Luke 10:1-11,16-20 It was about 25 years ago and I was working as a Director of Christian Education in a Presbyterian congregation. I was in my late thirties. And I was in conversation with another member, Marilyn, who was interested in teaching an adult class in the church. She had never taught in the church before. She was a clinical psychologist. She had been a member of the church for years, although not much involved. But now she was interested in becoming more involved and teaching seemed like a good avenue to her. Her reason, she told me, was that she was getting older – in her seventies, I think. And, she said, the closer she came to the end of life, the more interested she became in matters of faith. I don’t know offhand what the average age is in our congregation, or any congregation for that matter. But […]
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Taking Care
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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Luke 13:31-35 Considering these last few verses of Luke’s 13thchapter, I think it’s worthwhile looking back at the chapter as a whole. Not because these verses are connected. But because the whole chapter feels weirdly disconnected. It reminds me of that picture book, If You Give a Mouse A Cookie. You know how it goes? If you give a mouse a cookie, he will probably ask for some milk to go with it. And when he finishes, he will look at himself in the mirror to see if he has a milk mustache, and when he looks in the mirror he will notice that he needs a haircut, so he will ask you for a nail scissors, and on it goes. Jesus is acting kind of like that mouse in this chapter. He’s just jumping from one thing to another thing to another thing – and there’s no apparent connection between […]
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