SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Amos 6:1a, 4-7

Psalm 146

1 Timothy 6:6-19

Luke 16:19-31

Prayer of the Day: O God, rich in mercy, you look with compassion on this troubled world. Feed us with your grace, and grant us the treasure that comes only from you, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

 “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” Luke 16:31.

To understand this parable of Lazarus and the rich man, you have to rewind to the first chapter of Luke in which Mary the mother of our Lord declares:

“[God] has shown strength with his arm;
    he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
   He has brought down the powerful from their thrones
    and lifted up the lowly;
   he has filled the hungry with good things
    and sent the rich away empty.” Luke 1:51-53.

The great reversal, the casting down of the wealthy and powerful with the exaltation of the poor and oppressed foretold by Mary is graphically portrayed in this parable. The rich man who feasted sumptuously every day and lived his life in luxury is cast down to hades. Lazarus, the poor man who lay sick, hungry and ignored at the rich man’s gate is in the company of Abraham. Nevertheless, the rich man still does not understand what has happened. Even in hades, he still imagines he is a big shot. He still thinks he can hobnob with Father Abraham. He imagines Lazarus is still his “boy” who can be ordered to fetch him a drink or run errands for him. Not that he deigns to speak directly to Lazarus. That would be beneath him. Instead, he tells Abraham to communicate his orders. The great reversal has come, but this dolt didn’t get the memo. The rich man in this parable is dumb as a bag of hammers.

The rich man’s particular kind of stupidity is known as “privilege.” He assumed that he was entitled to all that he had.  Perhaps, like many of us, he worked hard to amass the wealth he enjoyed throughout his life. He probably supposed feasting sumptuously every day was his right. In his view, he was under no obligation to share his hard earned wealth with anyone. He could, of course, choose to be charitable. So whatever scraps he threw from his table were more than was required of him and more than Lazarus deserved. Lazarus owed the rich man a debt of gratitude for whatever he was given, but the rich man owed Lazarus nothing.

But that is not the way it works, according to Abraham. The disparity reflected in the relationship between the rich man and Lazarus was destined to be reversed. Now that it has occurred, there is no going back. Abraham tells the rich man that “between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.” Luke 16:26. To be clear, God is not responsible for that “great chasm.” The rich man dug that trench all on his own. It began the first time the rich man set eyes on Lazarus-and quickly averted his gaze. It got deeper every time the rich man’s limo passed Lazarus without so much as slowing down as he sat at the entrance of his gated community. In the new age, the chasm he built is still there, but the rich man is now on the other side of it.

I do not believe this parable invites metaphysical speculation about the afterlife. It is not really about the afterlife. It is very much about here and now. Jesus’ prophecy has come true with a vengeance. Just as the words of Moses and the prophets demanding justice for the poor failed to move the hearts of the rich man and his family, so too those words have failed to close the gaping chasm between the few wealthy and the many impoverished around the globe today. Lazarus still lies at our southern border, in the wreckage of Gaza and in overcrowded refugee camps the world over. He can be found sleeping in public parks, begging for food in front of our shopping centers and sleeping under a cardboard box-all for which he could well be arrested in many of our cities. Privilege, however, blinds us to their presence and hardens our hearts to their pain. It enables us to feast sumptuously in blissful disregard for those longing for our plate scrapings.

Most of us do not think of ourselves as privileged and probably take offense at the very notion that we might be. On one level, I don’t view myself as privileged. I was one of four children born to a blue collar worker with only a high school degree. I was able to attend college largely because my parents made it a priority in their financial planning. For that reason, we never saw Disney World. We drove used cars and had a black and white TV that could be seen only at night when it was dark outside and we turned out the lights. When the clothes dryer broke down, we didn’t replace it. Mom used the clothesline when weather permitted and packed us kids into the car and drove down to the laundromat when it didn’t.

With support from Mom and Dad supplemented by on campus jobs, I completed college and seminary. When I resigned from my first parish to attend law school, I attended a state school because that is what we could afford. When I graduated and began interviewing, I had no relatives in the practice of law or any connections that many of my classmates had. I had to get interviews on the strength of my resume and my law school record. I was hired by a firm for a summer position only and worked my tail off to earn an offer to become an associate. I worked my way into partnership during my eighteen years before leaving the practice of law to return to ministry. So am I not rightly insulted by any suggestion that I am privileged?

Actually, no. The truth is, I have benefited from many layers of privilege. In the first place, I had the good fortune to be born at a time when the economy was much kinder to men like my father. Dad was able to get a job at the Puget Sound Naval Ship Yard where he began as a shop worker. There he gained a number of skills that enabled him to advance to higher levels of pay. By the time he reached retirement age, he was a competent draftsperson able to secure a higher paying job in the private sector. Though his salary at the Ship Yard was modest, it was sufficient to support his family and allow my mother to stay at home with us kids during our formative years. Mom went to work during my teenage years, thereby supplementing the family income and enabling my parents to finance college for all four of us kids. Opportunities for unskilled high school graduates today are far less plentiful. For the most part, it is unrealistic to expect that such a person will land a job with a salary capable of supporting a family.

Second, I am white. The opportunities available for my parents were scarce to non-existent for people of color in the 50s and 60s. Consequently, their children, my contemporaries, were at a severe disadvantage when it came to employment, home ownership and opportunities for higher education. For those who were able to overcome these obstacles, the professional terrain was anything but friendly. When I interviewed, I never had to worry about what my potential employer might be thinking about my skin color, accent or background. I never had to worry that an interviewer might assume that I was a “DEI” law school student or that I was somehow less capable. When I was practicing law, I did not have to worry that a corporate client might not want me on the case due to “demographic” concerns or because I did not “fit in with the rest of the team.”[1]

Third, I am male. I did not have to worry that my clothing might be “too provocative,” my demeanor too meek for the practice of law or too “bitchy” for the tastes of a male dominated firm. I never had to worry about what I would do if valuable clients or senior partners tried to “hit on” me. I did not have to negotiate pregnancy or balance infant care with job responsibilities. I did not have to work overtime to prove that I was just as capable as any man to practice law and just as tough as any male litigator. I entered into what was, and to a large extent still is, a man’s world as a man.

Finally, I am straight. Though society has become increasingly accepting of same sex couples and even transgender folk, it was less so during my professional life. We still have a long way to go today and, I might add, a good deal further than I once hoped. In the corporate world, image is important. Companies fear ramifications of being represented LGBTQ+ folk and law firms are therefore reluctant to hire them. In sum, I have benefited enormously from my status as a white, straight male. Yes, I ran the race hard and steadily to arrive where I am. But there is no denying that I had a gigantic head start. For that reason, I cannot deny that I am privileged.

I hope that the church is finally coming to the conclusion that, if we are to make meaningful progress bridging the gap between ourselves and Lazarus, we need to dismantle privilege in all its forms. If there is any good news in this parable, it is that things need not be as they are. We are the ones who dug that horrible chasm plunging so many into misery and we are also capable of filling it, redistributing the world’s bounty in an equitable fashion and ending the curse of poverty. We are in the position of the rich man’s brothers. There is still time for us to hear the words of Moses and the prophets. Unlike them, we have been warned by One who rose from the dead.   

Before we can call the world to repentance on this score, however, we need to address privilege within our own ecclesiastical ranks. Like the rest of the United States, our churches are infected with the belief, sometimes subconscious and sometimes overt, in white supremacy. People of color entering our churches face awkward stares, inept efforts at welcoming and microaggressions that strike like a metal fork on a chalk board. We (and I include myself in this “we”) need to come to grips with the mythology of the white man’s “discovery” of this land, his “civilization” of the wild frontier and “exceptionalism” attributed to the United States has shaped our teaching, preaching and practice.

Our churches have made numerous attempts to address racism, including extensive anti-racism training events, educational initiatives and discussion forums. While I don’t fault these programs, I am not convinced they are as effective as we might have hoped. For one thing, they tend to draw mainly those already converted. For another, they produce little in the way of action. I would propose that, rather than hoping for radical change through a gradual process of education, let us educate by proposing concrete action. I made a modest proposal for such action some time ago in my Open Letter to the ELCA Presiding Bishop and Synodical Bishops: A Modest Proposal for Reparational Tithe. With the notable exception of one of our synods, the proposal was ignored. I am hopeful that, with the election of a new presiding bishop, our ELCA will take a fresh look at the potential for making meaningful reparations for what we have publicly confessed to be complicity in our nation’s racial injustice.

I believe that systemic changes are essential. These involve more than just moving around the bureaucratic furniture. Perhaps the most urgent need for change is in the way we train and prepare pastoral leaders. If we really want the inclusive church we keep talking about, then I believe we must find a better model than the standard four years of college followed by three years of seminary training with a year of internship thrown in. College has been put cruelly out of reach for all but well-heeled families of the upper middle class. Adding three years of seminary on top  of that along with the prospect that there may be few churches able to employ a pastor full time makes the call to ministry a strain even for these families. Just what shape future training for ministry should take is beyond the scope of any article such as this. Suffice to say, the present system is a roadblock for all but the privileged and ultimately unsustainable in any event.

Needless to say, Jesus’ parable confronts us with the stark reality of our privileged life and forces us to confront the price our neighbors on the other side of the divide must pay for us to enjoy it. There are those who would tell us that wealth and poverty have characterized our existence from the beginning of time and there is nothing we can do to change it. Moses, the prophets and, most importantly, Jesus tell us otherwise. Seeing Lazarus is perhaps the first step toward the kind of compassion capable of bridging the chasm dividing him from us. Here is a poem in which poet Denise Levertov truly sees the poor and the difficulty of their lives.

The Wealth of the Destitute

Source: Poems 1972-1982 (c. 1975 by Denise Levertov, pub. By New Directions Publishing Corporation, 2002) Denise Levertov (1923–1997) never received a formal education. Nevertheless, she created a highly regarded body of poetry that earned her recognition as one of America’s most respected poets. Her father, Paul Philip Levertov, was a Russian Jew who converted to Christianity and subsequently moved to England where he became an Anglican minister.  Levertov grew up in a household surrounded by books and people talking about them in many languages. During World War II, Levertov pursued nurse’s training and spent three years as a civilian nurse at several hospitals in London. Levertov came to the United States in 1948, after marrying American writer Mitchell Goodman. During the 1960s Levertov became a staunch critic of the Vietnam war, a topic addressed in many of her poems of that era. Levertov died of lymphoma at the age of seventy-four. You can read more about Denise Levertov and sample more of her poetry at the Poetry Foundation Website.

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[1] In the corporate world, nobody ever explicitly discriminates on the basis of race. But when terms like these are used, we all knew what they meant.

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Exodus 32:7-14

Psalm 51:1-10

1 Timothy 1:12-17

Luke 15:1-10

Prayer of the Day: O God, overflowing with mercy and compassion, you lead back to yourself all those who go astray. Preserve your people in your loving care, that we may reject whatever is contrary to you and may follow all things that sustain our life in your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

“Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” Luke 15:7.

“Which one of you,” Jesus asked, “having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?” Luke 15:4. Well, I for one. Understand that in First Century Palestine sheep were not cuddly little pets. They were commercial commodities-like turnips. You wouldn’t expect a truck driver carrying a load of turnips to pull his rig over to the side of I-95, leave it parked precariously at the side of the interstate and walk back more than a mile to pick up one turnip that might have fallen off the truck and that has probably already been squashed. And the woman who lost the coin? Why the drama? Coins, unlike sheep, don’t wander off. The missing one is doubtless somewhere in the house. It will most likely turn up in the next thorough house cleaning.

If these stories do not make much practical sense, it is because they are not supposed to. The reign of God is not a load of turnips. Human beings are not fungible commodities. Each one is unique, essential to God’s creative intent for the world and irreplaceable. The jigsaw puzzle of God’s creative vision can never be complete without the full number of component parts. Anyone who has ever completed or tried to complete a jigsaw puzzle knows that you can’t just shrug off a missing piece or two. The missing piece must be found and incorporated into the whole if there is to be a whole. God’s new heaven and new earth are like a jigsaw puzzle in this respect: 99.9% is not good enough.  

These parables were unsettling to Jesus’ opponents because they suggested that “sinners,” those people excluded from the community of the faithful, were actually essential to making the community whole. I must confess that they are equally unsettling to me. There are some sheep I hope will never be found and returned to the flock. Who wants to see Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell brought into the reign of God to dwell among their victims? Closer to home, I can think of many people who throughout my lifetime have deeply wronged me, my family and friends. I hope that I have forgiven them. I know that I do not wish for them to suffer eternal punishment. But I do not want to see them again or have them be any part of my future. I cannot imagine enjoying God’s gentle reign of justice and peace with them in it.

But that is the point of parables, isn’t it? They are designed to unsettle us. They rattle our assumptions, question our deepest convictions and reveal to us the poverty of our imaginations. Parables challenge us to see beyond the limitations imposed by our biases, our grudges and the pain we bear from wounds we have incurred at the hands of others. I might prefer a world populated by people with whom I am compatible. I can say to my credit that such a world would be well populated. I have been compatible with nearly all the people I have met over the years. There have been only a few people in my life, so few that I can probably count them on the fingers of one hand, that I have found impossible to endure. Problem is, those are the ones about whom Jesus is particularly concerned. As much as I would like to lose these folks, Jesus is bent on finding them. Therefore, much to my annoyance and contrary to what the late Tim LaHaye would have us believe, no one gets “left behind.”  

Another reason why these parables are so disturbing is that they run contrary to our proclivity for haste and ease. It is faster and easier to resolve difficult congregational issues by taking a vote, no matter how many people are left angry and alienated, than it is to take the time necessary to work through conflicts, seek common ground and build together a less than perfect solution with which we can all live. It is easier to drive troublesome members out of the church than to listen to their concerns, understand the source of their hostility and attempt to reconcile them. War is the most horrifying manifestation of human impatience and our willingness to take shortcuts to achieve a measure of peace. Military logic holds that the exercise of might on the side of right resolves conflict quickly, finally and absolutely. Although lives must be sacrificed in the process, the loss of a sheep or two is a small price to pay for securing the safety and welfare of the flock.

Military logic is not the logic of Jesus. The oneness Jesus seeks for his church and which God seeks for the world cannot be achieved simply by discarding, eliminating or forcing into submission people who are obstinate, resistant or simply do not fit in with our notions of what the reign of God should look like. However much it may vex our impatient, result oriented souls, God will take whatever time God must take to reconcile all things in Christ to God’s self. God will spend as much effort, as much searching and as much time as required to find that one missing sheep, that one lost coin, that one obstinate soul. And whether the rest of us like it or not, neither God nor God’s people are going anywhere without them.

Saint Paul reminds us that “our struggle is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12. However much we may despise hateful ideologies and the violence to which they give rise and compelled though we are to speak out against and resist them, Paul would have us remember that people who espouse them and live by them are not the real enemy. They are enslaved by evil and as much victims of it as those they oppress. By directing our anger toward them, we are merely doing the bidding of the malicious evil we claim to hate and, in the process, being transformed into its likeness. Regardless who prevails on the battlefield, the devil is the only winner in every angry, violent and spiteful conflict.

In times like these when racism, homophobic bigotry, misogyny and xenophobia loom so large on the horizon and violent rhetoric floods the headlines, airwaves and cyberspace, the temptation for many of us is to give up on reconciliation and to fight fire with fire. It is easy to forget that people are more than what they appear to be when we see them at their worst. It is easy to forget that, however marred and distorted by sin, every person is a being that bears our Creator’s image. Sunday’s gospel reminds us that God hates nothing that God has made, that God will not settle for anything less than the reconciliation of the whole human family, that God gives up no one for lost. To the contrary, it is for the lost that Jesus comes. Our challenge is to learn to miss what is lost and long for its redemption with our God’s passionate love.

Jesus has no interest in obliterating his enemies. Rather, he seeks to reconcile them and draw them with his persuasive love under the gentle, just and peaceful reign of God. Like the tormented father in the parable of the Prodigal Son, Jesus stands on wounded feet between his warring siblings, reaching out with pierced hands to reconcile them and draw them together into the celebration of the angels over the lost who have been found. That is where Jesus’ disciples are called to stand as well.

Here is a poem reflecting the potential for reconciliation and restoration of a relationship seemingly lost, but reborn in unexpected friendship. One can perhaps see in it a parable of redemption and new creation.

Enemies

Source: Poetry, July, 1930. Agnes Lee (1868 – 1939) was an American poet and translator. She was born in Chicago, but educated at a boarding school in Vevey, Switzerland. Lee wrote a collection of children’s verse and published her first poem in 1899. She subsequently wrote several other books of poetry and translated Théophile Gautier’s Enamels and Cameos and Other Poems in 1903. In 1926, Lee received the guarantor’s prize from Poetry Magazine. You can read more about Agnes Lee and sample more of her poetry at the Poetry Foundation Website.

THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Psalm 1

Philemon 1-21

Luke 14:25-33

Prayer of the Day: Direct us, O Lord God, in all our doings with your continual help, that in all our works, begun, continued, and ended in you, we may glorify your holy name; and finally, by your mercy, bring us to everlasting life, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

“Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:27.

Let’s face it. This saying is cliché. Bearing one’s cross has become a tame metaphor denoting whatever unpleasant circumstance one must endure for the sake of some greater good or simply because there is no getting around it. That is why those of us preaching this text need to remind our hearers that it is Jesus speaking here. For him, the cross was no metaphor. It was a particularly slow, cruel, painful and humiliating means of execution. As articulately expressed by the late Howard Yoder, “The cross of Calvary was not a difficult family situation, not a frustration of visions of personal fulfillment, a crushing debt or a nagging in-law; it was the political, legally to be expected result of a moral clash with the powers ruling his society.”[1] The way Jesus lived led to the way he died. Disciples of Jesus who strive to live in his way have no reason to expect any different result.

This is a message quite different from the one proclaimed by most mainline churches these days looking to increase their membership. Open any publication to the religious ad page and you will find churches falling all over each other with promises of good fellowship, wonderful activities, great music, fine preaching, free coffee and pastries, youth programs, young adult programs, activities and outings for the elderly. You could easily get the impression from these ads that the church is a service organization existing for the benefit of its members rather than a community dedicated to living the way of Jesus in a culture hostile to him and the reign of God he proclaims. Lured in by the promise of these benefits, it should hardly surprise us that these prospects balk when we start speaking about tithing, service and sacrificing all for the sake of God’s reign. How can you blame them? They have been subjected to a classic “bait and switch.” They were promised fun and games only to find out they have been signed up for martyrdom.

The problem with treating the church as a consumer product is that, well, it draws consumers. Consumers consume. They come, they drink the coffee, eat the donuts and move on to the next entertainment. You cannot expect them to remain after they have used up all your benefits, much less offer their time, talents and treasure to sustain your ministry. That is why Jesus was not interested in attracting consumers. He was interested in calling people into the new reality of God’s inbreaking kingdom. Jesus was not interested in increasing the size of his following. He was interested in making disciples. Moreover, while Jesus never turned away anyone in need of healing, forgiveness and mercy, he was quite selective when it came to choosing his disciples. He was not afraid to tell would be followers that they were not yet ready for discipleship. Jesus did not hide the costs or sugarcoat the risks involved with following him. He did not have to do that. Jesus understood that when one is drawn into the reign of God, when one catches a glimpse of the new life it offers, no price is too high, no danger too formidable and no sacrifice too dear.

The gospel is good news, so good that it does not need to be hidden under a slew of promised benefits. It is not some foul medicine that requires a “spoon full of sugar” to get it down. Still, Jesus’ language here is difficult to digest. “…none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.” “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” But perhaps these words tell us precisely what we need to hear. Consumerism is not only a problem for the culture of the church. It constitutes our American lifestyle driven by an economy that generates profits by stoking our insatiable appetite for “more.” The earth, by capitalist logic, is reduced to a mere ball of limited resources to be exploited in producing ever more products to satisfy an endless hunger for greater prosperity benefiting the few at the expense of the many. It is based on an ideology of scarcity, designed to convince us that the world is a shrinking pie. There is not enough for everybody. So you had better grab your piece now before it is all gone. The greed, fear, anxiety and cynicism generated by our consumerist existence breeds an addiction to accumulation of stuff we don’t need, distorts our closest relationships with envy, distrust and resentment and infects every aspect of our lives with unease and dissatisfaction. We must come to hate this life distorted by consumerism, the way in which it has twisted and deformed our relationships and the anxiety it generates as we yearn for all the things we cannot obtain and fret over losing what we have.

I think Augustine, Bishop of Hippo and one of the greatest teachers of the church, can help us here. He observes that, odd as it may seem, sin is driven by the same engine as righteousness, namely, love. The problem is that human love is fundamentally disordered. Created to love God and, through that pure love, to love the neighbor and enjoy the world God made, human love is easily directed toward lesser things, things which often are good in themselves, but lethal when they are allowed to become the object of love which ought to be directed first and foremost toward God alone. Disordered love is hurtful, dangerous and destructive. Some of the cruelest acts committed by parents against their children are accompanied by the words, “I am doing this because I love you.” Some of the most atrocious acts of barbarism have been done in the name of patriotism, love of country and defense of freedom. Acts done in the name of God can be especially ruthless when faith is directed at a deity other than the God who is love. Love of country, love of family and enjoyment of the fruit of one’s labors, all appropriate “loves,” can morph into nationalism, domestic abuse and avarice when they are allowed to become dominant. That is the sort of consumptive love from which Jesus would liberate us. It is the sort of distorted love we need to learn to hate.  

Though there is much to be said for a disciplined focus on the lectionary texts, I believe this is one instance in which it may be necessary to reach beyond the appointed readings to preach faithfully the good news we call gospel. The communal practices of the early believers in the Book of Acts provide a striking contrast to the way of consumerism:

“All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.” Acts 2:44-47.

“Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.” Acts 4:32-35.

Also instructive are the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, both of which outline an economy designed to serve all people rather than to exploit the many for the benefit of the few. In a world dominated by politically oppressive and economically consumptive empires and petty kingdoms, Israel was to be a “light,” a flashing neon sign telling the rest of the world that “it doesn’t have to be this way.” The whole point of the church is to be a community displaying a different way to be human, an alternative way of life to the unsustainable dead end of consumerism. Jesus challenges us to re-evaluate and change radically our relationship to the One we claim to worship, our relationships to one another and our relationship to the things we claim to possess. To a world hell bent on consuming itself, the church is the community tasked with shouting out, “Hey folks! It doesn’t have to be this way.”

Here are two related poems by Wendell Berry articulating the frightening end to which a consumer culture leads us while reminding us that we have not yet arrived at that terrible end. It is a blend of foreboding and fragile hope that should resonate with all who long for God’s alternative reign of justice and peace.

XX & XXI from Sabbath Poems

XX

Even while I dreamed I prayed that what I saw was only fear and no foretelling,
for I saw the last known landscape destroyed for the sake

of the objective, the soil bludgeoned, the rock blasted.
Those who had wanted to go home would never get there now.

I visited the offices where for the sake of the objective the planners planned
at blank desks set in rows. I visited the loud factories
where the machines were made that would drive ever forward
toward the objective. I saw the forest reduced to stumps and gullies; I saw
the poisoned river, the mountain cast into the valley;
I came to the city that nobody recognized because it looked like every other city.
I saw the passages worn by the unnumbered
footfalls of those whose eyes were fixed upon the objective.

Their passing had obliterated the graves and the monuments
of those who had died in pursuit of the objective
and who had long ago forever been forgotten, according
to the inevitable rule that those who have forgotten forget
that they have forgotten. Men, women, and children now pursued the objective
as if nobody ever had pursued it before.

The races and the sexes now intermingled perfectly in pursuit of the objective.
the once-enslaved, the once-oppressed were now free
to sell themselves to the highest bidder
and to enter the best paying prisons
in pursuit of the objective, which was the destruction of all enemies,
which was the destruction of all obstacles, which was the destruction of all objects,
which was to clear the way to victory, which was to clear the way to promotion, to salvation, to progress,
to the completed sale, to the signature
on the contract, which was to clear the way
to self-realization, to self-creation, from which nobody who ever wanted to go home
would ever get there now, for every remembered place
had been displaced; the signposts had been bent to the ground and covered over.

Every place had been displaced, every love
unloved, every vow unsworn, every word unmeant
to make way for the passage of the crowd
of the individuated, the autonomous, the self-actuated, the homeless
with their many eyes opened toward the objective
which they did not yet perceive in the far distance,
having never known where they were going,
having never known where they came from.

XXI

I was wakened from my dream of the ruined world by the

          sound

of rain falling slowly onto the dry earth of my place in time.

On the parched garden, the cracked-open pastures,

the dusty grape leaves, the brittled grass, the drooping

          foliage of the woods,

fell still the quiet rain.

Source: The Peace of Wild Things, Wendell Berry (c. 1964 by Wendell Berry; pub. by Penguin Books). Wendell Berry (b. 1934) is a poet, novelist, farmer and environmental activist. He is an elected member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, a recipient of The National Humanities Medal and the Jefferson Lecturer for 2012. He is also a 2013 Fellow of The American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Berry was named the recipient of the 2013 Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award. On January 28, 2015, he became the first living writer to be inducted into the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame. You can read more about Wendell Berry and sample more of his works at the Poetry Foundation website.

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[1] The Politics of Jesus, Howard, John Howard, (c. 1972 by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company) I am mindful that there are some who might find objectionable my citation to the work of John Howard Yoder given his history of predatory conduct. I addressed this issue in my post entitled The Perils of Eradicating Evil. While I do not wish to dismiss or minimize the harm Yoder has inflicted, neither do I feel comfortable expressing his views, even with some slight changes in verbiage, as though they were my own. As despicable as Yoder’s behavior surely was, it cannot justify my plagiarizing his work.

TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Proverbs 25:6-7

Psalm 112

Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

Luke 14:1, 7-14

Prayer of the Day: O God, you resist those who are proud and give grace to those who are humble. Give us the humility of your Son, that we may embody the generosity of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

“For here we have no lasting city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.” Hebrews 13:14.

As those who follow me regularly know, I practiced law in New Jersey for eighteen years of my professional life. My practice consisted primarily of civil litigation. A lawsuit is a slow, cumbersome and expensive way to resolve disputes, That is why the vast majority litigants settle their claims rather than face the uncertainty and incur the expense of a jury trial. Still, there are risks on both sides of the equation. Settlement before trial risks leaving money on the table, while trying the case can result in no recovery at all. A case might appear strong and promise a big money judgment. But good attorneys know that they don’t know what they don’t know. That is why before an attorney tries a case or recommends settlement, the attorney assesses the value of the case, the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence on both sides. To facilitate this process, the rules of court have established procedures for what is called “discovery.” Attorneys on both sides of the case are permitted, within limits, to demand documents and examine the parties and their witnesses under oath prior to trial.

This might all sound straightforward. But it is not. Take document demands, for example. Documents may contain a wealth of information, but not all of it is subject to disclosure. A document may contain relevant information that is discoverable, but also information about a party or witness that is personal, private and unrelated to the case. Or the document might contain references to communications between the parties and their attorneys. As such, they would be exempt from the requirement from disclosure by the “attorney client privilege.” Thus, when attorneys produce documents to the opposing side, they take care to redact (black out) those portions of the document they believe constitute protected information. Naturally, attorneys interpret these legal protections as broadly as possible to avoid disclosing as much information as possible, particularly if they regard that information as harmful to their case. This, in turn, results in numerous applications to the court which must review the documents to ensure that the information redacted is, in fact, legally protected. Thus, every attorney knows that when documents are produced, the juiciest pieces of information are the ones that have been blacked out.

The above passage from the Letter to the Hebrews has, for reasons known only to God and the creators of the lectionary, been redacted from our reading today. Quite predictably, it is both juicy and relevant. The author admonishes his hearers “Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings…” Hebrews 13:9. Understand that the writer is addressing a catastrophic horror experienced by disciples of Jesus along with all Jews generally, namely, the sack of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. Central to much of First Century Judaism, the temple appears to have been highly significant to early disciples of Jesus who also identified as Jews. Luke’s gospel begins and ends in the Temple. According to the Book of Acts, the temple was one of the earliest places of worship for the disciples. The temple’s destruction, frequently thought to be a sign the end times, was deemed the harbinger God’s reign. All four gospels discourage this expectation, which leads one to believe that it must have been present among early believers.

The believers addressed in the Letter to the Hebrews appear to have come unmoored, not knowing quite where they are geographically, historically or religiously. The temple and holy city had been destroyed, but the reign of God did not come. The disciple’s connection to the larger Jewish community was fraying.[1] Persecution, though not yet at the point of requiring martyrdom, was afflicting the community. Under these circumstances, communities are vulnerable to “all kinds of strange teachings,” baseless rumors and wild conspiracy theories that promise to make sense out of their fears, give them certainty and help them find direction. The QAnon phenomenon is a good contemporary example of what can happen when people are disoriented by a world that is unsettled, uncertain and changing just too damned fast. The temptation is strong to grab at any explanation that makes sense out of a senseless world, no matter how lacking in sense that explanation is.   

The author of the anonymous letter to the Hebrews acknowledges these realities of disappointed hope, uncertainty and persecution, but goes on to point out that they are not anomalies. To the contrary, rootlessness, exile, alien status and even the life of the fugitive are the very nature of discipleship. After delivering a stirring roll call of heroes of faith from the Hebrew Scriptures who faced the very dangers the community is now experiencing, the author points out that “these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better homeland, that is, a heavenly one.”  Hebrews 11:13-16.

This message is critical for a church dwelling in a world that is increasingly nationalistic, tribalistic and divided along the fault lines of politics, religion and morality. These words from the book of Hebrews are critical and liberating for a church that, for most of the two millennia of its existence, has served as the moral and religious organ of one state or another. The extent to which the church has become symbiotically related to the state is nowhere better illustrated than in eastern Europe where Russian Orthodox Christians and Ukrainian Orthodox Christians are killing each other. The same nationalistic heresy is found in our American churches, most of which still sport the American flag in their sanctuaries and bless their nation’s wars on civic occasions. Clearly, however, in circumstances under which Christians answer the call to kill human beings made in God’s image in the name of nation, ideology, family honor or some other high cause, they are rejecting the reign of God and the City which alone is home to God’s pilgrim people and whose witness is to the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church transcending all humanly created artificial distinctions within the human family. To be a disciple of Jesus is to be first, foremost and always a citizen of the City of God. We reside elsewhere only as resident aliens.   

 The great theologian, preacher and teacher, Karl Barth addressed this ailment in 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War:

“In the political sphere the Church will always and in all circumstances be interested primarily in human beings and not in some abstract cause or other, whether it be anonymous capital or the state as such (the functioning of its departments!) or the honor of the nation or the progress of civilization or culture or the idea, however conceived, of the historical development of the human race.” Karl Barth, Community, State and Church.

Here is a Black spiritual, the authorship of which is unknown. Suffice to say that it was produced within a community that understands better than most American Christians what it means to be a resident alien in a land that his both hostile to God’s reign and to God’s people.

Poor Wayfaring Stranger

I’m just a poor wayfaring stranger,
I’m trav’ling through this world below;
There is no sickness, toil, nor danger,
In that bright world to which I go.
I’m going there to see my father,
I’m going there no more to roam;
I’m just a going over Jordan,
I’m just a going over home.

I know dark clouds will gather o’er me,
I know my pathway’s rough and steep;
But golden fields lie out before me,
Where weary eyes no more shall weep.
I’m going there to see my mother,
She said she’d meet me when I come;
I’m just a going over Jordan,
I’m just a going over home.

I want to sing salvations story,
In concert with the blood-washed band;
I want to wear a crown of glory,
When I get home to that good land.
I’m going there to see my brothers,
They passed before me one by one;
I’m just a going over Jordan,
I’m just a going over home.

I’ll soon be free from every trial,
This form will rest beneath the sod;
I’ll drop the cross of self-denial,
And enter in my home with God.
I’m going there to see my Saviour,
Who shed for me His precious blood;
I’m just a going over Jordan,
I’m just a going over home.

Source: American Religious Poems, Edited by Harold Bloom and Jesse Zuba (c. 2006 by Literary Classics of the United States). The origins of this song/poem are unclear. It may have multiple religious and cultural influences. The use of coded language common in Negro spirituals points to African American origins. The “crossing the River Jordan” may refer to crossing the Ohio River on the journey north to freedom. The “way” that is “rough and steep” could easily refer to the arduous and dangerous journey through the southern slave states and the “beauteous fields” that “lie just before” to the promise of a life of liberty in Canada or the northern states. In 1905 Black composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor included the poem under the title “Pilgrim’s Song” in a set of piano arrangements based on melodies from African American hymnody. Over the last century it has found its way into a number of mainline hymnals but not, alas, into our Lutheran books of worship.

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[1] It is perhaps a desire to remain rooted in the Jewish community that made some members of the church addressed in Hebrews overly concerned with “regulations about food.” Hebrews 13:9.

TENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Jeremiah 23:23-29

Psalm 82

Hebrews 11:29—12:2

Luke 12:49-56

Prayer of the Day: O God, judge eternal, you love justice and hate oppression, and you call us to share your zeal for truth. Give us courage to take our stand with all victims of bloodshed and greed, and, following your servants and prophets, to look to the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

“Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” Luke 12:51.

I recently heard a speaker at a Christian gathering say, “I am glad this country is polarized. I wish it were more polarized.” That remark sent some shock waves through the audience. I don’t doubt Jesus’ remarks had much the same effect. We usually view polarization, division and dissension as harmful and destructive. Many times, they are. I have lived through family rifts, church conflicts and political upheavals that disrupted the efforts of communities to pursue the common good, led churches to disband, ended friendships and alienated family members from one another. There is no question that polarization is destructive and contrary to God’s mission of reconciling the world to God’s self.

That said, there is something worse than polarization and conflict. Far worse than open conflict is a false peace offered by prophets, preachers and demagogues who “treat[] the wound of [God’s] people carelessly, saying, ‘peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.” Jeremiah 6:14. Far worse it is to remain silent in the face of comforting lies, cruelty and injustice, all for the sake of avoiding conflict, than to speak a hard truth rupturing the façade of a false peace that hides, shelters and perpetuates evil. Our wounded world cannot be healed with soothing words assuring it that all is well, no repentance is required and the status quo is the way things are and should always be. Such peace is no peace at all. It is poles apart from the peace God wills for our planet.

In order for the peace of God to reign, peace that follows justice, repentance and reconciliation in just that order, the false peace resting on the appeasement of evil, toleration of injustice and blindness to the suffering and persecution of our neighbors must be shattered. I suggest that the job of a disciple of Jesus in days such as these is to be a disturber of the peace. There can be no peaceful coexistence with a government that uses its military against peaceful protesters, sends masked goons to snatch honest and hardworking people from their homes, schools and places of work, divides families, propagates racist propaganda, ruthlessly persecutes transgender families and their children and denies medical care and treatment to the most vulnerable among us. These are not the ways of a righteous nation. They are the ways of an evil empire, the likes of which Jesus condemns in his parable of the last judgment and John of Patmos foretells destruction in the book of Revelation. There is no middle ground between equality and racism, rapists and their victims, truth and “alternative facts,” otherwise known as “lies.” There is no middle ground between the peace of God’s reign over a new creation and the fragile peace of despots and cowardly subjects desperately holding together the crumbling remnants of the old. Standing with Jesus sometimes means standing against your country, standing against members of your church or even standing against your own family.

I have previously related the story of Clarence Jordan and his part in founding Koinonia Farm. I think that story bears repeating here. Recall that Koinonia Farm was an intentional Christian community established in the State of Georgia back in 1942. It continues as a vital witness to the gospel to this day. Clarence Jordan intended for Koinonia to be a “demonstration plot for the Kingdom of God.”  For him, this meant a community of believers sharing life and following the example of the first Christian communities as described in the Acts of the Apostles. In order to bear witness to the church as a family in which there is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, Koinonia was constituted from its inception as a place where African Americans lived side by side with their white sisters and brothers. Not surprisingly, Koinonia Farm was a frequent target of Klan hostility and government initiated opposition in the deeply segregated south. In his book, Unleashing the Scripture, Duke University professor of religion and ethics Stanley Haueraus relates a pivotal incident in the story about Koinonia.

Shortly after Koinonia was founded, Georgia’s state attorney general made several attempts to outlaw the community, confiscate its property and evict the residents. Clarence Jordan sought the help of his brother Robert Jordan, a prominent lawyer with political aspirations. Clarence asked Robert to take on the defense of Koinonia Farm. According to a passage from a book written by James McClendon, the following exchange took place:

“Clarence, I can’t [represent you]. You know my political aspirations. Why, if I represented you, I might lose my job, my house, everything I’ve got.”

“We might lose everything too, Bob,” [Clarence replied.]

“It’s different for you.”

“Why is it different? I remember, it seems to me, that you and I joined the church the same Sunday, as boys. I expect when we came forward the preacher asked me about the same question he did you. He asked me, ‘Do you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior.’ And I said, ‘Yes.’ What did you say?”

“I follow Jesus, Clarence, up to a point.”

“Could that point by any chance be—the cross?”

“That’s right, [Clarence]. I follow him to the cross, but not on the cross. I’m not getting myself crucified.”

“Then, [Robert,] I don’t believe you’re a disciple. You’re an admirer of Jesus, but not a disciple. I think you ought to go back to the church you belong to, and tell them you’re an admirer and not a disciple.”

“Well now, [Robert replied,] if everyone who felt like I do did that, we wouldn’t have a church, would we?”

“The question is” Clarence said, ‘Do you have a church?’”

My own Lutheran tradition is big on giving government the benefit of the doubt. Citing (mis-citing) Saint Paul in his letter to the Romans, we have often drawn the wrong conclusion that whatever government exists has been established by God, serves as God’s minister of justice and should therefore receive the same degree of obedience as given to God.[1] Even unjust, ineffective or foolish laws must be obeyed-unless they forbid preaching of the gospel. Then and only then do we “obey God rather than human authority.” That is true, so long as we understand that proclaiming the gospel is not a matter of mere preaching, but of practicing the way of Jesus as he lived the precepts of the Sermon on the Mount which ultimately led to his execution under government authority. Showing mercy, granting protection and offering care to our neighbors who are transgender, undocumented or the victims of federal, state or local censorship requires breaking some humanly instituted laws. Discipleship requires no less, even if it splits churches, alienates long time members, divides families and triggers legal prosecution. A church divided over the gospel is far preferable to a church united under anything less.

These times call for preachers unafraid to unleash the sword of division on behalf of our most vulnerable neighbors in whom we cannot help but recognize the face of Jesus. Matthew 25:37-41. I have said it before and I will say it again: If you, as a preacher, are unable or unwilling to do this work, then for the sake of the church, for the sake of the world and for your own sake, step out of the pulpit and make way for someone who will.

Here is a poem by Denise Levertov that shatters the false and fragile peace of silence and complicity.

Goodbye to Tolerance

Source: Breathing the Water (New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1987). Denise Levertov (1923–1997) never received a formal education. Nevertheless, she created a highly regarded body of poetry that earned her recognition as one of America’s most respected poets. Her father, Paul Philip Levertov, was a Russian Jew who converted to Christianity and subsequently moved to England where he became an Anglican minister.  Levertov grew up in a household surrounded by books and people talking about them in many languages. During World War II, Levertov pursued nurse’s training and spent three years as a civilian nurse at several hospitals in London. Levertov came to the United States in 1948, after marrying American writer Mitchell Goodman. During the 1960s Levertov became a staunch critic of the Vietnam war, a topic addressed in many of her poems of that era. Levertov died of lymphoma at the age of seventy-four. You can read more about Denise Levertov and sample more of her poetry at the Poetry Foundation Website.

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[1] The reference is to Romans 13:1. Paul says no more than what Jeremiah and Isaiah said concerning Assyria and Babylon, namely, that they were being used by God as instruments of God’s judgment. Consequently, resistance to them would be futile. It is a long and speculative leap from there to conclude that Israel should support these nations in their military campaigns of conquest or that Christians should support the exploitive policies of the Roman Empire. Thus, while disciples of Jesus should pay their taxes, recycle their refuse and follow the rules of the road when operating an automobile, it does not follow that they should acquiesce, much less participate in governmental acts of oppression.

NINTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Genesis 15:1-6

Psalm 33:12-22

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16

Luke 12:32-40

Prayer of the Day: Almighty God, you sent your Holy Spirit to be the life and light of your church. Open our hearts to the riches of your grace, that we may be ready to receive you wherever you appear, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Luke 12:32-34.

The reign of God is a gift. According to the scriptural witness, there is much in the world that is hostile to God’s good and gracious will for it. Human creatures, though created in God’s image, have had their hearts and minds infected hateful ideologies, violent politics and self destructive behavior. Many unspeakable horrors take place on this planet that God does not will, does not cause and does not passively allow to take place. These forces of evil will have their say, but theirs will not be the last word. God’s reign of diversity, equity and inclusion of people of every nation, tribe and tongue is the future toward which all creation is moving. And there isn’t a damn thing anybody can do about it.

The reign of God comes in God’s way, by God’s chosen means and in God’s own time. It is not God’s will “that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” II Peter 3:9. God’s strength is God’s patience. Our weakness is our impatience. Waiting for all to be drawn into the orbit of God’s love and woven into the fabric of God’s new creation is nearly impossible for a people raised on fast food, fast internet, fast cars and speed dating. For an impatient, fast moving “let’s get this done” kind of people, a God who raptures to heaven those of us who are ready and leaves the rest of the world to burn might sound appealing. But ours is not a God interested in saving a few souls from a sinking ship. God is intent on saving the ship. And because God has all eternity to work with, God will take whatever time is necessary to win every heart, reconcile every enemy, heal each of creation’s many wounds. It will take as long as it takes. And there isn’t a damn thing anybody can do about it.

Because the reign of God is a gift that God gives to us on God’s own terms, we are not responsible for implementing it. That is the liberating word Jesus delivers to his disciples. No need to be afraid. The kingdom is already yours. There is nothing you need to do or can do to obtain it. No one can stop it from coming. That, however, does not mean that Jesus’ disciples are to be idle. Though the reign of God is God’s future, God’s future is God’s present and God’s presence for the disciples. They are invited to live in God’s future now because, for them, the reign of God has already begun. They are free, therefore, to sell their possessions and give them for alms-a move that appears reckless and foolish to those outside of God’s reign. But as Jesus pointed out in last Sunday’s gospel narrating the parable of the “rich fool,” the pursuit of security in wealth and the power it brings is a fool’s game. The smart money is on Jesus. The only sure way to build wealth is to invest in God’s reign by building relationships with the outcast, the poor and the persecuted who are the objects of God’s passionate concern. Mercy, compassion, justice and reconciliation are the stuff out of which the new creation is made. Everything else is consigned to the trash heap.

So Jesus warns his disciples to be dressed, lit up and ready to receive the reign of God whenever it might show up. This is essential because, however distant the consummation of God’s reign might be, there is no telling when and where beams of light from its distant dawning might break into our present. There is no telling when, where and under what conditions we might have the opportunity to offer life altering assistance to a neighbor in need. There is no predicting what we might learn if only we can bridle our tongues long enough to listen. There is no telling when we might be called upon to speak truth to power or put ourselves between our vulnerable neighbors and the jaws of an oppressive regime. Jesus assures us that he walks with us in our daily lives, eager to break into our day with opportunities to live the coming reign of God in the here and now. Do not be afraid, little flock. God will give you the kingdom. Just see to it that you are watching and ready for it!

Here is a poem by Rakiya Foreman about the interplay between the transitory nature of each day and the persistence of dawn throughout its passing and at its demise as a lingering promise of the new day beyond the horizon. This persistent whisper of dawn is perhaps not unlike the reign of God which, though ever in front of us, is nonetheless ever present with us.

Whispers of Dawn

In the cradle of dawn, where shadows fade,

Whispers of light through the branches wade,

Soft as a sigh on the morning breeze,

A songbird awakens among the trees. 

Silver dewdrops on petals gleam, 

Caught on the web of a waking dream,

The earth, a canvas, dawn its brush, 

Painting the world in a tender hush.

Hues of amber, gold, and rose, 

Embrace the sky as the new day grows, 

Mountains stretch in a languid yawn, 

Welcoming the birth of dawn. 

Rivers murmur a quiet tune, 

Reflecting the light of the crescent moon,

As it bids farewell to night, 

Making way for the sun’s first light.

In the stillness, hearts find peace, 

Moments of grace in the morning’s crease,

Nature’s chorus, a symphony, 

Echoes through the land, wild and free. 

Footsteps tread on paths anew,

As dreams of night give way to dew,

Eyes wide open to the light, 

Embracing the world in morning’s sight.

A child’s laughter, pure and clear, 

Breaks the silence, brings us near,

To the simple joys of day,

As dawn gently leads the way.

The world awakes, yet holds its breath,

In the sacred stillness of morning’s death,

As the sun climbs higher, bold and bright,

We bask in the warmth of its ancient light. 

Whispers of dawn, so soft, so true,

A promise of hope in the sky’s deep blue,

Each day a gift, each dawn a chance,

To join the world in nature’s dance. 

Through the day, we carry on,

With memories of the quiet dawn,

A reminder in the hectic day,

Of morning’s soft and gentle sway.

In the cradle of dusk, shadows blend, 

Another day comes to an end,

Yet whispers of dawn linger still,

A promise of light beyond the hill.

c. 2024 by Rakiya Foreman. Rakiya Foreman grew up in a rural area where she spent much of her time outdoors. Today she lives in the big city where she enjoys writing poetry. This poem is her attempt to capture and share the awe and hope she feels each time she witnesses dawn breaking.