I think Jesus must have been an extrovert. Here he is again, eating out, this time in the home of a leader of the Pharisees.

You will remember that there was an ambivalent relationship between Jesus and the Pharisees whom he often described as hypocrites for their focus on small things which obscured the important things. Pharisees interpreted the law of Moses for contemporary living and Jesus often annoyed them with his disregard for the niceties of convention.

So he was invited to a meal by a leader of the Pharisees, but they were all watching him closely. And Jesus watched them. And he noticed how the guests all tried to choose seats of honor.

A quick sidebar here: the culture of 1st century Palestine was based on honor. Everything you did had the potential to bring honor or dishonor to your family. Honor was far more important than material wealth, so people wanted to show that they were honored by having the most important seats.

So, seeing how they were trying to get the best seats, Jesus told a story about honor. He told them about a wedding banquet where they did not have a seating chart, and guests jockeyed for the seats of honor. Beware, he said, of taking the most honored seat and then having the disgrace of being asked to move down. Instead take a less honored seat and have the honor of being asked to move to a higher table.

And he used this story for one of his topsy-turvy comments – “all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." That’s topsy-turvy like ‘the first will be last’, and ‘if you want to save your life you must lose it.’

But wait, wait there’s more. If you are going to give a luncheon he said, don’t invite your family and your buddies, invite those who can’t repay you and you will be blessed in the resurrection of the righteous.

There’s a lot to unpack here.

In the second lesson, the one from the letter to the Hebrews, the writer has turned his attention from theology to how we should live and gives some very explicit instructions.

• Let mutual love continue.
• Do not neglect to show hospitality.
• Remember those who are in prison,
• and those who are being tortured,
• Let marriage be held in honor by all
• Keep your lives free from the love of money, and
• be content with what you have

These don’t seem to need much interpretation. They are things we get to do as Christians, clear standards of behavior based in our knowledge of God’s incredible love for us.
But Jesus’ teachings need a little more work.

I had lunch with a friend this week who said “I like things to be very clear. I don’t want to do a lot of interpreting.” Her current spiritual path is not based on the teachings of Jesus!

We get to interpret, but we never do it in a vacuum – we have the teachings of those who have gone before and have struggled with the same questions, we have the witness of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, and we have one another – the community of faith. So we have resources to draw from.
Now back to Jesus. He is always challenging the status quo. He is always challenging us to live differently, a life lived in his footsteps not in the dominant culture in which we live. So what is the challenge here?

“All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Humility.
Humility has never been so counter-cultural or so unpopular.

Yet it is a mark of the followers of Jesus. We don’t humble ourselves in order to be exalted but because we are disciples of Jesus. And because we are followers of Jesus, we are promised that we will be with him in glory. But that is not our motivation. Which is why Jesus’ story of the wedding banquet is a parable. He is not telling us to take a lower seat so that we will be asked to move higher and so be honored by everyone who sees.

Jesus is saying something much more profound.

Jesus is calling us to live lives grounded in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is calling us to live lives imitating him.

Humility is not about having poor self-esteem. Humility is knowing that we are absolutely surrounded by the love of God and so we do not have to do things to prove our worth. Humility is quietly and confidently living our lives in God’s service and in service to others.

We do not need other people’s esteem. We do not need to be invited up to a higher seat so that everyone can see how important and how honorable we are.

The writer to the Hebrews said, ‘be content with what you have; for he has said, "I will never leave you or forsake you."…’ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.’

People of God, we are called to live our lives grounded in this truth; Jesus Christ who is the same yesterday, today and forever has promised never to leave us or forsake us. And knowing that, we can be content with who we are, and what we have. We do not need to throw dinner parties with influential people to increase our influence in the world, no, we get to throw dinner parties for those who are marginalized – the poor, the disabled, the immigrants, the queer and transgendered, the people of color.

We are at a time in our country when the powerful are becoming more powerful, the rich are becoming wealthier, and systems that have supported the common good are being dismantled.

It is our calling to see these things clearly and to call out sin when we see it. But it is so easy to think that somehow we are better than them, that our knowledge of Jesus and his ways allows us to look down on those who are caught up in the rush for power and who themselves look down on other people. The trap is always that in challenging that which is wrong, in attempting to build a fair and just society for all people, we get caught up in the same attitudes and tactics.

I think the antidote is humility.

Humility says that we too are sinners in need of God’s grace. Humility says that we can only act as a result of our knowledge of God’s love not just for us but for the people whose ideas we oppose. Humility prays for our leaders and our opponents. Humility listens for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, trusting that all will be well.

I am going to end by quoting a few familiar verses from 1 Corinthians 13 but changed slightly:

4 Humility is patient, humility is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Humility does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  1 Cor 13:4-7

the Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall
 
 
 

A Call to Compassion; A Call to Action      Reading:  Luke 13:10-17     Proper 16/C    8/24/25
By the Rev. Karen Faye Siegfriedt    St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Morro Bay CA
 
            In June of 2018, I was walking along Morro Strand Beach toward the rock.  Suddenly, a young sealion started waddling out of the water and moving toward me.  At first, I backed away, puzzled by his actions.  Why was this beautiful marine mammal coming toward me as if he were trying to tell me something?  I soon realized that something was very wrong and immediately called the Marine Mammal Rescue Team.  They sent out volunteers who captured the sealion and brought him to the Center for diagnosis and treatment.  It turns out, this particular sealion was poisoned by domoic acid, a neurotoxin produced by red algae which accumulates in shellfish, sardines, and anchovies. When sea lions, otters, humans, and other predators eat contaminated shellfish, poisoning can result, affecting the brain and possibly causing death.
  
After two weeks of IV fluids and medication, the sealion was “set free” from his ailment and was released into the ocean to live a full life.  I marvel at the compassion of those who volunteer at the Marine Mammal Center and their heroic attempts to relieve the suffering of these precious sea-creatures.  I give thanks to all those who have donated time and money to provide for the health care offered at the Marine Mammal Center.  Like Jesus in today’s gospel, there are many of you who are moved with compassion for those who suffer, rolling up your sleeves to actively respond to their needs.  Thank you for caring!

In today’s gospel story, we see compassion in action.  The year is around 30 A. D., and Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem.  In this particular story, he is teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath day when he notices a woman who is unable to stand up straight. This is a woman whose spine has collapsed into a permanent forward hunch.  Her body language communicates more than pain; it pictures the crushing power of affliction. In modern medical terms, she is suffering from severe kyphosis.   Now I want you to imagine for a moment being in her shoes: bent over, incapable of standing up straight, unable to look up at the sky, glancing only side to side in order to navigate your path, and spending the majority of your waking hours looking down at the ground. 

How diminished would your life be?  Would you even be able to perform activities of daily living, like cooking, cleaning, and raising a family?  How popular do you think you would be at a community gathering?   Would people make eye contact with you or would they simply glance over you as if you did not exist?  Over time, you might find yourself fading into the background like many other disabled people, never being asked for your opinion or treated with respect.  It is into this context of limitation and bondage that Jesus lays his hands on the woman and sets her free from her ailment.  What a gift!  What an act of compassion!  Imagine the joy that must have been experienced by all those who witnessed this incredible act of healing!

Well actually, not everyone was overjoyed!  Instead of thanking Jesus for healing this unfortunate woman, the leader of the synagogue criticizes him: “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.”  Imagine being censured for healing someone on the sabbath day.  Imagine being so legalistic that adherence to the law or a political party takes precedence over compassion for those who suffer.  Imagine punishing the poor, the sick, the elderly, and the disabled for lacking the means to pay for access to health care and then cutting off health resources that could restore them to a full life.  Well, this is exactly what is going on in our country today.

Over 8 million people’s healthcare is being stripped away in the name of reducing waste and fraud as cuts to Medicaid and caps on Medicare are being instituted. Yet in my experience as a nurse and as a rector of a church in rural Amador County, those who received Medicaid were mostly children as well as some of my parishioners who were in economic straits, unable to afford decent insurance.  When I worked as a student nurse in Appalachia, the Regional Hospital in McDowell KY, was heavily subsidized by the federal government, providing healthcare to children living in poverty, families afflicted by inbreeding, coal miners suffering from black lung disease, adults living in shacks, and many others who were under-employed and under-insured.
 
Aren’t these people worthy to be set free from their ailments and to be able to stand up straight like the woman in today’s gospel or the sealion rescued on Morro Bay Beach?  Must they bear the burden of being bent over?  What will happen to these folks who are being denied access to health care?  Will they collapse from their burdens?  I don’t know.  But what I do know is this: The rural hospitals and those towns whose people depend on Medicaid will suffer greatly, forcing many health care centers to shut down, leaving entire communities without healthcare.

 When small town clinics and hospitals close, the whole community loses:  Jobs are lost, doctors and nurses go elsewhere, and senior facilities and ambulance services remain at high risk of closing down.  How are we to respond?  Like many others, I do not know how to save the world.  I do not have all the answers for good government policies.  I do not hold secret knowledge as to how to fix the mistakes of generations past and present.  But I do know that today’s gospel is a call to restore compassion to the center of public policy and morality.  Today’s gospel summons us to reject any interpretation of scripture that hinders healing or breeds indifference to human need and suffering.  Today’s gospel is a call to reject those powers of the world that corrupt and destroy the creatures of God; those institutions and policies that deny access to heath care, healing, and wholeness. Today’s gospel is a call to action, even on the sabbath day!

We are now living in a time in which there are countless challenges in our world; a time when so many people are bent over in pain.  There are those in the middle East and the Ukraine who are bent over because of war and violence.  There are refugees who are bent over as they try to escape from their homelands in search of safety.  There are people of color who are bent over because of the prejudice that follows them everywhere.  There are the elderly who are bent over, even in our own community, trying to pay exorbitant rents with limited income.  There are those who are bent over with debilitating pain because of aging or illness.  There are those who are bent over in exasperation, trying to find a competent doctor who can diagnose their medical problems or perform surgery in a timely manner. 

We find ourselves in this seemingly hostile world, daunted by chaos and pain.  Some of us are so overwhelmed with all the problems in the world that we become paralyzed, hoping that someone else can fix the mess that we are in.  Others are so focused on their own lives and those of their immediate family that they have no time or energy left for the outsider.  Some folks are fearful and prejudiced, refusing to help those who are different from themselves.  Yet, as a people who have promised to follow in the steps of Jesus, we must remember that our primary mission as Christians is to have compassion for all of God’s creatures by walking in the way of love through active participation in the healing of the human race.

In baptism, we promised to “renounce the powers of this world that corrupt and destroy the creatures of God.”  Who or what are these corrupting powers?  They are the monopolies, dishonest leaders, unfair economic systems, and the many institutions who are harming the very people that they promised to serve.  Sadly, the inner spirituality of our government, the inner spirituality of our institutions, and the inner spirituality of the health care industry is “fallen,” blind to the will of the God.  Our health care system is being dominated by the Insurance Agencies, Pharmaceutical Companies, and a Hospital Industry who seem to prioritize making money over treating people for their illnesses. In summary, many of these institutions have lost their moral compass.

How can we as Christians make a difference?  This is a time when the fearless prophetic voices of authentic followers of Jesus are desperately needed to speak out above the clatter of lies, deceit, and misuse of power.  This is the time to educate ourselves on public and economic policies, supporting those issues and candidates who truly care about the commonwealth of all people.  This is the time to write to your elected officials, to donate money to charitable organizations, and to become involved in action committees that strive for justice, peace, and the dignity of every human being.  And then, just maybe, maybe even volunteering at a place like the Marine Mammal Center.   In summary, do what you can, where you can. 

Our gospel of compassion calls us to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. “Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the center of our world and put another there, and to honor the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.” [Charter for Compassion]

            And because in our own weakness we cannot fully live the life to which Christ has called us, we continue to pray for the grace of the Holy Spirit to guide, strengthen, and uphold us in this mission of love. 

the Rev. Karen Siegfriedt
 

Back in January, the day after the inauguration, the President attended a prayer service in the National Cathedral in Washington DC at which Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde preached.
This is the end of her sermon, Bishop Budde said,

“Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you and, as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.

There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and Independent families, some who fear for their lives.

The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals. They…may not be citizens or have the proper documentation. But the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, gurdwaras and temples.

I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away. And that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land.

May God grant us the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love and walk humbly with each other and our God for the good of all people. Good of all people in this nation and the world. Amen”

She did not harangue nor criticize the president or his party. Yet he called her a “Radical Left hard line Trump hater” and demanded an apology.  And she received death threats from his followers.
Jesus said, “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!”

Bishop Budde says, “Unity across diversity, and even intense polarization, doesn’t require us to agree on everything. But nor can true unity be built on coercion, misinformation, and contempt for those who differ. True unity is built on the foundations of honoring the human dignity of all people, honesty in both private and public speech; humility, because we all make mistakes and need one another’s perspective; and mercy, the capacity for empathy and genuine compassion.

Though I attempted to speak with humility and respect when addressing the president, my words had the effect of amplifying the divisions that the prayer service for unity sought to address…. Yet if I had only said what our leaders wanted to hear, would that not have been a shirking of my responsibility?”[1]

What do you think? Would she have been shirking her responsibility?

It’s a dilemma for the preacher.

Many of us want to come to church to be nourished and sustained, assured of God’s love and to get away from the conflict in the world. We don’t want to be reminded of the debates that are raging politically.

Yet those debates are where the rubber hits the road. They are where our baptismal vows really have traction, our vows to seek and serve Christ in all persons; to strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.

Jesus said, “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!”

Although the gospel of Jesus is a gospel of reconciliation, of reconciliation between God and human and between human and human, it is not always an easy and peaceful path. The Prince of Peace does not always bring peace. In fact, our gospel is centered in an act of extreme violence. Jesus was lynched. He was beaten, hung on a tree and left to die.

Yet paradoxically, that act of hideous violence was turned by God’s love into the timeless symbol of peace and reconciliation.

Some of us have been reading The Universal Christ by Richard Rohr. One of the ideas that I find most challenging is that the spiritual life is not just resurrection, it is also death. I want it to be just resurrection. I want the Prince of Peace to always bring peace and joy. But Jesus said, “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!”

In this congregation we do not all agree on everything. Which is of course not surprising; we are strong and individual people. But how are we to deal with our disagreements? Sweeping them under the carpet because we are polite and pleasant folk can be dangerous. They can creep out and ambush us when we least expect it. They can turn into grumblings and gossip which is one of the quickest ways to kill a congregation.

I may be wrong, but I think that when Sid was here you mainly did what Sid suggested, though he always told me he did what y’all wanted. And maybe he did. But if St Peters is to grow and welcome new people there will be more disagreement, more change. New people bring new ideas. You will each need to think about how important something is to you.

For example, when we go back to using a common cup for communion, many of you prefer to intinct – that is, to dip your bread into the cup. Yet, I know it’s counterintuitive, but that actually introduces more germs into the cup than taking a sip. Intincture is not a practice that is ok in this part of the church.

The common cup is a sign that we are all participating together in the life of Christ, that we come to God as a community not as a collection of individuals. It is also a sign that it is in Christ that we find our unity. Most human groups and organizations find unity by defining who is in and who is not. We, the Body of Christ, find our unity in our love and loyalty for Christ who is the head of the body. And we symbolize that reality by sharing bread from the same loaf and sharing wine from the same cup.

We show our care for one another by wearing masks and by not participating in the common cup when we feel less than well. We show our care for one another by not putting our hand in the chalice, however carefully.

You can rest assured that the full benefits of the eucharist may be found in the bread alone. Christ is fully present there so you may choose not to participate in the common cup and still participate in the Body of Christ.

How you deal with the change back to the normal practice of The Episcopal Church will be up to you as individuals in your relationship with God. But it is also up to us as a manifestation of the Body of Christ in this place to treat one another with care and respect even when we disagree.

Jesus said, “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!”

I think there is a paradox here that I have not fully grasped but I wonder about. In our understanding, God chose the Jewish people and had them live in a narrow strip of land that has been contested throughout most of history. And God chose to incarnate in this land of perpetual conflict. Why? Why did God not incarnate in Rome, the center of the known world and take advantage of pax romana – one of the longest enduring periods of peace in human history?

Why did God choose a place of conflict? And why does the mystery of our life-giving faith revolve around the state-sanctified lynching of a man who preached mercy and compassion?

There’s some deep and important truth hidden here. The closest I can get to it is in the words of a hymn. Please turn with me to hymn 661. Read it through for a moment.

1 They cast their nets in Galilee
just off the hills of brown;
such happy, simple fisher-folk,
before the Lord came down.

2 Contented, peaceful fishermen,
before they ever knew
the peace of God that filled their hearts
brimful, and broke them too.

3 Young John who trimmed the flapping sail,
homeless, in Patmos died.
Peter, who hauled the teeming net,
head-down was crucified.

4 The peace of God, it is no peace,
but strife closed in the sod.
Yet let us pray for but one thing-
the marvelous peace of God.

And now let’s stay seated as we sing it together, quietly, as a meditation.

the Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall


[1] https://mariannbudde.substack.com/p/hello-im-bishop-mariann

A few years ago, my niece Rachel was diagnosed with adrenal cancer. After a difficult surgery she made a good recovery but always has to be careful because without functioning adrenal glands a bad shock could be life threatening. Earlier this year she learned that the cancer had metastasized into her lungs. She read books on diet and alternative treatments that could slow or reverse the disease, and she started on a strict regime of diet and exercise. But after a while she began to long for a good piece of sourdough bread. And she realized that she wasn’t enjoying herself very much, that the anti-cancer regime was getting in the way of her living her best and most joyful life.

So she had a dilemma; Should she continue to fight the cancer by restricting her diet and activity or should she just accept that her life was going to be shorter and enjoy herself and share her gifts with her friends and family for as long as she could?

I think this is the dilemma that Jesus is raising in today’s gospel. Are we going to live in fear and try to shore up our fear with an abundance of material possessions which take time and energy to maintain, or do we dare to live lightly in the knowledge that another world is coming and we can live into that future right now?

Perhaps it’s a little like the position St Peters is in. You are waiting for a new rector. You don’t know who they will be or when they will get here. It’s tempting to leave everything the way it was when Sid left, and hold on to the books and the folders and the tchotchkes, the service leaflets and the habits. But in order to welcome the new rector, you have to make room for him or her. Part of my job is to help you do that by challenging some of the ways you have always done things, not to deny the goodness of the past but to open up to new possibilities for the future.

Jesus says, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms.” And then follows that up with two stories about being ready, “You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour," he says.
“Sell your possessions” is perhaps one of the most difficult things for us to hear. Living in this country at this time without at least some possessions like a cell phone, a car, and access to a computer and a washing machine and hopefully a roof over your head seems almost impossible. Surely we think, Jesus didn’t really mean to give away everything, did he!

I think the key is how he connects it with fear. The man in last week’s gospel reading stopped feeling afraid because he had filled even bigger storage units with his stuff. He was confident because he had enough stuff, not because God loved him. In this culture it is very difficult to work out what is enough. How much stuff is enough stuff? How much do we need to have in order to feel secure?

Jesus points out that having security in stuff is pointless. And as we see fire suddenly decimating whole communities it underlines this point. Stuff can disappear in a moment. Everything in this life is temporary, even our most cherished relationships. Dealing with our existential fear by amassing things or by filling our lives with friends and activities, or by following strict regimes of diet and exercise simply doesn’t work.

"Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms.” Because we trust that God enjoys giving us the kingdom, we can live with an ethic of restraint and generosity. An ethic of restraint means that we think before we buy, we reuse and recycle whenever we can, and we let go of things we no longer need. An ethic of generosity means that we give consciously, intentionally and with love, again and again.

Yet the kingdom of God is not yet fully realized, so it requires faith in the love of God to dare to let go of the need to hoard, to let go of the need to have more than we need.

Instead, Jesus says, “Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“An unfailing treasure in heaven.”

Heaven is not a place above the sky. We know that. We start the prayer that Jesus taught us, “Our Father who art in heaven.” So one thing we do know about heaven is that God is there.

How then can we make ourselves an unfailing treasure in heaven – the place where God is most profoundly present?

Friends, I think this must be about love. Love with a capital L. The kind of love that God has, that Jesus had, the love which took him to the cross and beyond, giving his life for the welfare of the world.

As we live with an ethic of restraint and generosity, our generosity means that we always seek the highest good for all beings. In the way we live, in the way we pray, in the way we talk we are always looking to assist God in bringing about the highest good in every situation.

And we open our hearts to worship, love and praise God. For we can be sure that heaven is full of the worship of God which underlies all Love because God is Love and the nature of God is Love. One of the early church fathers said, “The glory of God is the human being fully alive.”

As we free ourselves from the possessions that we gather in order to feel safe, or the over-work, or whatever it is that you use to defend yourself from the fear of death and the fear that you are really just an insignificant ant in the great scheme of things. As we free ourselves from those fears and we allow ourselves to freefall into the love of God; as our lives are filled with capital-L love and with praise and joy, so we become fully alive.

My niece Rachel is a woman of deep faith. And she has decided that it is more important for her to live her best life, the life God gave her to live, than to cling to restrictive regimes with the hope that she might extend her life on this earth. She has decided to live to God’s glory, a human being fully alive for all the days that God gives her, trusting that it is indeed God’s good pleasure to give her the kingdom.

For Jesus said, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

the Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall
 
 

One of the fascinating things about the New Testament epistles is how often we get exalted ideas followed by very practical ones. It’s not really surprising given that we are people who live in two worlds – the world of Spirit and the world of human clumsiness and the epistles were written to churches just like us – full of sinner-saints.

The reading from Colossians today is an example of this contrast between the metaphysical and practical.  “If you have been raised with Christ,” we heard, “seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.”

In our baptism both symbolically and sacramentally we are joined with Christ in his death and resurrection, so we are raised with Christ. Our baptism is what brings us into the Body of Christ, the Church, and that is why we have the font at the entrance to the church. It has water in it that has been blessed and I encourage you to experiment with reminding yourself of your baptism by blessing yourself with that water when you enter the church. Our baptism joins us with Christ and we renew that every time we make Eucharist together. Whenever we, as the Body of Christ come together and celebrate the memorial of Christ’s death and resurrection we make it ours once again as we receive the life of Christ in the consecrated bread and wine.

So we have been raised with Christ and the writer to the Colossians tells us that therefore, we should seek the things that are above, where Christ is. Because that is where out life is now. Hidden with Christ in God. When I hear that “Hidden” I think of how a chick might be hidden under its mothers wings, or a baby possum in its mother’s pouch. Our lives are hidden in Christ because we are beloved, but at some time when all things reach their intended conclusion, and Christ is fully revealed, we will step out from under his wings and enjoy participating in the full glory of God.

That is who we are, people of God, we are the ones who are enrolled in the reign of God, we are the ones who have been joined to Christ in his death and resurrection and will enjoy his glory with him.
And that has implications, like setting “our minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”

But, we think, that’s all very well but I still need to pay the bills, have the car serviced, get the groceries, cook dinner, and weed the yard. Yes we do. Because we are here in this dimension with all its limitations, challenges and joys.

And the writer to the Colossians is pragmatic. It is exactly because our lives are hidden with Christ that we get to pay special attention to how we live now. “Put to death, therefore” he says, “whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed ... These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life. But now you must get rid of all such things-- anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!”

We are clothing ourselves with the new Self – our old Self was left behind when we were washed in the waters of baptism but we still have some of those habits. We have been renewed in the image of the Creator who doesn’t even notice skin color, ethnic origins, sexual orientation or national boundaries and so we get to live like that. We get to live like the children of God that we are.
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And the children of God do not practice anger, wrath, malice, slander, lies, promiscuousness or greed. The children of God live the fruits of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, mercy, humility and patience.

Which is why the rich man in Jesus’ parable was foolish. He was living not in the New Self but in the old. When his land produced way more than he could use for himself and his family and more than he could store in his sheds, he went out and got a whole load of storage units. And he thought how lucky he was that now he could retire.

Had he been living in the new self as a child of God, he would have thanked God for the abundance and he would have shared it with his neighbors.  He would have known that true life does not come in an abundance of storage units but in the joy of a life lived humbly in community.

Right now, this seems to be something our country has forgotten. Our leaders have passed laws which will reduce taxes on the rich by reducing the food assistance and healthcare available to the poor. Greed is rewarded. The gap between the 1% at the top of the economic pole and the other 99% is getting wider and wider.

Which means that it is even more   ever  that we share our abundance in faith that our needs will be met.

the Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall