Proper 14C, August 10, 2025

Quotes That Make Me Think

"The generosity Jesus urges is not an accumulative good-deed-doing, to bank on earning you a ticket to heaven, but a rush of self-forgetting, a joyfully celebrative generosity that empties its purse without worries of a harsh future."

"Treasure in Heaven," Nancy Rockwell, The Bite in the Apple, 2013.

"Fear, treasure, and being prepared is the pattern for discipleship. Being without fear, knowing the source of your treasure -- that is, your identity, your worth -- makes it possible to be prepared for and an actual participant in God's kingdom."

Commentary, Luke 12:32-40, Karoline Lewis, Pentecost 12C Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

"Let's each use this day to complete our own portfolio reviews. Where am I letting fear cloud my judgment? What possessions could I sell to enjoy greater simplicity while also being a tangible blessing to someone else?"

"Portfolio Review," Steve Godfrey, Church in the World, 2013.

General Resources for Sunday's Lessons from Textweek.com

Prayer

Keep our lamps burning brightly, our hearts ever watchful for the hour of your Son’s return, that we may open the gate as soon as he knocks and be admitted by him to the eternal banquet. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on Luke 12:32-48

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Jesus in Luke’s Gospel is clear about our work. We are to share all that we have, just as God has shared all that he is. So we arrive at this Gospel for today prepared to hear Jesus tell us to be watchful and be prepared to serve.

Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out

We are ready. Our belts are cinched and we are waiting for the moment, just as a master of the house expecting a thief.

Unlike the rich man from last week’s Gospel reading, we are to be ready. We do not know when God is coming, but we are to be prepared as if it were now – this very moment.

What we discover is that Jesus is not only talking about the Day of Judgment. Jesus is also talking about the fact that we are to be acting and ready in every moment. God sees us. God sees us all the time. There is never a time when we are alone – the existential and egotism of the modern era would be considered a lie to Jesus.  No we are always in community with our God.

Notice Jesus and the work of the disciples are to be compared with the servant/slave who serves the table and household well. We get caught sometimes in the parables awful tale of woe for the lazy and unfaithful steward; perhaps because we automatically place ourselves in this secondary role.

Jesus though seems to want us to identify with the good servant.  Jesus is offering, beckoning us to take the first role. We are called and invited to be like Jesus (who will after all serve at the last supper). We are to be the first servant. We are to be faithful managers of the household. We are to be sensible. We are to make sure everyone has food to eat and we are to so see that kingdom work is carried out.

Jesus is clearly offering not only a vision of discipleship as the “sensible” servant. He is also offering a vision of those who are currently keeping God’s house.

Here is the work of the church today. We must take care not to become the second servant. We cannot become the one who abuses those who serve with us. We cannot be gluttonous desiring only our own worldly security. This will become clearer as we approach the parables of kingship and vineyard from Luke's gospel.

We as Christians, followers of Jesus, who believe in the divine household of God, given through God’s providence, know that with such a great gift comes a great responsibility for all of creation. It is this great responsibility and great task that we inherit a mandate for healthy and active stewardship.

We must be ready, for we do not know when the master of the house returns. But when he returns, even though we be servants in the household of God for only a short while, may he find here in the church a family of God, a temple of the Holy Spirit, a community of faithful, wise, and sensible servants; and a world changed by our mission on his behalf.

It has me wondering what would a world changed and improved by the church's presence, and the presence of active followers, look like to God?  Would it look like this world?

Some Thoughts on Hebrews 11:1-19

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"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."  This is a great passage of scripture!  This is the story of Israel's faith and this is the story of our faith.

This passage is mentioned by Augustine and Aquinas, and is even the answer of Dante when he arrives in Paradise. (Craig Koester, Hebrews, 478). Essentially Paul tells us that faith is something our ancestors had and that God blessed.  Faith understands that God is creator of all things and that God has spoken the whole of creation into being.  And that it is from things not seen that all things flow.  Out of nothingness, from a world that cannot be seen, and from the speaking mouth of God.

The author then recounts the faith of Abel, Enoch and others.  Faith though seems to have some qualities that are presented.

Abel - acceptable sacrifice
Enoch - pleased God in his lifetime of believing
Noah - listened to God and acted
Abraham - listened to God and ventured out not knowing his destination
Isaac and Jacob - listened and were builders of God's vision
Sarah - believed and was given a family

Each of these people were faithful. They did not necessarily see or even experience the results of their faith. (An important fact in the story telling which is often forgotten in a culture of immediately attainable goals.)

In the very last phrase of our passage we are told that God has chosen them and he has not been disappointed.  

Proper 13C, August 3, 2025

Quotes That Make Me Think

"So greed seems to be a rather universal concept, from Norse and Saxon to Indian Sanskrit, the word seeks to describe the universal problem. A 'sickness to have something'."

"Lifting our Mater from Materialism," Peter Woods, I Am Listening, 2010.

"We learn the essential lesson: do not attempt to possess things, for things cannot really be possessed. Only make sure you are not possessed by them, lest your god change."

"Possessed by a Thing," Michael Battle, The Witness.

General Resources for Sunday's Lessons from Textweek.com

Prayer

As we labor to produce a rich harvest, do not let greed or self-importance rule our lives. Let us not store up treasures for ourselves, but grow rich in those things that are pleasing to you.  We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on Luke 12:13-21

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Jesus is surrounded by people and one is a petitioner. He wants Jesus to make his brother divide the house. Jesus’ response is clear. He is not going to be a judge or mediator. This is an interesting lesson to follow the passage on prayer last week. Jesus uses this as a foil to discuss greed; and we should be aware that it tempers the idea of waking God and beseeching providential care that is simply a

masquerade for our own greed.

Greed is the sin that never rests and always seeks more. But Jesus is clear, “Life is a gift of God. No amount of possessions, however abundant, can make it greater or give it security.” (Luke Timothy Johnson, Luke, Sacra Pagina, 199)

The man in the parable is a symbol of this misguided desire and this sin left to its own desires.

Luke has a very particular understanding of stewardship: “Wealth with respect to God has two levels of meaning for Luke; the first is the response of faith, the second is the disposition of possessions in accordance with faith, which means to share them with others rather than accumulating them for one’s self.” (LTJ, 199)

The man is wealthy because he had a lot of stuff; he is fool because he thought that meant he also had security. It seems to me the parable and the teaching is that people are meant for eternity and that this is not so much about death but about the real living of life in the reign of God today.

We can see clearly the foolishness in this way of living for the individual. But do we see it in terms of the institution? Do we believe that things, wealth, buildings, success, rector-ship, or belonging to the right congregation, or singing the right kind of praise song, or worshiping with the right amount of incense will provide some kind of security? One does not have to read the pages of history or even to travel the ancient highways to see the foolishness of men’s desires and dreams.

Only the institution willing to loose everything for the kingdom will live within the reign of God Jesus is proclaiming. What are we thinking of? Are we hoping to secure our future with a budget that keeps the doors open? Or, are we ready to live the kingdom now?

As a bishop these are hard questions to ask of a congregation. These are hard questions to ask about the church.

John Hines said something about risking it all for the sake of the Gospel. Is the sin of greed and the sin of prosperity and the sin of security upon us?

Forgive us lord our sins, and give us our daily bread, for only in you do we live and move and have our being.

Some Thoughts on Colossians 3:1-11

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Paul is saying to us who have been baptized and choose to believe in this God and this unique revelation of God in Christ Jesus: seek heavenly things.  "Seek the things that are above."  "Set your minds."  You already are participating in the death and resurrection of Christ.  So the life of Christ is revealed to you and through you.  

Let your old life die away.  Let the notion that you are controlled by other forces, and maligned by others, and that what you do and what you eat are infecting you away.  That is not the way life is when it is lived in Christ and focused on the heavenly things.  

Anything that separates you from God, any idolatry, seek to put away from yourselves.  Any idolatry that seeks to make you the center of the universe and world put away and look beyond these things beyond these behaviors.  This is the key to Paul's moral theology.

Paul is not content though in simply naming the idolatrous behaviors which consume us he is also interested in help us understand that such behaviors motive: "anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth." Telling lies too is included in the behaviors which seek to gratify or protect our idolatrous selves.  

Here is the fascinating part. If we put on Christ, focus on Christ, live Christ then other things fall away too. When we are focused on our spiritual life and our walk with Christ we no longer have time to tell others how they are not doing it right.  In other words Paul's understanding of idolatry includes the notion that when you put down another person, seek to separate them from yourself, you are actually aggrandizing yourself and making yourself Godlike and perhaps legally holy.  

Paul reminds us this just isn't true; its just another lie which makes us and our life the center instead of Christ's.  When we focus upon the life of Christ and heavenly things and our response to freedom and grace there is no time to (as my friends in the program say) take another person's inventory. So then when we are clothed in Christ and the image of the creator there "is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!"

Some Thoughts on Hosea 11:1-11

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Our lesson structure does not make room for us to read all of Hosea. What we read instead is the ending. Our last lesson from Hosea promised that God would not desert God's people. This concluding chapter of the prophet's ministry offers a vision of God's love.

Hosea begins by reminding that Israel belongs to God's love. Israel is God's child. Hosea reminds the people that God has been faithful but they have offered sacrifices to local idols in order to gain worldly power and security.

God was the one who delivered them, taught them how to be in the world, how to care for each other, and how to be faithful. God delivered them out of Egypt, healed them, and fed them. Hosea writes:

Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them.

Hosea then says that the people lack of remembering and faith will inevitably bring them back to Egypt where the king will no know them and will devour them. The earthly kings of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, and even Israel are all the same - they devour the people, their labor, their economy, their very beings for their own worldly gain. Like Amos, Hosea draws a clear line between the worship and allegiance to the powers and forces of this world will bring about destruction. People will in the end inevitably, always, sell themselves into slavery for the things of this world.

But God will not and cannot forget them - Hosea says. God's heart breaks for his children. Hosea writes,

My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my fierce anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and no mortal, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.

God awaits their return. God will free them once again. God will return them to their home one more time. God will be faithful and God will act for them even though they are unfaithful. God will stand loyal to God's people, even though they continue to worship and follow after the false gods of the world.

Proper 12C, July 27, 2025

Quotes That Make Me Think

"First of all, we need to admit that prayer is not "putting coins in a vending machine." It is not putting our prayer in the right slot, pushing the right button, and waiting for the vending machine God to spit out exactly what we want. God is not a vending machine."

Exegetical Notes by Brian Stoffregen at CrossMarks Christian Resources.

"If you're going to preach on the gospel reading from Luke this Sunday, I have some advice for you: clear some time on your schedule for additional pastoral counseling in the coming weeks."

"Shameless," David Lose, Working Preacher, 2010.

General Resources for Sunday's Lessons from Textweek.com

Prayer

May we who ask you for our daily bread give gladly and generously to those in need. Let us who search for mercy ourselves be quick to let others find mercy with us. May we who knock at the door of your kingdom keep our own hearts and hands open wide in welcome. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on Luke 11:1-13

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This reading is all about prayer. We learn that John taught his disciples to pray and now Jesus is asked to teach us to pray. We certainly have many occasions to reflect throughout scripture on the manner and form of Jesus’ own prayer. Here we see Luke offering us a didactic moment.

We are given the version of the Lord’s prayer without the doxology as in the didache text.

We begin with a simple greeting of God as father. Sometimes we get caught up on, not an unimportant theological point, but whether or not the particular typological reference to God as a male is appropriate. I find that while I love a good theological discussion and argument this is to miss the point. Jesus here is prescribing that the communal work of prayer should be as intimate as is his prayer to God. So it is Jesus who calls God Father, and it is for this reason that we do the same.

We sanctify God’s name as in the ancient tradition of offering God glory through our worship. A key manifestation of the act of returning to God what God intends of all creation: that God be glorified, magnified, reflected back to God’s self.

More than talking about God as male or female this passage makes clear, as does the Lord’s Prayer, that God is absolutely different, wholly and holy different from the created order.

Then we are to pray that God’s kingdom may become reality in this world. Paralleling the Kaddish we understand that our work is to be a part of, a citizen, in the reign of God. This is the theme running throughout chapter 9 through 11 of Luke’s Gospel: the reign of God is here; our work is to open our eyes to see, open our ears to hear it, and open our hands to work within its harvest.

“The bread we need.” This is a very difficult phrase to translate from Greek into English because this is the only place (here and in the Gospel of Matthew) where it is use in all of the Greek language. (LTJ, Luke, Sacra Pagina, 177) Most every scholar agrees it does not mean supernatural bread, though this is exactly what the Patristic writers seemed to think it meant. It is daily bread, future bread, and necessary bread. It is bread that is received as gift and it is bread that is given. While modern scholars disagree with Patristic scholars we who pray it, I find, have reason enough to believe we know how to translate this particular phrase. I have sat down with friends at table, I have sat in Alanon meetings, I have sat at camp, I have sat in bible studies, and I have sat in prayer circles. In each place this particular request for daily bread has been translated in so many ways that are real and present that while I may not know exactly what it means I know it comes down to this. God, you are a God of providence, you give me all that I have and all that I am, do not stop your giving.

And, in receiving your providence in bread and in forgiveness of sins, let me be repentant. Let me turn away, and do not try me for life is hard enough. The work of a disciple who follows Jesus is clearly difficult and it is one that will test and try us. These are themes throughout Luke and Acts.

Petition and regular conversation with God is the way of prayer. We are to be the shameless petitioner. In the middle of the night, throughout the day, at all the most inconvenient times we are to pray to God. There is never at time when prayer should not be appropriately offered. Jesus is teaching them that this is what I call, “in your face prayer.” Knock on that door. Wake God up! Get God out of bed! But Jesus’ message is clear. God will be even more gracious than a friend who has all things in common with you. This is the providence of God.

Some Thoughts on Colossians 2:6-15

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"It is commonplace that we do not and cannot share the powerful fear of Paul's contemporaries that principalities and powers reign in the upper air, that the stars exercise a malign influence, or that personal demonic forces contaminate food and drink." (Ralph Martin, Interpretation Colossians, page 116)  This is just not what we believe nor how we navigate the world.

However, ever present is the fact that human beings actually do attribute their lot in life to other powers, they do believe other things exercise a malign influence on their life, they do believe that demonic forces are at work. Yep...that is us!

For us Paul has good news.  As believers in Christ Jesus our Lord we have a life that can be lived in him.  We have the potential of a life that is established in faith and gratefulness.  We receive this because the creation and all its powers are God's.  They are birthed through Christ.  Christ is over all things; including those things we fear.  Christ has more power than they do.  In baptism we are yoked with Christ and there is nothing that will over power the God of Love.  In fact we are going to be raised with Christ.  Christ's own public humiliation gives birth to our triumph.

Paul is clear: there is nothing in this world real or unseen that can condemn us.  Food, drink, observing festivals, new moons, sabbaths, or any action - for if we are Christ's we are raised with Christ.

How often are we willing to let someone disqualify us, some power to undermine us.  Paul says, "Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God."  

The message is clear. God loves you. God redeems you in Christ. Live in Christ and upon Christ's faith and work and be free of the possession of things seen and unseen, of powers and principalities.  You don't have to do that stuff it has no power in a world created by God and possessed by Christ.

Some Thoughts on Hosea 1:2-10

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We must put into context the prophesy of Hosea. We have just finished reading from Amos. Like Amos, Hosea is prophesying against the northern kingdom. His time of prophesy lies between Elijah, Elisha, Amos and those who come after Hosea - Jonah and Nahum. He prophesies just before the final death blows are given to the northern kingdom and it comes to an end under the invasion of the Assyrians.

Hosea uses his own life story to explain God's faithfulness. Hosea's wife leaves him with children for other men. Hosea though forgives her and takes her back. He is married to a prostitute. There is some argument about if this is a literary ploy or autobiographical. Regardless, Hosea is communicating that God will be forgiving and just if his people will but hear his invitation to repent and return. God will not leave his people but continuously desires that they embody his love by repenting.

Hosea also reminds the people that God intends compassion for his people. God intends to be faithful to the covenant regardless of Israel's lack of faith. Hosea promises a measure of redemption lies before them, even in the midst of this very difficult time of anarchy.
God promises, "I will save them by the Lord their God; I will not save them by bow, or by sword, or by war, or by horses, or by horsemen.” They shall be saved by remembering their dependence upon God and that the powers of this world will not provide or bring about the reign I have promised.

Proper 11C, July 20, 2022

Quotes That Make Me Think

"We do know that Jesus invites all of us who are worried and distracted by many things to sit and rest in his presence, to hear his words of grace and truth, to know that we are loved and valued as children of God, to be renewed in faith and strengthened for service.

Commentary, Luke 10:38-42, Elisabeth Johnson, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

"This brief encounter within the gospel narrative purposely disrupts expectations and disturbs our sense of propriety. I hope to hear a sermon that resists the temptation to justify Jesus and allows Jesus the guest to offend my sensibilities."

Commentary, Luke 10:38-42 (Pentecost +8), Marilyn Salmon, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.

Prayer

Let your gracious presence here in word an at table remind us that one thing only is necessary and that in those to whom we offer hospitality, it is you whom we receive as a guest.  We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on Luke 10:38-42

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The first thing that is interesting to me is that most scholars group this passage with the passage of the

Good Samaritan. As familiar with the last story as most Christians are the story of Mary and Martha has cultural ramifications and is very popular in its own way.

Martha welcomes Jesus and sets about his comfort. Meanwhile, Mary sits and listens to the word. Overwhelmed by the serving Martha has had enough. She is all tangled up in life and goes to Jesus to seek a better portion. But she finds in the words of Jesus that her cause of anxiety and worry and trouble is of her own making. As Jesus points out there is only need of one thing. So what is the one thing?

Some scribes have made some serious errors. They thought Jesus meant dishes and so replaced one with few. We are all focused on the dishes vs. prayer argument.

Jesus is simply talking about the essential note of hospitality: pay attention.

Others have thought he meant the one thing – Jesus.

The idea that Jesus means to be attentive and that this is the chief concern of hospitality may seem foreign but not when you take it into the context of the last few weeks Gospel lessons. When you are a messenger be attentive to your message (do lift your head from your plow), those to whom you go should be attentive for the kingdom is near, and be attentive to your opportunity to serve even if the person is so very unlike you. In this reading, we see that if we miss being attentive because we have busied ourselves with the practice we will, in the end, miss our opportunity.

Remember, the message of the Gospel of Luke is that Jesus the great prophet is present, he is working miracles, he is bringing in the very real kingdom of God, and he is sending us out. Acts teaches us the Spirit is present with us today. Be ATTENTIVE God is working in our lives and we don’t want to miss it!

Luke Timothy Johnson summarizes this series of episodes on the way to Jerusalem in a wonderful way:

“It is obvious that Luke understands something about human psychology. The pattern of avoidance exhibited by the priest and Levite, the self-justifying bluster of the lawyers, the irritation of the “dutiful daughter” Martha. These are people like us. Less familiar perhaps is what goes beyond psychology into gospel: the compassion that is not simply a feeling but translates itself into the self-giving that takes risks, that disposes of the self and one’s possessions and then allows the other to leave without clinging; the hospitality that receives the other as the other wishes to be received, that listens.”

This Sunday the preacher will have a difficult time staying away from the allegory of Mary and Martha, the worker bee and the contemplative. To engage in that dichotomy may be a false sense of Christian life. In the meditations of a Benedictine at work, we discover work is prayer. In the contemplation of a solitary, we discover prayer is work. Both are true but neither is Godly unless it is attentive to the revelation of Christ.

Let us though ponder a slightly different train of thought. We have come to believe through our overall scripture studies that this particular family is an important part of the Gospel and the mission of the Kingdom of God. We know that Jesus will spend his last days with them and that he is close enough to weep over the loss of their brother Lazarus. So is there more going on here than a debate about work and prayer, and the overarching narrative about hospitality to God?

We do well to remember Jesus' call of a few disciples in this particular Gospel. The author writes: "Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.”11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him." We see this repeated as a frame in the passage today.

Mary is in the position of the disciple, sitting at Jesus' feet and learning. She is already following Jesus. Jesus confronts Martha. Is it possible that the purpose of confronting her is not merely to make a judgment about work and prayer but instead to break the social norms and invite her to be a follower - a disciple? Mary is breaking norms... Martha sees this. Jesus then invites Martha to do the same. Come and drop your work (for that is what she is doing) and follow me - be my disciple. Here like the invitation to the fisherman, Jesus invites individuals to drop their work and take on the work of the kingdom.

There is a bit more here too. As the passage is often paired with the passage of the visitors and Abraham at Mamre, we see that God is present and to be attended. (Genesis 18:1-10a) Abraham is faithful in waiting upon the three visitors - sometimes cast as angels and others as the persons of the Trinity. Either way, part of what is happening is that the social convention of waiting upon God is changed to being in a relationship with God. This then is a radical undermining of social and religious norms.

Some Thoughts on Colossians 1:15-29

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This week we read an ancient Christian hymn.  The purpose of the hymn is to remind us of who it is that is the Church's Lord.

Jesus Christ is the revelation, the manifestation, and the representation of God.  Christ is not a copy but as Ralph Martin says, Christ is the "projection of God on the canvas of our humanity and the embodiment of the divine in the world of men and women." (Colossians,Interpretation,  109)

The hymn is used by Paul to set forth his theology.

Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God.  He is the firstborn of creation.  All things were created, everything in heaven and on the earth.  Thrones, dominions, principles, authorities, are all under his authority.  Creation is his and it exists for him. Christ is the binder of all creation and he is the head of the church.  Christ, the resurrected one is the firstborn of the dead who will rise.  Jesus Christ is the one who has done (and is the only one who can) do the work of reconciliation.  

Not unlike the passage from Luke, Paul is clear that Christ is the revelation of God and that we are to be attentive to this revelation. Moreover, like Paul, we are to reveal this God in our own lives and in our ministry.  I am challenged to reflect today...when people are in contact with me and engage in ministry with me...do they see the revelation of God as through Christ?  Hmm...

Some Thoughts on Amos 8:1-12

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We continue this week with our lesson from Amos. We remember that Amos is a dresser of fruit trees and herdsman. From his context, the prophet brings forth imagery to call people back into a faithful response to God's mercy and deliverance.

We must always remember that the framework of the prophets is located within the following faith system:

1) God acted on behalf of his people
2) At Sinai the people chose to respond to God's action with faithfulness
3) God's people are want to faithlessness and to replace God with kings and rulers
4) The prophets are raised by God to call the people to repent

Amos refers to the failing leaders and idols as a basket of rotting summer fruit. Then Amos says that part of the unfaithfulness has become evident by the people's lack of care for those in need and the poor of the land are revelations of the people's rejection of God and God's desire that all be cared for on God's behalf. 

Amos then reminds the people of their covenant with God and that they have brought upon 

God's poor and the neglected and so themselves shall suffer. This is not merely an act of God upon the kingdom but a direct correlation is made in Amos' prophesy between the kingdom's faithfulness, the poor and needy, and their long-term prosperity. 

Amos makes it clear that the kingdom that remembers their promise to God after Sinai will be a people who remember the poor and neglected (as God once remembered his suffering people) and so will bring about just community. But when the nation forgets their God they bring upon themselves their own terrible suffering. Amos tells the people in no uncertain terms their unfaithfulness is bringing upon them a great calamity, and God will not stop it.

Some Thoughts on Genesis 18:1-10

"Abraham has received a seemingly impossible promise, but his animated efforts on behalf of these strangers under adverse conditions suggest that he still trusts that God can and will do the impossible."

Commentary, Genesis 18:1-10a (Pentecost +8), Jacqueline E. Lapsley, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.

"Grace always comes first. Because that grace is there, God's people can respond with their best."

Commentary, Genesis 18:1-10a (Pentecost +9), Sara Koenig, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

"Along the way, Abraham learns that no one person has a monopoly on God's covenant, and that great endeavors require great partners."

"A Great Partner for a Great Endeavor," Torah Commentary by Wendy Amsellem. BeliefNet.

Oremus Online NRSV First Lesson 

This is a chunk of scripture. But it is good stuff. God has called Abram out of the land of Uhr. Abram has followed God and set up altars along the way. For his work and pilgrimage, God has given he and Sarai new names. Furthermore, God has continued to journey with him even into the land near the oaks of Mamre. 

We are told that God appears there in the person of three men. God is then received, the three men are received, by Abraham and Sarah and they are welcomed and fed. Before God leaves God promises that they will have a son. This seems impossible but God makes the promise that it will, in fact, happen before God is with them again. Indeed God keeps God's promise. 

This event is often depicted in the great masterpiece of the Trinity as written in the icon of my Rublev. The icon is entitled "The Hospitality of Abraham."

Now the passage itself is important for many reasons. Certainly, it is important in the origination stories of the people of Israel for it speaks to God's special relationship with Abraham. It is also important for it speaks to God's relationship with God's people and God's willingness for those people to prosper and to multiply.

The passage cannot be divorced from the Genesis desire on God's part that the people multiply themselves. Nor can it be separated out from God's continued desire to walk with his creation in the eve of the day beneath the trees of his garden.

Mary translates her pregnancy to the story of God delivering God's people but also the story of God's promise to Abraham. This links the past to the present in the Gospel narrative, the old with the new. Jesus calls his followers to the work of the hospitality of Abraham. In fact that they are the inheritors, the very real progeny of the Gospel and covenant of Abraham says Peter in Acts. Paul invites his hearers to understand they are inheritors of the relationship Abraham had with God.

Proper 10C, Sunday July 13, 2025

Quotes That Make Me Think

"We are all "tribal" by instinct and by habit. We are most comfortable with and usually care most about those like us. But now we live side-by-side with people of many different tribes."

Commentary, Luke 10:25-37 (Pentecost +8), Michael Rogness, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

"Having created the impossible-possibility of a despised no-body doing what is needed to inherit eternal life, ... presents a double challenge. First. To be able to see someone we despise as being able to do what God desires. Second. To imagine ourselves lying left-for-dead in a ditch and being aided by such a one."

Holy Textures, Understanding the Bible in its own time and in ours, Luke 10:25-37, David Ewart, 2013.

General Resources for Sunday's Lessons from Textweek.com

Prayer

Fill our hearts, with compassion and generosity toward the sufferings of our brothers and sisters, so that, like Christ, e may become Good Samaritans to the whole world.  We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on Luke 10:25-37

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This passage begins with a hostile question from a lawyer. It is the same question from Luke 18:18.

What must one do to inherit eternal life? This phrase “eternal life” interestingly appears very few times in the whole of the New Testament. It appears only 12 times, and five of those times are in Luke’s Gospel. This is not to say that we don’t read about the idea in other ways elsewhere, but it is clear that it only appears in this exact phrasing but a few times.

In this moment Jesus refers him to the passage from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. Both commandments are here enjoined as a cliff notes of sorts to the basic teachings of scripture and of Jesus.

In asking who is one’s neighbor with the lawyer we might look at the actual text of Leviticus first to see what it says. When we do we see that it means the following: sons of your own people (Lev 19:18) stranger or sojourner in the land (Lev 19:33-34). (LTJ, Luke, Sacra Pagina, 172) It is interesting to not here that the Pharisees, like those at Qumran understood this only in the first sense of understanding: it was about your own people. Jesus evidently believes it is a much broader group as in the parable we are about to hear.

The story of the Good Samaritan begins. As we have already seen and read in the past few weeks we are reading through a section of Luke focused on Samaria. We arrive at the telling of this story fully aware of the differences between Jerusalem and Samaria. We know of the division, and we are pretty sure that while they are not one of us, Jesus intends for them to be one of us. This message of inclusion is troubling to his first followers and it is troubling to his followers today.

When Jesus finishes the story he reverses the question from a legal obligation to a question about who deserves “love.” All of a sudden the question is turned over as Jesus asks not who is my neighbor, but to who may I be neighborly? Moreover, the answer reveals that the Samaritan while clearly not neighbor by the law of Lev 19:18 is the moral exemplar of the reign of God intended by Jesus.

Luke Timothy Johnson writes the following:

“More stunning still is the use to which Jesus turns the parable. The point, we learn, is not who deserves to be cared for, but rather the demand to become a person who treats everyone encountered – however frightening, alien, naked or defenseless – with compassion: “you go and do the same.” Jesus does not clarify a point of law, but transmutes law to gospel. One must take the same risks with one’s life and possessions that the Samaritan did!”

The idea that Jesus offers this unique change in the ethnic understanding of neighborliness and offers a vision of what we might call the ever expanding reach of Gospel proclamation may be news. It is Jesus himself who offers the Christian Church the ever expanding, always missional questions, “who is unlike you?” and, “what is the opportunity they offer you?” How are you going to minister to them?” Can you be as Jesus to them?” “How about as the Samaritan to them?”

We are given the opportunity to see those completely unlike ourselves as the missionary recipient of God’s never failing love and grace. We are to be neighbors, not counting the cost, but risking everything; including the risk of being thrown out of our faith ghetto for fraternizing with the enemy.

There is a great reminder here that we are to read the whole of scripture and that we are to see the fullness of God’s mission. We are invited through our faith in Jesus to be tested and to do the work Jesus has given us to do. We are to be like the Samaritan.

Can I do the same?

More radical may be to answer this question: Do I believe my inheritance of eternal life is dependant upon this work?

Some Thoughts on Colossians 1:1-14

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We move this week to the Epistle for Sunday which is a switch from Galatians to Colosians.  In typical fashion Paul tells him that he is one sent out to proclaim the word by the Grace of God.  And, that he brings to a community in conflict a word of peace; hearkening to Jesus' own words at the resurrection.  ( I am fully aware that there is a scholarly debate over the authorship of the letter; but for the purposes of digesting its offerings, and for simplicity, I am going to refer to Paul as the author.)

This passage is about bearing fruit.  The fruit that is being born is a fruit of hope and it comes from the God's Spirit. Paul is very clear that it is the Gospel and the Spirit which bears the fruit and it does so where there is faith.

The work of the follower of Jesus is to bear fruit; by and through the grace and hope that is in us.  Furthermore that the follower is not simply a follower but like Paul is sent out in strength and with patience to do the work of God by sharing the inheritance.  What Paul has received, what the Colossians have received, is for the world  and it is to be offered to the world.  It is free and all may have it.

Underlying these words of bearing fruit, faithfulness, and inheritance is the issue that seems to be plaguing the Colossians (as it did many early Christian communities).  Do you have to follow a bunch of laws to receive God's love.  The answer is Pauline and clear. God has provided this to all and it is provided freely.  

William Loader says this about the passage:

This needs to be set against the backdrop of what is bothering the community. Some are saying that God's love is not so free, but depends on religious rites and achievements which must be performed if we are to be sure of getting past the powers which hold sway in this universe. The result can be religious preoccupation with our own destiny. We can become busy trying to justify ourselves. We can do that by performing religious rites or doing many other things "religiously". We can even make ourselves busy with overwork (even with church work!) to achieve that sense of being valued and ultimately coming through and finding a place of worth. Colossians is acclaiming a generous love which says: stop all this and believe in grace! You don't have to become religious in this way. On the contrary, you can be liberated from such religion to be free to respond to God and others and yourselves with joy!

Paul and our author is clear that the Gospel is one of generous love. This love will breed faithfulness and fruit.  But faithfulness and fruit will not beget love; it never does.  The God we believe in reaches out to us and loves us.  God is more than kind, the God we believe in is grace filled.  Like God we are to be vines laden with grace and generous love.  This vine will bear much fruit.

Some Thoughts on Amos 7:7-17

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When in Jerusalem our guide, The Rev. Canon John Peterson, took us to a little hillside near Tekoa. In the hill beneath a mound of rubble and centuries of pot shards was a little cave. The cave is long believed to be a small ancient Christian church site to Amos the prophet. On this hill, and the valley below, one gets an understanding of the man from Tekoa, who was a herdsman and dresser of sycamore trees. Like the fruit of the sycamore tree (which is like a date) and must be punctured in order to be dried and eaten, Amos punctures the pearly visions of the ruling class of his day.

The time in which Amos prophesied is a time of a divided kingdom of Israel. The Northern kingdom and tribes are ruled over by King Jeroboam (786-746 BCE). 

God calls Amos to invite his people to repent. His prophecies are not good for the kingdom.

The reason is the long standing problem with those who chose to follow God - we are a fickle people. We are wont to find other god's who promise us prosperity, power, and health. The religious powers of the court are no different. Whenever the kings of Israel drifted away from their loyalty to the God who freed his people out of Egypt, the prophets were raised up by God to speak a word of return. 

An important piece here is that we easily place our trust in the world and powers of the world. God can become distant and far off. When this happens, and our anxiety rises, we will give ourselves, our wealth, time, and families over to the authorities of the world around us for an economic promise of safety. 

We can easily focus upon Amos proclamation that the kingdom will soon fall because of its prostitution to these ungodly forces. But what seems more important is to wonder out loud about how Amos' prophesy might have a word for us in our own time of anxiety and desire for security?

How are the sanctuaries - institutions of our day - passing away even as they promise security with reinvestment? (v 8,9) What have they promised in the passed and fallen short in their delivery? (7ff) How has our use of violence in order to prosper our own desires brought violence and death to our shores? (v 11) How have we rejected those who continuously invite us to the grace, mercy, forgiveness, and love of God? (v 13) 

First Sunday of Christmas - Sunday December 26, 2021

Quotes That Make Me Think


"If we struggle with Jesus? being 'fully human and fully God,' it should not be surprising if the child Jesus wrestled with his identity too."

"Stirrings of Divinity,"Peter Storey, The Christian Century, 2000.Religion Online.


"Children find their true home despite us."

"Learning from Our Children," Peter Woods, I Am Listening, 2009.


General Resources for Sunday's Lessons


Prayer
What love you have bestowed upon us, O good and gracious God, in letting us be called your children, and in giving us your Son, Jesus, to live as a child among us in the family of Mary and Joseph.  Let all who seek the face of Christ find him, not only here, in this house of prayer, but in the households, large and small, where your love is revealed in our love for each other.  We ask this through Christ, with whom you have raised us up in baptism, the Lord who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on Luke  2:41-52
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There are no other stories like this in the Gospels.  This is unique to Luke and it remains one of the only stories of Jesus' young life that we know. 

Certainly, scholars will recognize similar stories in the writings of the age.  These are stories of great men who in their youth portray their giftedness; giving a glimpse of their future life and vocation. 
The reader can easily see that without this story there is a 30-year gap in the life of Jesus.  It is perhaps for this reason that people try to mine this for all that can be discovered.

Yet the story is a simple story.  It is a beautiful story about a lost child, parents desperately looking for him, a frantic search,  and a bit of domestic drama between confused parents and adolescent piety.

What do we know? Jesus grew up in a pious family. They tended to their faithful duties including a Passover pilgrimage. 

There are definitely two tensions in the story.  The first is created by a family who is simply doing the normal though pietistic thing.  They are making their way to Jerusalem. They expect Jesus to be in the group, he is found to be lost.  The second tension is in the reality that Jesus is found in the Temple teaching. This is certainly a nod to future events but it is also a tension between Jesus and his family.  While they had all kinds of signs that their son was Lord and God with us; they seemed surprised to find him.  Indeed, he seems surprised that they are surprised.  Jesus himself from this point on will begin to distance himself from his family of origin and begin to spend time with the newly emerging family of God.

At the end of the story, we have a very clear theme emerging in Luke's gospel. Being lost is like being dead and being found is like being alive (Luke Timothy Johnson, Luke, 60).  The theme is a portent where Jesus is lost, he is found, and he is teaching in Jerusalem.  After his death, he will be lost, they will search for him, he will be found in Jerusalem to teach.  Again in the Emmaus story, we have a similar theme. 

I think on this the first Sunday after Christmas we must be careful to not move into mere sentimentality.  The text is present to link the Christ of the nativity with the Christ of mission and proclamation.  The text reminds us that the one in the manger is the one who shall teach us our roles as helpers in the kingdom of God.  The story helps us to remember that it is Christ that we look to for wisdom and for direction.  And, perhaps that this God who is unlikely to be found in human form is also unlikely to be found in all kinds of places; and there, when you find him shall you receive revelation.


Some Thoughts on Colossians 3:12-17

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This passage from Colossians speaks of the life lived in a community of Christ.  It is about the virtuous characteristics of Christians. 

Not surprisingly the passage follows teaching on morality.  We are to put to death impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness all of which is about us getting what we want.  All of these things are idolatry. Therefore, if we are not to be idolatrous and we wish to follow Jesus and to serve  him a life of virtue will consist of: "compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience."

We are as a community and as individuals to "bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other."  Wow, what would the church be like if we did this?  Christians are to remember that "just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive."

All of this can only be done with love, peace, and gratitude.  We are to dwell on the word of Christ and try to learn from one another.  And in the last part of the reading we are reminded that the essential key is for the individual (regardless of sex or age) to give themselves completely to God and to the other; whether it be family, friend or neighbor.

I wonder after all the time spent with folks over the holidays how well we did on this?  How well do we do it within our church? 

I was recently asked why people love God and are losing their faith in denominations. I believe that people are losing their faith in most kinds of organized religion because we don't do this.  People are genuinely looking for love, peace, and gratitude.  People are looking for compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.  If the church, which the scripture tells us is to look exactly like the virtuous community described in Colossians, doesn't look like it then why bother with it. 

The church should be the one place for Jesus' friends - the sinners.  This is true, but it is not permitted to be ugly and tread people with disrespect.  It just isn't.  I want to invest my life in helping our Episcopal church be about these things. I want to work with people who are compassionate, kind, humble, and patient. I want to work with people who support one another and forgive one another. I want to work with people who are invested in love, peace, and gratitude.

I would like nothing more than to spend a lifetime trying to be the church Paul imagines in today's lessons.  Instead of looking back to a community that may or may not have been like what Paul describes, I want to be at work creating the community of the future which reflects the virtues described in today's lesson.