The themes of the day's readings are some that are close to my heart, especially the first, Amos 8:4-7:
Hear this, you who trample upon the needy
and destroy the poor of the land:
"When will the new moon be over," you ask,
"that we may sell our grain,
And the sabbath,
that we may open the grain-bins?
We will diminish the ephah,
add to the shekel,
and fix our scales for cheating!
We will buy the destitute for silver,
and the poor for a pair of sandals;
even the worthless grain we will sell!"
The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Never will I forget a thing they have done!
And the gospel reading, Luke 16:1-13, which concludes with one of my favourite lines:
Then he also said to his disciples, "A rich man had a steward who was reported to him for squandering his property. He summoned him and said, 'What is this I hear about you? Prepare a full account of your stewardship, because you can no longer be my steward.' The steward said to himself, 'What shall I do, now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me? I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I shall do so that, when I am removed from the stewardship, they may welcome me into their homes.' He called in his master's debtors one by one. To the first he said, 'How much do you owe my master?' He replied, 'One hundred measures of olive oil.' He said to him, 'Here is your promissory note. Sit down and quickly write one for fifty.' Then to another he said, 'And you, how much do you owe?' He replied, 'One hundred kors of wheat.' He said to him, 'Here is your promissory note; write one for eighty.' And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently.
"For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones. If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth, who will trust you with true wealth? If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another, who will give you what is yours? No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."
There was a visiting Catholic priest today, Jack Mosbrucker, who gave the homily and celebrated the Eucharist. He joked that they called him because many consider this a difficult passage to preach on as the "dishonest steward" is actually praised, but he said that it's really about our attitudes towards money. He began with the story of his parents, who moved to the US as immigrants and farmers and lived during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl, recalling how his father worked for the WPA for $2 a day and struggled to provide for his family during this time when work and money were scarce. But when Jack was older, they had saved money not for themselves to live on or enjoy, but to share with him. He then moved onto Amos, who himself was poor and saw the people being cheated by those who controlled the markets and prices and had become wealthy at the expense of the poor, and felt called to criticize the wickedness of how these people gained their wealth and the unfairness of such an exploitative system. And then there's Jesus, who more than once attacks unjust wealth, wealth that's accumulated through exploitation and enjoyed by the wealthy without sharing, which is also the subject of this parable. Fr. Jack then dug into the steward, who was turned in to his master. Turned in by who? By whistleblowers who likely suffered under his greed and who had little recourse for justice. Possibly the steward, like his master, made his gains by essentially cheating the people and putting his excess gains into the prices of their commodities and services. So when the steward reduces their debts, he's not really cheating his master because he's giving back to the people what they deserve, returning to them the surplus that was initially extracted from their labour. And ultimately, what the steward trusted in was not money, but in mercy. Money represents greed, and it represents that which is temporary, inconstant, and in Buddhist terms, within the realm of samsara. Mercy, on the other hand, represents the infinite gifts of God, that which transcends time and space, the fruits of the unconditioned. And "No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."
Following the homily, Pastor Robyn, along with Fr. Jack and Dir. Vinci, called Karen and I up to the altar. There was supposed to be two more being welcomed today, but they weren't able to make it, so Pastor Robyn introduced the two of us to the congregation, gave a brief biography of each of us, and then all three led us in an affirmation of baptism before officially welcoming us as members of Spirit of Grace. We finished by reciting a rendition of the Nicene Creed written by another member of Spirit of Grace, Kate Bernklau-Halvor:
We believe in one God, the all-encompassing Almighty Parent-Creator, the reconciling ground of being, beyond time and space, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
We believe in Jesus Christ the Child, the fully human, fully divine, embodied reflection of sacred truth; of one being with the Parent-Creator through whom all things were made; who experienced and loved humanity, suffered, taught, and liberated; met us in our doubts and woundedness; and greeted us as a prophet, with wisdom, healing, and mercy.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the giver of life, the omnipresent fount of love and inspiration; who with the Parent-Creator and Child is worshiped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets, granting passion and purpose and hope. And we believe in one holy catholic church, built in faith and doubt and flexible tradition, united in awe and love and community, and directed to welcome and listen and act for just mercy. Amen.
The final hymn was "Lift Every Voice and Sing," also known as the black national anthem, which I found moving and speaks to how Spirit of Grace strives to be an inclusive community. Whether it's beginning the service by acknowledging the first peoples on whose land we gather, using more inclusive bible translations and hymn lyrics, addressing the presence and evils of racism, and being LGBTQ+ friendly, Spirit of Grace attempts to be an open, welcoming, and safe space for everyone who enters.
After the service was over, I spent a bit of time wandering around and listening to conversations. A few people came up to introduce themselves, and I eventually found myself listening to a conversation between Fr. Jack and another member of Spirit of Grace. I really enjoyed Fr. Jack's homily and see a lot of what I initially liked about the Paulists in him. He's very big on social justice, and during their conversation he remarked that if social justice isn't in every one of your homilies, you're doing it wrong, or missing the point, or something to that effect. And when the discussion turned towards ecumenicalism and the distance between denominations based on things like disagreements over how to properly understand the theological meaning of 'the real presence of Christ,' he stated very simply and profoundly that "the real presence is in the community." It brought to mind Fr. Michael, who often made that point, referencing Mt 18:20: "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
I took all of it as a sign that I'm where I need to be, and I'm thankful to have been guided here.
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