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Showing Up is NOT Enough

SHOWING UP IS NOT ENOUGH
Matthew 22.1-14
Warner M. Bailey

Isn’t this just the wildest story you have heard in the Bible?
Why would those invited to the marriage feast have refused—two times—the gracious offer of the king? How could they have had the effrontery to spurn the king’s invitation, even to kill his messengers?
Why would the king have repeated over and over his invitation, patiently explaining all his lavish preparations, tempting, luring, beseeching, pleading for his guests to come?
And when it came to dealing out judgment, why would the king have punished an entire city for the actions of a few uncouth and unruly guests? It seems as if the king’s wrath as well as his graciousness have no bounds.
I am surprised that the king then would have sent out his servants into the streets to fill his banqueting hall with ruffians, street people, passers-by, shopkeepers, artisans, children, none of whom would have thought in their life-time ever to see the inside of a palace.
But the wildest aspect of this story is the final scene where one hapless fellow gets kicked out of the hall into a very dangerous punishment because he didn’t have on his wedding clothes! After all, the king’s wedding feast for his son had not been entered on his social calendar.
Here’s just the case where knowing something about the times in which Jesus lived helps us understand this parable better.Read More »Showing Up is NOT Enough

Sweet Mike & the Acolytes

Sweet Mike and the Acolytes
By Beth Fultz, Director of Christian Education

Since our tickets were purchased weeks ahead of the Acolyte Festival in D.C, there was no turning back for our gang of nine. The National Cathedral cancelled their Annual Acolyte Festival, 10 days before our trip, due to extensive damage from the August earthquake. We couldn’t back out now, so we continued with our plans to Washington and added a side trip to Baltimore to visit St. Stephen guest organist Michael Britt. Michael lives in Baltimore and invited us to tour historic churches there and experience the Inner Harbor for food and seaside views. After a Saturday of free-wheeling around Washington D.C., we headed to Baltimore on Sunday for religious histories.

The car ride to Baltimore is a story in itself Read More »Sweet Mike & the Acolytes

Reassurance, I Hope, I Promise!

Reassurance, I hope, I promise!
By Beth Fultz, Director of Christian Education

As we travel these difficult times collectively, I wonder what we have to offer each other to build up the body of Christ? With economic challenges, jobs at a premium, political polarity, families torn by divorce, children pulled between parents, loved ones seriously ill, demands by employers or coaches or sports leaders or teachers or church leaders…how do we find contentment? Reassurance. Love and respect each another.

Reassurance. That’s what I can give, I hope, to you. You are a child of God, beloved by the Almighty. We are loved despite our weaknesses, our sins, our choices, our mistakes, our lives. Can you feel it? Yes, I’m more the “emotionally-connected” Christian than my counterparts who are the “intellectual-scientific-historical-fact finding” Christians or agnostics.Read More »Reassurance, I Hope, I Promise!