Series C                                                   Pentecost XVI       September 12, 2010

Luke 15:1-10

CELEBRATING GOD’S GRACE

Except maybe for Holy Week and Good Friday, do you find worship to be a joy?  Yes it is filled with ritual and ceremony, but would we describe what we do here as “rejoicing?  Is there laughter?  Are people happy?  Do people greet one another and talk with one another, and enjoy their time together, and look forward to being back next week so we can do it all together again?

Jesus tells us in our Gospel today that there is joy and rejoicing in heaven going on over just one sinner who repents.  And that is what we come here to do every week.  We come here because we know…

Series C                                                    Pentecost XV         September 5, 2010                                                                          

Luke 14:25-33

WEIGHING THE COST

This day and age, nobody walks into a clothing store and takes a suit or a dress off the rack without checking the price of it first.  There is little sense in trying something on if you can’t afford to buy it.  And no one walks into a car dealership and buys a car without checking the sticker price.  And who would buy or build a house without making sure they could afford it first.  Now there are always exigent circumstances.  Like buying a house, only to have your company downsize and you are out of a job unexpectedly.  Or the market goes bust and suddenly your income is slashed…

Series C                                                   Pentecost XIV            August 29, 2010                                                                          

Luke 14:1, 7-14

“TABLE TALK”

We have all seen it happen.  It may even have happened to you.  You are at some big, formal gathering where all the most important people are assembled, it is a very prestigious event, and when the honored guest is called to the podium, they slip and fall most inelegantly.  When we want everything about ourselves to be perfect, when we need to be our best, when we are reaching for the stars, and hoping for recognition, it seems like one little thing can quickly take it from us.

In today’s Gospel Jesus had been invited to dinner.  Apparently Jesus would eat with anybody because he is usually accused of eating…

Series C                                                   Pentecost XIII            August 22, 2010                                                                          

Luke 13:10-17

“GETTING UNTIED”

In this congregation we have members with arthritis so bad that they are in constant pain.  We have members with osteoporosis so bad that it keeps them from standing up-right just like the woman in today’s Gospel.  We have members battling cancer, dealing with all the side effects of chemo and radiation treatments.  We have members with Alzheimer’s who don’t know they even have the condition, but their families sure do.  We have members with amputations that cause them pain and limit their abilities.  We have members dealing with the limitations of aging, that none of us are immune to.  We can list emphazema, heart disease, psoriasis, macular degeneration, arteriosclerosis; and…

Series C                                                    Pentecost XI               August 8, 2010                                                                          

Luke 12:32-40

A TREASURE MAP: FOUND IN THE JOY OF CHRIST

You can’t open a Newspaper or turn on a radio or television without hearing or seeing ads for things that someone wants to sell you.  Apparently the Apple I-phone is the biggest thing to hit the market since sliced bread, earning Apple the highest quarter earnings of any other company in business out there.  So, what are you willing to go through to get that new I-phone; or that new, must have car; or that house you always dreamed of living in?  How much stress, energy, and expense is too much when it comes to getting what you want?  Today Jesus confronts us by…

Series C                                                     Pentecost X                August 1, 2010                                                                          

Luke 12: 32-40

THE CHOICE

Who would have seen that coming, two brothers fighting over their inheritance?  This just goes to show that the people Jesus encountered were just like people today.  But in this case, the older brother by law would get two-thirds and the younger one-third of the inheritance left after their father died.  Apparently this brother thought he deserved an equal share.  And so, he takes his case to the one Rabbi he thought would side with him.  After all he’s been teaching that we should love one another, love God and neighbor as one’s self. 

He doesn’t get the answer he expects.  Instead, Jesus asks “Who made me a judge over property…

Series C                                                    Pentecost VIII                 July 18, 2010                                                                          

Luke 10: 38-42

A TIME TO DO, AND A TIME TO LEARN

Talk about being conflicted.  Last Sunday our Gospel was the Good Samaritan and Jesus was practically commanding us to be serving others, even challenging our value systems and pushing the envelope as to who is our neighbor that we should be serving. And this week we find Jesus scolding Martha who is serving, and commending her sister Mary who is sitting at his feet.

Not one of us here would have questioned Martha’s actions.  She was working, she was being a good host, she was serving her guests who certainly would have needed refreshment after walking all the way to her village. 

Doesn’t it look…

Series C                                                    Pentecost VII                 July 11, 2010

Luke 10:25-37

“SHOWING MERCY”

A lawyer stands to test Jesus.  And immediately we know this is not a good guy because Luke uses that word “test”.  The same word used of what the Devil tried to do after Jesus’ baptism by John in the wilderness.  But just as Jesus did not fail before the Devil, he will not fail here.

But to lay the ground-work the lawyer calls Jesus, “teacher”.  If he came to “test” Jesus he didn’t come to learn from him, so even this word is a subterfuge.  And then he asks:

“What must I do to inherit eternal life”?

Why that word “inherit”?  Does not an inheritance get determined by the giver, not the receiver? …

Series C                                                    Pentecost VI                    July 4, 2010                                                                          

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

“WANTED: BAREFOOT, LAMB-LIKE LABORERS”

Attendance is down!  Worship attendance no longer a high priority among church members.  New members are not breaking down the doors to join.  And if we ever wondered why, probably today’s Gospel gives us an answer.  First Jesus tells us that his followers are going to be “laborers”.  We all want to be the boss that sits back in the air-conditioned office while the laborers are out in the hot sun.  Who wants to sign up to be among the laborers who receive the lowest pay for the hardest work.  And then Jesus tells us that his followers will be like “lambs in the midst of wolves”.  We’d…

Series C                                                     Pentecost V                  June 27, 2010                                                                          

Luke 9:51-62

SO MANY CALLS – BUT ONLY ONE WE SHOULD ANSWER

Rejection is a terrible thing.  There is no pain that is anything like what you get when you put your heart into something only to have it returned to you dejected and discarded through the indifference, disinterest, or the disloyalty of the person or persons you were reaching out to.  Or like that you feel when you’ve worked hard to become competent and certified to do a job, only to have it given to someone else.  The hurt of rejection can foster a fear of ever trusting any one again, and can make it a strain to keep on trying.

Most of us have…