affluenza

The rich fool - Jim Janknegt

really! we are called to break down the walls!

"In this week's epistle Paul describes a radical alternative to excluding others who aren't like us. For those who follow Jesus, writes Paul, "there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all" (Colossians 3:11). The nearly identical verse in Galatians 3:28 adds that "there is neither male nor female." I like to add our modern equivalents — no Iraqis or Iranians, no North Koreans or North Vietnamese, no blue bloods or blue collar, no imperialists or terrorists, no gays or straights, no youth or elderly.

With a single sentence Paul repudiates the idea that humanity is fated to exclude one another because of paranoia and stereotypes, that there is an inevitable clash of civilizations, or that class warfare is unavoidable. Contrary to the relentless propaganda that we are force fed, we need not succumb to race-baiting, to gay-bashing, to ethnic slurs, or to demonizing a nation as an enemy, an "evil empire," or "axis of evil." Instead of insisting that "you are either with us or against us," the Christian says, "I am unconditionally for you, no matter who you are, where you live, or what you've done. And God is for you far more than I could ever be for you.""

from - http://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20100726JJ.shtml

a powerful reflection on the text.

Building Bigger Barns

As I get older I find I'm getting angrier.
This poem is a response to the parable of the Rich Fool.

Building Bigger Barns

Dwelling in the frantic phoniness
that fills the weeks between the calling
of the election and the voting,
we are confronted by the various
parties’ priorities for building bigger barns.
We shall gather to ourselves
and lock away for the fearful future
those things that make us rich,
that we value above all else.
We shall erect a barn for the borders
that must be desperately protected from
people who voyage in boats; poor, fearful,
and as wretched as the vessels to which they
have entrusted their lives and their hopes.
Wealth shall be gathered into silos and defended
against the ravages of responsibility
that might see it paying for the big clean-up
that everybody knows will have to come. One day.
There shall be a separate, sheltered barn
for leaders afraid of making decisions
that might prove to be unpopular,
lest they no longer enjoy the favour of the people.
This is democracy, and it has its own barn,
galvanized and gleaming in the sun.
There is also a barn full and overbursting
with responsible economic policies,
that all of our leaders are required
to visit regularly, to establish
their correct credentials, or else
we will not place a number low enough
in the boxes beside their names.
They say that there is a barn, somewhere,
that holds the nation’s store
of compassion, truth and justice;
It is apparently a small barn and there are
no proposals to build a larger one; besides,
its GPS coordinates
are believed to have been mislaid.

Ken Rookes 2010

A comment on the Lord's prayer

In v. 2b both verbs are second person plural -- y'all. The prayer is intended to be communal, rather than personal. Note also the plural pronouns in the prayer: "our" and "us"

This was given as a prayer to define "us". There seems to have been a prayer that defined the disciples of John. I would suggest that one way the prayer defines us as belonging to Jesus is not necessarily the words, but the fact that we pray it together. We pray/confess that God is "Our Father," etc. Unfortunately, the numerous translations of this prayer has made it difficult for various Christians to pray it together without some embarrassment about some words and the length of the ending. The shift to the ecumenical translation printed in many newer hymnals has met with great resistance. It seems ironic to me that the things that God has given us for our unity in Christ: this prayer, Baptism, Holy Communion, and scriptures; have become sources of differences and even divisiveness among believers today -- but that's because each group takes them so seriously. I wish more people were aware of the differences between the two biblical accounts and the version in the Didache. These indicate that the early church felt some freedom to make minor (translational?) changes in this important prayer.

from http://www.crossmarks.com/brian/luke11x1.htm

Hallowing

Hallowing means respecting, treating as holy. This is fundamental to our relationship with God and to all other relationships. Acknowledging the holiness, the dignity, the otherness of the other, must not be reduced to a metaphor of cringing before one who is more powerful, even if that is dressed up respectably as obeisance before the almighty. For then it reinforces the assumption that might is right and the bigger and stronger is the better. Such thinking often results in abusive relationships. Parents emulate their god. People emulate their god. The victims are disempowered. There is, however, an awe in relationships which flows from profound respect and love. It is often when we are standing on our feet face-to-face or bowed, not the one before the other, but together in service and mutual care.

by William Loader (0ne of ours)

look him up

http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/LkPentecost9.htm

An ancient but intriguing quote

When He told me that He concealed much love, because I was not able to bear it, my soul answered: "If Thou art God omnipotent, make Thou me able to bear it." Then he made answer finally and said: "If I were to do as thou askest, thou wouldst have here all that thou desirest, and wouldst no longer hunger after Me. For this reason I will not grant thy request, for I desire that in this world thou shouldst hunger and long after Me and shouldst ever be eager to find me."

-Angela of Foligno 1248-1309

The Lord's prayer

by Bev patterson

The door will be opened

The door will be opened


God’s presence with humankind
is imaged in the New Testament
by the gift of the Holy Spirit
who gently whispers deep into our dreamings
and speaks into our silences.
Not one will be left alone,
not one will be without the Spirit’s
companionship as they journey
towards the kingdom. Not one.
Let your eyes be opened
to where the Spirit is working
to renew a struggling creation.
Let your ears be attuned to the quiet
but distinct words that call all creatures
into relationships of harmony and love.
Let your hearts be opened
to the Spirit-possibilities of grace
and reconciliation.
Each day, each breath and heartbeat,
let your soul quicken and your mind take notice
of the wondrous presence and mystery
of one who shines defiantly; a candle-flame
in the midst of the uncomprehending dark,
who generously and joyfully
illumines our living,
and that of all who ask, who search
and who knock.

Ken Rookes 2010

The land trembles


The land still trembles
under terrible and insatiable burdens:
desperate urges to acquire and to accumulate
the wealth that we worship
and in which we have placed our trust.
The poor are still bought for a few pieces of silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals.
Today it happens in an overseas factory
or sweatshop for designer jeans or sports shoes;
whilst we anxiously flock to the purveyors
of all things shiny and new, lest we miss out.
Nothing ever changes
as the words of Amos the prophet
are either sanitized or avoided.
For the sake of economic and political expediency
we close our eyes and stop our ears.
We pretend that all is well with God’s world,
as we gather to ourselves
leaders with words that caress and reassure,
declaring that, in his/her benevolence,
God wants for God’s pious and faithful flock
the benefits and security of comfortable wealth,
along with all its trappings.
So it is that we self-righteously demand
cuts to our taxation, limits to our welfare
and strength to our borders;
lest the wretched, the unworthy
and the undeserving should receive anything
to which they are patently not entitled.

Ken Rookes

the enemy of hospitality

Today, the great enemies of any such universal hospitality are busyness, fear, and professionalism. If I don't have time to talk to the person calling for help, hospitality is out of the question. The advent of a guest, like the unanticipated needs of fellow monks, is a guage of our use of time. If we have no time for the guest, our day is too full. However, busyness can be an independent sin against the stranger, or it can be an excuse concocted because we don't want to say we are afraid or prefer to remain uninvolved.

-Hugh Feiss OSB
Essential Monastic Wisdom: Writings on the Contemplative Life

Found at http://www.edgeofenclosure.org/proper11c.html

a fantastic site - have a look

picture by William Blake