Last Sunday's gospel reading was yet another in a series of challenging readings from Luke.  In that reading, Jesus told a graphic and disturbing story.  A rich man dresses in purple and linen and dines sumptuously every day.  Meanwhile, a desperately poor, homeless man named Lazarus lies by the rich man's gate, longing to eat even the crumbs from the table.  Finally, both men die; Lazarus is carried by angels to Abraham's side, but the rich man finds himself in torment in the place of the dead.  The rich man sees Lazarus and Abraham, and he demands that Abraham send Lazarus down to him to bring him a bit of water.  Abraham patiently explains that that isn't how it will be.  "My child, you received all sorts of good things in life, while Lazarus received nothing but terrible things.  Now Lazarus has found comfort while you are in great pain.  Moreover, a great chasm is now fixed between us, and it cannot be crossed."  The rich man then asks that Lazarus be dispatched to warn the man's brothers who are still living.  Abraham tells him that that is not possible either.  "Your brothers have Moses and the Prophets.  If that cannot convince them to change their lives, they will not listen even if someone rises from the dead."

The rich man in this gospel lesson continues to behave with a breathtaking entitlement, believing that he can order Lazarus around even in the afterlife.  "Tell him"--not even addressing Lazarus directly-- "to bring me some water."  "Have him go to my brothers and warn them."  It is astonishing that he seems to know Lazarus' name, given the fact that in life he must have taken the trouble to learn Lazarus' name even as he was willing to allow him to starve.  It occurs to me that the chasm that separated the rich man and Lazarus was created in life, and that it was reinforced by the rich man's inability to learn or to change even when he came face to face with the consequences of his life. He still thinks he is a rich man who is entitled to order a beggar like Lazarus to do his bidding.  It's no wonder Abraham doesn't hold out much hope for the brothers still living large at the family compound.

Sunday's lesson from First Timothy was paired quite deliberately with the gospel lesson.  The writer of that letter warned that "we didn't bring anything into the world and so we can't take anything out of it."  He went on to say that it is easy to fall into temptation and that some had wandered away from faith and "impaled themselves with a lot of pain because they made money their goal."  "The love of money," he famously wrote, "is the root of all kinds of evil."  Instead, the writer of First Timothy said, people who are wealthy should not put their hope in their finances, which are always uncertain, but rather in God.  "Do good...be generous...share with others. [T]ake hold of what is truly life."

When I read the lesson from Luke, it makes me a little uncomfortable; I expect that was Jesus' intention.  Jesus was pretty clear that the way the world works isn't the way God's kingdom works.  Actually, Jesus was in very good company; Moses and the Prophets were just as clear.  God is a God of justice and mercy, and God expects the people who love and serve God to act with justice and mercy as well.  When we treat the poor with contempt, when we turn a blind eye to those in need, we create a chasm that separates us not just from those who are suffering but from God as well.

Most of us are, by the standards of the rest of the world, rich.  But many of us no doubt struggle with how to respond to a society in which so many live in poverty or are in danger of slipping into poverty, while others live lives of privilege unimaginable to most of the world's population.  Jesus made it clear that acting entitled or being willfully blind is how not to respond.  Our faith demands that we be engaged in the world, and that we grapple with the hard questions and act with love and generosity.

William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale were largely responsible for the Bible being translated into English.  Their translations shaped our church and our worship, but their passion to translate scripture into English carried great cost for both men.  In Tyndale's case, it cost him his life.

William Tyndale was born around 1495.  He was an excellent scholar, taking degrees at Oxford and studying at Cambridge as well.  He was ordained around 1521 and became a tutor and domestic chaplain.  His single passion though was to translate the Bible into English.  Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey, and others, strongly opposed his work, and Tyndale fled to Germany.  Betrayed by a friend, the king's and cardinal's agents caught Tyndale, strangled him and then burned him at the stake in Brussels on October 6, 1536.

At the time of Tyndale's death, he had translated all of the New Testament, and major parts of the Hebrew Scriptures, including all of the first five books.  Much of Tyndale's translation later found its way into other translations, most notably the Authorized Version of 1611, more commonly known as the King James Version.

Miles Coverdale was born around 1488, studied at Cambridge, and was ordained in 1514.  He joined the Augustinian Friars, but left the monastery in 1526 to move to the Continent where his translation work enjoyed strong support.  He finished his first translation of the whole Bible in 1535.  It was issued as the Great Bible in 1539.  (The name derived from the size of the book itself; it was authorized for use in churches and printed in very large print so that it could be read easily in dim churches.)  Archbishop Cranmer used Coverdale's translation of the Psalms in his Book of Common Prayer.

Finally, to commemorate our Centennial we would like to make a gift of a scholarship for a week of summer camp at the Barbara C. Harris Camp, for a child who would otherwise be unable to attend. Donations of all amounts are welcome!  You may bring your check to the dinner or to the church office, or leave it in the plate this Sunday or next.

Do you like working in the garden?  Our perennial gardens help make our church a more lovely and welcoming place.  And our gardens need some care in order to keep them healthy and beautiful.  We need volunteers who are willing to weed the gardens and care for the plants (deadheading the flowers, trimming back plants in fall, mulching, planting seasonal annuals, and watering).  If you don't know much about gardening, don't worry: it's easy and we can pair you with a more experienced gardener.  Weeding, making room for new growth, caring for living things can make gardening a kind of prayer. 

Our hope is to recruit five or six individuals or teams of two who are willing to spend an hour or two once a month during gardening season, maintaining and improving our gardens, and then assisting in a clean up day in spring and fall.  Maintaining our gardens with volunteers will allow us to save money on our landscaping, but more than that, gardening is a wonderfully rewarding activity.  What can be better than caring for living things, being outside, and playing in the dirt!  If you are interested, please contact Elaine Grosso, who has volunteered to help coordinate this effort. 

Our annual FALL-iday Fair is going to be held Nov 15th and 16th this year.  If you haven't found your niche at Good Shepherd, you might consider volunteering for something new at the fair. Although ALL of the people who help run the fair have fun, and are THRILLED to return year after year, we would dearly love to get new people involved to "grow our family."  Whatever level of "ownership" you want, we've got it! 

• Are you able to stand for an hour and smile? You can be a "greeter/people counter."  Couples welcome.
• Do you like fast-paced? You can work the Friday night jewelry table.  If you don't like to add, don't worry, we use calculators!
• Want responsibility?  How about being in charge of our book table?
• Got muscles or energy?  Help with setup or tear down.
• Play an instrument?  Be part of our "live music."
• Need community service hours? Your help would be appreciated days before, during and after the fair.
• Going shopping in town?  Please put up 10 flyers in planned locations that have done it in years past.
• Bakers...you will be called...
• Like to work with children?  The Sunday School is going to have a table.  Contact Kim Manzelli to help at manzelli2@verizon.net.

The plan for this year is to sell toys in the Bargain Box only, so there will be no special request for used toys...just keep bringing your nice used toys to the BB all year round.  We will have newer books that haven't been in the basement all year, so hold onto those used books until we have a book coordinator.

We are looking for costume jewelry and jewelry boxes for our jewelry table.  Please see Elaine or Alice Webb.

Have new ideas?  I'm listening....

Please call Elaine Grosso at 781-942-1169 or email at ecgrosso@ieee.org to volunteer for anything you saw above.  Call now to get your first choice!

Christine Camper, Kevin Cellucci, George Chace, Alec Dingee, Betty Fraser, Bernice Herrick, Tony Lopes, Lynn McDonald, Rheta McKinley, Elsie Saunders, Eleanor Schott, Bishop Thomas Shaw, Kevin Smith, Ralph Ventola, Stephen Wagner and Charles Weaver.