Oct. 15, 2017 Pentecost 19

Matt. 22:8
-14  (The Message)

8 "Then he told his servants, 'We have a wedding banquet all prepared but no guests. The ones I invited weren't up to it. 9 Go out into the busiest intersections in town and invite anyone you find to the banquet.' 10 The servants went out on the streets and rounded up everyone they laid eyes on, good and bad, regardless. And so the banquet was on - every place filled. 11 "When the king entered and looked over the scene, he spotted a man who wasn't properly dressed. 12 He said to him, 'Friend, how dare you come in here looking like that!' The man was speechless. 13 Then the king told his servants, 'Get him out of here - fast. Tie him up and ship him to hell. And make sure he doesn't get back in.' 14 "That's what I mean when I say, 'Many get invited; only a few make it.'"


We are shocked and surprised by the treatment of the one who came to the feast without a wedding garment. We do want to have our cake and eat it too.  As Dr Helmut Thielicke says, “We seat ourselves at the banquet table without a wedding garment when we allow our sins to be forgiven but still want to hang on to them.”
When we have no intention of being changed by God’s grace!

“Christian satiation is worse then hungry heathenism.”  Dr. Helmet Thielicke
Indifference and complacency are both dangerous to faith.  They take the life out of it.

God expects to see something
different in our lives because
we have been to his banquet.












Prayer thoughts for the week:
  “Lord, help me to live as one who is being changed by grace.
keep me from smug complacency which fails to be graceful towards others.
     Let something different happen in and through me because I have been forgiven.”  

Oct 8, 2017 Pentecost 18

Matt. 21:33-46 (The Message)

 33 "Here's another story. Listen closely. There was once a man, a wealthy farmer, who planted a vineyard. He fenced it, dug a winepress, put up a watchtower, then turned it over to the farmhands and went off on a trip. 34 When it was time to harvest the grapes, he sent his servants back to collect his profits. 35 "The farmhands grabbed the first servant and beat him up. The next one they murdered. They threw stones at the third but he got away. 36 The owner tried again, sending more servants. They got the same treatment. 37 The owner was at the end of his rope. He decided to send his son. 'Surely,' he thought, 'they will respect my son.' 38 "But when the farmhands saw the son arrive, they rubbed their hands in greed. 'This is the heir! Let's kill him and have it all for ourselves.' 39 They grabbed him, threw him out, and killed him. 40 "Now, when the owner of the vineyard arrives home from his trip, what do you think he will do to the farmhands?" 41 "He'll kill them - a rotten bunch, and good riddance," they answered. "Then he'll assign the vineyard to farmhands who will hand over the profits when it's time." 42 Jesus said, "Right - and you can read it for yourselves in your Bibles: The stone the masons threw out is now the cornerstone. This is God's work; we rub our eyes, we can hardly believe it! 43 "This is the way it is with you. God's kingdom will be taken back from you and handed over to a people who will live out a kingdom life.

When asked, “what do you think he will do with the farmhands?”, they (the religious leaders) give the right answer.  The right answer that is, for them.  Not the right answer for God. For God is not satisfied with judgment, ever.  Not even with them.  God does not delight in judgment, ever!  This is not Gods nature and it is not Gods liking.  Judgment is always second to mercy and its purpose is only and always to prepare the way for love and grace to flow, full and free.  This is why Jesus tells this parable - to try wake the people up to Gods love, not Gods judgment.  God’s love which is beyond human comprehension!





“God does not delight in judgement, ever!
God is not like this."













Prayer thoughts for the week:
“Lord, help me to not be so judgmental.
…keep me open to grace happening, even when it seems so unfair.”
…help me to remember that God is more gracious than condemning,
beyond my wildest dreams.”

Oct. 1, 2017 17h of Pentecost

Matthew 21:28-32 (The Message)

28 "Tell me what you think of this story: A man had two sons. He went up to the first and said, 'Son, go out for the day and work in the vineyard.' 29 "The son answered, 'I don't want to.' Later on he thought better of it and went. 30 "The father gave the same command to the second son. He answered, 'Sure, glad to.' But he never went. 31 "Which of the two sons did what the father asked?" They said, "The first." 32 John came to you showing you the right road. You turned up your noses at him, but the crooks and whores believed him. Even when you saw their changed lives, you didn't care enough to change and believe him.

The parable of the two sons is a biting parable which confronted the people of Jesus day - and confronts us, who are trying to be religious, moral, good, and God fearing  - with the disturbing truth that it is not enough to just talk the talk.  It is necessary to walk the walk.  That means we may have to do something we don’t want to do, something we are not inclined to do, something we may even say no to, then have a change of heart, and go do it.

All too often even our religious beliefs help us to not change our minds and believe something new and different.  To not get “a new heart and a new spirit.”  Ezekiel. 18:3



“It is not easy to ‘change our minds
and believe’ something we don’t want
to believe.
We do it slowly, cautiously, reluctantly,
if we do it at all.  Most of the time we
try not do it at all.”







Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, open my heart and mind to that which I find difficult to believe.  Give me a new spirit so your love will always shine through me.”

Sept. 24 2014 16th of Pentecost

Matthew 20:1-16 (The Message)

1 "God's kingdom is like an estate manager who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 They agreed on a wage of a dollar a day, and went to work. 3 "Later, about nine o'clock, the manager saw some other men hanging around the town square unemployed. 4 He told them to go to work in his vineyard and he would pay them a fair wage. 5 They went. 6 At five o'clock he went back and found still others standing around. He said, 'Why are you standing around all day doing nothing? 7 ' "They said, 'Because no one hired us.' "He told them to go to work in his vineyard. 8 "When the day's work was over, the owner of the vineyard instructed his foreman, 'Call the workers in and pay them their wages. Start with the last hired and go on to the first.' 9 "Those hired at five o'clock came up and were each given a dollar. 10 When those who were hired first saw that, they assumed they would get far more. But they got the same, each of them one dollar. 11 Taking the dollar, they groused angrily to the manager, 12 'These last workers put in only one easy hour, and you just made them equal to us, who slaved all day under a scorching sun.' 13 "He replied to the one speaking for the rest, 'Friend, I haven't been unfair. We agreed on the wage of a dollar, didn't we? 14 So take it and go. I decided to give to the one who came last the same as you. 15 Can't I do what I want with my own money? Are you going to get stingy because I am generous?' 16 "Here it is again, the Great Reversal: many of the first ending up last, and the last first."

Jesus was lucky there were no unions around in his day.  He would have been in big trouble.  Even though the master in this parable did no wrong.  He acted with generosity toward the late comers, and fairness toward the rest.  This was his right and privilege.

To complain about the pay is to miss the joy of having labored long and hard in the Kingdom.  It is to miss the emptiness of “ standing idle in the market place.”

It is a privilege to be hired at the first hour.  These are the lucky ones who know the joy of living in the kingdom.  Idleness is not a blessing.  Living in grace is!









"God is more gracious than we could ever imagine."











Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, thank you for giving me much to do for you,
which enriches my life with grace upon grace.”

Sept. 17, 2017 15h of Pentecost

Matthew 18: 21, 22  (The Message)

21 At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, "Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?" 22 Jesus replied, "Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven.

Forgiveness is not an option in the Kingdom of Heaven...it is a requirement.  We cannot choose if we are going to forgive or who we are going to forgive or not forgive...we are to forgive as we have been forgiven!  And that is a lot!

Forgiveness begins with being forgiven.
Only the person who receives forgiveness can pass it on;
Only the person who passes on forgiveness really receives it.

Forgiveness is an echo.  It does not originate with us and it does not end with us.
We forgive as we have been forgiven.

“When somebody you’ve wronged forgives you, you’re spared the dull and self-diminishing throb of a guilty conscience.
When you forgive somebody who has wronged you, you’re spared the dismal corrosion of bitterness and wounded pride.
For both parties, forgiveness means the freedom again to be at peace inside their own skins and to be glad in each others presence.”  Frederick Buechner




“To be forgiven and forgiving is to live believing that we can have a common future even with our enemies and even with those who have treated us unfairly.  It is to live believing in forgiveness, which is...love’s revolution against life’s unfairness.”
 
Lewis Smedes

Prayer thoughts for the week:
“Lord, help to forgive even when I don’t want to.”
“…keep me open to forgiveness even when the one I want to forgive doesn’t want my forgiveness.”
“…help me to never give up on forgiveness.”

Sept. 10, 2017 14th of Pentecost

Matthew 18: 15-18  (The Message)

15 "If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him - work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you've made a friend. 16 If he won't listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. 17 If he still won't listen, tell the church. If he won't listen to the church, you'll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God's forgiving love. 18 "Take this most seriously: A yes on earth is yes in heaven; a no on earth is no in heaven. What you say to one another is eternal. I mean this.

We are not to be piously judging and condemning; we are to be accountable to each other and not be indifferent about that which causes disharmony in our lives and relationships.  And we are to strive for forgiveness, not giving up until it can happen.

Forgiveness is not an option in God’s Kingdom.  It is a must!  And we are to keep at it until it happens.

"The hallmark of forgiveness is that
it enables the forgiver to live painlessly
 with the forgiven.”
                          Susan Howatch







Prayer thoughts for the week:

“Lord help be remember to seek forgiveness in difficult relationships.
forgiveness both ways - from me and to me.

Sept. 3, 2017 13th of Pentecost

Matthew 16:21-24 (The Message)

21 Then Jesus made it clear to his disciples that it was now necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, submit to an ordeal of suffering at the hands of the religious leaders, be killed, and then on the third day be raised up alive. 22 Peter took him in hand, protesting, "Impossible, Master! That can never be!" 23 But Jesus didn't swerve. "Peter, get out of my way. Satan, get lost. You have no idea how God works." 24 Then Jesus went to work on his disciples. "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how.

Peter had the best of intentions at heart when he tried to talk Jesus out of the way of suffering. He had no intention of being an evil temptation.

He wanted suffering eliminated from Jesus life.  We all would like to see the same.
Suffering is so costly; it hurts so much, demands so much, takes so much.

What Peter and we need to understand is that suffering belongs to the very nature of this world and to the very nature of Jesus - the suffering servant who emptied himself.

To be caught up with the will of God is to take on suffering as a part of loving.  The only way to eliminate suffering is to eliminate love.  Love makes sense out of and gives meaning to life, even suffering.

“...life without any kind of suffering would be no life at all; it would be a form of death.  Life - the life of the spirit like the life of the body- depends in some mysterious way upon the struggle to be...suffering-as-struggle belongs...to life’s foundational basis and goodness...A pain free life would be a life-less life.”  Douglas John Hall

“We suffer because we are human and
 out of our suffering comes our
capacity for compassion.
 For suffering integrates us into life
and makes us more fully and truly alive.”
Douglas John Hall







Prayer thoughts for the week.

Lord, when it comes (suffering) help me to walk through it to the better end.
…keep me from loosing touch with compassion even in suffering.
…help me to love the pain out of suffering, and live life with a joy which
passes human understanding.