October 2019 – Wicomico Presbyterian Church

Toxic Faith

Luke 18:9-14 There is a scene in the movie Beaches, with Bette Midler. Some old friends have come to see Bette Midler’s character, CC, perform on stage, and they go backstage to see her after the show. CC just can’t stop talking about herself and her performance. But finally she turns to her guests and says, “But enough about me. Let’s talk about you. What do YOU think of me? So we have another parable from Jesus today, and he tells this one for the benefit of those people who tend to think they are better than everyone else. It’s left to us to figure out who those folks might be. Do you think they are the Pharisees? Maybe…maybe not. He tells a story about two characters – one who spends his prayer time thinking about how pleased he is with himself and disparaging the other guy, the one who spends his prayer […]

Not to Lose Heart

Luke 18:1-8 Let me tell you a parable. There was a man who had two daughters – one was Tenacious and the other was Gracious. When Tenacious wanted something she went to her father to ask for it. He would say, “give her what she wants so she will get out of here. When Gracious wanted something she would go to her father, also. However, the father was not so quick to grant her wishes, because he enjoyed her conversation so much he would prolong it.[1] Think on that for a while. Parables are hard, and Jesus used parables an awful lot. I think it might have been because there was a lot of competition for the people’s attention. There were other teachers around, not least of all, the Pharisees. There were other freelance prophets and wannabe messiahs wandering around looking for an audience. You know, if one man’s message […]

One Foot In, One Foot Out

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7 Luke17:11-19 In one of our recent Bible study classes at the church we talked about all the many words we have to express being on a trip, a journey. How many ways to be a traveler: Sojourner, migrant, immigrant, vagabond, refugee, pilgrim, fugitive, exile. So many, and all meaning something different. Aren’t we all, somehow, travelers on a journey to or from somewhere, anywhere, or nowhere? In our travels we encounter borders, lines which, when crossed, tell us we are no longer in one place but now in another. Some people, with a spirit of adventure, want to cross borders while others do not. Some want the border lines to be erased while others want them fortified with impregnable walls or fences. There are others, still, who prefer neither of those things. They like the borders and they like to be able to wander back and forth […]

Hope for the Rich

Amos 6:1, 4-7 Luke 16:19-31 Some years ago I was talking with some people about what the Bible says about wealth. We had just read a passage from Luke where Jesus says, “Woe to you who are rich.” We wondered if he really meant that. Because, is it really that bad being rich? Most of us who are not rich would like to be, if we had the chance. I can hear your objections already. “I’m not interested in being wealthy. I’m not the kind of person who wants big fancy houses and yachts and cars.” And maybe you are not. But it seems to me the most appealing thing about having wealth is to not have to worry about money. The thing that most of us would probably like the most is to never have to worry about whether we have enough money for the things we need […]