Author: Rosemary

Readings: Amos (again), 6,1-7; Psalm 146; 1 Timothy 6, 11-16; Luke 16, 19-31 (Rich Man & Lazarus).

Amos: Just a reminder from last week.  Amos, a prophet, lives about 800 years before Christ.  A prosperous time for the Jews, but a prosperity built on defrauding the poor.  Amos warns the people that Yahweh will punish them for cheating the poor and amassing fortunes. 

In our selection today Amos is putting it to the rich.  Which leads, of course, to our Gospel on the Rich Man & Lazarus.

The Rich Man’s Sin of Blindness

Some months ago when we were getting ready to work on the Rowlett house, I met with the man from Lake Point Church to estimate what the house needed.  We were going to team up. While we were standing outside looking the place over, I hesitatingly mentioned the huge Sycamore tree leaning over the house.  Dangerous.  "Alex, do you have any people in your community who could take that tree down?"  "I’ll see," he says. Alex was pretty taciturn, so I left it at that. 

A couple of weeks later on perhaps our second Saturday to work on the house, we were all gathering at 8:00 when a line of about ten pickups arrives and one pulls a large enclosed trailer.  The Lake Point Emergency Team.  They open the trailer, pull out chain saws, ropes, equipment, hard hats, and head for the tree.  There must have been 15 people, including two young women.  We occasionally stopped work and stood in awe as they brought down some gigantic overhanging limb.  Three hours later they were done, thanked us for inviting them, declined to join us for lunch, and departed, leaving only a huge pile of Sycamore branches ready to be picked up by the township. 

I am humbled by this team and wish I could join them.  They go where they are needed in almost any emergency.  They look for places where their help is needed.

I thought of them when I read about the Rich Man & Lazarus.  As usual, there are symbolic elements to this parable. 

First, there are three clues that inform the people who are tuned in that the guy is very rich: he has not just food, but sumptuous food; he dresses in purple, which also meant he was holy; and he had a funeral, which meant he was in Yahweh’s favor. Being rich, of course, meant good and favored by Yahweh.

Secondly, Lazarus. He is the only person in all the parables to be named.  Meaning?  Predilection for the poor? He also is painted as such a wretch that even dogs licked his sores.

Then, watch the switch.  Both men die. Lazarus is in Abraham’s bosom. He is the rich one now. Only free people recline at table, especially on the chest of the host. The Rich Man, however, is in a place of torment.

So what was the Rich Man’s sin?  Being rich?  Not necessarily. The Rich Man did not care for the Lazarus at his door.  He did not even see him. Granted, the parable indicates that his richness contributed to his blindness.  He had to stop focusing on himself, look around him for the Lazarus nearby, and care for him.

We are rich, too, folks.  No way we can deny it or escape it, despite events in our lives that may cause poverty of spirit.  The people from the Lake Point Emergency team were rich.  They, however, are looking for the Lazarus in their lives, and they were caring for him.

Who is the Lazarus in your life and how are your caring for him?

AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2007-09-30.mp3

   

Readings: Amos 8, 4-7; Psalm 113; 1 Timothy 2, 1-8; Luke 16, 1-13.

Amos: This prophet lived about 800 years before Christ.  It was a time of prosperity in Israel.  However, Amos saw that the prosperity was limited to the wealthy, and that it fed on injustice and on oppression of the poor.  He warned that Yahweh would punish the nation for this.

Our reading comes toward the end of his little book and touches both themes: oppression of the poor and punishment of this by Yahweh.

Taking Care of Myself

In the first Sunday bulletin blog I sent out this month I included a link to an age profiler.  You answer about 30 questions and the instrument takes your present age, adjusts it according to what habits you claim you have, and then projects the year you will reach in life.  A number of you mentioned taking this and were amused at the results. I promised I would let you know what I came up with.  My present age is 67. My adjusted age was 41. And you will have me around until I am 109.  The profile indicates how you are taking care of yourself.

Our little steward in Luke this morning is taking care of himself. I’ve mentioned that biblical studies indicate that he simply cut his own commission to these debtors. He was not necessarily stealing from the rich man. By cutting his commission, he makes sure he is going to be popular with the debtors.

Which brings me to how we take care of ourselves. How do you do it? Want a scale or a map, one that is reflected in the profiler? I’ll give you seven that are pretty commonly accepted as essential. In a work called Aging Well by George Vaillant these seven points are used to describe where people in a study were. They were pictured on a spectrum from Happy-Healthy to Sad-Sick. The seven factors are relevant to every age.

The first four are no brainers:

• no smoking. And if you are smoking, the sooner you give it up the sooner you move closer to the Happy-Healthy side.
• no abuse of alcohol. I have read about a new class of alcoholics – the geriatric alcoholic. For instance, the successful business man who has retired and begins to drink more & more, earlier & earlier until he is polishing off a number of drinks every evening. 
• weight control. Tough. 
• exercise. At least walk. At least 3 days a week, maybe every day.

The last three are not as self evident as the first four.

• a family life or a social life. This involves a proactive approach to people, both family and friends.
• education.The better the education, the more Happy-Healthy. The degree only opens the door to lifetime education.
• defense mechanisms. How I handle bad things, deaths, firings, broken relationships.  Make lemonade out of lemons.

People who do well with these seven factors of life will be more happy-healthy. Those doing poorly will inevitably move toward sad-sick.

Our steward in the reading was taking care of himself.

How are you taking care of yourself?

Happy-Healthy scale: Download nicholas_age_scale.doc

AUDIO http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2007-09-23.mp3

Readings: Exodus 32, 7-14; Psalm 51; 1 Timothy 1, 12-17; Luke 15, 1-32 (Great Gospel: Prodigal Son).

Exodus: this second book of the Old Testament is a fun read and describes the escape or exit of the Jews from Egypt led by Moses. 

How did they get there in the first place.  It goes back to the 3 big patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob.  Jacob had 12 sons, the youngest and favorite being Joseph.  His brothers, who hated him, sold him to some travelers who took him to Egypt where he became a favorite of the Pharaoh because he interpreted dreams. 

When he had grown up a famine hit Israel and Jacob sent his 11 sons to Pharaoh to beg help.  Guess who is Pharaoh’s chief of staff: Joseph. 

As time passes many Jewish people settle in Egypt and prosper. The Egyptians get jealous and enslave the Jews.  At one point Pharaoh kills all the first born male Jewish babies. Except one: Moses. 

Our selection takes place after the colorful account of Moses’ call and his leading the people out of Egypt and into the desert.  The people have been rebellious and Yahweh not too compassionate.  Yahweh & Moses are having a little dialog.

The Prodigal Son

Because this story is a work of art I would like to explain the story before we read it.  Someone very creative put this masterpiece together and has given us a marvelous insight into the nature of God, especially a God whose love is not conditional, a view that is almost totally different than the view we get in the rest of the bible, both Old & New Testament. 

The story has three main segments and a footnote: the son leaves his home and his father, the son lives in a distant land, the son returns home, and the response of the son who stayed home.  I will make three observations about each phase of the story.  So twelve observations.

First, when the younger son asks for his share of his father’s estate, the people would right away be stunned, because he was due no share.  The second son receives nothing normally.

Secondly, for asking for this share, the father could have had him killed for his insolence and absurd presumption of entitlement.

Thirdly, the people listening would have been doubly astounded when the father divided his property with the son. This was turning the father into a nut, a fool. 

With the property the son sets off for a distant place, the second part of the story. He squanders all the money, and ends up feeding pigs for a stranger.  First, significant is the fact that he goes to a distant country, that is, a foreign place.  But more importantly, and this is the first comment, he squanders the property. This is the patrimony.  By squandering the money, he is symbolically disrespecting his father.

Secondly, he shows disrespect to the Jewish religion by going to a stranger to get a job. In those days, a person in need would go to the temple, which was set up to help their own. Instead, he goes to a local, meaning a Gentile or non-Jew. 

Thirdly, he debases himself by feeding pigs, the animal rejected by Jews. He even longs to eat the pods the pigs were eating. He has become a total outcast.

At this point the son realizes that on his father’s farm even the hired help lived better.  So he puts together a little speech that includes three parts: confessing that he has sinned, that he deserves nothing, and could he be treated as one of the father’s workers.  Off he goes. And now the story gets even more bizarre.

Obviously the father is watching for him, because he sees him a long way off, runs (the father runs!) to the son, embraces him, and kisses him.  The boy begins his speech, but note, the father cuts it off after the first two parts.

Then the father bestows on the horrible son three significant and symbolic gifts, a robe, a ring, and sandals before calling for the fatted calf to be slaughtered.  First, the robe. This is a sign of dignity, totally the opposite of what the boy deserved. Secondly, the ring. A sign of wealth.  Thirdly, the sandals. Only members of the family wore sandals, not the slaves or hired workers.  It signified mobility. The family member could walk away.

To the listeners of this story the father would look like an idiot, crazy, out of his mind. The son was so, so bad he only deserved death. 

Then to complicate life for the father, the older son proceeds to pout and complain. First, this boy, too, now deserves to be killed because of his disobedience and anger. But, and this is the second observation, the father pleads. Fathers don’t plead. Thirdly, the father lets him know how much he loves him by saying all he has is equally the son’s.

The point of all this: God is like the father.

How do you resemble the father?

AUDIO http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2007-09-16.mp3

Readings: Wisdom 9, 13-18; Psalm 90; Philemon 9, 10-17; Luke 14, 25-33.

Wisdom: This is another of the books called Apocrypha, because they are not part of the original Old Testament.  The work makes use of traditional Jewish material, as well as ideas borrowed from Greek philosophy, in order to teach that God rewards those who are faithful to him. 

Our section this morning is simply saying, Who knows or who can guess God’s mind or intentions for us. This sets up the Gospel which is rather confounding at first reading.

Hate my Mother, Father, & Wife?

A few summers ago Rosemary & I made a three night back packing trip through Zion National Park in Utah. We entered the north west corner of the park by getting a farmer to drop us off, and we hiked back to the center of the park where the headquarters, lodges, and our car were.

Somewhere in the middle of the hike after climbing some switchbacks, we came to a vista point and took a break. Suddenly from below comes a muscular college kid running up the switchbacks.  When he arrives at the top he stops for a break and some water. 

Being very outgoing, he explains that he is from Notre Dame, is planning on entering the Olympics, and is in training.  He runs in one day the whole trip we used four days to cover. 

Unfortunately, we never did notice whether he showed up at the Olympics or not.   Whether he did or not, he was motivated.

Luke’s gospel today talks about motivation, but in exaggerated terms. This is hyperbole, hype, exaggeration to make a point.  It is coach talk.

So what is the goal? "Being my disciple," Jesus says.  What is that? I would propose that it means being a whole person, a balanced, maturing person, a peaceful person. To achieve the goal takes self discipline and effort. These are the means to the goal. What is mentioned by Luke is the means, even though hyped.

What are the signs of my progress?  The author I’ve been reading says there are three signs: more outgoing, more self confident, and more loving-caring.

Teachers can watch the process with kids they teach.  Initially we are self focused, self absorbed.  As we grow we turn from our self to others. 

This outgoing characteristic is strengthened as I become more self confident, which, in turn, grows because I am accepted and loved by others. With this foundation I can risk more. Success increases my self confidence.

Then I, too, love and care for others. The self focused child becomes the caring parent, teacher, or volunteer.

Our Notre Dame boy would probably think this passage about hating your mother, father, spouse, even your own life is silly.  Yet, he is doing what it recommends if you can see it as saying the ultimate goal is so good it is worth devoting everything to it with passion.  He is focused on an intermediate goal, the Olympics, but in that focus he is maturing and becoming a more whole & peaceful person.

What are you passionate about?  

AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2007-09-09.mp3