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Yesterday Jesus asked me for five dollars;  I gave him forty cents.   He was disguised as an older fellow dressed in shabby clothes, sitting on the steps of the downtown post office.   He was pretty disappointed,  so I offered a cold “God Bless You” over my shoulder as I passed.   Reaching my car, it occurred to me that my devotional reading earlier in the day was about Compassion.   I could still go back!  Did I?  Nope.  It’ll probably be too late tomorrow, too.   This Sunday’s readings address –again– the have-nots and the Kingdom of God.

Jeremiah had prophesied that Jerusalem would be overrun by the Babylonians.   Since the spin-doctors didn’t want to hear that, he was under house arrest in the Court of the Guard within the royal compound. (Jeremiah 32)   There he was visited by his cousin Hanamel, who offered to sell Jeremiah a field which had been in their family for many generations.   Even though it was war-time, and Jeremiah didn’t expect to win, he bought it as a sign that God’s People would someday return and claim their heritage.  “For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:  Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.”  In the long run, expecting God’s ultimate triumph, what will be valuable?

The two letters to Timothy, ascribed to Paul, are warm encouragement from a revered mentor to one trying to find his way, often in over his head.   How to engage those who have money?   “Command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.  They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share….” (I Timothy 6:17-18)   We poor folks agree with this, but we rich people tend to see it as idealism.    I never thought myself wealthy until I met those living in real poverty.  Where are my good works and generosity?

Then of course, there’s Lazarus. (Luke 16:19-31)  The “rich man” is anonymous ,but God knows Lazarus by name.   The rich guy didn’t get sent to eternal torment because he was wealthy, but because of his lousy attitude, judgmental and selfish.   We can’t improve a bit on this parable, so we won’t go into explanations:   the message hits us squarely!   But it scares me:  how many hungry beggars have I stepped over every day without helping?   “When did we see you, Lord…..?”

Appointed to my student parish while in Seminary at age 23, I was in awe of life-time Christians much older than I.  During my first week, my lay-leader told me, “Whatever you do, don’t preach about MONEY!”   Timothy-like, I replied, “Hmmmm.:”   The same fellow took me aside a year or so later with the same admonition.   With graduate-school brashness, I this time replied, “I’ll preach about money only as much as Jesus did!”    May you be prosperous, and may your generosity exceed your wealth!

God Bless Us, Every One                            H   B    King

In New Orleans, last week, the day-time temperatures were in the 90s, a trauma for this NorthEast guy.   A few minutes out of our air conditioned hotel, we could have been in a sauna.  We looked carefully at each street, in order to walk on the shady side.  Evening in the French Quarter brought LOTS of “shady side” opportunities…   All of which is to say that it’s nice to go places, even nicer to come home to daily routine and chilly nights!   I guess Summer is now officially over.

Why not listen to what Jeremiah the Prophet says:  “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved”? (8:20)   Perhaps he was listening to the 6 o’clock news when he wrote, “My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick….For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me.” (8:18-21)   Yet another shooting, this time in Washington…and more unreported in LA, Chicago, the Bronx.   Pre-teen boys skateboarding on N’awlins sidewalks at 11 PM.  Hurting young adults hiding behind head-bangin’  “music” and drunken yelling…  Is there no balm in Gilead?

Paul has the right idea about intervening in this wasteland:  “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone.” (I Timothy 2:1)   He goes on to focus on “kings and all who are in high positions so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.”    Prayer is good.  It quiets me down, when I pray, and gives a feeling that I’m not alone.   Telling someone else that you’re praying for them  can melt the hardest of exteriors — and bend the hearts as well.   Change the World! twenty minutes each day.

Jesus told a rather puzzling parable which you can read in Luke 16:1-9, “the dishonest manager”.   He seems to condone shady practices, so that when we go to Hell we’ll have company!  Read farther.  Please.   Down to verse 13, “No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and wealth.”   Or selfishness.  Or hedonism, alcohol, drugs or sex.  

Knowing that I’m not a mover & shaker causes me to cower in my cozy study and despair.   Alas, what can I do to ease this wide-spread bedlam?   An impish voice says, “Nothing!  Hide!”    Yet Paul’s encouragement to pray for individuals and The System gives some substance to my soul!   Help me, Lord, not to abandon the Kingdom, even though the summer has ended and many of us know not that we HAVE been saved.

God Bless Us, Every One.                              H   B   King

Every town, every village of any size, had at least one.  We’re thinking, of course, of a pottery shop.   Archeologists postulate where a neighborhood’s “center” lay by finding a trove of broken pieces, shards, of terra cotta.   Most everyday containers –pots, crocks, dishes & cups– were made from pottery.  The local potter was  a most significant fellow!

The Prophet Jeremiah, in the part of his oracle we now call Chapter 18, says that God sent him to watch the potter throw (craft) his ware.  Wet clay was shaped into something useful on a spinning wheel–and when the design wasn’t quite right, he’d start it over, spinning & molding until it WAS right.  Jeremiah used this as an analogy of warning to Jerusalem, saying that God could & would break them up: “Turn now, all of you from your evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.” (v.11)   Seen from this side of Jesus, we could rightly read this passage as a concern of God to mold and re-mold us in our righteous origins.

Speaking of re-molding, get a load of Onesimus, subject of Paul’s Letter to Philemon!   “Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful both to you and to me.” (v.11)   The letter is a plea to Philemon to forgive his slave Onesimus for running away, perhaps even freeing him!  This is pretty radical stuff, as is all of the Gospel.  What did Paul see in Onisimus?  What did GOD see in him that could be recast and polished, freeing him to full citizenship?   We’ll never know; but what’s important is the chance Paul & God & (hopefully) Philemon would take on his once-broken behalf.

Luke remembers how Jesus called for re-forming discipleship: “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” (14:26)  Let’s not leave it at that, but go further to the bit about counting the cost before building a tower, or for that matter, going to war.  Is this relevant today, or what?!   “None of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.” (v.33)  Counter-cultural, attitude changing….breaking old molds in favor of new designs.

A few days ago, a Jumble(cr) puzzle gave this clue:   “When the woman’s priceless vase fell off the shelve and broke, she……”    And the answer, which I didn’t get, was “went to pieces.”   Bits of life’s brick-a-brack continue to fall and break, and maybe that keeps us looking for new and better treasures.   Can the new be re-formed from what is old and yet imperfect?  The Potter keeps spinning.

God Bless Us, Every One                    H   B   King