Sermon: “Presbyopia Prevention” From the mid 1940’s until his death just a few years back now, Bill Lenz worked as a practicing master optician. In 1982 he opened his own place - Lenz Optical, on Dupont Circle – and now his son Bruce runs the place. He would laugh and say maybe his chosen line of work had something to do with his last name – Lenz . For all those years, and well into his retirement, Bill would fit people with glasses and contacts and artificial eyes - including many of us in this church community. I find myself remembering Bill whenever I am driving downtown – driving north, glancing – carefully - to the left, to the west – when I see that great big building-size picture of one of our most famous Louisvillians - Colonel Sanders. Guess who Harland Sanders went to for his glasses? Bill told me once he tried to get Harland to update his look from those old style frame he wore - but Harland wouldn’t do it. In fitting Colonel Sanders with glasses – and perhaps some of you as well – it could be that Bill had to fashion those glasses to correct an eye condition called Presbyopia. From my limited research – and Bill could tell us more - Presbyopia is an eye condition that often comes in middle age – where there is a loss of elasticity in the lens of the eye which causes an inability to focus sharply for near vision. In other words with Presbyopia, you have troubling seeking clearly what is right in front of you. Corrective lens can certainly help this condition – and my guess is the new advances in LASIK eye surgery can reverse the effects of Presbyopia. Some of us likely have this physical eye condition. This morning let me suggest that more of us - myself included - suffer from a related condition. Sometimes we have trouble seeing or perceiving what is often right in front of us – not because anything is physically wrong with our eyes - but because something is off in our perception and our sphere of awareness. We might call it perceptual Presbyopia. Sometimes this is just silly and annoying – like when I wear my reading glasses – and I do this with them. [put reading glasses on top of head] And then after a while I say, “Where are my reading glasses? I just had them a minute ago.” Sometimes though our perceptual Presbyopia is more serious. We choose to ignore. We see only what we want to see - and we turn a blind eye to those things that make us feel uncomfortable and afraid. Like the rich man in today’s gospel lesson, we can suffer from some serious Perceptual Presbyopia. Luke tells us of this rich man - who wore expensive purple clothes and who feasted sumptuously every day. He could not see what was right in front of him – he could not perceive who was right in front of him, who lay at the gate to his own house – the poor man named Lazarus. Now this parable here in Luke – it is placed by Luke in the midst of several other parables and stories - and there is a thread of commonality in them. In Chapters 14, 15 and 16 we see this common thread – a common subject - one we’d all rather avoid. That subject, of course, has to do with money. Just a few verses before today’s reading, Luke says “The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this and ridiculed Jesus.” (16:14). The parables of the dishonest manager, the prodigal son, the man who had so much stuff that he needed bigger barns, the lost sheep and the lost coin – all this is in Luke. Reading and preaching on this section of Luke’s gospel, any preacher could be accused of “preaching too much on money.” It bothers us really - that Jesus spends so much time on this subject of money – we wish he’d spend more time dealing with “spiritual” things. We forget that how we make and use and spend our money is a spiritual matter, a matter of our discipleship. Likewise, the plain fact is that Jesus has more to say about money and wealth and economics than he ever does about sex. Indeed it is very odd how we in the church often spend a lot of time talking and fussing over sexuality and sexual morals - much more than we ever fuss about money. As disciples, you think we’d talk more about what Jesus talked about. But no, money is now the forbidden topic. I have a friend – Charlie – whom I met while he was a student at Louisville Seminary. Earlier in his life Charlie was Jewish – and he trained as a accountant – a nice Jewish accountant. Now he’s a Presbyterian pastor – serving a small church, part time, across the river in Indiana. And he still does financial work – and he offers financial counseling to other pastors and seminary students at a reduced rate. My wife Judy called him, and he offered to meet with us and review our finances, to help us get a better handle on them - but we haven’t yet. Judy is pushing, gently - and I’m the one dragging my feet. When I talked with Charlie about this, he said, “Ken – I know it’s uncomfortable. It’s like talking off your clothes in public.” And then with a smile, he says, “But believe me, I’ve seen it all.” Money – it seems that money is tied to our perception. Where we live and how we live and our socio-economic status has an affect on what we see and what we choose not to see. Like us, the rich man in the story suffered from his perceptual Presbyopia in part due to his money and his social class. He saw to it that his money could get him fine clothes and good food – but it also blinded him from seeing others in need, particularly Lazarus there at his gate. In the story both of these men die – and Lazarus is “carried away by the angels to Abraham” – the great patriarch of the faith. And the rich man – he died and was buried and went to Hades – where he is now in torment. It seems that when he arrives in Hades his perceptual Presbyopia improves significantly. Only now, while in torment, does the rich man actually see Lazarus – for the first time. Before, he never noticed Lazarus – who was right there, at the gate – but he never noticed him – he never saw what and who was right in front him. Now he sees – his perceptual Presbyopia is gone – and he pleads to Father Abraham, to send Lazarus to him with a drop of water to cool his tongue. But it is too late. The great reversal, the reversal that we see over and over again in Luke’s gospel – here it is again. Besides, Abraham says, there is a great chasm – and you can’t get there from here. Notice, please, that there is no word of condemnation of the rich man for being rich. Nothing wrong, inherently, with having wealth. Abraham himself was a person of great wealth – livestock and possessions and servants. Money itself – well, “money is good.” “We like having money.” The group of employees of the Nukote Company in Bardstown – who together won the Powerball this past week – they would say, “money is good.” They like their newfound money - I just hope they all tithe. As we heard today in I Timothy, “money” is not the root of all evil – but the want, the desire for and lust after money – is a root of evil. It is not money itself – it is what one does or does not do with one’s money that is important. “Let the rich do good, and be rich in good works, generous, ready to share.” This rich man, who was not rich in good works, who did not share to help poor Lazarus, now at the last I think he deserves some credit. Now that his perceptual Presbyopia is gone, he feels compassion for his 5 bothers who are still alive and who still have Presbyopia - bad. He appeals to Abraham again. If he cannot get a drop of water from Lazarus, would Abraham at least send Lazarus back - to tell his brothers to clean up there act – tell them to treat their own perceptual Presbyopia – “so that they will not also come into this place of torment.” “They have Moses and the prophets” Abraham replies – “and if those writings and stories don’t cure their perceptual Presbyopia, neither will it help if someone comes back from the dead.” That appeal from the rich man there is Hades is a word to me and to you – a warning for us to beware of our own perceptual Presbyopia – to treat it, to try our best to prevent it from getting a hold of us. Two Sundays ago, and again last Sunday, there were two men in our midst – at our gates – looking for help. The one two weeks ago came around Sunday night during Youth Group – I invited him to have supper with us at the parent / youth supper meeting, introducing him as “a guest.” Last Sunday was another man was here, Sunday morning - a man who comes around from time to time, looking for help, often with filling his prescriptions. He asked me for help, right before worship. I said I couldn’t meet with him right then. To be very honest I was at first annoyed that he came around on a Sunday (how bad is that) – and that he walked into my study at 10:35 – as I was looking over my sermon. Thank God I at least told him he was welcome to come to worship. He did – and later on, when we did talk, he told me he was glad that he stayed for church. I wonder how many of us noticed these two men, at our gates - if we really noticed them enough to say hello – enough to offer a welcome – enough to introduce ourselves, because only a couple of us here would have known their names. Did we notice – or was our perceptual Presbyopia acting up too much. I hope we did notice – and that today and every day we will notice – and welcome – and invite – and share, generously. It was your collective sharing that enabled us to help both these men. I hope we will notice and not allow our perceptual Presbyopia to act up - due to fear or awkwardness or anxiety. As disciples of Jesus Christ, who noticed all – may we also, with eyes open to all and everyone around us, notice and help and serve as we are able. As we do so, even to the least person, we are doing so also to Jesus himself. And all God’s people said. Amen. |