Monthly Archives: August 2023

by

Grace amazing

Today’s reading is Matthew 20:1-16. It is the story about a landowner who hires people to work in his field, starting from early in the morning (perhaps 5am) until 5pm in the evening. He promises the first a denarius – a generous day’s wage; and he promises the later workers a ‘fair’ wage. He comes out himself even late in the day and asks people why they are standing around doing nothing, and they say, because no-one has hired them, and so he hires them, knowing that humans were created to work – God’s first commands to Adam and Eve are to work in the garden and take care of the earth. This is the first grace: we are invited to work with God.

Evening comes and the landowner calls the workers together and pays everyone the same – a denarius. The workers who started early are understandably unhappy. But this is not a story about labour and economics. It is a story about grace. God’s grace is abundantly given to all of us, whether we start early or late, whether we do much or little. Think of the thief on the cross beside Jesus in Luke 23 – he could do nothing on that cross, yet he entered into Christ’s paradise. The landowner asks the disgruntled workers if they are envious that he is generous – do you envy my grace? Grace if fundamentally unfair. This is the second grace: we ALL get what we do NOT deserve.

Fix your eyes on Jesus. Be amazed by grace.

Just last night, my wife Trina shared with me this video of ‘Amazing Grace’ sung differently by Dan Vasc. It fits so perfectly, I cannot help but conclude it was God’s prompting.

by

Eternal consequences of care

Today’s Gospel reading is from Matthew 18:15-20. It speaks about Jesus’ call for us to be engaged with one another, and particularly about church discipline. But in this short 7-minute message, I invite a focus on two key points.

First, that Jesus wants us to be meaningfully engaged with each other in the church and to speak into each other’s lives. In other words, to care about each other.

Second, that what we do in this life has eternal consequences. Our caring engagement with others can bind them in ongoing sin or difficulties, or loose them through forgiveness and reconciliation.

We are urged to engage with one another, to be honest with one another and to pray for and with one another. I hope you will find this short message both encouraging and challenging.

(This video was recorded just outside my front door in Boone, North Carolina, with the mountain “Howards Knob” in the background. This message originally went out on 16 August 2023.)

by

Into the heart

I am working in the United States from early August to early December, at the Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. During this time, I will be sending out a short mid-week message. This is the message that went out 9 August. My apologies for posting it late here on my blog.

Matthew 15:21-28 is a story of Jesus’ encounter with a Samaritan woman. He looks into her heart and hears her deep faith and grants her her request. He ignores her demographic – female, Samaritan – and sees her true self. Jesus does the same with us. And expects us to do the same with others.