D-V's Desk

          “Don’t think I’ve come to make life cozy.   I’ve come to cut—make a sharp knife-cut between son and father, daughter and mother, bride and mother-in-law—cut through these cozy domestic arrangements and free you for God.   Well-meaning family members can be your worst enemies.   If you prefer father or mother over me, you don’t deserve me.   If you prefer son or daughter over me, you don’t deserve me.”                                     Matthew 10:34-37 (MSG)             Jesus’ words seem harsh.   Especially on a day like today.   A day when we celebrate the fathers and those who have been father-like to us.   After all, many of us first come to know love in our families. ...

  Jesus never says that following Him is easy.   In fact, time after time, Jesus says that following Him is hard, demanding, and not for the faint of heart.   “If any want to follow me,” Jesus says, “they must take up their cross and follow me.”   This morning, in our Gospel lesson, Jesus calls His first followers and gives them this advice: 9-10  “Don’t think you have to put on a fund-raising campaign before you start.   You don’t need a lot of equipment.   You are the equipment, and all you need to keep that going is three meals a day.   Travel light. 11  “When you enter a town or village, don’t insist on staying in a luxury inn.   Get a modest place with some modest people, and be content there until you leave. 12-15  “When you knock on a door, be courteous in your greeting.   If they welcome you, be gentle in your conversation.   If they don’t welcome you, quietly withdraw.   Don’t make a scene.   ...

St. Augustine once wrote that God is best understood as a community of love.   God exists as a relationship of love between God’s Self, God the Son (Jesus), and God’s Holy Spirit.   There is so much love within the Triune God, that the love overflows beyond the Trinity into creation.   You see, love always seeks an object. And so, in lavish love, God calls forth creation: “sun, moon, and stars; earth, winds, and waters; and every living thing” (EP 2, EOW; cf. Genesis 1) .   Finally, God calls forth human beings as bearers of God’s image.   Man and woman created equally.   Male and female both made with God’s capacity to love and to be loved. In that same love, you and I are sent into the world.   To share that abundant love with those we encounter day in and day out (Matthew 28:18-20) .   So that they, too, can come to know God’s love.   I have said this before, but it bears repeating.   You and I might be the only Bible someone rea...

  “I am the Church! You are the Church! We are the Church Together. All who follow Jesus, All around the world. Yes, we’re the Church together!” I can’t help but think of this refrain every Pentecost.   The song is a hymn from my days as a United Methodist.   A pastor even showed us hand gestures to go with the words.   Richard Avery’s hymn reminds us that the church is not about a building.   The church is about you and me, God’s people, coming together. In its original context, Pentecost was a harvest festival.   Fifty days after the Passover, the people are called to bring the first fruits of their harvest and dedicate them to God.   Those fifty days are where we get Pentecost; pente meaning fifty and cost meaning days.   Leviticus 23 commands God’s people: “Count seven full weeks from the morning after the Sabbath when you brought the sheaf as a Wave-Offering, fifty days until the morning of the seventh Sabbath.   Then pre...

  I once heard a story about a United Methodist Church.   One day the congregation decided to split.   “What was the issue?” I hear you ask.   Was it liturgical reform?   Was it women clergy?   No.   The disagreement was the number of slices into which pies should be cut. Now, the number of slices in which to cut a pie seems like a rather petty dispute.   Sure, some get a slightly bigger piece of pie.   Does it really matter if one gets 6 or 8 slices out of a pie at a church potluck?   No, it does not matter in the eternal realm of things. Jesus, in His “high priestly prayer,” prays for His followers to have unity.   To be one as Jesus and the Father are one.   To be one as Jesus is one with us.   Here, Jesus does not mean conformity.   I have said before, unity does not equal conformity. Jesus is not talking about everyone having the same beliefs.   You poll twenty Christians and you will get at least twen...

  Jesus reminds me of a teacher just before finals.   Jesus is trying hard to remind His friends of what is important.   What they’ll need to know for after Jesus is gone.   This is not the first time that Maundy Thursday evening that Jesus has reminded them of the importance of love.   Earlier, just after washing their feet, Jesus says: “Let me give you a new command: Love one another.   In the same way I loved you, you love one another.   This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.” (John 13:34-35; MSG)   Now, after supper in an extended teaching moment, Jesus tells His friends: “If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. . . The person who knows my commandments and keeps them, that’s who loves me” (vs. 15, 21).   This begs the question of what Jesus means.   Just what are Jesus’ commandments? In Mark chapter 12 , we read the two great commandments ar...