Comfort

We have collected ourselves into a community known as the Church: the visible Body of Christ in the world today. A group of people with the goal of carrying out God’s mission for the world. It could be said that the main purpose of which is to bring comfort.

Today, we think of comfort as a state of ease. Originally, it meant to strengthen and that’s the meaning intended here. The gathered Church community, in big gatherings on a Sunday morning or smaller gatherings during the week, should bring comfort to people. We ought, for the most part, find ourselves strengthened and made ready for every other aspect of our lives in these gatherings.

The Church community does not exist for itself alone. We also have a responsibility to bring comfort to others, to strengthen and lift up the weak and down-trodden.

This perhaps is the message of our Gospel lesson today (Luke 16:1-13): that, setting aside any idea that this parable is allegory, the rich landlord and his servant are looking after themselves (in entirely selfish ways) and are helping those who are indebted to them. In the end they all benefit, not just because they are helping themselves but also because they help others.

We gather in community to worship, to comfort (strengthen) one another: to strengthen one another in service for others. We invite people to join us because we know that the world will be a better place as more people begin, continue, or renew a bond with God.

It seems that the Rolling Stones were right when they sang that there is no Satisfaction in consumerism (of sex, stuff or information). The Gospel promises that there is a satisfaction that comes with seeking comfort in a community of love and justice, a community intent on offering comfort to everyone else too.