Mismanaging Money

Proper20C, Sullivan Park Care Center, September 22, 2013, by Sr Annette Fricke, OP  Also preached on September 25, 2014 at The Cathedral of St John the Evangelist, Spokane, WA

                Frederick Buechner wrote in his book, The Longing for Home, "We search for a good self to be and for good work to do. We search to become human in a world that tempts us always to be less than human or looks to us to be more. We search to love and be loved. And in a world where it is often hard to believe in much of anything, we search to believe in something holy and beautiful and life-transcending that will give meaning and purpose to the lives we live."

            We search for a good self to be and for good work to do. That is a point of view I think most of us would endorse. We seek to be reasonable, ethical citizens of the world who seek out work that is suitable to what we feel we can do with the gifts and talents that God has given us. As we age and circumstances change, what we previously worked at as an occupation or way of life may take on a different form.  We may, for example, pursue what may have been only a hobby in the past or only a curiosity.  Some see getting older as the freedom to pursue other interests or to teach and mentor the young, guiding them in their search for a meaningful vocation.

But our gospel text assigned to this day has us shaking our heads. We are accustomed to texts, which in our minds, are supposed to give us a picture of the kingdom of God.  Jesus’ stories are usually a bit more straightforward than this one.  We also do not have the luxury of finding a parallel in another gospel to elucidate its meaning.  There is none.  Luke is the only one with this story. But here it is.  This is a gospel text that baffles many.  Even those who write commentaries on the meaning of these texts label this one as a tough nut to crack. This one simply does not make sense.  It seems to be quite the opposite; quite mind boggling because, on the surface, what we see in this text is a very selfish man who does everything he can to take advantage of his boss financially. Most of us would not do what this man does because we would fear being fired because we see what he does as being immoral. In modern times, what he does is commonly known as embezzlement which is subject to paying back the employer and imprisonment. Such an employment situation can go on for years before it is finalized between the insurance companies and the embezzler. That part of the story does make sense to us and the man is fired.  What follows this does not make sense.  The man who “cooked the books” so to speak is asked to straighten them out. Why would a person even have opportunity to do anything with his job after he is fired? Or want to? Am I wrong or isn’t that usually what the person does who is hired in his place? The story clearly lacks logic and that is why, previous to now, I have never preached on this text.

            You might explain this text by saying that perhaps this man had a change of heart and that is what living in God’s kingdom is all about.  He made a mess of things by selfishly taking money for himself that belonged to his employer. Similarly, we are called to repent of our sins, which is a change of heart, and try to do better which is the forgiveness of debt to his master’s clients. Luke actually does inform us later that this story was told to the Pharisees who are lovers of money. The meaning that Luke attaches to this story is, as he addresses the Pharisees, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others; but God knows your hearts; for what is prized by human beings is an abomination in the sight of God.”  Doesn’t this correspond to the second part of the Buechner’s text? “We search to become human in a world that tempts us always to be less than human or looks to us to be more.”

            In Luke, we hear this theme of self-justification over and over.  Think about the story of the Good Samaritan.  It begins with someone who would like to justify himself by doing the works of the law.  Jesus quickly points out that we do not possess salvation by playing that game in life. The temptation is always there. What are our priorities? Two Sundays ago, the gospel text read, “…none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.”  Whom or what do I serve?  Are our lives revolving around money or possessions or our own way of thinking?  Do we cling with such tenacity that we rarely think of nothing or nobody else? Are we seeking the mercy and justice of God in the world or are we allowing some or most other things to take our focus away from serving God?

            If you are looking only with literal eyes to interpret this gospel, you will only see it as being addressed to a rich man and therefore only applies to rich men.  If you see it thus, you will see that it does not apply to you and you can dismiss it’s teaching.  Either you are not a man or you are not rich—or both.  But the truth is that all of us have the resources of richness.  We all have the ability to be the compassion and justice of God to everyone around us, even if we are unable to travel far. Your world, small as it may be, confined to a small living space of just a few feet or a small neighborhood out of which you venture on rare occasions, is God’s.  God invites you to work for justice and peace in that neighborhood as though you were Jesus and doing as Jesus would.  It does not always mean being nice, but it does mean always seeking justice for the poor; both the poor in spirit as well as those unable to provide a living for themselves.  We always have something we can give to others. The point of this parable is that we are to make the most of our resources.  If we have the talent of gathering resources from others, that is also commendable.  God calls us to right the wrongs of the world, a world that is filled with many people clamoring to be recognized for self-achievement or how well they managed to make money.  We need to beware as to how we represent Christ and follow him, not the poor examples in our world.  We need to ask ourselves, “What are the needs?” and “How can I help?” in every moment of encounter with another person. You never know when one kind act or one kind word will change a life forever.  And the same goes for any life event, even when what we view as negative life events happen to us, if we are open to the possibilities, it may change us. The opportunity is always there for us to change our minds and do something we never did before. Even when someone we love very much dies, we can choose to see it only as a loss or as an opportunity or blessing to move forward.  God has blessed us with many gifts.  It is up to us to use them and up to us to receive the gracious gifts of others. As John Wesley has so eloquently put it, “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”  We are to make friends with the poor in our midst, for we never know when the tables will be turned and we may be in need of their help.  Do not deceive yourselves into thinking that you are self-sufficient. We search to love and be loved. And in a world where it is often hard to believe in much of anything, we search to believe in something holy and beautiful and life-transcending that will give meaning and purpose to the lives we live. That something holy and beautiful and life-transcending is what I call God. I invite you to take that leap of faith once more and fully put your trust in God who gives in order that you may receive God’s love for you and may distribute that love to all of God’s creatures.  God who loves you is faithful and sent his Son to sacrifice his life on the cross as the seal of a love that remains eternal.
* this sermon can be found on Youtube at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFZQzSc7ZKo

Costly Discipleship

Proper18C, Sullivan Park Care Center, September 8, 2013, by Annette Fricke

            A now, made quite popular way of praying, is posted on Facebook.  It is the new Pope Francis’ simple way to pray that he taught before becoming the current pope. It is a simple method, not dependent on any other tool than ones hand.  It goes like this: 1) The thumb is the closest finger to you.  So start praying for those who are closest to you.  They are the persons easiest to remember.  To pray for our dear ones is a “sweet obligation.” 2) The next finger is the index.  Pray for those who teach you, instruct you and heal you.  They need the support and wisdom to show direction to others.  Always keep them in your prayers. 3) The following finger is the tallest.  It reminds us of our leaders, the governors and those who have authority.  They need God’s guidance. 4) The fourth finger is the ring finger. Even that may surprise you.  It is our weakest finger.  It should remind us to pray for the weakest, the sick or those plagued by problems.  They need your prayers.  5) And finally we have our smallest finger, the smallest of all.  Your pinkie should remind you to pray for yourself.  When you are done praying for the other four groups, you will be able to see your own needs but in the proper perspective, and also you will be able to pray for your own needs in a better way.

            Proper perspective is what we all need to keep in mind when we aspire to be a disciple of Jesus. Purely and simply, the gospel text for today is all about the cost of discipleship.  There just happens to be a whole book about that subject written by a man who lived out that cost.  His name was Dietrich Bonhoeffer. One of the first things that Dietrich warns against is reflection.  Remember the Pharisees?  The Pharisees were so caught up in reflecting on the law in order to illuminate it that in fact, they obscured it. We see it today in the places where local citizens insist on displaying the Ten Commandments.  Along with many others, I wonder why those should be displayed in a public place?  Why not exhibit the Beatitudes instead?  Wouldn’t that be more in line with the New Testament interpretation we have from Jesus? The meaning of beatitudes is one of an "exclamation of the inner joy and peace that comes with being right with God".[1] It is Jesus who makes us right with God. This whole section in chapter fourteen of Luke’s gospel, today’s assigned gospel text, is about the individual.  Each person stands before God by him or herself.  And because we stand by ourselves, we need the mediator Jesus Christ.  We are not able to approach God without Jesus because we are not capable of keeping the letter of the law as it is written in the Ten Commandments.  That is why Jesus is so critical of the Pharisees, because they don’t seem to understand that.  We are not able to stand on our own. Jesus is the way to stand before God because Jesus supplies the way to a right relationship with God which means keeping the spirit of the law.  The spirit of the law is to attach ourselves to Jesus and to be committed to Jesus’ way of relating which is centering all our preaching, teaching, and healing in a prayerful relationship with God. We are to put others head of us, therefore the last person we pray for is ourselves.  Our prayers and our actions are mutually interactive.  It is difficult if not impossible to be angry with a person when we are in constant prayer for that person.

            So what then are we to make of this text? You must love Jesus above all else in order to be his disciple.  That’s what it means to hate your relatives and to hate yourself.  That is what it means when he says to carry the cross.  It means that our total loyalty to Jesus means that we must be prepared to suffer martyrdom for Jesus and the sake of the kingdom of God.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer did just that, and his struggle was also that of keeping one of the Ten Commandments versus joining in a plot to kill Hitler.  It was when he finally decided that it was a lesser evil to be involved in the annihilation of Hitler rather than allow the commandment of “Do not kill” to cloud what he finally chose to be the best choice, a situation of two evils.  Yet despite his decision, in the end, he still felt the guilt of longing for the death of another human being. Bonhoeffer never saw himself as a martyr.

            I think that the reason that many people are attracted to the use of the Ten Commandments is because it is concrete and gives very specific directives as to what we should not do in regards to our neighbor.  The problem comes when we divorce the commandments from the overall positive command to love God and our neighbor.  When we start being specific, we limit our sense of wrong to a cultural setting.  The Ten Commandments were written during a time when men were allowed to have wives and concubines as well as slaves.  We no longer live in that world view.  We are better off to follow the broader application of whatever it takes to have a positive relationship to God and neighbor—to make peace and to be merciful, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you---Do to others as you would have them do to you.  These are not culturally determined.  They apply today just as much as they applied in Jesus’ time.  They are commands and we are to take them seriously and whole-heartedly.  Commands imply that we are called to obedience.

            In his book, “The Cost of Discipleship,” Dietrich Bonhoeffer talks about the difference between cheap grace and costly grace.  Cheap grace is forgiveness which does not ask for repentance or a change in one’s behavior.  It is merely an intellectual assent to belief in God’s grace.  It costs nothing and discipleship has no behavioral corollary.  It is like going to church, hearing the words that we are forgiven, and then leaving as if nothing happened and there are no expectations beyond the walls of the church. When we do this, we are in fact, forgetting what discipleship is all about.  We are listening to Jesus’ command to “Follow me,” but assenting to discipleship only if we are allowed to continue to feel comfortable.  Discipleship with Jesus is not about feeling comfortable.

            This text is about sacrifice which in essence is about priorities.  We each have a limited amount of time each day.  How do we decide to spend that time?  How much time do we allot to prayer, to Bible study, to being the hands of Jesus to our neighbor?  Have we counted the cost of discipleship?  Do we invite others to church?

            If we truly desire to follow Jesus, do we not need to remind ourselves daily to follow Jesus into that path of being his disciple?  Following Jesus means we must follow in perseverance, knowing that all is possible including persecution for our beliefs and chosen behavior.  But there is infinite reward knowing that God will see us through in every step.  It is God who goes with us through every stormy trial, no matter how turbulent. Even in a nursing facility, such as this one, simply showing compassion on someone who has lost a husband or wife by giving them your condolences in either public or private goes a long way.  It lets people know that you care about their time of grief. It is good discipleship.  Jesus also grieved when he lost his friend Lazarus.  The depths of loss are better shared.

           

If you want to follow Jesus, you must deal with the cost of discipleship.  And what is that cost?  That cost is that you decide to whole-heartedly follow his lead every day of your life, never looking back but always forward, reaching out with the hand of mercy. Amen.

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[1] Ross, Allen. "The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12) An Exposition of the Gospel of Matthew". Retrieved September 4, 2013.

Insatiable Appetites

Allow me to read to you the verses that the revised common lectionary left out of today’s gospel reading.  “Just then, in front of him, there was a man who had dropsy.  And Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, ‘Is it lawful to cure people on the Sabbath, or not?’ But they were silent.  So Jesus took him and healed him, and sent him away. Then he said to them, ‘If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a Sabbath day?  And they could not reply to this.’  And to this I add the end of verse 1, “…they were watching him closely.”

            This omitted text caught my eye as I vividly remember giving care to a woman who had this condition in our skilled nursing section.  I don’t even remember her name, but I do remember how swollen her body was.  Her hands, her arms, her legs, and her feet were all puffed up.  To look upon her even with the limited medical knowledge I had, I knew that she did not have long to live.  Every time I put her to bed, I said to myself, “Be careful when you take off the sleeves on her arms and the hose on her legs.  Be very careful.” Dropsy is mentioned only in Luke, nowhere else in the gospels. Today this medical condition is known as edema.  It is often a symptom of congestive heart failure or kidney failure. In the legs, where it is most commonly found, it is treated with the use of known as compression hose or Ted hose and/or diuretics.  Diuretics are drugs that are meant to take the extra fluids out. It is a substance or drug that tends to increase the discharge of urine.

            Just as dropsy is mentioned only in Luke, so also only in Luke does Jesus actually eat with the Pharisees.  Because of these distinctions, we can safely assume that there is a purpose as to why Luke puts this story about a man with dropsy just before he tells a parable about seating arrangements at dinners. Having dropsy means this: a person is waterlogged, accompanied by an unquenchable craving for drink.  It is a metaphor for an insatiable desire, previously viewed as a moral failing, but today would more likely be seen as a disease or mental disorder.  Notice the contrast.  Jesus is viewed as both glutton and drunkard by the Pharisees, but Jesus’ view of them is that they have an insatiable desire to be recognized and honored, always wanting the seat of honor at dinners. They have enough; in fact, more than enough but still crave more. The same could be said of those who love money, the greedy, and predatory, those who live their lives as devouring, blood-sucking, leeching people.

            Notice that Jesus did not say that we should not honor people for their achievements.  That subject is not even addressed.  The whole point seems to be that of utter humility before God and before our neighbors.  We are not to flaunt our present or past accomplishments in hope of being recognized.  The only thing that really matters is the present.  What are we like to people in the present?  Are we caught in a quandary between ideals and wanting to please others?  When I visited my aunt in Bismarck, North Dakota last month, she said a couple of things that I thought to be contradictory.  She said that when my uncle (who was also her husband) last read a letter from the other side of our family, he was sickened.  He said he did not want to read any more; no more letters from his cousin in Washington, because all the couple ever wrote about anymore was how rich they were.  And then, as I was leaving to travel to Jamestown, North Dakota her parting comment to me was that I should marry somebody who’s rich!  She was simply wishing me well, or was she?

            Coming back to Washington from North Dakota, my flight was delayed in Denver.  We sat on the tarmac for an hour and twenty minutes, waiting to be cleared for take-off due to lightening.  Time stood still.  In Seattle, I hurried off the plane, noticing that the mobile walkways had been turned off.  I bit the bullet, so to speak and put all my energy into getting to the final leg of my journey.  I had to race from Concourse A to Concourse C, from United to Alaska. The loudspeaker overhead announced that it was the last call and I was the last person to board the plane.  Someone was in my assigned seat. Oh yes, I was annoyed but thankful that the flight attendant quickly picked up my bag and eased it into position in the bin above my head.

            I was upset because I had paid for that seat. It was presumed that I would not make my flight, so the passenger who sat next to me for the remaining trip to Spokane assumed she could take my seat. Seating arrangements are still the norm of society, even in coach class on an airplane. Many of us want the security of knowing our place in the world, but when is enough sufficient? When do we dare to help out those who have less? Why is it that many of us remain unsatisfied and dwell on the regrets or should haves of our lives?  Why do we long for easier lives or what we perceive as easier lives? Why do the lives of the Pharisees look more appealing than that of Jesus?  Why do we crave position and power so much?  Because we don’t like the feeling of being vulnerable and living a life of uncertainty.  We don’t like being nobodies. We even try to convince ourselves that God is on our side and thinks like we do.  Guess what?  God is just the opposite.  Jesus says that the kingdom of God is like a dinner party in which everyone is invited, even those we don’t like or even despise.  God’s choice of who to honor above others may not be at all who we think it should be. The Pharisees were a leading, influential religious group who thought they were right with God yet they ignored the poor, the blind, and the lame, those with dropsy aka edema on the Sabbath because honoring the law of observing the Sabbath was more important than being kind to the lesser people.  They were proud as opposed to humble. They were right and made right by following the law. They were puffed up with pride as opposed to being a servant and helper to others in the community they considered to be least among humanity on the Sabbath.

            Jesus argued with them about the difference between the law and observance of the Sabbath and told them many times that showing mercy to others should always be observed, even on the Sabbath.

            We have a different situation today.  Today, keeping the Sabbath or attending church is seen as a choice among choices.  On my visit to Jamestown, one of mothers at a house we visited said she could not come to church this Sunday because her daughter had soccer practice. It is a world that believes in God in a very individualistic way, if at all.  A great majority of the people who live in this part of the US claim no church affiliation. What would Jesus say to us today?  How would he criticize the religious leaders of today?  How would he criticize his followers?  Are we any better than the Pharisees? There is much to do to bring about the changes needed to make a better society in the US as well as other countries. Violence continues in our streets and in our homes.

            We now commemorate the march on Washington DC made fifty years ago.  We look back to them and also to Abraham Lincoln and there is still much work to do to give our children the education opportunities needed to earn a decent living.  I have a dream that someday, we will not only learn to get along with each other, but work together to bring justice to all people. Those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

           

Giver of Good Gifts

GiverofGoodGiftsProper12C, Sullivan Park Care Center, July 28, 2013 by Annette Fricke

                Act as if what you do makes a difference.  It does. ~William James~ The devotional I follow on a regular basis, ‘For All the Saints’ this past week had this to say on the Lord’s Prayer: I cannot pray "Our" if my faith has no room for others and their need. I cannot pray "Father" if I do not demonstrate this relationship to God in my daily living. I cannot pray "who art in heaven" if all of my interests and pursuits are in earthly things. I cannot pray "hallowed be thy name" if I am not striving, with God's help, to be holy. I cannot pray "thy kingdom come" if I am unwilling to accept God's rule in my life. I cannot pray "thy will be done" if I am unwilling or resentful of having it in my life. I cannot pray "on earth as it is in Heaven" unless I am truly ready to give myself to God's service here and now. I cannot pray "give us this day our daily bread" without expending honest effort for it, or if I would withhold from my neighbor the bread that I receive. I cannot pray "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us" if I continue to harbor a grudge against anyone. I cannot pray "lead us not into temptation" if I deliberately choose to remain in a situation where I am likely to be tempted. I cannot pray "deliver us from evil" if I am not prepared to fight evil with my life and prayer. I cannot pray "thine is the kingdom" if I am unwilling to obey the King. I cannot pray "thine is the power and the glory" if I am seeking power for myself and my own glory first. I cannot pray "forever and ever" if I am too anxious about each day's affairs. I cannot pray "Amen" unless I honestly say, 'Cost what it may, this is my prayer.' This was written by the famous person known as Anonymous.

            The Lord’s Prayer or what some know as the Our Father or the Pater Noster has been prayed over and over so many times by most of us, that many times, I think we pray it like we are just going through the motions.  We know what we pray, yet sometimes it is just a hurried exercise to get to the end…like an obligation.  The point is, as a prescribed ritual, it becomes the ritual rather than the rich prayer it was meant to be.  Gerhard Ebeling, in his book about the Lord's Prayer, says on p. 4, "Today's text urges us to pray. That is help in the radical sense only when it does not urge us to a particular religious exercise but aids in bringing about what is absolutely necessary for life."  From time to time, we need a refresher on just what we are praying when we pray this prayer as well as to whom it is we are praying.

            First of all, the doxology, “for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever or forever and ever” are words that were added at a later date, most likely by Protestants.  Secondly, the whole prayer is about our relationship to God.  It is not a new prayer.  Pieces of this prayer had been said throughout Judaism.  Who is this God?  Is God in heaven above us or is God right here beside us?  When Jesus explains to us this prayer in the second part of our gospel text, he makes it very clear that 1) God is hospitable to us at any hour of night or day. 2) God expects, no commands us to prayer: asking, searching, and knocking and 3) God will give us good gifts, including the gift of the Holy Spirit just as a parent will give a child good gifts.  We pray in and with Jesus Christ.  Throughout the Gospel of Luke, we see that Jesus was a man of frequent prayer.  He sought to carry out God’s will and therefore was always in communication with God. He sought to be of service to the people around him. Jesus was in communication with God in a sense as child to parent. Jesus has closed the gap so to speak, and we too, can approach God in the same way as a child does a loving parent. Children pick up from their parents how to love and care for others.

            In a Christmas story called, “The True Gift,” we learn about a boy and his older sister who spend every winter break from school with their grandparents on a farm near a small town.  Liam and Lily are probably an updated version of what yours or my childhood was like, but I think this story illustrates an important point about what constitutes servant hood. When Liam returned to the farm this time, he noticed that there was just one cow.  The donkey that previously had been there was gone.  His grandfather said that the donkey was there only on a temporary basis and went back home with the return of its owner. Liam sensed that the cow was lonely, so he enjoined his sister to spend time with the cow.  The cow’s name was simply White Cow.  Big sister Lily was not convinced, so Liam did some research in his grandfather’s study.  Sure enough, he found evidence for his belief in a book: “Cows are social beings.  Cows have feelings.  They have been known to bear grudges.  They live in families and are capable of grief, loss, and loneliness.”  From that point, Liam was determined to do something to relieve the loneliness of White Cow.  He decided that they need another cow for her.  Older sister, still claiming to know better, protested and said that he was dumb and they could not possibly afford another cow.  So Liam proposed getting a calf instead.  Liam sold his books to the used bookstore in town and they pooled their Christmas gift shopping money.  Liam tacked and taped up posters all over town saying such things as, “Once upon a time there was a White Cow, all alone, at Christmas.  She was sad and lonely.  She lives on South Street.  If you have a cow friend for her, please call Liam.” He left his grandparent’s phone number at the bottom of each poster. A boy named Thomas called after seeing one of the posters Liam put up in town.  Thomas was grieved because his father was selling their calf.  So their next move was by the help of their grandmother.  She drove them to Thomas’ house just in time.  The calf had been sold and was being led onto a truck.  Thomas’ father gave the check back to the buyer, and took the money offered by Liam and Lily without counting it.  They asked Thomas what the name of the cow was.  He said it didn’t really have a name.  It was Brown Cow. Thomas then had the opportunity to see the calf as much as he wanted.  They walked the calf home and to their delight, White Cow and Brown Cow enjoyed each other’s company.[1]  

            That kind of deep love displayed by Liam for the welfare of a cow, in all its depth, concern and compassion is far surpassed by our gracious God. The notion of a vengeful God which is found sprinkled through the pages of the Old Testament is not what Jesus reveals to us.  God is not out to get us, just as most parents seek to give their children the best that they are able.  God is not interested in destroying us or even in ignoring us.  God sees us as we are and wants deeply that we somehow find connection both with God and each other.  God is about building relationships and helping us to build relationships with the world about us, with people, animals, and our environment.

            The next time you see someone who is lonely, think about the example that Jesus has given us here, and give some time and attention to that person, forgetting momentarily how that person may have offended you in the past.  You might be surprised at the response.  You have the potential to become a best friend where there was no friend before.  Give that person what they need just as God has given to you. Amen.

           

           

           

 

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[1] MacLachlan, Patricia “The True Gift: A Christmas Story,” Atheneum Books for Young Readers: New York, 2009.

Hapless Hospitality

MaryandMarthaProper11C, Sullivan Park Care Center, July 21, 2013 by Annette Fricke

            “Jesus, tell Mary to help me!” I don’t know about what your take might be on this text, but I want to know just what is going on with the preparation.  Are there more people besides Mary and Jesus?  If there isn’t, why all the fuss?  Is Martha trying to impress Jesus by the perfect food and drink, served in the best manners and the best presentation?  Is she trying to be a Martha Stewart ahead of her time?  I see several things in this passage, but mostly I see this: 1) Martha is annoyed at both Jesus and Mary, 2) Martha is anxious, and 3) Mary is taking on a non-traditional role by listening to Jesus’ teaching.  Mary is learning how to be a disciple, a place previously reserved for men.  Role reversal, to use a modern term is more common now than at that time in history, although still fraught with gossip and wonderings by others to this day.  Just a few years back, we didn’t see male nurses and assumed that all nurses were female and most doctors were male.

            Anxiety can lead one to drink caffeinated beverages which leads to dehydration, confusion, and increased chances of incontinence, as well as high blood pressure.  Anxiety and excessive worry can wreak havoc on a body and produce hyperactivity and excessive verbalization. Anxiety can decrease productivity and ability to concentrate causing poor performance in job interviews, on the job, and on examinations for class. It can pretty much paralyze a person both emotionally and behaviorally. It can cause stomach upset and gastric reflux.  “What am I to do?  Jesus is here!  Mary, please help me!”

            It only takes one unusual occurrence to set a person on edge. A male nurse friend of mine and I were recently discussing certain things that certain aids somehow can’t handle in the performance of their jobs.  I personally never thought that there was the option and always picked up the slack for my co-workers.  But as I say, it only takes one unusual occurrence to set a person on edge.  One such situation occurred at the beginning of this past week.

            The daughter had been there just the day before and had returned to Seattle.  It was Monday, and as with many Mondays, things do not go smoothly.  It was also dinner time when we set up the tables with ice water, set out the butter and creamer.  It was when we gather the residents who are unable to walk by themselves.  My co-worker was becoming frustrated and anxious with a resident.  She asked me to take her down the elevator to the main dining room, the other option for our residents.  As I was descending the elevator with the server for our kitchen and her, she began not feeling well, so asked to eat in her room or our dining area.  We pushed the button to return to the third floor.  By the time we arrived at the third floor, the resident began to collapse.  I was unable to move her, so I called out to my co-worker to help me, “Svetlana, please help me!”  She came and helped me put the resident in a sitting position and we wheeled her in her walker quickly to her room, just a couple of doors down the hallway.  Not responding, so I called our male nurse and got out the blood pressure cuff and stethoscope.  Svetlana asked me if I heard anything, and I nodded and said, “No.”  The nurse arrived and cranked up the oxygen, but still nothing.  She was gone.  The nurse picked her up and placed her on the bed and we were ordered to make her look comfortable for the family.

            We did what we could with what we had.  There was no time to be anxious.  Afterwards, my co-worker wanted to know if she did wrong by ordering me around.  Well, I had not seen it that way.  I felt we had done what was necessary and I told her that.  Some anxiety is necessary because it motivates you to perform.  In the case of Martha, though, it was overwhelming to where she could not think straight.  Both Mary and Martha were trying to do a good thing and I think that both of them had their hearts in the right places.  Martha probably had higher expectations than Jesus, which fed into her anxiety.

            Relating to Martha and Mary’s hosting of Jesus, how do we welcome Jesus?  Do we make people feel comfortable or do we, by our anxiousness, cause them to feel anxiety? Are worried and distracted by many things, or able to focus on the one thing needed? There was a lot more to that story of our resident who died.  There were many questions about procedures and protocols where we could have been distracted, allowing our anxieties to take over, but we kept our focus and will deal with some of those details at a later time. 

            How do we welcome Jesus into our lives?  I don’t think we should take sides.  There are elements of both Mary and Martha in each of us.  I think Jesus is trying to point out here that when we have a guest, our focus should be on listening to and being attentive to the guest.  A guest is like a stranger.  In light of the previous story in Luke about the Samaritan left on the road half-dead, the question becomes how do I make a stranger feel at home?  A guest is to be treated with dignity and respect.  A guest is invited so that you listen to the guest with all of your focus and attention. In a culture of hectic schedules and the relentless pursuit of productivity, we are tempted to measure our worth by how busy we are, by how much we accomplish, or by how well we meet the expectations of others. We often see Jesus’ words to Martha as a rebuke or scolding. However, Jesus’ words to Martha are more of an invitation rather than a rebuke. “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing.” The one thing needed is for Martha to receive the gracious presence of Jesus, to listen to his words, to know that she is valued not for what she does or how well she does it, but for who she is as a child of God.

            God asks us to be of service to our neighbors, our strangers, and our guests; but our service needs to be grounded in our active seeking of God’s presence, strength, and guidance.  If, in all our activities, we have no time to be still in the Lord’s presence and can’t make room to hear God’s word, we are likely to become anxious and troubled. We are likely to end up with a kind of service that is devoid of love and joy and resents others.  It takes both listening and doing. Being open to receiving God’s Word and serving others in the spirit of Christ are vital to living the Christian life.  They go hand in hand.

            Jesus invites all of us to sit at his feet and learn the way of God, to learn servant hood, to drink in God’s mercy in order to be strengthened for the journey of discipleship.  He who calls us, who calls all of us, has paved the road and gone ahead of us.  His invitation remains to follow him.  His hospitality to us is the standard to imitate.  He calls us to bind ourselves to him in outrageous abandon, focusing on nothing else but his abiding words and presence.  You will not always be certain of the steps to take, but God has promised to walk with you and forgive you all your missteps.  God has done far more for us by his sacrifice on the cross than we can repay.  Indeed, we owe a debt that we are unable to pay.  But God has won for us the victory of life, life in the here and now as God’s disciples.  Let us heed his words and share his hospitality.  Amen.

The Merciful One

The Parable of the Good Samaritan is the commonly known title to this section of Chapter 10 in Luke.  However, it is not properly a parable nor is there anywhere in the story that indicates that the Samaritan is either good or not good. The story is so well known, and the use of the terms Good Samaritan for laws of the country and the names of various healthcare facilities, that we assume we know what it means.  When a story becomes familiar, we tend to tune it out to the point where it no longer has that initial shock or tug it had when we had our first insights as to what it was trying to convey to us.

            Here is my story that I think encapsulates the meaning of our story in Luke. There was once a woman who had begun to give up on her health.  She had suffered pain in her neck and back nearly every day, so she decided that because of it, she would take all her meals in her room and withdraw from others.  She began to complain about other people and how mean they were.  When questioned about needing a pain pill or a companion, she denied needing anything.  She said she was fine.  She was independent and did not need a companion. She complained to her daughter who complained to the staff of the facility. Every night she would ask the nursing assistants why the woman across the hall was allowed to live there.  She would say day after day, “If people who are mental cases are allowed to live here, I’m moving out. Who can I talk to about this?” The nursing staff was at their wits end.  She would not see things any other way.  They were ready to give up.  She was an angry woman who insisted that she was independent and yet craved the attention she saw the staff giving others. And she was right about everything, wanting no input from anyone else. They tried everything including checking on her every hour and offering a sip of water.  She even claimed to be the most compassionate person around and yet she continued to complain about nearly everyone around her.  Things came to a head.  One of the aids who had witnessed her accidentally burning herself with the curling iron several times put her foot down and said, “Give me that curling iron!” That was the turning point. A few days later, someone or something convinced her that she should start getting out of bed and have her bed made like others on the floor. She began participating in activities and headed up the movie committee.  She began socializing with people at her table and encouraged others to participate in activities and get out of their rooms.  The next activity she decided to attend was Bingo and she inspired two other residents to go with her. What happened to her fully affirms the truth of a quote from Steve Maraboli, “…the best way to love someone is not to change them, but instead, help them reveal the greatest version of themselves.” That can be a real challenge and yet it is a challenge that we are called to do.

            She has not overcome her pain, but has, in some ways, learned to live with it.  She has learned to accept help. The man who was left half dead on the road in the gospel text is in much worse shape.  His options are far less than hers.  He really is at the mercy of someone else to take care of him. He does not live inside the insular walls of a nursing facility.

            What if, in this text, we see God as the one who is half dead?  What if caring for someone we actually despise, as illustrated in this gospel text, means that we care for and love God?  Is this not some sort of measure as to our commitment to and love of God?  Why else would Jesus tell us to love our enemies and pray for them? There is a sense in which God and our neighbor are one and the same.  If the answer to love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, your mind, and your strength and your neighbor as yourself is this story, then it helps to think of it in that way.  I am showing my love for God when I show it to others.  The words of I John echo in my mind: You cannot love God whom you have not seen if you do not love your neighbor whom you have seen.

            The truth is, many of us engage in tribalism frequently without even realizing it.  And just what is tribalism?  Tribalism is a noun that means, “1) The state of existing as a separate tribe or tribes, 2) The customs and beliefs of a tribal society, and 3) Loyalty to a tribe or tribal values.” In high school, we called these groups cliques.  Cliques had unwritten codes of values and conduct to which members of a clique subscribed.  If members did not adhere to those codes, they were ostracized from the group, possibly even shunned, or became the object of cruel jokes.

            We tend to associate with the people that we feel most comfortable with and who make us feel loved and welcome.  We sense that there is a risk when we travel outside our comfort zones.  When in conversation with others, we try to fit in and not bring up too much controversy for fear that it will offend others in some way.  Yet sometimes, when we dare to throw caution to the wind, we realize that the person we thought was an enemy was someone with whom we did have some common values.  We are all human and all equally children before God and each other.  We need the reminder that God expects us to love each other as God in Jesus Christ loved us and gave himself for us as a living sacrifice.  God entered our story most profoundly in Jesus when Jesus dared to break down the barriers between male and female, the rich and the poor, the Samaritans and the Jews. In uniting with us, Jesus became one of us.  Jesus is both the neighbor who binds our wounds and heals our illness as well as the hated one left for dead.

            How should we approach others who may not meet our criteria of shared values and behavior?  The same way that a young child approaches Mom or Dad when being picked up from babysitting or daycare—with open arms, with energy, smiling and with expressions of joy and excitement.  We need to open our minds to the possibility that we could be wrong about others and their intentions.  People are often contrary when they are not feeling well or their minds are drawn to financial worries.

            Who is my neighbor?  The person you know and love.  The person you can’t stand to be around.  God is your neighbor.  If you have given a drink to the least of the children of God, you have done it to God.  Remember that your names are written in heaven and in thankfulness for that, reach out to others with the same love with which God loves you and Jesus died for you on the cross in order that you may be with God, love and serve God forever and ever.  Our hope and trust is in God because in Jesus, all things are possible, all things are made new and in God is eternal life forevermore. 

            To live into God’s love, we must show mercy to others because God is mercy. By its very nature, mercy is to be shared.  We should not fear, no matter how rough the pathway, because God has tread the pathway beforehand, goes with us and will always be there to strengthen us, and guide us, and bless us with God’s ongoing outpouring of mercy.  The merciful one asks of us just one thing---that we show mercy to others. Amen.

 

Prepare the Way of the Lord

Proper9C, Sullivan Park Care Center, July 7, 2013 by Annette Fricke

          

There are no parallels in the other gospels.  There is nowhere else in the New Testament with the exception that this story is a mirror image of the story where Jesus sends out his twelve disciples on a mission in Luke 9, a story that is found also in Matthew and Mark.   So why does Luke tell this particular story? I think we get a hint in Luke chapter 3, where Luke quotes Isaiah saying, “Prepare the way of the Lord.”  Although we may recognize that this is in reference to the vocation of John the Baptist, isn’t that also the purpose of the angels, the prophets, the twelve disciples and the seventy-some?

            In order to structure humanity’s daily living as well as the games or sports we play, we usually discipline ourselves with a set of rules.  We do this in order that  within the structures of society, we can lead a peaceful co-existence. Several years ago, I took a class on Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.  It is the story of a pub owner who creatively seeks a way to drum up business.  He has a brew or two with current patrons of another such establishment, all of whom are on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket. This is the rule: He decides that each of his fellow travelers will tell stories both to and from the shrine and whoever tells the best story, in his estimation, will receive a free meal at his pub, courtesy of the other travelers.  The idea of traveling with others in this poetic story is to provide companionship and entertainment to pass the time since they are on foot. Traveling together protected them from outlaws. But also, this group is focused on their journey to the shrine. They are going to the most popular shrine in England. When Becket was murdered local people managed to obtain pieces of cloth soaked in his blood. Rumors soon spread that, when touched by this cloth, people were cured of blindness, epilepsy and leprosy. It was not long before the monks at Canterbury Cathedral were selling small glass bottles of Becket's blood to visiting pilgrims. As with any such group of people, they are a sundry lot as they go their way. It appears to be a very accurate study of people who are characteristic of those who lived as contemporaries of Chaucer himself.

I see this same phenomenon in my own life.  Everywhere I have been there is this variety of people; they are on the committees, in the parishes, in the families, in the workplaces, in the skilled nursing facilities.  We are all seekers of healing in our lives.  Some of us seek that through God and others through other means. Some see it through the healing medicines and some by the comforting words of nurses or aids. And yet, there is always a challenge for all of us to get along with each other everywhere we go, because all of us are different people with dissimilar personalities and diverse ways of doing things. This even extends to the minutest details of how to make a bed, wash and fold the laundry, or set the table. Some think it should be one way and others another. Sometimes it becomes a matter of wanting a particular person to do a specific task because, simply speaking, that is the way a certain person wants it done.

            In Luke 10, we have a bare bones formula for how to go about on a mission trip preparing the way of the Lord.  It is all business.  They are to ask God for laborers for the harvest.  They are to venture out in twos. They are warned that this will not be an easy task. They are to pack lightly and not stop to greet anyone. They are to go with an attitude of peace and seek to stay where their peace is appreciated and understood. They are expected to eat whatever is placed before them. They will be among people who follow different food rituals than that prescribed by kosher law. They are to cure the sick and say that the kingdom of God has come near to you. Unlike Luke 9, it is not about the mission of the twelve disciples, the so-called inner circle of Jesus.  It is about the others who have also believed in Jesus.  Seventy or seventy-two represents the working of the Holy Spirit.  It is a mirror of the passage about Moses in Numbers.  It also is a number that represents all nations.  Therefore, it is a passage that means we also, empowered by the Holy Spirit, are to go on that same mission into the world to teach, preach, and heal as Jesus did because that is what it means to prepare the way of Jesus. Some will look at this text and say to themselves, “Oh no.  Not me.  This applies to the clergy.  I am just a lay person.”  But if we count ourselves out, how will the gospel be spread?  No; this applies to lay people, too.  And we also will be as surprised as the first disciples were as to what happens when we share the gospel.

            Of course, this is not the only way to go about spreading the gospel.  Even without this rigid structure, we each are called to do this in our daily lives at work and wherever we spend our time.  Despite the fact that there are many out there who do not believe in God at all or only marginally, there are ears out there that are receptive to the gospel.  I remember attending a social function in the church social hall, conversing with the visitation pastor a couple days after I preached a sermon and the church secretary approached me, tapping me on my left shoulder, asking for permission to quote part of my sermon. I turned around, intrigued by her query, because I barely knew her and she was not a member of our church.  I surmised that she had read my sermon because the manuscript had flown from her desk to become available to the congregation, but had no idea she would be touched by it. I was surprised that she had been struck by the phrase that we are all ambassadors for Christ.  In my mind, I was thinking---that is directly from Paul.  It’s nothing new.  I don’t understand what the big deal is. At the same time, I silently gave thanks for the working of the Holy Spirit in her life. As I thought more about what she said, I was secretly happy that she got it! I totally get the excitement of the seventy-some others about seeing the results of their mission. Jesus had told them about the harvest and they had seen, with their own eyes, the fruits of their labors.

            However, Jesus reminds them that the power he has given them is not what they should be happy about.  He said that we should be happy that our names are written in heaven—that the kingdom of God has come near to us. Think about it; the kingdom of God is known to us because someone, or more likely many someones, in our lives preached it, taught it, and brought us healing because of it as if directly from God. As Christians, we are never without vocation.  We are always both witness to and conduit of God’s grace. We are the body of Christ. Give thanks and remember that your names are written in heaven.

            From Teresa of Avila: “Christ has no body on earth but yours; no hands but yours; no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which the compassion of Christ looks out to the world. Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good. Yours are the hands with which he is to bless others now.” Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. Amen.

 

           

The Splanknidzomai of God

Proper5C, Sullivan Park Care Center, June 9, 2013 by Annette Fricke

In verse 13 of our gospel text, we read, “When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’  If we pay attention only to the second part of that verse, we get the impression that Jesus didn’t understand what was going on.  However, when we look at the first part, we know that Jesus does know and responds in a way that we might find difficult to understand.  Jesus had compassion for a non-Jewish woman whom he didn’t even know.  One rendering of this word that is translated into English, meaning compassion is this, "his heart was gut-wrenched" for her. That sense of being gut-wrenched is like having all of your insides mangled together, painfully pressing you to act.” At seminary, many years ago, we were taught that the culture of the area where Jesus taught saw this emotion as coming from the bowels or entrails of a person.  It is a visceral moment that originates from deep within.  It is much more than sympathy or pity as my Greek dictionary defines it. Notice that Jesus is not asked by the woman, but Jesus takes the initiative, reaching out to her in her grief.  They were a last surviving unit, just mother and son.  A mother alone in that society had no identity.  If we were to fast forward to the gospel of John, to the scene of the crucifixion, in John 19:26-27, we find the following words, “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to this mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.” 

Luke is defining for us what kind of prophet Jesus is by a series of stories that illustrate it.  We are again reminded at the end of this chapter 7 in Luke where we are told, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them.”  In this case the dead are raised, but that is not the full import of this story or any of the other stories.  Healthcare in those days, above all, meant a restoration of relationship to family and temple worship.  A central function of Jesus’ ministry is to lead those whose lives have lost cultural meaning back to their proper purpose and direction in life. The death of a son is tragic enough, but for a widow it is double jeopardy since she relies on that male next-of-kin for her very livelihood. Jesus effectively saved her life by restoring her son to his life.

A woman named Julia in England had a son named George who, no matter what she tried, would not speak although she herself always kept trying.  He would cry and be agitated, wouldn’t smile or connect with her in any way.  She was unable to touch him or hold him. She suffered from years of gossip and cruelty by others. She had many tests done and he was finally diagnosed as having Asperger’s, which is a type of Autism.  But the diagnosis didn't leave her with any clues as to what she could do. She was still bewildered as to how to produce a normal emotional growth for her son. Then a cat suddenly appeared in their garden. The cat was bloody, so she told George that he had probably got tangled in someone’s fence or something. When George saw the cat, he amazingly spoke for the very first time in seven years saying in a high-pitched voice, “Baboo! Baboo!” She was so excited that she called everyone she knew in the phone book both friends and relatives and he continued to call, “Baboo! Baboo!”  He bounced around, taking down the Christmas tree and the decorations in celebration.  They became the best of friends and George’s life came alive. He had the cat eat at the table with him and whatever he ate, he gave also to the cat.  If he had fish sticks, so did the cat. One day, the cat rubbed himself against George and George asked his mum what the cat was doing.  So she said, “The cat is trying to show you that he loves you.”  George took that information and rubbed against his mother in the same way.  The gossip about the mad lady began again.  People outside the household wondered about her when they saw her son George  do the same as the cat, rubbing against her leg.  And then the cat suddenly disappeared for about three months.  The mother and her son were in Egypt on Holiday.  They received a phone call that the cat had been found, so the next day, they returned home.  The family that found him was actually about 80-90 miles from their home and invited Julia to tea.  She was lavished with a wonderful spread, and saying truthfully that it was all very lovely, but she was anxious to see the cat.  She was taken to a room.  They opened the door and out came the cat, named Ben by this time.  Ben jumped into her arms and would not let go.  She took the cat home to George and what a grand homecoming it was.  George was reunited and a few other cats were welcomed into the family as well.  Even though the mum had grown up with several cats and grew to have a distaste for them, the fur all over and the cleaning, this was the key to George’s growth as a human being and his happiness.  George is now nineteen years old and in college.  He still has his struggles relating to others, but thanks to the love of a cat and a mother, George is whole and healed. Healed does not always mean cured.  You see healed sometimes just means that things are in proper alignment or equilibrium.  They are balanced. They are restored.

Evil, sickness, and even death will continue but for this one day, the woman in the gospel lesson who grieved the loss of her son, had been restored to wholeness with society, and her family which had been taken away by death was once again renewed.

As we read in Psalm 23, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." The psalmist does not pretend that evil and death do not exist. Death lies ahead for all of us, saints and sinners alike, and for all the ones we love.

There are few other descriptions that I know that better describe the love of God in the actions of Jesus.  Jesus had deep compassion. What kind of prophet is Jesus?  The dead are raised. Jesus is the embodiment of compassion (splanknidzomai) and calls us to be the same.  God has always been and always will be there to strengthen us, no matter what our journeys may bring or where they may take us.  God sees what we need and fills that need. Blessed be God. Amen.