<html><body>Here's the draft, part 1<div><br></div><div>Bob</div><div><br></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY THE EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">JEREMIAH 8:18 – 9:1 PROPER 20 c<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">1 TIMOTHY 2:1-7 18<sup>th</sup> SEPTEMBER, 2016<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">LUKE 16:1-13 PSALM 79:1-9 <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> How many “close shaves” have you had in your life so far? Some may have been pretty minor, like stepping barefoot on a Lego ® left on the floor, or having the cat run between your legs while you have something in your hand. Some may have been more critical, like not noticing right away that the truck on the freeway is pulling out in front of you. Some may be slightly embarrassing while others might have placed you or me in severe discomfort or danger. Some close shaves may have been completely avoidable, through paying a little more close attention. Some may appear to be outside of our control. Yet even in those situations, there <b><u>ARE</u></b> a few things one can do, like driving at a safe distance in order to be able to react, or simply being aware of what might go wrong. It may be a matter of making the best, making the most, of who we are and what we have.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Brother Curtis Almquist wrote a couple of comments about how it is – how it should be – to be a steward.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> “</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(32, 32, 32);">We don’t possess our own lives,” Brother Curtis wrote. “I would say we are stewards of the life that God has given us, and for however long God continues to give us breath. I think of it as being loaned back into life after baptism.” <sup>1</sup><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> His second remark is similar, but adds a little.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> “</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">We are not ‘owners’ of anything but simply temporary stewards in life, entrusted with various ‘goods’: qualities, gifts, distinctions, appointments, gadgets, properties, relationships which – sooner or later – are going to pass away from us. And in the meantime we take what we’ve been entrusted and offer it back to God, recognizing that all of it is very temporary.”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> <sup>2</sup><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> “When we lived in the city, we used to leave the lights on </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(32, 32, 32);">to keep away the burglars. Now we leave the lights off to keep away the neighbours. My Mum says it’s because there’s always a <b>chance </b>we’ll like the burglars.” <sup>3</sup></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> That makes about as much sense as the parable Jesus told His disciples.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Maybe the audience is part of the key to understanding what on earth Jesus was saying. These folk had been with Jesus for quite a while. They’d seen and heard a lot. Even if they weren’t quite ready to admit that He was Divine, at least they’d be able to take in some of the hard sayings He offered. But what a strange story!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> A friend asked on Friday, “Anybody loving the steward yet?” <sup>4</sup><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> It’s a reasonable question. The steward seemed completely corrupt. He’d mismanaged, he’d probably cut corners. Whatever it was that he did, the word used about him was that he was a squanderer. A squanderer – someone who </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">waste something, especially money or time, in a reckless and foolish manner – he had been given charge over something extremely precious, something from which there must have been great hope not just of esteem for the rich man, but for the entire community. What was he thinking of? Not only did he defraud his employer, he affected the livelihood of every one of his fellow employees. He put them in jeopardy. And if the owner of the business or the farm, or the estate had been defrauded enough, quite possibly the actions of that one man could have brought down the whole community. Heaven only knows, we’ve seen that not just here, but around the world, in the last couple of decades.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"> Anyone feel any love for the steward now? It brings to mind a heading saw last Friday. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">“Narcissistic, manipulators, defenders of their own causes, auctioneers of vain crusades.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> And, no, it’s not likely that know where that came from! I took me completely by surprise too. It came from the lips of a relatively mild-mannered, yet steely-spined, oldish man who wanders around in a long white coat.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> What was Jesus getting at when He told this story? Remember, He was engaging His closest friends. He was trying to give them a sense of the importance of His ministry and the ministry with which He was about to charge them. This parable is one of a series which started out with discussion about the wedding banquet – the incredible celebration with God, the everlasting Joy which awaits everyone. We’re talking here about Life with Jesus forever. What is being outlined in each successive parable is what is expected of those who walk with Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> We know by know how limitless is the invitation which Jesus brings. We know by now, surely, how Jesus was helping to turn everyone’s expectations on their heads, and how economic class, social standing, religious upbringing, countered for nothing. The only thing that mattered was how one treated one’s sisters and brothers, how well one listened to Jesus and applied everything He said to how we live our lives and use whatever resources we have.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> So –<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> If Jesus is talking to the leaders who will birth, nurture and emancipate His Church; if Jesus is talking about someone who knowingly takes what is not his own, regardless of what it does to everyone else; if this is so, then can we not assume that Jesus is talking directly to and about the Church?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> What a terrible judgement!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> But Jesus knew what lies in the human heart and soul. Jesus, the Light, can see the dark in us, and how easily it can pop out.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> We’re working, through Jesus, under the guidance and influence of the Holy Spirit, to make sure not only that people see, hear and receive the invitation to the Banquet, but that they’re kept in health, strength, and desire so that they’re able to attend. It's not enough to proclaim the Gospel. We have to be sure that no one is prevented from accepting the invitation because she or he is hampered by any kind of pressure. And if you or I should take what is not ours and try to squirrel it away for ourselves – well I know <b><u>I</u></b> don’t want to go there, and I’m sure you don’t either.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><br></p></div></body></html>