Sometimes we get to reap

Father, I need the addresses of those two ladies checking out on Saturday.  "Why?" I asked.  I owe them apology.  "For what?" I asked.  I was a jerk to them.  "How so?"  Well, I was pretty short with them as I tried to check out.  Here you guys are, trying to help us out and serve those most in need in our midst, as Jesus commands us.  And I hated them for a few hours.  I said things to them in my heart, and I don't know why, but I need to apologize for how I felt toward them.  In rejecting them, I rejected Jesus.  I am such a ass.  If it makes you feel any better, they did not mention that you were particularly nasty to them to me.  It's not how I behaved outwardly; it's about what I felt on the inside. -- I probably need to back up a bit and let you in on the background. . .

We had a record month for our church for Angel Food (the link is on this page).  Angel Food helps people stretch the groceries.  We call it a hand-up ministry rather than a hand-out ministry because it requires people to budget, to plan, and to be responsible.  In a way, it teaches people to fish.  As with every previous record month, there was a major screw-up (almost like somebody wants this ministry to fail).  The USDA and AFM had sent the pre-prepared meals to the Gulf Coast to feed the victims of Hurricane Ike.  They were supposed to have saved enough to fill our orders, but somebody made a mistake counting.  So, here we were, no Special #4's and less than half our Senior Boxes.  Connie and Pauline were warning people at the front, and Judy, Jennifer and finally I were re-explaining at the check-out.  The responses were both everything we might expect and beyond our wildest expectations.

Some people were mad.  They had paid for food and did not get it (AFM will get them the food next month, so theft will not be an issue).  When you are living on food stamps, you can't afford mistakes like this.  What will they eat this month?  Other people were understanding.  They understood that the victims of Ike lacked power and even kitchens in which to cook food.  By comparison, they were better off than those in the natural disaster area.  "At least it went to a good cause."  A couple teased me if we were finally going to steal their money.  For two years they have told me they expect me to take their money and not give them any food at some point in the future -- "that's what Christians really do."  And still others were worried about our possible response to the attitudes expressed that day.  As I carried food out for those who could not carry their own, some begged me not to listen to the ungrateful, "Father, I could not buy my medicine without this ministry."  "Father, I cannot feed my grandkids without this ministry."  "Father, I cannot live without this ministry."  All added "Please do not listen to the angry people.  Listen to those of us that are thankful."  That is the background.

So here I was, Monday morning, working on the bulletin and wondering if it was really worth it, but thankful that God had encouraged me in the midst of a bad day (I love this ministry, and look forward to it each month.  When it goes wrong, it is double bad because I know the harm it causes.)  And into my office walks a man whom I had only met twice.  I knew his name.  I knew a little about his history.  I knew that he had fallen away from his church.  God had seemingly abandoned his church; why should he waste time on God?  And here he was, in my office, unsure of why this feeling so bothered him, wanting to apologize to ladies that he did not know and who did not know how he felt about them.  As we talked, he discovered that he was no different than those in the Bible who rejected Jesus' ministry among them, and it hurt him.  For so long, he has sat in judgment of God convinced that he was wronged by God, and so he has set out to live a good life.  And when confronted by an incarnational ministry, he rejected God's servant.  For all his protestations to the contrary, he was a sinner in need of God's saving grace.  We prayed.  I invited him to church, wishing that this meeting had been Friday or Saturday, knowing that the week would interfere with his insight.  But for a moment, I got to see a fruit ripen before my eyes.  This man is so close to being loved into the Kingdom.  And Jennifer's and Judy's, as well as everyone who showed up Saturday afternoon to serve while Iowa was losing to Northwestern, servant hearts had softened this man's heart and given him eyes to see his own need.

It is harvest time here in Iowa.  Whatever crops not damaged by the floods are being gathered into barns and prepared for market.  Some of the crops look pathetic, damaged by the weather.  Hmmm.  Just like some of us.  Some of our growth has been been stunted by the events of our lives, and yet God still wants to gather us into His Kingdom.  And just when we think we do not need help or others are beyond help, His laborers show up, faithfully laboring.  And just like that, in the conviction of a heart, the old is made new, the dead is given new life!  Thanks be to God!

Peace,

Brian†

By whose authority?

     As I remarked this weekend, none of the readings seem to speak to a particular pastoral problem we are experiencing at St. Alban’s. Sure, the Exodus story reminds us that we are very much like the people of Israel. Even when God provides for us in ways unimagined, we soon find ourselves once again questioning whether He is able to provide for our newest perceived need. We quarrel with God like professionals. The letter of Paul to the church at Philippi reminds us of, among other things, the eschatalogical end when every knee will confess Christ is Lord and every knee will bend. The psalm reminds us of the need for us to remember God’s provision in the past as a way of reminding us that He will provide in the present and the future. And Matthew’s stories seem to be better discussed among the leadership in the Church.
     I say stories because we have bits of two different pericopes combined in the one reading for Matthew’s Gospel. The first part of the story deals with Jesus’ condemnation of the temple elites’ and elders’ complete lack of integrity. When Jesus asks them by whose authority John proclaimed repentence, the best that the leaders can come up with is a feeble “we do no know.” To say that John’s baptism came from God would simply highlight to the audience and to us their unwillingness to repent and their unwillingness to follow the One to Whom John pointed. And, of course, like all good church leaders, the temple elites cannot say what they want to believe for fear that the people will revolt. The festival is in full swing. To deny the most recent great prophet would be to lose their support. They might take up arms and remove them, or they may simply cut their giving. In a brief question, Jesus unmasks the lack of integrity which the leaders who question Him possess.
     For some strange reason, however, the editors of the RCL have us proceed immediately to the first of Jesus’ three parables which point out human culpability in the face of divine judgement. The parable of the two sons is meant to demonstrate the difference between the people of Israel and its leaders. The prostitutes and tax collectors hear the call to repentance by John and return to God. Confronted with the living Christ, many submit and are so loved into the kingdom of God. Yet, like the second son, the leaders of Israel not only reject the ministry of John, but also of Christ, and so find themselves outside the Kingdom of God. What is worse is that even after they see the tax collectors and sinners repenting, they “refuse to repent and to believe him.” The very people who should most understand the call of God upon His peoples’ lives are the very ones who will not repent, will not submit, and are judged as wanting. Like the Pharisee in the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector, the leaders of Israel are unable to see that they are need of God’s mercy.
     Naturally, the story would not be Gospel were it not full of good news,. And, though we might first miss it, the parable is full of good news! God has waited on the tax collectors and the prostitutes to repent and, so long as the Day of the Lord has not come, even the leaders have an opportunity to repent. As our collect reminded us this week, their and our trust, their and our faith must be in the mercy and grace of God. Only He can accomplish all the He purposes; only He can save.
     Though our stories are somewhat squashed together this week, the two remind us of the need for repentance and the need for faith. Once we recognize our position before a holy, righteous and just God and repent of our sin before Him, He is ever quick to grant us mercy. And if we repent, then we can certainly begin to believe in all of His promises. You and I live in a period not unlike that in which Jesus ministered. There are challenges to His claims. Differing truth claims assault us nearly 24/7/365. There is an understandable desire to take the position “I do not know.” Yet, unlike those Pharisees and other who came before His work on the cross, we have seen the validation of His claims; we know His claims are the Truth. The One who makes these judgements and the One who drives home the teaching about human responsibility is the One who died, was raised, and ascended to the Father. God has validated all that Jesus said and did by, as Paul reminded us this weekend, giving Him the name that is above every name. So, by what authority do you say He did those things?
Peace,
Brian+