Lectionary Blog

Jesus won't be your citizen

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Hooton) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 01:43:00 +0000

Luke 4:21-30

The people in Jesus' home town expected favors from their hometown son. Yet Jesus had mixed news for them. He had come to proclaim the good news to the poor, the release of captives, sight for the blind, the year of the Lords favor - and surely the people of a little village like Nazareth were poor and sometimes oppressed. Yet something in their attitude stopped Jesus from offering the signs of the Kingdom's in-breaking. They expected him to be theirs.

And here is where it gets uncomfortable. My town, Sebewaing, is a small village like Nazareth. We also long for Jesus to do something for his church long struggling. Don't we have a claim on him like the people of Nazareth? Moreover don't we think that America has a claim on him? We tout our status as a Christian nation and make impassioned speeches about American Exceptionalism, but Jesus refuses to be called a good ol' boy, or the citizen of a place or kingdom. He tells his neighbors that he is a prophet like Elijah and Elisha who went to the gentiles. This angers them to the point of murder. Would some in our churches be enraged if Jesus said that about the US?

Where do we find him then? He is serving the poor and disenfranchised and not the expectations of those who would lay claim to him.

Planning Helps - Remembering the Saints: 21st Century Worship Resource for All Saints' Day -- November 1, 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Hooton) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:02:00 +0000

Planning Helps - Remembering the Saints: 21st Century Worship Resource for All Saints' Day -- November 1, 2008: "Remembering All Saints' Day

We who walked in the darkness of doubt;
Darkest and deepest
down,
down
down…

We who sought to catch just a moment of your presence;
Chasing the wind, gasping for air, drowning,
down,
down,
down…

You, Lord, have called us:
Voices and grandfathered whispers off yellowed pages,
Guides in the desert, faceless faith still being shared,

Up,
Up,
Up…

You, Lord, have lifted us up by your hand:
Wrinkled strong hands of grandmother's grace,
Quiet prayers spoken, lifting us up from despair,

Up,
Up,
Up…

You, Lord, have shown us light:
The light of a million candles sharing their faith.

The light of saints past,
the living tradition of the redeemed,
the resurrection"

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Hooton) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:19:00 +0000

Wow! A resource for those with the awesome responsibility of reading the text and at the same time engaging the congregation! I am impressed.

Proclaiming It: Your proclamation should capture the awe which the visionary John is trying to convey. He's telling us details of a scene we can't hope to witness in this life. It's not your grade school essay about your family's summer vacation. Read the passage to yourself several times and try to imagine the scene in your own mind. My father once said that when they make a movie of the Book of Revelation, it should be a Cecil B. DeMille production. Well, there's your assignment: All the grandeur of a Hollywood epic, conveyed with your voice alone.

Do I revamp this sermon from three years ago, or preach something else?

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Hooton) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 23:01:00 +0000

^{JN 1:29} The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰ This is the one I meant when I said, `A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' ³¹ I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel."

The Lamb

Andrew and John turned gave each other a look, speechless as Jesus walked away. They had been disciples of John the Baptizer for some time and they had heard him say some incredible things. That was what was so exciting about being around him. He preached that something was coming. At night around the fire he would tell his disciples of the Messiah who was coming. At those times he wasn’t ruthless or abrasive, rather clothed in vulnerability he would impart to them his passion for the one who comes.

This was what John and Andrew were thinking about as they watched Jesus walk away. Could this really be the one that the Baptizer had been telling them about so long? That night around the fire they talked about it.

“What does he mean the Lamb of God?” Andrew asked John. Andrew was a man of action; John was a thinker and a dreamer.

“Think about the Passover Lamb sacrificed so that death would pass over. Or think about the lamb Isaiah talked, the servant of God about being led before the slaughter with calm, Or think about the conquering lamb who will one day lie down with the lion.”

“That’s what I mean, which one?”

“All of them I think, rolled in to one,” John replied.

“Did you see him? The man our Baptizer spoke of?” Andrew asked.

“yes”

“Did he look greater than our teacher? Did he look like the long awaited messiah? Did he seem to you to be a man of miracles, a man who has seen the presence of God?”

John remembered this man, he remembered seeing him baptized by John a few days earlier. Then today as he watched him walk away, the man turned and glanced over his shoulder. Their eyes met. And he saw him.

Have you seen him? Have you seen the Lamb who can take a way the sins of the world? Cast the eyes of your heart upon him. Look to that secret place in your heart where the spirit communes with God and you will see him looking back at you as well. He is powerful, he is amazing, he is God’s Son, Chosen, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the World to take your sins away. He is looking at you? Do you see him?

As they were staring into the fire, thinking, The Baptizer came up behind them and spoke.

^{JN 1:32} Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. ³³ I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, `The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' ³⁴ I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God."

-more-

Thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Hooton) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 22:59:00 +0000

Themes:

John points Jesus out to his disciples:

Look the lamb who takes away the sins of the world - The lamb of sacrifice. I came baptizing in order to find him. He will baptize with the Spirit. The work of God is proclaimed the rest of the story is the disciples work of response. “Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning.” - D. Willard.

The disciples follow Jesus:

Where are you staying - that question will take a while to answer.
Come and see - Come have dinner with me. Come to my table, I will feed you. Spend the night. Are we willing to go after him or are we content to look with our eyes only.

The disciples point Jesus out:

They run to find their brothers, Andrew finds Simon - we have found the messiah!

The Thief on the Cross

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Hooton) — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 15:00:00 +0000

Justified

The Thief on the Cross

Listen | Download

By John Piper December 15, 1985

It was as though a thousand layers
Of fraud and murder and affairs,
Each wrapped around his shrinking heart,
And hard as steel, had come apart.
He hung there silent, numb and hoarse
From screaming at the pain. The coarse
And filthy language of his soul
Dried scarlet on the splintered pole.
No strength remained to comprehend
How these few, quiet words could rend
The wicked wineskins of his life
Where every other moral knife
Had snapped like twigs against the rock.

The man had heard the soldiers mock
The Lord, and joined them at the first.
He saw him keep his peace, and thirst,
And with this tongue he whipped and sliced
The folly of a feeble Christ.
And then by some strange providence
Of grace, above his impudence
He heard the word of Life—not preached,
But whispered low; and that it reached
His ear above the blasphemy
Of his own lips was gift, as free
As gifts could ever be. He heard
Above the mockery the word:
"O Father, please, I beg of you,
Forgive, they know not what they do."
A curse, half-formed beneath his teeth,
Fell silent to the ground beneath,
Like slaving ropes and prison chains,
Like fears and rage and guilt and pains.
But then the lurid memories
Like waves from demon-laden seas
Broke savagely against the light
Of hope.

The lad had learned to fight
For garbage just to stay alive
Before he reached the age of five.
When he was nine he stabbed a man,
A beggar, just to have his pan,
Then threw up in the alley where
He ran to count the coins. He'd wear
A holy garment like a priest
When he was grown and rob the feast
And desecrate the holy meals.
And set the stage for his appeals
To lonely women in their grief,
Until they learned he was a thief,
And he escaped to Jericho.
He formed a group called Ganavo
And worked the wealthy routes until
The roads to Jericho were still,
And Roman legions searched the woods
And found him drunk among his goods.

The prosecutor's case was built
With ease. He bragged about his guilt,
And cursed his way from court to cross
Without remorse, as if the loss
Of his own soul to endless woe
Were sealed, and he would have it so.

But now his vicious mouth was still,
And something deep within his will,
Begotten by the quiet prayer
Of this reputed King, was there
As new and strange to wickedness
As orchards in the wilderness.
And from his lips there came a word
That none from him had ever heard.
He turned his head so he could see:
"Jesus, is there a hope for me?"

At first he feared the Lord was dead.
But then he lifted up his head
To see the fruit of his travail,
And softly spoke around the nail,
"Today with me in Paradise
You'll reign beside the feeble Christ."
And when he heard the Savior die,
He gave his agonizing cry:
"My God! My God! How can this be!
Why hast thou not forsaken me?"

And do we not this time of year
Repeat these words with godly fear,
And stand in awe of sovereign grace
That put a God in sinners' place,
And turned his head to hear our plea!
Who is a pardoning God like thee!

The awesome truth of candle three:
A sinner justified and free!

Lectionary Blog: Christ the King C

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Hooton) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 15:40:00 +0000

Lectionary Blog: Christ the King C
Click for all posts about this week's texts

Christ the King: 25 November Luke 23:33-43

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Hooton) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 15:27:00 +0000

Christ the King: 25 November Luke 23:33-43: "Luke presents Jesus from the beginning as one who is addressing Israel’s hopes of liberation. The songs of the birth narratives are full of it. Jesus marches into the synagogue to link his mission to Isaiah 61 in 4:16-20. He announces good news to the poor, hungry, those who wept. He asserts and expresses the value of those considered valueless. He gathers people and announces change. He is not beginning a school of meditation for personal enrichment (though that will have its place); nor is he promising a utopia at another time and another place. Rather he is announcing change and embodying it already in himself and in his community. Dangerous? Certainly not harmless for those with a vested interest in the status quo. Is he one with Barabbas and the brigands? Certainly not; yet we need to see that in some sense there would have been shared goals. He would have more in common with them than with Christian quietists. To affirm that Jesus is king is to affirm a different kind of kingship. But it is not a kingship which abdicates into an inner or other world. Powerlessness is simply passivity if no power is taken up. Jesus was enormously powerful and assertive. He did not come to create a set of doormats, but to spread a revolution of love and grace, which entailed identifying and embodying a new kind of power and priority. The feast of Christ the king is something very assertive. The paradox and irony of the passion is not to be dissolved by dislocation, by saying Christ’s concerns lie elsewhere. It is rather to be entered as representative of a fundamental conflict in the here and now: about God, about Christ, and about being Christian."

The Lord, The Blues, and the Art of Being Smooth: Is there sex in heaven?

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Hooton) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:29:00 +0000

The Lord, The Blues, and the Art of Being Smooth: Is there sex in heaven?: "Janis Joplin was once asked what it was like being a rock star. She replied: “It’s pretty hard sometimes. You go on stage, make love to fifteen thousand people, then you go home and sleep alone.” Jesus was once asked, as a test: If a woman marries seven times and all her husbands die before she dies, whose wife will she be after the resurrection? He answered that, after the resurrection, we will no longer marry or be given in marriage. These two answers Janis Joplin’s and Jesus’, are not unconnected. Each, in its own way, says something about the all embracing intent of our sexuality."

Journal Article 4 « Geribee’s Hive

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Hooton) — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 20:47:00 +0000

Journal Article 4 « Geribee’s Hive: "What the article is all about: The article used a form of redaction-composition criticism to accurately identify the literary form of the Zacchaeus story. Several literary forms have been proposed for Luke 19:1-10. D. Hamm viewed it as a conversion story. R. Bultmann classified it as a biographical apophthegm. M. Dibelius said it is a genuine personal legend where the deeds and experiences of an individual was rewarded and honored by God. V. Taylor considered it to be a story about Jesus “because the interest appears to lie in the incident itself rather than in the words of Jesus and because more detail is supplied than is usual in pronouncement stories” (pp.107-108). R. White said it is a vindication story. C.H. Talbert sees it as a conflict story similar to the narrative of Levi in Luke 5:27-32. Finally, R.C. Tannehill regards the Zacchaeus narrative as a quest story, which is a type of a pronouncement story. But some of the literary forms suggested do not simply apply, and some are similar with the others. The author in his article argues for Tannehill’s claim that the Zacchaeus story is a quest story, a type of pronouncement story. To prove this, he first delves into the proposed structures of the passage. E.E. Ellis sees the structure as “brief and pointed”. E. LaVerdiere sees another structure in the passa"

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Hooton) — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 20:32:00 +0000

ANNIE GET YOUR GUN lyrics

Parable symbolism

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Hooton) — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:57:00 +0000

When I want to find a perspective behind the symbolism of the parable, I look to Catholic writings, they embrace the symbolism so much more than my fundamental literalist upbringing. So here is one that grabbed me:

Recall that Jesus' parables are intended to both inform and challenge. It's easy, in hearing this gospel, to distance ourselves from the Pharisee. But notice that if we do so – thinking, for instance, "I'm glad I'm not like him" – we end up committing the same sin of pride! People who are religiously inclined can easily struggle with self-righteousness and judgmentalism.

30GoodMinutes.org - Thomas Long, "Praying Without Losing Heart"

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Hooton) — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 02:53:00 +0000

There's a famous story about a young boy named Frank who was walking along the bank of the Mississippi River and he noticed in the river another boy about his age wrestling with a homemade raft. He said to him, “What are you doing?” He said, “I'm going to take this raft out to that island in the middle of the river. I dare you to go with me!” Well, Frank couldn't resist the dare so he scrambled down the bank and got on the raft. The two boys headed out to the middle of the river but the current was swift and strong. As they approached the island, the raft broke up and sank and they had to swim to the island. And there they were, abandoned on an island, late in the afternoon. Nobody knew where they were. What would they do? Right at that moment, one of those paddle-wheel steamers started coming down the river and Frank ran to the edge of the island and began screaming and waving his hands, “Help! Help!” The other boy said, “Don't waste your breath. They can't hear you and even if they could they wouldn't pay any attention to boys like us.” But just at that moment the paddlewheel steamer turned toward the island. The boy said to Frank, “How did you do that?” And Frank said, “Well, there's something you don't know. The captain of that boat is my father!”
Well, the captain of the universe is our father and how much more will one who has formed us in the womb respond to our every cry. So pray always and don't lose heart.

interplay

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Hooton) — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:26:00 +0000

When the widow wrung the verdict she sought from the judge, her efforts turned the judge from a man of injustice to a man who does justice. The man who at the story's beginning is identified only as an unjust judge who respects no one, having done justice and listened to the widow, will need a new name, just as Jacob received a new name.

-Dylan

Give me Justice!

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Hooton) — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:00:00 +0000

How do you preach social justice to Pentecostals?

Faith on the Border

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Hooton) — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 04:38:00 +0000

It happened that as he made his way toward Jerusalem, he crossed over the border between Samaria and Galilee.
Now most Jews don’t do that. They go down to Jerusalem along the Jordan so they don’t have to risk talking to a samaritan and defiling themselves, but not Jesus. Quite remarkable since he must have already know what he was going to Jerusalem for. But I am getting ahead of my story. For now just know Jesus was heading to Jerusalem for a purpose but that didn’t stop him from changing my life.

As he entered our village, ten us, all lepers, met him. We kept their distance but raised our voices, calling out, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" That’s right I’m a lepper. Just listen to what it is like… (Song)
Its not easy being a leper and life in the leper colony is a lonely one, though at least we have each other. My friends are all Jews. Go figure. If it wasn’t for our common affliction we wouldn’t even talk to each other. But leprosy has made us all outcasts more than that, it made us all one.

When we saw a traveler coming we went out to meet him to beg. Have mercy on us! We cried. We understood from the crowd and the things they were talking about that this must be Jesus, but we didn’t ask for anything specific, we said, “Have mercy on us!”

We didn’t dare to come near, though we had heard rumors that this man touches lepers. We

Taking a good look at us, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests."
We had heard that he touched lepers, that he could heal with a word, but this time he healed in another way. We turned to go - to obey his command. As we did, our sores closed up, our numb fingers worn down to the nub with out our feeling it grew back, our bodies became whole again. We patted each other on the back and congratulated each-other. We quickened our pace, to show the priest, to return to our families and our lives. Then I stopped. I realized I couldn’t go into the temple and show myself to the preist, I’m no Jew, and worse than that I am a Samaritan! I realized my bond with these friends was over, they were returning to their lives.

You see we lived on a border, Jesus had come to our boundary, a fuzzy zone where Jews and Samaritans could live together because they were outcasts. All of that was about to change. Jesus came to our boundary and came to heal it. He was all I had now.

4.I turned around and came back, shouting my gratitude, glorifying God. I knelt at Jesus' feet, so grateful. I couldn't thank him enough

He placed his hand on my head—and I was a Samaritan!

Do you ever notice that it is the outsider that catches fire more quickly when they meet Jesus? I mean all these Jews knew that they were a special people to God. They kept reminding us Samaritans of it. Maybe they took it for granted when the very Son of God healed them. But when an outsider, someone who doesn’t know the hope in Christ comes and meets him, realizes that there is nothing outside of hope in him, how can he take it for granted? Jesus just met us on the outside of the boundary! How marvelous.

Jesus said, "Were not ten healed? Where are the nine? Can none be found to come back and give glory to God except this outsider?" Then he said to him, "Get up. On your way. Your faith has healed and saved you."

Are you like the other nine, or do you shout for joy with me today? I know you have seen the power of God working inside your borders just as he worked outside them for me. You have the symbols of it before you in these emblems. You are here together as one body! You have witnessed the power of God first hand. What a miracle you are made one with each other, once strangers now one body one family! Do you shout with joy? Or do you go on your way to do your duty without the shout of thanks to God.

Jesus followed the other 9 to Jerusalem. Like I said before he was on his way there for a purpose. He was there to be striped, like we were stripped, clothed only in rags. He was to be beaten and his flesh hang from his body like ours did. And by his stripes we are healed. I wonder if the nine Jews who went to show themselves at the temple ran into Jesus again. I wonder if they were in the crowd that watched him carry his cross. I wonder if they sang his praises at last in the midst of the jeering crowd. Will you?

If they did, we are one again, regardless of borders, because all we have now is Jesus. You are one with me too if you will shout his praises. Shout for joy with me!

Uproot this tree

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Hooton) — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 16:54:00 +0000

Oh, What to Preach?

noreply@blogger.com (redheadrev) — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 15:02:00 +0000

I’m going very slowly in my sermon prep this week. I’m planning on preaching on Luke 17:5-10, but I may use verses 1-4 as well.

1 Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. 2 It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. 3 So watch yourselves. “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. 4 If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” 5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. 7 “Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? 8 Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? 9 Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’” Luke 17:1-10 (NIV)

Verses 5 and 6 talk about faith and verses 7-10 talk about our duty to God. Verses 1-4 talk about sin. I think they really all go together, but I’m not exactly sure how. I think that we need faith in order to perform our duty to God without expectations of glory for ourselves. I also think that we need faith in order to continue to forgive those who sin against us and in order not to be the one “through whom (things that cause people to sin) come”.

So, I guess that is what I’m planning on elaborating on. I found it interesting that the Mulberry tree is known for it’s very deep root system. In other words, it’s not the easiest tree to uproot (it’sprobably the hardest). It’s great how Jesus always used the most extreme examples to illustrate His point. He didn’t pick just any tree with roots, but a tree with one of the deepest root systems. To me, that shows He’s God. Of course, people of Jesus’ time probably knew about the Mulberry tree’s roots, but Jesus, being God knew even more. And of course, He still knows more today.

On the love of money (a meditation from 3 years ago)

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Hooton) — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 03:53:00 +0000

How rich are you? >>

I'm loaded.
It's official.
I'm the 822,871,928 richest person on earth!

Ah ... money. What I could do without it.

In meditating on money check out the Gospel of Suply Side Jesus.

The Good Fight and The Good Confession

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Hooton) — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 21:54:00 +0000

Paul says to fight the good fight for the eternal life for which we gave the good confession. This confession isn’t the positive confession of the name-it-and-claim it brand, it is the confession of trust in God that Jesus offered Pilate. This trust is reflected in the name Lazarus (Eleazar - God helps).

On the other hand we have Dives. Rich-man. He is self-sufficient, and duped by deceitful riches. “But those who want to be rich,” says Paul, “fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.” He no doubt thought with the pharisees that his riches were a sign of God’s approval. But in the flames he discovers something different, and he finally learns to look beyond himself asking Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his brothers. He’s discovered that he didn’t really believe in God at all, not as the prophets and Moses describe him. I wonder if its beginning to dawn on the pharisees... Jesus said in John, “If you believed Moses and the prophets you would believe in me, for they wrote about me.”

Rich-man says, “No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.”
Abraham replies, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”

We are invited to the Good Confession. Will we put our money where our mouths are? Rich-man didn’t live as though he believed God. If he had he would have lived like Paul says,

As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life
that really is life.

Narrative

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Hooton) — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 03:30:00 +0000

Imagine with me we are in the board room, and Donald Trump is deciding our fates. We've tried our best to out connive, out scheme, and out sell the other team and we've come up short. Soon Trump is going to say “You're fired!” and one of us is done for ever. He's called us in to hear our accounting of how we've done.

One of your team mates leans over and whispers, “Do you ever sit and wonder what Jesus would do if he were on one of these reality shows? Have you thought about how he would play survivor? Or Big Brother? Would he make alliances and back stab people? Would he look out for his own interests?”

That is what you've had to do playing this game. You've had to be shrewd, you've had to be calculating. When you got called into the board room you had to convince Mr. Trump to fire someone else, every week.

Now you're up on the chopping block again.

As you sit there you wonder “what am I going to do?” Whose voice are you going to listen to? The money is talking to you.

“You need me! Take as much of me as you can before you go!”

Money is deceitful, it'll lie to you.

“Treasure me!”

“Treasure me! I will take care of you, I will make you happy!”

“Trust me! Treasure me!”

“We can go it alone?”

But then you wouldn't have made it this far in the game if you hadn't known how to look to your interests. Is it in your interest to go it alone? Is it in your interest to have a little money today and tomorrow its gone? You have the rest of your life to think about.

You think about the day you went to the financial planner and asked how much you would need to retire on, and he said, “How long do you plan to live?”

“Forever! I want to live forever!” Isn't that what your heart screamed? What is in your interest if you want to live forever?

Soon it will all be gone, your job, your money your stuff... What do you hate to part with most? What will you do when its all gone?

“I must look to my own interests,” you tell yourself

I know what I'll do... I need to make it so someone else will hire me. It is in my interest to make friends.

That annoying team mate of yours leans over and whispers to you again. “You know Jesus, I think he would have made lots of alliances. Just look at the way he went around forgiving people. They thought that his Father would only love the people who did everything just right and here comes Jesus giving away his father's love and mercy like it was going out of style. Generosity, now that is a strategy someone should try in these reality shows!”

OK, so maybe you won't win the game, but maybe you can come out ahead anyway. You take sneak Mr. Trump's cell phone off the table and go into the lobby. You start calling all of his business associates.

“Hello, Mr. Richman? Yes, thats right we spoke earlier... that's right I'm one of Mr Trump's apprentices. Mr. Trump wanted to tell you that we are going to modify the contract on that building you're purchasing... No, Mr. Richman, I convinced him to lower the price to below market value. Yes, I know that means no commission, but you can use the savings to do the good work you have there! You're welcome, talk to you soon, Mr Richman.”

“Hello, Mrs. Goldwater? Yes, you know that money you owe Mr. Trump we spoke about earlier? Yes, go ahead and take the interest of your bill... You're welcome....”

And so on you go down Trump's list of contacts.

You look again at that voice screaming from your pocket... “Keep me!” And you say Hush! It is in my interest to use you... I need to get rid of you for now and that's that. Don't look so down.

And here is the big surprise. Mr. Trump hears about it and calls you in. Instead of reprimanding you he says, “Good Job! You made me look good and you took care of yourself, way to go kid! You'll go far.”

Now if you can imagine a person on the Apprentice or Big Brother, or Survivor looking to their own interests and doing something right, something smart, how much more could you as the child of light do something even better? Jesus wants you to look to your own interests, to your eternal life and give like there is no tomorrow!

Jesus said, “For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light, I tell you, use worldly [deceitful] wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”

Puppet song for this Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Hooton) — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 23:55:00 +0000

SWITCHFOOT lyrics

Stewardship/Discipleship Series

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Hooton) — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 03:15:00 +0000

Week	The Giving Way
Proper C17	Giving Honor
Proper C18	Giving when It Hurts
Proper C19	Giving Chase
Proper C20	Giving to make friends
Proper C21	Giving is better than recieving

Parable of musical chairs

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Hooton) — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 20:02:00 +0000

This is interesting. I've never before thought of parables as needing to represent something else.

The parables read here (vv. 7-11) and the ensuing exhortation are connected by their common context in a meal of Jesus. The parable looks like a piece of prudential advice on how to behave at a dinner party so as to avoid embarrassment.

But since it is a parable, it must not be interpreted as a piece of worldly wisdom or even as a lesson in humility, as usually understood. It deals rather with an aspect of one's relationship with God.

God, in the person of Jesus (see verse 8), is inviting all people to the messianic feast. The only way to respond to this invitation is to renounce any claim or merit of one's own.

The Pharisees expected the best seats as a reward for keeping the Torah, but, like the outcast, they have to learn that salvation has to be accepted as an unmerited gift— exactly as we interpreted humility in the first reading.

The ensuing exhortation is likewise not a piece of worldly advice but a kind of parable, its point being that people's final acceptance at the messianic banquet depends on their acceptance of others now.

In other words, forgive and God will forgive you.

Thus, humility in the Christian sense is not purely a passive virtue; like faith, to which it is closely akin, it is highly active.

Which law to obey

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Hooton) — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 18:15:00 +0000

This is from Tolstoy in his work "My Religion"

One day I was walking (in Moscow) in the Borovitskiya Gates. At the gates an old lame beggar was sitting, with a dirty cloth wrapped about his ears. I was just taking out my purse to give him something. At the same moment down from the Kremlin ran a gallant ruddy-faced young soldier, a grenadier in the crown tulup. The beggar, on perceiving the soldier, arose in fear, and ran with all his might toward the Alexanderovsky Park. The grenadier chased him for a time, but not overtaking him, stopped and began to curse the poor wretch because he had established himself under the gateway contrary to regulations. I waited for the soldier. When he approached me, I asked him if he knew how to read. “Yes; why do you ask?”

“Have you read the New Testament?”

"I have."
“And do you remember the words, ‘If thine enemy hunger, feed him’….?”
I repeated the passage. He remembered it, and heard me to the end, and I saw that he was uneasy. Two passers-by stopped and listened. The grenadier seemed to be troubled that he should be condemned for doing his duty in driving persons away as he was ordered to drive them away. He was confused, and evidently sought for an excuse. Suddenly a light flashed in his intelligent dark eyes; he looked at me over his shoulder, as if he were about to move away.

“And have you read the military regulation?” he asked.

I said that I had not read it.

“Then don’t speak to me,” said the grenadier, with a triumphant wag of the head, and buttoning up his tulup he marched gallantly to his post.