How many of you know how to swim? [Wait for answers] How do you swim? What do you do when you're swimming? [wait again] So, you're mostly in the water and laying down, moving your arms and legs to stay above the surface, right?… Read the rest “Children’s Moment (Gospel) for Proper 14a – 13-August-23”
Can you imagine what it would cost to feed a crowd of 5000? ... even with just bread and fish sticks?
While we can count on God's abundance to provide beyond even our imagining, it's just not good stewardship to put the burden of providing for church programs on miracles.… Read the rest “Offering Meditation for Proper 13a – 6-Aug-23”
Have you ever been at a party for a whole lot of people? [Wait for answers] Maybe it was a wedding reception for someone in your family or maybe it was a family reunion. How many people were there?… Read the rest “Children’s Moment for Proper 13a – 6-Aug-23”
When Jesus fed the 5000, it was the bread and fishes that were multiplied by God's abundant grace to meet the needs of the people who had gathered around. At the Table, God's abundant grace also fills us...… Read the rest “Table Meditation (Gospel) for Proper 13a – 6-Aug-23”
What ultimately separates the wheat from the tares? It all comes down to what they produce. The tares grow at the expense of other plants and they produce nothing of value. The wheat, on the other hand, grows to produce life-giving food for the hungry.… Read the rest “Offering Meditation for Proper 12a – 30-July-23”
Parables, at least the way Jesus told them, are not fables. There isn't a moral to these stories. It goes far deeper than that. Jesus isn't simply telling us to be wheat and not tares; to be mustard seeds or leaven or hidden treasure. … Read the rest “Table Meditation (Gospel) for Proper 12a – 30-July-23”
Have you ever watched bread being made? [Wait for answers]
One of the neat things about making bread is when you add yeast to the dough, there is a reaction the spreads throughout the dough and it "rises," it grows.… Read the rest “Children’s Moment for Proper 12a – 30-Jul-23”
In Jesus Parable in the scripture today, we hear about good seed and bad being sown into the same field. We experience this all the time in our lives: Our best impulses war with those that are harmful to ourselves and others.… Read the rest “Offering Meditation for Proper 11a – 23-July-23”
In Jesus' parable in our scripture for today, there isn't any way to tell one from the other until they mature and grow. One interesting consequence of that is here at the Table. It isn't up to us to determine who belongs here or how they qualify. … Read the rest “Table Meditation (Gospel) for Proper 11a – 23-July-23”
In today's scripture Jesus told another story about a farmer planting grain. But in this story, someone else planted weeds in the same field. What's wrong with weeds? [wait for answers]
Now the farmer in the story gives his workers some really odd instructions: He says, "Let the weeds and good seed grow together.… Read the rest “Children’s Moment for Proper 11a – 23-Jul-23”