Readings:
Hosea 11:1-11, Luke 12:13-21
We pray:
May the words of scripture speak into our lives and may both the words
spoken and our understandings be acceptable in your sight, O God, our rock and
our sustainer. Amen.
When Jonathon was only a child, I loved him. I would look over him, keep him out of
trouble, rescued him that time when he got stuck up that tree and got him
safely down and home.
But then, as he got older, other people, other
things began to call him, take his attention.
You could say he worshipped other Gods, like the latest computer games,
designer clothes, booze, with his mates picking on the different and the
weak. But still I stuck with him, got
him out of trouble, made peace with those he had hurt, but he never admitted
that he needed or even knew that I was doing this. Sometimes at night when he was deeply asleep
I would lean over and kiss him, hold him, tell him that I loved him. No
response of course.
And now – he wants to go
right away – leave home, back to the dangers of being at the top of a spindly
tree without anyone to catch him when he falls, pursuing in all those things he
worships. I get angry, of course I get angry
– just want to shake some sense into him, sometimes want to cut him off
completely and see how he likes it – all alone, no one to pick up the pieces.
But I can’t do it – I
just can’t. I can’t bear the thought of
him alone, hurting, there is no way I can act out my anger in this way. I love him and, when I remember that, all
thought of severing our relationship just dissolves, and compassion,
understanding, forgiveness just make my heart want to burst. I love him and I will be there when he is ready
to return, when he turns his face to home again – for where I am will always be
his home.
Hosea tells of the love of God for Israel and it is a powerful story, a story of love
and frustration and heartbreak and of choice – a choice to love not discard. I found re-telling this story in my own words
helped me to hear more clearly the deep love of God that transcends all our
behaviour, all our turning away and that just will not give up on us, ever. We do need reminding of that don’t we. I suspect that there are still lingering
thoughts that, as we might eventually give up on someone who keeps on hurting
us, letting us down, so God will eventually have had enough of us.
But it’s not true – never has been, never will
be. This story shouts out at us that God
is the one in whom we can confidently place our security, that God will ever be
there for us. The other gods that we
rush off to pursue, whatever they might be, are ephemeral, full of false
promise and dubious long term gain.
Jesus, the greatest of storytellers, gives us
this same message in the Gospel reading we had today. The parable of the Rich Fool invites us to
consider the futility of garnering wealth against a future when the future
might end today. It’s pretty blunt isn’t
it? You fool – this very night you die – then what use is your great storehouse
of treasure. Your real treasure, the one
that will not fade or be given away or crumble under you feet is your
relationship with God and with your community – and you are totally neglecting
that as you concentrate on storing up this, this stuff for a future that is not
yours.
And in this day and age how might that story be
told – it’s not necessarily a barn with grain but it could be a 80 hour working
week to get rid of the humungous mortgage on the flash house, or a parent who
hardly ever sees their child because the ‘best school’ is too long a flight
away and school fees leave no travel money or the church whose offerings all go
to keeping their decaying building afloat – mission and ministry neglected as
maintenance devours their time and money
--- I am sure you can fill in with some other thoughts here.
Our trouble is, says Jesus, that when we focus on
shoring up the future in a way that excludes the now, there are few guarantees and little to recommend it. We think that somehow happiness, peace will
be found when we have achieved these things – that things will be better – we
just have to work hard and strive for them, that the more effort we put in the
better will be the result and that if the here and now has to suffer, then so
be it.
Well, breaking news, life is about the here and
now and we don’t know what the future holds.
Whether we are rich or poor, of faith or no faith, life is good for some
of us some/most of the time and bad some/most of the time. Nothing wrong it doing a bit of planning for
the future, looking out for some securities in our lives but Jesus tells us
that when our focus becomes such that our relationship with each other and God
is neglected, storing up against an unpredictable future is just nuts. Whatever takes us completely away from those
relationships, whatever other god it is that bemuses us so much that we have no
time to live in the richness of life with Christ and each other in the present,
that needs to be challenged.
This is something for us all to think about
individually – is there anything in our life that has absorbed us so much that
we have lost the now?
Today however I want to specifically look at
something I think is a really serious issue in the church at the moment – an
issue that has completely taken up the energy and focus of much of the church
to the extent that present relationships of church, God and people are at
extreme risk. It’s all about sex, sexual
relationships, sexual orientation, sexual norms. People trawl through the scriptures looking
to find supporting evidence for differing viewpoints, almost seeking to tell
Jesus what he would have said on this pivotal issue had he been aware it was
such a threat to the church of the 21st century. No all you can find is Jesus saying we must
love God, each other as ourselves. No
help at all.
Every assembly in NZ for over forty years has had
this issue debated in some way and it has become all encompassing over the last
20 years. Then came the Marriage
Equality Bill which led to huge debate last Assembly and the passing of a
majority vote supporting marriage as between men and women – a view that some
of you will agree with and some not and some be uncertain. Last week – a glimpse of sanity – a report
from the Book of Order Advisory Committee (whose very name brings up that
phrase ‘decently and in good order’) confirming that, according to our church
polity and reformed and reforming understanding, this is something for
individual churches and minister’s to discern.
Then on Friday I read the Affirm response to that
paper urging all members to deluge the Moderator , the Committee convenor and
the Assembly Secretary with their outrage at this report, praying that among
other things God will arise to defend his own honour and glory.
Jesus wept. What are we doing here? Is the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa NZ
truly making Jesus Christ known in this place and this time or is it so
embroiled in filling up its barns with so called ‘enforced right thinking’ for
the day of judgement that it has no time, energy, focus, desire even, to be the
body of Christ and care for community.
Is this what it means to have a life rich toward
God? I don’t think so. Is this building up relationship with God and
each other in community? Not in my book
– the church is way too distracted. Is
this reaching out in love and care for all people in the security of God’s love
that never lets us go? Not being a good example of that are we?
I pray God that we all in this congregation,
along with the wider church, here and throughout the world, will continue to
live in the riches of a life rooted in God, and in care for community, for each
other, and turn away from those things that distract and prevent us from the
love and care of all people. Amen
Margaret Garland
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