What kind of returns are we seeking on what types of investments?

What sort of motes are we digging around our castles – who is kept out?  Who is shut in?  

What does it mean that “In God We Trust” is printed so boldly on the reverse of the currency that represents wealth and opportunity in our economy? 

Chasm is deep and wide between Hades and the place of eternal blessings... but is it any wider than the gap between the rich and poor in our world?  And, note that the story isn’t specific about who has been digging that ditch, resulting in the distance... who would create such a mote, and why?

Is the radical equality of God’s kingdom only a future hope, or should we be seeking and building toward such a kingdom now on earth with what we do have and control? 

What choices are we each making day by day with what we do with our wealth and the decisions we make in relationships, in conversations, in our daily interactions in our offices and neighborhoods, and at the voting booth?

What kind of returns are we seeking on what types of investments? 

"...I won't die lonely, I'll have it all prearranged... a grave that's deep and wide enough for me and all my mountains o' things."  (from Tracy Chapman's song, Mountain O'Things)

coming back to forgiveness... again and again

embracing radical, unreasonable, unbelievable forgiveness... challenged to charitably love each other, even when our motives are mixed and the circumstances less than ‘clean’, honest, and ideal

Interested in higher costs of living?

Interested in higher costs of living? 

Living and loving in Christ ain’t cheap... but oh so worth the price.  

“Choose life so that you may live” (Deut 30:19)....

be useful and forgiving (Philemon)...

continually re-examine priorities and re-consider commitments (Luke 14:25-33)

philoxenia and agape, or profit-minded pretense and akedia?

On this day of sacred Sabbath and feast, what to make of tomorrow’s secular ‘Labor’ Day? 

Retreat into pure leisure?

Reflect on the economic justice of the labor markets that have catapulted our commercial interests and make it deceptively easy for more of us to indulge in luxuries and bargains?

Humbly and repentantly consider what divine hospitality and labor look like in God’s kingdom (as revealed through Jesus)? 

Who's hosting the real feast? How is status seen? Who is working and serving, and how? Who is invited? Am I inviting who Jesus invites? 

Am I sharing generously... or presuming arrogantly?

rest and loving labor as we travel between Sinai and Zion with God's help

considering ‘blurred lines’ between sacred and secular... 

as we rightly and well embrace Sabbath time to offer thanks, praise and worship to God (and rest from trying to be god), 

we also remember we’re always to be living through God’s love in action 

as we journey between Sinai and Zion, 

inviting neighbors from fear to joy, repenting of hypocrisy, forgiving, repairing breaches, restoring streets, healing, and 

satisfying needs of the afflicted in God’s name any/every day

“...and how I wish it were already kindled!”

In our sacred stories, fire purges, cleanses, refines, and incinerates... as well as enlightens and empowers.

Be burned today toward behaving as a radical commonwealth, with God’s help.

Freaked out by Jesus’ impassioned words in today’s Gospel lesson (Luke 12:49-56)?  Good.  If we’re taking seriously ministry in his name, we should be disturbed and we’re likely to have already experienced some of the initial divisions he is describing... not that the ultimate intent of our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer is division...but some separation is to be expected among the principalities of this world when we’re living toward a new life together promised through Christ.

The new kingdom that Christ calls us to live into doesn’t operate according to societal expectations that we’ve come to accept as ‘normal’.  Our heavenly family is not bound together by biological blood lines, but by faithful behaviors and godly intentions of divine heart – mercy, compassion, as well as justice for all, particularly those pushed to the margins.  The ultimate sorting out of who’s ‘in’ (and how) is God’s prerogative, not ours.  In the meantime, we’ve got plenty of opportunities to do better by each other right here, right now, using Jesus’ ministry as our example and trusting the power of Holy Spirit to help us help each other.

Fear or Faith – in which do we place more of our trust and treasure? Where do we find our heart?

Continuing to rearrange our focus and priorities.

Fear or Faith – in which do we place more of our trust and treasure?

“Whether your faith is that there is a God or that there is not a God, if you don’t have any doubts, you are either kidding yourself or asleep.  Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith.  They keep it awake and moving. Faith is better understood as a verb than as a noun, as a process than a possession.  It is on-again-off-again rather than once-and-for-all.  Faith is not being sure where you’re going, but going anyway.  A journey without maps.” –Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC (from the entries on “Doubt” and “Faith”)

Today's lectionary readings highlight Abraham and Sarah as living in faith by hope, even amid their doubts and fears.  Chapter 11 and 12 of Hebrews (which we'll continue to hear from during the next three weeks) offer us example after example of biblical 'heroes' who have lived by faith.

Faith, not so much as a thought/belief, but as an attitude/disposition/conviction that compels action (overcoming paralysis or avoidance rooted in fear).

Consider also three of the Holy Women and Holy Men who we (in our church tradition) remember this week:

Aug 11 - St. Clare (Abbess of Assisi, 1253); themes of faith, poverty, and hope

Aug 15 - St. Mary (mother of Jesus); theme of trust and faith amid uncertainly and fear

Aug 14 - Jonathan Myrick Daniels (seminarian and modern martyr, 1965); how did he invest his treasurers of time and talent; where was his heart when, on the steps of a store in Selma, he stood between a hate-filled shotgun and an innocent girl?

What are the implications of investing more in what faith can DO than in debates about faith IS?

Who have been women and men of faith in our lives?  How are we examples of faithful living to others?

FACEBOOK post for today: Continuing to rearrange our focus and priorities. Fear or Faith – in which do we place more of our trust and treasure?  Where do we find our heart?  Remembering this week, seminarian and contemporary martyr Jonathan Myrick Daniels - How did he invest his treasurers of time and talent? Where was his heart when, on the steps of a store in Selma, he stood between a hate-filled shotgun and an innocent girl? Ref. also: "Faith is better understood as a verb than as a noun, as a process than a possession.  It is on-again-off-again rather than once-and-for-all.  Faith is not being sure where you’re going, but going anyway.  A journey without maps.” –Frederick Buechner