Greed

"Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions."   Luke 12: 15

Kathryn Cook

Let us not split hairs about greed. We are all wealthy by the world's standards. Greed is a different animal. It is an attitude.   

Jesus is speaking of the pernicious infection of greed upon the human soul. Its vorcious appetite can never be satisfied because greed is insatiable. The Roman poet Horace said, “He who is greedy is always in want.”  Greed is never quenched; never satisfied. It consumes our energy and blocks goodness and mercy from entering our hearts.

Jesus offers us the vaccine that inoculates against this infection. It is none other than the two Great Commandments: to love God and to love our neighbor.  As we live in the shelter of those two commandments, greed can never enter in.
   

     

"The highest wealth is the absence of greed."  – Seneca                                                                                   

"There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed."      – Ghandi                                

"Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction."  – Erich Fromm

Our Father

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." He said to them, "When you pray, say: Our Father, hallowed be your name.                      Luke 11:1-2

                           Painting 45E                           K. Robinson

In this land of rugged individualism where evangelical preachers beseech us to develop a “personal relationship with Jesus,” I am struck by the fact that our Lord, when he taught his disciples to pray, instructed them to say, “Our Father.”  It is as though Jesus was reminding them that God is not property – and entity held in the hands of the most pious, but a mystery to be held corporately, to be worshiped corporately, to be praised corporately.

“Our Father,” suggests that we are not beseeching God alone, due to our own merits or piety, but as a unifying act on behalf of humanity. It recalls the church “catholic” – small “c” – wherein we are all a part of something must larger than ourselves. When I pray with others, I feel the kinship and love of God as it links us together in a unifying mystery that makes relationships stronger, compassion more visible, and faith more visceral.

For this I give thanks.   

Fussing

The Master said, “Martha, dear Martha, you’re fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it……” 

Luke 10:42    from Eugene Peterson’s The Message

Martha and Mary               JesusMafa - Cameroon

On Sunday, another of Luke’s perennial favorites, the story of Martha and Mary. Many of us have self-effacingly called ourselves “Martha” from time to time – and many preachers have extolled the virtues of aspiring to be like Mary – but the essential message of this charming tale is in how it speaks to perspective.

Most of us have responded as both Martha and Mary in different situations. There are times when we are busy and fussing and overwhelmed – and there are times when we are calm and intentional and focused. Each of us can exhibit both.  Jesus reminds us that focus and calm is the better way to attend to life.  

Frazzled nerves, hypertension, and nervous activity only exhaust and distract us, but if we bring God into  our daily tasks, the journey will be easier and more life affirming. How might we attend to mowing the lawn, preparing the meals, and preparing spreadsheets in ways that might honor Christ’s presence with us?  

We have choices. 

Semantics

But the lawyer, wanting to justify himself asked Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?"  Luke 10:29

Beth Shemesh, Israel                    August, 2014

On Sunday, we will listen, again, to the parable of the Good Samaritan. Most of us have heard it many times before, and most of us understand that the “good” Samaritan did what was right for a bleeding and wounded man lying by the side of the road.  There’s the moral: be like the Samaritan.

But as I think about the story, I am struck by the lawyer’s initial question to Jesus: “Who is my neighbor?” The lawyer did not want an answer. He sought to quibble. He sought to spar with rhetorical questions; to argue for the sport of it. 

Jesus is not interested in semantics. Jesus seeks to give us sight so that we, too, might see the world through the eyes of God and respond as God would have us respond. Quibbling about how much or how many serves no purpose; it only delays delivering assistance to those who need it. 

Let us not be quibblers.  

Self-Importance

Naaman became angry and went away, saying, "I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! 2 Kings 5:11

                                                       Man Washing                                      M. Zimmerman

Naaman, an important General in the Syrian Army, was given permission by his king to go to Israel to seek a cure for his leprosy.  But when he arrived, Naaman was offended that the prophet Elisha would not come out of his house and wave his hands over him and maybe cite some magical incantation. Instead, Elisha simply sent a servant out to tell Naaman what he needed to do to be cured. Naaman stalked away, furious at Elisha’s social snub.

We learn something about pride in his passage. And about expectations. Naaman was an important man, but only in his own country. Here, he is only a pilgrim. And yet, Naaman needs something; he was the one with the leprosy. Surely he wanted it cured (that was why he had traveled all that way), but when the “cure” didn't match his expectations, he went off in a huff.

How do our expectations and pride get in the way of solutions that are offered to us? When we want to lose weight, we don’t want to hear “eat less and start exercising;” we want a “diet pill.”  And when we are in debt over our heads, we reject the invitation to cut up our credit cards and seek to involve the courts as we seek bankruptcy protection instead.

Sometimes, our prayers are answered with similar simplicity. Let us not complain about the results of our prayers. Instead, let us praise God for having heard us at all.

Being Neighbors

For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."              Galatians 5:14

"Neighbors"  Tew Nai Tong

The whole law? All 613 of the Jewish mitzvot? The Pharisees of the 1st Century were the arbiters of these 613 commandments, and policed their people accordingly. Imagine trying to remember all 613, much less enforce them! Paul points out that there is freedom in Christ, because, in Christ, the law can be boiled down to just one: Love your neighbor as yourself.

Well, that certainly makes things simpler. Or does it?

Loving our neighbors in a contentious election year is tough. Loving our neighbors when they crowd our neighborhoods and schools and judicial system is tough. Loving our neighbors when they do not speak our language or value our cultural norms is tough. 

But life is tough.

And yet, there stands our Lord, whispering, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” It’s the simplest commandment of all, and the most difficult.

Where shall we start?

Unleashing evil

Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.      Luke : 31-33

                                               Jesus drives the demons out of the Gerasene


The swine had been snorting and snuffling for food on that same plot of ground for years. They were unclean; un-kosher.  The demons, recognizing the purity and power of Jesus, begged him to let them enter the swine so that they might escape from the presence of God swiftly. So Jesus gave them permission, and literally, all hell broke loose. The swine rushed to the edge of the bank and jumped off the cliff and into the sea below, where they were drowned.

This story calls to light the ferocity and the unpredictable nature of evil. Evil is everywhere, and evil moves quickly, and stealthily, and intentionally seeks to bring mayhem and catastrophe into the world. We saw it in Paris, in Brussels, in New York, and this week we saw it in Orlando.

As children of God, we reject and condemn evil and speak loudly and courageously against it.  As we do, we proclaim boldly that neither powers nor principalities, nor death nor life, nor things present or things to come can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. .

Stand firm. 

Invitations

June 8, 2016

Give ear to my words, O Lord; *
    consider my meditation.

2 Hearken to my cry for help, my King and my God, *
    for I make my prayer to you.

3 In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; *
    early in the morning I make my appeal and watch for you.   Psalm 5: 1-3

                                                Crack of Dawn         -Vladimir Kush


The Psalm for Sunday is an invitation to prayer. Some of us may think that God is too busy setting the planets on their courses and preventing planes from dropping out of the sky to be interested in our prayers, but this is simply not true. Each of us, made in the image and likeness of God, are beloved by God. God wants to hear from us! God yearns to be  in conversation with us, and when we initiate the conversation, I imagine God twinkles with delight.

You are God's hands and feet in the world. Without dialogue, we easily stray off the paths that are laid out for us. When we begin and end our days with God, the paths will be made clear, and our hearts restored. The reverse is also true. 

Compassion

As Jesus approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother's only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, "Do not weep." Luke 7:12-13

                               "When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her."

It's still new and raw for me, being a widow; yet my being a widow carries very little of the baggage it did for first century women.  No, Jesus did not raise my husband from the dead as he did in Sunday's Gospel, but I can testify to the Lord's compassion. 

In the first few days, a cloud of prayers buoyed me up like one of those hydrofoil catamarans that ply the waters between Seattle and British Columbia. Family arrived. Casseroles arrived. Cards arrived. Bishop Lee showed up do do the funeral. But after the flurry, the evenings got long. The calls tapered off. The cards stopped arriving, Depression sank in, and with it, despair. It was then when Jesus was most present. 

On the precipice of despair, the phone would ring or an invitation to lunch would be extended, or the gentle kiss of a happy memory would float by. But mostly? Mostly Jesus was just there, stoking my hand, lifting the veil of darkness and whispering, "Do not weep; let me show you hope."  And hope is a gentle balm. 

Healing

When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith." 

Luke 7:9

Karen Frank - Pakistani artist who uses recycled shopping bags

A Roman Centurion had a slave who was near death, so he sent some of the Jewish elders from Capernaum to find Jesus and to ask him to intervene. Not a particularly unusual request, except that the request came from the enemy: a Roman official. The passage tells us that Jesus assented.   

How do we welcome the enemy? Do we minister to them or avoid them? Note that Jesus did not play favorites. He healed those who came to him in faith: Jew or Roman, slave or free, male or female.  In Christ there is no East or West, nor is there race, gender, color, creed, sexual orientation, or economic status.

As Christians, do we extend the balm of healing simply in the name of Jesus?

Can We Bear It?

Jesus said to the disciples, "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now."  John 16:12

Unretouched Photograph "God: Off the Coast of New Zealand"                 Rose Surgay

I am still reveling in the mystery of Pentecost, that is, the extraordinary arrival of the Holy Spirit as s/he came crashing into the hearts of the disciples that day in Jerusalem so many years ago.  We busy, literate, 21st century Christians do not cope well with mystery. We prefer facts, proof. Perhaps Jesus addresses the likes of us in this 16th chapter of John:  "I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now."

What would it take for us to bear the great Truths? To accept the great Mystery? Is Truth and Mystery so gut crunchingly wonderful that we dare not ingest it? Might we drown from drinking the Living Waters of astonishing purity?  What holds us back?

Mystery demands we believe ourselves to be made in the image and likeness of God. Mystery demands that we accept our belovedness. Perhaps Jesus was right; it is all too much for us to bear. It is easier for us to accept the labels the culture adheres to us. Tragic.

Draw near. Consider the Mystery. Allow it to swirl in your head. And pray that we will be able to bear it, one day. 

The Fear Trap

All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God…. Romans 8: 14-15

"Earworms of Doubr"  Michelle Walka

"All who are led by the Spirit are children of God."  That is what we are: Children of God. As such, much is required of us and much is given us.  Sometimes, though, we forget whose we are and fall into Satan’s snare – the fear trap. The fear trap subtly uncoils its tentacles and draws it unto itself with the earworms of doubt, self-hatred, and unworthiness; thoughts that we are not good enough, or strong enough, or faithful enough to be children of God.

But remember, God always wins! Just as the Holy Spirit rushed in at Pentecost to fill the disciples with itself, the Spirit of God, when faced with the devil’s tentacles, rushes in and beckons to us. The Spirit softly yet persistently whispers to us that we are God’s own beloved ones: loved, cherished, worthy and enough.  

Our task is to become attuned to that voice, to train our ears to be aware of its quiet persistence.  In doing so, we will hear the Spirit of Love and able to defeat the trap of fear.