Aug. 11 sermon notes Is. 1:10-20, Lk.,12:32-40, Ps. 50

God is less than satisfied with even well-performed worship practices here. God is fed up with worship practices that are ‘gifts of nothing”they have blood on their hands, but not the blood of sacrificial animals, but human blood.It is directeed a tthe outcome of greed. I think that sometimes Christians have an image of a Spirit directed automatic, magical consensus. Alternately, we fall into the latest fad with process and have unending meetings that spends so much on the how of arriving at a decision, we don’t reach one.I would like to suggest that the Spirt is fully capable of working through a disagreement on assumptions, process, or product. The spirit is fully capable of working through the clash of opinions and data. If we can reach unanimity in a court case of 12 people, we can reach good decisions in other areas.

basic hebrew ethics as clear as one could wish or fear Notice that the prophetic denunciation of Sodom is not homosexual rape but neglect of the poor (see Ezek 16:49).God’s love may be unconditional, but God certainly sets conditions here for proper worship. So many of the feeling swirling around different worship style would be preference for formal v. informal, classical or contemporary sounds. Our passage this morning sees that as wasted breath. what it demands is a social precondition for good worship-justice.Let’s work this through. God says. in our polarized time; we do not even attempt this. “You are either with me or against me;my way or the highway: one right way does exist:mine.” We have some consensus on possession, however. With the Beatles we agree money can’t buy me love.” (Insert your own joke here). I hear people say  that money cannot buy happiness either, but ocme to think of it, i don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone rich say it.

Let’s try to work through the issue of possessions some more. Personally, i am attracted to a simpler, ascetic lifestyle at times, so I need ot tread carefully here. i find no reason to try to guilt people into being more generous, as it seems to be to fade quickly wiht time. second, I see little value in denouncing folks for having some material comforts. At the same time, we would probably to well to seek some balance.I saw the movie the Way Way Back last weekend. All of the adults taking summer vacation are well off. They are all miserable.When the search for the next possession seems to be taking up so much time, attention, and money tha tit interferes with other things in lfie, then we know our balance is shifted. The kingdom of god, God’s way in the world, god’s vision for us seems to be a shared road. In my short time here, we run a deficit and then some magical donations pour in at the end of the year. Our pooled resources seem to be more than adequate to maintain our church structure, but we do well to ask if we are carrying our fair share of the load.I have come to realize at how fresh the wounds of previous decisions about finances continue to eat away at the attitudes of a number of folks here. Here we recive the gift of God, the living jesus Christ without cost, because the fit is priceless.

Communion responds to the issue of possession in a number of ways. One it shares resources, but here just a taste finds our cup runneth over. Second, it sees our future as more than the sum total of what we have.We may not achieve consensus on Christian beliefs about Communion, but most of us agree that this practice helps to define Christians.The word eucharist, good grace, is another word for thanksgiving, the name of our long, long Communion prayer. gratitude is an antidote to greed.