" So What Is The Soul?"

Do you know someone who has an answer for everything? How does that make you feel?   So then what about a good honest question to which you do not know the answer.  Where do you think that will lead you?

Oct 29, 2017: Readings: 1 Thessalonians 2: 1-8 Psalm 90, Matt 22: 34-46

“In school, you were rewarded for having the right answer to questions, but were you ever rewarded for asking a good question?” 

 In Warren Bergers book “A Beautiful Question” he explains that a good question sparks breakthrough ideas because it sends us on a treasure hunt for truth and discoveries.     One of the great Theological minds of our time was once asked, “what was it that brought you to be a notable biblical scholar.”   The man replied that every day after school his mother would talk to him about his day. She always inquired, "Did you ask a good question today?"  "Asking good God questions," replied the man, " was the door that  allowed me to go on a treasure hunt for the truth and that journey lead me to a study of biblical history, it religions, it origins, and it cultures."  He went on to say: “In order to ask a good question your motive must be free of ego.  It is the humble "soul" that learns. 

If you ask a question to which you already know or think you know the answer, you will learn nothing and your question will not lead you to new discoveries.   
I remember my first good faith question to my minister as a child,  "If God made everything, Who made God?"  Can you believe, that question started me on a spiritual treasure hunt that eventually lead  here to be your minister here Bermuda in July of this year, now isn't that incredible.  I just didn’t realize it back then.  Now may I suggest that if you ask a question to which you already know the answer or think you do, no journey no treasure hunt begins there?  
And so a good question concerning the reading from Matthew today might be this:   How do I love God? 

In the Gospel reading this morning the Pharisee ask a good question but his motive was wrong.  He was not asking in order to discover or learn something new.  He was trying to trap Jesus, to discredit his reputation and cause his followers to doubt his authority and his teachings.   Jesus understood his alternative motive and answers him with a blast from the past.  He said: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength, this is the greatest commandment" Deuteronomy 6:5.  Jesus also knew that LOVE didn’t stop there either so he added a quote made by Moses found in Leviticus 19:18  and “you shall love your neighbor as yourself."  Jesus also knew that if we could keep these two commandments, then all 10 which were given to Moses on tablets would be fulfilled.  So then the good question!!  “How do I Love GOD”?

Is there any material thing I could buy or give to God, to illustrate how deep my love is?    How many good deeds do you think I would need to do, in order to prove my unfailing love?  
Let us turn to the prophets and hear what they have to say:  The Prophet Micah answered this with these words:   "Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8)  The Prophet Isaiah   expresses loving God in these words “Maintain justice and always do what is right and good. {Isaiah 56:1}  The Apostle Paul in Romans 12 tells us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God in service to one another.   And of course we hear Moses In Leviticus 19:18  one of the greatest principle of the Torah, expressed by Moses,  "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."    How many of us thought these words came originally from Jesus?   More astonishing is the fact that all the principals for Jesus’ teaching find their foundation within the Torah which was written in Hebrew and make up the first 5 books of the Bible.   

Jesus often pointed out in His teaching that all had been said or done before He came into the picture.  This is why Jesus makes the claim that he did not come to change the Laws of Moses but to fulfill prophesy that is found within them.   So then, “how do I love God?  May I suggest to you that you just cannot say the words, “I love you”, you must put the love words into love actions, just as the Prophets suggested.  In order to do that you must learn to love and care for yourself first, so you can then do the same to God and then to your neighbor.   Here are three points for you to take home and think about this week. 

Point # 1: To Love God with all your heart means: take care of your body, your health.   1 Corinthians 6: 19 tells us  “ that our body is the temple where the Holy Spirit makes its home.   So then, we must respect and  take good care of God’s temple.   Now I don’t know about you but I was, for a long time, under the impression that the church building was where the Holy resided.  I was wrong!!! It’s just a building folks.    

Point # 2: To Love God with all your soul, is to understand what the word soul really means.  Here we need to look at the original Hebrew word, “nephesh”.  Translated into English was written as soul.  Nephesh  was the word used to describe the animated living being God created from the dust of the earth. Genesis 2: 7   “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”  Please note here that it does not say that God put a soul into the man.  Many make the mistake of claiming the soul to be eternal, not so according to this scripture.  It says after God put breath into the man, he became a living being, a soul.  We often confirm that when we say he or she is a good old soul, meaning he or she is soul as the Hebrew states.  Let us not confuse soul with Spirit.  Although they co-exist together, your living presence or soul is mortal and your Spirit or the breath that gave life to the soul is immortal, therefor they are not the same.  At Death the good old soul {you, the dust of the ground} returns to the earth from whence it came and the Spirit returns from whence it came.  Read it for yourself in Ecclesiastes 12: 7  King James V:  "Then shall the dust {the living soul} return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it."
 May I suggest that Jesus knew the answer to my question:  "OBEDIENCE" to His Fathers will, even unto to death upon a cross. 
Therefore, to Love God with all my soul means to show continuous OBEDIENCE with gratitude for life and breath for as long as it lasts.   This is no easy task folks, our soul is rooted in God but the soul is also motivated by sight, hearing, speech, intelligence, emotions, will and desire.  It exists with the breath of life, {the Spirit} but its desires often clash with the Spirit when it come to choices.  The soul is subject to both physical and spiritual death while you are alive!! see Matthew 10: 28.  The Spirit on the other hand is eternal, many often feel like their Spirit is being held hostage in a physical body that became a living soul.  Only your Spirit knows where it's true home is and to whom you really belong.   

Point # 3:  Love God with all your strength meaning, be mindful of what you allow your soul and mind to feed on Folks.   You must be mindful of your words and actions that feed the minds of others.  
The mind has a great influence on our behavior and the deeds we perform.  The events of this last year which have taken place in Britain, US, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, North Korea and China are great examples of how our souls {our lives} can be controlled and manipulated by others.  

To LOVE GOD with all your heart, soul and strength is to be obedient to God’s word, to pray for and forgive our enemies; take care of the poor, the hungry, cloth the naked, administer to the sick, and be a friend to the outcast.    
                                              "You need a Friend"

                                               

"A Work In Progress"

What comes to mind when you hear the word “immature?”  In Hebrew it is translated as:  not fully developed or unfinished

In Greek the translation is a little broader:  childish, babyish, infantile, juvenile, inexperienced, unsophisticated, and unworldly.   As we move into the message today let us think of spiritual immaturity as in Hebrew, Not fully developed or unfinished

Oct 22 2017 Matthew 22: 15-22

As I mentioned let us think of spiritual immaturity as translated in Hebrew 
meaning, not finished or not fully developed yet!  In other words " a work 
in progress" 

According to some theological writers, one of the sign of spiritual immaturity is dualistic thinking.  In other words, seeing everything as either black or white, right or wrong, true or false, proper or improper.  The immaturity part of one’s spiritual life shows up when someone insists that their opinion, or their actions speak to the truth.      

Spiritual immaturity is a sign of not completely understanding or accepting the principals of God's kingdom.  Within the Kingdom of God, it is Jesus who holds the truth, knows the way and lives the life.  All others can only be a reflection of the one, therefor they cannot be the one. 
Folks I have to admit that I have often gone my own way in my thinking and doing, but I am not without a reminder, my wife is great at keeping me in check and yes I have to admit, I too am infected with this immaturity to some degree, hopefully not totally.   

A good example would be when I personally look at someone else and I consciously or unconsciously declare within my own mind that he or she is either sinner or saint.   The immature part here is, not heeding to one simple biblical principle found within the gospel of Matthew 7: 1-2,   “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.   A simple sound principal, yet so hard for our human nature to adhere to.

The biggest mistakes we make in personal judgement often happen because of a person’s outer physical appearance, their behavior, or their idiosyncrasies, preventing us from getting to know the person from the inside out.  This form of Spiritual immaturity helps us to hide behind our own idiosyncrasies?   Some might want to label immaturity as spiritual blindness which probably wouldn’t be too far from the mark.  I don’t know about you but Paul, in Romans 7: 14-20 rightly reads himself, when he said that even though he wants to do the good and right thing, he admittedly tells us that his human nature gets the best of him.   Here I believe Paul is talking about the unconsciousness factor of missing the mark as the Hebrew Scriptures call it.  Our curiosity gets us every time, doesn't it.   Something we all need to be aware of if we are to strengthen our Spiritual nature.   We truly need to understand that we too, haven’t gotten it all right yet either, that we are all too some degree an immature work in progress. 

The story in Matthew today is a classic example of the elite well educated, religious folk back in Jesus’ day who are really confused about who Jesus is and about some of his teachings.  They are judging Him with their own prejudices, and discrediting Him with their own man made laws.  The Pharisees who are trying to trap Jesus once again appear to be displaying what we might see today as spiritual immaturity or spiritual blindness.  Jesus taught some things about the Kingdom of God they would agree with like, God will judge and condemn evil doers. Yet Jesus befriended and was associated with people who were obvious doers of evil; murders, thieves, prostitutes, tax collectors, and adulterers.   The Pharisees could not understand that.  In fact many of us today still struggle with his teaching about loving the outsider, or praying for our enemies.  But, Jesus never just assumed from a person’s exterior or from the life that they were presently living that they were inherently bad or evil.  He was able to look inside the person to find the potential good that His Father had placed there in their conception and awaken it.  You see we were all meant for good, from our very beginning.  Genesis 50:20
We just need a drink of His living water to awaken the goodness within us too. John 4: 9-15.     

The teachers of the law were also uncertain about how to classify Jesus because He taught that obedience to God and the 10 commandments were to be adhered to, yet he continually broke the Jewish Laws and the Sabbath.  Allowing His disciples to eat with unclean hands on one occasion and then He heals a blind man on the Sabbath.  The Pharisees rejected Jesus because He was continually challenging their man made Jewish religious laws and rituals, those which allowed people to think they had become the righteous.  Did you know that there were 613 Jewish laws that they were required to adhere to, 613?   These laws gave them a false sense of security believing that they spoke to the truth and that their way, was the way of God.  Jesus upset the religious world they had created for themselves.   May I suggest that Christianity needs to examine itself folks, for we too have fallen into the trap of man made church rules, policies and rituals that do not honor the Lord Jesus either. 

They rejected Jesus because of what He said, who He associated with and how He acted.  It clashed with what they understood as good or bad, holy or unholy.  Now folks let us remember that if you cannot fit yourself into this gospel story, your learning will be impaired.  May I suggest that one of the most obvious lesson for us here today is this:  to grow in spirit “CHANGE” is required.    We have to stop looking through such a narrow lens and surrender our old ways of doing, living and responding to life, for the ways of Jesus.   Jesus’ way is that of radical hospitality, acceptance of all people and a non-judgemental attitude towards all.  Meaning He sought the child within the person, He was not concerned about their outward appearance.

The religious establishment of our time is no different from time of Jesus.  We today are often stuck in spiritual immaturity and blindness when it comes to the changes needed in order to grow personally.  There is an old saying and I am sure you know it:   “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.” But when it is obviously broken why are we still ignoring it?  

Folks it takes faith and great courage to change.  Change requires vision.  With help and the sharing of our individual gifts, that is what will lead us into the future, both personally and as a church.  Isn’t that what life’s journey is all about?  Why then do we resist it?  Nothing is certain in this life accept this “things will change”.   We can either resist it or embrace it.   Jesus said “Wherever two or more are gathered in my name, there I will be”.   And where Jesus is, there is always hope for a new day.  Let us pray.      

"The Kingdom Of God Is A Party"

When you hear the words the Kingdom of God, what images come to mind for you? 

When you hear the words the Kingdom of Heaven do the images change?

The phrase “kingdom of God” occurs 68 times in 10 different New Testament books, while “kingdom of heaven” occurs only 32 times, and only in the Gospel of Matthew.

Oct 15 2017 Matthew 22: 1-14

Jesus uses the parable of the wedding feast to give us a glimpse into the reign of the New Kingdom, the Kingdom of God or as referred to in this story as the writer Matthew accounts Jesus  saying:  Kingdom of Heaven is like this.

The listeners, not just those who heard Jesus speak but we who are now reading and hearing this parable today also have an invitation to join the wedding feast.  If you have not read the book entitled “The Kingdom Of God Is A Party”  written by Rev. Dr.  Tony Campolo may I suggest you take the time.  Find it at your local library or on line and give it a read?  It will open the pours of your soul that allow true joy to come to the surface, rejoicing will be the result!!   The party is near and it is happening right now in our time, amidst all of the kayos of this worldly kingdom we live in.  Jesus uses the metaphor of a wedding feast, to illustrate a The Kingdom of Heaven.  The party is ongoing, because it is in celebration of all those who have accept the Masters invitation to be part of the feast.    May I suggest that Jesus points out "for us" using the metaphor, that most invitees today reject the idea of a New Kingdom to replace the worldly one we are so comfortable with, mainly because we simply do not like change?  We find comfort and some sort of acceptance even though our worldly kingdom is falling apart right before our eyes.  You know the old saying: "we are going to Hell in a hand basket."   In the story those invited become complacent, ignoring the invitation, others become hostile.  There hostility turn into a killing spree of the messengers.  As we examine more closely the reflection of what has happened here, we can see the Gospel story being played out can’t we.  In the gospel story one of the messengers killed would be John the Baptist.  John preaching the message of the coming messiah literally loses his head over the message as he extends the invitation.  Jesus knows His life will end shortly upon a cross and still later, He also knows all of his apostles who carried the message and extended the invitation will be killed.   Here we can clearly see Jesus is telling his listener not only about the then and know, but is also telling them about their future, our future!!

In the parable and in Dr. Compolo’s book, the festive party is used to illustrate to us an entry point into this New Kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven.  Which by the way Jesus tells us is at hand.  Mark 1: 15.  Why then are so many of us not heeding his words and taking him up on his invitation?  The celebration truly is then, for all those who have accepted His words and His invitation.  Once you do, the truth about the Kingdom of God will begin to come shining through for you.

Gradually you will recognize that God and Jesus are one within each other.  “I am in the father and the father is in me.” John 14: 11 One with each other does not mean one replaces the other.  Jesus “The Christ”, is a visible reflection and the presence of God in our world but also makes it very clear that He does not take His Fathers place within the Trinity.   John 4: 34, 6:38, 7:16, 12:49,  Luke 22:42.    Jesus is the same as God but the Father remains as God. The truth is, that they remain one with each other.  John 14: 10.

When counselling couples for marriage, I would sometime interject some humor with this quote”  “In marriage you will be joined together and become one.  Now that is usually where your troubles will really begin!  Why?  Trying to decide which one of you, you will become!  Now think about that for a moment folks.  A marriage would be destroyed in the end if one were to give up their personal identity to become a clone of the other?  And so it is with God and Jesus, neither replaces the other but become one with each other.  Therefore the unconditional love, respect, loyalty, compassion joy and truth that is shared one to the other is the same!

This is so important to understand that the love Jesus and God share with us are the same. It is not like the human love we share with it hidden conditions, but a love that is totally and completely unconditional for everyone who accept it.  It is the reason for the party folks!!!  It is a love feast, a wedding feast where God and Jesus’ love is wedded with you.  May I suggest that if you are feeling unloved you have not yet accepted the invitation. You do not need another person or a gift from another person to know this most profound truth.  You either have it, or you’re still looking for it. And if so, then be persistent, continue your quest, for you will find it.  “Seek and ye shall find knock and the door will be opened, ask and it shall be given and love will come tumbling down. “

Every one of us here today has been invited by God to meet Him and His Son, and to enjoy His wedding banquet.  I know that when I am down, when I am feeling lost in my own tiredness, troubles or fears and someone reminds me that God cares for me, that God is near to me, I can't hold on to those feelings. 

When I really think about it -  when I am reminded by someone that Gods love is for me, or when I begin to think about what Jesus has done for me, I am moved towards joy.  I begin to rejoice. I can see the Kingdom of God is a party folks!!

Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say Rejoice!

That is a part of the clothing we can wear to the wedding banquet.  Nothing shines or looks as good as rejoicing; and nothing is quite as infectious as rejoicing.  Knowing that God is near, Paul then goes on and says:  Philippians 4: 6-7    Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Let us Pray. 

Love Love Love

 

Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897) has long been an important teacher for me. The French Catholic Church of her time emphasized an ideal of human perfection, which took the forms of legalism, perfectionism, and immense self-preoccupation. Yet Thérèse humbly trusted her own experience, as mystics must always do, and taught the spirituality of imperfection instead. She called it her “Little Way.”

Thérèse is one of my favorite mystics, perhaps because I am an Enneagram Type One. The trap for the One is a self-created perfectionism, which makes us always dissatisfied and disappointed in just about everything, starting with ourselves. Our inner critic is quite well-trained and practiced, and it takes years of inner work to recognize how completely this critical worldview impairs our perception and keeps us from our natural compassion. We eventually see that we are not really loving God or others, but merely our own self-image.

Thérèse has often helped me in this inner work. As Brother Joseph Schmidt writes:

Thérèse shifted her focus more and more from attaining perfection or acquiring holiness to the attitude of the publican (see Luke 18:9-14): She let God’s mercy be her perfection, her holiness. “I desire, in a word, to be a saint,” she prayed, “but I feel my helplessness and I beg you—Oh my God!—to be Yourself my Sanctity!” [All true holiness is mirrored and reflected, and Thérèse allowed herself to enjoy that.]

“Jesus, draw me into the flames of your love,” she wrote. “Unite me so closely with you that you live and act in me.” [1]

These prayerful sentiments expressed her solution to the problem of perfection. Thérèse came to a complete reversal of her original idea of what it means to be on the path of holiness and undid centuries of Catholic legalism. And against all odds, this 24-year-old, formally uneducated French woman, has now been declared a “Doctor of the Church” (meaning her teaching is entirely trustworthy). She showed many of us that Gospel holiness has little to do with moral achievements or the elimination of defects (those are ego needs). It is almost entirely about receiving God’s free gift of compassion, mercy, and forgiveness. We know God by participation in God, not by trying to please God from afar. Please think long and happily about that! “Let the one who would boast, boast in God,” as Paul says (1 Corinthians 1:31). It is our faults and our weakness that bring us to God, not our perfection and our strength. What a surprise for most people! I believe this is the heart of the Gospel.

 

Gateway to Silence:
We are all one with You.

References:

[1] Joseph F. Schmidt, “Perfection: A Problem and a Solution,” “Perfection,” Oneing, Vol. 4, No. 1 (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2016), 29. Emphasis mine. These prayers of Thérèse are from her Offering to God’s Merciful Love (June 9, 1895), and from her final notebook (June 1897).

Adapted from Richard Rohr, “The Trap of Perfectionism: Two Needed Vulnerabilities,” “Perfection,” Oneing, Vol. 4, No. 1 (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2016), 73.

"To Hear or Not To Hear"

When you hear the words Selective Hearing, what is the first thing that comes to mind?

My wife would say "Sim."  I hear, get some peanut butter at the market please. So I pick up the house brand Shop rite.  She say I told you specifically Skippy smooth. I don’t think I heard that? 

Isn’t it odd how some people only hear part of what you say? Some people only hear what they want to hear and then there are others who hear you say one thing, and interpret it as something entirely different. And I am sure it happens to us all. 

A man walked up to the front door of a big farmhouse, and knocked on the door until the owner came. The man said, “Sir, could I please have something to eat? I haven’t had a meal in over 4 days.” The well-to-do owner of the house said, “I have made my fortune in the world by never giving anything away for free. If you go around to the back of the house, you’ll fine a fresh gallon of paint and a clean brush. Paint the porch out back and I’ll give you a good meal.”  The man headed off to the back of the house. About an hour later he knocked on the front door. The homeowner was surprised. “You’re finished already? That was quick! Come in and the cook will bring you a meal.” “Thank you, sir!” the man said. “I must tell you though, you really don’t know your cars sir. Oh, The Porsche I painted out back is actually a BMW." 

Matthew 21: 28-32  The authorities of the Law in Jesus day were always trying to trap Him with a question that might lead them to lay charges against Him so they could turn him over the Roman Emperor for execution.  In most cases Jesus was able to return their request with a question or parable that usually stopped them in their tracks.  This is one of those examples. 

John the Baptist, in their eyes was not a prophet but a heretic.   On the other hand the people saw John as a prophet sent by God to proclaim the coming of the Messiah.  Therefore the chief priests and elders could not answer Him without setting the crowds against them.  By affirming that Johns authority to baptize came from God they would turn the heretic into a prophet.  They couldn’t do that, and if they claimed his authority came from man, then the crowd who saw John as prophet would turn against them.   No matter how they answered the question it would now back fired on them.  So they do not answer and in the process do not get an answer from Jesus.   But Jesus doesn’t stop there and He never does folks.  He tells them a parable.   Parables are a great ways to tell the truth without having to be factual and they can be more effective because a parable can hold many truths.   The Key to any parable or story within the scriptures is to be able to relate its truth or truths to your own life and the current events of the day.  In other words you don’t just read it, you need to put yourself in the parable or the story so you can see the truth about yourself.  How many of us when reading a good book, or the bible often think “I know someone who needs to hear this”?  Well, if that someone isn’t you, then it probably won’t be of much benefit to “YOU”. Did you hear that?  No pun intended!!  You have to find or put yourself in the situation to gain any wisdom.  You have to love all of yourself folks, the good stuff and the errors, otherwise, as Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 13: 1, we just become a noisy gong. 

 I have two sons and a daughter, I have 5 grandchildren and another on the way.   When my three were growing up I would often asked for help when there were choirs to do around the home but I would not always get an instant yes from all three.  One might be glad to help, one might be reluctant and the other just might say yes but somehow always find an excuse to have skipped out.  For those of us who are parents maybe that has been your experience too.  Since I was brought up in a very structured background skipping out was not acceptable.  When you resisted the will of my grandfather, a wrathful voice or something else would show up.  How did you feel and react when resistance to your will is thrown in your face?  Many of us have been there not just as parents but as adults too, what emotion comes to the surface for you?  Is it anger, frustration, revenge, what?

But I want you to imagine this resistance from the view point of God.  We are all God’s children at heart not matter how old you are and our God is inviting us all to work with Him in the building of a better world, the building of His kingdom come.  Now here is where this parable gets real personal folks.  Out of the two characters in the parable, which one is you.   What is God’s will for you and how are you responding to that will? Are you listening to the spirit speaking to you?  Is the will and way of our Heavenly Parent the most important thing in your life these days?  You know, I think we would all including myself have to say no to that question.  Forgive me Father.  These are tough personal questions folks, and you have to humbled yourself in order to answer them truthfully. 

Our world seems to becoming a world that is all about “ME” these day?   Isn't that the way it is with so many of our sons and daughters today, not only with many young people but with many of us adults as well?  A common quote these day is:   my 5 minutes of fame, and you know the worst part of that 5 minutes for some is, it has cost them their reputation or even their very life.   I appears today that is, all about “ME.”   Yet we have been blessed with an Island that many call paradise to be our homeland– we were given the materials to constructed our homes, talents to support an income and blessings too numerous to count and still many say to God who is the source of things, "Who are you?  I owe you nothing, I am deserving of my riches because of my labor, I have earned these things.   A faith community is not a necessity, neither is go to church and I have earned the right to do as I please with my money and my life.  Is that not what is being expressed by many of the young and old of today, by what others see us doing, hear us say, often without much thought of the consequences.   It has even found its comfortable home within religions, churches and governments today.   I believe many are blinded by something called selective seeing?  A topic for another day.

Have we forgotten that in the beginning God created out of the chaotic darkness the universe and that the earth was formless and desolate? Genesis 1: 1.  Have we forgotten that everything in the heavens and on the earth was made for and through “Christ”, so “The Christ” { the incarnate Jesus} could offer it all to the sons and daughters of the human race, Genesis1: 26-31.  How could we forget this?  Are we teaching our children about materialism without teaching them from where it all came?  Who then will teach them and us to be grateful for what God has done? 

May I suggest that in order to really get Jesus’ point in this parable you will have to decide which of the two characters in the story most resembles you?  Oh Darn and I thought it was all about the other guy.  You see it really is, all about the other I mean,   but not the way the world is presenting it to us and to our youth today.  They see it as, it’s all about me and not about the other.  Jesus once again turns our world upside down and point the finger back at us. We can be either the wayward or obedient child, it is up to us to choose.   There is no wiggle room here folks.  I remembering a good friend of mine told me once I was sitting on picket fence concerning a crucial decision that I needed to make in my life.  You know what a picket fence look like sticks have a point at the top.  He told me I couldn’t stay there forever.  Eventually I would fall off to one side or the other but it was inevitable I had to choose.    His comments were right.  Eventually I fell over to Theology and ministry leaving my lucrative last secular career in Pedorthics.  Making a decision to sell my home and practice and to work with God full time changed my life big time.     You don’t have to become a minister to do that folks.  All you need to do is begin to live your life as a reflection of how you understand the life of Jesus.  That decision can make big changes in your life.   Just because I chose ministry doesn’t mean that I have gotten it all together either.  For me it is still a work in progress.  Let us never forget that God has given us all things both physical and spiritual, I own nothing, and I have no right.  Reverence this with gratitude and by example you to will become part of the Kingdom you have been called upon to help build.   We are all called to work within Gods Kingdom.  

"Jesus turns Fairness upside down"

Sept. 24, 2017 Readings:  Matt 20: 1-16

 I would like to rename the parable we heard today as “the radical landlord.”

The parables Of Jesus are often very difficult for us to understand.  They seem to play havoc with your human reasoning at times.  Mainly because the messages they proclaim, especially about God’s amazing love, grace, or how we will be received in the Kingdom of Heaven, do not go along with our worldly view of what is fair and what’s unfair.   God’s love, mercy and grace are radical.  So radical in fact, they often teach the opposite of our worldly understanding of how things should work, who should receive and who shouldn’t.    God’s ways of doing things often make no sense to our human logic and our human nature, especially when it comes to love and forgiveness that has no conditions.   When we were young our piers and family began teaching us about what is fair and what is unfair.   If you work very hard to accomplish something then you would expect to be rewarded.   The size of the reward should be in proportion to the work accomplished.  Do an ok job, receive you’re ok pay, but if you do a better job, well, you can hope to and should expect a little more for your extra effort.  Those who work real hard and produce more, why they should not only get a good pay but can expect a bonus right?  The problem here is that this parable turns that teaching upside down and goes against human logic and worldly teaching and therefore should be subject to a good argument about the unfairness of the landowner, I would you say.      

Folks: This parable has similarities to the parable of the Prodigal Son.   You know the story.  The elder son in the story is peeved because the younger brother who squandered his inheritance is welcomed back into the family by his Father with a feast.  Then the Father wraps his wayward son in his best robe and kills the fatted calf in his honor.   The father receives this wayward child with gifts and celebration???    In other words the boy is given a royal homecoming.    It’s just not fair to the elder son, who stayed home worked long and hard for his father as he was expected to do, where is his just reward?  No, it is not right, it is not fair and when I read this parable for the first time, many years ago, that is what I heard.   That’s not fair.   It seemed to me that an injustice was taking place here, to give those who labored all day in the hot sunshine the same pay as those who only worked and hour in the cool of the late afternoon.   That’s Just Not Fair!!!!   

But wait a minute folks, do you see it?  I was assuming something here wasn’t I.  The assumption was;  that God should follow my logic of fairness and equality?   What is wrong here, what are we missing in this teaching?

After many years of seeking and working with Jesus’ parables, after taking a second look I find this parable is not about fairness or unjust wages at all.  No, I discovered that the parable is essentially about our misunderstanding of God’s radical generosity.  Did you hear that God’s generosity is radical and it is not accountable to my human logic of fairness.   It is not about equity or wages earned either, it is about a generous landlord who offers laborers work and an undeserved gift.  We don’t deserved food, shelter, good health or work, if anything we are undeserving because we stray from the ways of God more often than not.   Sing  ” Undeserving As I AM”

In the eyes of God folks, no one deserves anything, do you get it!!  No on earns Grace, The real point here is God grace is sufficient for all and is given equally when God choses to do so.  It is not subject to our standards.    God doesn’t deny us work, God loves us and offers work to all, both early comers and late comers.   Some take him up on the offer and others reject the offer.   If we concentrate on the fact that all, were offered work and that all responded, then the parable gives us insight and our response should be with gratitude, gratitude for the gift and ability to do it.   The amount of time worked then becomes irrelevant to receiving and responding to the gift of grace.   The real teaching here is to be grateful, it’s not about fairness.  When our focus turns to fairness one of the cousins of pain show up, envy.   Envy invades our thinking and steals our gratitude.  The same can happen to me or you if we become preoccupied with our human logic, forgeting what God has done for us.  The thief on the cross next to Jesus did not earn his way to paradise in the moments of his death.   It had nothing to do with how much time he had spent in the Synagogue serving or following the ways of goodness and faithfulness.  Yet he was given the same opportunity that was given to all who followed Jesus for three yeas or months or weeks or even a day folks.  Think about that?    Those who made the sacrifice as did the disciples, gave up everything, denying their worldly life, its teachings, just to follow him.  This last moment request by a thief, “Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom” these words for mercy would allows him the assurance, that he would be with Jesus that very day in paradise.    That’s not fair, its radical Grace folks.    Luke 23: 39-43

The call here for the listener is a call of humility.  Not about goodness, devotion, long suffering, or earning the approval for God’s generosity.  On the contrary we learn that those who are first in the eyes of the world are not first in the eyes of God.  Those who God receives as the lowliest of all, are the ones God will exalt on the last day. {Matthew 23: 12.}   

I believe you and I are invited and challenged to reflect upon where we see ourselves in Jesus’ parable, both in our personal lives and in our church life.  Are we filled with gratitude for what God offers us or are we lost grumbling and complaining about others?   The parable is not about comparing how hard we work or how much time we have spent working.  It is not about fairness, and it is not about your neighbor folks.   The fact that God gives to you should produce gratitude in your relationship with God.  The parable cautions us:   God’s generosity towards others should not turn our gratitude into envy, pride or hardness towards a neighbor.   The parable also teaches us that God’s Grace is not determined by goodness or works either, nor does the amount or works give any one of us an advantage over the late comer.  God offers to love and care for us all equally, we have no right to judge others less we judge ourselves.  God sees us all as his children and no one but Jesus wears the crown of righteousness.   Jesus makes his offer.  Come to me all ye who are heavy laden and I will give you eternal rest.   He makes a convenient from the cross of unconditional love and forgiveness not just for those who have been good but those who have also been not so good.   Jesus calls to us  “Give me your coat of many colors with its illusions of good deeds, bad deeds, greatness and smallness, your illusions of weakness and strengths and I will exchange it for my coat of righteousness and this is how I will present you to my Father, not in your illusions but in my righteousness.  Folks, all you have to do is to call out to him in humility for mercy and you to will be with him on your last day.     Isn’t that amazing???   Isn’t that GREAT!!!!  Isn’t that GOD.   
Give a listen: 

" Born Again" Whats up here?

                                What does being born again mean!  

A man cannot re-enter his mother’s womb and be born a second time.   No Jesus said you must be born of water {mother’s womb} and then you must be born of the Holy Spirit.  This is a spiritual re-birth an encounter with the Spirit of God that opens yours eyes to the illusions of this world and gives you new eyes, a new mind and a new heart of compassion.  When this happens the spirit tells you the truth about Jesus “The Christ.”  Not what your church Sunday school has told you, but a much deeper truth that goes right back to the creation of the universe.  At its core, this re-birth is about truth not salvation. For we know that Jesus tells us that it is the truth that sets a man or women free from the fear of living and dying. Now may I suggest that this is truly what it means to be saved.  
 A foot Note: The new testament was written in Greek not English and the word used was "anagennesas" meaning "Born From Above" quite different than the English words Born Again, which by the way has been misused, does that help?