July 13, 2025
5th Sunday after Pentecost – Byron Tindall
I wanted to make absolutely certain I knew the definition of the word parable, so I went to the Merriam-Webster Website, and here’s what I found. “Parable – noun – a usually short fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle – the Biblical parable of the Good Samaritan” Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary defines the word exactly the same.
This parable is probably one of the better-known utterances Jesus made when he was wandering around Palestine while preaching the good news about the Kingdom of God. It has been the source for countless sermons throughout the centuries.
This morning, I’m going to try something a little different. I’m going to rewrite the parable into the 21st Century. I’m not going to touch the early part of St. Luke’s lesson, just the story itself. So here goes.
In the early evening, after normal business hours, a young white, Anglo-Saxon protestant professional man was getting his exercise on the Beltline Trail in downtown Atlanta, Ga. Suddenly, he was attacked by a gang of 4 Hispanic teens. They proceeded to beat him up pretty badly and relieved him of his watch, cell phone, wallet, and the running shoes he was wearing. They left him beside the trail and ran off to examine what they had taken from the man.
An Episcopal priest was also walking on the trail and saw the injured man sitting on the bank trying to get himself back together. “I should probably stop and help him, but I don’t have the time right now. I’ve got to get ready for the vestry meeting in about any hour,” he thought to himself. Consequently, he looked to the other side of the trail and moved over in that direction before heading to his meeting.
A little bit later, a Baptist minister was seen walking toward the scene. He noticed the poor victim but remembered he had a pre-marital counseling session scheduled for a little later. “I must get home and take a shower before I meet with that young couple,” was his excuse for not stopping.
A group of nuns was out for a stroll on the Beltway and happened on the incident. They stopped and discussed the situation among themselves. “If we stay here and call 911, we’ll be tied up for hours when EMS and the cops arrive. Just think of all the questions we’ll have to answer,” one of the nuns said. “I don’t think we should get involved,” said another. “Let’s just move on,” said a third member of the party. And they did just that.
About that time, an old black man was walking home along his usual route. He had just spent 12 hours at his job as a janitor and dishwasher in a fast-food establishment a few blocks away from where the attack took place. He looked and smelled like it had been a rough 12 hours. But he stopped and approached the man anyway.
“What happened? What can I do to help you?” he asked the young professional who was still trying to get his head around what had happened.
The man was still very confused about what had taken place. The old black man knew he had to do something. He stuck is hand into his front pocket and pulled out two crumbled, dirty $20 bills and his cell phone. “I’m going to get you to a safe place where you’ll receive good care,” he told the victim.
Knowing he had $40, the old man called for an Uber driver to pick them up a short distance down the trail where the trail and a street intersected. He had instructed the driver that they wanted to go to the homeless shelter where the old man had lived a few times between jobs. He hoped the manager he knew so well was still there.
When they arrived at the shelter, the old man was relieved to see his friend was still on duty.
“Here’s $20,” he told the manager. “Send someone out to get some dressings and bandages. Don’t forget the antibiotic ointment, either,” he said as they got the young man situated in a room. “I get paid tomorrow so I’ll drop by after work and settle up with you, if you spend more,” he said as he left the shelter.
Jesus’s parable was told to answer the question, “And who is my neighbor?”
There’s no need to comment on which individual in the 21st Century version best exemplified the State Farm Insurance company advertising slogan.
Our concept of who constitutes our neighbor has most certainly evolved substantially since St. Luke penned his gospel, and I personally don’t think that evolution is complete.
Here’s a good example of this change. When our children were growing up in the small, rural Lewis County, New York, the principal of their elementary school organized an over-night field trip to Ottawa, Canada, for the students. For some of them, that was the first time they had ventured out of Lewis County. Just as in Jesus’s time, people stayed close to where they were born and raised. Incidentally, some of their classmates still live in Lewis County.
My personal thoughts about the answer Jesus gave in response to the question the lawyer asked him have changed drastically with the advent of the communication tools we have today.
With the click on a link on my phone, my iPad or my computer, I can find myself almost anywhere in the world. If I want to view the beauty of the Scottish Highlands, all I have to do is virtually go to the Highlands. If I want to visit the Louvre in Paris, one of my devices places me in the center of that museum, and I never have to leave the comfort of my easy chair.
On the darker side, if I wonder what it’s like in a war-torn area of the world, I can visit most any place where there’s a conflict raging by way of the miracles of modern communication devices.
For me, every inhabitant of “this fragile earth, our island home,” is my neighbor. This includes those living with starvation and death as their constant companions. Those forced to live in hell holes like the “Alligator Alcatraz” or seeing their children forcibly taken away from them; those whose loved ones were swept away from them by rising flood waters – all of these follow human beings are my neighbors.
As the lawyer rightfully answered Jesus at the beginning of the Gospel Lesson today from Luke, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”
All of this begs the question, “How do we, as individuals, as a community of believers, as citizens of the State of Georgia, as residents of the United States of America, and finally as inhabitants of this island home of ours, demonstrate this love?”
July 6, 2025
4th Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 9, Year C – Bill Harkins
The Collect of the Day
O God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart, and united to one another with pure affection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Lord God Almighty, in whose Name the founders of this country won liberty for themselves and for us, and lit the torch of freedom for nations then unborn: Grant that we and all the people of this land may have grace to maintain our liberties in righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Lesson: 2 Kings 5:1-14
Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria!
June 29, 2025
Proper 8 – Katharine Armentrout
No Turning Back
This week’s Gospel reading makes clear that Jesus has not read Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” He doesn’t wrap his invitation to discipleship in slick or comfortable words. He doesn’t minimize the costs to attract more followers. “He doesn’t hide the hard stuff in fine print,” as one writer put it. Debi Thomas, “Journey With Jesus”, Proper 8, Year c, 2019.
In fact, it seems as if He almost pushes potential followers away: “I’ll follow you anywhere!” an eager young man says and, in response, Jesus tells him basically, “You have no idea what you will be getting yourself into.”
This week’s readings are not easy.
They challenge us and make clear that if we want a disciple’s life that is comfortable rather than costly, and stable rather than transformative, then we don’t really understand what Jesus wants from us as His disciples.
As we encounter Jesus this week in the readings, His face is set like stone for Jerusalem.
His face is set for confrontation with the powers of both church and state – the Rulers of the Synagogue and those of the Roman Empire.
He knows his life is coming to an end and that his ministry on earth will be ending too. So…He is anxious to ensure that His ministry which powerfully demonstrates God’s loving kingdom will be continued by those who come after Him.
June 8, 2025
Whitsunday – Year C – Bill Harkins
The Collect of the Day
Almighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Gospel: John 14:8-17, 25-27
Philip said to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, `Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.