Sunday, September 21st, 2025 Proper 20
Jesus said to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, `What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.' Then the manager said to himself, `What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.' So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he asked the first, `How much do you owe my master?' He answered, `A hundred jugs of olive oil.' He said to him, `Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.' Then he asked another, `And how much do you owe?' He replied, `A hundred containers of wheat.' He said to him, `Take your bill and make it eighty.' And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes. "Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth." Luke 16:1-13
It seems that the wealthier one is the more power and prestige they are given. We see all too clearly what it looks like when folks serve wealth. The poor, the stranger, the sick and the different ones all become tossed away as if they were trash. Many are threatened with expulsion and even death, written out of history and out of life. Yes, we must be wise and shrewd, but not so others can suffer and be without. Yes, we are called to take care of our family's needs and be faithful to the needs of our community. And, as soon as we focus too much on money, people become less important, and our mother earth is in peril. Our Creator God promises to care for us and provide for our needs. Few of us trust those words and think we have a better way. May we be true followers of Jesus, those who put God and neighbor first, trusting that there will be enough.
A Litany for Sunday, September 21st, 2025
Abundant Creator, you are the source of all goodness
you shower us with seasons of plenty and abundance
inviting us to share the goodness with all around us.
Precious Lord Jesus, help us to serve you now and always.
We toil and accumulate wealth beyond all our needs
and are desperately hungry for more and more goods
when we are hollow in our hearts and empty in our souls.
Precious Lord Jesus, help us to serve you now and always.
We will all come to a day of reckoning and death
when our treasure will be measured by our care and love
not by numbers in a ledger or a bottom-line bank account.
Precious Lord Jesus, help us to serve you now and always.
Make us grateful dear Lord, for the many gifts of today
and make us share the abundance you have given us.
Precious Lord Jesus, help us to serve you now and always.
Take away our worries about money and treasure
trusting you will help us in our hour of need.
Precious Lord Jesus, help us to serve you now and always.
Let us surround ourselves in generosity and compassion
so the world might know your love in these harsh times.
Precious Lord Jesus, help us to serve you now and always. Amen.
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