Yesterday, our country experienced the 250th mass shooting in 2019.\u00a0 It is our responsibility for fellow human beings, to be the voice of reason, the voice of the Kingdom of Heaven.\u00a0 We need to stand up and respond, not stay silent and allow the the worldly ways to be the norm, rather than the heavenly ways being the norm.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, our reading for worship was:\u00a0Luke 12:13\u201321 (NRSV)<\/p>\n
13\u00a0<\/sup>Someone in the crowd said to him, \u201cTeacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.\u201d 14\u00a0<\/sup>But he said to him, \u201cFriend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?\u201d 15\u00a0<\/sup>And he said to them, \u201cTake care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one\u2019s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.\u201d 16\u00a0<\/sup>Then he told them a parable: \u201cThe land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17\u00a0<\/sup>And he thought to himself, \u2018What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?\u2019 18\u00a0<\/sup>Then he said, \u2018I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19\u00a0<\/sup>And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.\u2019 20\u00a0<\/sup>But God said to him, \u2018You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?\u2019 21\u00a0<\/sup>So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.\u201d<\/p>\n The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version<\/i><\/span><\/a> (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), Lk 12:13\u201321.<\/p>\n Storing up our stuff, rather than sharing what God has given us, breaks relationships between each other and with God.\u00a0 Our storing, not sharing is not limited to dollars, although this is part of it.\u00a0 It also includes our response to God in service and mission to the world.\u00a0 It is the sharing of the Word of God, the Son who came into the world to save the world.\u00a0 John 17-18 (NRSV):<\/p>\n 17\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cIndeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18\u00a0<\/sup>Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.<\/p>\n The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version<\/i><\/span><\/a> (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), Jn 3:17\u201318.<\/p>\n It is in sharing of our spiritual gifts of service to God’s children that can help, with the Word, to change the world.\u00a0 If we are unwilling to go into the world to serve, we allow the world to continue to downslide as it has been for years and years.\u00a0 We are called to be insulated from the effects of the world by coming into community in the Body of Christ, so that we can be sent into the world to teach of the Gospel, and carrying out the Great Commission:\u00a0 Matthew 28:19-20 (NRSV)<\/p>\n 19\u00a0<\/sup>Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20\u00a0<\/sup>and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.\u201d<\/p>\n