Today's lessons: Jeremiah 8:18-9:1, Psalm 79:1-9, 1 Timothy 2:1-7, Luke 16:1-13
 |
| Before the service. St. Alban's Sanctuary, September 8, 2019 |
Good
morning. Your presence here this morning
is a reminder as we heard in our reading from Jeremiah, that, there is a
balm in Gilead. That fragrant ointment reminds
me that we are here, in community, to listen, learn and inwardly digest the Word
of God, together, because we know that God is Good. Let’s see what the Gospel might be telling us
today.
As a
part of our Lenten season this year a group of us read the book, A Resurrection
Shaped Life, by Bishop Jake Owensby. I had learned about the book through
his blog, entitled, Looking for God in Messy Places.
One of
the things I like about Bishop Owensby is that he really is looking for God in
messy places. His illustrations illuminate
the complexities of living in this world.
Sometimes they are shocking stories, other times, gentle, but they always
have something to say about what’s coming up in the Gospel reading.
This
week, Bishop Jake was with many of the other Episcopal Bishops at the House of
Bishops, an annual gathering where they learn and worship and build their branch
of the Jesus Movement. I wasn’t sure he
would have time to write a blog post this week.
But he
did. In his post, titled: “What Love
Does,” [1] he brought to light why I
have a problem with a common phrase we hear and many of us use.
“It is
what it is.”
When I
hear those words, something inside me cringes and I tense up a bit. I feel such futility and lack of hope in
those five words. Like we have no chance
to change. I want to ask, “Really?”
So,
when Bishop Jake followed that comment with a question, I felt enormous
relief. The question? “So, what are you going to do about it?”
“YES!! That’s it!”
I told the phone in my hand as I read those words from my glowing screen.
Sure, it
is what it is, but … what are you – or we – or what am I going to do
about it?
Of
course, there are some things we can’t change.
The color of our skin, or who raised us or what decade we were born, for
example. But we have so much evidence that
we can change or be a part of changing other things.
I
think about the climate change strikes that occurred on Friday, where young
people rallied together to express their fears that the environment has been so
utterly compromised that they will not have a safe place to live as they grow
up. While many of us do things to help
save the environment in our own little ways, these young people are stepping up,
demanding that more is done, particularly at this week’s World Climate Summit.
They
could have said, “it is what it is,” and left it at that. But they decided, instead, that they are
going to do something about it.
Jesus
was telling his disciples a story about a business owner who heard a rumor that
his business manager was not properly handling the business. The owner could have said, “it is what it is,”
and let it go. But instead, he decided
to act. He fired the manager.
Now,
we don’t know what the business is or what the manager did to be fired, but it
seems like someone triangulated[2] and instead of going to
the manager to express their concern, they went to the owner. As the story goes, it doesn’t seem that the
owner asked the manager for his side of the story.
The manager
could have said, “it is what it is,” but he knew he needed this job. This was what he was trained to do, and he
certainly did not want to have to work a minimum wage job, or three of them, to
be able to afford to live. Instead he
considered for himself, “what can I do?”
I’m
going to take a guess that the business might have been an early example of a
loan agency. Because of the way the story
is told, it seems like the customers might be paying for something over time,
with interest.
I
think that is the case, because the manager goes to the customers and negotiates
deals to pay off what they owe. And the
way they barter, the two customers might have had different terms for their
loans. They could have said, “it is what
it is. I owe this debt and I will pay it
off over time, as we first agreed.” But
no. With the manager, they figured out
what they could do about it. One cuts the
debt in half and the other gets to cut about 20% off his bill.
It
looks like each one paid off their debt, in advance.
If any
of you have ever had a loan, you know that the interest on a loan can
potentially double the original amount of your loan, sometimes, as we are
learning about with student loan debt, crippling the borrower. Which can then
cripple the economy. These two customers could now walk away without worrying
whether they could pay the larger amount.
The manager didn’t need to worry that they might default on their loan
and the owner gets what is owed.
None
of them left it to circumstance. Each
one of the people in this story might have said, “It is what it is.” But each added, “what can I do about it?” Each one changed the end of this story.
I need
to tell you something. When I began
working with this Gospel, I was uncomfortable with the story. I am not alone. Over and over scholars and clergy folk were
commenting on how difficult this story is.
It doesn’t seem to fit in the ways other parables fit.
Each
character in this story is who they are.
None of them is a representative for Jesus or God or any of us. That’s a little different. And yet, there is something to be said about changing
up the narrative to grab our attention. For me, when Bishop Owensby posted his
commentary on his blog, I felt like I finally found something we needed to
hear:
We are
all creatures of habit, and we all can change.
That completely
changed the way I saw this Gospel.
Because there is hope when we realize we can change our circumstances.
About
two weeks ago, the vestry sent a letter to all of you to let you know what our
financial situation is. And it isn’t
very pretty. We shared with you that it
is highly likely we will live into our projected deficit budget, realizing that
we will be about $20,000 short at year end.
It’s been
this way for longer than I have been here.
And oftentimes an unexpected gift might arrive that narrows that
gap. We live with hope each year for
that kind of thing. What it can mean is
that someone died! I must tell you, that’s
not sustainable.
For
years we’ve lived with the “it is what it is” attitude. Passively hoping that something will
happen. Well, this year we got active
and asked, “what should we do about it?”
And
the letter was written. And hopefully
you all have read the letter that tells you that we need your help.
You
could say, “it is what it is,” and set the letter and pledge card aside.
On the
other hand, you can say, “what should I do about it?” and act.
So
far, that’s what seven of you have done. Over $3,600 has been promised or has already
been given to help us narrow the gap between our income and our expenses. That’s amazing. Thank you, so very much.
If you
forgot your card or you are just now deciding to make a promise to help us in
2019, we have extra cards in the narthex.
Just fill one out and give it to Robin after the service. Or mail one in. Or simply, give more.
However,
the reality is, we are coming up on our annual giving campaign and we are going
to need you to consider increasing your gifts or making new promises to your
church for 2020, too. We’ll begin that
campaign late in October.
I think
it’s important to remind you that since before I arrived in 2016 the people in
charge of this facility have been fiscally responsible. Reviewing service contracts, changing
lighting, keeping the temperature stable, managing payroll, maintaining the
property, adding renters, changing rental fees, seeking grants…all these things
have been happening to ensure that we can keep doing all the good things we do
here.
The
Diocesan Office supports all these things by giving us money to help, too. But they are asking us to try harder to
become more self-sufficient, and each year, their support will decrease, which
means we must come up with the difference.
We
could say, “it is what it is,” and leave it at that. Or we can look at all we do here, all the
lives we touch, all the community activities we welcome, all the people we feed:
spiritually and physically, all the ways we show God’s love to the world, and
we can ask, “so what are we going to do about it?”
As
Jake Owensby’s blog post title reminds us, that’s What Love Does. Love challenges us to look at the futility of
the statement, “it is what it is” and act because there often is something
we can do about it.
That’s
the Gospel. That’s the HOPE. We do not need to sit idly by thinking we are
incapable of changing the world. God
gives us all we need to turn the world upside down for God’s glory.
We
might not be those young people who gathered this week seeking behavior and policy
changes regarding climate change. We
might not be the business owner or his manager or their clients.
But we
are us. We are Jesus Followers, who will
seek out new ways to show how God has changed our lives and has taught us to
pay attention to all of creation and to not settle for the world as it stands because
“it is what it is.” No. God teaches us to go further and to ask, “Now,
what do we do about it?”
Let us pray.
O Jesus, you are the teacher
who reminds us that we have the gifts, talent and treasure, in other words, the
ability, to make a difference in the world.
That we do not have to sit idly by, accepting that “it is what it is.” You teach us that with your help, with the
help of your Father, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can step out in faith
and ask, “what do we do about it?” Give
us courage to live as your people, ever hopeful that we can be beacons of your
love and that your love can transform, can change, the world. Amen.