A young person expressed frustration to me this week that a portion of her hard-earned money goes to taxes and we had a conversation about how the taxes that we pay are to build up society and contribute towards the common good. Because we pay taxes, we have an accessible health care system, our infrastructure is maintained, and many other services that benefit us all. As citizens we are individually and collectively responsible for the well-being of our whole community, as reflected in our privilege and responsibility to vote this week. As Christians, we have an added responsibility to pay close attention to the priorities of God. We need to ask ourselves the most important question: what is God saying to us in our present time? What is God asking us to do? 

In the first reading today Moses asks God, “show me your ways” and God replies, “My presence will go with you”, “I will do the very thing that you have asked”, “I will make all my goodness pass before you”. These words are for us too as we come together today to have a family conversation about what God is doing in our community here at St. Matthias. It is important because sometimes it can feel as though all the decisions and all the work that is needed depends on us. We need to be reminded that God holds St. Matthias in the palm of his hand, that the Holy Spirit is guiding us and that the words spoken by Jesus 2000 years ago apply to us here and now in this time and place. 

The theme continues in the reading from Paul to the Thessalonians speaking words that apply equally to the church of St. Matthias and are worth hearing again: 

“I always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in my prayers, constantly remembering before our God your work of faith and labour of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, for we know, brothers and sisters beloved by God, that you have been chosen, because our message of the Gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit with full conviction.” 

This is our identity and our calling, and we do not travel alone on this journey of faith; the Spirit of God accompanies us to guide and protect, to empower, to heal, and to clarify the direction in which we should travel.  The early pioneers in North America often set out for new lands, travelling by stagecoach and laden down with their possessions. As they traversed challenging territories, they often had to jettison many of their possessions in order to continue on the journey. 

The followers of Jesus have been on this journey of faith for over 2000 years and were guided by God’s presence many years before that. Along the way we have had to discern our path forward, deepening our understanding, letting go of some practices, and constantly attuning our ears to what we are being called to be and do. 

In today’s Gospel. Jesus is challenged, not for the first time, by the Pharisees and the Herodians, who, not for the first time, put him on the spot and try to catch him out. They ask him if it is lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, and Jesus gives a very astute answer. He asks whose head is on the currency, and they reply that it is emperor’s (Caesar’s) image. He then tells them to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.  In other words, like my young friend, he is pointing out that we have to pay our bills, and that it is necessary that we pay taxes for the common good, but in all things, God’s purposes should be our first priority.  

It is not easy to discern the will of God, especially in a community, because we all have different ideas, different opinions. To discern the will of God, to attune to the movement of the Spirit, we have to put on our ‘Gospel glasses’ which will usually take us out of our own preferences, out of our comfort zones, and towards the path that leads us forward. We can’t do too much looking backward because we aren’t going that way; our Gospel glasses will show us the way forward, one step at a time, so, this week, make sure to vote because it’s important, but also, put on your Gospel glasses because God is leading his beloved people of St. Matthias into the future and as our bishop always says: “the future is not like the past and the future is bright”.  Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

Ministries
Faith in Formation