2016 09 18

18th Sunday after Pentecost

The Rev. Margaret Doyle

Recently, I was part of a lengthy discussion on the nature of God, babies, and salvation. All heavy topics. It started with “Are all children really God’s children?” Made in God’s image and likeness, welcomed to the lap of Jesus, fearfully and wonderfully made, I think it is safe to say that all children are born God’s own.

What that child does with the rest of his or her life, what the community does to teach this child how to live as one of God’s kids, what that child grows up to choose, that is where the question of relationship comes in.

For us as Christian people, our relationship is not only with the Father, but with the Son and Spirit as well. All the grace and love poured out on us by the Trinity must be accepted by us. We must grasp it, cling to it, cherish it above all else in our lives. Thus it has the power to transform us, redeem us, free us.

This does not mean that God is watered down into a fluffy, cuddly personage with no clout. Our scriptures, both the Hebrew and Christian tomes tell us that God is just and merciful. Through the Hebrew Prophets, and later through Jesus, we have stories of God presenting the punishments meted out for unfaithfulness to the covenant with God. Yet, at seemingly the last moment, God relents and pardons his people, giving them another chance to pull it together and ACT like people for whom the relationship means something.

I was reading an article recently that likened this to a passage from The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. In the book, another one of my favorites, 4 children have found a magic portal into the land of Narnia. While there, they discover all kinds of magical creatures, and they hear about Aslan – the great King of Narnia – who is a lion. The youngest, Lucy, speaks to a talking Beaver and asks of Aslan, “Is he quite safe?” The Beaver, who has a bit of attitude, puffs up his chest and states emphatically (and a little condescendingly), “Safe? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe! But he’s good.”

It is easy to get into a comfortable place where we believe God is there for our comfort and solace, and that’s it. We pray that we go to God’s table not for solace alone but for strength. Strength for what? The Peavensy children in Lewis’ famous book discover that Narnia and Aslan are not just a delightful and pleasant adventure. There is evil afoot, and they are needed to be strong, learn disciplines not taught in English school, in order to help save Narnia and to serve Aslan, the King.

In our relationship with God, with Jesus, with the Spirit, there is a reciprocity. There is also an awareness that God takes the Covenant with us quite seriously, as should we. We like to think that there are few demands on us in terms of our talents, time, and treasure, but in truth, if we are faithful to that Covenant which we rely on, we must accept and embrace our opportunities to participate.

Relationship with Jesus may not always feel “safe” but it is sure to give us a sense of adventure and unpredictability, as well as openings for change and for mercy.

In today’s gospel, a story is told about a man who leaves his manager in charge. When he returns, he finds that his manager has squandered the money and goods of his boss. On the verge of being fired, the manager goes to several of the key men who owe the boss money and negotiates for them to pay less than what they owe.

He is not exactly pure of intent in doing this…he knows he is about to be tossed out on his ear and hopes these debtors will be good to him because he was good to them. The “I’ll scratch your back…” philosophy is at play. Now, the big boss is hearing about this. He calls his manager in and instead of firing him, he praises him for showing shrewdness in his dealings! More to point, he showed a bit of generosity, so his master showed more.

What does this say to us in terms of doing the irrational in order to fulfill our part of the covenant? What would that look like for us?

As people of the Way, there are many things we can do, as individual as each of us is. We could stop focusing on what is “safe” and do what is “good”; we can “live as resurrection people in a Good Friday world; we could refuse to dwell in fear of our future and seize the hope and life in our future.

The Peavensy children became Kings and Queens of Narnia, using their innate gifts, new skills, and tools provided for them. They battled the evil which had frozen the country. It was not safe, but it was good.

Where we are called to go by God may not always feel safe, but it is good.

God is so good, God is so good, God is so good, is so good to me.