Sunday
19th September - 16th after
Trinity (green)
Theme: Wealth
Readings: Amos 8:4-7
1 Timothy 2:1-7 Luke 16:1-13 Ps 79:1-9
Theme: Wealth
Readings: Amos 8:4-7
1 Timothy 2:1-7 Luke 16:1-13 Ps 79:1-9
Collect:
Lord of creation,
whose glory is around and within us:
open our eyes to your wonders,
that we may serve you with reverence
and know your peace at our lives' end,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Comment
Here’s an interesting call in the opening verses of the Epistle, given that we are facing threatened industrial action over proposed Government cuts in public services. I wonder how that fits with this charge to pray? Does it colour what we pray for, and how we act in such circumstances?
Perhaps the current situation may give us opportunities to really help those around us who will suffer as a result of these government proposals. After all, the challenge of the Gospel reading is about how we use our wealth. It can be our master or our servant.
Here’s Tim’s comment on the Gospel:
“Jesus was not afraid to tell stories about bad behaviour. In this parable the surprise for us is that the master commended his corrupt servant. It is possible that Jesus’ first hearers may not have been surprised. They might have assumed that the debts included interest on the loan – olive oil was more easily adulterated, so the interest was greater – and that the servant was simply wiping out the interest. The master could not complain at that, for Jews were not supposed to charge interest on loans! But the point of the story is not about corruption, but about how to prepare for the future.
Jesus seems to be saying that ‘the children of light’ (God’s people) are not very good at preparing for the future. The only way to do it is to use what we have in the present – our hands and feet, our words, our talents, our wealth. In this passage Jesus concentrates on talking about wealth, and how to use it to make eternal friends.
It matters how we use our wealth. It doesn’t matter how much we have; it does matter how we deal with it. Jesus tells us that our current wealth is a trust from God – it is not really our own, whereas eternal riches will be ours for ever. What we now think of as our own is in fact someone else’s property – God’s. And God expects us to give away his property! He wants us to use it to build up eternal treasure, and that cannot happen by simply building up our worldly possessions, for at death the value to us of our earthly possessions will go back to zero. Eternal treasure is built up through acts of kindness and generosity, especially to those who have no power to reciprocate.
If God is Lord at all, he has to be Lord of all. It has been said that the last part of a person to be converted is the pocket. May that not be true of us!
Questions
1) Why do so many Christians feel uncomfortable talking about what to do with our money?
2) What does Christian generosity look like in our situation? Is it something that can be seen and recognised?
Lord of creation,
whose glory is around and within us:
open our eyes to your wonders,
that we may serve you with reverence
and know your peace at our lives' end,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Comment
Here’s an interesting call in the opening verses of the Epistle, given that we are facing threatened industrial action over proposed Government cuts in public services. I wonder how that fits with this charge to pray? Does it colour what we pray for, and how we act in such circumstances?
Perhaps the current situation may give us opportunities to really help those around us who will suffer as a result of these government proposals. After all, the challenge of the Gospel reading is about how we use our wealth. It can be our master or our servant.
Here’s Tim’s comment on the Gospel:
“Jesus was not afraid to tell stories about bad behaviour. In this parable the surprise for us is that the master commended his corrupt servant. It is possible that Jesus’ first hearers may not have been surprised. They might have assumed that the debts included interest on the loan – olive oil was more easily adulterated, so the interest was greater – and that the servant was simply wiping out the interest. The master could not complain at that, for Jews were not supposed to charge interest on loans! But the point of the story is not about corruption, but about how to prepare for the future.
Jesus seems to be saying that ‘the children of light’ (God’s people) are not very good at preparing for the future. The only way to do it is to use what we have in the present – our hands and feet, our words, our talents, our wealth. In this passage Jesus concentrates on talking about wealth, and how to use it to make eternal friends.
It matters how we use our wealth. It doesn’t matter how much we have; it does matter how we deal with it. Jesus tells us that our current wealth is a trust from God – it is not really our own, whereas eternal riches will be ours for ever. What we now think of as our own is in fact someone else’s property – God’s. And God expects us to give away his property! He wants us to use it to build up eternal treasure, and that cannot happen by simply building up our worldly possessions, for at death the value to us of our earthly possessions will go back to zero. Eternal treasure is built up through acts of kindness and generosity, especially to those who have no power to reciprocate.
If God is Lord at all, he has to be Lord of all. It has been said that the last part of a person to be converted is the pocket. May that not be true of us!
Questions
1) Why do so many Christians feel uncomfortable talking about what to do with our money?
2) What does Christian generosity look like in our situation? Is it something that can be seen and recognised?