July 20, 2014 6th Sunday of Pentecost

Matthew 13:24-43, 36-43

24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
   27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
   28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
   “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
   29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”
    36 Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”
   37 He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
   40 “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.


Judgment is not in our hands.  We are not to separate the wheat from the weeds, the sacred from the secular, the holy from the unholy.  This is God’s doing - God who is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love”.

Our task is to live faithfully, as those who are both wheat and weeds - we are not as pure as we would like to be.  As Wm. Saloan Coffin has said, “Remember what history teaches, never do people so cheerfully do evil as when they do it from religious conviction.”

I tried to laugh off being a Pastor/Chaplain.  I couldn’t do it.  So I said yes, no matter how inadequate I felt and how inappropriate it seemed.  God uses all of us in ways we don’t understand to spread his word of Love.  We are to tell of God’s love not try judge our neighbors.  Then it will be good - for them and for us.

“God has invited us to gather rather than to judge, to get together and learn to live with one another, weeds and wheat alike.  There is wheat within each of us as well as those all-too-visible weeds.  From this patchy crop God can fashion a miraculous bread, transforming each of us by the pure wheat of this holy offering, making us into beings shaped by hope.”   Richard I Pervo, New Proclamation Year A2011 p.99

July 13, 2014 5th of Pentecost

Matthew 13:1-9; 18-23
1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.  2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat there; and the whole crowd stood on the beach.  3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: "A sower went out to sow.  4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.  5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil,  6 but when the sun rose they were scorched; and since they had no root they withered away.  7 Other seeds fell upon thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.  8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.  9 He who has ears, let him hear." ...  18 "Hear then the parable of the sower.  19 When any one hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in his heart; this is what was sown along the path.  20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;  21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.  22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the delight in riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.  23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the word and understands it; he indeed bears fruit, and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty."

 “God’s Word In Us”

A parable is a story you can’t get unless it first gets you.  It is a story designed to “pull another story out of the listener”.  The end result is that “more happens in the mind of the listener then in the mouth of the teller.”

The Word of God (seed) will not fail.  It will do what it is meant to do - create faith in our hearts, stir us up in hope and challenge us to live in love.  Our words fail.  God’s Word will not fail!  Some times it sounds harsh; sometimes it sounds gentle; but it always seeks to make a promise and keep it - no matter what!

The seed is good; it is the soil which has the problem.  We are the soil - all 4 kinds of soil!
We are not always receptive to what God’s Word has to say.  We run hot and cold when we listen to God’s Word.    We have goodness choked out by our indifference.   We also hear and respond - doing that which pleases God.  God takes what comes from the good soil of our hearts and makes more of it then we ever could have dreamed possible.

It is God’s intent that His Word live in us , with us, through us;  so we can be a part of God’s Word living in our day and age.

July 6, 2014 4th Sunday after Pentecost

Matthew 11:28-30

  28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

 “My Yoke Is Easy”

Catchy slogans are not necessarily true - just catchy.
These words of Jesus sound like a catchy slogan - but their not.

Like the slogan - “He ain’t heavy Father, he’s my brother.”  they remind us that the yoke which is easy and the burden which is light is so NOT because little is demanded, but because much is first given.

The yoke of Jesus is the commitment to love; it is the call to be kind, loving, good, merciful,
just as we have received mercy.  Bearing one another's burdens in love is light!  No matter how heavy it gets!  To do this we first have to know we are loved.  For only the loved can so love.

God first loves us; then God demands much from us.  And the much is easy, for it is given in love.  This is the yoke which is easy and the burden which is light.

June 29,’14 Pentecost 3

Matthew 10:40-42  (The Message)

 40 "We are intimately linked in this harvest work. Anyone who accepts what you do, accepts me, the One who sent you. Anyone who accepts what I do accepts my Father, who sent me. 41 Accepting a messenger of God is as good as being God's messenger. Accepting someone's help is as good as giving someone help.

This is a large work I've called you into, but don't be overwhelmed by it. It's best to start small. 42 Give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty, for instance. The smallest act of giving or receiving makes you a true apprentice. You won't lose out on a thing."

Most of the time it is the small things which make a big difference.
Unnoticed by most, unheralded by the media, not even posted on Facebook.
Just an anonymous act of kindness which brighteners someone's life and lifts their spirit.
When this happens God smiles and says "way to go!  Keep it up.  You too will be blessed by your kindness.”


“We do not know the limits of the redeeming power of the small.  Perhaps there are none.”  Walter Wink

June 22, 2014 2nd Sunday After Pentecost

 Matthew 10:34-39   (The Message)

34 "Don't think I've come to make life cozy. I've come to cut - 35 make a sharp knife-cut between son and father, daughter and mother, bride and mother-in-law - cut through these cozy domestic arrangements and free you for God. 36 Well-meaning family members can be your worst enemies. 37 If you prefer father or mother over me, you don't deserve me. If you prefer son or daughter over me, you don't deserve me. 38 "If you don't go all the way with me, through thick and thin, you don't deserve me. 39 If your first concern is to look after yourself, you'll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you'll find both yourself and me.

Jesus didn’t come just to bless us into complacency, compliance, contentment;
He came to bless us into change.  Change which can be disruptive, disturbing, difficult, even destructive on the outside, as it seeks to make more real what is on the inside.
Destructive that is of those systems which are not life giving, just, fair, sensitive, compassionate.  Which are not doing good for the least as well as for the most.  Even if they are a part of our family.

In the novel " The Invention of Wings" a father, who had been very set in his ways, causing his daughter much anguish as she was not able to live her life free of the shackles placed on her as a white woman In the Deep South in the early 1800's, a white woman who detested slavery and wanted to set her personal slave free, are having their last conversation before he dies.  She is caring for him alone, apart from the rest of the family.  He awakens from a nap..

‘I held the water glass to his lips and helped him to drink. He said, “We’ve had our quarrels, haven’t we?” I knew what was coming and I wanted to spare him. To spare me. “It doesn’t matter now.” “You’ve always had a strong, separate mind, perhaps even a radical mind, and I was harsh with you at times. You must forgive me.” I couldn’t imagine what it cost him to say these words. “I do,” I said. “And you must forgive me.” “Forgive you for what, Sarah? For following your conscience? Do you think I don’t abhor slavery as you do? Do you think I don’t know it was greed that kept me from following my conscience as you have? The plantation, the house, our entire way of life depended on the slaves.” His face contorted and he clutched at his side a moment before going on. “Or should I forgive you for wanting to give natural expression to your intellect? You were smarter than even Thomas or John, but you’re female, another cruelty I was helpless to change.”

He didn't dare risk change.  He died regretting it.  Indeed, it is an awesome, challenging, life transforming thing to be open to change!  It is at the center of a living faith!

June 15, 2014 The Holy Trinity

Matthew 28:16-20

16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

 “Commissioned As Servants”

With these words we are called to accept a way of life which runs contrary to our way of thinking.  We are called to believe something we can’t help doubting.  We are called to live as if someone has died for us so we can no longer do it our way no matter how much we would like to live as if we were the only ones who counted.  We are called to dare believe that servant hood is the essence of discipleship..

We simply cannot go through life acting as if nothing has happened for us which changes dramatically how we live and move and have our being.  The Cross and Open Tomb stand as constant reminders of the sacrifice paid and the call made which forever changes the way we live.  We are servants not masters!

“:You were brought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.”  I Cor 6:20


“A Great Mystery”

Without mystery life looses something deep and beautiful.
Without mystery God becomes something less then God.

The Trinity is a mystery.  After all is said and done to help us know God,
the mystery still remains.

On Holy Trinity Sunday we celebrate that mystery even as we worship God the Father, creator of all things; God the Son, Redeemer of all humankind, and God the Holy Spirit, Sanctifier of all who believe.  (And maybe even those who don’t.)

“Great indeed”, we confess, “is the mystery of our religion.”  I Tim 3:16

June 8, 2014 Day of Pentecost

John 20:19-23

19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
   21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

“Empowered to Forgive”

“Love implies forgiveness.  It is hard for us to realize, but actually the only requirement the loving Father places on us, once we come to know Him...is that we forgive as we have been forgiven.”  “The Other Side of Silence”, Morton Kelsey, p. 68

Forgiveness is a gift of God’s spirit.  It is central to ALL that Jesus said and did.
It is central to what the Church is ALL about.  It is a powerful, renewing, uplifting, hope filling, smile producing, releasing gift which in no way is meant to control or dominate the lives of others.  It is meant to set one free to really live, with new choices and chances,  and renewed vigor.  We are to work at being forgiving until forgiveness works!

It can also be a powerful, loving thing to not forgive - to retain someone in their sins - when the grace of forgiveness will only be used to continue irresponsible and even evil action.

There are times to be tough, unforgiving, to practice tough love, which is love which wants to forgive but can’t - yet!

The goal of not forgiving is not to not be forgiving.  The goal of not forgiving is to help the process get to the placed where we can forgive.  For that is what love always wants to do, and must be ready to do.  For we have been forgiven much!

These words are not permission to give up on forgiveness.  They are a stern reminder
that without forgiveness there is no tomorrow!  Our call is to work at giving away the gift of forgiveness as much and as often as we can, so that no one in our reach needs remain “fastened in their sins”, needs live without the life giving gift of forgiveness