You've Got to be Kidding

Today we were blessed with Bishop Henderson's presence at the Episcopal Church of Our Saviour. I give him good marks for his sermon, although I have to wonder why he struggled with today's readings. He sounded like he grappled with the notion of bargaining with God as Abraham did over just how many righteous would it take to spare the rest of the city of Sodom(Genesis 18:23)? Hmm..., now why would any leader in TEC have problems with that? I find the scripture reassuring. As long as there are a few in TEC that are righteous, perhaps the rest of us will be spared God's wrath. On a personal note, I love the Jewish humor of the story of Abraham bargaining with God, who in the end simply walks away from the bargaining table. I also like the human side of the parable of the man who does not want to get out of bed to get some bread for his neighbor (who ate all of his own instead of setting some aside for guests?). I too hate to be called at night with requests for things that should have been taken care of before bedtime. And why was the Bishop troubled by the way the man had to persist in his request for bread? If the neighbor holding onto the bread represents God, then my take on this is don't bother God after bedtime because He is a bit grumpy before He has that first cup of coffee. Bishop Henderson reminds us that God may answer, "Yes, No, or Later or in the word's of Jimmy Carter "You've got to be kidding.'"
Today's scriptures can lead us into interesting ground for discussion, so I will take the positive side of things and instead of calling them "difficult" I would label them as "learning experiences."

One more issue, and that has to do with "Abba" and the Lord's prayer. Is there a translation that uses "Abba" in place of "Father?" http://www.cardinalspellman.org/prayers/multilingual_ourfather.htm
And is an Aramaic version of the Lord's prayer authorized? If so, name the Aramaean who proof read it? If not, I will be happy to write one for you.