This Sunday's sermon

Epiphany 6, 2022

       Luke is the most compassionate gospel.

       John, on the other hand, has only seven miracles. Jesus turns water into wine, raises Lazarus from the dead and heals a few people.

       Not Luke.

       Luke is full of miracles.

       In today’s gospel, “The crowd were trying to touch him” and he healed them All!

       ALL OF THEM!!!

       What follows next is one version of the Beatitudes.

       “Beatitudes” comes from the Greek word which means ‘blessed”.

       The other version of the Beatitudes comes in Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 5, verses 1-11.

       Interestingly, Matthew’s version is ‘the sermon on the mount’ since Jesus is on a hillside. In Luke it is the ‘sermon of the plain’, since he is on a flat place.

       Go figure.

       Matthew and Luke (whoever they were) were writing with a copy of Mark’s Gospel and the Gospel called “Q” in front of them.

       The idea for the Beatitudes came from Q, since Mark doesn’t have them.

       The versions in Matthew and Luke have some significant differences.

       Luke says ‘you who are poor’, while Matthew says, “you who are poor in spirit’.

       To be ‘poor in spirit’ implies that you know you need God, not that you have no money.

       So, in Matthew, those who ‘know they need God” will have the Kingdom of God. That makes more sense than Luke.

       Also, Matthew has no “woe to you” verses, only ‘blessed are you’ verses.

       And in Matthew, Jesus heals no one before the Beatitudes.

       The Beatitudes turn thing inside-out and upside down.

       The ‘hungry’ will be ‘filled’.

       Those who weep will ‘laugh’.

       The hated and excluded and reviled and defamed will ‘rejoice’ because their reward will be great in heaven.

       But in Luke, the ‘woe to you’ are even more distinct.

       Woe to the rich. They have nothing to look forward too.

       Woe to the full. They will have hunger.

       Woe to the laughing. They will mourn and weep.

       Woe to those who people speak well of. They will be like the false prophets.

       Inside out and upside down indeed!

       That’s what God wants to do to us.

       God wants to turn our fear into courage.

       God wants to our hatred into love.

       God wants to take away our prejudices and turn it into acceptance.

       God wants to turn our doubt into faith.

       God wants to turn our selfishness into compassion.

       God wants to make us inside-out and up-side down.

       God wants to ‘transform’ us into his children.

       Give thanks and praise to our God who wants to do all that for us.

       Our God wants to make us WHOLE.

       And we should want that—long for that, accept that too.

       Shalom and Amen.

      

 

Oh, my God!

    Hundreds of kids at a high school in Huntington, West Virginia (my home state) were invited into the auditorium for what was a Evangelical prayer meeting.

    Many of them (over a hundred) were upset and walked out of home room to protest that the division between church and state had been violated.

    They were right.

    There is no place in public schools were religion is celebrated.

    Many of their parents complained on line and in person.

    To this point, none of the teachers who planned it or the principle who attended, have been held accountable.

    Look on line and see it all.

    Oh, my God!

    What a violation of the law and human religious rights!

    In my home state.

    I am humble and angry.

    That should not happen.

 

A little warmer

Today was almost bearable. In the low 40's.

Alleluia!

The former President (who I will not name) is in deep trouble with the January 6 committee, the state of New York and the state of Georgia.

May he please be prosecuted in all places on all counts.

Please.

Republican Senators are standing up against the RNC who censored the two Republicans on the Jan. 6 committee.

They are saying the Jan. 6 folks were insurrectionists, not involved in 'political debate'.

God bless them.

Covid deaths among the un-vaccinated are still rising.

God help them to know the truth.

Ukraine is still a problem.

The problem is Putin.

God help us all.

Not a good time to be alive.

But it was warmer today....

 

 

 

Who are you?

 I get, on average, 200 views a day. But I don't know who all is reading my blog.

So, if you are a reader, I'd like you to comment or send me an email at Padrejgb@aol.com.

I'd love to know who you are.

Can you help me by doing that?

Even as it drizzles, as it has most of the day, late into the night, I wonder who you are.

Thanks for reading and let me know if you would like to.

Shalom and good night, Jim

I long for spring

I know I've written it before, but it deserves being restated--I hate the cold!

l hate, Hate, HATE the cold.

I always have on three or four layers to try to keep warm and still can't.

On our bed, Bern has like three layers and I have six or seven and I sometimes am still cold.

Our house is at 68-70 degrees but I'm still chilly.

There were lots of birds in our yard--still some snow--today.

I long for all the birds coming back.

I long for spring and some warmth.

Funny, in the summer, I love air conditioning--but in the winter, I long for spring.

It can't come soon enough for me.

It will be in the 40's later this week.

Even that is good.

I can't wait....

 

I'll miss them both but I only like one...

 Two of the best quarterbacks in pro football have retired.

(Actually, one of them may be the best of all time and the other is way above average.)

Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger (that's how you spell it, no matter what my spell check says!) won't be back behind their centers next year.

I love Big Ben, always have. Playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers (again, bad, bad spell check!) made him a working class hero. I went to college about 60 miles from Pittsburgh and always admired the blue collar strength of the city. And Big Ben was fun.

Brady, as good as he was--and he was fabulous--never touched my heart. I never liked the Patriots before him, during him and won't after him.

But it was always great to have someone to root against--though he broke my heart over and over.

And he didn't come out of college as a potential star--I think he was drafted 99th, barely making the top 100.

My dislike of his looks, his lifestyle, his play has nothing to do with his talent--it was beyond belief.

I'll miss rooting for Blue Collar Ben and rooting against White Collar Tom.

I'll miss them both--but it's Ben I love.

This week's sermon

Epiphany 5,2022

        Jesus was by the lake of Gennesaret teaching and the crowds were so close to him, he asked some fishermen to lend him a boat.

        He went a little off shore and sat down (as Jewish teachers did, instead of standing up like I do) and taught the crowds.

        When he was finished, he said to Simon, push off and let down your nets.

        Simon told him they had fished all night and caught nothing, “yet if you say so, I will let down my nets.”

        The catch was so great it was breaking the nets, so the other boat came out to help. They filled both boats with fish and when they came ashore, Simon knelt down to Jesus and said, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

        They were all amazed at the greatest fish catch of their lives.

        But Jesus told Simon and John and James, “Do not be afraid, from now on you will be catching people.”

        So, they left their boats and followed him.

        Imagine that—fishermen with the greatest catch of their lives, leaving the fish and their boats and their livelihood and following this strange teacher!

        Amazing!

        And yet Luke tells us that is what happened.

        And, believe it or not, that is Jesus’ call to us.

        In most cases, it is not a call to ‘leave everything behind’—I don’t see any candidates to be Francis of Assisi here!

        But is a call to realize in our own lives “what’s important to God.” And what is important to God in following Jesus is to be ‘saving people’.

        There are lots of ways to be doing that for each of us. Buying a coat and socks and clothes for a homeless person.

        Giving food and money to the food bank.

        You do that already.

        But there is more to do.

        Listen to the last verse of today’s Psalm: “The Lord will make good his purpose for me;/ O Lord, your love endures forever;/ do not abandon the works of your hands.”

        We can speak up against racial injustice.

        We can take a stand for equal housing.

        We can oppose all forms of discrimination.

        We can seek to make the world a better place for all of God’s children.

        We can give of our time and talents and fortunes for all good causes.

        We can heed Jesus’ call and do all in our power to save and protect the men and women and children of our world.

        We can, in our daily lives, help God’s love to endure forever. God, help us BE your Love.

        Amen and amen.