A sunday Word or Two
The Rev. Dr. Kate has a blog entry on the fairness of life. Her conclusion is that life is not fair. In this life the bad are rewarded and the good suffer and that isn’t fair.
She has friends who are “good people” who have done everything they are supposed to and life has kicked them in the head. It just isn’t fair. The underlying premise is that God owes them something for their goodness and God is not delivering. God is not going to bless me then why should I try hard and why should I be good?
Let me say at the start that I don’t believe that life treats the bad any better than the good. It just seems that way.
One of the tings I have learned from watching Soaps is that we humans tend to think of ourselves as good despite our sins but others who sin are bad. Thus if they are getting ahead and we aren’t life is unfair.
The early Church didn’t look at things that way. The question wasn’t is God fair when he allows us the be hauled off to the lions. The question was “ Will I be faithful no matter what comes? Will I carry my witness until the end?” Then , for sure, the bad guys were winning. The good, the faithful, were being stoned, crucified, thrown to the lions. If ever there was a group that could have complained about fairness that was it. But they didn’t.
In this age we talk about grace and say that good works don’t count. But inside we believe we are earning something and God owes us. So the question of this age is not are we faithful but is God.
I prefer the question of the early church.
@@@@News from Pigeon Falls-The little town in my garage where the trains still run, dragons fly, and there is no Castle yet.– Last Lutheran had another mediocre supply preacher this morning. Pastor Castle will be here next Sunday when she starts her ministry. Polly Stir served coffee today. She was extra polite and helpful. She has hope of becoming the Pigeon Queen like her mother was before her. She even has a dress all picked out. There are six candidates, three of them from Last Lutheran but the other two didn’t think of serving the coffee. Unlike 2006 there are no Cinderella candidates. All the candidates are from the very best families. They all belong to the top groups. All of them are Job’s Daughters except for Mary, she’s a Catholic. Each of them sees this as a chance to become Miss Upper Michigan and possibly even Miss Michigan. It has never happened But a girl can dream. In reality life is not fair to small town girls. The big prizes always go to downstate girls. But Polly can dream even as she serves the coffee. Someday somebody from the UP will win and it could be her. After all she is the Job’s Daughter Queen, and that one year ahead of schedule. She has been extra good and deep inside she knows that God owes her. It is time to collect. She even volunteered to teach Vacation Bible School, though she really didn’t like the little brats. God and the church members had to see that she was the only Queen candidate who cared enough to help. Funny the things that go through your head while you serve coffee.
Art on the shore of Lake of the Loons goes on. Yesterday that big, ugly pipe contraption sold to some guy from Chicago. He even seemed to think he was getting a bargain. People are weird. One has to wonder if he is going to put that ugly thing in his living room. It might make a nice ash tray. At least he doesn’t have to worry about anybody breaking it.
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Today's Link-Kneading Bread- A quote from a Saint- then scroll down and find lots of interesting stuff.
Got to church this morning. It was interesting that the Psalm and the Gospel fit ri8ght in with this whole question of fairness. In the Psalm the Psalmist says " For we see that the wise die also; like the dull and the stupid they perish and leave their wealth to those who come after them. In the Gospel a young man wanted Jesus to see to it that he got a fair share of the inheritance and Jesus sent him away. It was not the job of Jesus to see too it that life was fair. After Churt5ch we went grocery shopping. In the afternoon we played Canasta and Pennie won. Then We waited for a couple to come an take the church from the garage. What a wonderful thing Freecycle is. It lets us get rid of something we no longer need and put it in the hands of somebody who can use it rather than the dump. Now I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA
posted by Dr.John at 5:26 AM
8 Comments:
So when Polly Stir served the coffee, I wonder if she offered to stir the cream and sugar for those who wanted some. Also wonder if her Pigeon Queen dress is made of polyester. Imagine she has already requested crackers from someone. Sometimes our names have a way of directing our lives.
It's true, no one considers themself a sinner. We always have excuses for the things we do but, we don't sin, in our eyes. One of my favorite sayings is, "Oh, but God the gift would give us, to see ourselves as others see us." I've also added, to see myself as the Lord sees me.
Life does seem to be unfair. We do an injustice to our children to teach them that everything has to be fair.
Great sermon for today!
Much like Job who proved himself faithful. In doing so he Glorified God.
I guess my own question to figure out is the "know them by their fruits" concept. Where and what are my fruits? Guess I gotta think about it and figure that out.
Good entry today, thought-provoking. As far as suffering and a Godly perspective goes, James Dobson's When God Doesn't Make Sense is a good perspective on things.
I agree with Solomon.....
“And this is not all that is meaningless in our world. In this life, good people are often treated as though they were wicked, and wicked people are often treated as though they were good. This is so meaningless!
So I recommend having fun, because there is nothing better for people to do in this world than to eat, drink, and enjoy life. That way they will experience some happiness along with all the hard work God gives them.” (Ecclesiastes 8:14-15)
My Grandma always used to tell me, if you have to justify what you do, then you probably shouldn't have done it........
She was the Golden Rule type of person, if you don't like having it done to you, don't do it to someone else.....but then she was a total buzz kill most of the time. haha
Even being fair within a family is hard........we try, but we fail.
I've always believed that it's during those times when life seems unfair that we are doing the most learning and growing in our faith.
Thank you for the link-love Dr. John.
Be blessed and fruitful in your blogging,
Tom Powell
(kneading bread)
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