Father Edmund's homily

This is a piece of a very long and overwritten piece of fiction I committed long ago. I am oddly fond of his little bit. A priest is giving a homily following a baptism.

At the conclusion of the Gospel hymn, Father Edmund ascended the pulpit, stood diffidently looking over his congregation, and began. " `The Kingdom of God is like... .' With this simile, Jesus begins several of his parables. We are this morning welcoming another soul to the hope of that Kingdom. In time, young Nathan Talbot Spellman will hear for himself the parables of Jesus. Jesus was concerned to let people know what his kingdom was to be. Not a political uprising, the resurgence of Jewish autonomy. A way of being. A way of achieving union with God, after so long an estrangement. His parables are none of them blueprints for specific acts, diagrams of courses of action. They are metaphors for the Kingdom. They are stories of spiritual achievement, expressed in concrete details which are not meant to be taken literally. Imagine taking the parable of the vineyard laborers as realistic. Those of you in the congregation who supervise numbers of employees can imagine the havoc wreaked by paychecks that did not reflect hours actually worked."

A faint sound of laughter ran through the congregation. Jester smirked at the idea. "In the same fashion, the parable of the talents is very far from being a manual for money marketers. `The Kingdom of God is like...', not IS, but is LIKE. The Kingdom of God is salvation, union with God, available to the latecomer as well as to those who rise earliest in the morning of spiritual growth. The Kingdom of God is given with joy to those who enrich their souls with the bounty so freely given us, given even the least of us, by God. His joy is with those who do not bury the gifts, do not hide away their talents-what a fortuitous translation-but employ their gifts, however great, however modest, in a manner commensurate with their worth." Jester looked into the pew in front of him, still seeing no pledge cards. He settled back, wary.

"The details of the parables are not literal in their application, but the feeling of joy at the reception of the Prodigal is surely to be taken for its own sake, as well as for its symbolism. The rewards enjoyed by the good and faithful servants are symbols of the bounty and love of God, but the picture of a benevolent master and his love of his servants have roots in our daily lives. This is the true power of the parables, that they are not mechanistic creations of static symbols, but real in a human, feeling way. Jesus is concerned with how we live with one another, which is a mirror and complement of how we live with God. Euphoria and mystic rapport can accompany an acceptance of the sacrifice of the crucifixion. They are incomplete foundations for the Kingdom of God. Our lives in this world are as much a part of God's plan as any afterlife. Jesus talks over and over of how we should love one another. There are two great commandments, as Jesus said. The love of God, and the love of our brother. And they are one. In this world. In the next. A great poet of our language once had Faust ask of Mephistopheles, the emissary of Satan, the question `Where is Hell?' The answer was,`This is Hell, nor am I out of it.' We can make this world a Hell, and bury our gifts from God. Or, I believe, we can use what God has given us, to the help of our brothers, and the glory of God. Then we can answer Mephistopheles, `This is the Kingdom of God, nor are we out of it.' Amen."