Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Whose Is It Anyway?

Today's Scripture Readings

Exodus 33:12-23 (NRSV)

Moses said to the LORD, "See, you have said to me, `Bring up this people'; but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, `I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.' Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me your ways, so that I may know you and find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people." He said, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." And he said to him, "If your presence will not go, do not carry us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people, unless you go with us? In this way, we shall be distinct, I and your people, from every people on the face of the earth."

The LORD said to Moses, "I will do the very thing that you have asked; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name." Moses said, "Show me your glory, I pray." And he said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name, `The LORD'; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But," he said, "you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live." And the LORD continued, "See, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock; and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen."

Psalm 99 (BCP., p.728)


1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 (NRSV)

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Grace to you and peace.

We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers and sisters beloved by God, that he has chosen you, because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of persons we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it. For the people of those regions report about us what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead-- Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.

Matthew 22:15-22 (NRSV)

The Pharisees went and plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?" But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, "Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax." And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, "Whose head is this, and whose title?" They answered, "The emperor's." Then he said to them, "Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's." When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

Blog Reflection

Another week has passed us with some amazing history being made before our eyes.   Alaska, Arizona, Idaho and Wyoming have been added to the number of States where the freedom to marry for same-gender couples is legalized.   The news that came to our attention this week about the remarkable, albeit small progress in the Extraordinary Synod on the Family in Rome, concerning language about LGBT people, divorced Catholics, couples cohabitation and birth control; was no small pill for the more conservative Bishops to take.  The continuing developments at General Theological Seminary.   Last, but certainly not least the Ebola crisis.  For all of these intentions and many more let us pray, Lord, in your mercy.  Hear our prayer.  Amen.

Here we are, with these Bible passages to challenge us in our relationship with God and one another.  

Among the many things to be learned from those who are contemplative, is that God is closer to us through what is going on in our daily lives than we think.  Contemplative prayer is not about seeing things as if there is some great mystery to be solved.  It isn't based on whether or not the mechanical details of how to do it can be understood let alone learned.  Contemplative prayer happens because of God's movement in the human heart, through the every day things that happen in our lives.  In contemplative prayer we are given a vision of the things of this world from God's perspective.  As we listen more and more for the Holy Spirit speaking and moving through those things and places that seem far removed from anything having do to anything about God; we discover God speaking to us in a way that the heart can receive only through faith.

Jesus was being challenged by those who are curious and looking for a way to stump Him.   They saw things going on around Him, and they had an issue with His popularity.   Their case for where Jesus' authority came from was met with a parable about who really is obedient?  The one's who say no, but follows through with doing what is right, or the one who said yes, but did nothing.  Some might interpret the parable of the wedding feast as Jesus trying to get His opponents to think a bit more carefully about what their motives are.  In the challenge to Jesus in this Gospel Reading, Jesus' opponents are trying to make Him trip up using something that could make those who are following Him closely, reject Him as someone who threw them under the bus when the chips were down.  Jesus' answer winds up disappointing everyone.   The issue isn't what you should do, but whose is it in the first place?

This Gospel Reading has a special meaning in the arena of social justice politics.   A few years ago, a group of social and theological conservatives penned the Manhattan Declaration.   Those who wrote it and signed it said that they would go so far as to break the law to make abortion illegal and/or marriage equality from becoming legal.  They cited this Gospel passage saying that marriage and the life of the unborn are "God's" and not "Caesar's" as in the governments to affect by their civil authority.    Since that time, we now have 32 States with legalized marriage equality.  One couple of two lesbians have been together 72 years, and they were finally able to be legally married in their home state.   There are countless stories of couples who are weeping with joy, because they can finally marry the person they love with rights, privileges and responsibilities that protect and provide for their future.  While those who want to take those newly legalized rights away in the name of their understanding of what the Bible "says" about homosexuality; those things that are God's to give to these women and men are healing wounds.   They are opening many eyes that could not see the beauty of God's love expressed through a life of commitment and self-sacrifice between two people of the same gender in a life-long marriage.

In Psalm 115 we can sing "Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your Name give glory; because of your love and because of your faithfulness."

Christians have the invaluable opportunity to use all the good things God has given us to do immeasurably more good in this world.   We can make an impact that can make the Gospel a transparent and authentic reality through the radical work of hospitality, healing and reconciliation.   The grace of God has placed so much into our hands that we can use to honor and glorify God in all things.  Perhaps this came through a new relationship, a new job or a different place to live.  Our perspective may be limited because of what we cannot see.  Yet, through those things that elude our senses, faith can become the light that shows us a new path, through which we can know God more completely in new and fresh ways.   Our response to the call of God on our life to give back what is God's is the first step we can take that will help those who are looking for evidence of the presence of God in our lives, find God there.

Let us all pray for one another.  May all of us be thankful for what God has given to us, and respond with the desire to give it back to God.   May an important part of our response to God's graciousness be to give those who have no voice, a voice in which to speak up for justice, equality and peace for all people.   May we all give God the glory for all that God does in and through what belongs to God in the first place.

Amen.


Prayers

Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed
your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your
mercy, that your Church throughout the world may
persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your
Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.  (Proper 24: The Book of Common Prayer. p. 235).

Almighty and most merciful God, we remember before you
all poor and neglected persons whom it would be easy for us
to forget: the homeless and the destitute, the old and the sick,
and all who have none to care for them. Help us to heal those
who are broken in body or spirit, and to turn their sorrow
into joy. Grant this, Father, for the love of your Son, who for
our sake became poor, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  (Prayer for the Poor and Neglected.  The Book of Common Prayer. p.826).  

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost: How Do We Express Thanks for God's Generosity?

Today's Scripture Readings

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).

Twenty First Sunday after Pentecost: Show Thanks for Mercy

Today's Scripture Readings

2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c (NRSV)

Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, "If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy."

When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me."

But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, "Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel." So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha's house. Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean." But 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! Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?" He turned and went away in a rage. But his servants approached and said to him, "Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, `Wash, and be clean'?" So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.

Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel."

Psalm 111 (BCP., p.754)


2 Timothy 2:8-15 (NRSV)

Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David-- that is my gospel, for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. The saying is sure:

If we have died with him, we will also live with him;

if we endure, we will also reign with him;

if we deny him, he will also deny us;

if we are faithless, he remains faithful--

for he cannot deny himself.

Remind them of this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.

Luke 17:11-19 (NRSV)

On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."

Blog Reflection
 
There are very few experiences that can make a person isolated from one's community like a debilitating illness can.  To find oneself sick with something that disgusts other people.   The way they look at the color of your skin when pale.  The private conversations at a restaurant dinner table across the room.  The feeling that every where you go, there is talk about you and your health condition.  The feeling of the loss of dignity.  Where is there relief?

The readings this weekend from the Hebrew Scriptures and the Gospel tell us the story of people with leprosy.  Not only was such a person sick, they were cut off from their community.   It was thought that if they got the disease, they did something to bring it on themselves.   Not only were they considered not "fit" to participate in society, they were also to be excluded from worship, because they were viewed as unclean.

The Scriptures this weekend show us how God looks past our health condition, our social status, skin color etc, to see the person and her/his dignity.   Regardless of whatever our state in life is, we all are in need of God's mercy.  Unlike many of the laws and thoughts of how God applies God's law, the Holy One does not see things as we see them.  In Canticle 10 in The Book of Common Prayer, we pray the words from Isaiah 55:6-11 that include the words: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways my ways says the Lord.   For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."   God is not about punishment and destruction.   The heart of God is mercy, forgiveness and unconditional love for every human person.

Jesus showed God's love when He healed the men with leprosy. Yet, after each experienced the healing power of God through Jesus, only one returned to give thanks.  The one who returned to give thanks was the foreigner.  The one who was thought to be the outcast among the outcasts, is the one who returns to give thanks and praise to God for the healing he experienced threw Jesus.  Jesus affirms his faith and sends him away a whole person.

How do we show thanks to God for the mercy we are experiencing because of Jesus Christ?

Do we welcome all of God's people in hospitality to bring about reconciliation?

Whom are we keeping outside of our communities because of some preconceived notion?

As our Congress continues to hold the poor, disabled and others hostage to the demands of the wealthy and powerful, we need to stop and think about what it is we are doing to each other in this debate.  What affect all of this is having on those who live with oppression, sickness, injustice and prejudice, and what are we doing to alleviate their suffering, or make it worse.   The worst part of this crisis is not felt by those who have nothing to lose.  It is experienced by those who have already lost everything, and have the last of everything left to lose, including but not limited to their dignity.   How can we as Christians turn a blind eye to what is happening, and not call on our government and it's leaders to get their act together?

We have the opportunity to show thanks to God for God's mercy by working for peace, justice and equality for all people.  Through our prayers, actions and coming together as the community of faith, we can fulfill our Baptismal Vows, by doing our part to bring hope to where there is despair.

May we give thanks God, by being merciful as God is merciful to us.

Amen.


Prayers

Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and
follow us, that we may continually be given to good works;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Proper 23, Book of Common Prayer, p.234).

Almighty and most merciful God, we remember before you
all poor and neglected persons whom it would be easy for us
to forget: the homeless and the destitute, the old and the sick,
and all who have none to care for them. Help us to heal those
who are broken in body or spirit, and to turn their sorrow
into joy. Grant this, Father, for the love of your Son, who for
our sake became poor, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Poor and Neglected, Book of Common Prayer, p.826). 

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is
hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where
there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where
there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where
there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to
be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is
in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we
are born to eternal life. Amen. (Prayer Attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, Book of Common Prayer, p.831).

 

Twenty Fourth Sunday after Pentecost: Give Thanks with Our Whole Being and Heart

Today's Scripture Readings

1 Kings 17:8-16 (NRSV)

The word of the LORD came to Elijah, saying, "Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you." So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, "Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink." As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, "Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand." But she said, "As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die." Elijah said to her, "Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the LORD the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the LORD sends rain on the earth." She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah.

Psalm 146 (BCP., p.803)


Hebrews 9:24-28 (NRSV)

Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Holy Place year after year with blood that is not his own; for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Mark 12: 38-44 (NRSV)

Teaching in the temple, Jesus said, "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows' houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation."

He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on."

Blog Reflection

If we are to get the whole picture of what is going on in our lectionary of readings today, we must have a momentary refresher course on the place of a widow in the times that both of these narratives were written about. 

A widow was more or less understood to be on her own.  Not only was she without her husband due to death, but she was also left to fend for herself.  Women in the Bible were already second class citizens for the most part.  They were portrayed as the "weaker" side of the human race.  Before marriage a woman is considered the property of her father.  After marriage she was the property of her husband.  A woman who would have been married and now widowed, would have been property once owned, now abandoned.   They were among the poorest socially and economically.

What we see happening in our readings today, is God reaching out the lowest of society and giving them hope and purpose within the Reign of God and their communities.   Elijah asks the widow to feed him with what little she has and through her giving of what she had, she is given more than enough for her and her son. Her being a widow is not an opportunity for the Prophet to exploit or further demean her, but invites her to participate in the helping of another, and so receive from God all that she needs to sustain her life.

In the Gospel reading, we see almost the opposite.  While those in the highest of political and religious stature seek public recognition for their outward piety, it is the poor widow who gives of all she has out of humility and thanksgiving to God.  Not because she wishes to be noticed.  The widow fulfills the first of the beatitudes in Matthew 5: 3.  "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God."   The one who gives of themselves out of thanksgiving; while recognizing that God is the one who ultimately gives us all that we need, witnesses to a holy and unselfish love.  A love that seeks union with God out of heartfelt desire and a total giving of self, forsaking prestige or power.

It is a dangerous thing to interpret this Gospel too literally.  We are not being told here to empty all our bank accounts and dump all of our possessions, and if we don't, we are not living a life of commitment to God.  Ee are being challenged to detach ourselves from all that keeps us from being thankful to God as the one who gives us all that we need  All that we are fortunate enough to have is given to us by the Holy One, without whom, we would not even have the breath of air in our lungs.  As God gives all things for our use and good stewardship, so God asks of us to give of ourselves for the sake of God and others around us, the very best of ourselves for the establishment of God's Reign in this world and the next.

As lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and queer people, who we are and those whom we love are not our sole property.  Nor are they given to us for the purpose of wasting them, or letting them so rule our being that we do not use them out of love for God, neighbor and ourselves.   While our sexuality has something to do with our identity and how we love others, it is not for the express purpose of doing what we please, with whomever we please.  We still have to honor God, others and ourselves with a sense of self respect and a total willingness to give of ourselves for the good of others.  Whether that be through our relationships with our spouses/partners, those in our own communities, work places and as best as we can, our own families.  That healing and reconciliation can take place through our activism as we celebrate the many victories of this past week's election, by which marriage equality passed in three states, and a constitutional amendment in Minnesota was defeated.   It can also happen as we try to reach across the isle even to those who continue to reject us and cause us much grief, to help us find a common group from which we can begin to heal our communities and families.

We will not be able to accomplish many of these things without time spent in prayer, seeking God's help.  We will not be able to do miracles, per say, nor will we change people's minds over night.  Nor does God expect us to.   What we can do, is offer our whole selves to God out of thanksgiving for the tremendous gift we have, because of our sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression and from that point offer ourselves to the service of others who are different from ourselves.  We can reach out to the poor and destitute, to share our time and resources to help bring about a better tomorrow for all of us.  We can care about what is happening to not only LGBT people, but also immigrants, people of other races, economic conditions, health conditions, in other religions and so forth, to find some kind of path towards being a more inclusive society and Church.

Let us all pray for each other, that we may look for ways that we can give thanks to God with our whole heart and being.   May we search for those opportunities to help bring about the Reign of God by  looking to bring healing and reconciliation through our prayers, our concern and work on behalf of those who are marginalized and oppressed.  God's Reign is one that welcomes everyone to give of themselves in some measure, and no one is rejected or excluded.  This means us.

Amen.


Prayers

O God, whose blessed Son came into the world that he might
destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God
and heirs of eternal life: Grant that, having this hope, we may
purify ourselves as he is pure; that, when he comes again
with power and great glory, we may be made like him in his
eternal and glorious kingdom; where he lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 27, Book of Common Prayer, p. 236).

Almighty and most merciful God, we remember before you
all poor and neglected persons whom it would be easy for us
to forget: the homeless and the destitute, the old and the sick,
and all who have none to care for them. Help us to heal those
who are broken in body or spirit, and to turn their sorrow
into joy. Grant this, Father, for the love of your Son, who for
our sake became poor, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the poor and neglected, Book of Common Prayer, p. 826).


Look with pity, O heavenly Father, upon the people in this
land who live with injustice, terror, disease, and death as
their constant companions. Have mercy upon us. Help us to
eliminate our cruelty to these our neighbors. Strengthen those
who spend their lives establishing equal protection of the law
and equal opportunities for all. And grant that every one of
us may enjoy a fair portion of the riches of this land; through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Oppressed, Book of Common Prayer, p. 826).