May the Words of my lips and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Sometimes what we read in the Bible just doesn’t make any sense at all. Today in our Gospel reading we have a parable about a rich man. This isn’t unusual. There are a bunch of parables about rich men. There are even some other parables about rich men asking for an accounting of what they have entrusted to others. This is not the odd part.
The manager in this story has every right to be afraid of what will happen when he becomes unemployed. A rich man’s manager was better than a tax collector, but not by much. The only real difference between a manager and a tax collector was that the manager didn’t work for the Romans.
I can even understand the manager’s reason for slashing the bills of the debtors. While he still has the power to do it, he makes friends with the people by reducing what they owe. Kind of like a bank manager who knows they are going to be fired going through the accounts and removing all the service charges for the people who live near them. It’s not illegal. They have the power to do that if they feel it is justified, but under the circumstances it is more than a little questionable.
What I cannot understand is the rich man’s reaction. “And the rich man commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly.” Why is the rich man commending his manager instead of being angry with him for squandering the master’s wealth? In our other parables like this the master gets at least upset with their less productive servants, but in this one the master thinks he did the right thing.
What am I missing?
Context. This story does not fit easily into our current context. Many stories in the Bible do not fit easily into our lives. This can make them really difficult to make sense of. It can also lead us down paths of meaning that the writers never intended.
If we were to take today’s Gospel and try to force it into our lives without looking beneath the surface meaning of the words I read a few minutes ago, the good news given to us would look something like this.
“Go out into the world and give away things that do not belong to you.”
This could clearly be found in the gospel according to Robin Hood, but it doesn’t sound like Jesus.
Sometimes context is everything. That is why we have started reading introductions before our Old and New Testament readings. These introductions put help us to understand the world, or rather worlds, of our Bible.
Sometimes the Gospel needs to be put in context too. Today, I think it would really help. Even with all my Biblical education I had to look this one up before it made any sense.
It was against the law for a Jew to charge another Jew interest. There was, however, a way around this law. The manager could lend say 50 jugs of olive oil to someone. He would give them a bill saying that they owed 100 jugs of olive oil. There is never any discussion of interest, that is just what it will cost the person to get the things that they need right now instead of waiting until they can pay for them.
An “honest” manager would pass all of this profit on to his master. A “dishonest” manager would keep some or all of it for himself.
Now this story means something else entirely. The master isn’t commending the manager for stealing from him. He is applauding a shrewd business decision. The manager has given back to the debtors the goods that he wouldn’t be able to collect anyway after losing his job. The rich man is still going to collect what is due to him.
Jesus is not telling us to steal from the rich and give to the poor. He is telling us to give back those things that don’t belong to us anyway.
Jesus is talking to us about repentance.
This leaves us with a very different question each of us need to think about. What is my dishonest wealth? What do I have in my life at the expense of someone else? What have I become at the expense of someone else?
And then – how can I give it back in a way that makes things better?
We are human. We make mistakes. We hurt others. By the grace of God, we can return to God and make things better.
Thanks be to God.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Just Who Are God's People Anyway?
I speak to you in the name of the God who made us, the God who nourishes us, the God who never abandons us. Amen.
Just who are God’s people anyway?
The easy answer is us.
It’s true too.
We are God’s people. We gather here in his name to honour him and to be fed through his holy mysteries. We give of our resources of time and money to see that God’s work is done here in this community and throughout the world. At the end of the service I will send you out to continue to live life as God calls you to live it. Just before we share communion I even say: “The gifts of God for the People of God.”
We are God’s people.
But are we alone? Are we God’s only people?
No. It’s easy to see that there are more of God’s people around. Some of you have even married them. There are the United folk, the Presbyterians, the Roman Catholics, just to name the most common denominations around here. They, and all who follow Christ, are God’s people too.
We Christians are God’s people.
But are we alone? Are only Christians God’s people?
What makes someone one of God’s people?
Do they have to be free of sin? Do they have to avoid working for Revenue Canada? Not according to today’s Gospel. Jesus kept company with sinners and tax collectors. Jesus sought out those very people whom the “godly” avoided.
Do they have to be the right gender? Or the right social class? Jesus is quite clear about this too. If anything, it is easier to hear God’s call if you are in some way disadvantaged. The more elite you are in your society, the more distractions you have to pull you away from God.
Nothing we are or do makes us one of God’s people. It is by the grace of God that God names us as his. Not only that, but we cannot break God’s love for us. In our reading from first Timothy, we hear Paul’s voice telling us about God’s love. “Even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence” … “I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief.” Paul was not short of knowledge about Jesus. He knew a great deal about him and believed very little of it. Paul’s ignorance was of the vast scope of God’s love. He believed that he was one of God’s people. He found out just how much God loved him.
This love is what makes a person one of God’s people. Jesus makes it quite clear that everyone, whether they believe or not, is beloved of God. There is not a single person in creation who is not one of God’s people.
We are all here because we have been called as Paul was called. We have been shown God’s love in many different ways. We are called to share that experience. This is called “evangelism.”
When I was growing up, I spent considerable time with some of my cousins from Southern California. Their parents attended Pentecostal churches. They were Evangelists and they called me their favourite heathen. Their parents watched carefully to make sure that they didn’t start to believe the same things as I did and that they tried to “enlighten” me. This is not evangelism.
Evangelism is sharing the good news of God’s love in the way we act, both inside and outside of these walls. Evangelism is helping others to realize that God loves them too, that they are never alone. Evangelism is about opening ourselves up and letting others see what God has done for us.
At the end of October, we will be celebrating Back to Church Sunday. Evangelism is what this celebration is all about.
It is not about letting people know how much they need our church in their community. It is not about trying to build up dwindling numbers. It is definitely not about improving the offering.
Back to Church Sunday is about they shepherd going out in search of that one lost sheep. It is about going out to find that one precious person of God who is ready to see God’s love.
If even one person discovers the love of God, we will have succeeded whether that person comes to church with us or not.
If we can keep God’s love in our hearts and truly believe that God loves everyone, we will be a place where they want to come when they are ready.
Thanks be to God.
Just who are God’s people anyway?
The easy answer is us.
It’s true too.
We are God’s people. We gather here in his name to honour him and to be fed through his holy mysteries. We give of our resources of time and money to see that God’s work is done here in this community and throughout the world. At the end of the service I will send you out to continue to live life as God calls you to live it. Just before we share communion I even say: “The gifts of God for the People of God.”
We are God’s people.
But are we alone? Are we God’s only people?
No. It’s easy to see that there are more of God’s people around. Some of you have even married them. There are the United folk, the Presbyterians, the Roman Catholics, just to name the most common denominations around here. They, and all who follow Christ, are God’s people too.
We Christians are God’s people.
But are we alone? Are only Christians God’s people?
What makes someone one of God’s people?
Do they have to be free of sin? Do they have to avoid working for Revenue Canada? Not according to today’s Gospel. Jesus kept company with sinners and tax collectors. Jesus sought out those very people whom the “godly” avoided.
Do they have to be the right gender? Or the right social class? Jesus is quite clear about this too. If anything, it is easier to hear God’s call if you are in some way disadvantaged. The more elite you are in your society, the more distractions you have to pull you away from God.
Nothing we are or do makes us one of God’s people. It is by the grace of God that God names us as his. Not only that, but we cannot break God’s love for us. In our reading from first Timothy, we hear Paul’s voice telling us about God’s love. “Even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence” … “I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief.” Paul was not short of knowledge about Jesus. He knew a great deal about him and believed very little of it. Paul’s ignorance was of the vast scope of God’s love. He believed that he was one of God’s people. He found out just how much God loved him.
This love is what makes a person one of God’s people. Jesus makes it quite clear that everyone, whether they believe or not, is beloved of God. There is not a single person in creation who is not one of God’s people.
We are all here because we have been called as Paul was called. We have been shown God’s love in many different ways. We are called to share that experience. This is called “evangelism.”
When I was growing up, I spent considerable time with some of my cousins from Southern California. Their parents attended Pentecostal churches. They were Evangelists and they called me their favourite heathen. Their parents watched carefully to make sure that they didn’t start to believe the same things as I did and that they tried to “enlighten” me. This is not evangelism.
Evangelism is sharing the good news of God’s love in the way we act, both inside and outside of these walls. Evangelism is helping others to realize that God loves them too, that they are never alone. Evangelism is about opening ourselves up and letting others see what God has done for us.
At the end of October, we will be celebrating Back to Church Sunday. Evangelism is what this celebration is all about.
It is not about letting people know how much they need our church in their community. It is not about trying to build up dwindling numbers. It is definitely not about improving the offering.
Back to Church Sunday is about they shepherd going out in search of that one lost sheep. It is about going out to find that one precious person of God who is ready to see God’s love.
If even one person discovers the love of God, we will have succeeded whether that person comes to church with us or not.
If we can keep God’s love in our hearts and truly believe that God loves everyone, we will be a place where they want to come when they are ready.
Thanks be to God.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Saint Mary the Virgin
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
In the Anglican Church here in Canada, we have a book called For All the Saints. It lists all of those saints that we recognize and celebrate during the church year. In our tradition, we translate or shift most of these saints’ days off of Sundays. We do this because Sunday is the Lord’s Day and that comes first.
Since we usually don’t come together on weekdays anymore, this means that we don’t celebrate many saints’ days, with a very few notable exceptions.
There is one time when we are allowed to shift a saint’s day onto a Sunday. We can do this with our patronal saint; the saint that our church is named for. I missed doing that this year but I will try to remember for next year.
Then there are nine feast days that we celebrate on Sundays when they happen to fall on a Sunday. Five of these nine days help us to remember particular events in Jesus’ life.
The other four days we celebrate saints who are particularly important to the Christian tradition. We celebrate the birth of Saint John the Baptist. We celebrate Saint Peter and Saint Paul. We celebrate Saint Mary the Virgin. And we celebrate Saint Michael and All Angels.
Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint Mary the Virgin. I am going to read to you what For All the Saints has to say about Saint Mary the Virgin.
Saint Mary the Virgin 15 August
Holy Day
August
Mary is honoured because she was the Mother of Jesus Christ, the Son of God — and because the Gospels testify that she was a virgin when she conceived and gave him birth. Their witness to such a wonder has generated much of the devotion that is paid to her. But it is not the only reason, for the evangelists also portray her as the archetype of all the people of God and the person who leads their praises of the Almighty.
In Luke’s account of the Annunciation, Mary was perplexed by the meaning of God’s word to her and yet chose to accept the wondrous service which it ordained her to accomplish. After the birth of her son, Mary continued to be puzzled whenever she met with a further sign of his divine origin or with hints of what he was meant to do. But she was always patient in her puzzlement; in Luke’s words, “Mary treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.” The fruit of her pondering may be reflected in the fact that all the evangelists say that she followed her son from Galilee to Jerusalem and stood with the small company of women who witnessed his crucifixion. The Book of Acts adds that, after the resurrection, she shared in the disciples’ community of prayer and watched with them for the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
An ancient tradition testifies that Mary was taken up in glory as soon as she died, and Christian devotion has never begrudged her the place of highest honour in the presence of God. It has delighted in the conviction that she who responded to God’s perplexing call with praise must already enjoy the reward of faith — and that she who gave the Son of God his human life has received all the fullness of the eternal life which he was born to give.
Mary has been important to our understanding of Christ from the very birth of our church. She shows us again and again what it means to adore God.
She is always a little bit confused when she sees signs of God’s presence in her son and in the world around her. She doesn’t understand quite what it is all about.
This is very important. God is more than we can imagine. God is different than we can imagine. We can hope to understand something about our relationship with God, but we will never fully understand God.
Mary’s response to her puzzlement is just as important. She doesn’t get frustrated. She doesn’t turn away or deny what she sees.
She brings her experience into her heart and lives with it. She thinks about it. She tries to make sense of it.
But most of all, she loves it. She treasures every contact she has with God.
By the grace of God, may we do the same.
Thanks be to God.
In the Anglican Church here in Canada, we have a book called For All the Saints. It lists all of those saints that we recognize and celebrate during the church year. In our tradition, we translate or shift most of these saints’ days off of Sundays. We do this because Sunday is the Lord’s Day and that comes first.
Since we usually don’t come together on weekdays anymore, this means that we don’t celebrate many saints’ days, with a very few notable exceptions.
There is one time when we are allowed to shift a saint’s day onto a Sunday. We can do this with our patronal saint; the saint that our church is named for. I missed doing that this year but I will try to remember for next year.
Then there are nine feast days that we celebrate on Sundays when they happen to fall on a Sunday. Five of these nine days help us to remember particular events in Jesus’ life.
The other four days we celebrate saints who are particularly important to the Christian tradition. We celebrate the birth of Saint John the Baptist. We celebrate Saint Peter and Saint Paul. We celebrate Saint Mary the Virgin. And we celebrate Saint Michael and All Angels.
Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint Mary the Virgin. I am going to read to you what For All the Saints has to say about Saint Mary the Virgin.
Saint Mary the Virgin 15 August
Holy Day
August
Mary is honoured because she was the Mother of Jesus Christ, the Son of God — and because the Gospels testify that she was a virgin when she conceived and gave him birth. Their witness to such a wonder has generated much of the devotion that is paid to her. But it is not the only reason, for the evangelists also portray her as the archetype of all the people of God and the person who leads their praises of the Almighty.
In Luke’s account of the Annunciation, Mary was perplexed by the meaning of God’s word to her and yet chose to accept the wondrous service which it ordained her to accomplish. After the birth of her son, Mary continued to be puzzled whenever she met with a further sign of his divine origin or with hints of what he was meant to do. But she was always patient in her puzzlement; in Luke’s words, “Mary treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.” The fruit of her pondering may be reflected in the fact that all the evangelists say that she followed her son from Galilee to Jerusalem and stood with the small company of women who witnessed his crucifixion. The Book of Acts adds that, after the resurrection, she shared in the disciples’ community of prayer and watched with them for the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
An ancient tradition testifies that Mary was taken up in glory as soon as she died, and Christian devotion has never begrudged her the place of highest honour in the presence of God. It has delighted in the conviction that she who responded to God’s perplexing call with praise must already enjoy the reward of faith — and that she who gave the Son of God his human life has received all the fullness of the eternal life which he was born to give.
Mary has been important to our understanding of Christ from the very birth of our church. She shows us again and again what it means to adore God.
She is always a little bit confused when she sees signs of God’s presence in her son and in the world around her. She doesn’t understand quite what it is all about.
This is very important. God is more than we can imagine. God is different than we can imagine. We can hope to understand something about our relationship with God, but we will never fully understand God.
Mary’s response to her puzzlement is just as important. She doesn’t get frustrated. She doesn’t turn away or deny what she sees.
She brings her experience into her heart and lives with it. She thinks about it. She tries to make sense of it.
But most of all, she loves it. She treasures every contact she has with God.
By the grace of God, may we do the same.
Thanks be to God.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Give Me Oil In My Lamp
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit.”
God is calling us to be ready to serve at any time. God is calling us to be watching at all times for the need. God is calling us at all times to be aware of his presence.
I don’t know about you, but I find that everything I do takes some of my energy. By the time I have done everything that I need to do I have very little energy left.
Always watching, always being ready to act, this could take up all of my energy all by itself. How am I, how are we, supposed to find the energy to do this and to do everything else we have to do? It’s hard enough to find the energy to plan some time for God each day, but God is asking us to devote all of our time to him, or at least to be ready to jump in when needed and be aware enough to notice the need.
I just don’t have the energy to do that.
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
God wants us to do this. God wants us to notice when he is acting in our lives. God must have given us some way to do this. But how?
I think we need help. When we need help from God, what do we do?
Yes – we pray!
I think I know just the right prayer for to ask God to help us stay vigilant. It is a song called “Give me oil in my lamp.” I’m going to sing the verse to you first, then we will all repeat it. I’ll do the same for the refrain. Then we will sing the whole thing over a few times.
Teach:
Give me oil in my lamp,
Keep me burnin’, burnin’, burnin’
Give me oil in my lamp I pray – Halelujah
Give me oil in my lamp,
Keep me burnin’, burnin’, burnin’,
Keep me burnin’ ‘til the end of day.
Sing Hosanna,
Sing Hosanna,
Sing Hosanna to the King of kings,
Sing Hosanna,
Sing Hosanna,
Sing Hosanna to the King
Amen.
“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit.”
God is calling us to be ready to serve at any time. God is calling us to be watching at all times for the need. God is calling us at all times to be aware of his presence.
I don’t know about you, but I find that everything I do takes some of my energy. By the time I have done everything that I need to do I have very little energy left.
Always watching, always being ready to act, this could take up all of my energy all by itself. How am I, how are we, supposed to find the energy to do this and to do everything else we have to do? It’s hard enough to find the energy to plan some time for God each day, but God is asking us to devote all of our time to him, or at least to be ready to jump in when needed and be aware enough to notice the need.
I just don’t have the energy to do that.
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
God wants us to do this. God wants us to notice when he is acting in our lives. God must have given us some way to do this. But how?
I think we need help. When we need help from God, what do we do?
Yes – we pray!
I think I know just the right prayer for to ask God to help us stay vigilant. It is a song called “Give me oil in my lamp.” I’m going to sing the verse to you first, then we will all repeat it. I’ll do the same for the refrain. Then we will sing the whole thing over a few times.
Teach:
Give me oil in my lamp,
Keep me burnin’, burnin’, burnin’
Give me oil in my lamp I pray – Halelujah
Give me oil in my lamp,
Keep me burnin’, burnin’, burnin’,
Keep me burnin’ ‘til the end of day.
Sing Hosanna,
Sing Hosanna,
Sing Hosanna to the King of kings,
Sing Hosanna,
Sing Hosanna,
Sing Hosanna to the King
Amen.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
God's Trust in our Stewardship
I speak to you in the name of the one true and living God. Amen.
I talk quite often about how much God loves us. My faith in God’s love gives me great comfort. God’s love does not depend on our actions. God does not just love us when we are being good. God loves us when we are doing evil. God loves those who have faith. God loves those who disbelieve. God became human and died on the cross for all of people. For people just like you and me, complete with all of our flaws. God loves us, every one.
But what does this love look like? How about this: Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." 27 So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
For those who are curious, that is from the end of the first chapter of Genesis.
That is quite the vote of confidence. Not only did God use herself as the mold for us, he gave us dominion over everything else in creation. That’s pretty heady stuff.
God trusted us to have dominion over all of creation. God trusts us to rule over it. God trusts us to take care of it. God trusts us to use it wisely.
Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God's mysteries. 2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. – The beginning of chapter 4 of first Corinthians.
More heady stuff. Through Christ, we not only have dominion over creation. We also are stewards of God’s mysteries. Once again, we are shown God’s amazing trust in us. But this time our responsibility is set down as well. As stewards, we are required to be trustworthy.
That’s what our Gospel is about today. What does it mean to be a trustworthy steward of God’s gifts to us; of our inheritance?
Does it mean that we should store up our gifts? Save as much as we can for a day when we have little to give? Should we “tear down our barns and build larger ones, and there store all our grain and goods?”
That would be the frugal thing to do, but it isn’t good stewardship. Stewardship is about the good use of our gifts, not about the storage of them.
Our Gospel today talks about one other aspect of stewardship.
The rich man in our reading makes a crucial mistake. He believes that physical possessions, or material wealth, can satisfy his inner being, his very soul.
No amount of stored wealth can do that. We may delude ourselves into believing that it is so, but it just isn’t.
True satisfaction, the fulfillment we feel in deep in our hearts, only comes from action. It is in the moment and it is another gift from God. It doesn’t do any good to store it up. Saving it only makes it smaller.
There’s a funny thing that happens when we practice this kind of stewardship. When we choose to give a portion to do God’s work: a portion of our time, a portion of our wealth, a portion of our hearts, what is left over is somehow more that we started with. When we show God that we are worthy of his trust, God shows us just how much he has to give.
Thanks be to God.
I talk quite often about how much God loves us. My faith in God’s love gives me great comfort. God’s love does not depend on our actions. God does not just love us when we are being good. God loves us when we are doing evil. God loves those who have faith. God loves those who disbelieve. God became human and died on the cross for all of people. For people just like you and me, complete with all of our flaws. God loves us, every one.
But what does this love look like? How about this: Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." 27 So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
For those who are curious, that is from the end of the first chapter of Genesis.
That is quite the vote of confidence. Not only did God use herself as the mold for us, he gave us dominion over everything else in creation. That’s pretty heady stuff.
God trusted us to have dominion over all of creation. God trusts us to rule over it. God trusts us to take care of it. God trusts us to use it wisely.
Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God's mysteries. 2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. – The beginning of chapter 4 of first Corinthians.
More heady stuff. Through Christ, we not only have dominion over creation. We also are stewards of God’s mysteries. Once again, we are shown God’s amazing trust in us. But this time our responsibility is set down as well. As stewards, we are required to be trustworthy.
That’s what our Gospel is about today. What does it mean to be a trustworthy steward of God’s gifts to us; of our inheritance?
Does it mean that we should store up our gifts? Save as much as we can for a day when we have little to give? Should we “tear down our barns and build larger ones, and there store all our grain and goods?”
That would be the frugal thing to do, but it isn’t good stewardship. Stewardship is about the good use of our gifts, not about the storage of them.
Our Gospel today talks about one other aspect of stewardship.
The rich man in our reading makes a crucial mistake. He believes that physical possessions, or material wealth, can satisfy his inner being, his very soul.
No amount of stored wealth can do that. We may delude ourselves into believing that it is so, but it just isn’t.
True satisfaction, the fulfillment we feel in deep in our hearts, only comes from action. It is in the moment and it is another gift from God. It doesn’t do any good to store it up. Saving it only makes it smaller.
There’s a funny thing that happens when we practice this kind of stewardship. When we choose to give a portion to do God’s work: a portion of our time, a portion of our wealth, a portion of our hearts, what is left over is somehow more that we started with. When we show God that we are worthy of his trust, God shows us just how much he has to give.
Thanks be to God.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
The Power of Prayer
I speak to you in the name of the One True and Living God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
I will start by warning you that I am hoping for answers to the questions I ask today. Is that okay with you?
…
Second question: Why do we pray?
- Thank God
- Ask for help
o For ourselves
o For others we know
o For certain groups
- Guidance
- Mad at God or someone else
- To find peace
- To get closer to God
…
Who prays?
- Christians …
- Prayer is common to virtually all of the world’s religions in some for or other
…
How do we pray?
- Prayers written by someone else
o Prayers of the people
o The Lord’s Prayer
o The psalms
o Hymns
- Prayers we create ourselves
- Silently
- In groups like church
- Alone
- With some focus to help us
o Incense
o Prayer beads
o A cross
o Something we see that reminds us of God (Nature, Children)
o A labyrinth
- Standing, Sitting, Kneeling, Walking
…
What do we expect to accomplish through prayer?
- A closer relationship with God
- An improvement in our life
- An improvement in someone else’s life
- Not necessarily what we asked for
…
Can we see the effects of our prayers?
- Sometimes
- Often not
…
I am going to go back over the questions now and let you know what I came up with as a single answer for each of them.
Why do we pray? I believe that we pray because we have faith in God. Because of that faith, we are drawn into conversation with God.
Who prays? Everyone prays whether they intend to or not, whether they believe in God or believe that there is no God. Every time we notice something amazing we are praying. Every time we have concern for someone who we can’t directly help, we are praying. Just by being human, reacting as God intended to the world around us, we are praying.
How do we pray? There are as many different ways to pray as there are people on the Earth. I don’t believe any two people pray in exactly the same way. Just as each person’s relationship with God is unique, each person’s way of talking with God is unique.
What do we expect to accomplish through prayer? To make the world a better place. Every time we pray, we are working to bring the Kingdom of God more fully into the world. We may not accomplish exactly what we prayed for, but we do bring the world closer to God.
Can we see the effects of our prayers? I vary rarely see the direct effect of any single prayer. What I have noticed is that when my prayer life is healthy, my life is richer as are the lives of those I come in contact with. When I am lax in my prayers, I don’t do as well and neither do the rest of my family and all those I love.
Prayer is a powerful mystery and a gift from God.
This past week, to help myself with my challenge from two weeks ago, I wrote a prayer. I am going to pass out bookmarks now with that prayer on them. Once everyone has one, I would ask that we all repeat that prayer together to help each other make the world a better place.
(Hand them out)
Almighty God, you created all things and appointed me as a steward of your creation. Help me to find the time each day to remember what you have given me. Help me to give thanks. Help me to hear your call to service. I ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and my Saviour. Amen.
I will start by warning you that I am hoping for answers to the questions I ask today. Is that okay with you?
…
Second question: Why do we pray?
- Thank God
- Ask for help
o For ourselves
o For others we know
o For certain groups
- Guidance
- Mad at God or someone else
- To find peace
- To get closer to God
…
Who prays?
- Christians …
- Prayer is common to virtually all of the world’s religions in some for or other
…
How do we pray?
- Prayers written by someone else
o Prayers of the people
o The Lord’s Prayer
o The psalms
o Hymns
- Prayers we create ourselves
- Silently
- In groups like church
- Alone
- With some focus to help us
o Incense
o Prayer beads
o A cross
o Something we see that reminds us of God (Nature, Children)
o A labyrinth
- Standing, Sitting, Kneeling, Walking
…
What do we expect to accomplish through prayer?
- A closer relationship with God
- An improvement in our life
- An improvement in someone else’s life
- Not necessarily what we asked for
…
Can we see the effects of our prayers?
- Sometimes
- Often not
…
I am going to go back over the questions now and let you know what I came up with as a single answer for each of them.
Why do we pray? I believe that we pray because we have faith in God. Because of that faith, we are drawn into conversation with God.
Who prays? Everyone prays whether they intend to or not, whether they believe in God or believe that there is no God. Every time we notice something amazing we are praying. Every time we have concern for someone who we can’t directly help, we are praying. Just by being human, reacting as God intended to the world around us, we are praying.
How do we pray? There are as many different ways to pray as there are people on the Earth. I don’t believe any two people pray in exactly the same way. Just as each person’s relationship with God is unique, each person’s way of talking with God is unique.
What do we expect to accomplish through prayer? To make the world a better place. Every time we pray, we are working to bring the Kingdom of God more fully into the world. We may not accomplish exactly what we prayed for, but we do bring the world closer to God.
Can we see the effects of our prayers? I vary rarely see the direct effect of any single prayer. What I have noticed is that when my prayer life is healthy, my life is richer as are the lives of those I come in contact with. When I am lax in my prayers, I don’t do as well and neither do the rest of my family and all those I love.
Prayer is a powerful mystery and a gift from God.
This past week, to help myself with my challenge from two weeks ago, I wrote a prayer. I am going to pass out bookmarks now with that prayer on them. Once everyone has one, I would ask that we all repeat that prayer together to help each other make the world a better place.
(Hand them out)
Almighty God, you created all things and appointed me as a steward of your creation. Help me to find the time each day to remember what you have given me. Help me to give thanks. Help me to hear your call to service. I ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and my Saviour. Amen.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Martha and Mary and what is truly important
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Now as I was reading todays Gospel, I entered into a certain passage where a woman named Martha beckoned me deeper.
I love readings about Martha, Mary and Lazarus. They always have something to say about our strengths and weaknesses. They talk about how we are different. They talk about what it means to be human.
Last time we met Martha we were late in Lent and we were reading from the Gospel of John. Both today’s story and the one from John are almost certainly based on the same earlier source. In both stories Martha is serving dinner and Mary is sitting at Jesus’ feet. But our two writers use this beginning to tell us something very different about ourselves.
During Lent we talked about how Martha was the organizer and doer, Mary was the visionary, and Lazarus was the one willing to die so that Jesus could work through him.
In today’s story, we only have Martha and Mary. Lazarus stays well out of the picture. Martha’s part in this story is very similar. She is rushing around trying to make everything ready for supper. She is distracted and she has too much to do. And all the while she is rushing around, Mary is sitting at Jesus’ feet, listening to him talk.
When Martha starts complaining about Mary just sitting there while Martha is doing all the work, I find myself identifying with Martha. I can put myself in her sandals very easily. Especially right now, with Victoria away, I find myself rushing around trying to get everything done. I find myself torn between wanting Rosa and Paul to help me get things done and wanting them to sit and watch some TV so they won’t get in the way and make everything take longer. There is always something that needs to be done and never enough time to do it.
So what is Jesus’ response to Martha’s complaint? He says to her “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Well, what does that mean for us? Does it mean that we should all drop everything we are doing and sit listening for what Jesus has to say for us?
No – or at least not all of the time. Jesus did not tell Martha that she should drop what she was doing and join Mary. He told her not to stop Mary from what she was doing.
What Jesus was telling Martha is that what we think is necessary is not the same thing as what really is necessary. All of the work that Martha was doing was important and was worthy of being done, but in the big picture of the Kingdom of God, none of it was necessary. The only thing that is truly necessary from that point of view is our relationship with God. What Mary was doing was the most important. She was taking Sabbath time. She was listening to God.
That reminds me …. How is everyone doing in my challenge? -- I didn’t do so well this past week. I think I managed about three out of seven days, maybe four. I hope to be able to report a better result next week.
Remember, the challenge is to take time once each day to do something for God which doesn’t directly benefit you. This can’t be something you already do. It should be something new. Just spend at least ten minutes each day to show God that we remember that we have dedicated our lives to God.
Last week we read “Thou shalt love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.” I think that should include one more bit.
Thou shalt love the Lord your God with at least a little bit of your time!
I give thanks to God for his infinite patience. I pray that God will help be to be less distracted by my business and to find the time to sit back and listen to what God has to say.
Now as I was reading todays Gospel, I entered into a certain passage where a woman named Martha beckoned me deeper.
I love readings about Martha, Mary and Lazarus. They always have something to say about our strengths and weaknesses. They talk about how we are different. They talk about what it means to be human.
Last time we met Martha we were late in Lent and we were reading from the Gospel of John. Both today’s story and the one from John are almost certainly based on the same earlier source. In both stories Martha is serving dinner and Mary is sitting at Jesus’ feet. But our two writers use this beginning to tell us something very different about ourselves.
During Lent we talked about how Martha was the organizer and doer, Mary was the visionary, and Lazarus was the one willing to die so that Jesus could work through him.
In today’s story, we only have Martha and Mary. Lazarus stays well out of the picture. Martha’s part in this story is very similar. She is rushing around trying to make everything ready for supper. She is distracted and she has too much to do. And all the while she is rushing around, Mary is sitting at Jesus’ feet, listening to him talk.
When Martha starts complaining about Mary just sitting there while Martha is doing all the work, I find myself identifying with Martha. I can put myself in her sandals very easily. Especially right now, with Victoria away, I find myself rushing around trying to get everything done. I find myself torn between wanting Rosa and Paul to help me get things done and wanting them to sit and watch some TV so they won’t get in the way and make everything take longer. There is always something that needs to be done and never enough time to do it.
So what is Jesus’ response to Martha’s complaint? He says to her “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Well, what does that mean for us? Does it mean that we should all drop everything we are doing and sit listening for what Jesus has to say for us?
No – or at least not all of the time. Jesus did not tell Martha that she should drop what she was doing and join Mary. He told her not to stop Mary from what she was doing.
What Jesus was telling Martha is that what we think is necessary is not the same thing as what really is necessary. All of the work that Martha was doing was important and was worthy of being done, but in the big picture of the Kingdom of God, none of it was necessary. The only thing that is truly necessary from that point of view is our relationship with God. What Mary was doing was the most important. She was taking Sabbath time. She was listening to God.
That reminds me …. How is everyone doing in my challenge? -- I didn’t do so well this past week. I think I managed about three out of seven days, maybe four. I hope to be able to report a better result next week.
Remember, the challenge is to take time once each day to do something for God which doesn’t directly benefit you. This can’t be something you already do. It should be something new. Just spend at least ten minutes each day to show God that we remember that we have dedicated our lives to God.
Last week we read “Thou shalt love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.” I think that should include one more bit.
Thou shalt love the Lord your God with at least a little bit of your time!
I give thanks to God for his infinite patience. I pray that God will help be to be less distracted by my business and to find the time to sit back and listen to what God has to say.
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