[Mcgregorpage] McGregorPage 576, Pentecost 18, 9/30/07

[RMcGregorAlbq at aol.com]

Pentecost 18 – September 30, 2007
 

Jeremiah 32:1-3; 16-15
Psalm 91:1-6; 14-16
I Timothy  6:6?19
Luke 16:19?31
 
An Obscene and Unsustainable Lifestyle For A Holy And Eternal Life
 
Jeremiah lays the sustainable with the unsustainable before the people. On  
the one hand he prophesies that Jerusalem will fall, but on the other he buys a 
 piece of land to show that God will sustain their future.
 
The godly tend to prosper, Paul reminds Timothy.  This is not bad in  itself 
as long as it supports growing rich toward God, being rich in good works;  as 
long as it doesn't alter our fundamental orientation to be contented with  
food and clothing because we are satisfied by the love of God.  Otherwise,  
wealth creates a chasm between rich and poor -- the rich and God.  Witness  the 
"rich man" and Lazarus.
 
The life style of the rich man was obscene in the face of Lazarus.  It  was 
an unsustainable life style in the face of death.  Paul has a vision of  a life 
style that is both gracious and sustainable.  We in the "developed  world" 
may not find our life style obscene, but we do know that it is  unsustainable.  
We are told by the brook we can't drink and the air we can  see.  Still top 
off our tanks with impunity and carry out the trash with  both hands.  We are 
helpless to do other than pursue the life of plenty  until our planet blows the 
whistle, and the game is over.  Or are we?   Is there another game, a better 
game, full of grace and future?  What is  its theme, its idiom?  "...pursue 
righteousness, godliness, faith, love,  endurance, gentleness. Fight the good 
fight of the faith; take hold of the  eternal life, to which you were called and 
for which you made the good  confession in the presence of many witnesses."  
(1 Timothy 6:11-12)
 
There is an alternative to this obscene and unsustainable lifestyle we have  
developed, and it is not the Amish option.  It does not mean abandoning our  
technological tools or forgetting what we have learned about production and  
economy.  It is a life that uses all the tools and all the resources but  uses 
them with a different motive and a different goal.  The world is  groping for 
this alternative that the church can model.  Paul calls it "the  eternal life" 
a life both holy and sustainable, rich toward God and  neighbor.
 
 
 
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/_ 
(http://www.webspawner.com/users/ChildPage/)   

Multiple Sermon Starter Essays are available at 
_http://www.webspawner.com/users/McGregorPage/_ 
(http://www.webspawner.com/users/McGregorPage/)   

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--Copyright 2007, Roland McGregor, all rights reserved—  
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