Bigger Barns

To play the audio, just click the play button above at left.  To download, click the "On the Road" title in yellow in the box above, which will take you to a site where you can download it as an mp3 file.  If you see no image above or the audio will not play, click here for audio.   

Great, juicy, personally challenging texts this week.  We're discussing Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23, Colossians 3:1-11, and Luke 12:13-21.  Give them a read before listening to the podcast.

You don't have to go too far from Muhlenberg in any direction before the scenes become pastoral and barns pop up on the landscape.  So for this week's podcast, we broadcast to you from off route 42, at a barn.  The gospel passage talks about barns and storing up possessions, and throughout the texts is a theme of holding onto possessions as a foolish endeavor.  The gospel reading has a parable where a rich man builds larger barns to hold all his possessions - but to what end?

We also considered going to a bank or somewhere else that is a modern equivalent of where we store up wealth . . .  Ironically, the first barn we stopped at, we decided wasn't nice enough looking, and we opted for this one instead, which had lots of additions and looked a nice bright red on this rainy morning.

The scriptures from Ecclesiastes, Colossians, and Luke become excellent conversation partners with each other and us as we think about some questions:  Do you value your work? 
Are you trying to get to some level of success or measure - what is it?  These scriptures, particularly Ecclesiastes, might make you ask yourself why?
How can our possessions become idolatry?  The Luke and Colossians texts challenge us in this way.

Where do you find yourself most satisfied, most whole, most nourished?  So many folks lately have talked to us about the lack they feel when consumed by the busyness of life or the value that work (or lack of it) puts on them. 

All of these themes make me think of this video - and maybe you can think of it as a little Christmas in (the last gasp of) July. . . and that ultimately Christ is the gift, and we are more than what we have, buy, or store. 

As the video says: Consumerism does not equal happiness.  Spend less on gifts.  Give more presence.  Love like Jesus.  It began with worship.  It begins with worship. 

See you in worship this Sunday!

Praying in a certain place

To play the audio, just click the play button above at left.  To download, click the "On the Road" title in yellow in the box above, which will take you to a site where you can download it as an mp3 file.  If you see no image above or the audio will not play, click here for audio.  


This week's gospel reading is Luke 11:1-13.  Jesus has just left Mary and Martha's and now is praying, "in a certain place."  Where did Jesus pray?  Where do you pray?  Do you pray when you're on the road?  I, Pastor Brett, know that I often pray in the car.  Do you pray when you travel or have a special ritual for doing so?  As Pastor Bob and I write this from an airport, we've discussed how both our families have special little prayer/rituals for travel.  So it makes me curious where Jesus is praying. 

We recorded this week's podcast this morning from the campus of
Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota - we were participating in the "Rethinking Evangelism" conference at Luther.  It's been a great time we're thankful for to hear, learn, and plan.  It's also reminded us that while this scripture, where Jesus teaches his disciples to pray using the words we now call the "Lord's Prayer," we must remember that these are not familiar words to everyone, even in our dominantly Christian culture. 
Do you remember who taught you to pray? 
Did anyone teach you? 
Do you struggle feeling that you don't know how to pray?
What is prayer to you? 

These are some of the themes we're discussing and thinking about this week, and hopefully praying about too!  Leave us a comment here - let us know what questions or answers this brings up for you, or maybe what you're praying for this week.  We'll be on the road back to Virginia today - see you in worship!
 

Serve and be fed . . .

To play the audio, just click the play button above at left.  To download, click the "On the Road" title in yellow in the box above, which will take you to a site where you can download it as an mp3 file.  If you see no image above or the audio will not play, click here for audio.  

This week on the road, Jesus isn't too far from home, and so neither are we.  We're looking ahead to Luke 10:38-42.  Jesus is at Mary and Martha's house, where he feels quite at home.  There's a meal being prepared, and it seems Jesus is quite relaxed, talking with Mary.  So it made us think about (and broadcast from) our very own Muhlenberg Activities Center (the MAC), where each Wednesday night during the school year a devoted, faithful group prepare a meal for our community to enjoy.
There is something holy about a meal that sustains.  Around tables on Wednesday nights . . .
As we recorded the podcast, another meal was being set up, lunch for the daycare students . . .
We are blessed to offer other sustenance in this place too - in the form of People Helping People, and the Community Resource Center . . . 
Wednesday nights are a blessing to see families, college students, older adults, gather around dinner that has been so faithfully prepared - and then we move over to the chapel and gather around another meal - Holy Communion.  There is something holy about a meal, in serving and preparing it and receiving it as gift.  How have you experienced this?

So often we hear this text as a judgment on Martha, too busy with preparing the meal.  But Jesus points us to the real issue, "you are worried and distracted by many things."  How are distractions a struggle in your life?  Have you been able to set apart holy time for listening?  Have you experienced life without distractions?  How did it affect you?

On the Road with the "Good Samaritan"

To play the audio, just click the play button above at left.  To download, click the "On the Road" title in yellow in the box above, which will take you to a site where you can download it as an mp3 file.  If you see no image above or the audio will not play, click here for audio. 

You'll immediately notice something different about today's episode!  Just in from Muhlenberg member, talented musician and composer, Paul Heitsch we have a little music to accompany our episodes!  He has cleverly named the tune "A Mighty Podcast" and recorded it for our use!  Thank so much Paul! 

We're looking ahead to a very familiar gospel text for Sunday, Luke 10:25-37, the "Good Samaritan" parable.

Pastor Brett is joined by her husband, and soon-to-be pastor, Evan Davis as the guest on the podcast this week.  As this parable happens on the side of the road, we decided to record from a rest stop on I-81, a place where in fact people are occasionally seen in need and asking for help. 

We're reflecting on when we choose to stop and help someone, and why.  In the podcast a study is mentioned which found that seminarians are much less likely to stop and help someone if they are in a hurry, even if they have just been talking about this very story!  You can read the details here.

What is your reaction when you see someone on the road in need?  Where do you draw the line?  What are healthy boundaries of giving? 
How does this relate to the larger context of eternal life and what Jesus seems to refer to - really living?  We welcome your thoughts, comments, and feedback.  We'll see where this week takes us on the road!

On the road - on a mission . . .

To play the audio, just click the play button above at left.  To download, click the "On the Road" title in yellow in the box above, which will take you to a site where you can download it as an mp3 file.  If you see no image above or the audio will not play, click here for audio. 

This week, we're looking ahead to the scripture from Luke 10:1-11, 16-20.  In this text, Jesus appoints and sends 70 people out in mission. 

This week isn't so much about where we recorded the conversation, but I (Pastor Brett) have been having some great conversations with missionaries in our midst.  So as Pastor Bob is on vacation, I invited Fred Gibson, member of Muhlenberg and retired pastor (though in the podcast you'll hear his thoughts on whether one can retire from being a missionary).  Fred and Mary Ella and their children spent many years in Singapore, where Fred served a congregation there as pastor until transitioning into focusing on serving the leper community there in Singapore. 

In our conversation, Fred mentions that his best friend and partner in ministry there in Singapore was a Jesuit priest.  In the scripture we are looking at, Jesus sends the missionaries out in pairs.  It seems to say something about the importance of having a partner, not being alone, building a community.  As we discuss in the podcast, whether you have the title "missionary" or not, all Christians are called.  Who have you found to be a (possibly unexpected) partner in what God calls you to?

In this week's scripture, Jesus sends people out into unknown towns and homes, it's not to assert or colonize them.  He gives them a way of living that is humble and hospitable as they are guests in someones home.  Jesus specifically tells them that when they are welcomed in a home, they are to "eat whatever is set before you."  Can you imagine this?  Have you ever been a dinner guest and really struggled at eating what is in front of you?  Are you a gracious guest?  How does our faith call us to be guests - and to be hospitable to others?

Also this week I got the chance to catch Robin Strickler, ELCA missionary and member of the Muhlenberg community, whose work has called her to the Rwamagana Lutheran School in eastern Rwanda.  You can check out the school here or like them on Facebook for regular updates!  We had a great conversation and she shared her insights on being guest and host, and how we are called to be hospitable as Christians.  Looking forward to sharing a bit of that in the sermon on Sunday!