Matthew 25:1-13 Tara Westover wrote a memoir a few years ago called Educated. It’s the story of Tara’s upbringing in a family of survivalists. They lived out in the mountains of Utah, as off-the-grid as they could manage. Distrustful of government, these parents raised their seven children to be self-reliant. The government agents might come for them at any time, her parents taught them. They all needed to be able to fend for themselves. Each member of the family packed their own head-for-the-hills bags. Food rations, weapons, thermal blankets – these were the kinds of things they put in their bags for the escape, if and when it would be necessary. As a small child, Tara took her bag with her to bed at night. She understood from what her parents taught her that it could happen any time of the day or night, that they must be alert, be […]
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Remembrance
Matthew 5:1-12 As we moved toward this day of remembrance, 2020, I did a little personal remembrance, looking back on this year. Where have we come from in 2020? About a year ago, in the last couple of months of 2019, I was feeling a sort of restlessness, a sense that something was burgeoning, getting ready to be born. As the world turned to a new calendar year, I felt there was light right around the corner. I remembered that way back in the beginning of this year I was very conscious of what 2020 means to us. 2020 is perfect vision. I began this year thinking about that and with the intention of making 2020 a year of seeing clearly. To me this meant a kind of spiritual clarity. I was drawn to the idea of seeing where and what God is calling us to. What is God drawing […]
Continue readingWinning and Losing, Part 2
Matthew 22:34-40 So many important things come in sets of three. The Holy Trinity, of course. The three Magi. The three bears, three amigos. Okay, unimportant things, too, come to think of it. Three is just a useful number. Think back a few weeks, when we were discussing parables, and we noticed that Jesus told a set of three parables to the religious authorities in Jerusalem. He told the parable of the man with two sons, followed by the parable of the wicked tenants, and finally the parable of the wedding banquet. Each one layering criticism upon the Pharisees and Sadducees, and chief priests and scribes. By the time he is finished they have heard the message loud and clear. How do they respond? “So then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him.” They pose a set of three questions to him, meant to trick him into incriminating himself. […]
Continue readingWinning and Losing, Part 1
Matthew 22:15-22 There was an evening one December when I sat around a table with the elders of the church I was serving. Somehow, we got talking about the “War on Christmas.” This was back when it was a pretty hot topic. It still comes around every year, but it’s lost a lot of the energy it had back then. The big issue then was whether it was lawful, I guess you could say, to wish people a Merry Christmas. Some of the elders talked about how angry they were when store clerks wished them “Happy Holidays” and what they wanted to hear was “Merry Christmas.” One of the elders got very agitated, saying she didn’t care what their beliefs were, what they were celebrating or not celebrating. This is America and in America the majority rules. But, of course, in the matter of religion, that is exactly the opposite […]
Continue readingStories that Teach, Week 5: Responding
Matthew 22:1-14 There’s a good chance you are familiar with this parable. But I’m going to venture a guess that you didn’t remember that part about the man who forgot his wedding robe. You know, the guy who was thrown into the outer darkness because he was dressed inappropriately? Did you forget that detail? I know I try to. If I preach or teach on the parable of the banquet, I usually choose Luke’s version, because it doesn’t have all this nastiness, all this violence. Luke’s is the G-rated version of this parable, the “good news” that goes down easily, whereas Matthew tells a story that gets caught in our throats. Typical of Matthew. Yet, we might have conflicting feelings about this story. I think there are elements of the parable that are very appealing to us, elements that resonate with our lives. We know how it feels to plan […]
Continue readingStories that Teach, Week 4: New Fruit
Matthew 21:33-46 Let me tell you a story about an experience I had. I was leading a Bible study in a congregation where I had just begun working. At the end of our study we stood and held hands for a circle prayer – we would go around the circle and those who want to add their petitions do. We got to Cathy and she opened her mouth to speak and just started sobbing – big shaking sobs. She spoke her prayer, all the while sobbing. It was alarming to me. I thought, “Oh my goodness, what’s the matter? What’s she so troubled about?” I was also kind of disturbed that no one else seemed to react at all. The next week it happened again. I gradually learned that this is just what Cathy does. It is a part of who she is. She opens her mouth to pray and the sobs just come falling out. Everybody knew it […]
Continue readingStories that Teach, Week 3: Doing the Work
Matthew 21:23-32 What do you think? I have a personal affinity for this parable of the man with two sons. When I hear it, this is what I think: I have two daughters. When I would say to the first daughter, “Do this,” she would say, “No.” But then she would do it. When I would say to the second daughter, “I think you should do this,” she would say, “Yes.” But then she would not do it. Which of the two did the will of her mother? This is the parable as I have lived it. And so all the action in the parable evokes real feelings for me – remembrances of how I felt in that same situation. And even if you haven’t lived this parable as I have, it is probably not too hard for you to relate to it, somehow. I identify with the father, […]
Continue readingStories that Teach, Week 2: God’s Economy
Exodus 16:2-15 ; Matthew 20:1-16 When I call the gospel “good news,” it is not without a certain amount of trepidation. Because I know there are parts of the gospel that don’t necessarily strike us as good news. There are parts that makes us utterly confused. And there are parts that make us squirm uncomfortably. And there are parts that, when we hear them, we just say, “Nope.” Not all of the good news feels good. And I suppose that was intentional. Jesus didn’t want his listeners to just feel good, he wanted them to change! Consider the conversations that have been going on up to this point. It was just a few verses ago that some people brought their children to Jesus. They wanted Jesus to lay his hands on them and bless them, which seems perfectly reasonable to us. But his disciples were all into crowd control. There […]
Continue readingStories that Teach, Week 1: Forgiveness
Matthew 18:21-35 Did you ever hear the story of Alvin Straight? Alvin lived in Laurens, Iowa. When he was 73 years old he set out on a 240-mile journey to see his estranged brother, Henry, in Wisconsin. Henry had recently had a stroke, Alvin heard. They had not spoken to each other in 10 years. But now Alvin felt the need to reconcile with Henry. The only problem was Alvin didn’t have a driver’s license anymore. But he did not let that stop him. He hopped on his John Deere lawn tractor and hit the road. People thought he had gone off his rocker, but Alvin was determined to make his way to his brother somehow. It took him six weeks. There was a movie made about Alvin, called The Straight Story. There’s a scene in the film where, as he gets near Henry’s home, he has an […]
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Exodus 3:1-15 Last week I talked to you about the best first lines of novels. Today I want to tell you about one of the best book titles I have heard: A Good Walk Spoiled. It’s a book about the game of golf. I don’t play golf, but I like the title very much. It speaks to me, and I’ll tell you why: The author writes, “One week you’ve discovered the secret to the game; the next week you never want to play it again.” This could be said about ministry. And when I say ministry, I mean every Christian who is called to walk the walk of faith. Sometimes it feels like a good walk spoiled. Moses would relate. There he was, out for a walk – just Moses and the flock – and the angel of the Lord calls to him from this burning bush. He just had to look. […]
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