HOMELESS Memorial Manual

Postscript / Addendum

TWO SERMONS:   for our rich, privileged members… 

James 2:1-17 (selected vss) -  Proper 18-B

Brothers and Sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?  …have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? …you have dishonored the poor.  Is it not the rich who oppress you?  …they who drag you into court?  

…You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  But if you show partiality, you commit sin… So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

What good is it if you say you have faith but do not have works?  …So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.  

“DIVES & LAZARUS”        ~  Luke 16:19-31  - Proper 21-C    

Is there any confusion about what this Parable means?  It’s about =  Heaven & Hell,   Money,  Caring & Justice.   Amazingly, it “hits” ALL the High Points & Major Themes of the New Testament AND the Christian Faith.       …CONTINUED…

QUOTABLE:

“God does not discourage enjoyment of blessings; but

        God does more than encourage sharing those blessings:     

                 God commands it.”       Ron Love

~ Another Sermon:  Luke 16:19-31            (source: Dick Donovan)

I would like to begin my ‘sermon time’ by “unpacking” some of this parable’s details.

1st by introduction = the prevailing theology at THAT TIME of Jesus was =

  “wealth” is a sign of God's blessing   &   “poverty” a sign of God's displeasure. 

So thoroughly indoctrinated were the leaders and the people THEN ~ THAT

        they would consider a person like Lazarus to deserve his suffering

                – to be guilty of some heinous sin…       AND

   that the “rich man” deserved his comforts and luxurious life-style; yes, he was blest. …CONTINUED…