Giving up everything

Philemon; Luke 14:25-33

Have you ever imagined owning little?  Having just enough to live but nothing extra, and being content with what you have? People who live in nursing homes are often like that.

Women and men who have taken religious vows live like that. In the early 1200s, one of the brothers asked Francis, “may I have a prayer book? I feel it would enhance my prayer life if I had one of my own.” Francis said “Absolutely not! When you own something, it prevents you from fully worshipping God. Instead you are focused on maintaining what you own. Where is it? Did I tear a page? Is that dirt on the cover?”

 And we can understand this today. But, Francis and the brothers lived in caves or monasteries. They worked for food and not much else. As an order, they owned a few prayer books that were stored in a public area of the monastery. No one person owned them, they belonged to them all, or to none of them.

In contrast, those who live in the world with families and businesses and responsibilities need to own some things. Even so, the question remains. “Do you own your stuff, or does it own you?”

… Jesus’ command to give up all our possessions is a challenge for us. How can we follow Jesus with our whole hearts when we have stuff in our homes, closets, garages, and storage buildings?

Is Jesus’ command what he really wants, or is this statement hyperbole, exaggeration? I prefer to see it as a challenge, a check and balance, to make sure I have my priorities right. One of those priorities is the use of time. Do I spend enough time with Jesus/God? Do I give enough time to caring for others?

… Paul’s understanding of Jesus’ command to give up all we own is applied differently in this letter to in this letter to Philemon. Onesimus is a slavewho apparently has not been worth what Philemon paid for him. In contrast, he has been very helpful to Paul. However, Paul knows he needs to send Onesimus back to his owner.

“I ask you,” Paul writes, “to grant Onesimus his freedom, since he is now as much a believer in Jesus as you and I are. As we are brothers in the faith, so, now, is he also a beloved sibling to me.”

This request is not just telling Onesimus that he is no longer a slave. It also reduces Philemon’s financial and social worth. Philemon can never get his money back, whatever he paid for Onesimus, so this is a costly decision.

I just have to add this … the name Onesimus means useful, or maybe handy. So the play on words here is fun. The man named Handy has not been very useful (or handy!) to his owner, but has proved himself to be very useful, or handy, to Paul.  

This is one of the stories in Scripture that has no ending. We have no way of knowing if Philemon gave Onesimus his freedom, or if he beat him for disobedience. We hope that he will be influenced by Jesus and welcome Onesimus as a free brother in Christ.

… These texts come to us on “God’s Work. Our Hands” Sunday. On this day, we remember that there are many people around and among us who are in need, in many ways.

Some are hungry. Council recently learned that 87% of the children at Leesburg Elementary School receive public assistance, free lunch etc. The congregational council approved supporting a program called Nourish to Flourish, to give these children extra food each day or week. In addition to supporting the Joining Hands food program, this program will take care of some very needy children.

Some are abused. Our financial gifts and donations of time as volunteers honors them with respect and protection.

Some are cold, or in need of basic hygiene supplies. The quilts we create, the kits we assemble provide needed care for people we will never know or see. Many of these things are headed for overseas, but they also end up here in Florida or other states.

Some are dying. … Some of you know this, and some won’t have heard. Our beloved Alberta went to be with God Friday evening. Several hours before she died, I received a phone call about her care from MaryBeth Pullum, Alberta’s attorney. She was hoping some of Alberta’s friends could assist in her care by administering medication that the hospice caregivers were not permitted to give her. It was a legal matter for that particular class of medication.  They would need to be there every 4 hours until Alberta’s son Samuel arrived late Saturday. 

So I called some folks, and within an hour or so, a care team was put together. Some of them would need to visit Alberta in the middle of the night, an extra gift. I give thanks to Pat, Rita, Andy, and Sharon. I know a couple others would have been involved but they are out of town. … This is one of the aspects of this congregation that impresses me. When someone is in need, you-all work together to take care of that need.

… All these ways of helping others are examples of God’s work through our hands. We don’t have to give up everything we own in order to put God first, but we do have to make a commitment to being Jesus’ hands in this world. I hope you consider these questions this week. Do you own your stuff, or does it own you? How do you put God first? How do your hands serve those God puts in your path? Amen

Humility

 Luke 14:1, 7-14

Humility. This is the theme that showed up in many of the commentaries I read this week about the Gospel story. It’s not something that’s at the top of our usual topics at the dinner table – unless we are complaining that someone doesn’t have it.

… Jesus is at a sabbath meal and notices how the men jostle for the best places in the house. They demonstrate their positions of power, and seek to talk to other powerful men to do business deals. As long as they are there together, they might as well take advantage of the situation. – even though it’s the sabbath!

Jesus calls them on this practice and challenges them to think differently. Instead of inviting the people you see all the time, why not invite the outsiders, the invisible folks – the poor, the disabled? Offer this wonderful food to those who are hungry. We remember that Luke’s version of the Beatitudes reads: blessed are the hungry, for they will be fed.  But, of course, the wealthy folks in this parable, and at this meal, don’t want to hear what Jesus has to say.

… It would be easy to make a long list of people who appear to lack humility. We remember reading about Uriah Heep, a law clerk in the novel David Copperfield, who was very proud of his humility ('umility).

In this week’s news there are a couple pastors who have turned a congregation into a cult, demanding that parishioners pay large donations. These donations supported a lavish lifestyle for the pastors, and fear in the hearts of the folks. While the pastors were anything but humble, the parishioners were forced to be so.

I think most of us are sure we are humble – that we have humility. We claim that we are all equal in God’s eyes. Reality demonstrates that women, people of color, and people who are different in any way, are required to be more humble than white men. In recent years this is changing for the better, but there is still a long way to go.

For example, I was a young woman, with a college education, and in my first job after having two children. I worked for Don, the owner of Don Shoes, a traditional shoe store where we used the Brannock device to measure feet, and went into the tunnels to get the shoes for the customer. Many women came to me because I worked hard to find the right shoe for them.

When Don hired me, he told me that I could only sell women’s shoes, not men’s. John was a coworker, hired after me, a young man, and a newlywed. John could sell men’s and women’s shoes, and was in charge of the window display as well. Don told me that John got more hours and more responsibility – and probably more pay – because he was married and had to support his wife.

… I also think most of us aren’t aware of our blind spots. I enjoy the radio show This American Life, which is also available as a podcast so I can listen to the ones I missed. A recent episode was called: “Suddenly: A Mirror!”

This radio show tells stories about regular people having encounters with other people or events that change their lives. Here’s a summary of one story.

Aviva tells the story about when she was 11, her sister was 14, and their cousin was 16. They decided to go swimming. In the community pool. At midnight. Of course, they had to climb the chain-link fence because the pool was closed. As soon as they were poolside, the alarms sounded, and the police cars were arriving.

Aviva describes what happened next: … So we panic. And my cousin, he is the oldest and tallest. And he just runs to the fence, hops over it, clears it no problem, takes off running. And then my sister is next. And she hops up on the fence, but then she kind of falls down. She doesn't quite make it over.

And then she hops up again, and she was just moving so slowly, in my mind. It was probably 15 seconds, actually. And what I did in my panic, is, she was up about 2 feet off the ground, holding on to the fence. And I grabbed her waist, and I ripped her off the fence. And I climbed over myself.

And then she describes what she saw in the mirror as she reflected on her actions that night. … But for me, this is the first moment that I remember thinking, I have been shown what kind of person I am, and I am a very bad person. Or there is a part of me that is deeply selfish or capable of deep selfishness.

… We all have those things we have done, or continue to do, that bring us shame when we see them in the mirror. These events, these attitudes, these behaviors describe or define ways in which we have not been, or are not today, humble.

We may not be pushing our way to the best seats in the house, or climbing the fence around the community pool at midnight, but there are always ways in which we seek to have our own way. Jesus cautions us against being so concerned about our own needs that we ignore the needs of others. We don’t always show others the respect they are due as siblings in Christ, children of a loving God, just like us.

When we are faced with the truth about ourselves, we can deny we are not perfect. Or we can admit it, confess it, and seek forgiveness. If we have harmed some person, we can apologize and, hopefully, receive forgiveness. If we have offended God, we can confess, and know that we are loved and forgiven, despite our offences.

… This week, I hope you will consider ways in which you may not see the whole truth about yourself. Where are your blind spots? When have others helped you see yourself in the mirror and shown you something you didn’t like about yourself? Don’t be afraid of what you see. Know that God loves you and forgives you, no matter what! Amen

 

Sabbath Rules

 Isaiah 58:9b-14; Luke 13:10-17

When we were children, we learned that there are rules. We begin with simple ones, like a sharp “NO” when we reached for something hot or sharp. As we grow, we learn more rules, how and when to sit still, take turns, clean up after ourselves, be kind to each other. We learn to hold hands with an adult and watch for traffic when we want to cross the street. We learn to use hot soapy water to wash hands and dishes.

As we grow, the rules become more complicated. We learn to listen or sing or speak as a group when we go to church. We learn about hierarchy, who is the boss of whom, and notice that even when we are old, we still have rules.

Approximately 3,500 years ago, God gave a list of 10 rules to Moses, who taught them to the Israelites as they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. The first few rules tell us how to have a relationship with God, and the rest tell us how to have a relationship with each other.

Over the centuries after the first giving of the commandments, more rules were developed, interpretations of the original ten. By Jesus’ time, the rules had multiplied, and a lot of them concerned how to observe the sabbath. Many of the rules defined what was considered work, and affected many aspects of life.

In addition, some rules that used to only apply to priests were beginning to be expected of regular folks as well. Jesus and the disciples often encounter this, and it’s the cause of several conflict conversations between Jesus and the Jewish leaders.

… Today’s Gospel reading is one such conversation. Jesus is in the synagogue and spots a woman who has been disabled for 18 years. He calls her over, initiating the contact with her. He heals her in that moment, and she immediately gives credit to God for the healing.  

But the leader of the synagogue doesn’t recognize God’s activity. While he doesn’t directly accuse Jesus of working on the sabbath, he tells the people gathered to come another day to be healed. Isn’t that interesting? The leader apparently makes the connection that God can heal, but can’t see the healing as a good enough thing, a God-thing, when it happens on the sabbath.

Jesus points out what is obvious to us, and should be to the synagogue leader. It’s an argument from lesser to greater. We take care that our animals have food and water. How much more we should be caring for the people around us who are in need.

As it turns out this time, the folks who objected to Jesus working/healing on the sabbath are booed and the others in the room praise God for the healing, and celebrate with the woman on her new-found freedom from pain and distress.

 Jesus heals this woman and calls her a daughter of Abraham. As a crippled person, she was required to be as invisible as possible, a non-person. People of her town thought there must have been something sinful about her or her ancestors to make her so disabled. We can imagine her hiding around corners, unseen but listening to hear what Jesus had to say.

Jesus calls to her and heals her, frees her from her infirmity, frees her from her disgraced position in town, frees her to participate in her community and family. Jesus frees her to be who she really is, a daughter of Abraham.

… Sabbath is about relationships. It’s about the relationship between us and God, individually and corporately. God commanded us to take time off, as God did after the initial work of creation. God knows how easy it is to get involved in other activities like work and home maintenance, and ignore the rest that is most important for our well-being.

When we intentionally take time to be with God, we know who God is, and who we are in relationship to God and each other. We have time to reflect on what it means to be children of Abraham, children of God. We know that we are worth something, no matter how much or how little we have in the bank.

Taking time for sabbath also helps us see each other as children of God. When we view our neighbors as children of God, it’s easier to be kind and respectful of them, even when they aren’t kind and respectful of others.

…These days, it isn’t always possible to take Sunday as sabbath. It’s certainly not sabbath for pastors! Or for church committee members who find Sunday the best day for meeting. And it’s not common to have a full day for sabbath. But I encourage you to find some time every week as sabbath, and a little time every day for silence with God.

Take time to listen to what God is saying to you. One meditation practice you might try is to sit or lie comfortably for a few minutes and allow God to look at you. Open your heart to Jesus, and let him see you as you really are.

Know, as God looks at you, … that you are a beloved, … forgiven, … whole child of God. Amen

 

Fire and witnesses

2025 08 17 Sermon

Jeremiah 23:23-29; Hebrews 11:29—12:2; Luke 12:49-56

Jeremiah talks about prophets. The author of Hebrews talks about witnesses. Jesus talks about households and hypocrites and fire. It sure seems like the world is on fire with anger for many reasons. I read a wide variety of material, and watch a variety of programs on TV. I realize the world has been on fire for at least 2,000 years.

My recent list of books includes The Mistress of Rome, by Kate Quinn, and the Secret Midwife, by Soraya Layne. The Mistress of Rome takes place during the reign of Domitian, Caesar of Rome, at the end of the first century. The lead character, Thea, is a beautiful woman who is enslaved, sold eventually to Domitian who is a great administrator, a lover of gladiator battles, and a violent abuser of women.

The Secret Midwife is a Jewish woman named Emilia living in Poland in during World War II. She delivers Jewish babies and then sends the infants to safety out of the country. Until she is arrested and sent to Auschwitz Concentration Camp where she delivers babies, prevents pregnancies, and keeps infants alive.

And this from last month’s Christian Century article on the conditions at the southern border. “Whether we acknowledge it or not, the American dream is built on the nightmares that workers in our fields, factories, and restaurants endure every day. The true purpose of Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants is not to send workers away, cutting into the profits of business owners, but to keep them just where they are: underpaid, overworked, unrepresented by unions, and living in constant fear of immigration authorities and self-appointed vigilantes.”

The truth of these writings makes me angry, lights a fire inside me. Injustice like this shouldn’t still be happening, especially by people who at the same time profess to being Christian.

… Fortunately, I am also reading The Tears of Things, by Richard Rohr. I consider it a God-incidence that I picked up this book just when I needed it. Rohr writes about the ancient prophets’ lives and messages. The part that I needed to read talked about Jonah. In the few chapters we have, we encounter an angry man, sent by God to tell his neighboring king that God says he is doing it wrong. Jonah never outgrows his early anger.

Other prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah serve as prophets long enough to evolve. They go from yelling and acting out their anger (where Jonah is), to deep lamentation about the conditions and circumstances they live in. From lamentation, they move into the understanding that God is ultimately in charge, so they can let go of their anger and their sadness. From this new point of view, such prophets can seek to share God’s news calmly with those who need to hear it, and allow God to be in charge of the situation.

Also, fortunately, I have read other articles and seen TV shows that give me hope. In Atlanta this week, hundreds of Catholic women religious walked in a “pilgrimage of hope.” As they walked, they were guided by readings, music and periods of contemplative silence. They also stopped to pray for healing for three focus issues: forced migration, climate change, and racism.

And, yesterday morning, I watched an episode of The Harlem Globetrotters: Play It Forward. In this
program, members of the team go into communities around the country to focus on improving the lives of young people. In Chicago, they helped clean up an empty lot and make it a into park where residents could enjoy the outdoors. In New Orleans, they had some fun with a youth drum line.

… These stories help balance the anger at so much injustice with hope for the future. The women religious and the Harlem Globetrotters are witnesses to God’s goodness. They demonstrate that God is at work in the world, even when we are in despair of things ever calming down.

It is important to know in general terms what is happening in the world, but it is not necessary to watch the TV news or follow news feeds all day. And it’s important to balance the bad news with good news, with music and comedy and uplifting stories. It’s important to find witnesses to God’s work in the world, in our communities, and in our lives.

It takes prayer and practice to be aware of goodness when we feel surrounded by so much that is not good. I don’t mean prayer when we take our list of people and situations for God to fix. I mean prayer when we sit in silence and wait for God to speak to us. When we learn to let God speak first, we are more observant of the world and people around us.

When we listen for God, we notice the person with her bags in the park, and we offer her our sandwich. We talk with the school leaders and provide what teachers and students need through the year. We notice the person who seems to have no friends.

We are prophets when we campaign for safe highways and local crosswalks. We are prophets when we write letters and send emails to legislators about issues we are concerned about.

And we don’t do these things alone; we do them with others so we join the cloud of witnesses to the goodness of God shown to us by Jesus. I wonder how you will be a witness and a prophet this week. Amen  

Faithfulness

Genesis 15:1-6; Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16; Luke 12:32-40

One of my first, and favorite, professors at seminary was Ralph Klein. From him I learned the fun of using images to illustrate my point, and that there were many ways to interpret the ancient languages used in scripture. In the case of our first reading, from Genesis 15, Ralph pointed out that the original language, Hebrew, uses only pronouns. This leads us to wonder: who reckoned it to whom as righteousness.

English translations usually assign the reckoning to Abraham. God/the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness. But Ralph said it could just as easily be translated this way: Abraham reckoned it to God as righteousness.

This fits better with an understanding of God as gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. Or, as our psalm today states: God’s lovingkindness settles upon us. God’s love comes first, and we are nourished by it. God is faithful first, and we respond with imperfect attempts to be faithful in return.

… The author of Hebrews summarizes Abraham and Sarah’s story. For 25 years they remained faithful, trusting that God would eventually bless them with children. Their faith was imperfect, as we read the story of their lives. They tried to make things happen on their own, believing it was God’s plan, but it wasn’t. Even so, God remained faithful to them.

As Sarah and Abraham raised their son Isaac, and their grandchildren, they taught them to remain faithful to God, ensuring that the trusting relationship between Abraham and God would continue for generations.

… By Jesus’ time, the simple faith Abraham had in God, the trusts that God wanted a relationship with him and his family has evolved into rules and rituals designed to prove that humans are faithful. People have it wrong, Jesus teaches. It’s not up to us to prove our faithfulness to God; rather, it’s up to us to see God’s faithfulness to us.

Jesus challenges us to have no fear, to trust God as a sheep trusts its shepherd. However, we are not much like sheep, willing to be herded to greener pastures and to allow our fleece to be shaved off us yearly. We are more like …  

a flock of emus, who resist being controlled, who prefer to go our own way, who find it hard to believe that God is faithful to us.

Jesus insists that we need to be persistent, determined … to think, believe, behave differently than the way we have been taught. We must be willing to give up everything we have in order to learn that God wants to give us everything we need.

To discover that God is faithful to us, we need to be aware of what is happening around us. We need to be alert to God’s activity among us.

Of course, 2000 years ago, many people failed to see that God was walking among them, talking with them, teaching them about God’s faithfulness. I wonder how many people of that time realized too late that they had missed the very moment to meet God in person.

… It would seem that we who are gathered here this morning have a sense of who God is, have a reliance on God’s provision, trust God to be there/here! for us. But, when we are with people, do we look for Jesus to be among us?

Do we look for him to be at the bedside of those who are dying? In the grocery store with those who struggle to feed a family healthy meals? In worship with us?

Are we Jesus in those situations? For example … A parishioner from another congregation told me this story. Anna was a woman with an ample figure, standing in line at the grocery store on a Saturday afternoon. In front of her was a young mother with a crying baby. The more mom tried to quiet the baby, the harder the baby cried.

Anna reached out her arms and asked if she could hold the baby. Mom said yes. Anna said babies always loved nestling into her soft chest, and this baby was no different. It only took a moment for the baby to snuggle down into Anna’s arms and stop fussing. By the time the mom had paid for her groceries, the baby was happy and smiling.

… This week, I hope that you rediscover that God is faithful first, before you begin to trust God to give you everything you need.

And second, that you will help someone else see that God is faithful, giving them something that they need, maybe as simple as cuddling a crying baby.

 

Let Us Put on the Clothes of Christ

Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23; Colossians 3:1-11; Luke 12:13-21

It was about 20 years ago that I learned a song that the texts today bring to mind. Since we already have a hymn of the day – that we’re going to sing all month – I decided to use it during the sermon. We’ll sing the refrain at several points in the sermon. 

 Let us put on the clothes of Christ / and live as equals with everyone. / Let us put on the clothes of Christ/ and reunite the family of God. [Credit: Brett Hesla]

The Teacher who wrote Ecclesiastes is thought to be Solomon, but scholars say there is no proof of that. In Hebrew, the book is called Qoheleth, the word for preacher or teacher, so let’s call him that.

Qoheleth is having a late-in-life crisis. Who is he now, has his life been worth anything? He has wealth and power, but what does that mean now? He is thought to be wise, but what does wisdom get him now? It’s all mist or vapor, here for a moment and gone forever.

Qoheleth has worked hard to lead the kingdom. Soon, someone else will follow him, and probably change everything. He has worked hard to obtain stuff. What is it worth now? He can’t take it with him. He is beginning to understand that human endeavors are not as fulfilling as he would have wished, and a different kind of life would have been preferable.

Maybe he didn’t need the royal palaces, the thousands of staff and laborers, the wars to gain land and power over his enemies, and the garments made of purple cloth and gold trim. Maybe all he needed was the relationship with God that King David had.

 Let us put on the clothes of Christ / and live as equals with everyone. / Let us put on the clothes of Christ/ and reunite the family of God.

In the Gospel reading, a rich man approaches Jesus. He tries to triangle him into a discussion with his brother about their shared inheritance. Jesus flatly refuses, then tells a story.

A rich man has benefitted from good harvests and accumulated more grain than he can possibly store in his present silos. So, he makes a plan to build another silo, but instead of reveling in the abundance, his life ends suddenly, today. Jesus then gives us the “Moral of the story.” Don’t be greedy, instead be rich toward God.

Let us put on the clothes of Christ / and live as equals with everyone. / Let us put on the clothes of Christ/ and reunite the family of God.

The author of Colossians, who may be Paul or someone writing in his name, makes plain what Jesus and Kohelet were saying. Following Jesus the Christ is the most important thing in your life. And here are some specifics about how to do that.

Essentially, Paul tells us to change how we live in the same way we change our clothes. Take off old habits and put on new habits that focus on living as a baptized child of God. Give up unhealthy sexual practices, give up greed, give up anger and slander and abusive language. Tell the truth, not lies.

Especially, recognize that Jesus welcomes all. The familiar ways of dividing people into groups is out. All are welcome in Jesus’ love.

 Let us put on the clothes of Christ / and live as equals with everyone. / Let us put on the clothes of Christ/ and reunite the family of God.

We could use the list of don’ts in Colossians to shape our lives. When we think of it, the list parallels the Ten Commandments, the portion that tells us how to respect and love each other.

You may have a story about yourself or someone else who’s life changed when they committed their life to Jesus. Sometimes, that commitment happens suddenly; sometimes, it’s a slow process. Either way, when we commit our lives to Jesus, it should be evident to others.

Next week, August 11 is the day we honor St Clare of Assisi, so it’s a good time to talk about how her life changed when she heard Francis preach about Jesus. Francis was the son of a cloth merchant, wealthy enough to be thought of today as upper middle class. He tried going to war, twice, and failed, twice. Finally, he heard God’s message: Francis, rebuild my church. Once he understood that the rebuilding was not about buildings but about people, he began preaching about depending 100% on God for whatever we need.

Clare was from an upper-class family, on the verge of marrying the son from another upper-class family. She heard Francis preach and her life changed. She determined to give up the fancy clothes, the multi-room mansion, the seven-course meals. She joined Francis and the several men who were already following him.

Her hair, considered a woman’s pride and beauty, was cut off, and Clare went to live in a Benedictine monastery until Francis could find a better place for her. Eventually, Clare and several other women lived in a small monastery, slept on the floor, and lived on the food they could grow in their garden and what the local people would donate to them.

Her commitment to following Jesus led her to use her skills as a writer to create some beautiful images of our relationship with God. My favorite is this one:  Place your mind before the mirror of eternity, and your soul in the brilliance of [God’s] glory.

If we remember that we are created in the image of God, children of God, heirs of God’s glory, it may help us put on the clothing of a renewed, changed life.  Amen

  Let us put on the clothes of Christ / and live as equals with everyone. / Let us put on the clothes of Christ/ and reunite the family of God.

Host and guest

Genesis 18:1-10a; Luke 10:38-42

Today, our readings from Genesis and Luke are about hospitality. We see examples in these readings of being the host and being the guest.

I have taken my turn in the kitchen as the host, and I have taken my turn as the guest. Most recently, the Pinelands Conference spring gathering was at Luther Springs, where there were 3 concurrent events happening.

One group of guests was just leaving the dining hall as we were arriving, having been shooed out by the staff. The tables were still littered with breakfast dishes and syrup. It was obvious – the sooner the tables were cleared, the sooner we could begin our own program. Many of the men stood around discussing options, and I began clearing tables, playing the host. Two or three women and men joined me in clearing the tables, and in a short time, the dean could start the meeting. I took my place at one of the tables, and became a listener/learner, a guest.

… In the reading from Genesis, Abraham and Sarah are losing hope of ever having a child, but on this day, three visitors assure them that a child will be born within the year. Abraham is the perfect host: he welcomes the travelers according to local custom, inviting them to wash their feet, quench their thirst, and enjoy a snack while they wait for a meal to be prepared. In the meantime, Sarah may be supervising the meal preparations, but she is also listening at the tent opening.

The guests are understood to be divine messengers. Later believers label them as the Trinity, God in three personas, visiting in person. They are the guests, for sure, but the way they bring a message from God, they could also be thought of as the hosts.

 … In Martha’s home, Jesus is a welcome guest. Although the Gospel of John includes more stories about Martha and Mary, this is the only mention of them in Luke, so, let’s not assume we know anything other than what we have here.

Martha welcomes Jesus to her home, and her sister Mary sits at Jesus’ feet. As the host of this important, well-known guest, Martha wants everything to be perfect. She doesn’t have the servants to carry out the meal preparation tasks that Abraham had, so it’s all up to her. That’s the right way to honor a guest: make everything special.

Mary has other ideas about how to make a guest feel special. She gives him all her attention, ignoring the fuss that Martha is making about a special meal. Martha notices that Mary is not helping her, and motions, urging her to come and help her with the meal. Mary ignores her, and Martha triangles Jesus into the situation.

“Jesus,” she whines, “Tell Mary to help me!” Well, maybe she doesn’t whine. Certainly, she asks Jesus to intervene. He surprises Martha by telling her to stop fussing and come and join them.

… So, a couple things to notice. For us today, having women sitting at the feet of a guest, a storyteller, a teacher, is common. But women’s role in Jesus’ time was to remain in the background, listen while they worked, hidden by the doorway. Or be totally out of earshot – because what the guest was saying “wasn’t for women’s ears.” Here, we can think about Sarah, listening to the three guests from the tent opening.

 In contrast, we know that it was Jesus’ intent to include women in everything. It is Jesus’ intent here for Martha to join Mary in listening/learning at his feet. The fancy meal isn’t needed. The dishes can wait. Take off your apron and sit with us.

… In Luke, Jesus talks a lot about people serving each other, helping those in need. So, it kind of surprises us that Jesus takes this approach with Martha. If serving is good, why criticize her? … And I wonder: what about Mary? Shouldn’t she have called to Martha, telling her to leave the dishes and join her? Luke, our story-teller, doesn’t tell us if that has happened.  

Both stories today are about offering good hospitality, and that hospitality includes being present with the guests. Abraham did this well; of course, he had servants to do the cooking and cleaning. In a small household without servants, we ourselves are responsible for the hospitality, and this is the place where Martha was.

I think Martha was unhappy because she was torn about how best to provide hospitality: the traditional pose: behind the scenes provision of a good meal; or the non-traditional pose: listening and learning at the feet of the teacher. Martha wanted to sit with Jesus, too, but her culture told her she shouldn’t, couldn’t, as long as there was work to do.

… And the most important point in these stories about hosts and guests is that when Jesus is the guest, our focus is rightly on being with him. The table setting, the food, the flower arrangement, the bulletin, the music, is all less important than spending time with Jesus. He is both host and guest at every gathering, every time we pray, every time we worship.  

… Hospitality is about welcoming guests in many ways, and as church people, we are all called to do our best to welcome guests and make them feel at home. Sometimes, that means setting out the food and cleaning up afterwards. And sometimes, it means sitting with the guests and getting to know them.

This week, I hope you ponder the ways you offer hospitality. Do you focus on the meal or on the guest? Or do you find ways to do both? How, especially, do you welcome Jesus? Amen

It’s not too hard for you

Deuteronomy 30:9-14; Luke 10:25-37

I have been pondering the message from Moses to the Israelites as he prepares them for their future. He reminds them that God is present with them, provides for them, and prospers them. In return, the people will observe the commandments and decrees God has given them.

It should not be hard for them to abide by the commandments, because it is written on their hearts, in their whole beings. It should be easy to put God first and be a good neighbor, with the word of God encased in their beings. … As their spiritual descendants, it should be easy for US to do this. But it isn’t. Other parts of our human nature compete with this God-given part, and lead us to be self-centered, imperfect.

… Jesus appeared on earth, God incarnated, God-with-skin-on, to speak God’s words to us in ways we could understand. He spoke with love, with healing, with challenge, to set us back onto God’s path once again. Often, Jesus used parables to make his point. Some of them are so familiar, so easy to understand that they exist in the popular culture, often separated from faith and religion.

 In today’s Gospel, Jesus has a conversation with a legal expert, who seeks to trap Jesus speaking against God. The term “legal expert” is the new way of describing those we used to call “scribes.”  Legal experts not only copied the Torah onto new scrolls, they were familiar with the commandments and the centuries of interpretation of those commandments. They knew how far one could walk on a sabbath; the ways to prepare for sabbath meals; the importance of the annual festivals and how to observe them.

The man asks Jesus about eternal life. Jesus asks a question in return, and the man responds by quoting the Shema – a prayer Jews say every day. “Here, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.”

“Good,” Jesus says. ‘Go and do that!” But the man has a qualifying question. “But, just who is my neighbor?” The question implies the belief that some are his neighbor, and some are not. In response, Jesus tells the parable we call “The good Samaritan.” Interestingly, the author of the book I’m using for Monday Bible study calls this the “parable of the travelers.”

Sometimes, in a parable, we can each take several roles. But, in this one, we usually choose to be the hero. No one wants to be the priest or the Levite. Few even want to be the innkeeper. We want to be the hero, the Samaritan, the one who takes care of his enemy. It’s really not necessary to explain this parable; we can all tell it, pretty much word for word.

 … So let’s think about what it means for us, by asking the question the legal expert asked Jesus. “Who is my neighbor?” We know the “right answer” is everyone. But we find it hard to live it out. There is something within us that forces us to make a distinction between people – some are neighbors, and some can’t possibly be neighbors.

We can rationalize it: our neighbors are not those who live far away; our neighbors are not those who are too different from us; our neighbors are not those who try to harm us – our enemies.  But, Jesus has a comment about that. “I say to you who are willing to hear: Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you.” [Luke 6:27-28]

 … We have no excuse, in other words, but to see all people as neighbors, as kin – as I proposed last week. Our country is founded on the principle that all are welcome, that all should be treated fairly, with kindness. Yet, there are lots of examples of refusals to be neighborly toward some group of people or other.

What can we do in the face of such behavior? We can do our best to follow Jesus’, and Lady Liberty’s, example, loving all, welcoming all, and remembering that none of us is perfect. And we can follow other examples of living like Jesus.

 One of the best ambassadors of neighborliness is Fred Rogers. His TV show and way of life demonstrated that all are our neighbors. Many of you will remember that Mr Rogers shows aired beginning in 1968, and that it was a time of great civil unrest. Fred Rogers wanted to take a stand against such prejudice.

In many places, only white people were allowed in community swimming pools. This 1969 episode, which showed Mr Rogers and Officer Clemmons putting their feet in the same water in a child’s swimming pool, was groundbreaking. Fred went even further. He offered to share his towel. And then, he dried Officer Clemmons’ feet. It was scandalous, to some folks. 

Later, Francois Clemmons reflected on this moment. He says he'll never forget the day Rogers wrapped up the program, as he always did, by hanging up his sweater and saying, "You make every day a special day just by being you, and I like you just the way you are." This time in particular, Rogers had been looking right at Clemmons, and after they wrapped, he walked over.

Clemmons asked him, "Fred, were you talking to me?" … "Yes, I have been talking to you for years," Rogers said, as Clemmons recalls. "But you heard me today." … "It was like telling me I'm OK as a human being," Clemmons says. "That was one of the most meaningful experiences I'd ever had."

 … It should not be too hard for us to be good neighbors, according to Moses. God’s word is written in our entire beings. But we are crafty people, and the contrary spirit within us resists the good one. We find ways to not be neighborly. Sometimes, it’s little things, annoyances. But sometimes, we follow the crowd and think of a group of people as “not our neighbors.” We apply labels to them. I won’t list them, but you know what they are.

This week, I pray that you will pay attention to how neighborly you are. When are you tempted to name someone as “not your neighbor?” How do you respond when someone calls someone else “not a neighbor?” Also consider: How many ways are you a good neighbor?  Amen