It may seem strange we have this Gospel today for the Festival of Christ the King. The Second Lesson seems to be more on target, that Christ is "the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation," that "in him all things hold together," that he is "the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent." But this story? From Good Friday - about a loser? The object of ...
2. For Lovers, Duty Is Only Natural
Luke 17:5-10
Illustration
Alvin Rueter
Ask any parent who gets up at 2:00 a.m. and then at 3:00 a.m. and then at 3:30 a.m. to answer the cry of a sick baby. Lovers never ask, "What’s the least I can do?"
Ask any man whose income is so limited that after he pays his rent and buys his groceries he has only pennies to spare. But his sweetheart has a birthday the next month and he has his eye on something that means he’ll have to go witho...
I saw a cartoon once showing a man sweating and grunting, carrying a whole church on his back. Can you identify with that? It seems as though the demands of church membership are pretty heavy, aren’t they? Always asking us for money - if not to repair the roof, then for missions or for hunger. If we complain we don’t have anything to spare, then we’re told we should eat a bit less and give the dif...
