mountain of peace

Isaiah 65: 17-25

Mark 16: 14-15

 

The reading from Isaiah, comes from the second part of Isaiah, this was written when the people of Israel were in exile. For the people of Israel, being defeated and taken into captivity signified that their God was not as powerful as the Babylonian God. After years in exile, the captives are economically better placed than those left in Israel. However, there is concern that they are losing their identity, assimilating with the people around them.

And they blame God.

I am sure you have all met people who blame everything in their lives that has not worked out as planned on someone else. Nothing is ever their fault.

The prophet is telling the people of Israel to quit blaming God and take responsibility for their situation.  The prophet points to their self-centredness[1].  sound familiar??

This passage from Isaiah is about a peaceful future on God’s mountain, it is a vision of a new earth and heaven, a new way of living as God’s people, in harmony with all creation.

Do we know that peace and harmony?

Isaiah writes about peace with all creation, the original talks of the lamb lying with the lion.

The modern version we heard this morning talks of love, life being grounded and based in love, fullness of life, no more destruction, no more selfishness.

Friday was The International Day of Peace, Isaiah writes of the peaceable kingdom, what is peace? The absence of conflict and violence, yes, but more than that. The word “Shalom means completeness, wholeness, health, peace, welfare, safety soundness, tranquillity, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony, the absence of agitation or discord.” [2]

That is the kind of peace the prophet speaks about, peace that is a life lived with contentment, in harmony, at peace with creation, with each other, with our self and with God.

Where does this peace come from?

What might the Mountain of peace be?

 

Earlier we thought about Mountains in general, what Biblical stories that include mountains come to mind?

-      Noah’s Ark

-      Moses and 10 commandments

-      Transfiguration

-      Sermon on the Mount – beatitudes

-      Elijah and the still small voice

-      Mount of Olives, where Jesus wept over Jerusalem

-      Calvary

-       

 

amazing things happen on mountains, people talk with God, God talks with people, visions, teaching, …

Mountains are places where the interaction with God somehow seems closer.

We talk even today of ‘mountaintop’ experiences.  Moments and times that are special, often so special we can’t find the words to describe them.

Times of peace, of calm, of being totally present in that moment and space.

In some ways the Mountain of peace, the vision of Isaiah of shalom, wholeness and harmony, does not exist. Not only are there wars and violence in the world, but people live in ways that diminish them, due to poverty and oppression; there are places where the water is not suitable for drinking, the air makes people and animals sick such is the pollution; there are animals and plants that are extinct or near to extinction. The Mountain of peace seems like a distant dream, pushed further away by our self-centredness, just as it was for the people of Israel.

Yet, we do have hope, we can live in peace, peace within and with God, that will show in the way we live. This is because of an event on another mountain. Calvary, Golgotha, the place of crucifixion.

It seems bizarre to me, that death is what leads to life, yet that is our experience of the gospel. The life and death and resurrection of Jesus, gives us hope, peace and joy; the life and death and resurrection of Jesus allows to live fully, to lives selflessly; the life and death and resurrection of Jesus is a sign of the coming kingdom, a kingdom of shalom.

What do we do with this peace, with the invitation to life?

Mark records Jesus as saying that the disciples should proclaim the good news to all creation. We rarely read this part of Mark, we read the commission to the disciples in Matthew, go into all the world and make disciples. Here in Mark the commission to the disciples is telling, living the good news, for the whole creation.

For the past 4 weeks we have looked at some areas of creation, at Genesis one and the story of creation out of chaos, a reminder to people in exile that God can create order out of the chaos of their lives. A reminder of the interwovenness of all creation. And God saw that it was good.  How do we think about God’s creation?

Then we looked at humanity, and how people are part of God’s creation, and God named people as good. All people are made in the image of God, fat people, brown people, broken people, babies and old people and everyone, all made in the image of God – WOW!!!

And last week we thought about the sky and how the sky tells the glory of God, where do we see God’s glory, in what ways does our living show God’s glory?

And then today Mountains, and peace.

We are made in the image of God and God declares us to be good. A good part of a good creation. A part of God bringing order and beauty out of chaos.

May our lives speak of God’s glory, God’s love, mercy and grace to all people and to all the creation.

 

Let us take some time to reflect.

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[1] Hanson, Interpretation Isaiah 40-66; pp. 1,2,241

[2] http://www.therefinersfire.org/meaning_of_shalom.htm

The heavens are telling the glory of God!

Jeremiah 4:23-28

Psalm 19:1-6

Mark 15:33-39

 

The heavens are telling the glory of God!

Who has time to look at the sky?
 

The heavens are telling the glory of God!

What about when the sky turns dark?
 

The heavens are telling the glory of God!

But it isn't enough to capture our attention.

The Psalmist tells us that the heavens are telling the glory of God. In the Old Testament heaven refers to the sky, it is a reference to the sky above us, not to some place where God might be. In Mark's gospel we hear of the sky turning black at the death of Jesus. The passage from Jeremiah reminds us of the interrelationship between our living and the creation around us.

Jeremiah isn't particularly talking to individuals, he is speaking to a community that are about to go into exile. Jeremiah tells the people that they have forgotten who they are, they are ignoring God's way, they are living for themselves and themselves alone.

 

The heavens are telling the glory of God!

In many places it's hard to see the sky, tall buildings cast such long shadows, pollution, bushfires and dust storms cloud the sky at times. The heavens are telling the glory of God!  what does that mean when we can't see the sky, or we don't look any more.

On the news this week there have been reports of violence in parts of the Middle East, targeted against Americans. This hasn't happened in a vacuum.  A filmmaker based in the US made a movie which he acknowledges was  ‘intended [his film] to be a provocative political statement condemning the religion.’

People's concern about the movie, and the way that the Prophet Muhammad is presented, has led to demonstrations, rioting, injury and death. There is a place for discussion about different religions and their role in the community and in the world, but making a movie of this nature reveals an ignorance about the interconnection of life.

We live in a time when self overrides community. It's the time of the ‘I’ Revolution, iPhones, i-Pads, iPods, a whole range of technology that puts us, as an individual, into the centre of our world. Can we all really be the centre of our own little universe? We live in a culture that tells us that we can have what we want, and be what we want, and say what we want. That is not the message of the gospel of Jesus. The good news of the gospel is about losing our life so that we can find it in Christ, together we are the body of Christ. The gospel is not about me or you, the gospel is about Jesus, about God acting in and through creation, God coming in human form.

The Psalmist writes:

“There is no speech, nor are there words;
their voice is not heard;
⁴ yet their voice^* goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.”

 

We live not only in a culture where it is normative to be the centre of our own little universe, but all so a culture are which relies heavily on words. Or it seems that the way to get your voice heard is to yell louder, to be more controversial, to the point of obscenity. It is not only our words that can hurt or heal relationships and the universe, our actions, our behaviour, also have the ability to hurt and to heal.

Our actions have consequences, consequences for people, for creation. When we forget who we are, when we forget that we are part of the whole Web of creation, when new live as isolated islands, we no longer live as the people that God created us to be.

Over the last two Sundays with been reading the creation story from the first chapter of Genesis. We read about the various parts of the creation, night and day, land and water, plants and animals and treatments. And we read of God seeing that all is good, the creation in its wholeness, its Holiness, is good.

Our words, our actions, the way that we treat people and all of creation tells about who we are and what we value. The only value our little i-world own little i- universe that we create for ourselves; do we value people, human beings, over other parts of creation. Is it only people like us that we value?

The heavens are telling the glory of God!

In the gospel reading that we heard from Mark this morning the heavens declare that Jesus is the son of God, not in bright shining stars or clear blue skies but in the darkness of his death. It is like the whole creation was grieving at the death of the Messiah, the one who came to heal and renew the whole creation.

The heavens are telling the glory of God!

In Jeremiah has a picture an image of a world gone awry, of the world are no longer living in harmony of all creation, no longer living as a community of God's people.

The heavens are telling the glory of God!

in the Psalmist reminds us that our lives our actions are relationships our behaviour speak just as loudly as our words.

The heavens are telling the glory of God!

In what ways do you see the glory of God in the world around you?
In what ways does your living reflect the glory of God?

 

the image of God?

Genesis 1: 26 - 2: 3

The section of Genesis we heard read this morning, continues last week’s poem of creation.  The same pattern; God said.. let there be.. and there was and God saw that it was good, then evening,  and morning,  etc. Last week we heard about light, and separation of light and darkness for day and night; then the separation of water above and below the dome of the sky; then the land appeared amidst the water and plants grew;  then the sun, moon and stars appeared; the fish and birds and finally the animals that move on the ground.  The next part, which was read this morning is about humans, or rather God and humanity:

 “²⁶Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness;…..²⁷So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
³¹God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.” [Genesis 1:26a, 27, 31]

I wonder what it means to be created in the image of God, what does it mean to us as we live out our discipleship.

The people of Israel had avoided the making of anything that could be considered an idol, an image of God. Other religions in nearby countries at that time used images made of wood and stone in places of worship or in rituals. The people of Israel did not make images of God. The idea of each person being in the image of God, a living image may have been quite shocking to people whose tradition banned images of God.  Yet this image is not in wood or stone, but living images of God.

What might it mean to be created in the image of God? As we reflect on that question, here is a possible conversation:

Jesus and Peter: In God’s Image [pp. 71-74]

One way in which we are made in God’s image is that each of us is unique. Looking at what we know about God, how else might we be made in God’s image? Creativity, seeing the good in creation, resting.

An issue which this passage raises is how we relate to the rest of creation. When it says that God created people and gave them dominion of the earth, gave them plants and birds and fish and animals as food, what kind of relationship is this meant to be.

If we had read a little bit further and looked at the second account of creation in Genesis chapter 2, we find different words to describe the relationship; here God takes the man and puts him in the garden to till it and keep it.

The first version has suggested to some people that we can do what we like to the creation, the second version has a more nurturing aspect to it; but maybe part of being made in the image of God is that we are to care for the creation as God cares for it: relating to the creation as God does.

Another aspect of being made in the image of God is that there are is an openness from God about some of the characteristics of God. God is not some distant, mysterious, unknowable God; by the God who was present and engaged in relationship with all of God's creation.

We are made in the image of God, but do we live as if we are made in the image of God?

--------------

This week I have heard of 2 different ways people are trying to come up with an alternative to the Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, as a way of measuring the health of the nation. GDP measures how much money is flowing through the economy, that means the more people in prison the better, because it costs money, and health counts in the amount of money spent, not how healthy we are. The terrible bushfires in Victoria last year add to the GDP because of the extra building activity. GDP is a very limited and limiting way of looking at the progress of the nation.

On the front page of the Herald yesterday there was an article about The Wellbeing Index, another alternative to GDP is the Australian National Development Index – these are different to each other, but both aim to look at more than how much money is flowing through the economy. Mental well-being, education, social inequality, being healthy, volunteer hours, are all included in these alternative indices, whereas GDP only measures economic activity.
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If we remember that we are made in the image of God, whatever that may mean for each one of us, what would we value and promote:

• Rest as well as work
• Relationships
• Creation itself
• The uniqueness of each individual
• The ‘good’  in life – remember “³¹God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.” [Genesis1:31]

In what ways do our lives reflect these values? Are there areas where you can see a need to challenge your existing patterns of living? I have heard from people who are retired how hard it is to find a few weeks to go on holidays - yes we will miss you, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have holidays.

 “God rested from all the work that he had done in creation”

The idea of resting from work, or keeping the Sabbath, is that life is about more than work, more than economic activity.  When we don’t allow ourselves down time, away from work, computer screens, committees etc., we make work more important than life. Work, Church, community groups are all important, and being involved in the community is a great way of living out our faith; but not at the expense of time with God, times of refreshment. All too often I hear people say: I am so busy, and I am one of those people at times.

But we all have the same amount of time in the each day and each week, we need to make choices about what we do or do not do. When we say yes to every request or opportunity, when we fill all our days with activity, is that living in the image of God?

We hear a lot about fulfilling our potential, I agree that is a good goal. But what is our potential? what is it that God created us to be? We are made in the image of God, unique, creative, and nurturing;

In what ways does your living show the image of God?

Canaanite Woman and Jesus

Matthew 15:21-28 The Canaanite Woman

[an assignment for preaching class, which was preached in field education placement] 

Sunday 14^th August 2005

 

Let us pray:

 

God,

Who is known to us as creator and redeemer;

Who is known in the breath of the spirit in our lives;

Be present with us as we explore your word

We pray confident of your knowledge of your presence

 

This passage raises some difficult issues for me. There are places where I don’t like what I read, and there are places where I don’t like where it leads me. So if at times you feel a little uncomfortable in what I am saying, please stay with me, hopefully by the end of this time we will all have some point of hope, even if there are still some questions unanswered and some uncomfortable places.

 

There are many ways in which I could speak today about this passage from Matthew’s gospel. A friend is preaching on this passage today as well and she has taken a completely different tack. There are issues of who is an ’insider’ and who is not; issues of race and gender; of crossing boundaries, and these issues still exist in our church and the wider community today.

 

Jesus initially comes across as not being compassionate and the disciples’ response is to get rid of this noisy, annoying woman.  As I said this may not be an easy journey for any of us. 

 

In some ways I can identify with the Canaanite woman. To start with I am also a gentile woman. I am not a Canaanite, but I’m also not a Jew. The Canaanites were originally enemies of the Israelites, then enslaved by them. Interaction was minimal. They were to be stomped on like ants. This woman is more than a non-Jew; she is less than a person because of her race. She is even referred to as a dog in this passage.  While I said I hoped there would be some good news for us, I have to concede, initially it doesn’t look all that promising.

Jesus lets this woman know, firstly by ignoring her, then by telling the disciples, and finally by telling the woman, that she is of no consequence or importance to him. Because of her race she is a non-person. Jesus ignores her pleading and cries for mercy and help. Eventually Jesus does help her, in spite of her race and gender. This is not a picture of the gentle compassionate Jesus we like to think about.

 

Do you know people who are so focussed on where they think they are going, on getting ahead at work, losing weight, or training for sport, that they don’t notice what else might be in their life?  Jesus in this passage reminds me of those people. He is so focussed on bringing salvation to the Jews, that when this woman asks for mercy, he doesn’t respond to her request. Jesus was very aware of what his life was for, bringing the Jews back into relationship with God. But he found that many of the Jews he met, especially those who were in the religious institutions, were not all that interested in what he had to say. Here we have an outsider, an enemy, who knows that Jesus is the one person who is able to help. She accepts that to Jesus and to Jews in general, she is not worth speaking with; that to a Jew, especially a Jewish man, she is a waste of space. But she is also a woman of great faith, and Matthew uses this story to contrast the difference between those who were Jews yet did not recognise Jesus for who he was; and this woman, who wasn’t a Jew, but recognised Jesus as the means of healing and liberation and salvation.

 

While I can relate to the woman, in some ways I can also relate to the disciples. Who does this woman think she is, a gentile, a non-Jew, a Canaanite even, expecting help from the one sent by God to bring salvation to the Jews. I see this response in myself and the church at times. There are people in our community who recognise what God can do in their lives, yet they are not part of any church community. How do we treat such people? Especially when something about them, their life, their background, is offensive to us. Even after Jesus helped this woman, she was still a Canaanite woman, about as low in the status as a person could get.  Yet by recognising her faith and healing her daughter,

Jesus acknowledged her humanity, and in the process challenged the religious assumptions of his time.

 

 There are some things I like the disciples, their lack of understanding, their slowness to pick up on what Jesus is telling them, their inability to see beyond what is happening at the present. They remind me that Jesus, and God, doesn’t only associate with clever people who have it all together in life. They help me feel better about myself when I am slow to understand what God is saying to me. They stick around Jesus even though they don’t understand everything that is happening. And while the disciples stick around and are with Jesus throughout the gospel account, this is the only place we hear about this woman.

 

This woman, who is not even named in the gospel account, is different to the disciples.  I have heard people talk about faith in terms of being passive and submissive. And there are some in our society who think being a Christian is about nice and polite and inoffensive. Now there is a place for submitting to God’s will for our lives, but this woman shows us, that even in our relationship with God, there is room for taking initiative. She is bold. She asks big things of Jesus. She is confident and persistent.  Unlike the disciples who have to have everything spelt out for them, she takes Jesus on. Her life is changed by her encounter with Jesus. In this, while she is not a Jew, she follows a very Jewish pattern.

 

In the book of Psalms, there are some that are known as lament psalms. These psalms record the pleading of Israel with God.  These are psalms that express some very human emotions.  

There is a regular pattern to these psalms. If you would like to look one up, psalm 13 is one of the shorter ones, and shows the basic pattern. The Psalmist addresses God, complains about his or her current situation, and asks God to act to change the situation. The mood of the psalm changes, there is assurance of being heard, the response of the Psalmist and then praise. The complaint is not addressed into thin air hoping that someone will hear and respond.  The person writing this psalm, like the Canaanite woman, knows exactly who they are asking for help.

 If you look at the words the Canaanite woman is recorded as saying, they follow the same pattern as the lament psalm.

 

When we are crying out for mercy, when our lives seem like a mess and we have no way of sorting things out, we can be clear about who we are asking for help. When we pray we can be like the psalmist and the woman, clear as to who we approach, clear in our complaint, honest about our lives and our feelings, our hopes, our dreams, our failures. We can trust that God hears our cry for help. We can be confident that God cares about how we feel and what is happening to us.  I remember a time in my life, when I couldn’t believe that God was concerned about me, I couldn’t imagine why anyone would care about me, and a very wise person told me that God was not judging me, but was wanting to hug me, to sit with me in my despair and to cry with me in my sadness. And the way I looked at my life was transformed!

 

I think we miss a lot in our relationship with God if we think we can’t tell God what we really think. Expressing doubt, asking difficult questions, doesn’t mean lack of faith. It takes faith to be bold, to be honest with God, to risk acknowledging and asking the hard questions of God. I don’t promise you will like the answer.  When we are open and honest with God, we too are changed by the encounter.

 

It takes great faith to challenge the structures of society; it takes great faith to recognise who we are in the sight of God, both sinner and forgiven; it takes great faith to approach God, knowing that God will hear our complaint, our shattered hopes, our dreams and hold them as precious; it takes great faith to believe that God will hear and respond to our cries for help, and that our mourning will be turned into joy.

 

This story is an example to us in our relationship with God and with people. When we are approached by people asking for mercy, grace, healing and inclusion, we can choose to ignore and reject them, or we can offer what we have in Christ. When we speak with God we are able to be totally honest, to be bold, persistent and confident as we approach God with all our thoughts and feelings.

Open to God, open to ‘the other’. Remembering that for some people we are the other. This woman saw that there was a possibility for a new way of living, wholeness, healing, liberating, life. She imagined what others could not. What a model of faith and discipleship, and she isn’t one of us, we wouldn’t find her in church on Sunday morning. Can we learn from her example?

 

Can we be open to ‘the other; can we be open to God?

 

My hope; my prayer is that we be open to the other, the one who is different, even those we name as enemy.

I also pray that we each might be open to God, who knows our name, who hears our cries for help, heals our wounds, and offers us a new way of living, blessing us abundantly.

 

creation and transformation

Genesis 1: 1-25

When we read, or hear, the creation account in Genesis chapter one, what do you think of?

-           Arguments over creation and evolution?

 
This story of creation is thought to have  been written when the people of Israel were in exile in Babylon. It is from this exile that we get songs asking ‘how can we worship the Lord in a strange land?’

It is thought that Genesis one was written for use in worship. Notice how the passage is written like poetry, it has a pattern and repetition.

For the people in exile it seemed that the Babylonian Gods were in control. This passage is a theological and pastoral answer to people living in exile; people who lived with chaos, who felt abandoned by God; which is why this passage speaks not only to the exiles in 6^th century BC Babylon, but to people throughout the ages, and to people today.

People still live with chaos, in despair, without hope, with sickness, unemployment, grief, people are betrayed, or lonely; people who feel overwhelmed by life, this passage is written to these people.  

It may seem strange to say that a story about the creation is a pastoral and theological statement, an affirmation of God’s presence and goodness, for those overwhelmed by life, but that is what we have here.

The people could remember that God was the one who can bring order out of chaos, just as in the creation story, and while it may not look like it at the time, being in exile, they could remind themselves of God’s presence, of God’s power and of God’s creativity.

Verse 2 tells how the earth was formless; and in God speaking the earth was transformed. This transformation is what the people in exile were looking for, and the creation story gives hope to people in despair that there is the possibility of transformation, that life will not always be chaotic. 

This God is not coercive, but life and permission giving. When God spoke, it doesn’t say God made, created or built plants and animals, but God said: let there be… and there was.  The relationship between God and the creation is free and gracious and invitational, God says, ‘ let there be’ ; and the earth responds.

How do we respond to God’s invitation ‘to be’, to live, to be transformed?

…

In the newspapers last weekend I read a few articles about the lack of outdoor activity by children and young people today. One article was talking about how some people spend so much time indoors, and walking on smooth surfaces, that they are unable to walk on rough ground. It seems that that part of their body just doesn’t develop.

Another article talked about the increasing rates of short-sightedness as people spend more time in front of TV, computer, electronic games etc.

I wonder when did the world, the creation, become something to be avoided?

When we look at the passage from Genesis we heard this morning, one phrase that is used over and over is ‘And God saw that it was good’. The light was good, the separating of land from water, the plants, the animals of sea, air and land, all are viewed by God as good.  God delighted in creation, why does it disgust us so much?

We live in a society where many people minimise their contact with the earth, with nature. Now I am not all that keen on creepy crawlies, and I don’t like camping, but there is something wonderful about being in nature, about being somewhere away from the noise of traffic, the closeness of buildings; there is something wonderful about birdsong, and breezes and sunshine, and wind whooshing through trees. It may not be as comfortable as sitting in a lounge chair watching a movie, but there is something amazing and life giving about being close to nature from time to time.  

I wonder why some people avoid this altogether?

The passage we read from Genesis one, was to remind and comfort people in exile, people who felt life was out of control. This passage gave them hope that their life could be transformed, just as the formless earth was transformed by God’s invitation. 

What does it mean when we avoid creation, when we try and remove ourselves from creation?

I wonder if we cut ourselves off from God by separating ourselves from creation of which we are a part?

Wealth among the poor

30 September 2007 Year C

Reading : 1 Timothy 6: 6-19 

Gospel : Luke 16:19-31

 

The more I read the gospels and scripture, the more challenged I am. The more I see Christianity as counter cultural and see my life as a pale imitation of what God has called me to.

This last month we have reading through Luke’s gospel. In chapter 14 we heard about the value of humility and hospitality, how it is important to invite people who are not able to repay you; how we should take a lower place at the table. Then the parable of the dinner guests, which wasn’t part of the lectionary at this point, where the excuses for attending the banquet are a property transaction, work, and family. Jesus then tells the disciples to count the cost of discipleship.  

This is followed by the stories of the lost things – the lost sheep and the lost coin; this is followed by the prodigal son. Different ways in which we lose ourselves, by wandering away from God or being distracted like the sheep; by losing our place, suddenly realising we are not where we should be like the coin; or by choosing a different path, like the son.

Then Luke records the story we heard last week of the dishonest manager. The person who used his position to get himself out of  a mess and assure his own future. This week we hear of the rich man and Lazarus.

The rich man is not noted as being evil, or cruel, or acting in any way that is inconsistent with the general society. The fact that he dresses on purple indicates that he is very wealthy, and is possibly part of the royal family. Lazarus sat at his gate, so this suggests walls and a gate, a major complex of buildings with some protection against unwanted intruders. Also note that after the rich man dies, and he is in torment, he commands Abraham to tell Lazarus to look after him, by bringing some cool water, or running an errand to his brothers. The rich man sees any other person there for his benefit.

 

Luke doesn’t say wealth is bad, even the author of the letter to Timothy doesn’t say that being wealthy is bad. There is nothing to indicate that the rich man was in anyway responsible for the position that Lazarus was in, or had anything to do with his death.

Yet what happens to him in the story, after the rich man dies he is in torment. Being rich comes with responsibility. We all have responsibility to our fellow creatures.  The problem of wealth is that it can blind us to what is happening to the world around us. As people get wealthier there is more concern with security, and having enough, and how far will the resources stretch, and how many people we can share our resources with. The sin of wealth is being preoccupied with oneself.

It almost seems that these chapters of Luke were written for our modern western society. We live in a culture that values money and possessions and status, and increasingly security is being added to the list. While the stories revolve around money, they are about more than that. They are about relationships and life, about a new way of thinking and being, about breaking the mould of looking after ourselves at the expense of others.

 

In many ways it is difficult to know what to do about poverty, about homelessness, about violence and drugs and family breakdown. There is much on our world that is downright scary, and much that seems to have no solution. When but when we look at our society, and accept that some people will lose so that we can win, that some people will not have a hospital bed, or housing assistance, or enough food, so that we can have a tax cut, then there is a problem.

 

Remember Luke doesn’t suggest that the rich man was responsible for the situation Lazarus was in, but he was responsible for not helping him out of that situation, for ignoring what was in front of his house. In the news in recent months there was a story from the US, but it could also happen here, that a woman was raped in an hotel hallway, and no-one helped, and it was a long time before anyone even called the police. The people who didn’t help were not responsible for the violence, but they added to the violence by not calling for help more quickly. The idea that another persons predicament is none of our business, that we don’t want to get involved as it might get messy, that is our sin.

 

We are not directly responsible for much of the structural inequality in our society, we are not responsible for drought and famine, but we are responsible for what we do with the resources that we have. I read that Wesley, in one of sermons, included “his formula for earning and saving all you can in order to give all you can, as part of wise and faithful stewardship that provides first for your own and your household's basic needs, then does good within the household of faith and to all others.”

The song went money makes the world go round – but only when we share what we have with others.

 

For many people accumulating wealth is their life’s work, to the exclusion of all else. Here we are called to account for being preoccupied with our own needs, for ignoring the cry of our neighbours around the world – for our neighbour is any who is in need. When we keep searching for more wealth and more ways to protect our wealth and to gain more wealth, then we are substituting money for God.

 Our security, our wealth, our identity, our purpose, are all found in God, and when we go looking for those things in other places, whether it is in finances or football, then we are in trouble. We need to come back to who we are, to the one in whom we live and move and have our being.  It is only when we live trusting in the faithfulness of God, when our identity is in the risen Christ, when our guide is the Holy Spirit, that we can be content with life. For life is what God gives us, and only in relationship with God can we recognise what life truly is.