Readings

FIRST LESSON

The first lesson is from “Do Justice, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly,” an essay by Rebecca T. Alpert in Take Back the Word

The commitment to do justice requires us to go beyond our own lives and look at larger issues in the world around us. … [T]hese efforts are intrinsically interconnected. We cannot make a choice between accepting ourselves, caring for our circle of loved ones, and doing justice in the world. These efforts must be woven into one framework.

What then is the justice we seek? Our goal is to live in a world where every person has what it takes to satisfy basic human needs: food, clothing, education, and work; where all people have the opportunity to participate in decisions that affect their lives; where nations do not make war against one another; and where the planet itself, and all that live on it, are treated with dignity and respect. These are the goals of a just society.

We cannot begin to envision such a world unless we have created the possibilities within ourselves and our community to work towards this plan. We begin with the idea that to walk with decency with God is measured by our self-acceptance and willingness to be visible. This is the beginning of justice; for only if we speak out about who we are can we create the opportunity for justice for ourselves.

But this alone is insufficient: love is also a prerequisite to justice … respect not only for those whom we love particularly but for all humanity.

SECOND LESSON

The second lesson is from the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 12 verses 15 through 21

And Jesus said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Then Jesus told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then the man said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to the man, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.”

This Week's Sermon

Date: November 22, 2009

Title:The Basics

Message Delivered By: Rev. Dr. Joe McMurray

When I was a mere child going to a parochial school, my parents made me go to Mass every day. I resented that I was one of the only students from the school who was there every morning at 8am. And I was always the first in the classroom at 8:35. I never knew why I was singled out … perhaps my parents knew something then that I found out much later … who knows?

Then every Sunday, of course, the entire family would go to church. Everybody put something in the offering plate, regardless of how old you were. If you were in school, you had your own envelopes with your name printed on them. There was one for every Sunday and one for every Holy Day. It never occurred to me until much later that the local parish must have made a killing on our family alone—my parents had six children, which meant seven different envelopes went into the offering plate. Not as bad as our neighbors, who had 13, 18, and 7 children, respectively.

And that reminds me of a story. Bob and Rosemary were devout Catholics. After a lifetime of raising lots of children, they decided they’d finally think about taking a much-deserved vacation. Their kids were all out of the house, and some of theirs had children of their own. So Bob and Rosemary planned a two-week vacation to Australia in honor of their 50th wedding anniversary.

There they were, finally at the airport after all those years, and an hour later, in flight over the Pacific Ocean. Not a worry in the world. A few hours later, as they slept in preparation for their arrival in Sydney the next morning, the ride became very rocky. They were sleeping, so they did not notice the lightening and heavy thunder. But soon after, they were awakened by the frantic voice of the pilot:

"Ladies and Gentlemen, you may have noticed we just passed through a very dangerous thunderstorm. Though we hoped to get through it without incident, it is with regret that I inform you that we were struck by lightening and all of our engines have ceased to function. We will attempt an emergency landing on the water in about 4 minutes. Please review the emergency procedure card in the seatback in front of you, place your life vests on, and prepare yourselves for a very bumpy ride.

It was indeed bumpy, but thanks to the skill of the flight crew, the plane landed safely on the water. Not only that, but within a few hundred yards, an island stood before them—an island in the middle of nowhere. The lifeboats were dispatched without incident and all the passengers survived and made it safely to the island. The pilot informed the passengers that the island was not on the map and that they may not be rescued, living on the island for the rest of their lives!

Bob and Rosemary joined the other passengers gather wood, and a huge bonfire was built on the beach. An hour later, Bob turned to his wife and asked, "Rosemary, did you send a check to the Archdiocese for the Appeal?”

"No, sweetheart," she responded. “I didn’t have time before we left.”

As they cuddled close together to keep warm, Bob asked, "Did you pay the Knights of Columbus dues? And what about the Cursio Retreat fund?”

"No,” said Rosemary. “I got so distracted packing, I forgot to send a check to either one."

After a few minutes, Bob asked, "What about the pledge form for the Stewardship campaign?”

"Forgive me, Bob," begged Esther. "I didn't send that, either. I guess I’m not such a good wife."

Bob grabbed Rosemary, gave her a huge hug and a big kiss. Rosemary pulled away and asked, "What was that for? Aren’t you upset with me?" Bob answered, “Honey, it’s the Catholic Church. Now we know they’ll find us. "

And the moral of the story is: have you filled out your Pledge Form yet? ‘Cause we’ll find you.
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Will you pray with me? God, we have many needs of which you alone are aware. Sometimes we pray that our specific requests are granted. If we don’t receive what we want, we fear that we are not being heard, we fear that you don’t love us, or that we are somehow unworthy. Help us to focus on our true needs. And as we ask for ourselves, let us always consider the needs of others in our prayer. And may my words and all of our thoughts be filled with honor and praise to you. Amen.

“You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?”

Usually, we think that when we’re prepared, nothing can go wrong. We feel pretty proud of ourselves, thinking that we’re a stop ahead of the game. And most often, that’s true, although it depends a great deal on what it is you are preparing for.

The man from Jesus’ parable was an intelligent and resourceful man. He’d already accomplished great things. He was wealthy. He had more treasure, more abundance than he knew what to do with. In fact, we could say he had an overabundance.

The man knew that in order for him to move to the next step, at least to understanding of success, he must build warehouses to store the ample supply of grain and goods so that he could enjoy his wealth throughout the remainder of his years.

The man had forgotten one important thing: he didn’t count on the fact that God’s time was different than his time. And so all that the man had done, all that he had saved up, all the possessions he had gathered to enjoy would now be lost to him. The man squandered his opportunity, he lost his chance by making wrong choices.

There are many parables throughout the Scriptures that we could point to that say, “Jesus and the prophets seem to be saying that if you are wealthy, you cannot gain access to the realm of God.”

This was true of the story of the devout rich man who said to Jesus, “I have obeyed all the religious laws, I pray devoutly every day, and I am most sincere in my devotion to God. What more can I do to insure that I might inherit the realm of God?” And Jesus said, “Go out and sell all that you own.” And the man went away, dejected.

Or the admonition from Jesus to another wealthy citizen, to whom Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the realm of God.”

Or our gospel from two weeks ago about the poor woman who put all the money she had, two copper coins worth a penny, into the Temple offering for the poor. And about her, Jesus said, “This woman has done more with her meager means because she has given from her scarcity, than the wealthy who give from their abundance.”

There are multiple examples that depict affluence negatively, while at the same time glorifying poverty.

But to leave it at that, I think, misses the mark completely.

What was this man preparing for? How much did he need to prepare? Is there ever a time in our lives when we are meant just to sit back and watch the world go by? It feels like a different version of a very common understanding today about those who have worked hard and earned a decent living: “I worked hard for what I got; why should I be made to feel that I should give any of it away to anyone else?”

I guess there’s some truth to that. I worked hard. I deserved what I got. Maybe I had some advantages, but I still worked. Nobody gave me anything that I didn’t earn for myself. Why should I be forced to share? It’s understandable to make that argument?

Or is it?

The man in Jesus’ parable was basically doing the same thing. He earned what he made. He had a knack for business. He had specific gifts that gave him advantages. That doesn’t make him a bad person.

But what does it say about the selfishness of the man? This man who had so much he had to build storage facilities to keep it all. I can just picture him: he probably was building a nice sun porch on top of all of his wealth so he could look out over his balcony, soak up some rays, have a cocktail and watch other people go by.

He might have planned to shout out to the passersby, “Hey, look at what I’ve got! Come and see what I did, but don’t get too close because it’s mine. I earned it. Don’t you wish you could’ve been like me? Poor suckers. You either got it, or you don’t.”

What conclusions can we draw from this man who hoarded his wealth and possessions? In the end, the man himself was denied. He lost everything.

Instead, how might he have better utilized his treasure? How might he have shared from his wealth without giving up any of his comforts? How might he have relieved the pain and suffering of others without even lifting a finger?

“So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God,” Jesus said. Not rich towards God.

This is a very deep-seated principle of the Christian tradition, though you’d never know it based on the actions of some people today. But what does it mean? Being rich towards God?

Does it mean doing our part? Yes.
Does it mean sharing what we have, even when we have just a little? Yes. Does it mean sacrifice, and sometimes uncomfortable sacrifice? Yes.
Does it mean giving our time when we can’t give anything else? Yes.
Does it mean offering prayers for others even when we aren’t asked to? Yes.
Does it mean putting aside petty differences we might have and loving one another? Yes.
And is it based on the quantity of what we have? No!

It’s not what we have. It is that we have. Whether it’s money, talent, a desire to pitch in, or a hope for a subset of people in difficult circumstances; whether it’s working side-by-side with those whom we don’t fully understand, but with whom we share a common goal; or whether it’s making a promise to our church and to everyone in it – and I mean everyone in it – every sister and brother – that we will not allow ourselves to be tempted away from all that is required of us as part of this Christian community.

Last week, six people stood in front of us last week and promised this community that they would give as much as they could when they could to promote the mission and purpose of this church.
They promised, before us and before God, that they would extend their grace to this community. They promised to share from their abundance—whether it was from their time, treasure, or talents—to make this community even better than it is now. I don’t know about you, but I believed them.

And when we responded to them, and invited them to become members of this church, we told them, as we tell every new member and every friend of our church, that they are welcome here; and that we will challenge them emotionally, theologically and spiritually. We invited them into full participation—not part time, not some time, but full time. And did we mean what we said? Did we truly invite them into our church family as full participants? Did we invite them to be “rich towards God” as we are “rich towards God?”

We are so blessed here at MCC Key West. Aren’t we? I mean, just look around you! We are so heaven-blessed! We have such abundance, such joy, such enthusiasm, such generosity. We are a family community. We all belong to each other. We have such opportunity because there are so many wonderful things to choose from. So many wonderful gifts we have to share.

So when we have such an array of magnificent choices, why on earth would we choose to live small, instead of living large?

Rebecca Alpert says that “The commitment to do justice requires us to go beyond our own lives” because we are all connected. We look at our basic needs and strive to ensure that every person has them. By doing this, despite the challenges and hardships it may bring, then we are rich towards God. When we are rich toward one another, we are rich towards God.

These are the basics—the principles under which we unite as one community. These are the things that keep us connected to one another in spirit, and in faith, and in love.

And as we come together for our annual meeting this afternoon, let us keep these principles in mind. Let us be mindful of the work we have done, and the work we have yet to do. Let us not be the observers of our fate, as was the wealthy man. But let us be actors who make choices that bring us closer to God and closer together as a community. And may we always continue to follow where God is leading. Amen.