Blog Archives

The Stranger At My Gate

27/9/2019

A Reflection on the Gospel for September 29th, 2019:
Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Luke 16.19-31

Jesus told this parable to those among the Pharisees who loved money: “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores.

“The poor man died and was carried away by the Angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.’

“But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’

“The man who had been rich said, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send Lazarus to my father’s house — for I have five brothers — that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’

“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; they should listen to them.’ He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ Abraham said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

It’s hard to ignore the words of Abraham: “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” Here we are, the adopted sons and daughters of a God who raised His only son from the dead. We have the full picture that the rich man begged for to save his brothers. And many of us have embraced it, as has been the evidence in my own life. But are we this way just for our own friends and family, or do we reach out to the stranger too? Do we ignore the stranger because we don’t know his circumstances? I wonder sometimes if the reason for the success of crowdsourcing initiatives is that we can put a face and a story to a problem. The money is for something. The person is deemed worthy.

Jesus doesn’t give us context for why Lazarus is lying in the street, penniless and sick. He just is. His need doesn’t require an explanation. How often have we heard that we can’t give to this or that poor person because of assumptions we make about how they will use the money or supplies? “They’ll just sell it for drugs or alcohol.” In the culture at the time of Jesus, someone’s physical ailment was a sign of their soul not being right with God. Your sickness was your fault. While charity was stressed in the Law and the Prophets, we know from other stories in the New Testament that the lived reality was that people who were ill were pushed to the margins.

"The world knows our faith by how we treat each other in times of need. I hope they also know us by how we treat the stranger."

Nowhere in this parable does it say it would have been ok to ignore Lazarus if the rich man suspected his illness and poverty was caused by Lazarus’ sin. The rich man’s sin was ignoring Lazarus’ need, not whether he misjudged the sin or not. I know from personal experience it’s so much easier to give when you know where your money is going. And we absolutely should be a people who takes care of our friends and family. The world knows our faith by how we treat each other in times of need. I hope they also know us by how we treat the stranger.

I think this parable is challenging us to look past our pre-judgements of who deserves our charity and who doesn’t. The gift that we give when we are charitable isn’t our money anyway, it’s the love and care attached to it. It lets a person know that we recognize their God-given value, regardless of their choices and hurts. This parable is calling me to find the stranger at my gate.

Stephanie Potter

0 Comments

Eternity Calls

26/9/2019

0 Comments

A Reflection on the Second Reading for September 29th, 2019:
Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

1 Timothy 6.11-16

As for you, man of God; 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.

In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the right time. He is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords.

It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no human being has ever seen or can see; to him be honour and eternal dominion. Amen.

When I first began learning about Christianity, there were many strange things to try to wrap my mind around. As such, I am very conscious that these things can be barriers for those who do not acknowledge God or Jesus. It makes sense to me that people would reject Christianity on the basis of what they know to be true or possible according to their human experience. How we know what we know is a complex process, an aspect of the movement toward faith that fascinates me.

Eternal life is one of those difficult concepts that is deeply embedded in the Christian story. If we allow that there is an eternal realm, it changes everything. Everything! If I live bogged down in the difficult details of life, paralyzed by the pain of earthly existence, and allow that to hold me captive in anger, fear, judgment, and hopelessness, I have lost the “good fight”. If it is true that Jesus miraculously rose from death and lives, there is hope beyond the life I know because Jesus is God. There is hope beyond my earthly life because He shows me (when I find the courage to follow Him) how to live with righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness, all of which draw me into deeper connection with the world around me. And this is something I know for sure.

I was impacted this past week by a quote from Martin Luther King Jr., who said this:

“On some positions cowardice asks the question, ‘Is it safe?’ Expediency asks the question, ‘Is it politic?’ Vanity asks the question, ‘Is it popular?’ But conscience asks the question, ‘Is it right?’ And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one’s conscience tells one that it is right.”

I can get so caught up in my emotion and my bias that I forget how to be present. I forget how to be un-self-conscious, to listen to my conscience (which is God’s voice), and therefore I lose the ability to reflect Life and Love itself.

"Returning to prayer, which is retreating to the place where I sit with the eternal, merciful nature of God, is necessary for me to find peace."

Returning to prayer, which is retreating to the place where I sit with the eternal, merciful nature of God, is necessary for me to find peace. It is where all my worries and emotion can rest, where my finite human power is acknowledged and held in love, where my gratitude builds and the strength of God helps orient me toward what is true; because truth is sometimes difficult to admit, let alone to act on.

Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, in gratitude for eternity, which is where You dwell, help me to lose myself more and more in Your eternal presence. In the midst of my interaction with others, help me to forget myself and remember eternity so that I might be a more accurate reflection of You to those around me. You are righteous, faithful, loving, enduring, and gentle. You are God of all. Amen.

Lindsay Elford

0 Comments

Locked Away

25/9/2019

0 Comments

A Reflection on the Psalm for September 29th, 2019:
Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Psalm 146

R. Praise the Lord, O my soul!
It is the Lord who keeps faith forever, who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free. R.

The Lord opens the eyes of the blind and lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous and watches over the strangers. R.

The Lord upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. R.

“The Lord sets the prisoners free.”

Although there are many ways that this psalm proclaims the goodness of God, this line really stood out to me.

Typically, when we think about what it means to be a prisoner, there is a particular connotation behind that word. Prisoners are usually punished for crimes they have committed, laws they have broken, and fundamentally: sinning. But, I would argue that this is not always the case nor is it the criteria that makes up what it means to be a “prisoner”. Not all prisoners have committed a grave offence. In fact, I think that a lot of us are prisoners in some way at some point in our lives.

It is possible to be a prisoner to fear or anxiety, to stepping outside of our comfort zones, to addiction, to remaining in our complacency... really anything that can inhibit us from living in the fullness of God’s love and grace. Sometimes we willingly lock ourselves away and allow our lives to be determined by these fears. I know I have most certainly been in this position. But more importantly, I know that the Lord longs to set us free, and He will if we only let Him.

"I know that the Lord longs to set us free, and He will, if we only let Him."

For several years of my life, I was imprisoned by my anxiety. I let my fears keep me from fully experiencing the important relationships in my life; my relationships with family and friends, but mostly my relationship with God. I locked myself away in a sense, believing that I was the only one who could help myself as I strived to achieve my perfectionistic goals. I was extremely isolated. I fall back into these unhealthy behaviours when I let them overpower my thoughts from time to time. It can be comfortable to remain in our prison. Sometimes we even like them. Change is uncomfortable and scary. It isn’t easy. It takes work. This burden can freeze us and entice us to remain in our isolation, for fear that breaking free from these things will somehow make the situation worse.

This psalm was written before Jesus’ time and with expectant faith of His salvation. Although it can be hard to let go of what may imprison us, having expectant faith that the Lord will pull us out of what shackles us can only do good in our lives. I pray that I may remember this always, especially in the times that I start to isolate myself. I pray that I can have faith that all is possible through Jesus. Amen.

Megan Noye

0 Comments

And Afflict The Comfortable

24/9/2019

1 Comment

A Reflection on the First Reading for September 29th, 2019:
Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Amos 6.1, 4-7

Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts: “Alas for those who are at ease in Zion, and for those who feel secure on Mount Samaria!

“Alas for those who lie on beds of ivory, and lounge on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock, and calves from the stall; who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp, and like David improvise on instruments of music; who drink wine from bowls, and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!

“Therefore they shall now be the first to go into exile, and the revelry of those who lie in ease shall pass away.”

The first reading for this Sunday did not make me feel good. Poor me. Every now and then I come across someone who has the courage to tell it like it is, which is not necessarily what I want to hear. The latest such person was Amos. In the first reading, Amos’s job, as the saying goes, is to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”

Undergirding this pithy observation is a kernel of wisdom: comfort itself is neutral. It can be good or bad, depending.

One factor that determines whether comfort is good or bad is the source of my comfort. If I seek comfort from God, God will give me His comfort — strength, hope, joy, freedom from anxiety and grief — and keep it coming in endless supply. But, if I seek comfort from worldly things — beds of ivory and finest oils, as Amos describes — I have to work for them, first to acquire them and thereafter to keep the supply flowing.

"One factor that determines whether comfort is good or bad is the source of my comfort."

Of course, not everyone has to toil day and night to obtain and sustain comfort. Some of us, by virtue of our profession or position in society, are invested with wealth and authority. To such people Amos issues a caution: do not use your wealth and position to guarantee your own comfort with no regard to “Joseph” (that is, the oppressed). Those who have no heart for the oppressed “shall be the first of those to go into exile, and [their] revelry … shall pass away.” We’ve heard this before: the last shall be first, and the first shall be last.

God has blessed me abundantly. My job is to pass it on. Pay it forward, especially to those who are striving to get where I am privileged — blessed — to be. I can mentor others in leadership or in my chosen profession; walk alongside those who are suffering; support those who are struggling to pay for an education. God has shown me so many ways to help, but I will not do any of them if my first concern is stretching on my couch. Thanks for the affliction, Amos. It reminds me to look to God for my comfort and share the wealth I have.

Donna Davis

1 Comment

<<Previous

The Stranger At My Gate

A Reflection on the Gospel for September 29th, 2019:Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Eternity Calls

A Reflection on the Second Reading for September 29th, 2019:​Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Locked Away

A Reflection on the Psalm for September 29th, 2019:​Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

And Afflict The Comfortable

A Reflection on the First Reading for September 29th, 2019:Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Archives

A Reflection on the Gospel for September 29th, 2019:
Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

A Reflection on the Second Reading for September 29th, 2019:
Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

A Reflection on the Psalm for September 29th, 2019:
Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

A Reflection on the First Reading for September 29th, 2019:
Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time