{"id":1907,"date":"2025-09-28T08:15:22","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T12:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/?p=1907"},"modified":"2025-10-02T13:01:59","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T17:01:59","slug":"pay-attention-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/2025\/09\/28\/pay-attention-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Pay Attention"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Sermon for the Salem United Church of Christ of Harrisburg, PA<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">by Rev. James Eaton, Interim Pastor \u00a92025<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">16th Sunday After Pentecost\/C \u2022 September 28, 2025<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15 \u2022 1 Timothy 6:6-19 \u2022 Luke&nbsp;16:19-31<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Pay-Attention-10225-12.58-PM.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhich side are you on? Which side are you on?\u201d It\u2019s a line from an old union organizing song; in my head I hear Pete Seeger singing it. But it\u2019s also an ancient question it seems people have always asked. As far back as we know, our stories, our sagas, our poetry speak of sides. Homer\u2019s Iliad, the great story of a war between Greeks and Trojans imagines sides, and the Bible is full of them: Hebrews and Egyptians, Israelites and Canaanites. Genesis traces our division all the way to the first brothers, Cain and Abel, with one being murdered. Which side are you on?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The story we read from Luke is the Jesus version of a much older parable. It was always obvious that life had immense inequities. Some are rich; some are poor; some live out on the couch of comfort while others huddle on cold cement.&nbsp;Like the parable we read last week, it begins, \u201cThere was a man\u2026\u201d Between that story and this one, we\u2019ve skipped Jesus castigating the clergy there for their attachment to riches. Last week we heard about a dishonest manager who finally uses his dishonesty not to enrich himself but to make relationships; now we hear about another man, never named, who is already rich and doesn\u2019t really understand that it\u2019s relationships, not riches, God wants.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The situation imagined in the parable is common. There is a rich man; there is a poor man. The rich man has good food, good friends, good everything. He feasts every day; he dresses like a king, for only kings could afford clothes made with the expensive purple dye. The poor man has nothing. He\u2019s hungry and sick; he has the first-century version of no health insurance: he lies in the street with sores, unable to even fend off the dogs. His name is Lazarus, but he\u2019s not the famous Lazarus resurrected by Jesus. He\u2019s all the unhoused folks we see on street corners; he\u2019s the person who lost their home and doesn\u2019t even have a car to live in.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But, we\u2019re told, at death things reverse. Lazarus, the poor man, is carried to heaven by angels. The rich man? The text simply says: \u201cHe died\u201d. In the afterlife, they find their fortunes reversed. The poor man cuddles in the lap of Father Abraham, the revered patriarch and companion of God; the rich man is in a place of torment. This is meant to be a metaphor, not an actual description of the after-life. Jesus has borrowed from the Greeks the concept of a two&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Long before Jesus, similar stories were told of a profound reversal of fortune. \u201cRemember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony,\u201d Abraham says in response to the rich man\u2019s complaint. The moral seems to be that God seeks a kind of even keel, a balance, and that the more unbalanced we are, the more we should look for reversal in the future. Be careful if your side is up: in the cycle of life, up comes just before down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Beyond the Story<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other ancient Near Eastern versions of this story end here, with balance restored and the positions of the men reversed. What\u2019s truly curious about this story is how Jesus has used the story to go on and make a profound point about our relationship with God. Consider the conversation in the afterlife.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What\u2019s clear almost immediately is that the rich man has learned nothing. He tells Abraham to send Lazarus to get him a drink, as if he still was in charge, as if even there, his comfort was the most important priority. When he is refused, he still doesn\u2019t understand the new state of things; \u201c\u2026then send Lazarus to warn my brothers,\u201d the rich man says. Even here, the rich man can\u2019t see Lazarus as anything but a servant, a means of getting what he wants. Abraham replies that his brothers have Moses and the prophets, a way of saying, they have the scriptures. \u201cBut if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent,\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But will they? What will it take to get some attention, some attention for God, some attention for God\u2019s purpose and rules? This story is being remembered and told in a church with amazing similarities to ours. The first century was a time of cultural ferment. All around the people for whom Luke\u2019s gospel were written was a rich cultural buffet with many options. Philosophers and preachers held forth on street corners. It was a prosperous time and some were rich; many were poor. Rome made peace throughout the Mediterranean world and trade thrives in peace time. We know that in the time Luke\u2019s gospel was first read, items from Spain were found in Palestine, Egyptian wheat was eaten in Rome, British goods traveled to Iran and the world was full of choices. But in a world of choices, a noisy world full of the clamor of the market, how is it possible to hear God\u2019s voice and God\u2019s word?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Pay Attention Please<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Paul makes the same point in a letter to Timothy. Perhaps the most misquoted verse in the entire Bible is Paul\u2019s statement that \u201c\u2026the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil\u2026\u201d [1 Timothy 6:10] Sometimes we say, \u201cMoney is the root of all evil,\u201d but that\u2019s not what Paul has in mind. He knows that money itself has no moral value, it\u2019s just a way of keeping score. Money is an energy stored: so much work, so much sold, so much earned. It isn\u2019t money that\u2019s evil; the evil comes from fixing our focus on money.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What Paul knows is that anything in this world that so occupies us, so consumes us, so captures us, takes our attention from God. That\u2019s what he means to address and that\u2019s what Jesus is lifting up as well. God wants our attention. The ministry of Jesus, the preaching of the prophets, all are a way of God saying to us, \u201cPay attention please!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here is the issue, presented at the end of the parable: if someone comes back from the dead, will even that be enough to get our attention? This is a Christian scripture; this is a Christian question. We gather every Easter to say, \u201cChrist is risen, he is risen indeed,\u201d but is even that enough to get our attention? But then we look at our calendar, we look at our checkbook, we hear the voices of all those who want us to do something, and we begin to respond. Someone needs a ride; someone needs a job done. We make their approval or material things or some other worldly thing become our goal, and it draws us like the North Pole draws a compass. In the midst of it, the voice of God is often lost. Even our religious life can become a part of the noise. American religion increasingly is about what we do. In many churches, the whole emphasis is on getting saved, saying the right formula. Our prayers become to-do lists for God, delegated duties that are beyond our ability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But what is God saying in the midst of all this noise? God is saying pay attention. And we will never hear the rest until we do pay attention. The first act of faith is not to memorize a catechism or believe something, it is to take God seriously enough to stop doing, stop saying, and start paying attention. The first act of faith is not to say your prayers; it is to stop and listen The first act of prayer is not to ask, it is to listen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Jesus Listened<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jesus listened, and the amazing thing is that he heard both Lazarus and the rich man. He heard God erasing the sides, refusing the sides: he saw that to God they were one people, regarded with one love. He heard the suffering of the Lazaruses of this world, of course, and all the accounts of his ministry include healing. But he also heard the desperation of the rich ones too. He never stopped listening to the Pharisees, even when they opposed him. He tells them this story: they are the audience here. He invited them to stop choosing sides and follow God in choosing to share with each other, forgive each other, embrace each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Which side are you on? It\u2019s second nature for us to choose sides. We do it in sports, we do it in music, clothing, style. When I bought a Nikon camera years ago, I discovered I hadn\u2019t just bought a camera, I had become a part of the Nikon tribe; there were people who got angry at me because I had that brand of camera. We do it in our politics. The last Presidential election was particularly nasty. I see people losing friendships because of it. Now I love politics, I\u2019ve been involved as a volunteer and sometimes a professional for years. But here it has no place; this is not a place for choosing sides, this is a place for paying attention to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Following Jesus&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I want to follow Jesus. Following Jesus means first, paying attention to God. When I pay attention to God, what I see is that God is beyond the sides. God is beyond the divisions. Our God is the God of all: rich and poor, alike. So the more we can do to live as binders together, stepping over the division of sides, the more we will find ourselves following in the footsteps of Jesus. That\u2019s why our church continuously offers a chance to do things that recognize people. We do it individually when we baptize someone. We do it when we act in mission together, as we\u2019ve done with the Christian Churches United. We do it individually when we bring a coat or some food. All these are ways of paying attention to God\u2019s call in Jesus Christ to mutual care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Which side are you on? Only when we realize the sides are just human inventions will we finally find ourselves where God has been all the time: beyond the sides, caring for all, listening to all, loving all. And it is when we know how God has loved all that we also come to the most powerful realization of all: that God loves each of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Sermon for the Salem United Church of Christ of Harrisburg, PA by Rev. James Eaton, Interim Pastor \u00a92025 16th Sunday After Pentecost\/C \u2022 September 28, 2025 Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15 \u2022 1 Timothy 6:6-19 \u2022 Luke&nbsp;16:19-31 \u201cWhich side are you on? Which side are you on?\u201d It\u2019s a line from an old union organizing song; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[53,371,3,32],"tags":[400,98,172],"class_list":["post-1907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-afterpentecost-c","category-luke","category-sermon","category-year-c","tag-equity","tag-hope","tag-love"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1907"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1914,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1907\/revisions\/1914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}