Monday, June 06, 2005
Daily Office, Year One, Proper 4 Saturday
Today's Readings:
More about generosity. God renews the covenent at Moab, and extends it to everyone who is there, whether or not they are historically part of the faith, and even those Hebrews who are not present. Paul teaches us the God loves generous givers. Now, when money is tight, both of us are unemployed, the idea of giving what little we have away is a scary thing. We're willing to help out with our time, and soon we'll have plenty of that, but we won't be able to help anyone out financially. Generosity does not always mean money. That's been our saving grace. Jesus is generous with His blessings, telling the disciples to let the children come close. In the wake of the Michael Jackson trial, it's hard to have clean thoughts about that line, but thats the one we're stuck with. The point is, Jesus is generous. He tells a parable about a rich man who wants to know what it takes, and Jesus tells him to give everything away, give his money to the poor, and the young rich man can't hear those words. He walks away, shaking his head, not understanding that his love of material things prevents him from true happiness.
It's not that we shouldn't admire the physical things, but they should not be treasures to us. We should not greedily hoarde things, but be generous with what we have. ¶ 8:28 AM
- Psalm 55
- Deut. 29:2-15
- 2 Cor. 9:1-15
- Luke 18:15-30
More about generosity. God renews the covenent at Moab, and extends it to everyone who is there, whether or not they are historically part of the faith, and even those Hebrews who are not present. Paul teaches us the God loves generous givers. Now, when money is tight, both of us are unemployed, the idea of giving what little we have away is a scary thing. We're willing to help out with our time, and soon we'll have plenty of that, but we won't be able to help anyone out financially. Generosity does not always mean money. That's been our saving grace. Jesus is generous with His blessings, telling the disciples to let the children come close. In the wake of the Michael Jackson trial, it's hard to have clean thoughts about that line, but thats the one we're stuck with. The point is, Jesus is generous. He tells a parable about a rich man who wants to know what it takes, and Jesus tells him to give everything away, give his money to the poor, and the young rich man can't hear those words. He walks away, shaking his head, not understanding that his love of material things prevents him from true happiness.
It's not that we shouldn't admire the physical things, but they should not be treasures to us. We should not greedily hoarde things, but be generous with what we have. ¶ 8:28 AM
