Feeling Lost?

This is going to be an interesting week. We have a military assessement that will be revealed about our involvement in Iraq that intentionally coincides with the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. While we all wait, remember, and consider the information and spin we will receive, this week the scritpure lessons seem to open a door to a different life free of fear and open to welcoming all people.

For some reason, the Old Testament lesson comes from Exodus (32:7-14). It's smack dab in the middle of the desert wanderings. The Israelites, liberated from slavery to Pharaoh, have been in search of a place to call home and they wander about through essentially one generation of people. In the midst of this, Moses takes off to consider their course, and talk with God. But the people get restless. They demand from his brother Aaron (left behind to lead until Moses returns) some symbol that they can latch onto.

Yep, it's the story of the "golden calf". When I read this today, I thought how interesting that this false God demands them to give up their gold, a precious commodity. The money (so to speak) gets collected but goes to create this one symbol. It's not going to do anything else, but perhaps the Israelites could be moved by having this bright example of their collective wealth on display. Would this wealth make them more powerful? And I thought, what if someone attacked them and took this huge object? It would definitely cause economic problems for them. So, I thought about this idea of having wealth on display and how so many of us part with our own "gold" to show off that we are part of a larger community. (The recent IPhone cost reduction and frustration from early purchasers perhaps is a small illustration of us shelling out money for the latest thing.)

Onwards to the Gospel of Luke (chapter 15), the story of the young son who takes his inheritance and goes off to drinking, whoring, and dancing his money away until he wakes up eating pig slop with the pigs and wonders how he ever got there. He decides his best bet is to just go home and take a job as a laborer with his father's workers thinking at least they are better cared for than this.

Now the surprise is that instead of a yelling match, his father runs to meet him and welcomes him home with a big party. All this much to the irritation of the "good" older son who is focused on issues of fairness and wants to know why his brother is being celebrated for doing wrong and squandering his money. (If you are the oldest in your family, you will likely identify with this son!)

You know, in that Exodus story, Moses comes down from the mountain and gets pretty angry, which is nothing to what God considers, i.e., finding a different group of more thankful people. But Moses intercedes pleading the case of the people and we get a glimpse of God's grace. It is that same grace that the father extends to his son in Luke.

It's also the same grace that we here at By the Way extend to each person we meet. And, it's one of the reasons why we also meet in places like Unos in the bar area having conversations when they arise and being an open door for people who may have lost hope, reconnecting them to others who are striving for a different life.

In the introduction to this story, Jesus overhears the "grumbling" of the religious folks that he eats with sinners and hangs out with them. I have to tell you that there are times when we too face a similar sort of grumbling. But if we all hung out in identifiable buildings devoted to the faith, how would anyone hurting so bad be able to enter in to the door. Hence, we are here, "by the way" to walk with you remind you that you are loved and allow you to shine.

So if you're feeling lost, feel free to drop in at Panera on a Tuesday, or at one of the Thursday night gatherings. There's enough grace for all of you.