I'm loaded.
It's official.
I'm the 822,871,928 richest person on earth!
Ah ... money. What I could do without it.
In meditating on money check out the Gospel of Suply Side Jesus.
Thoughts on this weeks text from a neo-traditional Pentecostal mystic. In these pages you will find a pentecostal perspective, a concern for the interplay of RCL readings, and attempts to contextualize the text for intergenerational family ministry. I will also post poetry and artwork I find meaningful in my meditation for Sunday.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
On the love of money (a meditation from 3 years ago)
How rich are you? >>
I'm loaded.
It's official.
I'm the 822,871,928 richest person on earth!
I'm loaded.
It's official.
I'm the 822,871,928 richest person on earth!
Thursday, September 27, 2007
The Good Fight and The Good Confession
Paul says to fight the good fight for the eternal life for which we gave the good confession. This confession isn’t the positive confession of the name-it-and-claim it brand, it is the confession of trust in God that Jesus offered Pilate. This trust is reflected in the name Lazarus (Eleazar - God helps).
On the other hand we have Dives. Rich-man. He is self-sufficient, and duped by deceitful riches. “But those who want to be rich,” says Paul, “fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.” He no doubt thought with the pharisees that his riches were a sign of God’s approval. But in the flames he discovers something different, and he finally learns to look beyond himself asking Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his brothers. He’s discovered that he didn’t really believe in God at all, not as the prophets and Moses describe him. I wonder if its beginning to dawn on the pharisees... Jesus said in John, “If you believed Moses and the prophets you would believe in me, for they wrote about me.”
Rich-man says, “No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.”
Abraham replies, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”
We are invited to the Good Confession. Will we put our money where our mouths are? Rich-man didn’t live as though he believed God. If he had he would have lived like Paul says,
On the other hand we have Dives. Rich-man. He is self-sufficient, and duped by deceitful riches. “But those who want to be rich,” says Paul, “fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.” He no doubt thought with the pharisees that his riches were a sign of God’s approval. But in the flames he discovers something different, and he finally learns to look beyond himself asking Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his brothers. He’s discovered that he didn’t really believe in God at all, not as the prophets and Moses describe him. I wonder if its beginning to dawn on the pharisees... Jesus said in John, “If you believed Moses and the prophets you would believe in me, for they wrote about me.”
Rich-man says, “No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.”
Abraham replies, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”
We are invited to the Good Confession. Will we put our money where our mouths are? Rich-man didn’t live as though he believed God. If he had he would have lived like Paul says,
As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life
that really is life.