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Readings, Notes and Prayers, 23 September 2001

25 in Ordinary Time, Year C, Green

Opening Verse of Scripture, 1 Timothy Chapter 2

There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people.

Collect Prayer for the Day-Before we read we pray

God, who in generous mercy sent the Holy Spirit upon your Church in the burning fire of your love: grant that your people may be fervent in the fellowship of the gospel that, always abiding in you, they may be found steadfast in faith and active in service; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, ho is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

First Bible Reading, Jeremiah 8:18 - 9:1

O my Comforter in sorrow, my heart is faint within me. Listen to the cry of my people from a land far away: "Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her King no longer there?" "Why have they provoked me to anger with their images, with their worthless foreign idols?" "The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved." Since my people are crushed, I am crushed; I mourn, and horror grips me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people? Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people.  (This is the word of the Lord—Thanks be to God)

Second Bible Reading, Luke 16:1

Jesus told his disciples: "There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him in and asked him, `What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.' "The manager said to himself, `What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I'm not strong enough to dig, and I'm ashamed to beg-- I know what I'll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.' "So he called in each one of his master's debtors. He asked the first, `How much do you owe my master?' "`Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,' he replied. "The manager told him, `Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.' Then he asked the second, `And how much do you owe?' "`A thousand bushels of wheat,' he replied. "He told him, `Take your bill and make it eight hundred.' "The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with > riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own? "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."   (This is the word of the Lord - Thanks be to God)

Post Communion Prayer

Keep, O Lord, your Church, with your perpetual mercy; and, because without you our human frailty cannot but fall, keep us ever by your help from all things hurtful, and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Commentary

What an amazing parable this is, and no wonder that theologians centuries apart, such as Tomas de Vio Cajetan (1469-1534) and Rudolf Bultmann (1884-1976) both declared the problems raised by the parable to be insoluble! Whatever is going on in this strange parable of the dishonest manager? Whichever way you read it, it is confusing and many people have written long explanations to try and make sense of it. Inevitably these attempts involve speculation and introducing material which Jesus does not use. The simple facts are spoken in the story by the manager 'My master is taking away my job. I'm not strong enough to dig, and I'm ashamed to beg-- I know what I'll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.'

The dishonest manager facing the sack quickly realises that he is too old for manual labour and he was probably over qualified for most jobs. He is a clever professional man and he knows that he must quickly make some alternative arrangements. So he takes the shrewdest way to a more comfortable future: he uses what is still in his control, to lay the ground for what was to come. This fellow alters the accounts of his boss's debtors so that they will be grateful and show him hospitality after he gets the sack.

Jesus is encouraging us to do the same. To make use of whatever we have control of, while we have the chance, to ensure our security for the future. Of course Jesus is not concerned with our earthly future, but making preparations so that when we show up before God we will have guaranteed our future. There is much that we can learn from being worldly wise, most certainly we must not be earthly foolish. The main thrust of the parable is clear: Look ahead. Be far sighted. Where are you heading? Well get ready for it. Be as astute about the practice of your faith, as the manager was. And in particular, astutely use whatever worldly possessions you have in the service of and for the glory of God, in the same astute manner as the unscrupulous manager did. As with so much of the teaching of Jesus it is a challenge and we are asked to make up our minds and sort ourselves out whilst we still have time to do so. Charles Royden

Meditation

If you wake in the morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the millions who will not survive this week. If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people in the world. If you can attend a church meeting without fear or harassment , arrest, torture or death, you are luckier than three billion people in the world. If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of the world. If you have money in the bank, in your purse and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.

Prayer

Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead. In these extraordinary times our prayers, bible notes and meditations will try to provide helpful material to inform us in our prayers for the world.

Response to terrorist attacks on US 'should be measured and just' Statement by the President of the Methodist Conference

"We have all been caught up in the terrible events of 11 September in America. We share with millions of our neighbours a deep sympathy for those upon whom intense suffering has been inflicted. We share with millions across the world a fearful concern that the response of the American government, and of other governments, including our own, should be a measured and just response, which will make the world a safer and not a more dangerous place.

But as a Christian community we have a particular response to make: we have to look and listen for God in this situation, and try to understand what he may be saying; and we have to pray most earnestly for his mercy and grace to help in time of need. The reflection will continue. Today, may I ask that the Methodist people take with all possible seriousness their ministry of prayer? I know that they will already have offered many prayers. I simply want to share my conviction that praying is both something we can do, and probably what is needed just now more than anything else. For prayer releases spiritual energy, and the world has rarely needed it so much.

I ask your prayers for:

And for us all:

Lord, you wept over Jerusalem, saying, 'Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace'. Have mercy upon us. Open our eyes to the truth, and turn our hearts to your way, for your name's sake. Amen.

Grant to me, O Lord, a humble, lowly and quiet heart. Give to my waking hours patience, kindness and tenderness of soul. Let all my words, my works and my thoughts be overshadowed by the gift of your most Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.

Holy and loving God, in Jesus you walked the hills of Galilee and the busy streets of Capernaum; you addressed multitudes and had time for individuals. Renew in us each morning the light of your presence, that whatever the day brings we may be channels of your renewing Spirit, and share in your good purposes for the world, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Hymns (Hymns and Psalms)

1. Through all the changing scenes of life. (73 Hymns and Psalms) 2. God is good (On Notices -185 Mission Praise) 3. Restore O Lord (579 Mission Praise -On notices), 4. God of freedom, God of justice (On notices) 5. Lord thy church on earth is seeking (774 Hymns and Psalms)

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