By Rev. Ron Robinson
Voguish the Pentecost and Dull Age Harden for the week of Aug. 8
SEEING, Dividing line, SERVING: THE WAY OF THE JESUS Persons
SCRIPTURE FOR THE WEEK: Figure out honest sleepily, each putting away at a time, and read backwards plunder the opinion putting away initial and reading it and after that the so therefore to the opinion and reading it; all so that you can swindle your thoughtfulness within paying inconvenience to each part of it and not skipping and sharp advanced what we chew over we know, so that we can convene it in recent times, so that some words moral fiber opening out to us as they would exercise group who heard them in the oral tradition in the time and way of Jesus.
LUKE 12:32-48
32"Do not be timid, small amount flock, for it is your Father's good ideal to present you the state. 33Sell your wares, and present alms. Mark purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing spoils in illusion, everywhere no thief comes exact and no moth destroys. 34For everywhere your spoils is, submit your crux moral fiber be in the same way. 35"Be reasonable for action and exercise your lamps lit; 36be in the role of group who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding treat, so that they may open the way out for him as shortly as he comes and knocks. 37Blessed are group slaves whom the master finds acquaint with what he comes; hardly I appreciate you, he moral fiber rig his belt and exercise them sit down to eat, and he moral fiber come and liberate them. 38If he comes trendy the center of the night, or exact dawn, and finds them so, blessed are group slaves. 39"But know this: if the owner of the convention had renowned at what hour the thief was coming, he would not exercise let his convention be discontinuous within. 40You in the same way requisite be absent, for the Son of Man is coming at an unintentional hour."
41Peter whispered, "Lord, are you recitation this tale for us or for everyone?" 42And the Lord whispered, "Who after that is the authentic and well thought-out controller whom his master moral fiber put in charge of his slaves, to present them their bestow of engender at the suitable time? 43Blessed is that slave whom his master moral fiber find at work what he arrives. 44Truly I appreciate you, he moral fiber put that one in charge of all his wares. 45But if that slave says to himself, 'My master is late at night in coming,' and if he begins to bang the other slaves, men and women, and to eat and absorb and get intoxicated, 46the master of that slave moral fiber come on a day what he does not infer him and at an hour that he does not know, and moral fiber cut him in pieces, and put him with the treacherous. 47That slave who knew what his master required, but did not do himself or do what was required, moral fiber flagrant a dictatorial pasting. 48But the one who did not know and did what deserved a pasting moral fiber flagrant a light pasting. From everybody to whom extreme has been unchangeable, extreme moral fiber be required; and from the one to whom extreme has been entrusted, even added moral fiber be demanded.
Purposefulness ON SCRIPTURE:
So raw materials lay inside in this text. One of the reasons I love essence a Christian is having a rigorous path to go powerful within (everywhere the deeper you go, of course, the rather you draw just before the hub of the Desire just before which the other paths are goodbye powerful the length of their spokes) and in our scriptures submit are openings in large quantities everywhere you can continue and bash and find supporting meaning. These words from Luke's gospel are one of group portals. Going away finished for meditating and focusing on one putting away or one word and charter it lead us within everywhere we requirement to act, charter it guide our prayers this week.
Do not be timid. This is not whispered unless submit is a court case to be timid. To come you can not be timid, you requirement to aspect what you are timid of. Good as Jesus asks Peter gone if he loves him, if he loves him, if he loves him, natural ability him to go deeper and deeper and not skin the turn up of his replies, so we are called as disciples of outlook to stand for and examination and ask ourselves, what do we unease, what do we unease, what do we unease, until we know it tolerable to take a turn with it and see our doubts for what they are, not the sum of us. The sum of us that has been unchangeable to us, and yet our doubts help us from seeing it, distribution it, ration it, is the state of God.
So is the kingdom? The opposite of Caeser's state, the opposite of that which our culture, our families, our own tapes satisfying our administrator, say that it is, that we don't exercise tolerable to part and to liberate to help others exercise added. Deal with your wares. Ditch alms. Get rid of what possesses you. Move on from the state of appearances, achievements, prosperity to the state of the crux everywhere the spoils of toughened abundant life is found. So do we unease that keeps us striving for the state that builds us up instead of pied-?-terre up others? So keeps us from spiraling our worlds, our communities, upside down and satisfying out so that the master is ration the slave, and in feign so erasing the identities and roles that the state of Caeser puts on them?
Opportunities for success top of ourselves and our polite chairs, of in advance our doubts and charter love come into view, are all surrounding us if we exercise the eyes to see and can help others to see them. They moral fiber top figure the makings leak out what and everywhere we smallest infer it, but we exercise to be open for that to leak out, relocating our inconvenience spans and gazes and make use of systems and in a range of hand baggage geologically goodbye to be with others that are defiant from us. This is a criterion of the missional church movement, to see the church realized in others and not in our own sensation of self person, and it is a way of love for all our affairs. Patronizing and advanced over in the scriptures Jesus points out that it is the way, the authoritarian way, we compel to the phantom of God.
Many of us exercise been unchangeable extreme in terminology of physical protection, trade and industry protection, emotional safety; extreme is hop of us now to see this, to part this protection, and to liberate others in the spirit of the state that breaks down the haves and the exercise nots. In the community everywhere I continue it is the one with the lowest possible life nervousness in the Tulsa, OK picture, fourteen years undervalue than group in the zipcode principled six miles south of us on the fantastically side of the road. My community has the beat health thought needs, but we exercise the smallest ability for health located everywhere we are. While our land are the sickest their fee are the highest; in the function of our land are the poorest submit is not the stock of the insured to help contradict the costs; principled this summer approach all of the clinics for all that were located in our wider community exercise been treacherous in the function of of financial assistance cutbacks. The song hospital devastate open is the one in our community improper twisted by our church, our unimportant group of UU Christians and others who catch with us,and our hours exercise been take out and we exercise been placed on a year's vision if financial assistance doesn't turn surrounding. But at this very time and in the function of of this soup?on, as terrible as it is, we exercise found force in back and in dreaming of new ways to become a change for the better community, one that does not rely impartial on the kindnesses of strangers and in the sticks funders (even as we requirement and yearning them), but ways that moral fiber draw us rather together, spiraling us within healers of sorts in our own neighborhoods, redefining "hospital" in a daze from its defaulting mode as an powers that be that attracts the amiss to it, and within an incarnational movement of populace experienced to help one atypical.
In order to begin to make this leak out, one of the initial ladder we exercise academic is that with all we exercise, or with as small amount as we exercise, we may never go through we exercise tolerable on principled our own, and that perplexed constantly in advance us is that we are in requirement of affairs with others, incredibly group defiant from us. Stimulate in this deeper sensation of curtailed magnificence is what keeps it hopeful and diffusion and what allows healing and idea and clarity and that which Jesus called "God's state" (and in our soup?on in my familiar picture we possibly will launch "God's Clinic" 'to come into view). Hoof marks the length of with our story at www.progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com and www.turleyok.blogspot.com.
The opposite of poverty, as it is whispered, is not wealth but community. And essence in a community of group by yourself ensuing Jesus is a key way to do ourselves for seeing group moments and populace and chairs, incredibly in the Dull, everywhere God is, natural ability us to part and liberate, and in feign so to see added.
PRAYER: O God of love so toughened that allows us to unease and to move honest it, help us to open our eyes and to see what we exercise been unchangeable, help us to see what we exercise not seen, even of You, even of ourselves, as well as of group surrounding us. Involve us to part and to flagrant the sharings of others as a way to lurch affairs that moral fiber grasp us what all our forward wares, of thoughtfulness torso and spirit, become youngster in the light of the Continuous. In these days what we perpetually go through the power of the Pentecost story of enhance magnificence and option wellling up within our story, in these days renowned as Dull Age what we do our souls in guaranteed average farm duties and disciplines so that we can know how pink your gifts to us are, come knocking on way out, knocking on our way out, knocking on our way out, and even what we don't warn you at initial, and even what in our doubts we do warn you and moral fiber exercise none of you, sometimes for all good reasons, Dear Lord, don't turn in a daze from us, but help knocking, until we say so be it, it is so, Amen.
