I remember the talk of it
I dialed into the first world wide web
In school I learned on a computer to make my name repeat basically
There was so much talk of it
This generation that would be born with the internet
A unique thing no more
If we do well there are many ways to tell
The internet off at this point seems doom
if it was it would be a bad sign it seems to me
So accepting perhaps we don't do well
Intelligent seems best at exploitation
Strength mostly for destruction
The predator eats the sick and weak
Intelligence likes the big horns some how
But if we do well:
There will be my unique generation
Where x marks the spot between
What will be understood and talked about more
Our so I hope
In our generation we will have our answer
Something will give
The new generation coming to power
The old rune x
Crossroads
People found x because they couldn't decide who we were
It was a place holder
There intelligence of the crowd
We give the gift
Something emergent that will stay
Not the passing fancy
Two road meeting
We can work together
Or we can destroy our own biome
In the lifetime of a generation
There have been many times
Hopefully many more
Never like these
We are on our own and we shall see
Much worse already than it should be
No answer for Greta, but time still
This of all times and places
I would be in none other
To have a fight to win or lose in a human timescale
I appreciate two hundred million year old beaches
The treasure
Let us pray
Heavenly Father we have asked in the past not to be called. We have sought to confuse your clear words. We have hidden in shadows we felt you would not see us in. We have responded that there are better people to fulfill your will. We have not seen our parts both large and small as together in your will. Help us to see something new today. We thank you for another day here together. Amen
We worship in many ways like all people have through most of time to the calendar. We have our way around the year. The liturgical calendar. We find ourselves this week continuing in Luke .
In many ways we have lost our connection with the season. We mark them well here especially in church almost to remind us of something we don't know we have lost. Something like a holy ghost.
I don't really grieve anything or try not too much lately. Truth is we have lost two powerful voices in our church recently, Linda and Kathy. Both now joining us on the other side here. They were similar in some ways as we all are. To me they both spoke the most without words. Linda mostly I remember her smile. Kathy I will always remember lighting the candles and singing.
What is best about our church is we don't sit around asking God questions about the past. We might could rightly blame God just a bit for taking two of our beloved again over there if it weren't that we knew where they are.
People always talking about why God allows evil. I praise God because with all that the human heart would want and do that there is any good to see. This is the miracle we all have in front of us. I would mention the funeral in Texas that people just kept coming to. Greta I would mention is my hero because it isn't about her. If you missed what this swedish wonder did you can just Google Greta now and she is first. Short time ago last. Maybe that is what modern sermons should be highlighting the good in the world. No one else seems to be doing it.
We mark our way around the sun well in our church so I will join a shattered voice and read our gospel message once more.
Luke 16:19-31 Amplified Bible (AMP)
The Rich Man and Lazarus
19 “Now there was a certain rich man who was habitually dressed in expensive purple and fine linen, and celebrated and lived joyously in splendor every day. 20 And a poor man named Lazarus, was laid at his gate, covered with sores. 21 He [eagerly] longed to eat the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. 22 Now it happened that the poor man died and his spirit was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s [a]bosom (paradise); and the rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades (the realm of the dead), being in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom (paradise). 24 And he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in severe agony in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things [all the comforts and delights], and Lazarus likewise bad things [all the discomforts and distresses]; but now he is comforted here [in paradise], while you are in severe agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you [people] a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to come over from here to you will not be able, and none may cross over from there to us.’ 27 So the rich man said, ‘Then, father [Abraham], I beg you to send Lazarus to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—in order that he may solemnly warn them and witness to them, so that they too will not come to this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have [the Scriptures given by] Moses and the [writings of the] Prophets; let them listen to them.’ 30 He replied, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent [they will change their old way of thinking and seek God and His righteousness].’ 31 And he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to [the messages of] Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”
Me and your are rich. Someone did come back from the dead and some people repent and see a new renewal of life. Some still don't so Jesus send us to them.
We have much to unpack each week. We sit in churches across the world and try to synchronize our voice. I hear as I read this passage how different people fold things. How easy it is to believe different things.
It sounds like we are reading the old testament but this is still Jesus taking to his disciples and there Pharisees attempting to ridicule him.
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, commented on this passage, “it is no more sinful to be rich than to be poor. But it is dangerous beyond expression. Therefore, I remind all of you that are of this number, that have the conveniences of life, and something over that you walk upon slippery ground. You continually tread on snares and deaths. You are every moment on the verge of hell!” (Sermon 112: “The Rich Man and Lazarus.” Quoted in the Wesley Study Bible p. 1268.)
To be rich is dangerous. This sounds something right to me.
Imagine that moment in the life of Jesus when he says, "even if someone rose from the dead." There is something real funny here. We see it is him that is the bridge across the great chasm.
Jesus has more for both the disciples and the Pharisees in chapter 17.
I like the amplified translation myself because I'm looking for nuance in the meaning of words that have traveled across millennia. Everyone has their favorite versions and I realize no one version is best. Like all things I have experience with there is good and bad involved.
I don't myself always believe any words are the final say of anything. What I hear in this passage is a clear definition of hell: to be far from God. Some people hear suffering and fire and things they like to imagine. Heaven and hell at different times are in the same places is my best understanding.
There is something about who is raised up to Paradise in this story. It is hard for us to understand the visceral shock of those listening.
These words are attributed to Jesus as he responds to the Pharisees. He is responding to scoffs. Responding to these people who believed that reform was necessary but not that everyone could be reformed.
There is much about class and associated expectations here that Jesus is always dispelling violently at times. We in the United Methodist Church are attempting to create more categories of people who are allowed to do certain things. As if they have found some new rules written in the good news. Not doing unto others as they would have done.
I remember once walking on a former front line in Bosnia.
Traveling around the country with people from that place I watched as people found out where they came from: they would look down and away. They say a picture worth a 1000 words. This picture had no words, but I saw it clearly. People would just help them any way they could.
But on that day walking I imagined or I saw blood still stained on the road and I was startled by the idea that even here Jesus would have time to renew.
As Jeremiah must have cried out, "Houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land!" Jeremiah 32: 15b
We seem to find an end in Luke or perhaps just and end to the circular logic the Pharisees loved. In our current world there is a belief that that people are rich and powerful because people are chosen to fulfill the will of Jesus. The Jesus I know brings peace. I don't see any rich peaceful people in this world.
We find in 1 Timothy 16
6 But godliness actually is a source of great gain when accompanied by contentment [that contentment which comes from a sense of inner confidence based on the sufficiency of God]. 7 For we have brought nothing into the world, so [it is clear that] we cannot take anything out of it, either. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 9 But those who [are not financially ethical and] crave to get rich [with a compulsive, greedy longing for wealth] fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction [leading to personal misery]. 10 For the love of money [that is, the greedy desire for it and the willingness to gain it unethically] is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves [through and through] with many sorrows.
11 But as for you, [a]O man of God, flee from these things; aim at and pursue righteousness [true goodness, moral conformity to the character of God], godliness [the fear of God], faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith [in the conflict with evil]; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and [for which] you made the good confession [of faith] in the presence of many witnesses. 13 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and [in the presence] of Christ Jesus, who made the good confession [in His testimony] before Pontius Pilate, 14 to keep all His precepts without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which He will bring about in His own time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign [the absolute Ruler], the King of those who reign as kings and Lord of those who rule as lords, 16 He alone possesses immortality [absolute exemption from death] and lives in unapproachable light, whom no man has ever seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal power and dominion! Amen.
17 As for the rich in this present world, instruct them not to be conceited and arrogant, nor to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly and ceaselessly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, willing to share [with others]. 19 In this way storing up for themselves the enduring riches of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.
Those last verses so many people seem to miss. It is not easy to turn your life over to God and trust, but when you have dogs licking your sores perhaps it might incline one to give up their life. The rich man not to set their hope in riches. That sounds hard.
That first verse the word contentment is almost impossible to truly translate, but the sufficiency of God sounds something right.
Humor just doesn't translate really in my experience. That is a big part of life. Nuances are lived. In eastern Europe we ate different things at different times of the year.
With 24 hour big box stores they are trying to live more like us. Still today there is a time when every one is cooking peppers outside preparing cannned goods for the winter. A very unique smell when everyone is doing it. Here we see the seasons with less resolution. Our connections crossed.
Not very long ago it was that way here. People ate with the seasons and always knew the time of year. Now is a time of renewal. Those big new barns we have built are full. It is at harvest time that we most like to think of the long term. Those soggy springs and hot Summers gave us anxiety for the short term. When the plants are tall our talk turns to renewal. We gain this confidence. This is not by accident.
"Take hold of that which is truly life"
The people moved with the seasons so the church moved with the seasons. Now people don't move with the seasons as much the church moves people with the seasons. Makes what we do here all the more important.
Our rituals replace these things we have lost as people. Most we can hardly imagine. Raised in the high water mark for capitalism I could eat a banana or green onions any day of the year. I couldn't imagine that was different in other places. I imagine there are many more things I can't imagine.
We find truly people will believe what ever they want. Most things are actually plausible.
Who are the poor?
As with many things I like to consult my grandfather:
if you come with nothing, not expecting or seeking, you go away as you came with nothing. If we were to come with real old Methodist zeal we would be found often in the house of the Lord seeking his will and serving as he calls us.
One of the best known and most often quoted sayings of John Wesley, was that in which he describes the Methodist as "the friend of all and the enemies of none". It seems to me we have gone far--far afield from the spirit of this quote in our modern world. At every point of life we are faced with conflicts of interest and motive. Men are grouped together in opposing camps, nations against nations, class against class, neighbor against neighbor. It seems at times that we forget that no man can unto himself, everybody influences us and we influence everybody we meet. We are the only Bible that many people ever read.
Again I ask who is a Methodist, a Methodist is a Christian who believes in regeneration, the new birth, through which one becomes a child of God. In the witness of the Holy Spirit that seals him as a Child of God. He believes in the possibility of final perfection, that he can be "made perfect in love" in this life. He believes in the doctrine of repentance, that he has a Godly sorrow for sin committed coupled with a will to sin no more. He believes in the universality of redemption--that Christ died for all, not simply a chosen few.
He believes in Justification by Faith, that it is by God's grace that we are saved. Faith is the lever here. Being justified by faith, we have peace with God. (EPH 2:8) First God offers, then we believe, then we accept. "By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God."
Nottingham Methodist Church 1961, Nottingham Village, Cleveland, Ohio
I love to preach even though it may not be the best use of time. I like to write my sermons out because most research says people don't really hear sermons. We all see sermons. These are the ones that really teach but we go around telling the same story, the good news, because it is the best news. News so good that many of us jump for joy on Sundays. News that never gets old, but we still forget.
It is also something like a salon of old. The best ones had few members.
We often criticize the ancients for their foolish choices to not listen or forget about God as we often do the same.
We often criticize the younger generation as being worse or something that hasn't ever been as bad. In truth the ancients thought this as well. They also had ancients they learned from as we do today. They also found it difficult to understand their folly.
We think of the life of Jesus as something ancient, but much was already ancient in his time. Jesus didn't come to save the Earth He did come to save us with the expectation we would take better care of all our blessings. We also destroy expectations.
In my life I find myself in a common refrain to all life's blessings, "thank you Lord, may I have another.". If it is dangerous to be rich I wonder is there safety in poverty. Is this an armour. A fruit? I find myself back where I began seeing good and bad and all.
So I like to preach. I hear a type of calling to follow. In this pulpit people are often called to many things. For me it is to remind people that we study and we learn. To me I find the ultimate question of who is welcome to formally preach in this Methodist Church more about who is excluded.
The Pharisees were about exclusion. Jesus showed them clearly where their logic would lead them. It is my hope to show people that exclusion can never be the answer. People have such wide elbows.
I will preach here as long as I am welcome but for my own peace of mind I will say I am not called to be a preacher with this United Methodist Church. As long as one person is excluded I will never be a full member. It is dangerous to be a Methodist.
I find myself lost at times. I know well many of the frailties of the human heart. I also know many of the blessings of the Lord, may I have another.
Let us pray
Father we ask today that wounds heal and hearts open. Give us opportunities to find ourselves of service. Thank you for speaking with your children. Continue to give us joy to speak your word. Help us to maintain our spirit and determination to plant seeds and help then grow. Thank you for the saints of Nottingham you hold now in your bosom. Be with those who have loved and lost them glorious wonderous Abba Amen
Some things are away written
I never had a lucky number
This one the first I remember being given
Eight or nine I played second base
I like four
We appear to each other with little mystery
What does quiet time mean when your neighbors are deaf
Most of what we do and self evident only because we did it
We don't seek reasons to act
A bright light to me and rather loud
They can not talk any other way
Perhaps flashlight but not so really
You need to get each other's attention randomly
Around a camp not so quiet time
One group an old country road please go to West Virginia
Another of sweet home Alabama 5000 campers or just him
