[Uucf-bible] Discussion of Readings from Lectionary for Sept. 19

[RevRonRobinson at aol.com]

Hi all. Here are two readings from the lectionary for this week. We haven't 
done one of the older prophets yet, so I chose the Amos reading from the Hebrew 
scriptures. To me, it is like a prayer of confession and call to 
accountability to get back on track with my highest aspirations and not to squander the 
blessings in my life I have received without earning, and likewise for our faith 
communities and nation. 
There is so much--isn't there always?--in Jesus' parable in Luke that I am 
going to post on it separately when I can. Most scholars end Jesus' words and 
the parable at verse 8a; the rest coming from Lukan community some 50 to 60 
years later after Jesus. This one will be fun!!
blessings, Ron 

Amos 8:1-12
8
This is what the Lord GOD showed me--a basket of summer fruit. 2He said, 
"Amos, what do you see?" And I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then the LORD 
said to me, The end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again pass them 
by. 3The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day," says the Lord 
GOD; "the dead bodies shall be many, cast out in every place. Be silent!" 
4 Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the 
land, 5saying, "When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain; and 
the sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale? We will make the ephah 
small and the shekel great, and practice deceit with false balances, 6buying the 
poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings 
of the wheat." 7The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely I will never 
forget any of their deeds. 8Shall not the land tremble on this account, and 
everyone mourn who lives in it, and all of it rise like the Nile, and be tossed 
about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt? 9On that day, says the Lord GOD, 
I will make the sun go down at noon, and darken the earth in broad daylight. 
10I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; 
I will bring sackcloth on all loins, and baldness on every head; I will make 
it like the mourning for an only son, and the end of it like a bitter day. 
11 The time is surely coming, says the Lord GOD, when I will send a famine on 
the land; not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, but of hearing the 
words of the LORD. 12They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; 
they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD, but they shall not 
find it. 
Luke 16:1-13
16
Then 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. 2So 
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.”
 3Then 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. 4I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, 
people may welcome me into their homes.” 5So, summoning his master’s debtors 
one by one, he asked the first, “How much do you owe my master?” 6He 
answered, “A hundred jugs of olive oil.” He said to him, “Take your bill, sit down 
quickly, and make it fifty.” 7Then 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.” 8And 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. 9And 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. 10‘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. 11If then you have not been faithful with the 
dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12And if you have not 
been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? 
13No 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.’