Lectionary Readings for Sunday, September 23, 2007

Lectionary Readings for Sunday, September 23, 2007
Proper 20, Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jeremiah 8:18-9:1 with Psalm 79:1-9 or
Amos 8:4-7 with Psalm 113 and
1 Timothy 2:1-7 and
Luke 16:1-13

Life has a language.
And Scripture has a word for us.

As they do each week, these thoughts inform the reflections shared on these pages. There is an inevitable winnowing that takes place when we first see the readings that will frame Sunday's service. We troll through their words wondering what the Spirit will have our imaginations net.

In so doing we connect with the word;
We are drawn to meaning;
We receive the word and “work” the text;
We do so knowing that the purpose of our Sabbath gathering is an affirmation of hope that we are not alone, that creation is born from chaos, that we can indeed make a choice for life, and that each of us in need of blessings can also give them.

In short, we find life in this rhythmic preparation for the Sabbath.

Scripture asks us to find life in unlikely places. Amos is often referred to as the prophet of doom. The ninth chapter of his short book speaks a word of hope that scholars are quick to attribute to a who redactor just couldn't bear the full import of Amos' words. Jesus tells the story of the unjust steward, and asks us to be “shrewd” as we go about life. In both texts we must shrewdly engage the word if we are to heed its life-giving message. In both texts we find life at work in an unlikely place and in unlikely ways.

Let us hear the words spoken 2,700 years ago that have miraculously survived the ages and come down to us.

Amos 8:4-7

Hear this, you that trample on the needy,
and bring to ruin the poor of the land,
saying, 'When will the new moon be over
so that we may sell grain;
and the sabbath,
so that we may offer wheat for sale?
We will make the ephah small and the shekel great,
and practice deceit with false balances,

buying the poor for silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
and selling the sweepings of the wheat.'

The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
Surely I will never forget any of their deeds

It is almost by instinct that the headlines of the day come roaring into sight. The litany of social ills is sharp and many pronged. A poor family needed a mortgage, obtained one only to be devoured by its impossible terms and then blamed for a world-wide economic crisis. The proclivity of box stores to stay open 24/7. The astonishing rise of slavery in the traffic of women and children throughout the world after we had mistakenly assumed that slavery had ended years ago.

But are such thoughts a litany of life? Or is it a recounting of death? It is always easier to pin what is “wrong” than it is to organize around life. How can both scripture and headlines prompt us to be shrewd about life in presence of death? We read the words and realize the last verse, “Surely I will never forget any of their deeds,” is a verse of sacred connection.

We have a God who remembers. God remembered the plight of the slaves, heard their anguished cry and acted to release them from slavery. In like manner God will never forget the deeds against the poor because God has not forgotten the poor. Their lives count. Their lives, caught in systems that have been overtaken by greed, matter. And therein we find life speaking not “about them” but “to us.” It is all about connection.

I have recently been intrigued by the plight of families whose lives have been first broken by illness and then imprisoned by the costs of healing. How odd it is that institutional healing speaks the language of money. And yet each of these people has gifts of the spirit that could by harnessed by a clinic as a way to affirm life even if all financial resources have been swept away. Churches know they are to accept the disabled, but can they learn from them? Here we must seek a far deeper connection.

Would we forget the life of the poor because they are poor?

Jesus did not forget the life of the unjust steward even though he was unjust. Yes, Jesus seemed to say, he cheated his boss. But I'll tell you what, look at him closely and you'll learn something about life. Let us be shrewd as we more fully learn to speak the language of life.

I once knew a pastor who was in trouble with his church for emphasizing the social gospel. He was told in no uncertain terms to be more “biblical” in his preaching. He agreed and suggested that they focus only on one book in the bible for several months. They thought that was a good idea.

“Let's do Amos,” my friend said.
“Okay,” said the board. They all left the meeting with a smile. For one the smile lingered several months. For others . . .

Let us be shrewd.

If you want to be surrounded by life it is often useful to go to the places where death seems to prevail. Surround yourself for a day with cancer patients. Surround yourself for a day with patients looking for God's presence after a traumatic accident. Visit an open AA meeting and listen to the stories of connection. You hear an astonishing affirmation:

Yes, death came our way.
But we are not forgotten.
Let us be about life.

Larry