We can't get away with saying "I'm not rich."

We were privileged to enjoy a musical message this past Sunday. Thank you to Kathy Stump for making the arrangements for Doyle and Carolyn Ramsey to sing for us.

If we had read the lectionary gospel Sunday, we would have heard Jesus say, "It's harder for a rich person to enter God's kingdom than it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle."
One commentator addresses the text:

"I'm sorry to say, though, that there is no evidence whatsoever that there was ever any such 'Eye of the Needle' gate. It's a kind of ecclesial version of an urban legend -- invented, I would guess, as a metaphor that, as generations repeated the story, turned into a solid "archeologists have discovered" report. But it's fiction."

She goes on to say: "We can't get away with saying, 'I'm not rich.' Try entering your income in the Global Rich List and see where you end up. I'm back to full-time seminary/dissertating now, but the $36,000 salary I earned in my last full-time job would have put me in the top 4% of wage earners worldwide."

This seems an oh-too-appropriate text for us as we prepare to host our Alternative Fair this weekend!

Blessings for your week!
Pastor Beth