Sunday Reflection – August 3, 2025

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Earth riches that do not last

Luke 12 13 A man in a crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to give me my share of what our father left us when he died.”

14 Jesus answered, “Who gave me the right to settle arguments between you and your brother?”

15 Then he said to the crowd, “Don’t be greedy! Owning a lot of things won’t make your life safe.”

16 So Jesus told them this story:

A rich man’s farm produced a big crop, 17 and he said to himself, “What can I do? I don’t have a place large enough to store everything.”

18 Later, he said, “Now I know what I’ll do. I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones, where I can store all my grain and other goods. 19  Then I’ll say to myself, ‘You have stored up enough good things to last for years to come. Live it up! Eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.’ ”

20 But God said to him, “You fool! Tonight you will die. Then who will get what you have stored up?”

21 “This is what happens to people who store up everything for themselves, but are poor in the sight of God.”

Kids Korner: Greed (August 3rd)

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Read Luke 12:13-21 with your family.

What does greed look like? Often with children we show that greed is keeping all the cookies or not sharing them equally. But what does it look like in the world?

Greed looks like some people and countries having too much food while other people and countries not having enough.

Greed looks like some people being able to see a doctor and others being told there are no doctors or the doctors are too expensive so they cannot see them.

Greed is all around us. Our television and movies show us that greed is okay, but in God’s world greed is never okay.

There is enough for everyone in this world, we just have to share what we have.

Do we still call ourselves Christian?

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Over the past few years I have seen many people announce on social media that they are no longer calling themselves “Christian” because of who the term has been associated with in movies and in the mainline press. The word “Evangelical” has received similar treatment. Those in the middle and on the progressive edges of society that still hold true to the teachings of Jesus can often be found twisting themselves in knots to get the proper language that both defines as well as differentiates.

We have to stop and reflect on that practice.

Why should we, those who have read the Bible, or the Gospels at least, be the ones to change ourselves and separate ourselves from 2000 years of tradition?

While not all of that history is positive (insert any reference to the Spanish Inquisition and The Crusades here), much of it has been. We have seen the spread of health care and education, minority rights… in fact all the hallmarks of a progressive social democracy can be found in the origins of Christianity. And if we are being historically faithful, even before that with the Hebrew people.

It has been proven over and over again that when good people try to tinker with language or give up our identification, those who are twisting that identification want more. There gets to be a point when we have nothing left to give up.

So before we get to that point this go around, because let’s face it, everything we are seeing today has been done before (spoiler: the fascists always lose in the end), let’s just not. There is no need to give up our words, or give them away to people who want to destroy the positive found in those words.

To be “Christian” is to be a follower of Christ. We can call ourselves that, can’t we?

To be “Evangelical” means to be people who tell the story of the Good News. We are still doing that, aren’t we? In fact that is why this website is called The Barefoot Evangelist.

We should not give up who we are to appease those who do not represent us. We need to use those words and titles even more, proving what they really mean. Words have power.

Sunday Reflection – July 27, 2025

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More than one way to follow Jesus

Luke 11 When Jesus had finished praying, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his followers to pray.”

2 So Jesus told them, “Pray in this way:

‘Father, help us
    to honor your name.
Come and set up
    your kingdom.
3 Give us each day
    the food we need.
4 Forgive our sins,
as we forgive everyone
    who has done wrong to us.
And keep us
    from being tempted.’ ”

5 Then Jesus went on to say:

Suppose one of you goes to a friend in the middle of the night and says, “Let me borrow three loaves of bread. 6 A friend of mine has dropped in, and I don’t have a thing for him to eat.” 7 And suppose your friend answers, “Don’t bother me! The door is bolted, and my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up to give you something.”

8 He may not get up and give you the bread, just because you are his friend. But he will get up and give you as much as you need, simply because you are not ashamed to keep on asking.

9 So I tell you to ask and you will receive, search and you will find, knock and the door will be opened for you. 10 Everyone who asks will receive, everyone who searches will find, and the door will be opened for everyone who knocks. 11 Which one of you fathers would give your hungry child a snake if the child asked for a fish? 12 Which one of you would give your child a scorpion if the child asked for an egg? 13 As bad as you are, you still know how to give good gifts to your children. But your heavenly Father is even more ready to give the Holy Spirit to anyone who asks.

Kids Korner: Prayer (July 27th)

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Read Luke 11:1-13 with your family.

Prayer is something that is supposed to be a regular part of our faith life, but it scares a lot of people.

How do I do it? Does it matter? What if I ask for the wrong thing? What if I make God angry?

I can promise you the last one will never happen. Prayer or asking for something we do not really need will not make God angry.

Prayer is just a conversation. Jesus made it easy for us by telling us that prayer is like being a child and asking a parent for what we need. God will only give us good things.

And if we are in trouble or having a hard time, prayer helps us remember that God is already with us and supporting us. Prayer is for us to get used to talking to God. God already knows what is happening.

Spreading our faith

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I’ve noticed a lot of talk lately about religion being the biggest problem in the world, and about faith routinely being spread through violence. There are ever present memes on social media talking about the brutality of Christianity and how it was spread through force (false, by the way, the only time force was used as a majority “evangelical” practice was during the Age of Exploration when early European and eventually North American missionaries used force and violence against indigenous populations. Not something to be proud of, but we need to put it in historic context).

The thing is faith cannot be spread through force. Fear and faith are not connected in that manner. We cannot threaten people to believe or else.

Several years ago I met a family from Syria, recent arrivals who had been Muslim in Syria for generations. However, as soon as they got to Canada, the girls took off their scarves and started reclaiming their ancient family tradition of being Christian. Several generations later, but the family still remembered who they were originally.

Faith is trust, even in the unknown. And when it comes to spreading our faith, we do it by how we live.

The reason there is such a strong backlash against Christianity in the western world is not that people have lost interest in Jesus, it is that those claiming to be Christian are not living according to Jesus’ teachings.

If we want to spread our faith, ‘make believers of all people’ as the Gospels ask, we cannot force anyone else to do it. We have to live it and give others the space to be curious. Then when they ask questions, that is the time to talk about what we believe and why.

Sunday Reflection – July 20, 2025

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More than one way to follow Jesus

Luke 10 38  The Lord and his disciples were traveling along and came to a village. When they got there, a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat down in front of the Lord and was listening to what he said. 40 Martha was worried about all that had to be done. Finally, she went to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it bother you that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to come and help me!”

41 The Lord answered, “Martha, Martha! You are worried and upset about so many things, 42 but only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen what is best, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Kids Korner: More than one way to follow Jesus (July 20th)

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Read Luke 10:38-42 with your family.

When Jesus asked his believers to follow him and go out into the world to make believers of others, he was not talking only to men or only to the named twelve apostles. Jesus asked women to spread his message as well.

Two of those women were Martha and Mary. Martha had a house church and stayed home. Mary was a travelling teacher.

Unfortunately, too many people decided the argument between Mary and Martha was about working in the kitchen and taking care of the housecleaning, because they did not accept that women were called by Jesus too.

But women were called too.

Jesus told Martha she was getting upset about things that did not matter like making sure all the chairs were out for when people gathered. But Jesus reminded her that all that mattered was learning and praying and taking care of people and being together in community.

Sunday Reflection – July 13, 2025

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Being the helper

Luke 10 25  An expert in the Law of Moses stood up and asked Jesus a question to see what he would say. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to have eternal life?”

26 Jesus answered, “What is written in the Scriptures? How do you understand them?”

27  The man replied, “The Scriptures say, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind.’ They also say, ‘Love your neighbors as much as you love yourself.’ ”

28  Jesus said, “You have given the right answer. If you do this, you will have eternal life.”

29 But the man wanted to show that he knew what he was talking about. So he asked Jesus, “Who are my neighbors?”

30 Jesus replied:

As a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, robbers attacked him and grabbed everything he had. They beat him up and ran off, leaving him half dead.

31 A priest happened to be going down the same road. But when he saw the man, he walked by on the other side. 32 Later a temple helper came to the same place. But when he saw the man who had been beaten up, he also went by on the other side.

33  A man from Samaria then came traveling along that road. When he saw the man, he felt sorry for him 34 and went over to him. He treated his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put him on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. 35 The next morning he gave the innkeeper two silver coins and said, “Please take care of the man. If you spend more than this on him, I will pay you when I return.”

36 Then Jesus asked, “Which one of these three people was a real neighbor to the man who was beaten up by robbers?”

37 The expert in the Law of Moses answered, “The one who showed pity.”

Jesus said, “Go and do the same!”