"Well, toward morning the conversation turned on the Eucharist, which I, being the Catholic, was obviously supposed to defend. [Mary McCarthy] said when she was a child and received the Host, she thought of it as the Holy Ghost, He being the 'most portable' person of the Trinity; now she thought of it as a symbol and implied that it was a pretty good one. I then said, in a very shaky voice, 'Well, if it's a symbol, to hell with it.' That was all the defense I was capable of but I realize now that this is all I will ever be able to say about it, outside of a story, except that it is the center of existence for me; all the rest of life is expendable."
Today I reflected on the sacrament and this quote came to me. Before that reflection I was deep in thought about the gift Pastor Michelle gave the children during the Blessing of the Backpacks. Each received a carabiner - that metal loop with a spring-loaded gate used to quickly and reversibly connect components.
The gift is to function as a reminder of each person's connection to God. How appropriate this may as a reminder of a church connection as well. Besides being both reminder of a connection to God and of church traditions is it also a reminder of release and re-connection when necessary for progress on our climbing journey.
Today's Gospel is Luke 16:1-13, "The Parable of the Dishonest Manager". Pastor Michelle asked and answered two questions before moving into the meaning of this parable. The first was "What is a parable?" I appreciated her answer that a parable is not an allegory or extended metaphor, where each character and element is meant to symbolize one thing. On the contrary, a parable can and often does have multiple meanings, depending on the audience and the circumstances. Pastor Michelle then paraphrased the poet Emily Dickinson, that a parable tells the truth, but tells it “slant,” and it often leaves the end of the story open, in order to make us squirm a bit, as we try to figure out what it means!
The next question was "How did the economy work in first-century Galilee?" Pastor Michelle talked about how the Torah expressly forbade Jews from charging interest, so in order to get around this biblical prohibition, some landowners simply overcharged the peasants when they sold them necessities such as wheat or olive oil. What they did was effectively fold hidden interest into the total amount of the bill. This could be a source of "dishonest" wealth and one of her suggestion was that the rich man could not very well point to a manager's dishonesty if he was also engaged in this practice.
This reading makes historical sense. She went on to talk about God's justice being restorative rather than retributive and observed Jesus’ message is that wealth blinds people to what is truly important and can do so by giving us an illusion of power and self-sufficiency which blinds us to ourselves, others and God. Over time, our spiritual blindness can lead us to become deeply disconnected and desperately lost.
Speaking of blindness to others and disconnectedness. she also asked if any of us had seen or heard the recently released remix of Black Eyed Peas - Where is the Love? This is hard to watch and listen to without strong feelings being evoked.
Perhaps this parable is more mysterious and confusing than most. Mystery and confusion is the invitations embedded in parables to explore them more deeply. If that is the case perhaps it is better to leave with a Anne Lamott quote I feel after reflecting on this parable: - I do not at all understand the mystery of grace-- only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.
Yesterday many from Creator attended a Celebration Of Life service for Pastor Fred Ruhnke at Resurrection Lutheran. Some of what the community felt there was carried by those who attended into today's service, particularly in the Prayers of the People.
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| Congregational Ministries Board |
The listening the Transition Team engaged in with the congregation felt like holy work. Affirmed some parts of our identity and gave us a glimpse of what we might become. One insight was that Creator's ministry is less centered around the congregation as a whole and more about personal dedication and work for God. There is now a bulletin board in the narthex where personal ministries are posted.
The Call Committee is now being established to take over the next phase of calling our new pastor.
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