Humility

Sunday Reflection – October 23, 2022

/ thebarefootevangelist / Leave a comment

 

Finding Humility

Luke 18 9 Jesus told this parable to certain people who had convinced themselves that they were righteous and who looked on everyone else with disgust:10 “Two people went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself with these words, ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like everyone else—crooks, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week. I give a tenth of everything I receive.’ 13 But the tax collector stood at a distance. He wouldn’t even lift his eyes to look toward heaven. Rather, he struck his chest and said, ‘God, show mercy to me, a sinner.’ 14 I tell you, this person went down to his home justified rather than the Pharisee. All who lift themselves up will be brought low, and those who make themselves low will be lifted up.”

Performed by Margaret Whisselle

Kids Korner: Honesty & Humility (October 23rd)

/ thebarefootevangelist / Leave a comment

Read Luke 18:9-14 with your family.

The Gospel of Luke doesn’t like Pharisees very much. The writer thought them too full of themselves and too focused on the rules. Jesus, on the other hand, showed people that rules were not very important. The important thing was how we live.

Today’s reading from Luke shows Jesus telling a story about two men, a Pharisee who believed he was doing everything that God wanted and as a result thought he was better than anyone else, and a tax collector who knew he wasn’t showing God’s love and honesty to the world and as a result thought he was worse than anyone else.

Jesus knew both men were loved by God and that was enough, but the men didn’t realize that. Jesus didn’t tell his disciples one was better than the other, just that when we think too much of ourselves, we are not the people God wants us to be. However, when we come to God showing we are ready to serve God knowing we do things we shouldn’t and have to improve ourselves, that attitude will be recognized by God.

Sunday Reflection – August 28, 2022

/ thebarefootevangelist / Leave a comment

 

How To Be A Guest and Host A Party

Luke 14 One Sabbath, Jesus was having dinner in the home of an important Pharisee, and everyone was carefully watching Jesus.

7 Jesus saw how the guests had tried to take the best seats. So he told them:

8  When you are invited to a wedding feast, don’t sit in the best place. Someone more important may have been invited. 9 Then the one who invited you will come and say, “Give your place to this other guest!” You will be embarrassed and will have to sit in the worst place.

10 When you are invited to be a guest, go and sit in the worst place. Then the one who invited you may come and say, “My friend, take a better seat!” You will then be honored in front of all the other guests. 11  If you put yourself above others, you will be put down. But if you humble yourself, you will be honored.

12 Then Jesus said to the man who had invited him:

When you give a dinner or a banquet, don’t invite your friends and family and relatives and rich neighbors. If you do, they will invite you in return, and you will be paid back. 13 When you give a feast, invite the poor, the paralyzed, the lame, and the blind. 14 They cannot pay you back. But God will bless you and reward you when his people rise from death.

Performed by Margaret Whisselle

Kids Korner: Be humble and generous (August 28th)

/ thebarefootevangelist / Leave a comment

Read Luke 14:1, 7-14 with your family.

Jesus had dinner with all sorts of people, and in today’s story he was having dinner with a pharisee, that means someone who spent their time studying the Hebrew Scriptures, and often taught other people what God expected of them.

Jesus taught two lessons. The first was basic social behaviour when you are a guest: Make sure you take a further seat from the head of the table and if the host wants you to sit somewhere else, let the host make that decision. You don’t want to be embarrassed by the host coming to you and telling you to move to a seat further away from the head of the table because he wants to give the closer seat to someone else.

The second lesson was the lesson about God: When you are the host, invite people who are usually forgotten by most people. Invite the poor, the sick, the disabled, the people who can’t host a dinner party in return. They are the ones God wants us to pay special attention too. This is how God treats us. At God’s banquet everyone is invited and none of us have the ability to show God the same level of gift giving that God shows us.