I've had an Epiphany!

Matthew 9:9-13 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. 10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" 12 On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." His real, given name was Levi. That venerable Jewish name; the tribe of Israel from whom priests and temple servants were taken. But he was called Matthew. In the story of his call in Mark and Luke, the name Levi is still used; it is only Matthew himself that does not use it. Why? Did ...

Losing our way, but being found Luke 15:1-10 Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." 3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. 8 "Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she fi...

Psalm 119, selected verses M:​ Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. C:​ Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. M:​ I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. C:​ I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts. M: ​I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word. C:​ I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me. M: How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! C:​ I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.

At craft time in grade school, our art teacher wouldn’t just show us the project we were making. She’d demonstrate it for us. She’d take the clay or tissue paper or pipe cleaners and walk us through the project from beginning to end. When she did that, it helped us understand how the project came together. But there was another benefit, too: As you saw the transformation from raw “stuff” into the completed project, it helped give a little patience as you worked on yours, too! Do you want to see how God puts a Christian together? Do you get frustrated with your own life and expect a wonderful, completed “project” but see a mess instead? Look at St. Paul . He’s the example God gives us. He’s what to expect as God works in our lives. There are some important points we need to remember: God pours out his grace abundantly on sinners. We can’t minimize who we are or what’s in our past – but it doesn’t define us anymore. Paul said, I was once… That’s what we say, too. Were you once ...

Artwork: The Calling of Matthew Artist: Giovanni Paolo Panini Worship Theme: The Holy Ministry is filled with people who God called out of his boundless mercy. Nothing else could explain the choices for ministers that God made! He calls such sinful and weak men to fill this office. Only mercy can explain the men he chose in this Sunday’s lessons: a despised tax collector, an exiled killer, a persecutor of Christians. How poignant these lessons are, when we remember that each lesson was penned by the unworthy minister called into service by God’s boundless mercy! Old Testament:   Exodus 3:1-15 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God . 2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this st...

One of the most popular Christian preachers in America sat in front of the one of the most-listened to interviewers. The interviewer asked him, “I don’t believe in Jesus. Do you believe I’m going to hell?” Joel Osteen answered Larry King that God wants us to lead lives of integrity. Pressed harder, he said, “I don’t know.” ( June 20, 2005 ) It would be easy to say that Osteen was scared of media backlash, “tarnishing his brand”, or driving away some of the tens of thousands who attend his church or lose some of the millions of dollars he earns from his best-selling books. I can’t help but think there’s another possibility: Telling someone the truth about God’s judgment is hard. It makes it all the harder when the world is filled with voices willing to say something that sounds so much better, so much more loving. Is there a text in the Pentecost season that’s more out of sync with our time than the Old Testament lesson for this Sunday – 1 Kings 22:10-28? The gall of Micaiah! T...

Matthew 7:15 "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. 21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23 Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' 24 "Therefore everyone who hears these words of min...