Sunday Reflection – November 19, 2023

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God’s gifts are to be shared

Matthew 25 14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.

16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. 

19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 

24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 

28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Kids Korner: Sharing the gifts of God (Nov. 19th)

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Read Matthew 25:14-30 with your family.

All of the stories Jesus told had exaggerations in them to make people listen for the meaning of the story.

Today’s story talks about giving money and investing it, but it really wasn’t about the money. The way we can know that is because the money amounts were so big they were beyond understanding. In today’s dollar amounts the first servant would have been given close to 20 million dollars!

So, knowing it was an exaggeration we can now start to figure out what Jesus was really talking about.

We know God has given us many gifts, including love, kindness, and thinking. Jesus has also told us we are supposed to help make God’s world of inclusion and abundance available to everyone, and share those gifts with everyone we meet.

If we share that message and share God’s gifts, we will feel like we get even more love, kindness and deep thoughts back.

But if we don’t share that message or live God’s love, no one will find out how good life could be.

Sunday Reflection – November 12, 2023

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Do not make yourselves important

Matthew 25 The kingdom of heaven is like what happened one night when ten young women took their oil lamps and went to a wedding to meet the groom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps, but no extra oil. 4 The ones who were wise took along extra oil for their lamps.

5 The groom was late arriving, and the young women became drowsy and fell asleep. 6 Then in the middle of the night someone shouted, “Here’s the groom! Come to meet him!”

7 When the women got up and started getting their lamps ready, 8 the foolish ones said to the others, “Let us have some of your oil! Our lamps are going out.”

9 Those who were wise answered, “There’s not enough oil for all of us! Go and buy some for yourselves.”

10 While the foolish ones were on their way to get some oil, the groom arrived. The five who were ready went into the wedding, and the doors were closed. 11  Later the others returned and shouted, “Sir, sir! Open the door for us!”

12 But the groom replied, “I don’t even know you!”

13 So, my disciples, always be ready! You don’t know the day or the time when all this will happen.

Kids Korner: Be prepared, be ready (Nov.12th)

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Read Matthew 25:1-12 with your family.

In the last chapters of the Gospel of Matthew, there are a lot of parables telling us that some will be left out of God’s promise. That has made Christians over our history think we are better than everyone else, and that is wrong.

The people hearing these stories for the first time knew they were not better people, they just wanted to trust that God loved them. They grew up in a world where they were always told God only loves the people with power. The writer of the Gospels wanted people to know it was actions and how we loved that mattered to God, not how much we owned or how much money we had. They needed to be told that God loved them.

We know God loves us and everyone else in this world, and that no one is being left out of the promise for a new world with God.

The take-away lesson from this story is to always be ready, do the things Jesus asked us to do. Be ready by making sure everyone has had enough to eat. Be ready by making sure everyone has a safe place to sleep, like the ten young women in this story. Be ready by making sure we take care of sickness and injuries to each others bodies.

All of us will be part of God’s world, that is always the promise. But by living the way Jesus wants us to live, we will not only be ready, we will be helping that world happen.

Sunday Reflection – November 5, 2023

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Do not make yourselves important

Matthew 23 Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:

2 The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law are experts in the Law of Moses. 3 So obey everything they teach you, but don’t do as they do. After all, they say one thing and do something else.

4 They pile heavy burdens on people’s shoulders and won’t lift a finger to help. 5  Everything they do is just to show off in front of others. They even make a big show of wearing Scripture verses on their foreheads and arms, and they wear big tassels for everyone to see. 6 They love the best seats at banquets and the front seats in the synagogues. 7 And when they are in the market, they like to have people greet them as their teachers.

8 But none of you should be called a teacher. You have only one teacher, and all of you are like brothers and sisters. 9 Don’t call anyone on earth your father. All of you have the same Father in heaven. 10 None of you should be called the leader. The Messiah is your only leader. 11  Whoever is the greatest should be the servant of the others. 12  If you put yourself above others, you will be put down. But if you humble yourself, you will be honored.

Kids Korner: Lead differently (Nov. 5th)

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Read Matthew 23:1-12 with your family.

Jesus spent a lot of time telling the pharisees and other temple leaders to do a better job at leading the people. In this passage Jesus turn to the people and tells them to learn from the mistakes of those who are leaders in the temple, and when they are in leadership, remember that they are not more important than anyone else.

Often when someone is giving the chance to be a leader, they like the power more than they like the work. Jesus said focus on the work.

People who only want titles of being the boss or being in charge are never fair to anyone else. They like to stand over others, give orders, and treat people like they are not as important.

Good leaders see people as equal.

Jesus asks us to do even better: Jesus asks everyone who is a leader to see ourselves as servants, that means someone below everyone else in status. Only through serving God and each other can leaders help everyone else.

All Hallowed, All Saints, All Souls

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Those of us in low church traditions are rarely taught about the three days of celebration that takes us from October 31st until November 2nd. We don’t learn about saints or our place in that number. Far too often we are taught to disregard anyone the high church traditions (Roman Catholic, Orthodox, etc) revere, calling it a form of idolatry, or at the very least a reminder that we don’t “worship people”.

As a result we miss out on three days to spend time looking at the women and men who have gone before us in the church, their struggles and successes, their failures and wonderful accomplishments. We miss an opportunity to see how our lives might be similar to someone else who lived long ago, and learn from their experiences.

In fact that instinct to have something more meaningful at this time of year often turns into some kind of anti-Halloween party or festival, which ironically mirrors the intent of the earlier church in the first place: That desire to connect, be seen and find meaning in our lives and the lives of other Christians.

As with all festivals and holy days of the Christian year, Allhallowtide, the name for these three days of All Hallow’s Eve, All Saints and All Souls, is a time of reflection that offers us a chance to refocus our Christian journey. Perhaps we could pick up a book about the saints, or read the writings of one saint in particular. Another idea is to see the church as an international experience as we look for those considered ‘saintly’ around the globe.

And just maybe, it offers us a time for personal reflection as we remember that we too are considered ‘saints’. In the writings of Paul (Philippians 4:21-22), we are assured of that inclusion. By definition a saint is someone who is set apart to do God’s work… which we are all called to do.

Sunday Reflection – October 29, 2023

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Greatest Commandment & Who is the Messiah

Matthew 22 34 After Jesus had made the Sadducees look foolish, the Pharisees heard about it and got together. 35  One of them was an expert in the Jewish Law. So he tried to test Jesus by asking, 36 “Teacher, what is the most important commandment in the Law?”

37  Jesus answered:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. 38 This is the first and most important commandment. 39  The second most important commandment is like this one. And it is, “Love others as much as you love yourself.” 40 All the Law of Moses and the Books of the Prophets are based on these two commandments.

sent some of their followers and some of Herod’s followers to say to him,

41 While the Pharisees were still there, Jesus asked them, 42 “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose family will he come from?”

They answered, “He will be a son of King David.”

43 Jesus replied, “How then could the Spirit lead David to call the Messiah his Lord? David said,

44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord:
    Sit at my right side
until I make your enemies
    into a footstool for you.’

45 If David called the Messiah his Lord, how can the Messiah be a son of King David?” 46 No one was able to give Jesus an answer, and from that day on, no one dared ask him any more questions.

Kids Korner: Loving ourselves (Oct. 29th)

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Read Matthew 22:34-46 with your family.

What does it mean to be a Christian? Jesus answered that one: it means we have to love God above all else and love everyone else like we love ourselves AND we have to love ourselves like we love everyone else.

Often people think there was only two parts to this section of scripture that we call The Greatest Commandment, but there is actually three: God, neighbours and ourselves.

How do we love God? We pray and we do what God has asked us to do to take care of other people.

How do we love our neighbours? We are kind to others, welcome strangers, and help make sure everyone has food to eat and a safe place to live, and all the other things Jesus told us to do for other people.

How doe we love ourselves?

This is something the church doesn’t talk about, instead the church often tells people what is wrong with them and how they have to change. But Jesus never said we had to change who we are, we just have to love everyone. That’s about behaviour not who we are as people.

How we love ourselves is knowing that God made us perfect just the way we are on the inside, and we can make any choice we want to change the outside, so long as it doesn’t hurt us or anyone else. God loves us as we are. Once we love ourselves it is easier to love strangers and people we know.