Services

As we think of Thanksgiving and the story today of Jesus healing the 10 lepers and only the Samaritan returns to give thanks. But the message seems to be give thanks to God for what you receive and don’t just forget about it and go back to your old life.

There is an old Jewish witticism in which someone asks his rabbi, “Why do rabbis always answer a question with another question?” to which the rabbi replied, “Why shouldn’t a rabbi answer a question with another question?” Judaism is a religion of questions. In Judaism, to be without questions is not a sign of faith, but of lack of depth.

Service Bulletin and Video for the seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost.

Video of service only.

The starting point of any counseling session seems to be answering the question, what is the problem? This seems very obvious and a simple logical place to start. One side, usually the one initiating going for counseling is asked to express the problem. What is often the reaction of the other when the problem is expressed? Their immediate reaction is to defend themselves against the criticism or to launch into solutions.

Video of service only.

Several years ago, a fellow clergy said that he changed his view of the ordination of women from being against it to being for it because he liked and felt more at home with those in favour of the ordination of women than those against. Why am I telling you this? Because in today’s gospel reading Jesus asks two questions. Yes, he asks, who do others say that I am and who do you say that I am?

American author, Presbyterian minister, preacher, and theologian Frederick Buechner wrote an imaginative retelling of the Old Testament stories of Jacob and Joseph titled The Son of Laughter. Within the text, there is a conversation between Rachel and her son, Jacob. She tells him, “A word can never be unspoken once it has been spoken. Do you understand what I mean?

Jesus goes up on the mountain alone to pray when the disciples get into trouble in a boat on the water. Let’s put it in a bit of a cultural context. The Jews were not a seafaring people. To say they had a healthy respect for water would be a bit of an understatement.