Free Stories/illustrations For Proper 21 | Ordinary Time 26
Stories
Object:
The Rich Man's Table
By Rick McCracken-Bennett
Luke 16:19-31
Jesus said, "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores."
Luke 16:19-21
Our congregation was taking a turn at a downtown church cooking and serving a meal for about 125 folks. A dozen or so of us arrived early to help my wife prepare barbequed chicken and other fixings, set the tables, and otherwise get things ready so that we could feed people who would no doubt be hungry.
Sure enough, this Wednesday was no different. Some arrived early and attended a prayer service upstairs and when they finished and the doors opened, our guests streamed in. Our kids worked hard and when it came time to serve the meals family-style they jumped right in, brought the food, filled their glasses, talked with the neighborhood children, and enthusiastically handed out dessert at the end of the meal. We were nervous that we hadn't prepared enough, but somehow, some way, no one went home hungry, and those with small children took with them some milk and a few meals of leftovers.
We always feel like we've done something that has a real, if brief, impact on that neighborhood, and I'm always interested in watching the reaction of church members, especially the children, who served for the first time.
That particular evening as the meal came to an end I walked outside to talk with three of the people who had just eaten. I asked if they got enough. "Best meal I've had in weeks," one said.
"My wife cooked it," I said proudly, patting my belly.
"You're a lucky man!" he replied and I thought, he's right, I really am a lucky man.
We talked for a little longer and then I asked, "So... where do you guys live?" They stared at me and then looked back and forth at each other with little grins on their faces. I suddenly got it, "Oh my... you're... you're homeless!" They just nodded. I tried to recover from my faux pas and asked them how they did it... how did they live on the streets? Where did they eat? How did they stay safe?
"You have to have at least some money. Where do you get it?" I asked.
"At the exit ramps around town. We hold up signs."
"Do people really give you money?"
"Some do. Some act like they don't see us." They began to laugh and one said, "When she's on my exit ramp holding her sign that says 'Homeless' I stand on the other side of the ramp with a sign that says 'She ain't homeless but I am.' "
It was getting late and the pastor came out and said she would be giving them a ride. "Where? Where are you going?" I asked, hoping it was to a shelter somewhere nearby.
"You've never been there. Down by the river if the cops haven't moved the camp."
They thanked me again for the meal and for talking with them and left with the pastor to go "home." I went back downstairs to finish with cleanup and then drove home. All the way I thought about our conversation and how the one guy looked so familiar. I was almost home when it dawned on me where I had seen him before. He had been at the exit ramp off of 315 holding a cardboard sign that said he was homeless. Only a couple of hours before, he had been an anonymous person holding a ratty-looking sign that I only caught out of the corner of my eye as I tried to make my way through the light before he could rap on my window and ask for money.
I wonder what I'll do the next time I see someone with their cardboard sign. Will I help to satisfy his hunger with what falls from my table? I wonder.
I still don't know his name, but in my prayers each night, I call him Lazarus.
A Story to Live By
The Ex-Tither
But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith...
1 Timothy 6:9-10a
John was a faithful member of his church. He regularly gave 10% of his income, but he was far from rich. In fact, he could barely keep his head above water, what with the rapid growth of his kids' feet; new shoes cost more each year! And how they did eat! The bills seemed to have no end. So John went to his pastor to ask advice. The pastor said, "John, get down on your knees." So the two men knelt (in those times pastors were, alas, only men), and the pastor prayed that John would have enough money -- more than he currently had. Well, it worked. John became really rich. But he no longer gave 10% of his income -- he gave the same amount he had given before. So the pastor asked John to come in to the study, and again told him to get down on his knees. "Why, Pastor?" John asked. "I have enough money now." "Just kneel," the pastor answered. So they knelt, and the pastor prayed fervently that John would only have enough money so that he could still give 10%.
The Rich Woman and the Bag Lady
by John Sumwalt
"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.' "
Luke 16:25
There was a rich woman who lived in the penthouse of a big city apartment building. And in the park across the street there lived a poor bag lady named Clara who wanted nothing more than to pick through the rich woman's garbage. Clara was crippled, and could walk only with the aid of a shopping cart, in which she kept all of her earthly possessions. Moreover, little children used to taunt her as she went about her daily rounds.
The poor bag lady died and was carried by the angels to heaven to sit at the right hand of Jesus. The rich woman also died, was buried, and went straight to hell, and there in torment she looked up and saw Jesus, afar off, and Clara sitting beside him with her head on his shoulder.
And the rich woman called out, "Dear Jesus, have mercy on me and send Clara to put an ice cube on my tongue, for I am in anguish in this place." But Jesus said, "Remember in your lifetime you received your good things, and Clara received evil things, but now she is comforted here and you are in anguish. And besides all of this, between us and you there is a great gap, in order that those who would go from here to you may not be able, and no one may cross from there to us."
And the rich woman said, "Then I beg you, dear Jesus, to send Clara to my sisters at the club so that she may warn them, so that they may avoid this place of torment." But Jesus said, "They have bag ladies aplenty living among them; let them hear them." And the rich woman said, "No, dear Jesus, if someone goes to them from the dead, they will listen." Jesus answered, "I have risen from the dead and I live among them in all of the poor and homeless throughout the world. If they cannot see me, neither will they be convinced if someone else should rise from the dead."
By Rick McCracken-Bennett
Luke 16:19-31
Jesus said, "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores."
Luke 16:19-21
Our congregation was taking a turn at a downtown church cooking and serving a meal for about 125 folks. A dozen or so of us arrived early to help my wife prepare barbequed chicken and other fixings, set the tables, and otherwise get things ready so that we could feed people who would no doubt be hungry.
Sure enough, this Wednesday was no different. Some arrived early and attended a prayer service upstairs and when they finished and the doors opened, our guests streamed in. Our kids worked hard and when it came time to serve the meals family-style they jumped right in, brought the food, filled their glasses, talked with the neighborhood children, and enthusiastically handed out dessert at the end of the meal. We were nervous that we hadn't prepared enough, but somehow, some way, no one went home hungry, and those with small children took with them some milk and a few meals of leftovers.
We always feel like we've done something that has a real, if brief, impact on that neighborhood, and I'm always interested in watching the reaction of church members, especially the children, who served for the first time.
That particular evening as the meal came to an end I walked outside to talk with three of the people who had just eaten. I asked if they got enough. "Best meal I've had in weeks," one said.
"My wife cooked it," I said proudly, patting my belly.
"You're a lucky man!" he replied and I thought, he's right, I really am a lucky man.
We talked for a little longer and then I asked, "So... where do you guys live?" They stared at me and then looked back and forth at each other with little grins on their faces. I suddenly got it, "Oh my... you're... you're homeless!" They just nodded. I tried to recover from my faux pas and asked them how they did it... how did they live on the streets? Where did they eat? How did they stay safe?
"You have to have at least some money. Where do you get it?" I asked.
"At the exit ramps around town. We hold up signs."
"Do people really give you money?"
"Some do. Some act like they don't see us." They began to laugh and one said, "When she's on my exit ramp holding her sign that says 'Homeless' I stand on the other side of the ramp with a sign that says 'She ain't homeless but I am.' "
It was getting late and the pastor came out and said she would be giving them a ride. "Where? Where are you going?" I asked, hoping it was to a shelter somewhere nearby.
"You've never been there. Down by the river if the cops haven't moved the camp."
They thanked me again for the meal and for talking with them and left with the pastor to go "home." I went back downstairs to finish with cleanup and then drove home. All the way I thought about our conversation and how the one guy looked so familiar. I was almost home when it dawned on me where I had seen him before. He had been at the exit ramp off of 315 holding a cardboard sign that said he was homeless. Only a couple of hours before, he had been an anonymous person holding a ratty-looking sign that I only caught out of the corner of my eye as I tried to make my way through the light before he could rap on my window and ask for money.
I wonder what I'll do the next time I see someone with their cardboard sign. Will I help to satisfy his hunger with what falls from my table? I wonder.
I still don't know his name, but in my prayers each night, I call him Lazarus.
A Story to Live By
The Ex-Tither
But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith...
1 Timothy 6:9-10a
John was a faithful member of his church. He regularly gave 10% of his income, but he was far from rich. In fact, he could barely keep his head above water, what with the rapid growth of his kids' feet; new shoes cost more each year! And how they did eat! The bills seemed to have no end. So John went to his pastor to ask advice. The pastor said, "John, get down on your knees." So the two men knelt (in those times pastors were, alas, only men), and the pastor prayed that John would have enough money -- more than he currently had. Well, it worked. John became really rich. But he no longer gave 10% of his income -- he gave the same amount he had given before. So the pastor asked John to come in to the study, and again told him to get down on his knees. "Why, Pastor?" John asked. "I have enough money now." "Just kneel," the pastor answered. So they knelt, and the pastor prayed fervently that John would only have enough money so that he could still give 10%.
The Rich Woman and the Bag Lady
by John Sumwalt
"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.' "
Luke 16:25
There was a rich woman who lived in the penthouse of a big city apartment building. And in the park across the street there lived a poor bag lady named Clara who wanted nothing more than to pick through the rich woman's garbage. Clara was crippled, and could walk only with the aid of a shopping cart, in which she kept all of her earthly possessions. Moreover, little children used to taunt her as she went about her daily rounds.
The poor bag lady died and was carried by the angels to heaven to sit at the right hand of Jesus. The rich woman also died, was buried, and went straight to hell, and there in torment she looked up and saw Jesus, afar off, and Clara sitting beside him with her head on his shoulder.
And the rich woman called out, "Dear Jesus, have mercy on me and send Clara to put an ice cube on my tongue, for I am in anguish in this place." But Jesus said, "Remember in your lifetime you received your good things, and Clara received evil things, but now she is comforted here and you are in anguish. And besides all of this, between us and you there is a great gap, in order that those who would go from here to you may not be able, and no one may cross from there to us."
And the rich woman said, "Then I beg you, dear Jesus, to send Clara to my sisters at the club so that she may warn them, so that they may avoid this place of torment." But Jesus said, "They have bag ladies aplenty living among them; let them hear them." And the rich woman said, "No, dear Jesus, if someone goes to them from the dead, they will listen." Jesus answered, "I have risen from the dead and I live among them in all of the poor and homeless throughout the world. If they cannot see me, neither will they be convinced if someone else should rise from the dead."
