Matthew 20:1-16 Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. When he…
Matthew 18:21-35 Peter came and said to Jesus, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as…
A dear friend of mine had a T-shirt which said “I thought growing old would take longer”. Anyone relate? Lately I’ve been thinking “I thought Climate Change would take longer”. But it is here and now. Just this week the United Nations Environment Program announced that the planet has already warmed roughly 1.4 degrees Celsius, mostly from the burning of fossil fuels. The last three years have been the hottest on record and since we continue to pour greenhouse gases…
May I speak in the Name of the Holy, Living, and Undivided Trinity; one God, now and forever, Amen. Good morning. There is so much in these lessons today; so many directions we could go. I think when I was just starting out as a lay preacher in the late 90s, I preached on these texts, and the verse that spoke to me was Jesus’ “take up your cross” forewarning from Matthew, because that’s where I was, theologically, at that…
