This week’s memory verse: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.“
John 13:34
Pray the week: Lord Jesus, thank You for Your caring. Grant that I may do all You call me to with the same care. May I be continually aware of Your presence as I do so.
Care About Jesus.
“Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”
I am so thankful that we have joined together in worship this Sunday as we once again celebrate the confidence we have in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
If we trust in Jesus and take the risks He prompts us to venture, all turns out well. We can be confident that God is constantly seeking and looking for us. We are His. Today we explore confidence in caring for God’s word and work.
We encounter Martha and Mary. Another one of those very familiar gospels most people can quote. We’ll get back to that in a moment.
Let’s first explore the lead-in, Abraham’s encounter with God. The key to this encounter with the three men by the terebinth of Mamre is that Abraham saw through what was outward, past the obvious, ‘hey there’s three guys over there,’ to seeing the presence of the Father, Son, and Spirit.
Abraham not only recognizes but sets his entire household to work in welcoming God. For this he is blessed.
So, with Martha and Mary. The obvious go to for most church people is focused on Martha’s complaint and Jesus’ line: Mary has chosen the better part.
Unfortunately, we take this, and the other words spoken in this portion of the gospel, as a competition between Martha and Mary. We can draw all sorts of assumptions. Martha, hardworking, full of the gift of hospitality. Martha, hurt and maybe jealous. Mary, paying close attention to Jesus and learning from Him. Mary, maybe neglecting her duty of hospitality. Oh, Mary is so much smarter and better. Martha is so angry.
Phooey!
We tend to see drama and then perhaps attach ourselves to the drama. In doing so we miss a very important lesson that this encounter teaches.
What we learn here is not about the gift of listening and learning being better than serving and hospitality. It is not about better or worse parts. It is about the gift of caring being preeminent, i.e., in the first place.
Both Martha and Mary shared in this most important of gifts – the blessing of caring – to care enough to listen and learn, to serve and care for. These two women cared about Jesus very deeply and gave their all in that caring. Like Abraham they recognized Who was there. Their sisterhood was Christ centered in the entirety of His being as both God and man.
That is the way it must be for us. There are certainly good and better parts in our service to God and His Kingdom and our priority must not be on which part we are to take up, on competition, but rather on recognizing God and doing the part we have been called to with great care.
This week’s memory verse: Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
James 5:16
Pray the week: Lord Jesus, thank you for revealing the Father’s merciful heart to us. Grant that we trust in His mercy and share that mercy with all we encounter.
[NOTE: The readings, gospel, and propers for this day are taken from the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time since the 15th Sunday’s gospel would be repeated on the Solemnity of Brotherly Love]
Trust in Jesus.
Indeed, the grace of our Lord has been abundant, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance:Â Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
I am so thankful that we have joined together in worship this Sunday as we once again celebrate the confidence we have in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Last week we began celebrating that confidence. If we trust in Jesus and take the risks He prompts us to venture, all turns out well (even if it seemingly doesn’t).
You see, our faith-based trust is not about specific accomplishment as we see it, but about walking the gospel path Jesus laid out. We repent of sin, we believe in Him, we join in worship and fellowship, and we proclaim Jesus in every aspect of our lives. In doing so all outcomes in Jesus are the best. Trusting in Jesus gives us ultimate victory, a place of honor in the Father’s house.
But what happens if we fail to live up to God’s call, to Jesus’ gospel, to the Holy Spirit’s promptings?
Today’s reading and gospel tell us of a seeing and seeking God whose heart, i.e., His whole self, longs to embrace us and forgive us for as St. Paul says – Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – we who fail from time to time.
In Exodus, Israel rebels and rejects God for a cold metal statue of nothing. The God Who saves was rebuffed. The God Who stretched out His mighty arm in power to free and save His people was rejected for depravity. He saw it all, it was all done right in front of His holy mountain, right at His front door. Knowing God’s holiness and justice must be satisfied, Moses pleads for his people and God relents of the punishment they deserved. His seeking heart of compassion and mercy prevails.
St. Paul knew God’s seeing and seeking heart so well. In writing to the Church at Colossae, he recalls all the wrong he had done, his life as a blasphemer and a persecutor, his very arrogance that separated him from God. In recalling it all Paul shows us the reality of God’s mercy made fully evident in Jesus who called him out of sin, who freed him by grace alone, and made him His minister.
Jesus’ parables today give us an image of the seeking and seeing God. He is the caring shepherd in search of the lost lamb. He seeks the lost coin. In both cases the work of seeking and seeing is consistent, it does not stop because God does not stop.
As with the prodigal son, and his father, again a symbol of our Father, we experience the constancy of the Father. He awaits our trust, our step toward Him, our testimony of confidence in His abundance, and our effort to work again for His Kingdom.
Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’
Summer is here and it is time for all kinds of great activities: swimming, visits to parks, camping, trips away, grilling, and tending to flowers and vegetable plants.
Did you ever get in one of those situations where that summer activity gets slightly curtailed because you forgot something? You have the charcoal but forgot the matches. You want to dig out the soil around those plants but can’t find your gardening shovel, oh – and you forgot the sunscreen. In those types of situations we often run across a good samaritan, a neighbor, friend, the person on the towel next to you at the shore, even just a passer-by who notices the situation (and frustration) and offers to help. Take my matches, borrow my shovel, here’s some sunscreen…
St. Paul was addressing the Elders of the Church in Ephesus. He was planning his leaving for Jerusalem and the persecutions that lay ahead (See Acts 20 starting at verse 17). He tells them the things they will face and implores them to be strong. He gives thanks for those who saw to his needs saying Jesus’ words: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’
Faith is somewhat like our summer adventures. We all start from a place of borrowing. We borrow from and imitate our families and community. As we progress in our lives our faith becomes our own, becomes solid, we own it and take responsibility for it. We are ready for action and are living faithfully day-to-day. Occasionally though we need help, we’ve forgotten something or left something behind. We need to borrow from friends, mentors, family, the passer-by. We need help filling in the gaps in our journey toward Jesus. The key here, as Paul told the Elders, is to: be alert. We must not live on a faith that is merely borrowed or imitated, it must be our own. We need to invest the time to grow in it. We continually prepare ourselves and are alert for gaps. Let us be open to receiving help and also be willing to lend help, and be blessed.
July already and the calendar just continues to fill-up. We are so thankful for all who are partaking of, or will partake in, the Church’s and our parish’s summer events. Our newsletter highlights all of these activities. Come in for weekly liturgy this summer still at 10am and Noon on Sundays. Stay for a brief repast, and share in the salvation and fellowship of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We have a report on the Men’s Retreat, are planning for the XXVI Holy Synod of our Church, are welcoming people to a summer church music learning session, and welcome a newly baptized member of the parish. Fr. Jim shares his reading list. We pray for our country and give thanks.
All that and more in our July/August 2022 Newsletter.
This week’s memory verse: For the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.
Proverbs 3:26
Pray the week: Lord Jesus, imbue me with the confidence to proclaim the kingdom and walk the gospel way boldly. Grant me a spirit of trust such that the victory of my name in heaven is enough for me.
Trust in Jesus.
Jesus said, “I have given you the power to ‘tread upon serpents’ and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”
I am so thankful that we have joined together in worship this Sunday as we celebrate the confidence we have in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Confidence is so important to us. We think of confidence in many ways – being sure of what we are doing, choosing our words carefully, and studying various approaches so to choose the best one for the most positive outcome. We don’t like making mistakes. We don’t like being embarrassed in our interactions with others or by our decisions.
Jesus sends His seventy-two disciples out to proclaim the Kingdom of God, to evangelize talking about God and the way God wants us to live. They were people just like us with the same worries, the same need for confidence. Unlike us, they had not yet seen the resurrection of Jesus in power and glory, nor had they experienced the descent of the Holy Spirit.
They were to go in trust, asking people to change their lives completely – to prepare themselves because the Messiah was about to come into their town. The Kingdom was at hand for them.
Jesus prepares the seventy-two with certain instructions, how they were to travel, where they were to lodge. In these first few instructions Jesus asks them to make a leap of faith, to put their trust in Him. He even insisted they trust so far as to leave their money, their bags, and sandals behind. They were to trust that they would be fed and housed – it was all about trust.
He also gives them the words and authority they are to use: “cure the sick and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God is at hand for you.’â€
Those seventy-two went out and did as Jesus asked in complete trust. Because they did that, they were able to come back rejoicing. The rejoiced not because of who they were, nor because of their sneakers, backpacks, or money, nor because they had confidence. It was because they learned that trusting in Jesus gave them real victory over fear, doubt, hesitation, and being timid.
I began saying that we celebrate the confidence we have in Jesus today. You see, Jesus fully understands what we face if we do all He asks us to do. So, Jesus shows us that trust is enough. We don’t have to be sure of what we are doing because Jesus oversees the accomplishment. We don’t need to choose our words carefully. We have Jesus’ gospel. We don’t have to study various approaches to get the most positive outcome. All outcomes in Jesus are the best. Trusting in Jesus gives us ultimate victory, names inscribed in heaven.
This week’s memory verse: Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Psalm 119:105
Pray the week: Word of God, teach me, guide me, and grant that in the study and teaching of Your word I may learn to dwell in truth rejecting the evil roundabout me.
In the beginning was the Word.
Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, “Please, let me kiss my father and mother goodbye, and I will follow you.†Elijah answered, “Go back! Have I done anything to you?â€
I am so thankful you have chosen to worship with us this Sunday as we celebrate the Word of God, Holy Scripture.
A little bit of catechism is helpful here: In our Holy Church the Word of God is a sacrament. The basic children’s Catechism explains that the Word of God is important because it brings us closer to God, teaches us His Divine Will, makes our faith stronger, and tells us how we can enter the Kingdom of God.
The Catechism then goes on to quote several scriptures on the importance of God’s Word. Indeed, the Word of God is the seed (Luke 8:11); and Blessed are they to hear the word and obey it (Luke 11:28).
The adult Catechism repeats much of this and adds that the Word makes us better qualified to labor for the Kingdom of God.
Today we hear God direct Elijah to anoint Elisha.
This was a bit unusual. Usually, prophets had a direct encounter with God, but not so for Elisha. Elisha received no vision; there was no cherubim and seraphim appearing to him as in Isaiah’s experience; he did not get to stand before a burning bush and hear God’s voice like Moses. In fact, the call to prophetic ministry was brought to him by Elijah alone in Elijah’s casting his cloak on him.
Then something very interesting happens. Elisha runs after Elijah who was already walking away. He asks if he can say goodbye. Elijah’s answer seems odd: Go back! Have I done anything to you?†We might think, well yeah, you did, by casting your cloak on me. But here is the key to it all. Elijah in fact did nothing. Implied here is that God chose Elisha, and he could either follow God’s will or go back. Elijah’s words were humble – I did nothing, God called you. Now is the time of choice. Elisha choses God by destroying every tie to his old life, the oxen and plow. Hear too Jesus about following Him.
After he was anointed, Elisha was marked out for service to the Lord. Elisha did not immediately replace Elijah. Once the ceremony had taken place Elisha “went after Elijah and ministered to him”
Elisha served Elijah before succeeding him as prophet. In that time Elisha learned the loneliness of the prophetic office. He watched Elijah’s message get rejected over and over. Yet in Elisha’s ministry great miracles happened.
What will the world miss out on if we do not burn the plow and commit to God’s way and give up our own? What do we learn from the call of Elisha and our adherence to God’s word? It is that we cannot sit on the fence. When God calls in the Spirit and the proclamation of the word, we must decide. Go back to the ordinary or follow. All of us have God’s call to answer, we all hear His word, we all have a choice to make, and there is a cost to pay. Elisha never regretted his choice for God’s word and way, and neither will we.
This week’s memory verse: And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Ephesians 5:2
Pray the week: Body of Christ, be for me the only food I need. Blood of Christ, be for me the warmth and joy of Your love. Grant that I may never be separated from You.