Reading Both Bibles, Sept 30, 2007

One week ago, the temperature was 35 degrees and we hoped and prophesied we would see 80!
Syracuse had not won a game all season, and Louisville had not lost a home game in their last 20, and we hoped against hope. Across the Nation, the Housing bubble had burst and we hoped for a renewal of faith in the market, and interest rates have come down. A newborn with a serious problem in her heart, is growing so much stronger and healthier that her father and mother have been able to hold her in their arms and take her outdoors away from all the tubes and monitors. Those with end stage cancer have not been alone, and are surviving, free and clear, with renewed possibilities. It would be foolhardy to believe WINTER will never come, SYRACUSE no longer needs to practice or struggle, to go into greater DEBT and take foolish risks, to ignore the reality that this family has not yet come home and will face many more surgeries, BUT what greater proofs do we need to HOPE, what greater incentive to PRAY and BELIEVE and STRIVE FOR?

This morning's readings make the emphasis from the other side... The days are coming, an account is being called for, barns and storehouses catch fire and burn, then what will you do? SHALL we repent, do we turn round, do we choose another path, do we try to make a deal, OR as HARDHEARTED HUMANS do we plunge ahead knowing all the time we are wrong, choosing not to believe laws apply to us, convincing ourselves that we could get away without punishment for our sins, or that what we do affects anyone but ourselves? Jeremiah voices for God, that not only do our actions afect one another, harming ourselves we do pain to God.

A few weeks ago, I was listening to a friend who asked a group of students “WHAT ARE YOUR PRIORITIES? He claimed that for most Americans, we can no longer answer that question. We know we we have a deadline to meet. we know we have a budget to stay within. We know we have customers and shareholders to keep happy. But we no longer know what our priorities are!

The Bible contains texts that have been used by each side of the church routinely to defend their PRIORITIES, their path, and to judge the other, rather than hearing both texts and being challenged to repent and reform our very lives.
One part of the faith community believes Sin is spelled S-E-X and usually that Men should be in leadrship while women subserviant; while the other half of the body declares that women have just as much potential and right to preach and make decisions as men, that cultural mores about divorce and about sexuality are changing.
Those affirming the rights of others also challenge each of us about our responsibilities, claiming the root of Evil is M-O-N-E-Y and the sin is not so clearly this action or that relationship as what we do with what we possess and whether we can possess anything, or if possession is corruption; while the other heard Moses declare the PROMISE is of POSSESSION of a land of Milk & Honey. Recall that Moses went up the Mountain, and coming down, was he angry because the people had melted their jewelry to make a golden calf, or that they were worshipping it with profane acts? Moses went back up the mountain to plea for humanity, and came down with the promise of a land of their own, as well as the 10 Commandments.

Faith is not so simple as DO THIS and LIVE. Get MARRIED and Ride Off Happily Ever After. In the time of King Josiah, after David and Solomon, there had been an earthquake, and when the dust settled within the Temple there was revealed a hidden ancient scroll.The King recognized the need for Change and set about to Reform the Nation based on the ideals of this ancient scroll. But despite all the reforms, a decade later the people were again lost. Jeremiah's complaint was not that the people did not know, but worse that they did and they no longer cared.
40 years ago, our Nation was ripped apart by racial hatred. Laws were changed, opportunities created, but we have to question whether change has really happened. In Jena, Louisanna a student asked their teacher if they could sit underneath a paticular tree to read a book. The student was black skinned. The next morning a hangman's noose hung from that tree as a threat and warning. It was harassment, it was racist. The act incited violence, and six of those fighting were black, who were then charged with attempted murder. Has anything really changed?
By the time of the writing of the New Testament, those who perceived Sin to be SEX and those who perceived Sin to be MONEY personified their enemies as PROSTITUES and TAX COLLECTORS. And Jesus Accepted both. NOT with a cheap grace that says everything is acceptable, but with a very real challenge that we not hide our vices by pointing out those of others, that we not make ourselves feel better by making others feel greater guilt.

There is a wonderful subtlety to the Gospel of Luke. As the inheritors of Scripture, we tend to read in blocks, of a single story, or a chapter. But Luke introduced this section with “All the People were complaining that Jesus spoke with Tax Collectors and Prostitutes and even trusted them to sit at table, and eat with them...” then tells the parable of the LOST SHEEP that was FOUND, the LOST COIN that was SEARCHED OUT and FOUND, the Father with TWO LOST SONS, yet for those sons the relationship is ALL or NOTHING. This morning's parable follows immediately upon that with a Steward who is called to Account. It was common practice in the Roman Empire that every level of bureaucracy added a fee for their services. SO when you borrowed money or grain or oil, you owed not only the principal and the interest to the boorrower, but also a service fee to the Steward. Years ago, travelling in the border towns of Mexico, the people described that water was free, and delivered in 500 gallon drums, but you had to pay a bribe to the delivery man or else they would skip you for others that would pay.

This Steward is caught, found to be overcharging and cheating his master. So that evening calls all the debtors and offers to deduct the amount he had charged. Instead of making any profit for his work, he will have treated people fairly and equitably, and perhaps they will re-assess and change. In the morning, the Householder has been repaid everything he was owed. The Debtors all have been able to settle their debts without an unjust burden added. And the former Steward has little financially, but has the respect and renewed trust of the Householder and the former Debtors. As such WHO is the Steward, the LOST that has been FOUND? Each of these other parables DO NOT describe the feelings and actions and thoughts of the sheep or the coin, but only the one SEARCHING TO REDEEM? So, is the Steward “Perceived to have been unjust” who gives his own portion, to bring back into harmony the Master and the Debtors, Jesus?

What would happen if we each in this Autumn, as we consider our Pledged Giving, and the VALUES of our lives, considered personally what can I offer? We tend to equate the Season of LENT with REPENTANCE, but actually the point of Autumn of this “Time of Atonement” is for us to question what can I do to seek the lost? What if, in addition to our pledges for the heat and insurance on this building for the community, in addition to paying for the staff and the missions, we each considered What can I do? Imagine, you had an extra $100, what would you do? Imagine you had an extra day with nothing to do? Perhaps as an Event Planner you would coordinate an event like the Russian Folksingers... We have had someone in the community, who is not actually a member, but whose family have taken part in many of the activities of the church who has been volunteeering their time and labor weeding the gardens and repairing plumbing. Someone sugested, we have a lot of folk that are downsizing, kids have gone off to college, they are closing up one of their houses, what if we had a one day sale of really good quality furnishings, what would you like to do with what you earn?

Twice recently, I have been meeting with couples about getting married, who asked about the cost for our services. I explained that we are the only church in town that has made a commitment that we want to be of service when people need us. So it does not matter if you are Presbyterian, or if you are active in any church. The cost for the use of the Sanctuary with all the renovations, and the need for maintenance is $500. The cost for the accompanyist is $150. And the cost for my providing as many counseling sessions as you need, the rehearsal and officiating at the wedding, and occasionally running interference with the mothers is $200. And the couple have looked incredulous. We are paying $2000 for the flowers! $100 a plate for the guests. And the wedding itself is less than $1000. And we have quietly stated we want to be here when you need the church.

How different our lives might be, if we worried less about deadlines and costs, about sex and money, and more about our priorities.