[Propertalk] Sermon tidbits for Luke 12:32-40 - Part 3

[Joe Parrish]

This is one of the parables of urgency we will hear during the summer: you have great opportunities, don't blow them.

http://www.agreeley.com/hom07/aug12.htm

Andrew M. Greeley, 2007
- - - - -

They had driven about a half mile down the road when they saw one of those little cars that parents give their kids for graduation (an Izuzu Trooper actually) pulled over at the side of the road with a flat tire.  Melissa has a flat tire one of the kids shouted. Melissa was a teenager who had babysat for the family. We should stop and help her, the mommy said. Mommies are always saying things like that. We haven't got time, the Daddy said as he drove on. We have to beat the traffic. Someone else will stop to help her. The car was very silent the rest of the way home. 

http://www.agreeley.com/hom01/aug12.htm

Andrew M. Greeley, 2001
- - - - -

Avoid over-attachment to "possessions" (v. 33) and share what you have with the needy ("give alms"). Emphasize your relationship with God, not material wealth; integrity with him lasts, but wealth ends with the grave. 

http://montreal.anglican.org/comments/archive/cpr19m.shtml

Chris Haslam 
- - - - -

12:35-38: Similar ideas are to be found in the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids: see Matthew 25:1-13. 

http://montreal.anglican.org/comments/cpr19l.shtml

Chris Haslam 
- - - - -

...asserting God's unconditional grace is only one half of the story. We are not only freed from anxiety regarding our relationship with God. We are also freed for life in this world. This, also, is the heart of the gospel promise. We are freed from fear of scarcity so that we can be generous with others. We are freed from the fear of condemnation so that we can forgive others. We are freed from the fear of falling short, of failing, of being unacceptable so that we can live for our neighbors, sharing with others the good news that God is pleased to give us - all of us - the kingdom.

http://www.workingpreacher.org/dear_wp.aspx?article_id=385

David Lose
- - - - -

I worshiped recently at Reba Place Church in Evanston, Illinois, a Mennonite congregation in an urban setting. Reba Place is closely associated with an intentional community of the same name. Members of this fellowship have sold possessions, moved into shared space, and practice economic sharing and alms-giving. To worship with Reba Place is to begin to see what it might be to hear and read scripture as a church, rather than as a collection of individuals.

http://theolog.org/2007/08/blogging-toward-sunday-fathers-pleasure.html

Stan Wilson, 2007 
- - - - -

Because I am just a few years away from retirement, I keep a close eye on the performance of my 401 K. I've heard horror stories of people who live longer than their means of support, and I fear poverty and dependency in old age. As Jesus says, my accumulation of treasure is revealing my ultimate concerns and commitments, and my greatest fears. I fear want and dependency more than I fear God. The judgments of the market mean more to me than the judgments of a righteous God. So Jesus' concluding warning about God coming upon us unexpectedly holds little fear for me. In a way, my possessions are a means, even if an unconscious means, of securing my life against the nocturnal incursions of a God who threatens to rip off everything I've got.

http://theolog.org/2007/08/blogging-toward-sunday_06.html

William H. Willimon 
- - - - -

Our problem is not the occasional break in, but the constant infiltration of those values which burgle the gospel and besiege the believer with alternative value systems designed to sustain profit for the well off. Our task is more like needing to be alert for the occasional apostle of justice and humanity, to offer them hospitality and support in a world where all the subtle and not so subtle messages are calling for more of the same, more for us and less for them. 

http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/LkPentecost11.htm

William Loader
- - - - -

At another congregation, the pastor wondered if the money given for flowers that are thrown away might be better used. They established a "Good Samaritan Fund" to which people could donate "in honor of" or "in memory of" someone with it noted in the bulletin. Money from this fund is used to help the needy among them. They do not have flowers on the altar. When they asked the staffs about donating flowers to nursing homes and hospitals, the staffs did not want the left over altar flowers. It meant more work for the them as they had to rearrange the flowers.

http://www.crossmarks.com/brian/luke12x32.htm

Brian Stoffregen
- - - - -
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://stsams.org/pipermail/propertalk_stsams.org/attachments/20100807/0abeab05/attachment.htm>