Discipleship

Sunday Reflection – September 7, 2025

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The Cost of Discipleship

Luke 14 25 Large crowds were walking along with Jesus, when he turned and said:

26  You cannot be my disciple, unless you love me more than you love your father and mother, your wife and children, and your brothers and sisters. You cannot follow me unless you love me more than you love your own life.

27  You cannot be my disciple unless you carry your own cross and follow me.

28 Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. What is the first thing you will do? Won’t you sit down and figure out how much it will cost and if you have enough money to pay for it? 29 Otherwise, you will start building the tower, but not be able to finish. Then everyone who sees what is happening will laugh at you. 30 They will say, “You started building, but could not finish the job.”

31 What will a king do if he has only 10,000 soldiers to defend himself against a king who is about to attack him with 20,000 soldiers? Before he goes out to battle, won’t he first sit down and decide if he can win? 32 If he thinks he won’t be able to defend himself, he will send messengers and ask for peace while the other king is still a long way off. 33 So then, you cannot be my disciple unless you give away everything you own.

Kids Korner: Preparing to follow Jesus (September 7th)

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Read Luke 14:25-33 with your family.

We spend a lot of time talking about God’s call to help people who need our help and what we can do to help them. But we do not spend as much time talking about our plan for how to help, and what we need to have with us in order to help others.

In our story today Jesus was talking about the ‘cost of discipleship’ – how to know if we are prepared to get into the middle of something difficult so we can make a difference, or if we should find other ways to help solve the problem.

Jesus used examples that we would understand today, building a house and going to war. Neither of those are things we start without making sure we have what we need. We do not send people to war without a lot of equipment, and building a home or a tower takes a lot of bricks.

He also tells us that our family might not understand how important this is to us, and that’s okay. Sometimes following Jesus means making choices that are different from our friends and those we love.

Sunday Reflection – October 20, 2024

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To sit beside Jesus in glory

Mark 10 32 The disciples were confused as Jesus led them toward Jerusalem, and his other followers were afraid. Once again, Jesus took the twelve disciples aside and told them what was going to happen to him. He said:

33 We are now on our way to Jerusalem where the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses. They will sentence him to death and hand him over to foreigners, 34 who will make fun of him and spit on him. They will beat him and kill him. But three days later he will rise to life.

35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, will you do us a favor?”

36 Jesus asked them what they wanted, 37 and they answered, “When you come into your glory, please let one of us sit at your right side and the other at your left.”

38  Jesus told them, “You don’t really know what you’re asking! Are you able to drink from the cup that I must soon drink from or be baptized as I must be baptized?”

39 “Yes, we are!” James and John answered.

Then Jesus replied, “You certainly will drink from the cup from which I must drink. And you will be baptized just as I must! 40 But it isn’t for me to say who will sit at my right side and at my left. This is for God to decide.”

41 When the ten other disciples heard this, they were angry with James and John. 42  But Jesus called the disciples together and said:

You know that those foreigners who call themselves kings like to order their people around. And their great leaders have full power over the people they rule. 43  But don’t act like them. If you want to be great, you must be the servant of all the others. 44 And if you want to be first, you must be everyone’s slave. 45  The Son of Man did not come to be a slave master, but a slave who will give his life to rescue many people.

Following Jesus but not attending church

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Almost everywhere I preach I’m asked the same question – do I think the church will survive.

That is a loaded question that needs to be looked at from a lot of different angles. What is church? Are we talking something like Jesus’ early followers or are we talking about modern institutions? Are we talking about a lifestyle or are we talking about a faith statement? Does denominational affiliation come into the question? Orthodox traditions date themselves back 2000 years while most Pentecostal and Non-denominational groups only 100. Is that what we think about when we use the word ‘church’?

Regardless, my answer is always the same: Our institutions? Probably not, at least not as they are now or as they used to be in the heyday following World War II.

But our faith? The lifestyle of Jesus followers? The drive for Christ-demonstrated equity and justice? Absolutely. That will go on.

There is both an inherent arrogance and a significant lack of social historical knowledge behind the question of whether the church will survive. For over two millennia people who call themselves Christian, or who have at least tried to live their lives as Jesus asked us to do, have faced hardships. Many times throughout history the church has not been the most popular place in the culture. We have experienced doubts and departures before. We are not unique in watching church buildings become empty.

Every 500 years the church goes through a crisis and emerges as something new. We are living in that time of transition.

And yet Christianity is strong. It might not call itself that, but it can be seen in society’s demanding equal rights for minorities and abused people. We can see the call of Jesus in our social disgust at the high food costs and the inability of people to find affordable homes. We hear it in the stories of indigenous peoples who are finally getting a platform to speak from their culture. We witness it in younger generations who are using social media to connect and create social change. We find it in the anger that is leading people to organize and strike for better pay in an economy that only rewards the rich. We feel it in the desperation of people who don’t have universal health care and those who fear their universal health care will be taken away.

The followers of Jesus are everywhere.

But they are probably not sitting inside a building.

Sunday Reflection – September 24, 2023

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Workers in the vineyard

Matthew 18 As Jesus was telling what the kingdom of heaven would be like, he said:

Early one morning a man went out to hire some workers for his vineyard. 2 After he had agreed to pay them the usual amount for a day’s work, he sent them off to his vineyard.

3 About nine that morning, the man saw some other people standing in the market with nothing to do. 4 He promised to pay them what was fair, if they would work in his vineyard. 5 So they went.

At noon and again about three in the afternoon he returned to the market. And each time he made the same agreement with others who were loafing around with nothing to do.

6 Finally, about five in the afternoon the man went back and found some others standing there. He asked them, “Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?”

7 “Because no one has hired us,” they answered. Then he told them to go work in his vineyard.

8  That evening the owner of the vineyard told the man in charge of the workers to call them in and give them their money. He also told the man to begin with the ones who were hired last. 9 When the workers arrived, the ones who had been hired at five in the afternoon were given a full day’s pay.

10 The workers who had been hired first thought they would be given more than the others. But when they were given the same, 11 they began complaining to the owner of the vineyard. 12 They said, “The ones who were hired last worked for only one hour. But you paid them the same that you did us. And we worked in the hot sun all day long!”

13 The owner answered one of them, “Friend, I didn’t cheat you. I paid you exactly what we agreed on. 14 Take your money now and go! What business is it of yours if I want to pay them the same that I paid you? 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Why should you be jealous, if I want to be generous?”

16  Jesus then said, “So it is. Everyone who is now last will be first, and everyone who is first will be last.”

Kids Korner: Everyone treated equally (Sept 24th)

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Read Matthew 20:1-16 with your family.

The workers who had been in the field since dawn had a point – why should those who showed up only an hour ago get the same pay? If they only spent one tenth of the time we did, then we should get paid ten times more. Right?

That makes sense in our world. And it probably made sense in the world where Jesus grew up. However, Jesus was trying to teach people a different way of thinking about God’s world.

Jesus knew that those who only worked for one hour were just as important. They deserved to be valued too. It wasn’t their fault that they weren’t picked first.

We have to change our understanding of who is important and start seeing people the way God sees people – as everyone matters and everyone is equally loved.

That is the most important lesson that Jesus ever taught.

Sunday Reflection – July 2, 2023

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Repeat of reflection posted June 27, 2020

Finding Kindness and Hospitality

Matthew 10 40  Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me. And anyone who welcomes me also welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Anyone who welcomes a prophet, just because that person is a prophet, will be given the same reward as a prophet. Anyone who welcomes a good person, just because that person is good, will be given the same reward as a good person. 42 And anyone who gives one of my most humble followers a cup of cool water, just because that person is my follower, will be rewarded.

Kids Korner: Welcome in God’s name (July 2nd)

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Read Matthew 10:40-42 with your family.

Over the last few weeks we have followed Jesus telling his people and those who were about to be sent out that they would face challenges and hardships. In today’s story Jesus reassures them that good things will happen too. They will find people to help them. They will find homes that want to give them food and a place to sleep. They will find people wanting to know about God’s love.

And Jesus promises that anyone who shows hospitality to anyone will also be recognized by God.

Sunday Reflection – June 25, 2023

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Mission is not easy, but don’t be afraid

Matthew 10 24  Students are not better than their teacher, and slaves are not better than their master. 25  It is enough for students to be like their teacher and for slaves to be like their master. If people call the head of the family Satan, what will they say about the rest of the family?

26  Don’t be afraid of anyone! Everything is hidden will be found out, and every secret will be known. 27 Whatever I say to you in the dark, you must tell in the light. And you must announce from the housetops whatever I have whispered to you. 28  Don’t be afraid of people. They can kill you, but they cannot harm your soul. Instead, you should fear God who can destroy both your body and your soul in hell. 29 Aren’t two sparrows sold for only a penny? But your Father knows when any one of them falls to the ground. 30 Even the hairs on your head are counted. 31 So don’t be afraid! You are worth much more than many sparrows.

32 If you tell others you belong to me, I will tell my Father in heaven you are my followers. 33  But if you reject me, I will tell my Father in heaven you don’t belong to me.

34 Don’t think I came to bring peace to the earth! I came to bring trouble, not peace. 35  I came to turn sons against their fathers, daughters against their mothers, and daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law. 36 Your worst enemies will be in your own family.

37  If you love your father or mother or even your sons and daughters more than me, you are not fit to be my disciples. 38  And unless you are willing to take up your cross and follow me, you are not fit to be my disciples. 39 If you try to save your life, you will lose it. But if you give it up for me, you will surely find it.

Kids Korner: Jesus reassures his disciples (June 25th)

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Read Matthew 10:24-39 with your family.

Jesus knew from personal experience that not everyone was interested in hearing his message of love and inclusion, and he did not want the disciples to think it would be easy. He knew the message would change lives and sometimes that meant family members who believed in Jesus and family members who didn’t would probably argue about it.

It would be nice to live in a world where everyone accepted each other and was kind to each other, sharing everything that they needed, but Jesus knew that was not the world that most people experienced. However, that was exactly the world Jesus wanted to create with the help of his followers.

We have to live the new life as a promise even though we live in a world where hate and fear divides us. Jesus’ message and actions show us how we can help make the world better.