Advent I

Today, of course is the First Sunday of Advent. It is the first Sunday of the liturgical year. It is the beginning of the year we spend listening to the Gospel of Mark. Mark is the oldest of the Gospels that have come down to us. It was written most likely during the Jewish Revolt and scholars usually fix the date about the year 65. It is before the total destruction of Jerusalem in 70, but it was while Judea was under siege.

The reading we hear from the Gospel today is called the “little apocalypse”. Much of the passage is reminiscent of the seventh chapter of Daniel. It was part of the common parlance of the day. People were talking about the times as being the time when the Messiah would return. Mark reminds the followers of Jesus that though there are wars and horrible things happening not to look for Jesus’ return in them. For about 150 years the language of faith had much of this apocalyptic flavor about it. People used to see such things as wars, earthquakes, plagues, etc as signs of the end times. The prophecy of Israel—those books that made it into the canon of scripture and those like Enoch or the Book of Jubilees that did not, described a time when God would bring destruction on the earth and judge the nations. Then God would send his messiah to reign forevermore.

In this passage Mark uses this kind of language to remind the followers of Jesus not to get distracted. The Messiah had already come. Don’t go about listening to the false prophets, Mark says. Do not join up with these various factions that were fighting for Israelite freedom and get embroiled in the fights, he says. “The truly frightening stuff described in Mark 13 is, for Mark's readers, not a prediction to frighten future generations, but words of comfort for a generation that used this vivid language, the language of nightmares mixed with literal retellings of the kinds of betrayal and threats facing community members, to describe what they'd already seen brothers and sisters in Christ going through.”

The people of Mark’s day had heard the stories of how Jesus had been crucified. They had heard the stories of how those who had followed Jesus had been stoned and put out of the community. They had heard how Jesus taught people how to be free—like women and slaves. He had freed people from debilitating disabilities and demons. He had disturbed the status quo giving the people a type of hope that they had never experienced. That was what was important, not signs of war or pestilence. Mark was telling his community not to look for signs of the Messiah in the wars and fear. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” The words of love, freedom, and hope that Jesus had taught were the signs of Christ’s presence, not the portents of doom and gloom.
Nine and ten years ago we began to hear people talking about the end of the world. There were those who predicted a total crash of the computer systems and the plunge of the whole banking system into chaos. When the year 2000 finally rolled in, the whole thing was a flop, no catastrophe happened. We still have numerous novels, movies and TV programs out there that tell us of the end times. There are denominations that are preaching a catastrophic coming of Christ. But personally I don’t give that kind of interpretation to those passages.
The kind of coming of Christ that I know does not come from the clouds. It comes from remembering the tenderness with which God has always welcomed me. The torment of my soul may have opened me to surrender to Christ’s message. But it has always been the welcoming of God that has brought me closer to him.
The coming of Christ does have to with judgment—it has to do with when we recognize that sinfulness in ourselves and that with Christ’s love we can make the changes in our lives necessary to know the freedom of faith. For those of us who have known that complete turn-around in life that Christ can bring, the event was tumultuous. It changed us completely. For those of us who have always known the presence of Christ in our lives, it has been a constant welcome—that sense of homecoming that nudges us back into the family of God when we have strayed.
Advent is a time to reorient our lives in anticipation of Christ’s reality in our existance. Advent has a tinge of the penitential in our purple hangings, but more importantly Advent is a time of hope. It is a time when life can be adjusted to put away fear and trust in the one who comes to us as a child.
I have often said that Advent should incite in Christians the same kind of anticipation of Jesus that the sound of the can opener has for my cats. We need to be able to hear the sounds of Advent and be chopping at the bit for Christ’s return to our hearts. But all too often we allow the season of Advent to be overcome with holiday panic.
The “Be alert” or “Keep watch” of this passage is not so much about being afraid. It is a reminder about what is important. We as Christians are to look for the hope in life. We are to look for the presence of Christ in our midst. All too easily we are caught up with the fear of our age—fears about stock markets, about oil prices, about whether our children or our grandchildren are going to grow up ….or whatever. We so often allow ourselves to be taken over by fears that say that we should be in control. But in reality, we are not. Advent is the time when we as Church remind ourselves that it is Christ who is in charge. We are to keep vigilant and point to God’s reign.
Today we begin a new Church year. We begin too our journey to Bethlehem. We begin again that familiarity with a God who would come to us as a child. We begin again a way of life that claims God as the center and not ourselves. Let us begin our new Church year with a freshness not born of Black Friday sales. Let us begin our new year with anticipation not burdened with the aftermath of the Thanksgiving excess. Let us begin our new Church year centered in a kind of vigilance that is rooted in God’s love that calls us to be awake, to anticipate, to hope in the newness that God offers to us in each passing day. AMEN

Daily Bible Reading: Matthew 24:15-31 Apocalypse Now

"So when you see the desolating sacrilege standing in the holy place, as was spoken of by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee to the mountains; the one on the housetop must not go down to take what is in the house; the one in the field must not turn back to get a coat. Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a sabbath. For at that time there will be great suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, 'Look! Here is the Messiah!' or 'There he is!' -- do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce great signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Take note, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, 'Look! He is in the wilderness,' do not go out. If they say, 'Look! He is in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.
"Immediately after the suffering of those days
the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from heaven,
and the powers of heaven will be shaken.
Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see 'the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven' with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Comments: I did a paper on this when I was in seminary and I must admit I STILL don’t know what it is about! Matthew has taken this from Mark who is speaking in apocalyptic language which was fairly common in his day. Mark is writing this during the Judean Revolt when there were all kinds of partisan battles going on. And he is warning the followers of Jesus not to fall into the idea that this was when Christ was going to reappear. The tradition of Israel’s prophecy had developed into this kind of apocalyptic description. Every one wanted to know when the Messiah was going to come and save them. But Mark is saying to his people—look for the signs of Christ—look for the love, look for the freedom, look for the peace, look for the joy. There you will find the Christ.

All of the millennial hokum that has been preached over the past 20 years is just that! Christ comes to our hearts—sometimes from the clouds of our darkness and gives through Divine love the possibility to live each day in his light. It need not be cataclysmic—it sometimes is to our soul-—but it can be the quiet still voice of love.

Today's Bible Reading: Zechariah 14:1-9 Second Coming

See, a day is coming for the Lord, when the plunder taken from you will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses looted and the women raped; half the city shall go into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives, which lies before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley; so that one half of the Mount shall withdraw northward, and the other half southward. And you shall flee by the valley of the Lord's mountain, for the valley between the mountains shall reach to Azal; and you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.

On that day there shall not be either cold or frost. And there shall be continuous day (it is known to the Lord), not day and not night, for at evening time there shall be light.

On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea; it shall continue in summer as in winter.

And the Lord will become king over all the earth; on that day the Lord will be one and his name one.

Comments: I am told that even Martin Luther was flummoxed by this prophecy. Zechariah is telling of a time that he envisions that God will come and rule Israel and rule of kings will be over. It was the kings and their dealings with one another that had gotten Israel into the mess they were in. No longer was the nation paying attention to God Almighty. This vision that Jerusalem would be overrun would come to pass. One third of the nation was taken off into slavery to Babylon and the words of Zechariah would ring in the peoples’ ears.

Today we hear these words and look for the second coming of Christ. Personally, I believe that the second coming of Christ will be more like fog, coming on cat’s feet. The coming of Christ into our hearts is less a battle as it is assent, less triumphant, as it is true friendship. The reign of God is when we say yes to allowing God to be first in our lives all the time.

Thanksgiving--A day to remember

When I was in my twenties, I went to Mexico as a missionary. I knew that the area I was going to was poor by American standards, but I was not prepared for what I saw. In those days we did not see beggars on the streets in the US. We sometimes saw disabled vets of WWII selling pencils or giving out poppies but nothing like the beggars around the doors of churches in the Mexican town I lived in. Everyday on my way to Mass I was confronted by Dona Paulina, a woman who saw my blond-haired, blue-eyed, tall, Nordic self walking down the street and she would accost me with her hand out, and a keening whine to help a poor soul.

I had been warned not to give to such beggars by the sisters in my community and by the members of the parish. For weeks I tried to avoid her, but I couldn’t hide in a populace of small, dark eyed, dark-skinned people. I stuck out like a sore thumb. I was the NordeAmericana who was rich—because all NordeAmericanos were rich in her mind. Finally when I could fight her off no longer, I began to talk to her in my broken Spanish. Slowly I began to know more about her. She was in her 80’s, lived in a small ranchito outside of town. She lived in a shack made of sticks with a corregated tin roof that had once been a grain bin. And she was the sole support of her 9 year old great-grand son. I began to bring her things from our kitchen rather than give her money. She would teach me the proper words in Spanish and we would share the things that we liked to eat—she was intent on me knowing the totality of Mexican cuisine. And slowly but surely I began to enjoy my visits with Dona Paulina.


While I was there I fell and broke my hip. It ended my missionary career. I had to return to the US to have it operated on. It took me several days before I could get all my things together to catch the bus back to Mexico City so I could fly to my home in Texas. But when the time came for me to catch the bus, there were many people from the parish there to wish me well. On the fringe of the group was Dona Paulina. Quietly she came up to me to say good-bye. Tears were in her eyes as she pressed 2 cintos—worth at that time a 10th of a cent US. She said—“buy some gum on the trip.”

Those two coins burned in my hand as I got on the bus. I could not keep back the tears. And there I sat, chewing my gum with tears running down my face.

I have preached about this story before. I preach about it as an illustration of the widow’s mite. I preach about it on stewardship Sunday. But most of all I remember this story because it was such a touchstone in my life about generosity. It is an incident in my life that spoke to me of what it meant to be gifted with so much when I had done so little. Even in my mid-twenties I did not know what it really meant to be thankful down to my toes. I don’t think that comes easily to us Nordeamericanos. We don’t accept the gifts of others easily. We are rugged individualists. We like to do for ourselves. We are do not have the humility to accept the gifts of others. And consequently we have difficulty giving thanks.

It takes humility be people of gratitude. We have to allow ourselves to receive the gifts of others—to be in that step-down position, to be appreciative of what we have been given.

Now I do not mean to be a guilt-producer in this sermon. I just want us to reflect on what it means to be in the position of receiving. What do you have and who are you now because of the Dona Paulina’s in your life? What was in your life it that taught you of gratitude? When did you understand that being grateful was a way of living that made a difference in your life? I found that I was changed by those 2 quintos pressed in my hand—they were worth nothing in real life but they were the gift of finest gold. They taught me so much about the basic goodness of people that I cannot ignore because they don’t fit my image of people I want to hang with. They taught me about the need all people have to give. They taught me that the act of giving is more important than what is given. They taught me because it had never occurred to me that Dona Paulina might think me valuable enough to gift me in her poverty. So many lessons learned with such a small thing.

We all have touchstone moments in our lives. We have those moments when thanksgiving becomes real. Tonight we remember those moments in the humdrum of our lives that we will celebrate tomorrow with family and friends. It is a time when we stop and give thanks for those incidents that brings us to that place of humility that we do not deserve the blessings that are bestowed upon us.

In the midst of writing this sermon, I had to go to the grocery store. Now, Wegmans in Binghamton is where many go for special items for the holidays, and it was a mad house when I went. There were too many carts trying to get down filled aisles and too many people pushing them. I was pushing my cart and a young man in a wheelchair came my way. He most likely had cerebral palsy and was having difficulty pushing a regular cart and managing his wheelchair. Because I had once worked at Wegmans, I knew the store had some motorized carts that would have made it easier for him. I suggested the motorized cart to him. “They are all being used,” he said. “I am just glad I can get out,” he said, “I’ll be fine.”

I walked out of the store touched by his thankfulness—a kind of gratitude that most likely if I had not come to know who God was in my life, I would not have understood. All too often I find myself grumpy because things don’t go my way. I let myself forget the Dona Paulinas in my life who remind me of living a life of gratitude. I know when I am reminded of her generosity, I can let go of my busyness, my need to control my world. I also can give up the idea that I have to be in charge.

Within the Judeo-Christian world thanksgiving is most often marked at meals. Whether it is the blessing at the Shabbat meal, or the grace before dinner, the act of eating is a time of remembering all that we have received. This is true in other religions too. Thanksgiving as a feast is one which all humanity can share. Every religion teaches its believers to be thankful.

As we come together to share the bounty of God’s goodness there are many things that we are thankful for: family, friends, food, a home, community, and even for our existence. But we also need to be thankful for those who taught us how to know what it means to be grateful. It might be a family member—a loved neighbor, a teacher, a friend. These saints are those who allowed us to understand what it means to be vulnerable enough to return thanks.

Like the Samaritan leper—who was the only one who had the humility to return to Jesus, we often need to be reminded to be grateful. And even though Thanksgiving Day ends up being more about football and turkey, it is a time when we can remember of all that we have been given. We can also give thanks for all those who have given us hearts know the power of God who provides for all of us. AMEN

Esther 8:3-17

Queen Esther saves her people

Then Esther spoke again to the king; she fell at his feet, weeping and pleading with him to avert the evil design of Haman the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews. The king held out the golden scepter to Esther, and Esther rose and stood before the king. She said, "If it pleases the king, and if I have won his favor, and if the thing seems right before the king, and I have his approval, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote giving orders to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king. For how can I bear to see the calamity that is coming on my people? Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?" Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to the Jew Mordecai, "See, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows, because he plotted to lay hands on the Jews. You may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king's ring; for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's ring cannot be revoked."

The king's secretaries were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day; and an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews and to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, one hundred twenty-seven provinces, to every province in its own script and to every people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language. He wrote letters in the name of King Ahasuerus, sealed them with the king's ring, and sent them by mounted couriers riding on fast steeds bred from the royal herd. By these letters the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to assemble and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, with their children and women, and to plunder their goods on a single day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. A copy of the writ was to be issued as a decree in every province and published to all peoples, and the Jews were to be ready on that day to take revenge on their enemies. So the couriers, mounted on their swift royal steeds, hurried out, urged by the king's command. The decree was issued in the citadel of Susa.

Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king, wearing royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a mantle of fine linen and purple, while the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced. For the Jews there was light and gladness, joy and honor. In every province and in every city, wherever the king's command and his edict came, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a festival and a holiday. Furthermore, many of the peoples of the country professed to be Jews, because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them. Comments: The book of Esther is designed to tell a story of a brave and holy woman. She becomes favored of the King of Persia/Babylon. Her wisdom allows her to intervene on behalf of her people. Whether this is historical or not is not the issue. It is one of the several places in Hebrew Scripture that a woman’s ingenuity has a saving effect for the people of God.

Esther 2:1-18

Lowly Esther becomes queen

After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her. Then the king's servants who attended him said, "Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king. And let the king appoint commissioners in all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem in the citadel of Susa under custody of Hegai, the king's eunuch, who is in charge of the women; let their cosmetic treatments be given them. And let the girl who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti." This pleased the king, and he did so.

Now there was a Jew in the citadel of Susa whose name was Mordecai son of Jair son of Shimei son of Kish, a Benjaminite. Kish had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with King Jeconiah of Judah, whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had carried away. Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, his cousin, for she had neither father nor mother; the girl was fair and beautiful, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai adopted her as his own daughter. So when the king's order and his edict were proclaimed, and when many young women were gathered in the citadel of Susa in custody of Hegai, Esther also was taken into the king's palace and put in custody of Hegai, who had charge of the women. The girl pleased him and won his favor, and he quickly provided her with her cosmetic treatments and her portion of food, and with seven chosen maids from the king's palace, and advanced her and her maids to the best place in the harem. Esther did not reveal her people or kindred, for Mordecai had charged her not to tell. Every day Mordecai would walk around in front of the court of the harem, to learn how Esther was and how she fared.

The turn came for each girl to go in to King Ahasuerus, after being twelve months under the regulations for the women, since this was the regular period of their cosmetic treatment, six months with oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and cosmetics for women. When the girl went in to the king she was given whatever she asked for to take with her from the harem to the king's palace. In the evening she went in; then in the morning she came back to the second harem in custody of Shaashgaz, the king's eunuch, who was in charge of the concubines; she did not go in to the king again, unless the king delighted in her and she was summoned by name.

When the turn came for Esther daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had adopted her as his own daughter, to go in to the king, she asked for nothing except what Hegai the king's eunuch, who had charge of the women, advised. Now Esther was admired by all who saw her. When Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus in his royal palace in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign, the king loved Esther more than all the other women; of all the virgins she won his favor and devotion, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. Then the king gave a great banquet to all his officials and ministers - "Esther's banquet." He also granted a holiday to the provinces, and gave gifts with royal liberality.

Comments: “Esther appears in the Bible as a woman of deep faith, courage and patriotism, ultimately willing to risk her life for her adoptive father, Mordecai, and the Jewish people. Scripture portrays her as a woman raised up as an instrument in the hand of God to avert the destruction of the Jewish people, and to afford them protection and forward their wealth and peace in their captivity.
There is also a hidden plot in the story: Esther was a descendent of Kish from the tribe of Benjamin and a relative of King Saul; and Haman the Agagite was the descendant of King Agag of the Amalekites, who were nearly wiped out by Saul (Saul's reluctance to do so cost him the throne of Israel in the eyes of God). The plot involves Haman's quest for revenge and Esther's redemption of Saul's mistake, saving the Jews from the last of the Amalekites and certain extinction.” Wikipedia

Christ the King

'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.'

Today is the Feast of Christ the King. It is the final Sunday of the Church year. The Church year is designed to replicate the ministry of Christ beginning with the anticipation for the Messiah in Advent and ends with the final Judgment. It is why we hear such readings—the dividing the flock into sheep and goats in both the reading from Hebrew Scripture and in the Gospel.

In the minds of a people whose history included centuries of being nomadic shepherds and lives centered on their livestock, the people of Israel did not think of their flocks as smelly critters as many of us do these days. The sheep and goats of their flocks were their livelihood. They were not only their symbol of wealth; they were part of the family. Wool provided clothing and housing, milk provided the protein and fat to sustain them and rarely their meat provided a feast to celebrate the joy necessary for living. The best of their flock were offerings to God as a sign of their fealty and love. Sheep and goats were their most valuable commodity. The could not have sustained life without them. They looked after their flocks with care. As the Israelites became more agricultural and lodged in cities and villages, they expected their kind to look over them as they had their flock.

In Matthew’s gospel, there is a constant conflict between the Hellenists, the Greek-speaking Jews who followed Jesus and the Aramaic-speaking Jews that followed Jesus. These two cultures coming together are a constant tension in the Gospel. This separating the sheep and the goats is not about separating the Hellenists and the Judeans. It is about separating those who have absorbed the mind of Christ and has acted upon it.

It would be easy to see this gospel as a celebration of one’s works than the celebration of salvation through grace. But I think a harder look at the passage is important to us. God separates the flock into the kinds of animals that they are. Goats are goats and sheep are sheep. In the story of those who are welcomed into the kingdom are those who are who they are. They are those who have lived out in truth their love for Christ not because it was going to save them for all eternity.

It is generally a serious mistake to translate the phrase basileia tou theo ‘The kingdom of God’ as referring to a particular area in which God rules. The Kingdom of God is accepting God’s reign in one’s life, not heaven or a specific place. It is an attitude in which we live out what it means to love Christ with all our hearts and souls. Consequently we don’t do good deeds to curry God’s favor. We live in ways that glorify God by honoring the other, the least of our “brothers and sisters", not because we want to go to heaven, but because we have learned that kingdom-living is a way to live out our faith in integrity and truth.

In his autobiography Fredrick Douglas, former slave and one of the leaders of the abolitionist movement of the 19th century tells of the wife of his owner beginning to teach him the alphabet when he is about 12. She was responding to her own innate Christian self when she treated him as a person. She was living out her baptismal vows. When her husband chastened her and reminded her that it was against the law to teach a slave to read and write she began to treat Fredrick as sub-human. Douglas said he watched the woman over the years change from a selfless, open and welcoming Christian woman to a withered and spiteful soul. She had chosen to deny her Christian grounding and did not live into her baptism as she once had. She had become obedient to the culture around her.

All too often we choose not to a member of the flock of God. We choose for ourselves or to go along with those who would separate us from the goodness that is held out to us in baptism. We often ignore the kindness that God provides for us by placing ourselves ahead of others, or tring to take what is not ours. We ignore the needs of those of our flock or family simply because we are focused on our own desires.

Today at St. Luke’s we observe World Hunger Sunday. 854 million people worldwide are undernourished. This is 12.6 percent of the estimated world population of 6.6 billion. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says that an additional 50 million people became undernourished in 2007 alone due to higher food prices. The world produces enough food to feed everyone. The world's agriculture produces 17 percent more calories per person today than it did 30 years ago, despite a 70 percent population increase. This is enough to provide everyone in the world with at least 2,720 kilocalories per person per day (FAO 2002, p.9). The principal problem is that many people in the world do not have sufficient land to grow, or income to purchase, enough food.

The primary causes of hunger today are political. Hunger can be abolished if we as a nation along with others have the will to make it happen. We have seen in places in Africa where hunger has gone past malnourishment and become starvation. Often the efforts we try to make to rectify such inequality are denied because of war or political scandal. Even in our own companion synod of Zimbabwe, the political situation has interrupted the basic care we have for Bishop Shava and the people of the Zimbabwe Synod. The situation is grave indeed. They need more than our prayers. Thanks be to God recent letters from him remind us that he is safe but are in need basic food and medicines.

The political situations do not mean that we should deny countries basic care. It means that we must be more creative in our approach to regimes that will not serve their people. We must be bolder in our concern for our brothers and sisters throughout the world. We must be willing to deny armaments to regimes that would spend the country’s inheritance for guns rather than food. We may not allow ourselves to blame others for not doing unto others as we would for Christ.

When I served in Mexico over 30 years ago, it was easy to dismiss the beggars as gold brickers or panhandlers. People were constantly telling me not to “encourage them.” But once I began to know the lives of the people who asked me for money, I had to change my attitude. One woman lived in quite literally a house of sticks. It barely kept out the rain. She was in her 80’s and was the sole support of her great-grand child who was 9. From that time on, I have not been able to write-off a beggar. I don’t know their circumstances. If I did write them off, I would become like the wife of the slave owner—allowing the law of the day articulate who Christ was and wasn’t. To this day, I generally carry a bit of change in my pocket for those who beg. It isn’t much—and it isn’t all I could be doing—but it keeps me from ignoring those who are Christ to me unaware. It keeps me from becoming hardened to the needs of others. I can keep myself from allowing the immensity of world hunger from ignoring my flock—my fellow sheep. It allows me to be nourished by God’s love.

I worry when we as Christians are fearful of “getting taken” so that it keeps us from serving our fellow human beings. I worry that we as Christians are becoming afraid to be generous, because generosity is not a matter of doing good works. It is at the center of our faith—it has to do with who we are. Have we become a nation that cannot care about the needs of those among us who have fallen upon hard times, or have never had the opportunity or training to take care of themselves?

As we celebrate the great feast of Thanksgiving can we be thankful enough to reach out to help others? Can we shop for others for the Food Bank? Can we give to provide for enough for others?

Can we accept living in God’s kingdom right now? It is important to our spiritual health. Caring for the least of our brothers and sisters is the kind of oil that keeps our faith supple---it keeps us knowing the joy of Christ’ love in our lives. Our salvation is not dependant upon it—that is the gift of Christ on the Cross. But it is our returning of thanks to him for all that he has done for us. AMEN