Bringing the Party Home

Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
Genesis 15:1-6
Luke 11:1-13

The Gospel text sounds like two lessons for the price of one. The first half of the text, I think I understand. It is addressed to anyone who has ever sorted a stack of bills into two piles: those to pay now, and those to put off paying for a little longer. "Do not worry about your life," Jesus says, "what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing." The first half of this text is for anyone who has ever priced a security system or hired an exterminator. "Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys."