One
Luke 15:1-10 (9/11/2016)
When a sheep is lost, you don’t blame the sheep. It doesn’t matter who or what is at fault. The sheep is lost and that’s what matters …
First things first
Luke 16:1-13 (9/18/2016)
When money measures me, when it becomes the abstraction of my value as a human being, then money is no longer my servant but my master. It is no longer a means by which I exercise control over my life. Instead it controls me …
Open the gate!
Luke 16:19-31 (9/25/2016)
It’s about unlocking the gate, throwing open the gate, even tearing down the gate. And not merely to let Lazarus in, but to let you out! It’s not that he needs help from you, but that you need help from him!
Ordinary servants
Luke 17:5-10 (10/2/2016)
We are no longer treated as citizens to be inspired to fulfill our sacred duty, but as consumers to be courted and enticed and mollified. We have become, no longer servants, ordinary servants, but spoiled children demanding our own way …
You
Luke 17:11-19 (10/9/2016)
You are well! Well not because your skin is free of that terrible disease, but well because he speaks to you. Well because he sees you. Well because he sees you. He does not see a leper. He does not see a Samaritan. He sees you …
Never give up!
Luke 18:1-8 (10/16/2016)
Don’t ask your leaders to make your life better. They can’t. Ask God.
Don’t ask your leaders to ensure your safety. They can’t. Ask God.
Ask your leaders to ensure that the laws of the land and their execution are just. Ask your leaders to ensure that no one is left out or left behind, that no one is pushed under or pushed aside.
Despicable me
Luke 18:9-14 (10/23/2016)
Why is it that one of the cardinal virtues of the kingdom of God and the cornerstone of the politics of Jesus – humility – has no place, absolutely no place, in our politics?
Lost
Luke 19:1-10 (10/30/2016)
Do you get it? Hear if you have ears to hear! Jesus had places to go, things to do, heavy things, literally the weight of the world, on his heart and mind and he stopped … for Zacchaeus, for one little man, one little lost man, sitting in a tree.
Parties, politics, and impertinent puzzles
Luke 20:27-40 (11/6/2016)
The Pharisees and Sadducees lost their way when defending their ideologies became more important than caring about people. Jesus never lost his way. Jesus is the way.
In three days, it will be over. I know for a fact that some of you will vote Republican and some of you Democrat, and perhaps, some of you, neither. But let’s not lose our way!
This is our chance!
Luke 21:5-19 (11/13/2016)
Hope and faith and love. These are not pretty “church” words, used when lighting pretty candles or saying pretty prayers. These are gritty, hardscrabble, rubber-meets-the-road words. It takes guts to hope, determination to have faith, and courage, lots of courage, to love …
This is the king
Luke 23:33-43 (11/20/2016)
No more war … ever! Can you imagine it? Do you long for it?