MESSAGE Luke 19:1-9

Meet two old geezers - rich old goats who were tighter than tight.

"Eb was a tight-fisted, covetous old sinner; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.  The cold within him froze his old features.  No warmth could warm him, nor wintry weather chill him.  Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, 'how are you,' and no beggars implored him to drop a coin in their cup, no children asked him what time it was.  Even the blind men's dogs appeared to know him, and would wag their tails as if to say, 'no eye at all is better than an evil eye, dark master!'" (Charles Dickens)

You could find Eb each day, in his counting house.  He was so miserly that he only had one clerk to do the job of many, and one little stove to keep him warm and one little lamp to light his work.  Eb believed that the end of the year was the time for paying bills, a time when you found yourself one year older AND not one year richer, a time for balancing the books.  Eb was rich, and yet, according to him, not richer than last year, so what reason did he have to be happy.

Three visions in a wild dream cause Eb to take a look at his life.  through these visions he is reminded of his past and the people he had loved and known and who had been influenced by him and his actions.  It was only when he saw his own name on a headstone which is a foretaste of the future that he becomes aware of how his life really is now.  In his dream he calls out, "Hear me! I am not the

My Lord What a Morning - an original poem

 

 

 

I went to the Shelter

To volunteer my time,

Then to the soup kitchen

Where there was quite a line.

 

There are so many people

With such great needs,

It's really incredible

We have so many to feed.

 

Poor and downtrodden,

Simple and plain

The needy and wandering

With or without shame.

 

Some dirty, some young

Just the shirt on his back

Made me really wonder

What did these people lack?

 

Some, like sweet Mary,

Young and unwed,

How did this happen?

Was all that she said.

 

A poor lowly maiden

Without neighbor or friend

Could have only desired

This new life to end.

 

But suddenly a voice

From the clouds up above

Gave Mary a deep faith

For a child she would love.

 

And Joseph, her chosen,

Was sick with despair

Would rather have left her

Without even a care.

 

But Joseph too heard

A voice from above,

For Mary his betrothed

And a child he would love

 

The reason God chose her

We'd soon be aware

Is that God came unto us

His love we should share.

 

We go out into the world.

To seek our dear Lord.

We look every where

To find his reward.

 

As we look in the stores

And at gatherings this season,

We often forget that

Jesus Christ is the reason.

 

The words, "unto us,"

Are the clue to this search

That Jesus is not only

Found in a church.

 

Look for the persecuted,

Those in sorrow or despised.

Christ will appear

Right before your eyes!

 

For the baby Christ child

Has been born to us all

And to each faithful heart

He issues a call -

 

"Be ready my servants,

For you know not when

The hour will come,

When I will return again."

 

 -----December, 2001  SB