messages to the "rich"

Amos 6:4-7, I Timothy 6:6-19, Luke 16:19-31

These three passages absolutely deluge us with conversation about the rich, about what possessions do to people, about God's view on peoples' obsession with possession, about the fact that all this should not be in any way new to us, as it was not for the people many generations ago for whom it was written!

Yet, it seems we still don't, in general, get the message.

Even though someone did rise from the dead!

So part of this seems as hopeless as the passage from Amos, where God says that the "revelry of the loungers" (isn't that a great image!) will pass because they did not feel grief for the plight of the poor and therefore act to address their situation. Is exile in Babylon or Hades the only future for those who are rich?

And who is that anyway? The picture in Amos sounds like folk from a B movie about the Roman empire. Same thing with the unnamed rich man in Luke (how wonderful that the poor man is named and the rich man is not, a total reversal of the usual course of things in history!). Timothy has a little more subtlety. If you have food and clothing, he suggests, you have enough, and any excess would class you among the "rich."

Which means most of us can't ignore these messages sent to the "rich" and assume they only mean those on the annual Forbes list of the billionaires.

So what is the message? Look at how possessions distract your attention from so many things: from the messages of God in the scriptures, from the plight of people right on your doorstep, from a life that is truly free and joyous. Look at what you are missing, the texts seem to say, you who think you are missing only the latest fashion or gadget.

The message seems to be, "pay attention," but not just to how the stocks are doing or the advertisements on the screen in front of you.

The hope here is that, unlike the despair of Abraham when speaking to the rich man, God did indeed rise from the dead to continue to attempt to get that message across. Who's paying attention?

Praying for the President

This week we are looking at the little book of First Timothy. The book is ostensibly from the apostle Paul to his student and fellow missionary, Timothy. The scholars aren't sure Paul wrote this, but whoever wrote it, the stress of the text is clear: instruction for a young missionary and the new churches he is leading.

The letter comes in the context of a rise in persecution of Christian churches, and also of those churches still figuring out who they are and what they believe. In the first chapter, the writer (we'll call him Paul for ease of prose) cautions Timothy about those in the churches who get all hung up on "myths and genealogies." He worries about those engaged in "meaningless talk" and great stress on law. How easy it is to spin our wheels wondering about the details of things like who wrote this letter and not about the greater demands of the gospel?

Early in the life of the Christian churches, especially in the context of persecution and in a powerful Greco/Roman culture, it would have been tempting for the churches to cocoon themselves and separate from the society around them. Several "heresies" arose to encourage people to do just that, waiting for the second coming of Jesus. It is also tempting, especially when a group is threatened, to put together all kinds of careful ways to maintain identity with rules which have the result of making sure of who is "in" and who is "out."

The writer of Timothy is trying to counter those tendencies. He tells Timothy that first, the community's identity is in worship, and specifically in prayer. That prayer is not only to be for those in the community and their needs, but for "everyone." Specifically, for "kings and all in high positions." Remember that in the Roman cults, people prayed to the emperor, but in the churches, people are now to pray for the emperor. Can you imagine how difficult this must have been? Remember "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you?" But Paul puts the emperor and all with power under the same God as all of us and in need to "being saved" and coming to the "knowledge of truth," just like everyone else.

That "knowledge of truth" probably was not meant to be intellectual information, but that all might experience the presence and love of God through Jesus and so be led in such a way that they would want all people to "lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity." People in power, not just political rulers, but also those with economic or military power, need our prayers because our ability to live peaceably and with dignity is very dependent on their actions and decisions, as we well experience in our day. So, far from separating from the world around them, the early Christians were called to engage that world in prayer and seek the transformation of the world, not their removal from it.

When was the last time you prayed for George Bush or Dick Cheney? or Bill Gates or (name your CEO)? or President al-Maliki of Iraq or the leaders of Iran or North Korea or Israel or Palestine or the Sudan? or Osama bin Laden? Or your boss? Really prayed for them not that they might be hurt but that they might know God fully and live abundant lives of love in God?

Seeking and Being Sought

After a summer hiatus, sermonthreads is back, looking each week at the texts to be preaching the following Sunday. This week: Exodus 32:7-14, I Timothy 1:12-17 and Luke 15:1-10.

The Exodus reading has perhaps the most fascinating, and for some folk, most troubling component. It talks about God changing God's mind! For those taught that God is the same, yesterday, today and forever, the idea that God could change a plan could be troublesome. But for those who believe in the power of prayer, it is exhilarating!

The story takes place while Moses is up on the mountain conversing with God and receiving the Ten Commandments. The Hebrew people, newly freed from Egypt, have grown impatient down in the wilderness waiting for Moses to return. Some think he may have died, and Joshua with him. So they ask Aaron to give them a god to worship. A golden calf is made from the jewelry they purloined from the Egyptians at their leavetaking, and a great orgy follows in the manner of ecstatic religious celebrations of the Middle East at that time.

Moses knows none of this, but God does. And God gets most perturbed by this activity. God threatens to "consume" all of the people, except Moses. He says he'll make a new nation for Moses to lead.

Now at this point, given the grief these folk have given Moses throughout the flight from Egypt, you might think he would take God up on that option. But Moses instead pleads for the people. He tells God that it would be such a waste to destroy them when God just went to a lot of trouble to liberate them. Moses says it would embarrass God in front of the Egyptians. And Moses says God would be going back on promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel). All of this Moses sees as contrary to God's essential character. Note that Moses does not excuse the actions of the people; he's not appealing out of mercy for them overtly, but out of a desire for God not to contradict what is essential about God.

Amazingly, God agrees with Moses and decides not to consume the people with anger.

So, my questions include wondering why Moses stuck with these difficult folk, what Moses said that convinced God, and how this all relates to prayer and to forgiveness? More tomorrow on the other texts.