Pentecost 4, June 20, 2010

You’ve probably seen the TV commercial for Men’s Wearhouse that always ends with the company slogan spoken by founder George Zimmer:   “You’re going to like the way you look.  I guarantee it.”  I’m not sure this appeal works on every guy who hears it and I can tell you I’ve heard it many times and never yet been in the store.  But whenever I see this commercial and hear this guarantee that I’m going to like the way I look, I have this overwhelming feeling that I should probably should get over there and get me one of those suits.  And maybe someday I will.

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Pentecost 3, June 13, 2010

Do you love Jesus a little or a lot?

Please don’t rush to the answer.  Take your time and be very careful how you answer. 

You want to say you love him a lot, right?  Of course you do.  We all do.  Who among us would want to claim loving Jesus just a little?  You might as well deny loving him at all!  Everyone who loves Jesus loves him a lot – most of all, right?  We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t or if we didn’t at least WANT to!

Still, our readings today nudge us to ask the question:  do I love Jesus a little or a lot – a question that at first seems like a no-brainer. But when we see what it really means to love Jesus a lot and what we reveal about ourselves when we love Jesus a lot and what it says about Jesus that we love him a lot, then the question becomes more challenging and our answer more significant. 

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Pentecost, May 23, 2010

Our Pentecost readings today present us with tales of two cities.  Charles Dickens’ famous novel with that same title, “The Tale of Two Cities” begins with the famous words, “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.”  One story in our Scriptures today shows us the worst of humanity and the other reveals the best of God’s grace.

The first story revolves around the ancient city of Babel.  This story is recorded in Genesis 11 and belongs to a period of time we would consider pre-history.  In other words, it’s hard to date this event with much accuracy, but the story itself is timeless.  What happens in this tale of Babel is something that happens over and over again in human history and even in our own personal life stories.

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The Sixth Sunday After Pentecost, May 9, 2010

The movie “Home Alone” depicts a little boy Kevin, played by McCauley Caulkin, who is left behind when his parents and family fly off on vacation to Paris.  He turns these moments of abandonment into personal triumphs over burglars who attack his family’s home by setting up all kinds of clever boobytraps.  So it’s pretty funny.

But being left alone is usually not very funny.  Some of the scariest times in life are those moments where you’re all alone and you don’t know what’s going to happen to you. You’re stranded on the highway with a broken-down car.  You’ve lost you’re job and you have no idea what marketable skills you have.  Your spouse or parent has just died and the future looks bleak.  There is a feeling of abandonment, despair, of being orphaned and alone.  We might ask, “What’s to become of me?”

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