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...