Odds
The Gospel reading for tomorrow is this…
Luke 16:19-31
16:19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day.
16:20 And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,
16:21 who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores.
16:22 The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried.
16:23 In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side.
16:24 He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.’
16:25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember 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.
16:26 Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’
16:27 He said, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house–
16:28 for I have five brothers–that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’
16:29 Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’
16:30 He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’
16:31 He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'”
It looks like there’s a divide between rich and poor, and according to Jesus, you would not want to be on the rich side of this divide, not in the kingdom of God.
I leave it to the reader to judge whether this divide in the UK is set to get deeper or not. I leave it to the reader to decide whether it makes any difference that reports say a group of rich people stand to gain stonking amounts from bets they’ve made on an economic disaster.
Ends
It was good to support Janet as she accompanied a friend on part of the St Cuthbert Way.
I discovered yesterday that, when it’s about matters of the heart, ‘ectopic’ can mean ‘out of place, timewise’, rather than spacewise.
I’m trying to remember something my parents used to say about us Brits learning fair play ‘on the playing fields of Eton’. It seems the school has gone a bit crappy since then.
Prayer
Living God,
in a time of pain and despair,
a time of fear needlessly inflicted,
God forgive us.
Help us to learn to sing
the song of hope again.
Show us the face of Jesus
who suffered because of us,
and gave hope to the world.
Forgive us, we pray.
Show us a better way.
Help us to believe again
that you are really alive in this land.