Ministry in Motion

Do you make a New Year’s resolution?    I not very good at keeping resolutions;  I've tried and failed, miserably. Resolutions this time of year tend to “activate hope and expectations for what we hope to achieve going forward. With a new year comes a sense of renewal," says psychologist Mariana Strongin, PsyD. Just last week while singing Christmas carols, I poorly sang:  🎶 O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie; Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by. Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light; The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight 🎶 As I consider the new year and the faith I profess, I pray: Lord I am prone to be forgetful. May your ever present Spirit remind me, yet once again, that my hope rests in You; that my fears are extinguished by your presence and your unfailing love.  May it be so, I pray… Amen   #pkes      #MinM

The claim—God has become flesh—is so radical that it is virtually unthinkable and illogical. Christianity is the most radical of all world religions because it takes matter seriously as the home of divinity. —Ilia Delio   #pkes       #MinM

The  l yrics of the classic Christmas song  O   Holy   Night , express the joy and gratitude of the birth of Jesus Christ, the King of Kings. You can almost hear the angels' voices singing: [Verse 1] O Holy Night The stars are brightly shining It is the night of our dear Savior's birth Long lay the world in sin and error pining 'Til He appears and the soul felt its worth A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn Fall on your knees; O hear the Angel voices! O night divine, O night when Christ was born O night, O Holy night, O night divine! [Verse 3] Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is love and His Gospel is Peace Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother And in His name, all oppression shall cease Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we Let all within us Praise His Holy name Christ is the Lord; O praise His name forever! His power and glory evermore proclaim His power and glory evermore proclaim. O Hol

When we speak of Advent or preparing for Christmas, we’re not just talking about waiting for the little baby Jesus to be born. That already happened two thousand years ago. In fact, we’re welcoming the Universal Christ, the Cosmic Christ, the Christ that is forever being born (incarnating) in the human soul and into history. ~ Richard Rohr #pkes      #MinM

Before we can fully appreciate the joy of Christmas, it’s important we try to remember and enter into the longing, waiting, aching of Israel - starving for a Savior, the Messiah.   Advent, it has a historical significance. It’s also filled with joyful anticipation, for us, today. It’s about waiting for the fulfillment of our heart’s desire. It’s about being ready to be blown away by the beauty and awe of the announcement: “unto us in borne this day … a savior, who is Christ the Lord” “And the government will be upon His shoulder.  And His name will be called  Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Peace be with you...#pkes

Advent, the four-week season of anticipation that guides us into the celebration of Christmas.   “Advent teaches patience in a white noise, highly charged culture. Patience is not simply the ability to wait - it's how we behave while we're waiting.” ~ J Meyers Waiting during Advent. Waiting is not doing anything. Advent   waiting is slow, deliberate, intentional. Advent waiting is contemplative, reflective enough to discern what God is doing.   Unless we intentionally cultivate some contemplative slowness in our soul, it doesn't matter if God acts, because we'll most likely fail to recognize what God is doing.   We can almost say that God seldom arrives until we wait.   And so we sit. Come long expected Messiah;  come Lord Jesus come…#pkes

#Boo In the USA 25%    of all annual candy sales occur during the Halloween season. Halloween, by some accounts, is a 9 billion dollar affair. What makes Halloween so popular? Perhaps it's the novelty of ‘trick to treat’ or the clever costumes or … maybe it’s just the free candy.   The conversations surrounding the celebration of Halloween continue to be a hot topic in Christian circles.    I’ve heard the debates.  Is Halloween harmless fun or something dark, evil and sinister?  Do the rhythms of Halloween in 2022 fit in a post-pandemic world? How does the day mesh with our understanding of the Christian faith?  Paul’s writing to the Philippines reminds us to focus on those things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, etc.  (Philippians 4:8) .  So maybe families of faith should avoid Halloween. There are some dark and creepy things associated with Halloween. Understood. O ther Christians say God is not offended by carving a happy face in a pumpkin or giving candy to

Was Jesus killed?  Was Jesus murdered?  Why was he put to death put to death like he was?  Why was he tortured?  Why a crucifixion? I see these questions as an unusual mix of both the beautiful and the grotesque.    One theory I've heard floated that the killing of Jesus includes that the God of love demanded a blood sacrifice, PSA.    Would that make God a moral monster — punishing the innocent in order to forgive the guilty? Who do you think killed Jesus? The Romans?  The Jewish political elected and elite? The Demand for Justice? Maybe you and I by proxy  all those people who preceded us and those who come after us  - t he collective us?   #pkes      #MinM

Why did the Pharisees hate Jesus so much?   The Pharisees were a religious sect that opposed Jesus because they wanted to maintain their own power.   I've concluded that Jesus’ radical and revolutionary approach to ministry ruffled the the geopolitical and religious feathers of the day.  The Pharisees we’re worried about their religious ideologies being challenged.  The Roman occupiers were interested in keeping the Jews quiet and submissive, that n othing good could come from the miracle workers growing popularity.  Jesus wasn’t interested in approval or power,  as were the Romans and Pharisees.  Jesus questioned the way the Pharisees were living and instead taught a higher law, inviting all to come unto Him. He was  on an inevitable collision course with the Pharisees and Sadducees.  He  was always merciful toward the tax collectors and harlots who came to Him;   He was their friend.  This irked the religious leaders of Jesus' day.  Jesus was always a bit more harsh with the

T hree Parables of Jesus and each in the gospel of Luke. A Trio of Parables —  A Lost Stuff. In these stories Jesus shares three illustrations. He told these sermons after the Pharisees and scribes criticized Him for associating with sinners who had come to hear Him. These stories are back to back to back and similarly themed.   For some reason the Prodigal Son usually gets told as a stand alone story, and with merit, but it’s still one of the triplets. The Parable of the Lost Sheep,  The Parable of the Lost Coin and  The Parable of the Lost Son,  three things happen: Something is lost;  t he loss leads to a search,  and finding  brings celebration and rejoicing. The parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the lost coin are basically the same story.   Each begins similarly: Suppose one of you … In each, something is lost, searched out, and found. Both parables include similar language towards the conclusion: “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost — sheep or coin. Jesus is making a

Jesus’ parables utilized story to produce the spiritual lesson or lessons.   Were as a proverb, metaphor, simile, or figure of speech centers usually on a word, phrase or sentence.   Of Jesus’ parables experts count about 30 parables recorded in the  Synoptic Gospels  Matthew, Mark and Luke.   Curiously the Gospel of John has none.  Some of Jesus more notable stories in parable form include:  Barren Fig Tree;  Budding Fig Tree; The Speck and The Log ;  Counting the Cost;  Faithful Servant;  Friend at Night and the  Good Samaritan.  Others recorded include:  Good Shepherd;  Grain of Wheat;  Great Banquet;  Growing Seed;  Rich man and Lazarus ;  Sheep and Goats ; The  Sower ;  Mustard Seed;  The Wise and Foolish Builders  and  New Wine into Old Wineskins. It hard to write about the parables and stories of Jesus without mentioning the trio of "Lost Things" :   Lost Coin;  Lost Sheep and The  Prodigal Son. Some of Jesus stories might make us scratch our head as we await the truth

The Parable of The Unjust Steward or Manager Jesus' parable of the unjust manager is one of the most striking in all the Gospels.   According to commentators, the parable is about an agent who, knowing he is about to be fired, asks the debtors to pay up. Obviously, it would be pressing the parable beyond the point of comparison to interpret it as a story about dishonest business practices.    But what’s the point of the parable? It seem so unlike other stories Jesus shared. Jesus told this story in early 30 A.D.   before his arrest  and crucifixion.  The primary audience for the Unjust Steward Parable is Jesus' disciples (Luke 16:1).   Luke’s writing says so:  Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions…. But there’s additional audience members noted at the end of the story.  While it’s a fairly simple story, it’s also a somewhat unorthodox, parable from Jesus.   In most of Jesus’ parables, the protagonist is either repre

… picture the kingdom of heaven this way:  It will be like ten bridesmaids who each picked up a lantern  and went out to meet a certain bridegroom.  The Parable of the Ten Virgins, also known as the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins or the Parable of the ten bridesmaids is    a parable of Jesus, and it maybe a    little more tricky for us, the 2023 reader, to understand. The first-century Jewish audience Jesus was talking to would have been familiar with these wedding customs of the day. But we’re 2,000 years removed from the context of this story.   The historical setting for this story can be shared   with a fair amount of certainty.   In describing a first-century Jewish wedding,   the backdrop was much like this:   Normally the bridegroom with some close friends left his home to go to the bride’s home,   where there were various ceremonies, followed by a procession through the streets – after nightfall – to his home.   The ten virgins of this story may be bridesmaids who have