The Old and the New

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acquaintances, deeper values, fate, friends, Jesus, kingdom of heaven, new, old, parable, separate, snap judgment, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Interestingly, for no apparent reason yesterday, a rhyming ditty from my childhood came wafting up from my past. “Make new friends but keep the old; one is silver and the other gold.” I heard it and smiled and then it was gone. I think it was one of the learnings of Girl Scout meetings. It came back to me this morning as I read the parable of the Kingdom of heaven being compared first to a net cast into the sea that collects every kind of fish. Upon return to shore, the fishermen separate out what is good and throw away what is bad.

After explaining that it will be so at “the end of the age” when angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous, Jesus gives a rather harrowing description of the fate of the wicked. He asks his disciples if they understand what he’s saying but when they say they do he proceeds to offer another image. I would have thought he was so happy that they got something he was talking about that he would have stopped there. But no. “The kingdom of heaven,” he continues, “is like the head of a household who brings forth from his storeroom both the new and the old.”

While I’m not trying do a serious analysis of Scripture here (I leave that to the theologians) I am interested that Jesus seems this time to be comparing new and old without judging them good or bad. You can’t know without opening the bottle and tasting the wine whether it is fine or turned to vinegar. I go back to the fishermen and see them grabbing fish and throwing them back or into a bucket, perhaps counting on their experience to help them make a quick decision about good or bad. Sometimes, though, it takes time to assess what is worthy or not.

So I guess my singsong memory is relevant after all. No snap judgments of friends who are getting older or newer acquaintances who have yet to show their true colors. Just looking for the deeper values that come to light with time and patience.

 

 

 

 

 

Bigger Barns

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charity, donate, excess, harvest, Jesus, Luke, parable, possessions, rich man, share the wealth, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Yesterday afternoon I began to make an inventory of one category of clothing (t-shirts and blouses) in my closet, drawer and storage bin. I only made it through the closet and storage bin when my phone rang and derailed the project. I was, however, already getting uncomfortable with how many items I had found in the storage bin. I had put them there as winter approached for the exchange with the heavier, more appropriate clothes of the season. The discomfort arose from the fact that July ends today and I have survived quite well with what I have found in my drawer and closet to wear since the warmer temperatures arrived in the spring. My dilemma today (after I pull everything out of my drawer) will be which items I will surrender to my favorite charity, Rural Services of Chenango County. I am usually moved to donate what doesn’t fit me any more or what I have not worn in the past appropriate season but this time I feel a push to dig deeper. It is the first time I can remember surrendering something still serviceable that fit me and that I really liked without too much angst – good practice for the inner tasks of letting go.

In today’s gospel passage (LK 12:13-31) Jesus tells the story of the rich man with the bountiful harvest whose solution to having too much to store is to build a bigger barn. I smile at God’s synchronistic joke and promise to remember that goad to surrender as I finish my project today. I have no plan to die soon with an overstocked closet but who knows? So I’d better get busy, my goal being to share the wealth and – just maybe – eliminating the storage bin altogether! (Even if only by next year…)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Me, Envious?

Tags

a place of abundance, comparison, competition, fairness, God is love, Jesus, Matthew, new paradigm, parable, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, vineyard

Today we have that great but difficult parable of the workers in the vineyard. (MT 20:1-16) The ones who have worked all day are last in line to get their pay and see those who have been only working for an hour getting what they themselves had been promised for the whole day’s work. It seems they are excited wondering how much more they will get than the agreed upon amount. What a surprise when they receive exactly what they were promised in the beginning! They are, to say the least, not happy. Exclamations like, “It’s not fair!” come to mind. Once again Jesus is trying to wake people up to a different way of living. The core of the lesson is in the landowner’s question to the disgruntled workers: Are you envious because I am generous?

Are we happy at the good fortune of others or are we always comparing whose piece of pie is bigger or who got the most notice for the job we did together? This is truly a hard saying for those of us for whom this flies in the face of the work ethic with which we were raised. But it’s time for a new paradigm! If we come to recognize that all is gift in our lives, we won’t be spending time on “tit-for-tat” living or evaluation of whether or not everything is fair. If we come from a place of abundance in our living rather than from scarcity we will quickly learn that life is not a competition but, as one of my housemates sees it, a huge sandbox where we all learn to play together sharing everything with anyone in need. If we live in the conviction that God is Love, we will find ourselves embraced in a universe of care where we understand that whatever we have, as long as we have God, our lives are always enough.

In and Out

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humility, Jesus, Luke, motivations of the heart, openness, parable, Pharisees, prodigal son, Scribes, sinners, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, welcoming

I know the parable of the Prodigal Son; I have read and pondered many different interpretations of that familiar story (LK 15:1-31). This morning when I saw it in the day’s readings, however, I found myself asking why Jesus told this story in the first place. The first sentence answered my question. Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus,, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

This sentence makes me smile for the sound of immaturity coming from the very people who were supposed to be leaders in the community and who were obviously thinking that they were the ones on whom Jesus should be showering his attention. More importantly their question makes me wonder how the “in crowd” (Scribes and Pharisees) or Luke, for that matter, knew who the sinners were. I presume they were judging on the rules set down in Torah, but what about the inner laws, the deeper intentions and motivations of the heart? Can we really know these depths of another person unless they, themselves, reveal them to us? What are our own faults and addictions that are known only to ourselves – or perhaps not even to ourselves? Better not to judge what we cannot be sure of – or even what we think we know perfectly well. “The sinners” as well as those outcast tax collectors were most likely drawn to Jesus because of his welcoming demeanor and openness to them. A little humility might have helped the Scribes and Pharisees join the crowd and find the richness therein.

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Wedding Garments

Tags

banquet of life, celebration, dance of life, God, king, kingdom of God, parable, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, wedding banquet

I went to a wedding recently where the ceremony took place at the top of a hill and the reception in the barn below. My question upon getting the invitation was: What does one wear to a wedding in a barn? The answer didn’t help much; it was: Anything you want! The only  thing that seemed de rigueur was cowboy boots (or a reasonable facsimile).

The gospel for today is the parable about the king who gave a wedding feast for his son – with disastrous consequences. The invitees refused the invitation – some with excuses and others by mistreating and even killing the messengers of the king! So he sent the servants back out to invite others to the feast. This worked pretty well but there was one person who came improperly dressed and was cast out of the event. That last was always the sticking point because if the king decided to invite everyone from “the highways and byways” the assumption on his part that everyone would have a wedding garment seemed unfair. That is the danger of interpreting parables literally.

God is the “king” who invites everyone to the banquet of life. It is up to us to receive and accept the invitation. If I say yes, however, there are some expectations – whether or not I have “cowboy boots.” Moving toward the kingdom of God implies conversion – recognition of what has been offered and offering ourselves in exchange for such an invitation. We needn’t be perfect; all that’s necessary is that we be “on the way” – doing our best to enter into the dance of life that energizes and leads us on toward the celebration that awaits us – where all will be one and all will be fed.

Who’s the Prodigal?

Tags

heal, joy, kind, Lord, merciful, mercy, parable, pardon, prodigal son, Psalm 103, responsibility, selfishness, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today’s gospel is one of the most familiar of the Christian Scriptures. Named the  parable of the Prodigal Son it has, over the past few decades, been the subject of much study and deeper interpretation. For instance, one of the more memorable moments for me on the subject was that in conversation about the older son a friend said, “All along the father was thinking that he stayed out of love, but in the end it seemed that his real, deep-down motivation was duty or obligation – which saddened and shocked the father when it became obvious.” That has given me a lot to think about from time to time. More recently I have heard the parable called “The Prodigal Father” and, after considerable confusion, I decided to look up the definition of “prodigal” to try to settle my mind and the interpretation. What I found was two basic definitions.

1. Wasteful, extravagant, spendthrift, reckless, imprudent…

2. Generous, lavish, liberal, unstinting, unsparing…

I find it interesting that the two are closely related and that it is possible that the father’s prodigality with his sons was the basis for the younger son’s action with only a tip of the scales toward selfishness and a lack of a sense of responsibility – or youthful immaturity – that turned the whole thing bad. I think of that as I read Psalm 103 this morning. The refrain sings, “The Lord is kind and merciful” – something that must’ve spurred the son to return to such a father. Continuing the analogy, the verse holds out hope and describes what actually happened when the son came home. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. He pardons all your iniquities and heals all your ills. He redeems your life from destruction, he crowns you with kindness and compassion. The son was ready to throw himself on his father’s good nature, aware that he would at least be treated with a measure of mercy. Clearly, the father’s joy at his return was unexpected. It would be a wonderful thing if we could remember that moment as well as the words of the psalm when we are asking God for forgiveness.

There is one more thing, however, that the psalm teaches and that I was alluding to when I mentioned youthful immaturity and a sense of responsibility.  There is an imperative that precedes the listing of the ways in which we are forgiven – something we must remember. We must be willing to recognize God’s goodness to us and not forget God’s faithfulness. God is always there to forgive our imprudent or reckless behavior but a “thank you” is always in order for the generous, lavish “welcome home” that we are given.