Sell your possessions?

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 the audio.    

We're looking ahead to the bible texts for this Sunday, August 11: Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-15 & Luke 12:32-40.

Jesus says - "Do not be afraid, little flock - for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.  Sell your possessions . . ." 

How do you hear these verses together?  Is the second statement about selling your possessions jarring or comforting?

This week we broadcasted from outside Pawn Emporium - it's a place where people sell their possessions, but unfortunately usually out of need and thus pawn shops are ready to take advantage of that.  If Jesus were alive today, would send his disciples here to simplify their lives?  Or would he use Ebay?  Pawn shops, perhaps except for their recent popularity through reality television, have a certain connotation, even shamefulness associated . . . but who can judge?  This one in downtown Harrisonburg has an imposing fence around it - making us think of the way some people interpret the instruction to be prepared - being well-guarded.

We could not have prepared for the distractions and surprises as we recorded which re-emphasized these themes in the text - be prepared - God is breaking in the kingdom!  How fitting in a way that we were interrupted by what turned out to be funeral bells tolling from nearby Blessed Sacrament - a reminder that God is our sure promise, in proclaiming life that comes from death...  These bells were a reminder to me to be prepared and ready - to interpret things we see and hear as God's action in the world.

What if living as Christians, well prepared as Jesus describes in Luke, doesn't look like stockpiling or fearing the future, but opening your eyes looking for what God is doing?  What is God doing this week in your life, preparing you for abundant life in God's kingdom?  Read these verses from Hebrews and Luke - they contain some very familiar images of comfort and pure promise.  Take them to heart.  Then know, whatever God is preparing for you (assured as it is the father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom) be ready to catch it!

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 Week 4

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.




The sign for Western State Hospital (above) - have you noticed
this faded sign on your way into Staunton?

This week, we're discussing Luke 8:26-39, the story of Jesus healing the man suffering from demons in the land of the Gerasenes.

Listen in as we discuss some powerful concepts Christ encounters on the road - isolation, recovery, and fear.  How have you encountered these on your road this week?

How have you encountered healing?

Have you ever had a transformative experience, and then found it hard to go home and talk about it?  Would you have rather simply stayed away, like this man Jesus heals who wants to follow him - but Jesus sends him home, to tell about what God has done.

The man Jesus encounters suffered and clearly was in mental distress.  We don't have to go far from this powerful story to find ways it might strike us in our real world - in our real lives...
Take the anonymous poll below:

I know someone who struggles with: (check all that apply)
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