Preachrblog

Cain and Abel The oldest story of sibling rivalry.   The first murder.   A study in contrasts between acceptable and unacceptable worship.   And, finally, another striking glimpse of God’s mercy for the sinner.   The account of Cain and Abel this morning gives us much to consider. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.   Adam and Eve’s firstborn son, Cain, became a farmer like his father.   Only it soon becomes clear that Cain also inherits the sin of his father.   Here we learn the first lesson from this passage – that we are sinners. That we, too, inherit sin from our fathers.   When Adam fell into sin, all his future children were also doomed, like Cain, to suffer the same corruption.   And how quickly the sin goes from simply eating a forbidden fruit – to premeditated murder.    We often like to think we are better than previous generations – more enlightened, more civilized, perhaps even with better morality.   But no...

  One of my little areas of interest within the broader subject of Theology is the way the Bible, and especially Jesus, uses humor.   I think we have an example of that today, with the parable of the persistent widow.   Now, of course, Jesus is no stand-up comedian.   And his humor always serves the purpose of teaching.   So, today, as Luke tells us, the purpose of the parable is this:   that his disciples should always pray and not lose heart.   So too, for us. Take this persistent widow.   We might fill in the gaps of the story a bit with our imagination.   Jesus says she’s seeking justice from her adversary.   But he doesn’t say what exactly the matter is.   Surely, it must have been something that seemed of no consequence to the high and mighty people of the world.   The concerns of a widow are lowly, like the widow herself.   Scraping by on a day-to-day basis, begging perhaps and relying on the kindness of strange...

  Let us focus on the third paragraph from our Gospel reading today, in which Jesus says,   “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’?   Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’?   Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’ ” In our house we have a little saying, “The Lawn Looks Nice”.   It’s one of those family inside jokes I guess.   I suppose one too many times someone who mows the lawn went fishing for a compliment or something.   And now it’s become a catch-all response when someone goes looking for a pat on the back.   Any sort of, “Hey, didn’t I do a good job at that?”, really. ...