Shrewd and Subversive
Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost – Year C
September 19, 2010

Let us pray: Just and loving God, we are called by Jesus to work continually that your presence might be revealed in the world. We are excited and challenged by this summons. It calls us to be creative and different. It invites us to put that goal above any goal we would hope for ourselves. Stir us and create within us that we might be helpful and hopeful pilgrims on that journey. Amen.

Sometimes when the passages for a particular Sunday in the church year are particularly difficult or when I am finding it hard to pick up a theme that joins them together, or even a topic that jumps out at me from one of them, I will go back three or six or nine years or more to see what I had to say in the past. Perhaps I was influenced too much this week by some of the commentaries I first read in preparation for this Sunday. One in particular told me that these were hard passages. I guess I believed them. The nice thing about the lectionary is that the passages come back every three years, so after a couple of decades of preaching it is possible to go back and see what experience has to say to me. It's always an interesting exercise whether or not it turns out to be helpful. For example, three years ago I talked about the Empire report – a report that was considered at the August 2006 meeting of the United Church General Council in Thunder Bay. So, that was three years ago. I had to look a little harder for my effort from 2004 and I didn't find it right away. So much for that! Perhaps you can remember what was happening for us nine years ago... yes, we were still in the throes of collective fear, disbelief, sadness and despair in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Nine years later it is difficult to recall how overwhelming those days were for us. Extra time was given for evening newscasts and around the world we considered the consequences of the day that was predicted and ultimately did change our world forever.

There's something to be said for hindsight. Some say that hindsight is 20/20 – although I wonder with something as world and life changing as 9/11 whether we can ever say that we now have perfect vision in retrospect. It was interesting to read what I had to say some two weeks after September 11, 2001. We all know that it took a two more weeks before the war in Afghanistan. I still remember a member of the Jasper United Church congregation arriving late for worship and passing me a slip of paper that relayed the news that President George Bush had initiated attacks on Al Qaeda in that country.

Hindsight also gives us the opportunity to layer experience upon experience and it is with that in mind that I think about what I told you about my reflection three years ago – namely the Empire report – a report adopted by the United Church General Council – causing us to consider how much Empire themes are an influence in our lives. We know that everything is connected, but consider just how connected the events of nine years ago are to the theme considered and commended to us by the commissioners to the 2006 General Council calling them and us to think of the ways in which we “buy into” and I use that term on purpose to describe the ways in which we are governed by empire themes in our lives.

Is it not an interesting juxtaposition of themes on a day when the letter to Timothy invites us to “... pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation.” I've taken special delight in that particular instruction. Actually more than delight. Delight makes it sound light and of little consequence. No it is more than delight. Pleasure maybe, but even that does not express the importance and value that I take from the instruction that becomes our instruction even though it was meant for Timothy. I showed you and the children a way that I learned to pray – taking to heart the first part of the direction given to Timothy – namely to pray every way we know how – and a direction that invites us to increase the number of ways we engage in prayer. I've used that prayer on lots of occasions and when I do I usually end up using it as the kind of prayer that Timothy is invited to make – namely a prayer about rulers and governments. Because it is a prayer without spoken words I find it particularly helpful to use it in what might be considered a subversive way. You see when I pray that way for rulers and governments I usually find myself lifting up not those with whom I agree, but those with whom I have a particular disagreement. In the years following 9/11 I have held George W. Bush on the palms of my hands many times. I say this without any misgiving. I honestly wanted the best for him and I honestly wanted the best from him – the best that God could give him and the best that God could ask of him. I find that there is something empowering about this kind of prayer. It puts things in proper perspective – God first – I don't pray with any particular request from God – only that God will bless and direct the lives of those for whom I pray.

It's a forgiving way to pray for anyone whom we find difficult or with whom we are having a difficult relationship. And if we really believe that prayer is a conversation with God – and how often do our spoken prayers forget that and fail to leave time for God's response – then we are putting ourselves in a position to hear what God has to say to us as well.

One of the reasons that commentators find this week's lections difficult is that reading from Luke's gospel. At first consideration it appears that Jesus is praising dishonesty and wiliness. The dishonest manager looks after himself first after his dishonesty is exposed and dealt with. But rather than condemn the action, Jesus has the rich owner praise the manager for his shrewdness. Our first reaction to this is probably something like this: “What's that about?” It takes a deeper consideration to get the point of Jesus' story. It's not praise for dishonesty that is the point of the story. It is an invitation to be creative. It seems to be a story that says the end justifies the means. At the very least it is a call to be as shrewd as the dishonest manager not in the hopes of personal gain but in the methods we employ to invite people to follow the way of God. Our creed says that we believe in God who has created and is creating and I take that to mean that we honour God by being creative ourselves. The parable itself is an example of this – who would think that Jesus would use such a story to further his own cause of making the reign of God easier to grasp and understand. And certainly it is only one of many stories that Jesus told – all of which have a twist in them – a twist that brings us up short because the expected is turned upside down, because they call us to further reflection and the discovery of penetrating insights. For me one of the most compelling descriptions of just who and what Jesus is for us in our faith life is that he is an iconoclast – a ten dollar word meaning that he breaks down preconceived notions and previously held assumptions. Another way of saying this is that just when we think we have things figured out he tells another story that calls it all into question again and leads us into deeper . But it is more than story telling – the gospels are full of the stories but they also tell the story of Jesus' life – a life that so often turned expectations upside down. Here is a person of faith – a person who constantly calls people into a deeper relationship with God – and yet the people he is most often at odds with are other people of faith – the scribes and the pharisees.

The way of Jesus is iconoclastic. We are followers of Jesus' way and thus we too are called to be iconoclastic. That is in effect what I said nine years ago as we flailed away in the days immediately following 9/11. I implored us and most importantly world leaders not to follow the expected way – but to follow a different path. Unfortunately I don't think it happened. That won't stop me from praying. Three years ago I talked about the Empire report. A brief summary of it would be that it is a call to be iconoclastic with respect to the powers and principalities that are at work in the world and in our lives. I submit that shrewd and subversive is another way to put it. Jesus' stories and the example of his life are the compelling example and summons to do just that. May it be so.