A little help goes a long way.........

Atheists know  the point of the parable of the Good Samaritan, even if they have no idea that the original story is biblical or what exactly a Samaritan is.  For the record, a Good Samaritan is someone who goes out of her way to help someone she could just as easily ignore - a stranded motorist, an injured animal, anyone in need.  In many states, Good Samaritan laws protect a benevolent individual from liability when in the end, they weren't exactly the perfect help at all.

So we have some idea of what a Good Samaritan is, and since we Christians have some idea that we have a duty towards our neighbors, we expect that the point of the parable is our duty to be out there giving help to those in need.  And not just a little help, but extravagant help in dangerous situations and without regard to cost.

Thus is created a huge burden of conscience for many people of faith.  We are surrounded by people in need no matter where we live, which leads me to those folks who stand at the intersections of our major highways here in Syracuse with signs that read "A little help goes a long way...." If we choose to not help them out with some spare change or a sandwich, we usually drive away feeling at least a little guilty for doing nothing. Because we are supposed to, it is our duty, we are obligated.

So, with lightening speed, we manage to turn a parable of God's gracious mercy into a hammer of guilt.  We turn love and mercy into an obligation and God into a cosmic bean counter.  In this space where grace and mercy could bring life and healing, we have nothing because we know that we will not respond as the Samaritan did every time we come to the corner of 690 and Hiawatha Blvd.  We are left with only death: the death of our spirit and the hunger of the needy one.

So don't go there.  Don't start beating yourself up and making excuses and arguing with me from your desk computer.  We need to walk through this parable together and do it as people of faith, people who have come to know the power of life that is present in Jesus and available through the Holy Spirit.  The parables are not Aesop's Fables with a clearly stated moral at the end.  They are complex layered stories which are intended to challenge our thinking, provide a different point of view and lead us into a newer understanding of our complicated relationship with the Divine Creator.

A man was traveling on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho and he was robbed, stripped and thrown into a ditch, left for dead.  Probably not an unusual occurrence on that stretch of highway, and one of the main dangers of traveling alone.

Three men came upon this helpless victim in our story.  Two saw his plight yet chose to 'pass by on the other side.'  The third one stopped, gave aid, provided shelter and support until he was healed. It was an unheard of, extravagant act of kindness and has left people feeling guilty for hundreds of years.  Was that Jesus' intent?  Or was Jesus challenging us to see the world through different glasses, to shake off our egocentric thought process, to fully commit to God's point of view of love lived out in mercy and grace?  Are we being asked to see that stranger in the ditch with the same eyes that God sees us?

Just a few questions to get us started.  There is lots to talk about.  See you tomorrow.

Why should I feel guilty?

We have arrived at the other side of the guilt coin.
One side is burdened with guilt; this side has no burden at all.

Notice I didn't say they didn't have stuff to feel bad about.  A little digging into their day alone will give us a few things we could put on the table.  Then we move to the larger issues of justice and ethics and family relations and paying taxes.  None of us can stand up to that kind of scrutiny and come away pristine.

Now, I'm not a sackcloth and ashes kind of gal (although they too have a useful place in our spiritual and mental health)....but it is really hard to convince me that your life has been without fault.  You have harmed others, in what you've done and what you haven't done, and you have been harmed by the broken parts of this world. This is most certainly true.

This is true about everyone.  We are all paddling this boat called imperfection.  We are all marked with the signs of selfishness, greed, pride, arrogance...[add your own here]...because that is who humans are.  We get it wrong.  We do wrong. Other humans have done wrong to us.

Now, either you write all of that off as just the cost of being human....which leads to little effort or desire or reason to live a more community minded life.........

or you rank the nastiness of this world.  You place the kind of nastiness you do way down on the bottom of the list of wrongs. Like this. Killed anyone?  No.  Robbed a bank? No.  Discriminated against anyone? No

With those at the top of the list, then Yelled at my children, or Failed to report that minor dent I put in someone's car, or Ignored urgent requests from the local food pantry... are really not important.  They don't really count.

Both paths end up here:  I've done nothing wrong. I don't owe anyone anything.  Why feel guilty?

If that is where you end up, then you are seriously out of touch with yourself and the human community.

Just the same, the Divine Creator who gave you life loves you.

stop making me feel guilty....

I am called to be a pastor of this Church, the Christian one, a Lutheran persuasion.  So to be clear up front, I am well aware of the failures of the Church  - times when our humanness overshadowed any connection we might have had with the divine.  The Church has been guilty of supporting slavery, the Spanish Inquisition, burning Joan of Ark and John Hus at the stake....and a thousand other sins, large and small.

Local congregations have been guilty of moral judgmentalism, hypocrisy, petty conflict and both greed and parsimony in equal measures.  All these things are true.  If anyone should be aware of our own imperfection, it is the Church.

That however, doesn't change the perfect gift that is the grace of God in Jesus.  God called Jesus beloved and Jesus calls us the same.  The connection between the Divine and the Human was broken open through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  It's an open connection.  You are invited.  You are welcome.  You are loved.

I cannot fathom why this is not good news to folks.  I can understand that some folks think that it is irrelevant news of no interest to them.  But I cannot fathom how some can conceive of it as bad news.....but here is a possible clue.....

Stop making me feel guilty.  Stop saying I am doing stuff wrong and doing wrong stuff.  If you cannot say something that is uplifting and affirming than don't say anything at all.

OK but even if I remain silent, you will still feel guilty.  Because you already know that what you have done and what you have failed to do has caused this world to be a less friendly place.  Sometimes your actions arise from ignorance or inattentiveness.  Sometimes it's intentional, sometimes it's not.

I know this is true about you because it is true about me, and every other person I've ever met, and this kind of thing often becomes a burden we haul around everywhere.  We already know this stuff.  No one has to tell us.  But each of us does have to decide what to do with this truth about ourselves.

Jesus says, "Come, tell me the truth.  I already know it, but say it aloud so we can move past this road block.  Aren't you tired of the race to perfection?  Rest here, and let's put this behind us."  In Church language, we call that forgiveness.  You are welcome to call it whatever you like, but be assured it is a powerful release from the dance of perfection and pretending.  Say it like it is.  It will set you free.

The other option is to pretend you are not the kind of person who has ever done something that harms another.  You can use your energy to run and hide (from yourself and others) and put on a different face for the world.  You can even scold the church for making you feel guilty.  It won't work, but you can try.

Don't preach to me about money

I've thought that.  Have you thought that? For 3 weeks we will hear Jesus teach about what we should do with our money, how it can drag us down spiritually, how it makes a difference eternally, and we want to say, "Don't preach to me about money."

Don't make me feel guilty.  Don't tell me that it will all work out OK when I'm worrying about getting through the month.  Don't compare me with people living in Bangladesh.  If I lived in Bangladesh, I wouldn't drive to work and pay $3.70 a gallon for gas.

Of course I should feed the hungry.  Most of the time, 'the hungry' are sitting at my dinner table.  Of course I should help provide clean water for our global neighbors who have none.  I'm trying to keep my water bill manageable with 3 teens taking showers.

Of course I should help build a pre-school in Zambia; in the meantime I trying to figure out how my kids will afford college.  And don't talk to me about retirement....who's going to retire?

I know that all of this is true.  Finances will stress a relationship faster than almost anything else.  So how do we find a path - a path that is faithful to Jesus - in the midst of God's concern for the poor and the aching feeling that I'm on the verge of being 'the poor'?

Because we want to be faithful to Jesus!  Jesus' love for me is at the center of my life, my sense of worthiness, my ability to forgive others.  How can I faithfully use the money that God has entrusted to me for the sake of the whole world - including my family?

There is no simple answer to these questions but there are a couple of places we can begin the conversation. We will look at having some knowledgeable people teach about budgeting, saving, investing and sharing our money.  Some folks will learn how much that fancy coffee each morning costs them in a year and decide to give it up for another purpose.  Some folks will learn that they are doing all they can.  Watch for news about this.

But there are also spiritual exercises which will help us too.  When we re-focus on giving thanks - always watching for places, times, people, events we can give thanks for - the pressure of 'not enough' begins to recede.  Giving thanks gives us relief from the terrible 'not enough' pressure.

Timothy tells us that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.  Not having what we think is enough money can be the greatest temptation we will ever face.  Let's figure out how to do this together as a community of faith.