It's too bad selling kids on eBay is illegal.
Even in death, he prepares the way. This cousin of Jesus who was sent to prepare the way for the Lord, to make straight paths for him, to proclaim that the Kingdom of Heaven has come near, was put to death and beheaded by Herod. Now, Jesus is making waves where John once was, and accounts of Him are spreading to Herod. Jesus is doing what John had prepared the way for, so Herod thinks that Jesus is John back from the dead.
This is good, "clean" cooking I'm talking about. Up to today, I've only smoked pork products—should roasts (Butt or Picnic) and Baby Back Ribs. Up to today, I've only smoked using hickory wood. Today, I tried something different.
"Lord, are there few who are saved?" It's a valid question, but also a question that has led to heresy and false teaching. And, as with just about every heresy, no matter how well-intentioned, the heresies' answers try to apply logic to faith.
He looks just like His mother...
I hate to say it, but if the prices are reasonable by comparison with the USPS, use FedEx or UPS to send us stuff. The post office here is just too much of a hassle.
A cursory reading of today's lessons reveal that they are about faith. There is a theme of taking God solely at His word, of full reliance and trust in God simply because He says a thing is so. So, let us dive into them further.
Anyone who knows me knows I don't like bumper stickers. One of the main reasons is because they stay with the car or are unusable if they don't; so, if you trade in your car, you either leave the bumper sticker on there or you take it off and render it useless. Another reason is because most people never stop at one; you'll see the back of many cars with myriad bumper stickers advocating a political party (and all its candidates), proudly proclaiming that the 4 children inside are honor students at their respective schools, or God knows how many preaching tolerance and coexistence. Blech!
Today is St. James the Elder. He is sometimes referred to as St. James the Greater or St. James Major; this has nothing to do with his stature among the disciples—though he was one of the three that were part of the inner circle of disciples—he was simply the older of the two disciples named James. He was John's older brother, a fisherman like Peter and once his partner in the fishing business before giving everything up and following Jesus.
Beyond that and despite his place in Jesus' inner circle, little is written of him besides what we heard today. So, for time and eternity, St. James the Elder day has been the day when is read how he and his brother brazenly asked to sit as Jesus' right and left in glory, and Jesus' response to the brothers. Right off the bat this should tell us that this day is not about James, the great faith he had, nor even how great a man he was, any of this being true or not. No, this day is about Jesus.
It was said on Wednesday night that if we had a scheduled day, we would be able to get a lot more done in a day. Whether or not that could be the case, it is an indication that we are a people with something to do at just about every hour of the day. We barely have time to sleep these days. It seems, and it just may be the case, that we are busy people, busier than ever.
"Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?", the lawyer asks. It's an age old question, isn't it? Oh, the forms always change, but the question is always the same. "What must I do to be saved?" "What can be done to get to heaven?" "What can I do to transcend this mortal coil?" Every one of them seeks a way to move from this life to the afterlife, however that is defined by the one doing the asking or redefined by the one doing the answering. "What can I do to be rewarded with a good afterlife?"
I speak of none other than Amelia Earhart. I have to wonder...why would a parent do this? Oh well, too bad she's not our "Eye in the Sky."
It was with the words of the antiphon to our Psalm this morning that the Augsburg Confession was presented to Emperor Charles the V on June 25, 1530: "I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed." (Psalm 119:46)
There was a time when to the world the meaning of the Gospel had been lost. To the church, God was preached as a vengeful and merciless God, always watching for a way to condemn man, and exacting justice (seen and heard almost always as punishment) for each and every sin committed. For centuries, the world had seen cultural and economic decline. The differences in the haves and the have-nots was staggering. Only a few men were educated and knew how to read, and very few of those ever read the Bible. What the church said of God was not true, and almost no one knew any better to say anything otherwise—those that did were executed as heretics.
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