Today's Scripture Readings
Jonah 3:10-4:11 (NRSV)
Psalm 145 (BCP. p.801)
Philippians 1:21-30 (NRSV)
Matthew 20:1-16 (NRSV)
Blog Reflection
My husband Jason and I had a real revelation over the past few weeks. A dear friend of ours who has been homeless and jobless in Duluth, Minnesota moved into the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Given his situation, we invited him to stay in our apartment for a couple weeks until he found a place to go that could provide him with a greater potential of stability. We were very happy to have him here. However, it didn't take long before we began to realize what his being in our home caused us to miss. Our many days and nights at home by ourselves. Making meals for only the two of us. Being able to leave our apartment together without worrying about whom we might leave behind, and what he would do while we were gone. Just the space to say whatever we want to say to each other without another ear to hear what we said was no more. All of it was gone for a period of time. It wasn't until he left earlier this week to live with someone who can provide more for him than we can, that we realized how much we missed those things. Suddenly those things that we took for granted and never thought about, were returned. The experience breathed new life into all that we enjoy.
The most difficult thing for many of us to do, is to move over some, so that others can enjoy just a little bit of what we have. Herein lies the problem of private ownership. As Benedictines, we are exhorted to live in the reality that we really own nothing. Everything, even those things we cannot necessarily see or touch are on loan to us. We return them properly used back to God from who's generosity we were privileged to use them. In chapter 33 in The Rule of St. Benedict, the monks are not to own anything in private. Everything is given to share, as they can be by everyone in the community. This way of living finds it's model in Acts 4:32-37. The fact of the matter is, we have no idea how much we take possession of something until we are challenged to detach ourselves from it. The question we might ask ourselves is, are we controlling the things we have, do and want; or, do they control us?
I think Jonah must have felt like that. He had given himself to the work the God gave him. He had taken possession of the project, and even the people in what he did. Jonah may have believed that he had the right to control even God. We do not have a conclusion to this narrative in Jonah. I would like to believe that in the end, he was able to let it go and accept God's will.
The Epistle of Paul to the church at Philippi sounds that duality of the flesh and the Spirit thing again. As educated scholars of the Bible have unwrapped the meaning of such, the common interpretation is about how much we allow ourselves to become absorbed by our own selfishness in how we use something that we forget to honor God. Everything that is given to us, including our bodies and minds are given for God's purpose. It is up to us to live the Gospel in how we make use of what we are given with an attitude of gratitude. There is life in living by the Gospel. There is death when we chose because of our own selfish motives.
All of these Scripture Readings are culminated in the Gospel according to Matthew. All of us are called by our common Baptism, Confirmation and whatever our state in life is, to go to work for the good of the Reign of God. It matters not, whether one has a Church vocation or not. It also matters very little, whether our daily work is within the Church or outside. Each of us have been called by our name to serve God by sharing the love of Christ through the ministry of healing and reconciliation. We are called to be active in the work of justice, equality and wholeness. Whether that work is through contemplative prayer, direct engagement with the poor and disenfranchised, or Church administration. The point is, we are to make room for everyone to participate so that we receive what the Lord wants us to gain with a thankful heart.
As the freedom to marry for same gender couples progresses, the rhetoric from Christianist groups grows more horrible. Many continue to justify things like promoting bullying in the public schools so as to try to "change" LGBTQ youth. Others would celebrate that thugs sickened the crowds at a Russian Queer Festival with a gas.
We continue to hear degrading remarks about the poor, the unemployed and those who are sick from those who feel that all the nations resources belongs to the wealthy.
Racism, sexism and religious based bias continues to give the Christian Faith a bad name.
All of the labels and conditions that humans give to others who are different, to decide whether one is a second class citizen, are not of God's design. Regardless of who we are, who we love, how we love another person; God calls us and rewards us because we all serve God and one another in gratitude for all that we are given. In chapter 20: vs 3 of The Rule of St. Benedict on the subject of reverence in prayer, he writes: "And let us remember that we will be heard not because of our many words, but because of our purity of heart and tears of compunction." God calls us, by giving to each of us, a desire to love and serve God, to change us and others around us by a continuous conversion of life.
May each of us rededicate ourselves to working for God's Reign from the point in which God calls us, and receive from God that which God generously gives. May we respond with a deeper commitment to giving thanks and honoring one another as members of the household of God.
Amen.
Prayers
Jonah 3:10-4:11 (NRSV)
When God saw what the people of Nineveh did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.
But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to the LORD and said, "O LORD! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live." And the LORD said, "Is it right for you to be angry?" Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city, and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city.
The LORD God appointed a bush, and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort; so Jonah was very happy about the bush. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and asked that he might die. He said, "It is better for me to die than to live."
But God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?" And he said, "Yes, angry enough to die." Then the LORD said, "You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?"
Psalm 145 (BCP. p.801)
Philippians 1:21-30 (NRSV)
For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which I prefer. I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you. Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith, so that I may share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus when I come to you again.
Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel, and are in no way intimidated by your opponents. For them this is evidence of their destruction, but of your salvation. And this is God's doing. For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well-- since you are having the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.
Matthew 20:1-16 (NRSV)
Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o'clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, `You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o'clock, he did the same. And about five o'clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, `Why are you standing here idle all day?' They said to him, `Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, `You also go into the vineyard.' When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, `Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.' When those hired about five o'clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, `These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.' But he replied to one of them, `Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?' So the last will be first, and the first will be last."
Blog Reflection
My husband Jason and I had a real revelation over the past few weeks. A dear friend of ours who has been homeless and jobless in Duluth, Minnesota moved into the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Given his situation, we invited him to stay in our apartment for a couple weeks until he found a place to go that could provide him with a greater potential of stability. We were very happy to have him here. However, it didn't take long before we began to realize what his being in our home caused us to miss. Our many days and nights at home by ourselves. Making meals for only the two of us. Being able to leave our apartment together without worrying about whom we might leave behind, and what he would do while we were gone. Just the space to say whatever we want to say to each other without another ear to hear what we said was no more. All of it was gone for a period of time. It wasn't until he left earlier this week to live with someone who can provide more for him than we can, that we realized how much we missed those things. Suddenly those things that we took for granted and never thought about, were returned. The experience breathed new life into all that we enjoy.
The most difficult thing for many of us to do, is to move over some, so that others can enjoy just a little bit of what we have. Herein lies the problem of private ownership. As Benedictines, we are exhorted to live in the reality that we really own nothing. Everything, even those things we cannot necessarily see or touch are on loan to us. We return them properly used back to God from who's generosity we were privileged to use them. In chapter 33 in The Rule of St. Benedict, the monks are not to own anything in private. Everything is given to share, as they can be by everyone in the community. This way of living finds it's model in Acts 4:32-37. The fact of the matter is, we have no idea how much we take possession of something until we are challenged to detach ourselves from it. The question we might ask ourselves is, are we controlling the things we have, do and want; or, do they control us?
I think Jonah must have felt like that. He had given himself to the work the God gave him. He had taken possession of the project, and even the people in what he did. Jonah may have believed that he had the right to control even God. We do not have a conclusion to this narrative in Jonah. I would like to believe that in the end, he was able to let it go and accept God's will.
The Epistle of Paul to the church at Philippi sounds that duality of the flesh and the Spirit thing again. As educated scholars of the Bible have unwrapped the meaning of such, the common interpretation is about how much we allow ourselves to become absorbed by our own selfishness in how we use something that we forget to honor God. Everything that is given to us, including our bodies and minds are given for God's purpose. It is up to us to live the Gospel in how we make use of what we are given with an attitude of gratitude. There is life in living by the Gospel. There is death when we chose because of our own selfish motives.
All of these Scripture Readings are culminated in the Gospel according to Matthew. All of us are called by our common Baptism, Confirmation and whatever our state in life is, to go to work for the good of the Reign of God. It matters not, whether one has a Church vocation or not. It also matters very little, whether our daily work is within the Church or outside. Each of us have been called by our name to serve God by sharing the love of Christ through the ministry of healing and reconciliation. We are called to be active in the work of justice, equality and wholeness. Whether that work is through contemplative prayer, direct engagement with the poor and disenfranchised, or Church administration. The point is, we are to make room for everyone to participate so that we receive what the Lord wants us to gain with a thankful heart.
As the freedom to marry for same gender couples progresses, the rhetoric from Christianist groups grows more horrible. Many continue to justify things like promoting bullying in the public schools so as to try to "change" LGBTQ youth. Others would celebrate that thugs sickened the crowds at a Russian Queer Festival with a gas.
We continue to hear degrading remarks about the poor, the unemployed and those who are sick from those who feel that all the nations resources belongs to the wealthy.
Racism, sexism and religious based bias continues to give the Christian Faith a bad name.
All of the labels and conditions that humans give to others who are different, to decide whether one is a second class citizen, are not of God's design. Regardless of who we are, who we love, how we love another person; God calls us and rewards us because we all serve God and one another in gratitude for all that we are given. In chapter 20: vs 3 of The Rule of St. Benedict on the subject of reverence in prayer, he writes: "And let us remember that we will be heard not because of our many words, but because of our purity of heart and tears of compunction." God calls us, by giving to each of us, a desire to love and serve God, to change us and others around us by a continuous conversion of life.
May each of us rededicate ourselves to working for God's Reign from the point in which God calls us, and receive from God that which God generously gives. May we respond with a deeper commitment to giving thanks and honoring one another as members of the household of God.
Amen.
Prayers
Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to
love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among
things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall
endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 20. The Book of Common Prayer, p.234).
O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us
through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole
human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which
infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us;
unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and
confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in
your good time, all nations and races may serve you in
harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Human Family, The Book of Common Prayer, p. 815).
Heavenly Father, we remember before you those who suffer
want and anxiety from lack of work. Guide the people of this
land so to use our public and private wealth that all may find
suitable and fulfilling employment, and receive just payment
for their labor; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Unemployed. The Book of Common Prayer, p. 824).
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