The Principle of Redemption

Matthew 20: 1-15

“Is there some law forbidding me to do with my money as I please? Or is your eye filled with envy because I am generous?”

The Parable of the Vineyard Laborers rankles our sense of fairness and entitlement. Why would God, the vineyard proprietor, reward his workers equally when they had not worked equivalent hours? Shouldn’t they be rewarded in proportion to their service?

Most parents and teachers can respond to this question, because they have played the role of the vineyard owner.  They may have also played the role of the father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son.  In desperate love for those who have reneged their responsibilities, they make concessions or rewards to restore their place in the family or in the class.  Their heartfelt wish is for that son or daughter to succeed and be reunited with the faithful ones.

But when we are the early laborer or the elder son, we are stung by the generosity of the proprietor or the father.  We can only interpret this generosity as a slight of our faithfulness.  It is not the principle of equality that we feel has been offended, it is more personal.  It is our own status in the eyes of the proprietor or the father that has been threatened.

This is the real reason that the wealthy and the gifted struggle at the doors of the Kingdom of God. The wealthy and the gifted have reason to resent the extravagant generosity of the proprietor. They feel they have earned their place in the kingdom, whereas the late-comers, the pretenders, have been given a free ride.  The loyal employees want to be acknowledged for their success, their faithfulness.

The proprietor, in his apparent capriciousness and disdain for equality, has set an example for us. He has indiscriminately shared his wealth with anyone who “showed up.”  He has substituted the principle of redemption for the principle of equality: we should redeem whomever we can at the expense of equality. That degree of love makes no sense outside the vineyard, but in the vineyard it turns every malingering soul into a faithful laborer. God’s uninhibited generosity: that is the principle of redemption.

Bill Tucker

Generous with Wisdom

I Corinthians 3:15-23

So let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

In the epistle readings in February Paul cautioned the Corinthians about factionalism, identifying with one apostle more than another, and the divisiveness that creates.   The habit of identifying ourselves with sages and experts is consistent with good scholarship. Students and academics are schooled to always attribute the sources of their ideas.   So what is the problem with identifying with others for their contributions to our understanding?

Paul gives us the freedom to claim all wisdom for our own, when he says “For all things are yours . . ..” He doesn’t seem concerned about getting credit for his ideas. He says generously, “all belong to you.”

And then he demands the same generosity of spirit from his readers, “and you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God.”  If we have received wisdom freely from Paul or other sages, we must acknowledge the source of all wisdom—God and God in Christ.  We don’t have the right to use our wisdom like a sword against our enemies, because it is all a gift from God.

So it is not wisdom or theology or scholarship that Paul opposes, but the boasting and brandishing that leads to ruthless struggle.  Wisdom is a gift, not a weapon.

Bill Tucker

Listening for Simple, Quiet Things

The story of Naaman’s cure of leprosy by the prophet Elijah (2 Kings 5:1-15) contains a vignette that intrigues me. In the story, Naaman, the commander of the king of Aram’s army, hears from his wife’s Hebrew servant about a prophet in Israel who can cure him of his leprosy. He sends a magnificent array of gifts to the King of Israel in exchange for the cure. The king “tore his clothes and said, ‘Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.’” The king is suspicious and perhaps fearful of this man’s power.

Meanwhile, Elijah hears of the torn clothes and offers himself to cure Naaman. When Naaman arrives at Elijah’s house, Elijah sends out a messenger to tell Naaman to bathe in the Jordan seven times. Naaman angrily stomps off, saying “I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy!”

The next part is where I become intrigued. Naaman’s servants, whose lives are at his command, are moved to step beyond their role and advise him, saying “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, ‘Wash, and be clean?’” Their words are God’s words. Naaman’s prideful anger changes to acquiescence. He bathes in the Jordan and is cured.

How often do we want to do the more difficult thing with loud proclamation because it proves we’ve accomplished something, when the simple, quiet thing gets the job done? How do we keep our eyes and ears open to hear God tell us what simple, quiet things we can do?

Laurie Kantner

Lenten Meditation

Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.  Psalm 80

The reading for today in the Daily Office is Mark 5:21-43, which recounts the story of two of Jesus’ healings.  Jesus and the crowd are off to heal the daughter of a leader of the synagogue, when they are interrupted by a woman with a twelve-year history of hemorrhages.  The reader understands that the unfortunate woman has been menstruating for all those years and is, therefore, ritually impure and unable to participate fully in the practices of her faith.

In this case, Jesus demonstrates his usual compassion for the disenfranchised, especially women, and stops to heal the woman saying, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”  Jesus is not even angry that his person was sullied by the touch of a woman, much less an impure woman.  The point is made.  Laws of purity that separate the people from God are not tolerated by Jesus and are deftly circumvented.

Also interesting, is that Jesus delays the healing of the synagogue leader’s daughter in order to address the needs of a woman who is denied complete access to her faith by the very laws that the synagogue leader helps to enforce!  Undaunted, Jesus moves on to bring healing and wholeness to the synagogue leader’s daughter thus revealing God’s merciful and inclusive love for all of his creation.   Indeed, says the psalmist, the light of God’s countenance brings not punishment but restoration to us all.

Barbara Scoville

Gospel of John (Rap)

John say,

“In the beginning was the Word, *

and the Word *

was with God *

and the Word *

was God.”

Word.

Word up, dog.

John, say,

“He came to testify *

to the light *

he was not the light *

but the true light *

coming into the world.”

Light.

Lighten up, dog.

John say,

“He was in the world *

came into being, *

through him *

yet the world *

did not know him.”

World.

World lost, dog.

John say,

“No one ever *

see God *

God’s only son *

has made him known.”

Son.

Son rise, dog.

John say,

“…the good shepherd *

lay down his life *

for the sheep *

…know my own *

my own know me.”

Herd.

Herd strong, dog.

John say,

“resurrection and life *

Those who believe in me… *

will live *

…believe in me *

will never die.”

Live.

Live long, dog.

John say,

“Peace *

peace be with you.”

“Truly *

I tell you.”

Peace.

True peace, dog.

Through Revelation,

John say,

“I am the alpha *

and the omega.”

Omega

and alpha,

Dog.

You  –  are God!

Forget Not

“Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless His holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits…”   -Psalm 103:1-2

This was one of my first memory verses as a child.  My mother often used it as a grace over meals, or as a quick prayer before bed, to remind us how constantly God is at work in us and around us, and how often we do forget “all His benefits”.

And what exactly are these benefits?  According to the Psalmist, they are forgiveness, healing, redemption, love, mercy, and…pity?  Who wants to be pitied?  We, as independent, modern people, tend to dislike the word “pity” and all that it implies: weakness, smugness.

In the context of the Psalm, however, the pity God exudes seems to be more along the lines of understanding and forbearance: “For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.” (Psalm 103:14) That is, He takes our humanity into account when judging or acting toward us.

We would do well to remember this, too.  If we really internalized this notion that “we are dust” we would surely be more forgiving, more merciful toward others.  Perhaps we would also be quicker to bless the Lord, who “knows our frame” and loves us anyway.

May all that is within us, all our dust and frailty and clutter, bless His holy name!

Phoebe Gelzer-Govatos

Anger and Zeal

The most interesting verses in Psalm 69 are found in New Testament references.

John 15 introduces Jesus’ command for Christians to love one another.  This is followed by Jesus’ warning that the world will hate Christians, referring to Ps. 69:4:  “More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause.”  Most Episcopalians have less to fear from our enemies than the early Christians, who came from the opposite end of Roman society and were tortured and executed for their faith.

But Fr. James mentioned in Sunday’s sermon that St. Clare’s has more than its share of “odd ducks.”  Perhaps I’m not the only St. Clarian who identifies with the story of Jesus’ family’s attempt to put him away as a lunatic in Mark 3:21, which recalls Ps. 69:8:  “I have become a stranger to my brethren, an alien to my mother’s sons.”

My favorite verse in Psalm 69 is vs. 9: “For zeal for thy house has consumed me,” referred by John 2:17 for the cleansing of the Temple.  Having experienced more than my share of bullying, I like the violent Jesus of the Temple cleansing.  I also like, however inappropriately, to interpret my temper as “zeal for God’s house.”

The gospel for this past Sunday, Luke 13:35 is connected to Psalm 69:25: “May their camp be a desolation, let no one dwell in their tents.”  Psalm 69 has many other curses on the psalmist’s enemies.  While understandable, coming from an oppressed person, anger and hatred are medically destructive to the one who holds on to those feelings.

Frustration is an unavoidable part of maturation, if one believes Freud.  Medical science recommends we put aside anger and hatred for our own health.  By happy coincidence Jesus also tells us, “Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you, so that you will become children of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:44-45)

Grant Shafer

Feeding Lazarus

Luke 16: 19-22

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham.”

This winter I have been trying to volunteer each Thursday at the St. Clare’s food pantry, the Back Door. The food pantry is a small but vital operation – it provides one or two sacks of groceries to its clients, depending on family size, along with rotating special items, such as breads, chicken, and coffee.

Unlike many area food pantries, the St. Clare outlet does not require more than a single slip of paperwork for its clients, and the goal of the pantry is to give away, rather than stockpile, food. While other pantries in Washtenaw County require extensive documentation and even calling ahead to receive food, the Back Door provides food to all who ask each Thursday.

Service at a food pantry make you think differently about Bible stories such as the section from Luke above. When food is at a premium, when people cannot afford it, it becomes a powerful symbol of love, or when denied, a symbol of damnation. When figures in the Bible feed people, they are feeding people who are not going to eat otherwise. While two paper backs and a bag of frozen chicken breasts is not a miracle like loaves and fishes, it is a sign that St. Clare’s does care about Lazarus, and will not turn him away from the table.

Russ Olwell

Testing the Soil

Mark 4:1-20

A familiar parable told by Jesus appears in today’s Gospel reading.  It is the parable of the sower who goes out to sow seed.  The seed is scattered on several types of soil:  the hard ground of a path, rocky ground, ground infested with thorns and, finally, on ground fertile with good soil.  In typical fashion, Jesus has to explain the meaning of the parable to his disciples – that the seed is like “the word” and only the word sown in receptive, fertile ears, which fully accept the word, bears fruit.  Good enough.  This story is a nice analogy and still resonates with us today.

What puzzles me about the parables in the synoptic gospels is that we very rarely hear the disciples’ response.  I imagine that Peter, at least, often wanted clarification or sometimes played the “devil’s advocate” to Jesus.  Oh, I love Peter.  So on Peter’s behalf, I’ll beg the question:  “Messiah, in your story the word is sown and the word takes root on all types of soil – hard, rocky, thorny or fertile.  All receive the word – albeit briefly in some.  So it seems to me that the key is the willingness to sow.  The word can never be received if no one tosses it out.”  Perhaps that’s why the disciples earlier in the Gospel of Mark were plucking grain on the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-28).

As followers of Christ, I think we should ask for a big bag of seed and perhaps a little manure to spread around.  And we should ask for the stamina to keep pitching the Word to all types of audiences, receptive or not.  With perseverance, something has got to stick.

Nikki Seger

Lesson in Humility

Luke  14:11

“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled; and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

Today we remember Chad, a 7^th century English bishop who was caught up in the church controversy of his day when the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Theodore, arrived in England and informed Chad that his Celtic ordination was “irregular” as it was not according to the Roman rite.  Chad humbly offered to resign and Theodore, impressed with such humility, reordained  him.

Chad seems to have resumed his duties without a thought about the Celtic versus Roman argument .  He lovingly served his diocese while living a simple, holy, and monastic life.  His example of humility and his single-minded concern for service to God and his flock are an inspiration for our Lenten journey, as we continue  to live as Christians in the face of the conflicts that seem to consume the energies of the present day church.

Lent is a good time to shed arrogance and pride and, instead, focus on Jesus’ love for all of us, no matter which side we are on.

Barbara Scoville