My Blog

Tag: Matthew 13

  • Sometimes it’s the little things…

    Cicada5I was outside in the garden this morning and noticed a familiar sound,  that of cicadas. Like many of you, I grew up hearing the sound of cicadas in the trees of my yard. Perhaps it is because I became accustomed to that sound at an early age, but I find it both familiar and comforting. However, this is not the case with some people.

    An American pastor was traveling to England on an ocean liner a few years after the Second World War. He and an Englishman struck up a conversation. The pastor learned that the Englishman had lived in London during the war and experienced the terror of Nazi air raids. After the war, he moved to Missouri but was now returning home. He liked living in America but was returning to England because the sound of cicadas was driving him mad. Here was a man who had lived through the horrors of war, air raid sirens, bomb shelters, children running for their lives, and exploding bombs in London, but he was unable to live with the sound of a bug.

    Sometimes it’s the little things that get to us, isn’t it? We often find strength to rise above the big things – a major illness, the death of a loved one, financial woes, loss of a job. But some little things try our patience – a shoelace that won’t stay tied, some grammatical error, a musical selection, a splinter in a finger, someone else’s annoying habit.

    In the Parables of the Kingdom (Matthew 13:31-52), Jesus reminds us to pay attention to the little things – a coin, a pearl, a weed, a widow, an orphan, a hurt. If we are alert and receptive, we may recognize the hand of God at work in the unexpected places and experiences, even the ones that annoy us. God's reign also extends to those places.

    The writer of Proverbs also gives us a word of wisdom in dealing with small things:

    Four things on earth are small, yet they are exceedingly wise: the ants are a people without strength, yet they provide their food in the summer; the badgers are a people without power, yet they make their homes in the rocks; the locusts have no king, yet all of them march in rank; the lizard can be grasped in the hand, yet it is found in kings’ palaces. (Proverbs 30:24-28)

    May God give us grace to remain spiritually grounded and alert to the divine presence, especially when some little thing has claimed our attention!

    Blessings,

    Ron Short Blue Sig Cropped

     

     

     

     

    The Very Reverend Ron Pogue
    Interim Rector
    St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church
    Keller, Texas

    P.S. – Here's a fascinating video about the life cycle of the 17-year cicada. I've never seen them in such numbers. The Englishman probably did and that's what got to him. Don't watch it if you are seriously bothered by bugs.

     

  • Looking for God Too High Up and Too Far Away

    The play "Inherit the Wind" is a dramatic account of the 1925 Dayton, Tennessee trial of John Thomas Scopes, a schoolteacher who taught the theory of evolution in defiance of a state law prohibiting the teaching of any doctrine contrary to the Bible. The prosecutor was William Jennings Bryan. The defense attorney was Clarence Darrow. Bryan won the "The Monkey Trial," and Scopes was fined $100. Several days after the trial ended, Bryan died. In the play, the character representing reporter H.L. Mencken, after hearing of Bryan's death, says to Darrow, "Why should we weep for him? You know that he was-a Barnum-bunkum Bible-beating blowhard." To an agnostic Mencken, Darrow says of Bryan, "A giant once lived in that body. But the man got lost – lost because he was looking for God too high up and too far away."

    In the 13th chapter of Matthew, we find Jesus in the midst of his Galilean ministry. Jesus had previously employed comparative and figurative analogies, but at this point Jesus chooses to teach in parables.  James A. Fowler provides an interesting explanation of parables:

    The Greek word for "parable" is derived from two other Greek words, para meaning "beside" and ballo meaning "to throw." Literally, then, a parable is an illustrative story that is "thrown alongside" or "placed side by side" a similar or comparative concept. A parable brings parallel ideas together by drawing a figurative word-picture to illustrate a particular thought. It is often a thought-provoking analogy that leaves the mind of the listener in sufficient doubt as to its application that it stimulates further consideration thereof … This enigmatic nature of a parable allows the story to function as a pictorial ponderable, which leaves an image on one's mind to be considered again and again. As such, the Biblical parables grate against dogmatism and the fundamentalistic desire to have everything figured out and nailed down in precision of under-standing. When attempting to interpret Jesus' parables the issue is not so much whether we "get it" figured out, as whether Jesus "gets to us" by planting a glimmer of His divine perspective of spiritual realities. The parable serves as a dum-dum bullet shot into our brain, which then explodes and begins to color our thinking in accord with the "mind of Christ." (Parables of the Kingdom, James A Fowler, 1996)

    The parables of the kingdom, which we will be reading on the next four Sundays, challenge us to look beyond the obvious in our search for the realm where Jesus reigns and into which he invites us to live abundantly. We can get lost in our search by looking for God “too high up and too far away.” God’s realm, as Luke tells us, is to be found within and between us – close in, as near as heartbeat and breath and hands touching. Jesus’ parables call us to look at things in a new way and discover the abundant life we’ve been looking for all along right under our noses, even in the weeds and the dark corners where we'd rather not look.

    Blessings,

    Ron Short Blue Sig Cropped

     

     

     

     

    The Very Rev'd Ron Pogue
    Interim Rector
    St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church
    Keller, Texas

    P.S.  Enjoy this recording of the Cambridge Singers performing John Rutter's setting of Psalm 119:18-24, "Open Thou Mine Eyes."

     

  • Strategies for Summertime Spirituality

    The month of May is almost over.  Memorial Day signals opening of swimming pools, buzz cuts for boys, weekday outings to museums and zoos, homemade ice cream, watermelon season, an upswing in agricultural enterprises, and the beginning of summer vacations.  We also start the summer slump in churches across America, with a decline in attendance and anxious messages from church treasurers about cash flow because offerings go down when the people are not there.

    Our culture has declared how things are supposed to work between Memorial Day and Labor Day and that’s that.  The Church tends to conform to the culture.  Whatever happens during the rest of the year, in the summer, we are both in and of the world.

    On several occasions, I have tried to counteract the summer slump and had little success.  Call me a die hard, but I’m going to try again.  Any success at all is better than none when it comes to reminding God’s Holy People what our relationship with the world is supposed to be.  

    St. Paul put it this way, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).  Jesus called his followers to be light and salt and leaven in the world (Matthew 5 and 13).  Light, salt, and leaven are agents of transformation – light dispels darkness, salt adds flavor, and leaven causes the dough to rise.  When the agents of transformation are present, things are no longer the same. Through our prayers and our lifestyle, we are God’s change agents.

    With that in mind, I have a few suggestions for how to enjoy summertime while still fulfilling our sacred purpose.

    •  Maintain the spiritual discipline of worship.  If you are home on Sunday morning, your presence in worship with your community of faith helps keep the emphasis on God, both for you and for your fellow worshipers.  When you are there, you are making a statement – a witness – that God’s reign in your life is not suspended just because it is summertime. Vacationers may be visiting your church while you are out of town. You may also use the time in worship to contemplate the different things you are doing/seeing/experiencing during the summer. What about those mountain majesties where you hiked?  What might God have had in mind when creating the orangutan you saw when you took the children to the zoo?  What kind of divine purpose is being worked out in the harvesting of hay, which kept you working from sunrise to sunset yesterday?

    •  Find a church in which to worship while traveling.  In addition to maintaining the discipline of worship while you are in a different place, you may discover new friends, new ideas, and elements of diversity you have not known before.  Maybe you can bring something back that will enrich the life of your own community of faith.  The churches you visit will have an opportunity to extend their hospitality to you and hear about the church you love back home.  If you have children or youth who will be traveling with you, ask them to get on the internet and find a church where your family can worship “wherever you may be.”

    •  Don’t send your pledge on vacation.  The operational costs of your church continue even when you are not there.  In warmer locations, the costs increase significantly because of the need for air conditioning and watering.  There is no legitimate reason why church leaders should have to experience anxiety over cash shortfalls in the summer (or anytime of year for that matter).  Make it a matter of faithful stewardship to bring or send your contribution before you leave on vacation.  Or, if you forget, you may still mail a check or use online banking to get your gift to the altar while you are away.

    •  Get involved in ministries you don’t normally have time for.  If summertime affords you a little extra free time or a slower pace, use some of that time to serve Christ and the Church.  Maybe there’s a need for Vacation Bible School leaders, workers for a home repair ministry, or someone to do some maintenance around the church.  Is there a mission trip, retreat, summertime conference, or bible study you would otherwise decline due to the busyness of your life?  Does your summer schedule allow you to attend a weekday service that you can’t attend at other times of the year?  God would like to spend more time with us and have more of our attention.  Summertime may open up some possibilities for that to happen and blessings will flow into our lives.

    •  Whatever you do, think God!  Be intentional about your spiritual journey.  Begin and end your days with prayer, so that, in all the cares and occupations of our life, we may not forget God, but remember that we are ever walking in God’s sight.  Look for signs of God’s hand at work in the world around you.  Habits that affect the rest of your life can be formed during a three-month period. Don’t let a hiatus become a habit!

      Ron Short Sig Blue

  • Looking for God Too High Up and Too Far Away

    The play "Inherit the Wind" is a dramatic account of the 1925 Dayton, Tennessee trial of John Thomas Scopes, a school teacher who taught the theory of evolution in defiance of a state law prohibiting the teaching of any doctrine contrary to the Bible.  The prosecutor was William Jennings Bryan.  The defense attorney was Clarence Darrow. Bryan won the "The Monkey Trial," and Scopes was fined $100. Several days after the trial ended, Bryan died.  In the play, the character representing reporter H.L. Mencken, after hearing of Bryan's death, says to Darrow, "Why should we weep for him? You know that he was-a Barnum-bunkum Bible-beating blowhard." To an agnostic Mencken, Darrow says of Bryan, "A giant once lived in that body. But the man got lost – lost because he was looking for God too high up and too far away."

    In the 13th chapter of Matthew, we find Jesus in the midst of his Gallilean ministry. Jesus had previously employed comparative and figurative analogies, but at this point Jesus chooses to teach in parables.  James A. Fowler provides an interesting explanation of parables:

    The Greek word for "parable" is derived from two other Greek words, para meaning "beside" and ballo meaning "to throw." Literally, then, a parable is an illustrative story that is "thrown alongside" or "placed side by side" a similar or com-parative concept. A parable brings parallel ideas together by drawing a figurative word-picture to illustrate a particular thought. It is often a thought-provoking analogy that leaves the mind of the listener in sufficient doubt as to its application that it stimulates further consideration thereof … This enigmatic nature of a parable allows the story to function as a picto-rial ponderable, which leaves an image on one's mind to be considered again and again. As such, the Biblical parables grate against dogmatism and the fundamentalistic desire to have everything figured out and nailed down in precision of under-standing. When attempting to interpret Jesus' parables the issue is not so much whether we "get it" figured out, as whether Jesus "gets to us" by planting a glimmer of His divine perspective of spiritual realities. The parable serves as a dum-dum bullet shot into our brain, which then explodes and begins to color our thinking in accord with the "mind of Christ." (Parables of the Kingdom, James A Fowler, 1996)

    The parables of the kingdom challenge us to look beyond the obvious in our search for the realm where Jesus reigns and into which he invites us to live abundant lives. We can get lost in our search by looking for God “too high up and too far away.”  God’s realm, as Luke tells us, is to be found within and between us-close in, as near as heart beat and breath and hands touching.  Jesus’ parables call us to look at things in a new way and discover the abundant life we’ve been looking for all along right under our noses, even in the weeds and the dark corners where we'd rather not look.

    Ron

     

     

     

    The Cambridge Singers performing John Rutter's Open Thou Mine Eyes