Luke 17:5-10 5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. 7 “Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’? 8 Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’? 9 Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? 10 So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’”
Early in the week observations, without study. I’m not scheduled to preach this weekend in a formal church setting.
The lectionary skips the first 4 verses of Luke 17 … about forgiveness. I’ll forgive the lectionary forgers.
Does Jesus suggest that faith is not something that needs to be increased? I don’t know anyone with even a “mustard seed” sized faith according to what Jesus describes!
I’m not really sure how verse 7ff, ties to verses 5-6.
Is Jesus saying here that we don’t deserve credit for what we do?
… and then, thinking some …
Faith is an interesting thing. If our faith was strong enough to plant a mulberry tree in the ocean, who would need faith … who would need God … what value is there in that kind of faith if it leads us away from God?
No matter how much we do, we can’t do more than is expected of us by God.
Increasing our faith might make us better slaves to Christ.
Pondering away ….
Pondering Pastor
Categories: Lectionary · Pondering Toward Sunday · Preaching · Scripture
A fair number of people have found this site by searching for funeral sermon material. Therefore, I might as well make some comments.
I clearly have developed a pattern and am filled with biases about funeral sermons over my years as an ordained pastor.
I believe that a Christian funeral should ultimately be about Christ. What does the Christian promise hold for those who die and those who live? Christ’s death and resurrection mean something. There is no denial of death in the Christian funeral. There is no denial of sin in the Christian funeral. There is no denial of the need of God’s grace in a Christian funeral. If those are not lifted up, we probably don’t have a Christian funeral.
Having said that, the funeral is not the time for an “altar call” or to drive the assembled family and friends into the arms of Christ. Simple statements about the impact or importance of faith are usually sufficient. A simple homily, very focused is usually best. It is hard for family and friends to endure long or complicated proclamations of the Gospel. My pattern is usually to acknowledge the loss, to give thanks to God for placing the person in our lives to know and to love, and to recall the promises of God in Christ (forgiveness of sins and everlasting life). Beyond that, the funeral liturgy is allowed to speak as it has for centuries.
There are many “Celebration of Life” services available, and this is becoming the usual thing people request. The person’s life can be acknowledged in the loss and the giving thanks to God sections of the homily. There is nothing inherently wrong with a “Celebration of Life” except that too often the emphasis solely on the deceased and usually one particular view of that person’s life. A Celebration of Life might not include Christ at all. It is rare that an eulogy is done well. (If pastors would stop making their relationship with the deceased normative, that would go a long way to improving the funeral sermon.) Consider that each person’s relationship with the deceased is different. Each have their own disappointments, their joys, their struggle, and their wonderful memories. The funeral sermon should be shaped so that people might be able to recall elements of their own relationship with the deceased.
The funeral service should be long enough to know that something significant has happened, and not so long that people begin looking at their watches. Funerals are places where people who normally don’t attend a worship service might have experience with Christian worship. It should be relatively easy to follow without compromising the integrity of the funeral liturgy. The funeral is no time to get “cute” and “innovative”. The liturgy has developed out of faithful experience over the centuries and should be maintained.
When the military is involved. I try to finish the Christian burial pieces, and then let the military conduct the services without trying to integrate the two. It just seems to work better.
Oh, and be sure that the cell phones are off.
Pondering Pastor
Categories: Liturgy · Lutheran Perspective · Preaching · Religion · Scripture
