know the story 
but the resentment was palpable…

and then yesterday
I went to a bridal shower
And there was this game where everyone got this cheapy plastic ring
And the idea was to trick others into saying the word “Bride”
and if you were successful you got to steal their ring.

Well there were three little girls ages 4-6 there
And they were completely into this game…trying to collect more and more loot!
So the adults started to just try and give them the rings 
pretending that they were so clever…because they were having so much fun!

And then…the youngest, Tatum
Came up to Ellie, the eldest, and asked how many she had
Ellie said 9
And Tatum said, “I have 11”
And then she opened up her wide pocket offering to share.

Somehow there are hints in these stories about how to become rich toward God.

Jesus is asking me
Cindy
Where is your heart?
Keep track of your heart
You will become rich toward God
By keeping track of your heart.

I feel like this isn’t really a homily
It is a confession of a struggle
Money is powerful
If we don’t talk about it here
About its religiously significant sense
It will be the culture at large that gets to set the definition
And my guess is that it’s a struggle for most of us

---as an addendum---

This morning
I don’t know how to engage the devasting tragedy in El Paso
But somehow
If it is, in fact, the Gospel being preached
there must somehow be a connection

ON the side of the victims
And the family and community that loved them
I imagine it will be hard to keep track of the heart
In the aftermath of such violence
And so in light of this reflection
I can pray for hearts open to the wisdom and peace of God
…no matter how long it takes

And the gunman…why was his heart so very lost?
How did it get so?
I have no idea
But I can’t help but imagine
That, perhaps, like our rich fool
His only source of wisdom was the wanderings of his own mind
Interpreting the world alone
With his own familiar voices being the limit of his wisdom
And I can pray…that I, that we, that our people and communities and families
meet isolation with invitation
Invitation into shared lives trying to become rich toward God



So perhaps we can wonder together
Maybe we can even continue this at coffee hour
Let’s not be like the man who talks things over with himself
Let’s learn from each other
How do you live, move, and act your way into becoming rich toward God?

I’d love to know