never taken away
Scripture: Luke 10:38-42
This week we find ourselves looking at Mary and Martha when Jesus drops in for a visit one day. As Jesus sits in their home the two women take on two different roles.
Martha gets to work in the kitchen preparing a meal while Mary sits and listens to what Jesus has to say.
Which is more important?
Well, one could argue that hospitality is most important. In the time of Jesus, hospitality to visitors was an expectation, even to strangers. When someone came to the village, and if no one extended extravagant hospitality to the visitor, it would bring shame on the community. This meant feeding them, providing a place to sleep, a place to get clean, all of this was expected when visitors showed up at your door.
While we may not do this to strangers so much any more, it’s much the same for us today. When someone shows up on our doorstep, although they usually don’t show up unannounced we open our homes, provide a place for rest and most certainly we will feed them. read more…
neighbours
Scripture: Luke 10:25-37
This has been another very hard week to watch the news. In three consecutive days there were senseless killings which made international headlines in the United States, along with more suicide bombs in the Middle East.
The world has gone crazy. I’m not sure there is any other reason for it. Well, there is, but do we really want to go there and talk about it?
Do we really have a choice?
People have died in the United States because of racism. Black man, men who have contributed to schools, to their churches, to their families are dead because someone, and in these cases police officers, didn’t like something they said or how they moved.
These black men were going about their own business when a police officer, in a snap decision, decided they should be shot. Without evidence of a crime being made, without evidence of them being a danger to anyone else, they were shot. All because of the colour of their skin. And as much as we’d like to hope those were the only two incidents where it happened, it’s not the case.
Watching the news showed that black families are raising their children to be careful around police. They are raising children to not trust the police. They are teaching their children that if police are around, they shouldn’t be near.
power in the name
Scripture: Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
When I was young, growing up in rural Lunenburg county, I spent a number of years in the scouting movement. Part of scouting in those days involved a number of annual fundraisers so we could do various activities. Some were simple, like apple day. Others were more involved, such as our annual tree planting day where we would get sponsored to plant trees somewhere in the middle of no where out in the wilderness.
There was one we would do every fall that I both loved and dreaded every time. That was our annual bottle drive. I loved it because we spent hours at a time outdoors with friends, laughing and seeing how many bottles we could get, and who would have the best stories to tell from their travels around the countryside.
I dreaded it because it meant we went door to door asking for whatever bottles they could spare. It meant going up to many strangers’ doors and explaining what we were trying to do.
Now 99% of the time, people were fantastic. They were more than happy to help us out. Some would even give us a few dollars if they didn’t have any bottles to give to us.
But that 1%… I remember walking up to one house and knocking on the door to have a large man open it and bark at us, “WHAT ARE YOU PEDDLING?”
He didn’t donate any bottles. read more…
generous
Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 8:1-15
Generosity is a pretty cool thing, isn’t it? There are people out there in this world who will give you things if you really need it. You hear it a lot in various churches and ministries if those who are being generous see it as vitally important the ministry continues in that place.
I think of some friends of mine who run a camp in New Brunswick which shares the Gospel of Jesus Christ with children from native communities. Over the last number of years they have had what looked like significant challenges which threatened the future of their ministry. Things like the breakdown of vehicles, boats, tractors, all of which require significant funds to repair. Just a couple days ago there was an email that came out from my friends saying the engine in their truck has died and they need someone to help with transportation because they can no longer use the truck.
Now, as of this moment, I haven’t heard of anyone stepping up to help, but I know that so far many of their prayer requests have been answered over the years. So I join them in prayer that this problem will be overcome and they can have an amazing summer with the kids who will spend the time with them.
Generosity of people who believe in the mission of God, whether it be in churches, camps or some other ministry somewhere in the world, it’s the generosity of others who do so much in helping people do the work they feel called to do. read more…
children of the Father
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:11-21
Have you ever tried to persuade someone into doing something? You know what I mean, someone you know, maybe a good friend, your spouse, or even your children, you are trying to get them to do something. But they aren’t too keen to do it. What do you do?
Well, you might try sugar-coating it. “Won’t it be fun?” or “You’ll like it I promise!”
You want them to make their own choice, but you sure are going to try to get them to make the choice you want them to make.
If that doesn’t work, what do you do?
Well, sometimes it depends on who your dealing with. If you’re dealing with your friends, you may start begging a bit. “Would you please do this with me?”
Or if it’s your children, you may opt to make the decision for them. “You’re coming, and you’ll like it!”
If it’s your spouse… well it could probably be either of those depending on the situation. read more…