Setember 23, 2007 - making money, friends and influence

(Brer Rabbit Earns a Dollar-A-Minute as retold by S. E. Schlosser)

One fine morning, Brer Fox decided to plant him a patch of goober peas. He set to with a will and before you know it, he had raked and hoed out a beautiful patch of ground and he put in a fine planting of peas. It didn't take too long before those goober vines grew tall and long and the peas ripened up good and smart.
Now Brer Rabbit, he'd watched Brer Fox planting the goobers and he told his children and Miz Rabbit where they could find the patch. Soon as those peas were ripe, the little Rabbits and Brer Rabbit would sneak on in and grab up them goobers by the handfuls. It got so bad that when Brer Fox came to the goober patch, he could hardly find a pea to call his own.
Well, Brer Fox, he was plenty mad that he'd worked so hard on those peas only to have them eaten by someone else. He suspected that Brer Rabbit was to blame for this, but the rascally rabbit had covered his tracks so well that Brer Fox couldn't catch him. So Brer Fox came up with a plan. He found a smooth spot in his fence where a cunning rabbit could sneak in, and he set a trap for Brer Rabbit at that spot. He tied a rope to a nearby hickory sapling and bent it nearly double. Then he took the other end of the rope and made a loop knot that he fastened with a trigger right around the hole in the fence. If anybody came through the crack to steal his peas, the knot would tighten around their body, the sapling would spring upright, and they would be left hanging from the tree for everyone to see.
The next morning, Brer Rabbit came a-slipping through the hole in the fence. At once, the trigger sprung, the knot tightened on his forelegs, and the hickory tree snapped upright, quick as you please. Brer Rabbit found himself swung aloft betwixt the heaven and the earth, swinging from the hickory sapling. He couldn't go up and he couldn't go down. He just went back and forth.
Brer Rabbit was in a fix, no mistake. He was trying to come up with some glib explanation for Brer Fox when he heard someone a-rumbling and a-bumbling down the road. It was Brer Bear, looking for a bee-tree so he could get him some honey. As soon as Brer Rabbit saw Brer Bear, he came up with a plan to get himself free.
"Howdy, Brer Bear," he called cheerfully. Brer Bear squinted around here and there, wondering where the voice had come from. Then he looked up and saw Brer Rabbit swinging from the sapling.
"Howdy Brer Rabbit," he rumbled. "How are you this morning?"
"Middling, Brer Bear," Rabbit replied. "Just middling."
Brer Bear was wondering why Brer Rabbit was up in the tree, so he asked him about it. Brer Rabbit grinned and said that he was earning a dollar-a-minute from Brer Fox.
"A dollar-a-minute!" Brer Bear exclaimed. "What for?"
"I'm keeping the crows away from his goober patch," Brer Rabbit explained, and went on to say that Brer Fox was paying a dollar-a-minute to whomever would act as a scarecrow for him.
Well, Brer Bear liked the sound of that. He had a big family to feed, and he could use the money. When Brer Rabbit asked him if he would like to have the job, Brer Bear agreed. Brer Rabbit showed him how to bend the sapling down and remove the knot from his forepaws. When Brer Rabbit was free, Brer Bear climbed into the knot and soon he was hanging aloft betwixt heaven and earth, swing to and from the sapling and growling at the birds to keep them away from the goober patch.
Brer Rabbit laughed and laughed at the sight of Brer Bear up in the sapling. He scampered down the road to Brer Fox's place and told him that his trap was sprung and the goober thief was hanging from the hickory tree. Brer Fox grabbed his walking stick and ran down the road after Brer Rabbit. When he saw Brer Bear hanging there, Brer Fox called him a goober thief. Brer Fox ranted and raved and threatened to hit Brer Bear with his walking stick. He yelled so loud that Brer Bear didn't have time to explain nothing!
Brer Rabbit knew that Brer Bear would be plenty mad at him when he found out he had been tricked, and so he ran down the road and hid in the mud beside the pond, so that only his eyeballs stuck out, making him look like a big old bullfrog. By and by, a very grumpy Brer Bear came lumbering down the road.
"Howdy, Brer Bullfrog," Brer Bear said when he saw Brer Rabbit's eyes sticking out of the mud. "You seen Brer Rabbit anywhere?"
"Brer Rabbit jest ran on down the road," he told the grumpy Brer Bear in a deep croaking voice that sounded just like the voice of a frog. Brer Bear thanked him and trotted down the road, growling fiercely.
When Brer Bear was out of sight, Brer Rabbit jumped out of the mud. He washed himself off in the pond and then scampered home, chuckling to himself at how he'd escaped from Brer Fox and Brer Bear, and already thinking up a new way to get into Brer Fox's goober patch to get him some peas to eat.

Stories of how the trickster was able to use wit in order to outsmart others have been a part of folklore for generations. My mother used to tell me the stories of brer rabbit when I was a child. These stories were popular in the south and in African American culture. In Africa and the carribean there are the stories of anansi the spider. In these stories, the trickster becomes the hero – you know that he is wrong and you know that you are not supposed to emulate his behavior, but he becomes popular because he gets away with the things that we can only fantasize about. These stories have been a part of the human psyche. They serve a purpose for us. How else would you explain their popularity. How else do you explain O.J. Simpson capturing our headlines for the last two weeks. Why would it be breaking news that someone who committed a crime has posted bail and is returning home? Why would a book about how someone murdered their wife be a best seller. O.J. Simpson is our modern day trickster. The man who can get away with what we can’t do. He makes headlines, because everyone is wondering if he will get away with a crime again.
There was never a time when I was embarrassed by our nation’s priorities. The media knows that to cover his story will only give him the publicity that he is so desparately seeking- yet they scurry to tell his story. Oprah talked about how she refused to read his book, knowing full well that just giving the situation air time will make the book a bestseller. And what about the common person – we know that he is wrong, we would never condone what he does, yet we listen to the story. We allow this to go on. I can relate to how Jeremiah must have felt as he looked at the actions of his day- as he says that his heart is sick over his people. When I think about the whole O.J. situation I am just sick – sick and sad at his arrogance, sick at our reaction to it, sick that the whole situations seems to make a mockery of justice. And yet you hope that somewhere, somehow there will be a sense of justice in this situation. A hope that people will somehow come to their senses and stop feeding the enormous ego that keeps all of this going on.
For jeremiah his sense of hope was that the people of Isreal would realize that they had stepped away from the values that they had been raised with. Hope that they would stop relying on what they had achieved in on their own and go back to trusting God. Hope that they would stop trying to be like others and spend more time trying to be like God. He prays that God will be present to change the situation and to create a future where his people will not have to suffer. He comes to realize that God is indeed in the picture and that God indeed does care about his people. And yet, even when God is closest to us, God cannot or will not protect us from the consequences of our own dumb actions. Even though God was indeed present and at work – that would not stop Isreal from paying from its sins. That the wheels were already set in motion, and they were set to go into exile and to be kicked out of their land. God couldn’t save them from what was set in motion, but they could realize what they had done and repent, turn around and do things differently.
I think that we listen to the O.J. story because we too hope that he will publicly announce that he has learned from his mistakes. The last headline is that this could be the end of the road for him. That if convicted, he could face life in prison. We don’t want him to go to jail for life, but We hope that this time, he will be able to say that he has made a mistake and that he will change his behavior.
Jeremiah too hopes that the people will understand the error of their ways. Will be able to publicly acknowledge that they have stepped away from God. And after they have experienced the consequences of their bad ways, they will decide to walk with God. Maybe that is what we hope about OJ.
But in the meantime, the trickster story serves a purpose in our hearts. We still cheer for the bad boy- how else do you explain Jesus story in Luke 16 – he tells the story of another trickster – a steward who has squandered away the money of his master. He has been fired from his job of supervisor of the others sharecroppers. Before he totally leaves, he goes to the others who also owe money to the landowner. When the landowner returns he is thought of as a hero – he has to commend the steward for his shrewdness in handling a bad situation. Jesus tells his disciples that they should be just as shrewd.
Many people struggle with story – why would Jesus commend a man for cheating and not taking responsibility for his actions? Because Jesus is an expert on human nature – he knows that even though it doesn’t make sense, he meets us where we are - we love to listen to the antics of tricksters – we are always listening to see what will happen next. Jesus uses this as a story to get our attention – but with a powerful message. Tricksters like brer rabbit, OJ Simpson, the irresponsible steward are motivated by self interest. They will do whatever they can to save themselves. Imagine if all of the energy that they put into saving themselves was put into saving others- what a difference they could make in the world. Imagine the difference that we who give the trickster attention could make if we channeled our energy into making a difference in the world. Jesus asks each one of us – if the children of this age can be so shrewd in their dealings, why cant the children of the light be shrewd with spreading the light of God to a world who is still in desparate need of a sense of real hope. Give people something to believe in, something else to talk about besides OJ’s freedom.
Jesus reminds us that we are indeed the irresponsible steward in this story – we are the trickster. We have been given a responsibility to take care of God’s people, and we have fallen down on the job. We have not used our resources to help others, we have helped in keeping others slaves to their lives, we have been given the opportunity to forgive those who have hurt us- we have the power to change the ending of the trickster story. We have the good news that the good guy is the hero of the story. We can make lots of money, we have makes lots of friends, we can even have a lot of influence in the world. It is not what he have – it is how we use it that distinguishes us as children of the light. It is our intention that distinguishes dishonest wealth from true riches. Jesus says if you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust you with the true riches.
Dishonest wealth serves ourself, true riches serves others. Dishonest wealth is used to get us out of a tough spot, true riches are used to empower us to make the world a better place. Dishonest wealth does not ask us to think about justice, true riches encourages us to make decisions which are beneficial to others. Most importantly, you can’t take dishonest wealth with you when you die, true riches are what get you a free ticket to eternity.
There is still hope for someone like O.J. – he is a child of God, maybe someday someone will be able to tell him that in a way that he can hear. His conversion story will make national news. It will be a big story that will make a difference for a lot of people. But Jesus reminds us that we too can make a difference, that our realization of what it means to be a good caretaker of God’s world, of God’s people, of God’s resources- makes just as much difference in the world.
Osceala McCarthy is a lady from Mississipi - She quit school in the sixth grade to take care of a sick aunt. It was just never practical for her to return to school. She spent the next 75 years washing and ironing clothes for a living. She never go married, never had children, she never even learned to drive a car. What she did do very well was save money. There were times in her life when she had to cut the toes our of her shoes in order to repair them to wear, she had only one bible, which she had to scotch tape together. In 1995 she was able to go the University of Southern Mississippi to donate $150,000 to give scholarships to well deserving African American students. While still alive, she was able to give another $100,000 to her church and relatives. She gave away over $250,000. that’s a lot of money. Was that dishonest wealth or true riches? Many of here may say that we don’t have $200,000 in money to give away to others. Money is not the only resource that God has entrusted us with. We have time, we have love, we have the ability to think through the toughest of situations, we have the ability to hear the cries of God’s people. We may not have a lot, but the little that we have will work just as well. Jesus says that whoever is faithful in a little will be faithful also in much. We always have $250,000 worth of faith that Jesus loves the world to transform it. How will you put it to good use?

A Lesson in Humility September 1, 2007

A Lesson in Humility The scripture from jeremiah starts out with some pretty strong words to have to hear – What wrong have I done that you and your ancestors went away from me and went after worthless things. How do you answer a omnipotent God who is everything who asks you want have I done wrong that you left? That question could be construed as a guilt trip – afterall, we would never leave God. We put God first in our lives everyday. We heed the words of God in our lives, we take seriously what God says to us and we apply it diligently to our lives. This scripture must be addressing a situation of the past – not us. Actually Jeremiah is giving a final warning to the ancient people of Isreal. They have gotten to know the people around them, they have incorporated their ways of life. But they have also started to practice their religion – to even believe in their God. Knowing full well that the God that they worship is the one and only real God. Any other religion is only junk in the face of God. There us no other God but the one God of Heaven. In order to bring peace to his land, the king of isreal has allowed this incorporation of other worship practices. We learn later in the scripture that the people are indeed taken away to Babylon, and the country of isreal ceases to exist,because they were not wholeheartedly faithful to God. It is easy for us to think that this is about them – and not a wake up call for all faithful people- including us here. God is speaking to us when he has what he has done wrong that we have strayed from God. This is an invitation for us to look at our own lives – where have we gotten so comfortable with our lives, that we have forgotten to look at what we are doing. Is worshipping God in our lives really the most important thing to us? Or have we let other things creep in an take our attention? Are we more concerned about that project at work, or even that project at home. Do we care more about what the neighbors say about us than about what God says about us? Do we just assume that we know what it means to be a Christian – that we don’t have to examine our lives? At some point or another- actually each and every day we need to examine and question our lives – and to answer God’s question of why we have strayed away. One lesson that I think that we all know about – but don’t always apply to our lives is Jesus call to be humble in Luke 14. Jesus has been invited to a breakfast at the house of a prominent Pharisee. This was a sign that Jesus has really made it – only important people invite other important people to their functions. In those days to invite someone less than you to a party, meant that you would lose your social status. Whomever you invited to your party was obligated to invite you to one of their functions. That was how you moved up in the world. Jesus was happy to oblige that social necessity. But it wasn’t quite appropriate for him to instruct the host and his friends on how to throw a party. Everyone seemed to think that they were the most important person at the party. So they were jockeying for the most important positions. Jesus tells that that is a little rude, they might be embarrassed at how unimportant they really are. But he also tells them not to invite those of equal status, but to invite those who are too poor to return the favor. These words of advice stick out in my mind – this was the first bible lesson that my cousin taught us as a child – that when you go to a party – to make sure to take the lesser seat, and if you are worthy they you will be invited to a more honorable seat. But for Jesus, this was not a lesson in etiquette of how to behave at a party. This is a lesson on how to live our lives today and in eternity. Jesus us teaching us to be humble – to not think of ourselves as more important than anyone else. Humility is the absence of pride, conceit and vengeance. But us is also the presence of a willingness to be helpful and a selfless concern of the things that matter most to God. Humility is our open door to a relationship with God. It allows us to honesty answer God when we are asked why we have abandoned God. It allows us to acknowledge what we have done and to ask for forgiveness. It allows us to listen when God tells us how to go forward and to serve more fully. One man had to learn his lesson of humility, like most of us the hard way. He finally was hired at an important company in town. He was just a mail clerk who worked in the basement, but it didn’t matter – at least he was in the door – which is more than he could say for others. One day a cock roach crawled in front of him on the floor. Just as he raised his foot to kill it, he realized that it was talking to him. If you spare my life, then I will grant anything that you want. The man thought a minute, and decided at least it was worth a try – well if you just get me a job on the first floor- I will feel so much better about myself. The next day that he comes to work he is informed that he has been promoted to a desk job on the first floor. He is so excited – when the cockroach crawls by his desk the next week we thanks him. But the cockroach asks if there is anything else that he could do for him – and the man asks for a promotion to a job on the second floor. I don’t know that I could be that comfortable talking to a cockroach crawling across the floor- but anyway… The man is amazed at his wonderful luck. As the weeks pass, he has moved all the way up to a corner office in the sixth floor. There are only seven floors in the company – and the entire seventh floor is reserved for the president of the company. He knows he will never get to the second floor but he can dream can’t he. Sure enough that night the cockroach pays him a visit and he makes the request. On the news the next day he hears the report- the president has had a heart attack and died. When he comes to work the next day his told that he has been chosen as the president. The seventh floor office is his. When he sits at his desk gloating at his success, he realizes that that there us an opening in the ceiling which leads to the roof. Just to make sure that he has indeed reached the highest spot in the company – he climbs through the hole. He notices that there is a man in the corner of the roof. He walks over to the man to see what he is doing there – the man in tattered clothing says that he knows that he is the most important person in the company- but there is still someone who is higher then he and he is praying to that person. Our successful man is utterly outdone by what he has seen and heard – someone more important than he is his company. In his conversation with the cockroach – he says that he wants to get to know this God who is more important than he. He want to be near God and to value the things that God values. The next morning he returns to work – to his place in the basement. He comes to understand the importance of humility in his life and in his walk with God. Humility is the doorway where we get to know God. Humility is our opportunity to be in tune with those things that are important to God. Each and every day, there are certain spiritual pills that we need to take in order to live a healthy Christian life – they are prayer, forgiveness, thankfulness, humility, hospitality, and charity. Instead of jockey positions with the people on the social A list – we need to hobknob with the people on the k list- Those whom God had a special care and concern for. Afterall God reminds us that in the eyes of heaven we are all equal and deserving of God’s love. I would like to try an experiment in order to do this I need to have three volunteers to come up to the front. It is important that everyone have an open mind and take this game with a grain of salt….. Arrange yourself from left to right from youngest to oldest. The trick is you can only trade places with the person next to you, and there can be no talking or hand gestures. You just have to assume that you know – no arrange yourselves according to height order. Now arrange yourself in order of intelligence. Now to make this easier- I would just ask you given the lesson that we just learned – what would Jesus do? It is not our place to judge whether the order you chose is right or wrong - because in God’s eyes we are all equal and equally important. Let us remember that the lesson is not about age, or height or intelligence, but in humility. Our personal ability to put others before us. Thank you to our volunteers for demonstrating that for us. Humility – is our invitation to a very important party. God’s party- where anybody who is anybody is invited. And God has given the church the responsibility to carry out the party plans. To be intentional to include those whom the world has forgotten and forsaken. Because those who are the people who embody the spirit of God – who we must not forget and forsake. Come to be a part of the party at God’s table. Amen.