proper 19
Known by our love: Romans 14:1-12
We cannot choose who God will call into Christ’s body in baptism.
In the know: James 3:1-12; Mark 8:27-38
My wife and I have two sons, 12 and 14, and a standard-size refrigerator. Hence, we spend a lot of time at the grocery store. As I wait to pay for one day’s installment of food, I am invited to learn the full story about the semiprivate lives of numerous celebrities. If the number of these publications is anything to go by, our desire for insider knowledge is insatiable. We want to know all of the details and we want to know them now.
Jesus math: Matthew 18:21-35
Four hundred ninety times? Do we really have to do this?
Clean sweep: Luke 15:1-10
The best storytellers paint pictures with words, using them to fill our minds with vivid imagery. I remember reading the first Harry Potter novel to my first-grade son. Each time we completed a chapter and I turned the page to start a new one he would shift in my lap and look away from the book. Finally I asked him what was wrong. He replied, “I don’t want to see the drawing on the first page of the chapter because I want to think about what things look like all by myself.”
Lesson plans: James 3:1-12; Mark 8:27-38
Why does James begin by addressing teachers?
New math: Matthew 18:21-35
Matthew's story is terrible news. It is also the truth that will make us free.