We work hard. We do our best. We plan and encourage and practice. In particular, I would guess, we work well when we think about God. We want to–at least we want to want to–do everything we can to do what we think will make God happy. Many of us, when we stop to think […]

We’re used to parables by now. They are stories to make a point. In the past few days, we’ve looked at one about bridesmaids and one about servants. The former talked about being ready, the latter about being active. Both suggested that the kingdom of heaven was like the women or the servants. In the […]

We’re two thirds of the way through Jesus’ last three parables. The first two are about being ready, about making the most of what we have been given. The third one is about people, about how we treat people, about how we show love to people. It is a parable, or a story, that matters. […]

Jesus tells this fabulous story about servants and talents and investments and holes in the ground. I love it. Almost always I love it. Jesus says that one servant of this master going on a trip gets 5 talents. Because we such literalists at times, we think the talents are abilities. “Use your abilities,” we […]

Jesus talked about weddings. For his audience,  which was primarily made up of humans, it was a familiar metaphor to explore. He used weddings as a way to illustrate relationship. He used weddings to illustrate the gracious invitation to the kingdom of heaven. In Matthew 25, he uses weddings as a way to illustrate thoughtful […]