UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST in
Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost -
Access Sunday
Anne G. Cohen
Mark 10:17-31
For Our Reflection:
The bread that you store up belongs to the hungry; the cloak that lies
in your chest belongs to the naked; and the gold that you have hidden
in the ground belongs to the poor.
- St. Basil, Homilies c.375
Charity is no substitute for justice, but it cannot be ignored or
derided without failing utterly to comprehend its meaning and its
potent influence in regulating and sublimating our social relations
and responsibilities.
- Bishops of Administrative Board of National Catholic
Welfare Council, The Church and Social Order (1940)
Bread for myself is a material question; bread for my neighbor is a
spiritual question.
- Jacques Maritain, Freedom in the Modern World
(1936)
Excess or Access
The guy was rich. And because he was rich he could keep a kosher
kitchen - two sets of dishes, two stoves, two of everything.
He was rich enough to pay for all of the numerous temple sacrifices
throughout the religious year.
He was rich enough to pay others to do certain chores - and tend the
sick or dead from his household - tasks that would have rendered him
impure and therefore unable to enter holy sites or participate in
religious intercourse without extensive and time consuming
purifications.
The man was rich enough to give alms - donate large amounts to charity -
pay a living wage to his servants - provide scholarships for
underprivileged kids to go to the best schools - pay for child
inoculations against common, lethal diseases all
over the world - and
more.
The guy was rich, all right; very rich and very faithful and very good.
He had no reason NOT to abide by the ten commandments
or to question
God's approval of his character.
The guy was rich and he was smart and he knew that he was one dreidle
spin away from having it all - including Eternal Life with God. So he
spins the dreidle - and asks the Holy One what it
will take to live with
and in God forever.
Page Two
And the dreidle slows and tilts and falls and stops -
and the answer -
offered in love - is - RISK EVERYTHING YOU
THINK YOU HAVE
FOR THE ONE THING YOU THINK YOU
DON'T HAVE.
The answer is that life in and with God has nothing to do with piety,
religious practices, purity laws, heredity, morality, social
expectations, trickle down economics, deals made with powerful people,
tokenism, symbolic sacrifice, or playing the game by the rules.
It has nothing to do with materialism - and everything to do with the
opposite of materialism - which is not spiritualism - but something like
an excessive form of unchecked grace - graciousness - generosity.
It has to do with paving the road to cosmic justice with our whole
selves, body, heart, mind and soul. It has to do with imitating God -
who never owned what was created - who gave it away before it was made -
and made it in God's own image.
A life in and with God is coming to the realization that we own nothing
We are dependent on the generosity of OTHER(s) - and others depend on
our generosity in turn.
A life in and with God is about taking risks that NONE of us have ever
taken (I believe) - FOR GOOD REASON. But they are risks that bear
consideration. So let's do some considering.
Most of us have our basic needs met. These are things that fall into
the category of human rights or components necessary to sustain life:
food and shelter, health and safety.
Not all - but MOST of us - ALSO have a bunch of stuff which we may THINK
we need - but actually fall into the category of luxuries due to our
class and culture:
meaningful work, variety and excess in our diet, pension or retirement
plans, education, health insurance, social influence -
and few more possessions than absolutely necessary:
furniture, clothes, art, books, appliances, vehicles, entertainment and
sports equipment, and more.
Our excess gives us access to all kinds of things that we have come to
believe are necessary - which, in actuality, are awfully nice and create
a sense of security and beauty and comfort and meaning and achievement.
But these are not necessary for basic life to continue.
Page Three
QUALITY of life would be sacrificed by reducing our excess, but death is
not necessarily the first - or second - consequence of that reduction.
The problem with our excess - which metaphorically puts us in the same
class as the very wealthy man earlier described - is that our excess
blocks other people's access - not just to the luxuries of education and
retirement plans - but to BASIC needs like beans, rice, shoes, medicine
and a safe place to sleep at night.
I would guess that most of us shop at Albertsons, Vons/Pavilions and/or
Ralphs/Krogers. The executives that own and run
these national
corporations have more excess and access than any of us do. These
executives, throughout negotiations with the United Food and Commercial
Workers' Union (UFCW), have been unwilling to sacrifice ANY of their
excess so that their baggers, checkers, stockers and managers can have
access to the basics.
The members of the UFCW from San Luis Obispo to the Mexican border have
been mobilized to go on strike - a nonviolent direct action designed to
cause a smaller amount of financial harm to the corporations so that -
in their pain - the executives can feel the pain of the larger financial
harm done to their employees - and will relent. The employees, hoping
to keep a hard won living wage, retirement security, and health
insurance, are willing to RISK EVERYTHING in the hope of JUSTICE or
BASIC NEEDS for everyone.
As of
chains. (Vons) Workers at other chains are asked to keep working unless
they are locked out - at which time they will be on strike as well.
(Locked Out)
So the question arises for us: As people who claim to live in and with
God, claiming Jesus or God or some larger power as GUIDE to our soul,
our life, our all - what risks are we willing to take in order to reduce
our excess and allow access for others? Are we willing to do what the
UFCW is asking the wealthy grocery executives to do - not give up
everything (as Jesus asked) but to at least give up SOMETHING?
Are we willing to shop at somewhat smaller, independent, less convenient
markets - like Food 4 Less, Trader Joes, Gelsons, Stater Brothers -
instead of crossing picket lines?
Are we willing to send donations to the UFCW local so they can, in turn,
support their unemployed workers for weeks or months?
Page Four
Are we willing to JOIN the picket lines? Pass
out literature? Wear a
button? Educate friends, family and strangers on the larger issues?
Are we willing to adopt a union family for Thanksgiving or Christmas?
Organize churches in the area to create support networks? Write letters
of support to the
It would be dumb to suggest that we each go through our homes and pick
out five objects of high monetary value that we like but don't need -
sell them and give the money to the UFCW.
It would be ridiculous to suggest that we sell this property with the
new church building and give the money to the
Neighbors in Need - or to any other charitable organization.
It would be insane to demand that each of us cash in our IRAs, vested
pensions, insurance funds, stocks, bonds, savings accounts, lottery
winnings - and give those assets to people who are struggling to make it
from one day to the next.
It would be counter-cultural, fiscally irresponsible, counter-intuitive,
unfair to our children, outrageous and stupid. But isn't that EXACTLY
what Jesus was saying in this text and others?
To get into the
World that God intended this to be............ To give and to get access
to life in and with God - we are told to risk EVERYTHING we THINK is of
value and value the opposite. We are told to unload material goods and
load up on compassion, love AND solidarity - which often means poverty.
We are asked to participate in a parallel society that IS ALREADY JUST -
that stands in opposition to, as an example to, the existing dominant
UNJUST society.
Jesus wasn't just talking spiritualism. He was talking about ECONOMIC
SYSTEMS that REFLECT GOD's INTENTIONS - that operate
according to core
values that actually have traction.
Jesus was telling us that what we THINK WE HAVE ISN'T OURS and to
LET
GO
OF IT.
Most of us are pretty good at pretending we're Christian. I sure put up
a good front - especially on Sunday mornings. But I am also very aware
of the radical demands that REAL Christianity makes of us - and how far
short I fall from the mark in tangible ways.
Page Five
We are asked not to leave our mark on the world - but
to leave the world
in better shape than we found it. And I am certain that I have yet to
return everything and more than what I have received from this life.
The first step toward being a REAL CHRISTIAN that I commit to take in
the coming weeks and months is to refuse to cross any picket lines.
That one is easy - it was bred into my bones by my parents.
The second step will be to write a letter of support to my UFCW local
with a donation - and a letter to Vons executives urging a just
contract.
The third step will be to look at my giving patterns - my charities and
decide which are most in-line with the values of cosmic justice - and
shift my financial resources in those directions.
The fourth step - which amazes me with my own emotional resistance -
will be to find something in my home of monetary value - that I value -
and give it to or sell it for a just cause.
My ongoing, personal challenge - my spiritual QUEST - is to continue to
buy less, give more, reduce my excess and increase access to basic needs
for others. John and I have been members of the Seeds of Simplicity -
Voluntary Simplicity movement for nearly four years - and we find that
this circle of support keeps us accountable as
we do the work of
reducing excess.
This church might explore ways in which it can support and keep members
accountable for reducing excess and sharing access; buying less, giving
more; maintaining awareness - that what we have is not ours - and we are
asked
to
LET GO
OF IT.
May God be with us as we seek to expand our integrity.
May we tangibly support one another as we struggle to externalize our
core values and live in and with the God we claim to love.
****************
BULLETIN
WE GATHER FOR PRAYER AND CELEBRATION
Music for Gathering
Welcome and Perspective on the Day
Musical Preparation for Worship - A Time for Centering
+ Call to Worship (one voice)
God is immense and we are surrounded by that immensity.
God is within us and we are filled with that immensity.
God is beside us and we are in partnership with that immensity.
Let us honor that which is so much larger than each of us and
makes all of us together larger than we can imagine.
+ Hymn of Praise Morning Has Broken CSB #
74
+ Opening Prayer (unison)
O God, you are Hospitality. You are Welcome.
You are the Invitation, the Table, the Feast.
By your spirit may we learn to receive and offer grace,
to share from the sustenance of our lives and not simply its crumbs.
Embolden us as we serve as the voice of those who continue
to ask the church for justice and bread. Amen.
+ Our Common Prayer (unison)
Creator God who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done,
on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our debts
As we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil,
For Thine is the kingdom and the power
And the glory forever. Amen.
Time for Silent Reflection
One: My soul waits in silence.
All: God is my rock and my fortress.I
will be at peace.
Silent Reflection
The
Assurance of Good News (unison)
We are never lost for we are in God.
Thanks be to the One Who Made Us!
Sung Response
"Hallelujah. God be praised!" (CSB #5 Refrain)
WE TEACH, REFLECT AND PROCLAIM
Conversation with Our Children
Reading from the Christian
Gospels Mark
10:17-31
Sermon Excess or Access (The Camel's Secret)
WE RESPOND TO GOD'S INVITATION
Intercessions, Celebrations and Encouragements
Call to Prayer Be still and know that I am
God Hymnal # 743
Time for
Silence
Our Joys and
Concerns and an Offering of Prayer
Sung
Response If My People Will
Pray Jimmy Owens
Billie Dierking, vocal * Rebecca Dekker,
piano
We Offer Our Gifts So That Our Lives May Be Our Prayer
Offertory
Prayer of
Dedication (unison)
Accept our gifts, O God, because we need to give.
Use our gifts to the greatest good they can accomplish
here in our midst and far beyond our individual reach.
We present them in thanksgiving for all you have given us
and in gratitude for the privilege of sharing in your work. Amen.
+ Sending Hymn Bring Many
Names Hymnal # 11
+ Commissioning (unison)
We were imagined in God's heart. We were made from the dust
of God's intention. We are God's expression of Love in the world.
May it show in the quality of our lives in every moment.
+ Sung Response (we gather in some semblance of a circle)
CSB #42 Refrain
Draw the circle wide. Draw it wider still.
Let this be our song, no one stands alone, standing side by side.
Draw the circle wide.
+ Postlude
WORSHIP NOTES
Opening Prayer is from the Reconciling Congregation Program,
Shaping Sanctuary Ed. by Kelly Turney p. 134
Prayer of Dedication is from Holy Covenant UMC, Ibid. p.130