On the out and on the in

 Exclusion from our community, whether it is a faith community or a secular society or general community in which we live, is something that we should all be aware of. Even within any one group there is always an 'in' group and a group which is seen to be on the 'outside' when it comes to decisions, policy, camaraderie or anything that is being undertaken together. One only often has to look at a gathering after a church service or at a social meeting to quickly determine who is 'in' and who is 'out'. In the famous story of Lazarus and in the society at the time it was the 'leper' who was on the outside. (As a side it is often fascinating to see that in the Midrashic texts the prohibitions regarding the leper are seen as deeper psychological issues rather than just a straightforward understanding of the disease). In making the decision as to who is 'in' and who is 'out' we are making a judgement often on little factual evidence but rather a gut feeling or tradition.

In the reading from Jeremiah the context is one where the people have given up and all they know is war and violence so no land exchanges hands until the despised Jeremiah initiates a transaction that tells of the coming bounty (32:6-15). What was in was the understanding that no land was exchanged but here a person who is generally despised initiates something new. At what point do we stop our own judgement of others and begin to accept that those that we despise may be filled with God's love for the other. In our churches and ministry gatherings we need to be very careful with regards our labelling of the other. Too often it is our need to regulate who is 'in' and who is 'out' that removes us from God's presence as we continually judge in our terms and not in God's terms. Everything that we see is coloured by our own imperatives rather than the imperatives of God's work. In a manner of speaking we are like those that are ensnared by our own desires leading people into ruination and a severing of their ties to God (1Tim 6:9). 

Even as children we are taught to judge who is 'in' and who is 'out'

Yet, when we move to be Christian and stand up to say that this is our faith we are moving to be images of Christ and God in the world. If we are to become more Christlike we need to ensure that we reflect the understanding that we do not overlook the person we walk past on a daily basis without judgement. Recently, Martin Percy wrote that we make judgements on a routine and daily basis as it is in our nature being apart from God. This makes us people who automatically categorise the lepers in our society whether they are actual lepers or just a group we categorise as being unworthy of our attention. However, to God all are worthy. Once we begin to exclude and make people 'out' then we fall away from God creating the chasm that is between Lazarus and the rich man. The faith of following Christ is a faith that is accepting of all in the sight of God it is not one that rejects a person, for whatever reason, but rather loves them into being who God wants them to be. It is we who make the judgements of who is 'in' and who is 'out' not God to God all people are in no matter what we may think or consider to be right or proper.

The letter to Timothy speaks about the temptations of riches (1 Tim 6:9-10) including that most misquoted verse (6:10). It is however more important to note what follows as this is the key as the author writes "shun all this" or words to that effect (1 Tim 6:11) so as to pursue those things which are closer to God. It is not the temptation of riches per se that is being written about but the sole pursuit of these things as this is what changes our view. Once we start along the line of wanting more in terms of the riches of the world we increasingly make our judgements in the world and of the world. This is when we get caught up in the spiral that takes us away from God as we begin to follow those around us in determining the right and the wrong rather than aligning our hearts with God. We begin to move towards the pursuit of everything that is worldly rather than that which is from God. In doing so we alienate the other as they are not of us and thus we determine our judgement on them.

Letting go to start afresh

 In Luke's gospel the parable of the shrewd manager (Lk 16:1-9) seems to be a bit strange among the many strangenesses of the biblical story. Here is, what amounts to a corrupt manager, being commended for his corruptness by the owner and supposedly by Christ. In the passage following Christ then states quite plainly that one cannot serve two masters at the same time, in this case God and wealth (Lk. 16:13). So, what is going on here? Perhaps we need to expand our horizons somewhat when we look at this text, in much the same manner in which the rabbinical tradition expands the readings of the Hebrew scriptures. In this case with a bit of imagination and in depth look at everyone's actual motivations. We can perhaps wonder where this parable comes in terms of Christ's understanding of those very same scriptures as this is where he is, one has to presume, deriving his teachings from (the Hebraic law).

In somewhat of a reverse analogy this parable is about letting go in terms of our thoughts and how we think about God and secular life. Too often we are caught up in the dilemma of when to let go of what we think and when to take on new thoughts about God and our lives of faith. We have a propensity towards two different ways of thinking when it comes to our faith journey. The first is to be adamant on our own knowledge of God and place that as the defining agenda for a faith lived life. This can be seen in the attitudes of those who would determine how we "must" read the bible, irrespective of denomination or church, this sort of attitude is found. There is here a failure to release our thinking or rather our hold on what we have been taught and consider what God wants us to learn. The second is the understanding that the religious life or rather the faith life is irrelevant and has no hold on us in the modern saeculum. This inevitably leads to a denial of those things which lead us into the spiritual dimensions of our lives as these are no longer relevant for modern society. These failures are taken up in the Hebrew scriptures when they discuss the relevance of the sabbath in terms of the land and those who have become bound through debt slavery in Leviticus which could be the source of Christ's unusual line of thought in the Lukan parable.

A fresh start means a letting go of our perspective

If we take a look at the parable it gives us a marvellous insight into the stewards thinking in terms of his retirement. We do not have to think about the probable corrupt practices going on but rather on the understanding in the stewards mind as to what comes after. In some respects the man is saying to himself I must look to God to look after me in my old age because I am not going to be able to continue in my current post. In doing so I will also assist my letting go by opening possibilities in my later life so that I am cared for within the community. I am not going to hang on to my previous understandings, I am willing to let go and open myself to new possibilities. A vacating or freeing of what was once bound up in a continuation of the way forward. This is what is being praised and  this, in a manner of speaking, also speaks to the later passage with regards not serving two masters. This happens if we cling to what we think or know regarding our faith without giving up our aspirations in terms of our secular age. We are torn between the two and most likely will turn away from the path of faith, as so many have done, choosing to go with the lure of wealth or power whilst paying lip service to God's law. The steward frees himself, if you will, and allows God to take a hand in his forward journey.

In believing ourselves to be following God's commandments and hanging on to what we interpret as God speaking to us from the scriptures we open ourselves up to hypocrisy and condemnation. As we aggrandise our lives whilst scheming in a political and sinful manner to such an extent that we neglect love of neighbour and eventually on the slippery slope we fail to love God with all our hearts. This is due to our failure to let go of our own thinking and manner to allow God into the space of freedom and release that comes with beginning anew. It is only when we die that we can gain new life, it is only when we release ourselves from the bondage of our own thoughts that we attain the peace that comes with God's love.

Sin and the sinner

 We really do not understand the concept of sin per se in today's world. We bandy the word about but without any true meaning behind it and I also suppose with little understanding of what it means to sin or be a sinner. This means that we use sin as a cast off word rather than a word with reality in its meaning. There are a number of understandings of what sin is very dependent on the culture and the religious belief people have been brought up in. At the end of the day for most sin is a moral wrong doing either against God or against some other authority that is sublime. This then bends us towards understanding that sin is something that we have a choice over rather than something that is thrust upon us from outside ourselves. This in turn tells us of our own need to make decisions that are in alignment with the moral code of God which is seen in the love of God and the love of neighbour. If we understand this then we can understand where in our lives sin exists but also that redemption lies with Christ.

In understanding our failures we begin to rejoice over our redemption even when those failures were small as shown in the parables at the start of Luke chapter 15 (1-10). This rejoicing is emphasised and taken further in the parable of the prodigal son later in the chapter. The main point for us is that we cannot overlook what appears at first glance to be small and inconsequential. We cast aspersions of sin  when we speak about major incidents like murder and theft often overlooking our own minor misdemeanours that we do not go looking for. The parables in Luke 15 other than the prodigal are all about minor things, a single sheep and a single coin. How well do we know our own proclivities that we can point to those things that we believe to be so minor as to stay lost? Perhaps what I am trying to point out is that we neglect and overlook many things that we believe to be minor but are actual causes of our continual sin. Reminding us that our sin is that which is not in keeping with the law of love. I think that if we were to deeply delve into our own actions over say the last week we could easily come up with circumstances where we were not loving towards God or our neighbour.

What is the sin and who the sinner?

The saying is that the little things trip you up and for the most part it is the same in our faith journey. It is those things that we overlook that trip us up. Our attitudes, our reliance on our own thinking, our reliance on tradition, etc. all of these things eventually highlight our own hypocrisies and our lack of love for those around us. We become protective of our 'territory' and would rather our neighbours leave us alone so that we do not have to share what we perceive to be our wisdom. In doing so we neglect the basics of our faith journey and act out of ignorance (1 Tim. 1:13b) rather than out of faith and knowledge. Our ignorance appears to be related to our own self understanding of what it means to live a life of faith. More often than not we impose on others the meaning and relevance of scripture that we are happy with even if it moves away from the bedrock of love. We cannot see the irregularity and disjunction between our own perceptions and those that highlight God's love. Irrespective of where we sit on the spectrum from ultra conservative to ultra liberal.

Perhaps the words from Jeremiah are more apt than we would think "For my people are foolish, they do not know me" (Jer. 4:22). People do not want to understand the scriptures or to be led in the way of love rather they prefer what they are told what scripture says even if the words are words against love. Whilst it is sometimes difficult for people to gather around the scriptures in the fashion of the old style bible study it is even more difficult to come to terms with scriptural passages if there is not real means of debate or reading at a local level. The common complaints are often along the lines of "I do not agree with x, y and z's comments so won't continue to go" or else "it is to high faluting and I am immediately lost, so what is the point". Perhaps, also there seems to be little enthusiasm to delve into aspects of scripture in an academic way and in any case the minister tells us all about it in the Sunday sermon. I understand that because often in the past it has come down to a liking or a disliking of a person leading a group that has turned people away or else it has been "shoved" down the throat in an unacceptable manner. This is where our centrality in Christ comes into play and if we forget this we unintentionally sin automatically turning from God who is justly angered by our neglect.

A slave to the cross

 We are often presumptuous about our faith and what it means for our lives. We think that what we know and how we interpret scripture is always the right way. We need look at the recent ructions within the Anglican Church of Australia to see how true this is. It is presumptuous of us to believe that what we interpret is the absolute truth in terms of what God is trying to impart to us through those very scriptures. It is assuming an all powerful knowledge of impossible power to understand the writer, the receiver and the intention as well as the context in which everything is written. Just looking at the very brief letter that is called Philemon calls many of our presumptions into question let alone our understanding of our own lives. Slavery is not so much a thing of the past, as we are well aware, yet we presume that this is the case when we read things like Philemon. Yet, the release from slavery is something that comes with the knowledge of Christ in our lives for we are too often slaves to our own perpetuation of tradition, interpretation, thought and wants.

No matter who we are the story in Jerimiah (18.1-11) shows us how we should begin to look at what we are doing in the name of Christ and God. We are the clay that the potter moulds into the pattern that is required for the time and the day. If we think we are the directors of our journey in faith and that what we suggest is the correct way then we have truly forgotten this lesson. It is not ourselves that lay the path that we follow in faith but God and when we attempt to achieve things in God's name we need to be well aware that God requires of us a discernment of his will. This is particularly important when we consider our own lives within the parish community and context that we inhabit. A context that is fraught with possibility and with potential for God's working. We are so filled with our own thinking that we neglect the need to prepare, discern and plan (Lk. 14.28-30) along with God rather than neglect God's presence. We can see this happening in the broader church but we often are blind to our own inability to do the same as we are reliant on our own choices and thought processes.

Free in our slavery to the cross

We always find it almost impossible to understand when God calls us into something new. It often takes something much more then one person suggesting a new thing for anything to begin. The reason being is that we are so often caught up with what we have done in the past and what we are doing in the present. It takes a lot of discernment to understand the pull of God into a ministry that is new and in some ways undetermined. We like someone to say to us this is what you need to do and often we look to those who lead to be the well from which our ministry develops. However, we are all called by God and often times it is not from leadership that the new ministry develops but rather from something that we have already discerned as being the way forward. We just lack the courage and the discernment to push forward with what God is calling us into as we are too often sitting with complacency and comfort in the present. None of us likes the upheaval that comes with God's call because make no mistake our lives are disrupted by the indwelling of God's Spirit as we are guided and directed into new pathways. However, we are to a large extent bound to fulfil God's wishes through our covenanted vows and promises made at baptism.

In coming to Christ and following Christ we are freed from our own needs and responses as we become tied to Christ's death on the cross. Our freedom and slavery is bound by the cross as we are bound to Christ's guidance and direction in life to bring into being God's promises of love, peace and community. We open ourselves up to God so that we build a firm foundation upon which we raise an edifice of love that overcomes all our own boundaries and distinctions and yet remain constrained by the slavery of the yoke of love that frees us from our own biases. We are clay in God's hands and serve Christ as slaves to the cross of our redemption.