1 Kings 21:1-10, (11-14), 15-21a

Pentecost +3 - Year C

1 Kings 21:1-10, (11-14), 15-21a

Greed and Entitlement denied often show up as Resentment and Sulking.

Both Resentment and Sulking keep us tied to Greed and Entitlement and blind us from finding a better way.

In today's world we find the Greed of corporations and Entitlement of an American public in collusion that leads to so-called "accidents" as oil in the Gulf of Mexico and wars around the world. The only surprising thing is that it has taken so long for a particular event such as the Gulf Oil Disaster to raise Elijah to our consciousness.

Greed and Entitlement are also revealed in the collusion between Parish and Parishioners. Their crash comes in many forms. Each encounter comes from holding on too tightly to the past, keeping Greed and Entitlement going. Much less often an encounter with Greed and Entitlement comes from trying to move too quickly into the future to exact an equivalent to capturing as much profit and continued cheap gas as possible in the shortest amount of time. These mirror images of one another can be informative to us if we are willing to give up our control of past and future and to reflect on the multiple needs in the present for justice. Where are the voices for the poor, the earth, and the disregarded in communal economies (financial as well as relational)? Our models of a market free from constraint (social or religious) will not last another 100 years, as it leaves too many people farther and farther behind. This is not just unconscionable, but a seed-bed for an unnecessary revolution and disjuncture.

Let us remember Ahab and Jezebel for their continued witness to the need for a common-unity way where all will have enough and none have too little. In terms of a current religious issue we need to break the Greed and Entitlement cycle by stopping our talk about "Homosexuals" as an issue and refocus on gay and lesbians Christians in a Heterosexist (Greed and Entitlement) Institution.