Sunday, September 15, 2013 (full size gallery)
What a beautiful Sunday with a touch of fall in the air! You can see a few leaves turning on the sycamore closest to Water Street. We had 39 in church
This was second week of Godly Play with 4 in attendance. Amy and Catherine go to training next Saturday.
This week was busy with the "Feasting with Jesus – Picnic on the Beach" on Thursday. Some of us had a Fellowship dinner on Saturday. Events go on through October. Speaking of food, there is the "Bread Retreat" on Jan 28th where you can learn how to make "braided bread" and watch the acclaimed film "The Way." We are also are collect bread recipes. Add yours here or see what’s out there
We recoganized Myrtle Samuels’ 84th birthday today with the congregation singing "Happy Birthday." We did the same for Catherine with her birthday coming up later in the week.
Since the Gospel was on the lost sheep Catherine showed off Amy’s Shepherd and sheep stole
Catherine reported that the church raised $234 for the Toilet for Haiti project. Some churches are also collecting on the 15th so it will be later in the upcoming week to see how well we did.
The lectionary deals with those out of relationship with God – tax collectors in Luke, idol-worshipers in Exodus. Actuality he is talking to all of us for we have all been that way.
The sermon point out that God can be wrathful as can anyone in a relationship. "I want you to hear that loud and clear-wrath is an instrument in God’s hands– not an attribute of God…" "Punishment is an attempt to bring the people back into relationship with God—a call for us to return and to be saved. And once this mission is accomplished, then God’s anger vanishes in the twinkling of an eye."
The parables in the Gospel (Luke) of the lost sheep and lost coin were told to illustrate why Jesus welcomed the sinners and tax collectors, and to justify his hospitality to the Pharisees. He does so because God does so. This is a direct challenge to the Pharisees for whom personal righteousness was a high value pursued at the expense of other expressions of obedience to God’s will.
Tax collectors were known for their unethical behaviour. The Roman authorities contracted out collection of taxes; how a tax collector got the money was up to him. Usury, fraud and excessive profits were common. Tax collectors worked for tax farmers, who were usually foreigners. As such, they were ritually unclean.
While we are not tax collectors we can be out of relationship with others and have been sinful. The parable illustrates how we should be treated.
The Shepherd goes after one sheep out of a hundred for one who has strayed like the women with ten silver coins goes after one which is lost. Neither the sheep nor the coin can find their owner; God cares about those unable to find him; he seeks them.
The sermon continues- "But what is surprising is that God’s wrath does not figure at all in this parable that Jesus tells. Nothing is said about the shepherd’s anger at this lost sheep for having left the flock. "
The sermon makes the point "Jesus says only this, that when the shepherd finds the sheep, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. The shepherd doesn’t hook the sheep around the neck with his staff, and drag it back to the others in angry, wrathful state. Instead, the shepherd lays the sheep on his shoulders and rejoices. This image radiates love and compassion—and love, unlike wrath, is an attribute of God"
In the second of the parables about the lost coin, the sermon takes the perspective of the coin as God as the woman comes looking for us – "When we enter into the darkest places in our lives, God comes searching for us. It’s as if we’re lost deep in a cave somewhere, in absolute darkness, helpless, and then we glimpse the smallest flicker of light coming toward us, and that light gets brighter and brighter, and finally we’re rescued and safe, bathed in the light of Christ."
"The grumbling Pharisees knew and understood God’s use of wrath. But Jesus wanted them to know the very nature of God—love."