July 17, 2018 9th Sunday After Pentecost

Luke 10:38-42  (The Message)

38-40 As they continued their travel, Jesus entered a village. A woman by the name of Martha welcomed him and made him feel quite at home. She had a sister, Mary, who sat before the Master, hanging on every word he said. But Martha was pulled away by all she had to do in the kitchen. Later, she stepped in, interrupting them. “Master, don’t you care that my sister has abandoned the kitchen to me? Tell her to lend me a hand.”
41-42 The Master said, “Martha, dear Martha, you’re fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it—it’s the main course, and won’t be taken from her.”
 
It is easy to pick on Martha and praise Mary.  The problem with Martha was not all her good work, but that she was too busy to experience the moment and savor the specialness of what was happening.  She was distracted.

This is how we miss God present in our lives - by being too busy. By being distracted.

“We...need to practice the ‘art of no agenda’ - to live in such a way that we begin to respond to the rhythms of life around us rather than control or initiate all of them.  We must, in prayer, seek to be open to and content with whatever the days brings.  We must allow ourselves to be ‘interrupted’ for God visits in interruptions.”

Take time to listen for the still small voice of God.  Be quiet and sit at the feet of Jesus; take time to do nothing.

”The question that must guide
all organizing activity in a parish
(and in a family) is not how
to keep people busy, but how
 to keep them from being so busy
that they can no longer hear the
voice of God who speaks in silence.”
Henri Nouwen,










Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help me to slow down, take a deep breath, and hear your voice in the “sound of silence”.

July 10 2016 8th Sunday After Pentecost

Luke 10:25-37   (The Message)
25 Just then a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. “Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?”
26 He answered, “What’s written in God’s Law? How do you interpret it?”
27 He said, “That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself.”
28 “Good answer!” said Jesus. “Do it and you’ll live.”
29 Looking for a loophole, he asked, “And just how would you define ‘neighbor’?”
30-32 Jesus answered by telling a story. “There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.
33-35 “A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I’ll pay you on my way back.’
36 “What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?”
37 “The one who treated him kindly,” the religion scholar responded.
Jesus said, “Go and do the same.”

The command to love our neighbor as ourselves is not a “fifty-fifty” proposition, as if we are to divide up our love like a pie.  It is much more radical then that.  The Greek reveals this deeper meaning:  “Love our neighbor in place of, instead of yourself.” In other words, change plans with your neighbor.  Let him/her enter the space where your love is and discover
God’s love in the process.

It is as Frederick Buechner has said:

“Of all powers, love is the most powerful and the most
powerless.  It is the most powerful because it alone can
conquer that final and most impregnable stronghold which
is the human heart.  It is the most powerless because it
can do nothing except by consent.  To say that love is
God is romantic idealism.  To say that God is love is either
the last straw or the ultimate truth.  In the Christian sense,
love is not primarily an emotion but an act of will.  When
Jesus tells us to love our neighbors, he is not telling us to
love them in the sense of responding to them with a cozy
emotional feeling.  You can as well produce a cozy emotional
feeling on demand as you can a yawn or a sneeze.  On the
contrary, he is telling us to love our neighbors in the sense
of being willing to work for their well-being even if it
means sacrificing our own well-being to that end.”                                                 (Listening To Your Life, p.242)




“When Jesus tells us to love our neighbors,
he is not telling us to love them in  the
sense of responding to them with a cozy
emotional feeling… he is telling us to love our
neighbors in the sense of being willing to work
for their well-being even if it means sacrificing
our own well-being to that end.”
             Frederick Blechner







Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, keep me from the indifference which keeps me from loving my neighbor as you loved me - sacrificially.”

July 3, 2016 7th Sunday After Pentecost

Luke 10:1-20  (The Message)
10 1-2 Later the Master selected seventy and sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he intended to go. He gave them this charge:
“What a huge harvest! And how few the harvest hands. So on your knees; ask the God of the Harvest to send harvest hands.
3 “On your way! But be careful—this is hazardous work. You’re like lambs in a wolf pack.

There is no question about the need; the harvest is plentiful.
There is no question about the importance of prayer as a part of the task.
The question is, who are the laborers we are praying might be sent out?

Praying was never meant to be a substitute for doing.  It is “me” who is to “go”!  To pray for the harvest is to pray that I might be one of the laborers sent out to struggle in the heart of the day with the task of reaping the harvest.  There is something God cannot do with out my doing it.  God has chosen to limit God’s activity to those humans who will do it for Him/Her.

Indeed, this is a dangerous prayer for we might be caught up in the answer.



“This God gives the skill
But not without men’s hands;
He could not make Antonio
Stradivarius violins
Without Antonio.”
George Eliot in “Stradivarius”







Prayer thought for the week: “Lord, use me in your harvest.  Open my eyes to see how I might “be there” for You each day.”

June 26, 2016 6th Sunday After Pentecost

Luke 9:51-62 (The Message)

51-54 When it came close to the time for his Ascension, he gathered up his courage and steeled himself for the journey to Jerusalem. He sent messengers on ahead. They came to a Samaritan village to make arrangements for his hospitality. But when the Samaritans learned that his destination was Jerusalem, they refused hospitality. When the disciples James and John learned of it, they said, “Master, do you want us to call a bolt of lightning down out of the sky and incinerate them?”
55-56 Jesus turned on them: “Of course not!” And they traveled on to another village.
57 On the road someone asked if he could go along. “I’ll go with you, wherever,” he said.
58 Jesus was curt: “Are you ready to rough it? We’re not staying in the best inns, you know.”
Jesus said to another, “Follow me.”
59 He said, “Certainly, but first excuse me for a couple of days, please. I have to make arrangements for my father’s funeral.”
60 Jesus refused. “First things first. Your business is life, not death. And life is urgent: Announce God’s kingdom!”
61 Then another said, “I’m ready to follow you, Master, but first excuse me while I get things straightened out at home.”
62 Jesus said, “No procrastination. No backward looks. You can’t put God’s kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day.”

Whatever else it means, to follow Jesus, it is a radical departure from what has been to what is yet to be.

It is an all consuming adventure which is full of uncertainty, vulnerability and openness to God’s surprises as they come upon us at the most unexpected moments, in unconventional ways and ask us to be ready to  “proclaim the Kingdom of God” in the very essence of our being.

It means being a servant, a steward, a slave.  We cannot do it our way - we have to do it His way.  We cannot consume one another, we are to serve one another in love.

“True religiousness, in whatever faith, functions not to enslave but to free, not to injure but to heal, not to destabilize but to stabilize.”
True religion lives by grace which sets people free.  Free to be who we are.  Free to struggle with our purpose in life.  Free to choose without fear of reprisal, yet with responsibility for our choices.  Free to live knowing that I will always be loved, and also knowing that I have to choose how I am going to use my freedom - as an excuse to indulge in self-gratification at the expense of others; as a license to destroy myself and others;   or as an opportunity to love my neighbor as myself, to love as I have been loved!   Hans  Kung







“True religiousness,
in whatever faith,
functions not to enslave
but to free,
not to injure but to heal,
not to destabilize but to stabilize.”
Hans  Kung







Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help my “religiousness” to be life giving, proclaiming your Kingdom of grace and love for all.
lest it miss the mark






 

June 19, 2016 5th Sunday After Pentecost

Luke 8:26-39  (The Message)
26-29 They sailed on to the country of the Gerasenes, directly opposite Galilee. As he stepped out onto land, a madman from town met him; he was a victim of demons. He hadn’t worn clothes for a long time, nor lived at home; he lived in the cemetery. When he saw Jesus he screamed, fell before him, and bellowed, “What business do you have messing with me? You’re Jesus, Son of the High God, but don’t give me a hard time!” (The man said this because Jesus had started to order the unclean spirit out of him.) Time after time the demon threw the man into convulsions. He had been placed under constant guard and tied with chains and shackles, but crazed and driven wild by the demon, he would shatter the bonds.
30-31 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
“Mob. My name is Mob,” he said, because many demons afflicted him. And they begged Jesus desperately not to order them to the bottomless pit.
32-33 A large herd of pigs was browsing and rooting on a nearby hill. The demons begged Jesus to order them into the pigs. He gave the order. It was even worse for the pigs than for the man. Crazed, they stampeded over a cliff into the lake and drowned.
34-36 Those tending the pigs, scared to death, bolted and told their story in town and country. People went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had been sent, sitting there at Jesus’ feet, wearing decent clothes and making sense. It was a holy moment, and for a short time they were more reverent than curious. Then those who had seen it happen told how the demoniac had been saved.

The casting out of demons and the resulting peace in the man’s life announces again the mission of Jesus - to set us free from the evil which so easily possesses us.  It is a strong reminder that Jesus seeks too bestow wholeness, peace, and belonging to our lives.

Our greatest challenge is not to try figure out why Jesus did this to the pigs,
but having to courage to name the powers which seek to enslave us and keep us from living free, joyous, compassionate lives.  And to let them be cast out!
 
The powers of evil are still at work in our world and in our lives.  Prejudice, indifference, blasphemy, hypocrisy , bulling, judging, name calling, excluding, etc. etc. etc.  We may not be able to  change the world but we can let our hearts be changed from evil to good.  And that means that we let go of what sometimes seems to be so important for our own welfare, and live so that love will prevail in our world of hate.

Perhaps we all need too hear again the words of Scott Peck who describes this evil which is in all of us and needs to be cast out.


"It is no accident that people who commit
 the most evil in this world see no power
higher than themselves.  The evil are very
strong-willed men and women.  And
because they are narcissistic, self-absorbed,
and their will is supreme, they are the ones
who are most into inappropriate and
destructive blaming.  They are the people
who cannot - who will not - take the beam out
of their own eye."
                       Scott Peck







Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, it is easy to see evil in others.
Help me see where I have that which needs to be cast out, lest I be evil too.”

June 12 2016 4th Sunday After Pentecost

Luke 7:36-50  (The Message)

36-39 One of the Pharisees asked him over for a meal. He went to the Pharisee’s house and sat down at the dinner table. Just then a woman of the village, the town harlot, having learned that Jesus was a guest in the home of the Pharisee, came with a bottle of very expensive perfume and stood at his feet, weeping, raining tears on his feet. Letting down her hair, she dried his feet, kissed them, and anointed them with the perfume. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man was the prophet I thought he was, he would have known what kind of woman this is who is falling all over him.”
40 Jesus said to him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Oh? Tell me.”
41-42 “Two men were in debt to a banker. One owed five hundred silver pieces, the other fifty. Neither of them could pay up, and so the banker canceled both debts. Which of the two would be more grateful?”
43-47 Simon answered, “I suppose the one who was forgiven the most.”
“That’s right,” said Jesus. Then turning to the woman, but speaking to Simon, he said, “Do you see this woman? I came to your home; you provided no water for my feet, but she rained tears on my feet and dried them with her hair. You gave me no greeting, but from the time I arrived she hasn’t quit kissing my feet. You provided nothing for freshening up, but she has soothed my feet with perfume. Impressive, isn’t it? She was forgiven many, many sins, and so she is very, very grateful. If the forgiveness is minimal, the gratitude is minimal.”
48 Then he spoke to her: “I forgive your sins.”
49 That set the dinner guests talking behind his back: “Who does he think he is, forgiving sins!”
50 He ignored them and said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”


It is the nature of God to forgive, not to condemn.
To accept, rather than dismiss.
To reconcile, rather than reject.

God forgives first - as much as needed - grace sufficient to cover what ever sins - then waits for something beautiful to happen.
Those who are forgiven much (and know it) will love  much ( and show it).

It is not moral perfection which pleases God - perfection which creates an attitude of condemnation rather than compassion.
It is being forgiven much which pleases God, for then our lives will make a difference and the Kingdom of God will come - through us!            






"Forgiveness does not require
us to close our eyes but rather
to truly open them."  
 Richard Paul Evans








Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord help me to never give up on forgiveness, both to be forgiven and to forgive.  Open my eyes to how much I have needed - and received - forgiveness and give me a gracious heart to show it.”

June 5, 2016 3rd Sunday After Pentecost

Luke 7:11-17  (The Message)
11-15 Not long after that, Jesus went to the village Nain. His disciples were with him, along with quite a large crowd. As they approached the village gate, they met a funeral procession—a woman’s only son was being carried out for burial. And the mother was a widow. When Jesus saw her, his heart broke. He said to her, “Don’t cry.” Then he went over and touched the coffin. The pallbearers stopped. He said, “Young man, I tell you: Get up.” The dead son sat up and began talking. Jesus presented him to his mother.
16-17 They all realized they were in a place of holy mystery, that God was at work among them. They were quietly worshipful—and then noisily grateful, calling out among themselves, “God is back, looking to the needs of his people!” The news of Jesus spread all through the country.

It is no small thing to say and believe that God is at work among us.  It means that things happen which shouldn’t happen and there is more to life then we can ever understand.  There is mystery!

As Albert Einstein has said of religion, it “consists in a humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit that reveals itself in the little that we, with our weak and transitory understanding can comprehend of reality.”





“The most beautiful thing we can
 experience is the mysterious.
 It is the source of all true art
and science.  ( We can add religion.)
He to whom this emotion is a stranger,
who can no longer pause to wonder
and be rapt in awe,  is as good as dead;
his eyes are closed.”  
Albert Einstein:





Prayer thought for the week.  “Lord, help me to embrace mystery and live in awe at that which is beyond my understanding - your love and grace at work in our world.”