[Mcgregorpage] McGregorPage 572, Pentecost 14, 9/2/07

[rmcgregoralbq at aol.com]

Pentecost 14 – September 2, 2007

Jeremiah 2:4-13
Psalm 81:1, 10-16
Hebrews 13:1-8,15-16
Luke 14:1,7-14

Hold Your Life Lightly, But God Firmly

The proverb counsels discretion in our grasping.  The Psalmist assures 
us
that the open handed will prosper in spite of their generosity.  The
preacher to the Hebrews exhorts us to hold fast to Christ rather than to
love money.   Jesus challenges us to let go self-interest even in 
making out
a guest list.  All of this flies in the face of human nature.  We are 
born
utterly self-centered.  Psychologists tell us that infants have to learn
that there is a difference between themselves and the world around 
them.  We
are born thinking we are the universe.  Enlightened self-interest is as 
far
as we mature without divine intervention.  For the common good, we 
learn to
give up some self-interest.  The revelation of God introduces into human
life a new possibility.

Buddhist teaching recognizes that it is human passion, our grasping for
life, that disturbs the spirit.  Its council is an emptying of all these
passions.  Christian teaching recognizes the same human predicament but
offers a filling instead of an emptying, a filling of the Holy Spirit.
Filled with faith in God, trust in the promises of God, confidence in
treasures laid up in heaven, we may loosen our grasp on possessions, 
open
our hands to the poor and use our time for the neglected people around 
us.
It may be that we have to reach a state of disillusionment with life 
before
we seek an alternative.  It may be that we have to empty ourselves as a 
part
of the journey, but nature hates a vacuum.  Empty is not a stable state 
for
us.  Filled is our stable state.  Filled with God's spirit we may hold 
our
lives lightly.

To hold one's life lightly because one holds God more firmly does not 
mean
squandering one's life.  We are not called to offer hospitality to evil.
Our open-handedness is the freedom to make investments of love in people
more the way God does.  I have made the judgment that picking up
hitch-hikers may squander my life.  I would not be treating my life for 
the
precious gift of God that it is.  I have decided to sit down and take 
time
with people who drop in to the church for aid rather than treat them in 
a
mechanical way.  In order to take this time, I have to let go a busy
schedule, let go the praise for many tasks well done -- who knows, 
maybe let
go a promotion.  "He frittered away his time on people who were not
prospects for church membership or large donations."


When the church hold's its life lightly because it holds God more 
firmly she
can expand her guest list.  I'm concerned about our guest list.  We go 
after
the people who can help pay the bills, run the programs and make the 
church
a more comfortable place to be.  Why not?  Oh, because of the nature of
Christ.   What would happen if we invited the poor, the blind and the 
halt?
Would our resources be sapped?  Would the people with resources abandon 
us
for a church where they could "be fed"?  Or, would something else 
happen,
something revelatory, something that confirms our proclamation of God in
Christ?  How lightly can I hold my paycheck, my status and my 
self-congratulation?
How firmly can I hold God? How firmly will I let God hold me?

May these thoughts strengthen you.

An Open Letter to Fellow Pastors
>From Roland McGregor, United Methodist Pastor
(an e-mail service)

[See Web Page address below for a Children’s Message coordinated with 
these lections.]

http://www.webspawner.com/users/ChildPage/

Multiple Sermon Starter Essays are available at
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  --Copyright 2007, Roland McGregor, all rights reserved—
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