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Matthew 13:24-30, 36-4324[Jesus] put before [the crowds] another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field;25but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. 26So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. 27And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ 28He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. 30Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’ ” 36Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” 37He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; 38the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, 39and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, 42and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!”Support the show (https://www.eservicepayments.com/cgi-bin/Vanco_ver3.vps?appver3=Fi1giPL8kwX_Oe1AO50jRsnTqfuD7ImZ7-sV_WSWFu9EOVZpPcIw91FrYieK2rA42EvVVAEjqawDomKT1pboues_SJBTR7Eq65qlUR-dSmo=&ver=3)

The scripture readings for this Sunday, November 11, were Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23 and Mark 12:36-44. Rev. Laura Mayo have the proclamation. The text has also been included below. #TheseAreOurSacredStories I finished proofing the final copy of my article for the Houston Chronicle on Wednesday, but on Thursday morning I learned that to twelve more people were gunned down, I wanted to edit what I had written to include them. Because I used the word slaughtered to describe what happened to the eleven Jews in their temple and the word murdered to describe another gunman’s attack on two African-American grandparents, I needed a different verb and thus my use of the thesaurus. I looked up alternative words for slaughter this week: I was out of words. I feel like I am all out of words. There are not enough thesauruses in the world for what is happening in our country. And I cannot be silent. You cannot be silent. We must find the words, find the actions, find the courage to demand that gun violence in our country stop. We must demand that it stop with our voices as we call and write our elected officials and even if we feel like it’s not doing any good we say that we will not tolerate assault rifles in the hands of civilians; that we will not tolerate the lack of background checks and waiting periods; that we are not willing to live with mass shootings as the status quo.   This is a public health crisis. We must demand over and over and over that we pass universal background checks. Demand that we close the private sale loophole. Demand that we reinstate the ban on the purchase and sale of assault weapons. 12,504 people were shot at killed by a gun so far this year. 24,284 were injured. 3,002 of those slaughtered were under 18 years of age (including two 15 year old Lamar High School students who were killed with a gun this week). The overwhelming majority of these lives would have been saved with effective gun control. We know that this is so, because, in societies that have effective gun control, people rarely, rarely, rarely die of gunshots. The states with strong gun laws have fewer gun murders (and suicides and accidental killings) than states with lax laws. We cannot listen to those who, as the death toll mounts, say that this is an impossibly hard, or even particularly complex, problem. We cannot listen to pronouncements that more guns will make us safer. We cannot let NRA money write the narrative. We must open our eyes. This is just what Jesus asks of us in today’s lection: that we see, that we refuse the status quo, that we topple the oppression of the domination systems. “Jesus sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. 42A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny.43Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. 44For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on” (Mark 12:41-44). I typically write proclamations on Thursday. This means that after my trip to the thesaurus for another word for slaughter, I turned my attention to our sacred stories for this week. As I reread Mark, several things began to take on a different light. I have exclusively heard this passage as a way to induce guilt such that congregants will give more to stewardship or capital campaigns. I have heard this woman’s story reduced to a moral time and time again - she gave all she had, surely you can give a little more . . . But such exploitation is not why Jesus invites us to see her. I wish I knew her name. Instead of her name, we are given her status: to be a widow in first century Palestine was to be a woman living on the margins of society. She had no safety net: no husband to advocate for her, no pension to draw from, no social status to speak of. She was vulnerable in every single way. Two pennies short of the end. And she gave those away. Are we really meant to applaud a destitute woman who gave her last two cents to the Temple, and then slipped away to starve? She gave all she had to live on - her whole life. “Why? Asks Biblical scholar Karoline Lewis, “Out of obligation? Respect? Demand? Expectation? Religiosity? Piety? All of the above? She gave her whole life because there were no other options. She gave her whole life because that’s what was expected of her. She gave her whole life because her life depended on it. Caught in a system of quid pro quo, trapped in expectations that demanded more from her than she could practically give, knowing that her future depended on her present, she had to do what she did. She acted out of assumptions and assertions and assessments that located her, managed her, and determined her life. There was no other recourse than to give her whole life.” To be clear, very clear: this is not an indictment against Judaism. Set this story in any cathedral, in any institution that should care for the poor but instead devours them. As Jesus taught, he said, “Beware of the religious leaders, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, 39and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! 40They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation” (Mark 12:38-40).  The religious leaders devour the widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers while the widow, after her offering, is left with only her prayers to devour; she has no money for food. And Jesus asks us to see it - Jesus doesn’t say we should offer her our thoughts and prayers - he says the religious leaders offering long prayers while participating in oppression and injustice will be condemned. This passage is located on the Tuesday of the last week of Jesus’ life. Jesus has been offering one scathing critique after another of the economic and political exploitation he witnessed all around him. On Sunday Jesus made a mockery of Roman pomp and circumstance with his protest march through Jerusalem. On Monday he took a whip into the house of worship and turned over the tables of the money changers bringing the business of the temple to a halt; He shouts: God’s house is to be a house of prayer but you have made it a safehouse for your oppression and injustice and this will not stand. Jesus seeks to end the collaboration between the religious leaders and Roman imperial control. Jesus points out the religious leaders’ hypocrisy again and again: our hypocrisy - we cannot make this about them and not us. Long prayers offered for show while widows’ houses are devoured.   And here is a widow now. Look at her. See her. Jesus invites the disciples - invites us to open ourselves to this widow. Jesus demands we watch her give her life away. She is not a stewardship sermon. Jesus never commends the widow; he doesn’t applaud her self-sacrifice; he never suggests we should follow in her footsteps.   Jesus asks us to see her: When I say you devour widows’ houses, this is what I mean. This is what you do. Look at her. Be a witness to her devouring - and worse to her participation in her own devouring. No one makes her give the last of her resources. This is the story of the televangelist begging for a new jet who takes the last of the elderly couple’s savings and then refuses to help when there’s no money for medicine. This is the swirl of religiosity and NRA money that has Christians believing there is nothing to be done about the public health crisis caused by guns; and worse has them participating in their own devouring as they vote time and again for people who care more about money than human lives. Lest you think this cannot be what Jesus meant, lest you think all those stewardship sermons were right on, consider Jesus’ next words: As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” 2Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down” (Mark 13:1-2). It is time to take back this sacred story. It is time to take back every narrative that preserves the status quo rather than justice. We must, as Jesus did, call out any form of religiosity that manipulates the vulnerable into self-harm and self-destruction. Jesus sees the widow. Jesus' eyes are ever on the least, the insignificant, the hidden. Jesus holds up children, women, the vulnerable time and time again and asks us to see, to welcome, to love, to care.  And here, just before his own death, he asks for more than sight, more than welcome, more than love, more than care -- he asks us to see the damage of the domination systems, to know that they cannot continue to stand - “not one stone will be left here upon another” - and calls us to work for change; to upend the status quo; to build the kingdom not of money, not of collaboration with the oppressors .  . . No, we are called to build the realm of God. The widow allows the last scraps of her security to fall out of her palm. She is not an object lesson. She is a prophet: her life and her coming death speak a holy denouncement of injustice and corruption. Without speaking a word, she proclaims God's Word in the ancient tradition of Isaiah, Elijah, Jeremiah, and Amos - words like: "The LORD enters into judgment against the elders and leaders: It is you who have ruined my vineyard; the plunder from the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?' declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty" (Isaiah 3:14-15).   Are we willing to see those being devoured by our domination systems? Are we willing to call bluff on the common narrative?  Can we see the widow? Can we see the thousands slaughtered by guns? Can we work and work and speak and march and demand change? The widow doesn’t need our thoughts and prayers she needs the system to change. Amen. - Rev. Laura Mayo

Find us online at: AdventNYC.orgEmail us at: Podcast@AdventNYC.orgTalk with us at: Advent Sermons & Conversations on FacebookCome to a service and hear the sermons live and in person Sunday morning 9am and 11am in English and 12:30pm in Spanish at 93rd and Broadway.Readings for this WeekFirst Reading: 1 Kings 17:8-16This chapter begins the story of Elijah. God sends a drought on Israel because of the sins of King Ahab. This passage depicts God’s saving acts not only on behalf of Elijah, but also on behalf of those who are associated with the prophet, even a foreigner, the widow of Zarephath.8The word of the Lord came to [Elijah,] saying, 9“Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” 10So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.” 11As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” 12But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” 13Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. 14For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth.” 15She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. 16The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.Psalm: Psalm 146The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down. (Ps. 146:8)1Hal- | lelujah!Praise the Lord, | O my soul!2I will praise the Lord as long | as I live;I will sing praises to my God while I | have my being.3Put not your | trust in rulers,in mortals in whom there | is no help.4When they breathe their last, they re- | turn to earth,and in that day | their thoughts perish. R5Happy are they who have the God of Jacob | for their help,whose hope is in the | Lord their God;6who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that | is in them;who keeps promis- | es forever;7who gives justice to those who are oppressed, and food to | those who hunger.The Lord sets the | captive free.8The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; the Lord lifts up those who | are bowed down;the Lord| loves the righteous. R9The Lord cares | for the stranger;the Lord sustains the orphan and widow, but frustrates the way | of the wicked.10The Lord shall | reign forever,your God, O Zion, throughout all generations. | Hallelujah! RSecond Reading: Hebrews 9:24-28The letter to the Hebrews describes Christ as a high priest who offers himself as a sacrifice for our sin. Christ does not die again and again each year. He died once, is alive with God, and will reveal himself on the last day.24Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25Nor was it to offer himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Holy Place year after year with blood that is not his own; 26for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment, 28so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.Gospel: Mark 12:38-44After engaging in a series of public arguments with religious leaders in the temple, Jesus contrasts the proud and oppressive ways of those leaders with the sacrificial humility and poverty of the widow.38As [Jesus] taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, 39and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! 40They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”41He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. 42A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. 43Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. 44For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”