View today's sermon on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jiu5GJdjVH8.
Living Psalm 147
Praise God, Creator of All!
How good it is to sing praises to our God -
From the mountains of Russia to the beaches of the Bahamas,
From the valleys in Switzerland to the deserts in Sudan,
From the rainforest of Peru to the plains of Thailand,
Praise our God!
Our God builds up the people on sides of all borders -
Across checkpoints and bridges.
God gathers the outcasts -
Struggling for shelter when unhoused,
Seeking love when excommunicated from communities,
Finding acceptance in the center of middle school.
Through words, medicines, embraces, and affirmations,
God soothes the broken-hearted,
Mending wounded souls and bodies and hearts.
God thrives in supernovas and black holes
And abides on each star -
Admiring their radiating beauty up close and from afar.
Our Creator is Great - infinite and eternal.
Seeing the universe in vast ways,
And from unforeseen angles.
Great is the understanding of our Creator,
Boundless understanding from each perspective.
Delivering grace as God stands in each intersection of creation.
As the Divine One embraces a new landscape across the galaxy
And within our communities,
God lifts our neighbors in the margins of life.
Even in times of trauma and turmoil, sadness and shame -
God’s greatness builds ladders for our neighbors to climb.
In gratitude we sing to God our Creator
And make melodies on the sitar, and guitar, and organ.
Under the heavens
God nourishes the earth with rain and sun,
Cultivating the flowers near lakes
And grass along hills and valleys.
Knowing the needs of all creation,
God provides animals with food,
And the most vulnerable find the strength they need.
God’s joy is not in ego or boldness,
Not in impressive speech or charismatic smiles,
Not in bank accounts or influencer “likes.”
But God delights with the ones who celebrate steadfast love
Who embrace grace, stand after failures, and hope when all seems lost.
And with our neighbors finding sparks of joy again,
We praise our God!
Written by Rev. Michelle L. Torigian, senior pastor of St. Paul UCC, Belleville, Illinois.
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Luke 16:1-13 – New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
16 Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. 2 So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ 3 Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ 5 So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ 7 Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’
8 And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly, for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. 9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone they may welcome you into the eternal homes.
10 “Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much, and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. 11 If, then, you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? 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.”
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Contemporary Reading – Oath of Office for Supreme Court Justices
“I, _________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as _________ under the Constitution and laws of the United States; and that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”
This Luke passage is confusing. What are we to make of it? Why does it sound like we should strive to be like the manager that used his master’s wealth to create a golden parachute for himself?
Is the rich master pleased with the dishonest, scheming manager because he sees himself in his protege? Is the rich master pleased with the dishonest, scheming manager because he suspects that if his manager has just cheated the master that he was likely cheating their business partners all along, making more profit for the master? Was the manager being rewarded for being dishonest? Doesn’t that rub you the wrong way?
What do we think of the debtors that also cheated the master out of the money they legitimately owed? They too are dishonest, agreeing to collude with the manager about to lose his job, benefiting themselves at the expense of the master.
What is motivating these individuals to cheat and steal? Is it desperate need? Or is it greed? Or something in between? Is it going along to get along, learning how to play the game of survival of the fittest?
Why does Jesus seemingly praise the manager that schemed and cheated his master out of what was rightful property of the master? Is Jesus encouraging unethical problem-solving and devious self-sufficiency?
We must remember that the function of a parable is to shock and startle us into seeing a new way of thinking and living. Where is the “aha” moment?
Is it a Robin Hood situation, taking from the rich and giving to the poor? I do not believe so. This manager is only concerned with himself according to the story as it is shared with us. In fact if we look at it closely, he is taking from the rich and giving to the rich.
This is not in line with Jesus’ values or teachings. I believe it is more likely that Jesus is using irony to make his point.
You can have riches but they will not help you get closer to God. In fact they may separate you from God.
In Luke’s telling of the parable the manager is praised for taking care of himself, at all costs, at the expense of his master. The dishonest manager could not succeed alone. His plan would not have worked if the debtors would not have agreed to the scheme.
Where are the trustworthy individuals in this passage?
We cannot trust the manager because he will act only in his own best self-interest.
We cannot trust the debtors because they also are acting in their own self-interest, ignoring the harm their actions cause the master (the one to whom they are indebted).
We cannot put our trust in flawed humans. Who or what does that leave? Our trust is owed to God and God alone.
Where is the intersection between our scriptures and our local, national, or world news this week?
This week I, like many of you was stunned when the Supreme Court handed down a decision in Donald J. Trump v. United States that gives the president absolute immunity for committing crimes while engaging in official acts.
This Luke scripture, 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.” is speaking to our current events.
We must ask ourselves, who are the Supreme Court justices serving? Are they slaves to God and the greater good (as they are sworn to be) or are they slaves to wealth and special interests?
There is powerful, dangerous stuff happening in our nation and we must grapple with it. We cannot ignore it hoping that it will go away. We cannot ignore it because we think we will not be directly affected.
Our Living Psalm praises an all-inclusive God, present in the deep reaches of the cosmos and present in the intimate setting of our earthly realm. Our Creator is seen and felt as powerful wind and waves and gentle breezes and brooks. Our Creator is seen and felt in the cries of newborn babies and the silence of meditation.
“God nourishes the earth with rain and sun, Cultivating the flowers near lakes, And grass along hills and valleys.
Knowing the needs of all creation, God provides animals with food,And the most vulnerable find the strength they need.”
Our Living Psalm reminds us of what a rich and full life looks and feels like, not for some but for all.
Our Living Psalm reminds us that it is not monetary wealth but health and happiness through vital relationships that enrich our lives.
Our Living Psalm reminds us that hope is mandatory.
”God delights with the ones who celebrate steadfast loveWho embrace grace, stand after failures, and hope when all seems lost.”
Let us find sparks of joy amid this wreckage. Let us work to uphold truth and justice as if our very lives depend upon it – because some lives do depend upon it… some lives depend upon us.
Our silence is complicity.
Amen
Rev. TJ Mack – July 7, 2024
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