Proper 20 | Ordinary Time 25 - A
R. Craig Maccreary
Needless to say, I suspect that I have captured your attention at this point. Most of the
readers of this journal understand the ground rules that govern the kinds of churches they
serve. One can see all sorts of red lights coming on their panels as their clerical radar
picks up storms ahead. Given the diversity of the people who populate our churches and
their points of view, it is not likely that any pastor who poses that question will come
away unscathed.
David Kalas
Conventional wisdom says that it's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease.
That makes sense with wheels, of course, but the setting in which the phrase is most often used in our day has nothing whatsoever to do with wheels. Rather, the squeaky wheel has become a metaphor for a complaining person. And so for the squeaky wheel to get the grease means that the complainer gets what he or she wants.
Certainly we have seen the phenomenon played out time and again. When my wife worked as a server in a restaurant, she saw the principle at work almost every shift. The person who had a good attitude about something that wasn't quite right -- a long wait, a mistake in the order, an unsatisfactory bite -- received no benefit. But the person who complained? That customer...
That makes sense with wheels, of course, but the setting in which the phrase is most often used in our day has nothing whatsoever to do with wheels. Rather, the squeaky wheel has become a metaphor for a complaining person. And so for the squeaky wheel to get the grease means that the complainer gets what he or she wants.
Certainly we have seen the phenomenon played out time and again. When my wife worked as a server in a restaurant, she saw the principle at work almost every shift. The person who had a good attitude about something that wasn't quite right -- a long wait, a mistake in the order, an unsatisfactory bite -- received no benefit. But the person who complained? That customer...
David Coffin
At first glance, one common thread that ties all three of these texts together is that of God’s grace. A seasoned, older pastor whose years of congregational ministry have saturated in the waters of self-serving consumerism within the church, may view these texts with weary eyes. It is easy to draw to the conclusion that not many consumers influenced church people are not shaking in their shoes in fear or dread, nor worried about finding a God of grace. The opposite is often apparent, as entitlement thinking suggests that people come to the pastor’s office with such expectations as, “You owe me (us) to allow our family to use the church fellowship hall for family events, perform our wedding on our terms, and structure church activities around our local school’s schedules.” While God’s...
Wayne Brouwer
A woman who works at Weight Watchers said that a new client had begun her diet. When she came in to be weighed after the first stressful week, she stepped on the scale and found that she had lost a couple of pounds. The dieter wasn’t too happy, however. She complained, “My friend comes here to Weight Watchers, and she said she lost ten pounds her first week! She told me I’d lose ten pounds in the first week too! But look at this!”
The leader at Weight Watchers was a little disturbed. She knew that you don’t lose weight overnight, so she tried to comfort the woman by reminding her that the ideal was a slow weight loss. That kind of diet was more likely to produce permanent weight reductions. She asked the dieter, a little indignantly, “Who told you that she lost ten pounds in...
The leader at Weight Watchers was a little disturbed. She knew that you don’t lose weight overnight, so she tried to comfort the woman by reminding her that the ideal was a slow weight loss. That kind of diet was more likely to produce permanent weight reductions. She asked the dieter, a little indignantly, “Who told you that she lost ten pounds in...
David Kalas
I heard a story once of a custodian who worked at a certain university. Among his responsibilities, he emptied the wastebaskets in the administration building where the president of the university had his office. The school underwent a change in presidents during this custodian’s time there, and he found that his experience of his job changed. “I didn’t mind emptying Dr. Wilson’s garbage,” he remarked, referring to the former president.
Dr. Wilson, you see, was a most gracious man. He was as solicitous of the custodian as he was of the multimillion-dollar donor. His successor, however, was cut from a different cloth. He busily passed by much of the staff without more than a nod most days. And the man who emptied his wastebasket found that it was harder to do with joy than it...
Dr. Wilson, you see, was a most gracious man. He was as solicitous of the custodian as he was of the multimillion-dollar donor. His successor, however, was cut from a different cloth. He busily passed by much of the staff without more than a nod most days. And the man who emptied his wastebasket found that it was harder to do with joy than it...
Cathy Venkatesh
God is not just by our human ways of accounting. Undeserving people receive blessings, often ahead of deserving ones. If we consider ourselves deserving, this is bad news. But if we recognize our own failings and the amazing graciousness of God, this is wonderful news indeed. In God's economy there is enough for everyone, and those who need grace the most are most likely to receive it first.
Exodus 16:2-15
Exodus 16:2-15
Wayne Brouwer
When my wife was younger, her father typically ended meal times by declaring loudly that he was "sufficiently suffonsified!" It was his way of asserting complete satisfaction.
"Satisfaction Guaranteed" is the testimony hung behind customer service counters and repair shop bill stations. Generally we know what that means because we tie it to returns and restorations. If something doesn't suit us, we return it and recover the money we spent in purchasing it. If something is broken and needs repair, the restoration specialists will make it run again for no payment.
So our satisfactions are connected to desires that we expect someone else to meet. But what if our desires are unrealistic? What if we do things for a crabby child who does not seek, in fact, to be...
"Satisfaction Guaranteed" is the testimony hung behind customer service counters and repair shop bill stations. Generally we know what that means because we tie it to returns and restorations. If something doesn't suit us, we return it and recover the money we spent in purchasing it. If something is broken and needs repair, the restoration specialists will make it run again for no payment.
So our satisfactions are connected to desires that we expect someone else to meet. But what if our desires are unrealistic? What if we do things for a crabby child who does not seek, in fact, to be...
Let's face it. Not everyone is happy about God's generosity.
There are quite of few of us, perhaps all of us at one time or another, who would like to reserve God's grace for ourselves and those of our choosing. We sing passionately the words of the hymn "Amazing Grace" and exult in the news that the grace of God "saved a wretch like me." However, that grace clearly has nothing to do with wretches like you.
That the phenomenon is not exclusive to our contemporary world (which takes quite a bit of blame) is demonstrated in no subtle ways by our First Lesson and by the Gospel. Perhaps the desire for exclusive claim to God's grace is one of the hazards of calling ourselves the people of God.
Jonah 3:10--4:11
There are quite of few of us, perhaps all of us at one time or another, who would like to reserve God's grace for ourselves and those of our choosing. We sing passionately the words of the hymn "Amazing Grace" and exult in the news that the grace of God "saved a wretch like me." However, that grace clearly has nothing to do with wretches like you.
That the phenomenon is not exclusive to our contemporary world (which takes quite a bit of blame) is demonstrated in no subtle ways by our First Lesson and by the Gospel. Perhaps the desire for exclusive claim to God's grace is one of the hazards of calling ourselves the people of God.
Jonah 3:10--4:11
The signs of grace continue, in spite of the resumption of complaints. Though they take out their frustrations on Moses and Aaron, it is really God who is the object of their murmuring. But God is gracious. Though they do not deserve it, God provides for them. In last week's lesson it was a cloud. Now it is manna and quail, though the focus is on the former. Manna was a natural substance, the sticky product of a wood-louse that fell to the ground and crystallized. The miracle was in its quantity.
How many times do you hear people speak of God and give you the idea that God is a bit stingy with his gifts and wants to make us beg? It is as if they picture him standing with his hands behind his back and waiting for us to do his bidding and measure up before he will deliver the goodies. Others speak of him as though he were our personal heavenly bellhop, ever ready when we pull his chain to come and carry out our wishes. There are other images that you have in mind and what they all do is to picture a God who is difficult to approach and who is removed from us by a great gulf that cannot be closed.
It seems to me that those who picture God in such a manner have managed to miss the real God of the Bible. For them he seems distant and hidden and threatening. While they are...
It seems to me that those who picture God in such a manner have managed to miss the real God of the Bible. For them he seems distant and hidden and threatening. While they are...
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