for Sunday, September 19 (Proper 20, Year C)

Good Behavior
Luke 16:1–8a (Parable of the Shrewd Manager)

This week is a toughie for addressing children. Jeremiah is at his worst: There is no balm in Gilead. And even the Gospel has one of the most complicated parables. It’s a very adult story, barely explicable only by irony or its being exclusively about worldly concerns. But everyone should be able to address making choices about how to behave, and maybe how much clearer those choices should be when they’re not limited to concerns of this world. I have stopped at the parable rated red by the Jesus Seminar and left out what those Fellows understood as rationalization by the later church.

On the other hand, maybe this is an opportunity to draw together the Book of Amos, which skips around just two bits of misdeeds as alternate readings this week and next, and doesn’t get to God’s great call for justice.

Musical ideas: A great song from my long-ago youth, “I Want Justice” by Jim Moore (jimmoorecm.org) captures the whole book of Amos and is a great focus for discussion.

Especially if you have a chance to discuss with the adults the Christological turnaround, go ahead and use “There Is a Balm ...” (PH #394) for its connection to the persistence of hope in the experience of African-Americans.