Readings: Amos 8:4–7; Psalm 113; 1 Timothy 2:1–7; Luke 16:1–13

“You cannot serve God and Mammon” (Luke 16:13). A deservedly great line, easily parroted, but not so easily parsed, in an age in which material affluence, and its lack, seem to be part of the skeleton — as essential as they are invisible — giving shape to our political discussions and contests, our estimates of success and failure, our worries and hopes for the future. Are the priorities reflected in those concerns idolatrous? Are we, at bottom, in thrall to Mammon?

We easily tangle ourselves in terrible knots asking the question in that way. It’s an important issue, but it can’t be settled simply by laying down abstract principles (“give 10% as a sign of commitment to God” — an excellent idea, but not an automatic solution to Mammon-servitude).

Nor is worship an automatic solution, in our bent world, short of the Kingdom. But in worship — precisely because worship is short of the Kingdom, in that it points toward the Kingdom — another measure is made possible, another future opens to view, another sort of goods is exchanged, another service is given as a gift. In worship, God reminds us that we are his by generously including us in his life. That cannot be magic; it can only be grace.