Buying our way to heaven (purging greed)

EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

Readings:

Romans 8:12-17

Luke 16:1-9 (10-15)

Key Verses (using the World English Bible):

Rom. 8:12-13: “We are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.  For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

Luke 16:9: Jesus said, “Make for yourselves friends by means of unrighteous [wealth], so that when you fail, they may receive you into the eternal tents.”

Reflection

The Parable of the Dishonest Manager (or, traditionally, the “Unjust Steward”) is probably one of the hardest of Jesus’ stories to interpret.  The Gospels themselves often encourage us to read parables as analogies—in fact, in other languages, “parable” is translated as “similitude” or “likeness”—but what analogy can we obtain from this story?  A manager, facing threats of termination and destitution, tricks his boss by falsifying records in order to win over his boss’s debtors.  Thus, when the manager is fired, the debtors might be more inclined to take him in.  The boss somehow learns of this deception, but then “commends the dishonest manager because he had done wisely.”  So if we put ourselves into this story, are we then the dishonest manager?  Is the boss God?  Does God commend deception?  How do we follow the moral of the story and “make for yourselves friends by means of unrighteous [wealth]?”

Now I’ve done a bit of switcheroo this week.  This parable is traditionally assigned for next Sunday, but I decided that it fit better here (and vice versa).  You see, according to the theory of the “seven passions” we’ve been examining, this week’s passion is covetousness, or what we today might call “envy” or even “greed”.  Basically, you want what someone else has—and in this case, it’s money, which is why I think “greed” also applies here.  Not only is it more familiar from the modern list of “seven deadly sins”, but just look at all the references to money in the two readings.   Paul says we’re not “debtors to the flesh,” but rather “heirs of God.”  The dishonest manager toys with others’ “wealth” (“mammon” in the original text).  Even the collect, today’s assigned prayer which dates from around the fifth century, asks God to give us what’s “profitable”.

In an attempt to explain away Jesus’ apparent sanctioning of dishonesty, my NIV Study Bible suggests that “originally the manager may have overcharged the debtors.”  He would’ve falsely upped the quantities of oil and wheat in order to pocket the extra money himself, or even split it with the debtors if they were in on the scam.  So when he “reduced” the amounts, he just reset them to what they really were.  This fits with the opening of the parable, where the boss learns of “an accusation… that this [manager] was wasting his possessions.”  And after all, the manager is dishonest.  But I think this reading misses an important point.  Nothing in the story suggests that the manager ever stopped being dishonest.  His boss commends him and thinks him wise, but Jesus doesn’t.  So what, then, do we make of this story?

For me, the key lies in the manager’s reduction of the debt.  Just look at how easily he made money disappear with the stroke of a pen: 100 gallons became 50; 600 bushels became 500, and so their worth decreased.  Isn’t this something we can relate to in our days of electronic money?  Our bank accounts go up and down, month after month, and yet we rarely get to touch the physical contents.  And so we purge ourselves of envy/greed by remembering how fleeting money can be.  Money comes and goes, so why envy those who have it?  Why be greedy for more when you have it?  Money didn’t save the manager in the very end; his connections, or “friends”, did.  So if a dishonest man could devote his life to money, and then use it literally to buy friends, then surely we, as people of faith who serve a Higher Master, can do better!  We can use the possessions God freely gives us towards the benefit of all people, and not for self-gain.

We have to deal with the importance of money just as the dishonest manager made deals with his boss’s debtors.  And there’s nothing wrong with being ambitious, wanting financial security, or a promotion for hard work.  But in our heart of hearts, I think we know money can’t buy everything.  So then as we’re shooting for that higher-paying job, let’s not forget to aim for the “eternal tents” of friendship, community, and love.  Let’s become more ambitious about those, striving to surround ourselves with honest people who will take us in, build us up, love and inspire us, and to whom we can return the favor.

Prayer of the Day

O God,

your never-failing providence orders all things

both in heaven and earth.

We humbly pray you

to put away from us all hurtful things,

and to give us those things

which are profitable for us;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

—Collect for the Eighth Sunday after Trinity, adapted from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer

Keep us, O Lord, we pray,

steadfast in your service,

so that what you have bestowed freely in advance

may serve those in whom you find sincere favor;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

—Collect #2 for the Eighth Sunday after Trinity in the 5^th-century Gelasian Sacramentary, adaptive translation from Latin by Joseph A. Soltero

Hymn: “O praise to the Lord! Praise him in the height”

(Words: Henry Williams Baker, 1821-1877; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015

Tune: ‘Laudate Dominum’, Charles H. H. Parry, 1848-1918

Alternate tune here)

O praise to the Lord! Praise him in the height.

Rejoice in his word, you angels of light;

You heavens, adore him by whom you were made,

And worship before him, in brightness arrayed.

O praise to the Lord! Praise him upon earth

In tuneful accord, all you of new birth.

Praise him who has brought you his grace from above.

Praise him who has taught you to sing of his love.

O praise to the Lord! All things that give sound,

Each jubilant chord re-echo around.

Loud organs, his glory tell forth in deep tone,

And sweet harp, the story of what he has done.

O praise to the Lord! Thanksgiving and song

To him be outpoured all ages along!

For love in creation, for heaven restored,

For grace of salvation, O praise to the Lord!

Stuck in limbo (purging sloth)

SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

Readings:

Romans 6:(12-16) 17-23

Mark 8:1-9

Key Verses (using the World English Bible):

Rom. 6:19: “… as you presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to wickedness upon wickedness, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness for sanctification.”

Mark 8:2-3: Jesus said, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have stayed with me now three days, and have nothing to eat.  If I send them away fasting to their home, they will faint on the way…”

Reflection

As we walk through the Season after Trinity, we have to remember that its journey is an idealized one.  Having wrestled with the passions of pride, vainglory, dejection, and wrath within ourselves, we ideally have already conquered them, and ideally are ready to move forward.  But we know it doesn’t really work that way.  It takes more than one season to master those kinds of behaviors (and others yet to come).  Maybe that’s why the fifth-century church settled on a one-year lectionary, to ensure that this one set of biblical passages will call us back, year after year, to reflect on these themes until, with God’s help, we are ready to move on to “newness of life.”

But, for now, let’s pretend that we’ve ideally purged ourselves of four passions so far:  We humbled ourselves before the Higher Power that created us.  We don’t put down our neighbor because we know we have our own faults.  We don’t let those faults make us feel unworthy to receive God into our lives.  And we’re quick to restrain anger and not hold grudges.  That’s impressive!  That’s also incredibly exhausting because, to truly restrain those passions, we have to be ever-vigilant, constantly aware that we don’t revert to our old selves.

And so we come to the passion of sloth.

What we call “sloth” was known by the early Church as “acedia”, from a Greek word meaning “without care.”  Today, we might use words like “indifference”, “apathy”, or even “negligence” (as in the Wikipedia article for “acedia”).  In his article on the Trinity Season, Reverend David Phillips asks:

“Is sloth the result of having restrained the passions of the flesh, but not yet turning that same desire over to a love of God and neighbor?  One can be in a state of paralysis in regards to love.”

Paul alludes to this “state of paralysis” in his Letter to the Romans.  He reminds us that, before we followed Christ, it was so easy for us to present our own selves as slaves to sin.  We didn’t even have to think about it.  We insulted back those who insulted us first.  We raised ourselves up by putting others down.  But now ideally we know better.  “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind,” Ghandi once said.  The way of Jesus calls us to a new way of living.  But the danger for us on that way now is that, when we focus too much on what we can’t or shouldn’t do, we may neglect what we ought to do.  Our inner struggle can deplete our energy, leaving us weak, fatigued, and even indifferent to the world around us—and we risk remaining stuck in this kind of limbo.

The Gospel story was purposely selected to piggyback on this realization.  In it, Jesus is concerned about the crowds that have been following him for three days, and now have nothing to eat.  Their food supply (assuming they brought any) has been depleted and, in their zeal and devotion, they’ve apparently neglected to look for additional food.  Jesus satisfies their hunger by multiplying seven loaves of bread to feed them all, leaving seven baskets full of leftovers.  The foreshadowing here of the Last Supper, and subsequent Christian liturgy, is unmistakable—and so is its meaning.  Christ will recharge and restore us so that, with renewed strength, we may resume our journey, being sent back out into the world.  And just as a side-note: can we make a connection between this reading’s triple repetition of the number “seven” and the threefold cycle of the seven passions in the Trinity Season?

We purge ourselves from the passion of sloth through faithfully and actively seeking God.  Yes, we are called to detach ourselves from the passions, but not to lead detached lives.  Our call to look inward does not exempt us from the obligation to care for, to act in, and to engage the world.  But when all of this gets to be too much, and we feel like we’re about to faint on the way, we must have faith that God in Christ will supply our spiritual food—seeking God in church, in Bible-reading and prayer, and in community.  We must have faith that, the more we open ourselves to this, the more that one day, we will finally, and easily, become slaves to love—loving God, neighbor, and self.

Prayer of the Day

Lord of all power and might,

author and giver of all good things,

graft in our hearts the love of your Name;

increase in us true religion,

nourish us with all goodness,

and, in your great mercy,

keep us in the same;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

—Collect for the Seventh Sunday after Trinity, adapted by Joseph A. Soltero from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer

Grant, O Lord, we pray, that we,

being truly confident in your grace,

may apply ourselves to all worthy things,

and may continuously take up

that which we have set ourselves to do;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

—Collect #2 for the Seventh Sunday after Trinity in the 5^th-century Gelasian Sacramentary, translated from Latin by Joseph A. Soltero

Hymn: “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”

(Words: “Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen”, Joachim Neander, 1680; translated from German to English by Catherine Winkworth, 1863; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015 from The Hymnal 1940, and The Hymnal 1982

Tune: ‘Lobe Den Herren’, Germany 1665; harmony by William S. Bennett, 1864)

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!

O my soul, praise him, for he is your health and salvation!

Join the great throng,

Psaltery, organ, and song

Sounding in glad adoration.

Praise to the Lord, who over all is gloriously reigning;

Borne as on eagle wings, his saints in safety sustaining.

Have you not seen:

What you have needed has been

Granted in his wise ordaining?

Praise to the Lord, who will prosper your way and defend you.

Surely his goodness and mercy shall ever attend you.

Ponder anew

What the Almighty can do

With all his love to befriend you.

Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore him!

All that has life and breath, come now with praises before him!

Let the “Amen”

Sound from his people again,

Gladly forever sing for him!

Anger management (purging wrath)

SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

Readings:

Romans 6:3-11

Matthew 5:20-26

Key Verses (using the New Revised Standard Version):

Rom. 6:6: “We know that our old self was crucified with [Jesus] so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.”

Matt. 5:22: Jesus said, “If you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you [say ‘Raca’ to] a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool’, you will be liable to the hell of fire.’”

Reflection

After a couple of weeks of examining odd “passions”, such as vainglory and dejection, today we’re back on more familiar ground.  Purging ourselves of wrath, or anger, is certainly more accessible to us intellectually.  Anger-related crimes fill up newspapers and TV news reports worldwide.  Anger management courses and techniques are widely available online or in the Self-Help section of your local bookstore.  The Pixar movie Inside Out, which I referenced last week, depicts a simplified, yet accurate, caricature of Anger’s fiery nature.  Most of us, at one time or another, have felt the overwhelming and consuming power of rage, where we may even scare ourselves at the thoughts that race through our mind, or perhaps even our own actions.

The danger of this passion is so strong that Jesus addresses it directly, by name, in today’s Gospel—no vague parables, as with pride and vainglory; no obscure verse, as with dejection last week.  Jesus says plainly: “If you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool’, you will be liable to the hell of fire.”

What I find the most interesting about this warning is the second part, “if you insult a brother or sister.”  What the NRSV translates as “insult” is, as the World English Bible footnotes, “an Aramaic insult, related to the word for ‘empty’ and conveying the idea of ‘empty-headedness’.”  The exact meaning has been lost to time.  But doesn’t that mirror the effects of anger?  How many times do we forget what we’ve said in a fit of rage?  We often become unaware of our insults.  We “see red” and blind ourselves to the wounds we’re inflicting on another human being.  And just because we may forget what we said to others in anger, that doesn’t mean it hurt them any less—in much the same way that forgetting the meaning of “Raca” doesn’t change how offensive it once was.

A few verses later, Jesus says something even more striking.  If we’re in the middle of offering a gift at the altar, and then remember that a brother or sister has anything against us, we must leave the gift there and first seek reconciliation.  Such is the importance of purging ourselves of anger that today, by extension, Jesus might actually kick us out of church, halfway through the service, just so we can talk things out with someone from whom we’ve become estranged.  Forgiveness and reconciliation between human beings, in Jesus' eyes, take priority over devotion and prayer to God.

Purging ourselves of wrath is no easy task, but neither is our faith.  Although “we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come”, as the Nicene Creed affirms, Paul would remind us that we are now living in a state of death—that is, Christ’s death, into which we have been baptized.  It’s like our whole lives are taking place on one Holy Saturday, the Great Sabbath between Jesus’ death and resurrection, where we have died in agony, but have not yet risen to “the newness of life.”  Whenever Good Friday’s painful and anger-stricken wounds surface in our bodies, we have to remember that our spirit is no longer there.  We are being made alive to God in a different way, regenerating in the interim with the strength to carry on for one more day, when we will rise in this life to a new way of living, free from anything that keeps us bound away from God. 

Prayer of the Day

O God,

you have prepared for them that love you

such good things as are yet unseen.

Pour into our hearts such love towards you,

that we, loving you in and above all things,

may obtain your promises,

which exceed all that we can desire;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

—Collect for the Sixth Sunday after Trinity, adapted by Joseph A. Soltero from the 5^th-century Gelasian Sacramentary, the Sarum Missal, and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer

O God,

you dwell in holiness,

and you do not abandon the hearts of the faithful.

Deliver us from earthly desire and fleshly passion

so that, sin no longer reigning in us,

we may, with delivered minds,

serve only you;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

—Collect #2 for the Sixth Sunday after Trinity in the 5^th-century Gelasian Sacramentary, translated from Latin by Joseph A. Soltero

Hymn: “Baptized into your name most holy”

(Words: “Ich bin getauft auf deinem Namen”, Johann J. Rambach, 1734; translated to English by Catherine Winkworth, 1863; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015, with 4^th stanza adapted from The New Century Hymnal, 1995

Tune: ‘O dass ich tausend’, Kornelius H. Dretzel, 1731)

Baptized into your name most holy,

O Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,

I claim a place, though weak and lowly,

Among your seed, your chosen host.

Buried with Christ and dead to sin,

Your Spirit now shall live within.

My loving Father, now you take me

To be henceforth your child and heir.

My faithful Savior, now you make me

The fruit of all your sorrows share.

O Holy Ghost, you comfort me

When darkest clouds around I see.

My faithful God, you fail me never,

Your cov’nant surely will abide.

O cast me not away forever,

Should I transgress it on my side!

Though I have oft my soul defiled,

Forgive, restore, and guide your child.

All that I am and love most dearly,

Receive it now, O Lord, from me.

O let me make my vows sincerely,

And help me your own child to be!

Let nothing that I am or own

Serve any will but yours alone.

O never let my purpose falter,

O Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,

But keep me faithful to your altar,

Until you call me from my post.

To you alone I live or die

And praise you evermore on high.

Inside out (purging dejection)

FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

Readings:

1 Peter 3:8-15

Luke 5:1-11

Key Verses (using the World English Bible):

1 Pet. 3:14, 15b: “Even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed… and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you.”

Luke 5:8-9: “Simon Peter… fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord.’ For he was amazed… at the catch of fish which they had caught.”

Reflection

For my nephew’s last day of school last week, we treated him to dinner and the movie Inside Out.  If you haven’t seen the film yet, you should.  Far from being just a “kids’ movie”, Inside Out depicts the complexities of pre-adolescent emotional development in a way that’s simple (and quite entertaining) both for kids and adults to understand.  I won’t give too much of it away, but the film follows the story of an 11-year-old girl, named Riley, and the five principal emotions that live with her inside her brain: Joy (played by the hilarious Amy Poehler), Anger, Disgust, Fear, and Sadness.  Since Riley’s birth, the golden-colored Joy has taken it upon herself to do everything possible to keep Riley happy.  And although she recognizes the usefulness of her other “emotional” co-workers, she can’t quite figure out the role of Sadness, whose Midas-like touch adds a depressing blue hue to Riley's "core memories", contained in glowing crystal balls.

What do we do with sadness?  Perhaps you’ll be surprised to note that the readings for this Sunday may in fact be asking us this question.  In the Trinity Season, I’ve made it a point to say that we’re being called to examine the seven “passions”, not “sins”, that live inside us, and today’s “passion” is a clear example of why we need to make that distinction.  Sadness, or “dejection”, as the ancient Church called it, is not a sin, nor is it an evil—but, as today’s Gospel reading shows us, it can still affect our relationships with God, with each other, and with ourselves.

In the Gospel, Jesus asks Simon Peter to put out to sea so that he might help them catch fish.  Peter objects at first, saying that they’ve worked all night without success, but will nonetheless do what Jesus asks and let down the net.  Of course, we know what happens next; with Jesus’ supernatural help, the first disciples catch a large number of fish, and Jesus uses that event to illustrate how his followers will now “catch people.”  The story is repeated in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but only Luke adds a curious detail to his expanded version of the story.  Peter actually tells Jesus to go away: “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord.”  Peter already has an idea of who Jesus is, since he called him “Master” and took him at his word even when logic told him not to.  But Peter’s first reaction to seeing Jesus’ display of power is to tell him to go away—because he’s “sinful”, unworthy to have the power of God come so personally into his life.

A Huffington Post article has the following to say about depression:

“Depression has a way of tricking even the happiest of people into thinking that life isn’t worth experiencing.  Their energy is evaporated, what once was pleasurable is now less-than appealing and the physical symptoms are completely taxing.”

We don’t know enough about Peter to diagnose him with depression.  But what he does, at least in this story, resembles the experiences of millions of people worldwide affected by depression, and certainly resonates with my own experience.  You can be staring at happiness and love right in the face; you can be surrounded by the laughter of friends and family; you might not even be able to pinpoint any specific thing wrong in your life, and yet you can’t shake off the sinking feeling of sadness in your heart.  You just don’t have the energy to join the party of joy that surrounds you, and so you wish for it to go away, so you can be alone with your tangled web of emotions.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the Epistle reading comes from the First Letter of Peter.  In it, the author reminds us that we have been called to “inherit a blessing.”  Indeed, the passage itself is very encouraging, reminding us (again) that we are blessed, that we shouldn’t fear or be troubled, and that there is hope within us.  Though it’s unlikely the real Peter wrote this letter, the two readings might be viewed together as symbolic bookends to Peter’s life, and, by extension, to the life of any dejected follower of Jesus.  We purge ourselves of dejection by constantly bringing to mind the blessings, the hope, and the love to which we have been called, even if (or especially when) we don’t see or feel these in our lives.   And when we feel so emotionally drained that we, like Peter, ask for even God to go away, we have to remember that that’s when God comes closer.  God does not abandon us, but speaks directly to us in our hearts, calling us to recharge in God’s love, and renewing us for our next adventure with God.

Prayer of the Day

Grant, O Lord, we pray you,

that the course of this world

may be so peaceably ordered by your governance,

that your Church may joyfully serve you

in all godly quietness;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.

Amen.

—Collect for the Fifth Sunday after Trinity, Book of Common Prayer, 1662

O Jesus Christ, Son of the living God,

you have given us your holy word,

and have bountifully provided for all our temporal needs.

We confess that we are unworthy of all these mercies,

but we pray you:

forgive us our sins,

and prosper and bless us in our several callings,

that, by your strength,

we may ever be sustained and defended,

and may praise and glorify you eternally.

Amen.

—Collect for the Fifth Sunday after Trinity by Veit Dietrich, 16^th century Lutheran theologian and reformer; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015

Hymn: “God of our fathers, whose almighty hand”

(Words: Daniel C. Roberts, 1876; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015

Tune: ‘National Hymn’, George W. Warren, 1888)

God of our fathers, whose almighty hand

Leads forth in beauty all the starry band

Of shining worlds in splendor through the skies,

Our grateful songs before your throne arise.

Your love divine has led us in the past.

In this free land, by you our lot is cast.

O be our ruler, guardian, guide, and stay,

Your world our law, your paths our chosen way.

From war’s alarms, from deadly pestilence,

Be your strong arm our ever sure defense.

Your true religion in our hearts increase,

Your bounteous goodness nourish us in peace.

Refresh your people on their toilsome way.

Lead us from night to never ending day.

Fill all our lives with love and heav’nly grace.

Forever yours be glory, laud, and praise.