Musings about Faith

Read the parable text here: St. Matthew 13:1-23 Reflections on the Gospel – Matthew 13:1-23 - “The Parable of the Sower” A sower went out to sow… This is perhaps one of the best known of Jesus’ parables.   It is one of the few parables that appear in all three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark 4:1-20 and Luke 8:4-15) and in the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas.   Jesus even names this parable – “The Parable of the Sower” – which should give us a strong hint as to where the meaning lay.   But in the course of my preparation I read (skimmed) a number of other articles and commentaries about this parable and discovered that some have come up with another title for it: “The Parable of the Soil.”   And this 2 nd title reflects one of the major struggles with interpreting Jesus’ parables, namely: we want the parable to be about us!   We are so self-focused that when we read the Gospels we want them to be a mirror that reflects us, and of course we want t...

For the summer we are moving away form the Lectionary and doing a sermon series on the Parables of the Kingdom.  We began last week and continued this week with the Parable of the Persistent Widow and the Unjust Judge from Luke 18.  I suggest that rather than think of the Judge as unjust we should actually look at him as being an Incompetent Judge. Read the Text of the Parable here:  Luke 18:1-8               What is the Kingdom of God?  This phrase is a central part of the Jesus’ proclamation in the Gospels – The Kingdom of God is in your midst!   Or – Today this saying has been fulfilled in your hearing!  Or – Thy Kingdom come….   So what is the Kingdom to which Jesus refers?  In Mark and Luke it is the “Kingdom of God,” in Matthew it is the “Kingdom of Heaven” and in John it is “Eternal Life.”  It’s all the same thing, even though the terms are slightly different.  So w...

I just got back from vacation and I spent my vacation at a Gilbert & Sullivan Festival in Gettysburg.  It was wonderful.  I became acquainted with this little story by Gilbert which he published in FUN in 1870.  As is always the case with Gilbert his insights into the human condition and our social system are searing and right on.  This story is no exception - and is posted in dedication to all of those who feel like being right and breaking away is their calling from God (instead of being faithful and working to be vessels of God's healing and inclusive love).  SBD+  Enjoy..... A CHRISTIAN FRAME OF MIND – by W.S. Gilbert There was once a Colonial Bishop, whose see was on coast of Africa. He was an energetic Bishop who laboured nobly, according to his views, and no man gainsaid him. In his immediate neighbourhood resided a barbarous tribe, The Tribe of the Canoodle-Dums. You may have heard of them. They were idolators. They were ft sim...

Reflections on the Parables by Pastor Duncan: This Sunday we begin a summer long series of sermons based on the Parables of Jesus.   Many of these are familiar to us as a good part of Jesus’ teaching was in parables.   So what are parables – they are stories which lead the listener to a new place or a new way of thinking.   Jesus’ parables would have been at times shocking and offensive.   The characters behave in ways that are socially unacceptable for 1 st century Judeans.   Take for example the Parable of the Good Samaritan – the idea of a Samaritan offering assistance to a Judean would have been terribly offensive; or the Prodigal Son – the reaction of the father who runs out to greet his wayward son would have been scandalous.   Sometimes the characters in the parables behave in ways that go against common sense: the shepherd leaving the 99 sheep and going in search of 1 lost one (risking his entire flock and livlihood in the process) or even t...

One of the most wonderful gifts that comes to us through the ancient monastic tradition are the orders for daily prayer which have been and continue to be prayed daily in many communities.  Last summer I spent almost a week at St. Meinrad's Archabby and it was wonderful to prayer the daily office (as it is called) with the monks.  The services are: Lauds at 3:00 AM (times are approximate and vary from location to location); Morning Prayer at 6:00; Noon Prayer at 12:00 noon; Evening Prayer at 6:00 and Compline at 9:00 PM.  Now the ancient tradition also included other brief services at 9 AM and 3:00 PM.  Our hymnal - Evangelical Lutheran Worship and also the Lutheran Book of Worship before it, contained beautiful settings of the office services of Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer and Compline.  Evening Prayer and Compline are especially popular in Lutheran circles.  Episcopalians use Morning Prayer with a bit more regularity.  Every night at Lutheran Summ...

First, some preliminary comments: 1. This blog post is in response to a comment posted on one of my former student’s Facebook page.   The student (we’ll call him “Brad” – names have been changed to protect the innocent, though those who know him will know who I am talking about) had posted a quote from Dom Crossan to the effect that the Bible – both testaments – is very forthright and unapologetic in its call for “distributive justice.”   This is laid out in the Torah very clearly, and then bluntly reenunciated by the prophets. Jesus also picks up the theme and is unapologetic about it – especially in the Gospel of Luke.   Among the comments to this post of “Brad’s” was a friend of his who curtly dismissed the quote as being warmed over “communism” or “socialism.”   Brad politely disagreed.   Well, I will not be quite so polite in my response to the silly and uniformed comment. 2. Herman Melville was one of America’s greatest writers.   My favorite of...

1000 PASTORS FOR A MORAL BUDGET We are local pastors. Our lives are committed to our churches and communities. Every day we work to preach and live the Gospel of Christ. We challenge our congregations and parishes to live lives of personal responsibility and encourage them to live good and righteous lives. This also means calling our communities and nation to live up to corporate responsibilities. In every one of our congregations we have programs that help those in need with jobs, clothing, food, or counseling. We gladly take up the challenge of encouraging our congregation members to give more, but in these past few years, it has been difficult for us to watch the need around us rise while the resources we have diminish. We work, pray, and do whatever we can to remain faithful to the responsibility of every Christian to help the poor. Still, we can't meet the crushing needs by ourselves. We do our best to feed the hungry, but charitable nutrition programs only make up 6% ...