Fith Sunday of Pentecost

Today's Link
Grandma Jeans Opinions

Today's Saying
In what you say of another, apply the test of kindness, necessity and truth, and let nothing pass your lips without a 2/3 majority. ~Liz Armbruster

Today's Picture

In the liturgical churches this is the fifth Sunday after Pentecost and the Gospel from the Common Lectionary is Mark 6:1-13.
This text always bothered me for a number of reasons.
First of all I always wished I could have sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to him teach. So the text which begins with Jesus teaching raises a little envy in me. I envy those who had the opportunity to be there. I know envy is a sin but still I wish I could have been one of those listeners.
Second the response to his teaching is all wrong. The listeners admit it is great teaching but they also decide he has no right to teach them. He grew up there. He played in those streets. His father helped build some of the buildings. He’s just a local boy. Real teachers always come from some place else. God sends them to you. So the fools miss out on something great. They even miss out on healings and miracles that Jesus really wanted to do. They rejected Him.
Now that’s disturbing. It is. Sometimes I wish the Bible would skip over things like that and just give us the good stuff.
And yet this is the way it was and still is. There are those who like the teaching of Jesus but deny the teacher. They can not understand that it is Who He is that causes Him to teach what he teaches. What Jesus about Himself is an important part of that teaching.
But there were and are people who listened to and listen to Him teach and then followed Him. That’s the good news. In today’s text they are the Disciples. He has taught them enough and they believe enough to send them out on missions of their own. Because they trust wonderful things happen on those missions.
I am glad that the people who put the Lectionary together didn’t stop at verse six.
The truth of rejection is tempered by the truth of faithfulness and miracle.
Praise God and be faithful even in rejection.

News from Pigeon Falls

The little town in my basement where the trains still run, dragons fly, and life is back to normal
Pastor Joan is getting ready for the coming of her baby and her absence from the pulpit for three months or so. She suggested to the Council that Herman fill in as a lay preacher with the blessing of the Bishop. Some on the Council said they really wanted a seminary graduate, an expert. Herman was a great guy and had lots of spiritual power but there was a time he was just another drunk in Pigeon Falls.is okay for occasional fillins but not for three months. They want the “ real thing”.
So this morning Pastor Joan has worked that into her sermon . Part of which is printed here:
“ A long time ago a man stood up to teach. Everybody said he was a great teacher. He was a good preacher. He was a powerful man who helped people. But he was not the man they wanted teaching them. They knew his history. He wasn’t properly trained. He was local. They wanted an expert. This was very upsetting to some of the leaders but how do you argue with what they knew. He hadn’t gone through the proper training. They knew proper training took years. So the voted not to let him preach. They rejected him.
I see from the look on some of your faces that you think that this is today and has something to do with the congregation. But the story is not today. It is a story of Jesus and his visit to his home town. They rejected Him. They wouldn’t listen to him. It must have made Jesus feel really bad.
Now the story isn’t from today but the message is for today. People still reject the one’s that can bring us closest to Jesus for all the wrong reasons.
Oh, yes they do.

Wrap UP

Very good day but I am very tired. Was up much too late for me last night but then it was fun. My boys and their children have gone home and the dog hates it. I got to church we had visitors from our sister church in Africa. You can never tell who you will coffee with after the service at St. Mark's. The choir sang and Pastor Steve preached a good sermon. In the afternoon I worked on the website for the Church. Now I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA

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