Can I have an adult volunteer to help me with this sermon?

Great.  Could you open your wallet and give all the loose cash to a person you don’t know?  Could you do the same with your credit cards?

Could I get another adult volunteer?  No?

I learned, at a very young age, never to raise my hand until I knew what I was volunteering to do. 

One of the many delights of engaging in a journey along the Way of Love, exploring the seven practices that ground us in life with Jesus, is the discovery of how these practices overlap, intertwine, and reinforce one another. In our parish journey along the Way of Love, we’re coming to the end of a season of focusing on blessing, and our readings for today invite us to imagine another practice joining the dance – that practice is prayer. Prayer and blessing, blessing and prayer.

It can only be called divine humor that the text assigned for the kickoff of our Annual Pledge Appeal is this one, from Luke, or the one from Amos, for that matter.  

Divine humor, and a perfect fit, though not for the reasons you might think.

“And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they many welcome you into the eternal homes.” Wait…what? What did Jesus just say? Did he just instruct us to embrace financial corruption in order to secure friends and a future for ourselves?

My son grew up in the age of “participation medals.”  Though now the cause of eyerolls and fodder for stand up comics, when my son was playing little league, or soccer, entered an art contest or science fair, everyone got a trophy.  Everyone got a ribbon.

His bureau was covered in medals and trophies in a way mine never was.  When I was young there were no participation medals. You either won, or you got nothing.

Good morning, St. Paul’s! It is a real blessing to break open the Word with you this morning. For those of you who are new to St. Paul’s or whom I haven’t met yet, my name is Isaac Martinez and I’m so thrilled to serve as a curate here. But, Jeff, I’m going to have start taking a real hard look at the readings before I agree to any more preaching dates. First Sodom and Gomorrah over the summer, and now today’s Gospel? C’mon!