marshall2

October 21

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Wednesday, October 21

LUKE 12:39-48

I have given you much.

Prayerthoughts
a. Am I prepared to meet the Lord if my life would end right now? What should I improve?

b. The Lord speaks of a "faithful and prudent" servant. In what ways am I faithful? What kind of person would that be? Am I close to that definition?

c. The Lord says that I should be carrying out my duty when he comes at the end of my life. Given my living condition, have I made room for God and the spiritual life the way I should?

d. The Lord calls for sincere preparation for his coming. What am I doing right now to ensure my acceptance by the Lord?

e. The thought of "being beaten" is part of the story that Jesus is telling, not to be taken literally, but the thought of being prepared for the unexpected is the moral of the story. What unexpected happening has happened recently, and did I react to it in a truly Christian way?

f. Much has been given to me. Do I thank the Lord enough? Do I keep trying to do truly Christian deeds given my circumstances right now?

g. My prayerthoughts...

Today I will read Ephesians 3:2-12 and write an important thought from it.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

THE SPIRITUALITY OF STEWARDSHIP

+ The Gospel is a powerful one explaining the spirituality of making use of what we have

- the idea of a steward with today’s understanding is this

- we have been legitimately given things to use, put in charge of things in our lives

- i.e., we have jobs, we earn money, we have life, we have things

- what our American forefathers called—life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

- the question of the Gospel: how are we using those things

- does the master find us busy when he will return

- making proper use—using them, always remembering where they came from—

- remembering the master who gave them, that master who has said that we must be interested primarily in the poor and sharing with them

- or does the master find us in abuse

- misuse of the gifts, specifically, sexuality and eating and drinking—and by inference, all of the gifts that we legitimately have

- and they will be punished, even if they don’t know what they are doing

+ The important fact of all of that is probably: we know what we are doing

- we are the people to whom much has been given

- as Paul said of his ministry: I know what I am talking about

- we are blessed people, not only from the fact of redemption as Paul describes to the Ephesians,

- that is from a spiritual point of view

- but we are also blessed from a natural point of view

- much has been given to us

- we have goods, especially in America that were unimaginable in any other time or right now in any other place

+ And so, we have to be people who are busy as stewards of someone else’s goods

- using them, but at the same time acknowledging that they are not ours

- practically that is where the 10% comes from that Scripture tells us

- giving back to God what is already God’s

- we literally are stewards

- and is 10% enough—shouldn’t there be more given to our creator

- leading us to the important question: how much of our time and income are we giving away from which we get no return?

+ Jesus tells us that the spirituality of stewardship involves being busy doing what we should be doing with his goods while we have them.

MEDIA PRESENTATION

Movie: "Marshall" -- final session

THE PREJUDICE AROUND US

The Gospel

JOHN 8:3-11

The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle. They said to [Jesus], "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?" They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger. But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." Again he bent down and wrote on the ground. And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She replied, "No one sir." Then Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.

Gospelthink: I treated the woman with the respect that she deserved as a human being. Do I treat everyone with the respect that they deserve, especially those that I dislike for some reason?

As Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall together with Sam Friedman early on in their careers defended Joseph Spell against the accusation that Spell had sex with Eleanor Strubing, his white employer, Marshall found that Spell outright lied to him. He had had consensual sex with Strubing at Strubing's insistence, but Spell knew that even if innocent, as a black man he would be lynched in his native Louisiana for having sex with a white woman. He told the Judge Foster so and the judge allowed his statement to stand. It was a tribute to the judge that he let the statement stand because the prejudice was so strong that he could easily have been convicted. Both Marshall and Friedman went on to work against prejudice in the United States.

Prejudice comes in many forms, that is, it is seen in many different instances. In the Gospels, the ones who were "holy" or "righteous," the scribes and Pharisees, showed a strong prejudice against sinners. Such was the case one time when Jesus was in Jerusalem. Intending to embarrass Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees made use of a sinful woman to bring out a point that they were making. Taking them to task in the simplest of ways, Jesus showed respect for the sinner, and taught a valuable lesson concerning prejudice. His lesson: the way to overcome any prejudice is to learn to respect the people involved.

In the initial stages of working against the racial prejudice against African Americans in the United States, Thurgood Marshall was instrumental in overturning prejudicial lawsuits. The movie "Marshall," presents one such case showing the problems that Marshall encountered. Even though Joseph Spell was innocent of the charges of rape, the very fact that he had sex with a white woman even though it was consensual condemned him to death.

Although much of the racial prejudice has been successfully addressed over recent years, prejudice continues to be part of our world. It is present in the workplace, at school, and even at Church. Perhaps the only way to counteract it is to learn to respect the people who are involved. The letter of James in the New Testament gives the Christian reasoning against prejudice: "If you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all" (James 2:9-10).

If we act against our prejudice, if we overcome our feelings of what we think, we will begin to understand everyone's environment and their problems from their point of view; we will overcome any prejudice we may have against them.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, we make judgments about different people all the time in our minds. Give us the grace to recognize the prejudices that we have and the courage to overcome them. Be with us, we pray.

+++++

GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: We must do our best to work against the prejudice around us.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
(session: approximately 54 minutes)
1. What scene during this session of the movie is most striking and why?
2. In the Gospel account, why do you think Jesus wrote on the ground?
3. In general, in your opinion, why is any kind of prejudice wrong?
4. What is the best way for you to work against racial prejudice?
5. What is your definition of "respect"?
6. What is the best thing to do when the court system is against what is morally correct?
7. Is "prejudice" a problem in your school? your place of employment? Yes or no and why?
8. What does the movie "Marshall" teach young people?