Wet and chilly

 It's that kind of day.

I did go to the store for the large salad I'll make for dinner.

I got Bern some very specific potato chips. I had to look for nearly 10 minutes to find them. Do we really need so many brands and types of chips? Or so many kinds of soda--though they didn't have Polar Ginger Ale in the size I wanted?

I wrote my sermon this morning.

It's starts out in a way I've never started a sermon in the decades I've been preaching.

I will start by saying: "I didn't like today's Gospel..."

And it's true.

It's Matthew 24.13-40 and is the story of a rich man leaving on a trip and gives 3 'slaves' part of his wealth. The one who got 5 talents earned 5 more for his master. The one who got 2 earned 2 more. The least capable of the three got 1 talent and buried it so he wouldn't lose his 'master's' money.

The first two were highly praised when the master returned but the third was cast out into a place where there is 'weeping and gnashing of teeth'.

The reason I don't like it was that I was a social worker before I went back to seminary to be ordained.

I saw how hard and humbling poverty is up close.

Matthew's story rewarded those who made money and punished the one who didn't.

But in Jesus' ministry it was the poor that he reached out to most.

I don't get where the gospel for Sunday fits with the Jesus I love and worship.

I just didn't like it....