The day I have been dreading is upon us! How do I explain the gospel for this week to todays congregation?
How do I try to break this message down! "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven!"
When I was first ordained I used to joke with the people in the next village along the lines of.."Its just as well I'm preaching to you lot ...there could be a problem in the next village. "
And then I got married and went to live in the next village...
But this is still the first time that I have actually been preaching at my nearest church on this particular gospel reading ....the day has finally come...
In this beautiful place it is a joke that everyone who lives here is a millionaire. Obviously not me...but most are...or very rich anyway...so today I will gaze around at faces I know well and tell them that none of us qualifies for a place in heaven and I include myself in that statement!
This is a hard one....I might have to go back to the law of Moses again but I think the Ten Commandments are not going to help much here...
The best I have managed so far is to substitute " Do as you would be done by" in the place of all those "Shall nots"
I can exhort as much as I like but no ones going to give everything they have to the poor , not even me...so the words will have a hollow ring to them I'm afraid....
I don't like sounding either holier than thou or hypocritical so my sermon for this morning could be either very short or much too long if I try to over explain it!
Please don't feel the need to give me a solution...it will only muddy the water and anyway by the time I read it the sermon will be over!
5 comments:
Good luck with that. Rather you than me.
The worst I have had to do was to try and teach a recalcitrant group of teenagers in an RE lesson (I'm an agnostic scientist by the way! ) The difference between 'Right' and 'Good' !!!!!
It went better than it might! One person said she wanted to clap but it wasn't really appropriate in church!
Good for you :-)
If you have seen it, I used the start of the film 'Vertical Limit' where father son and daughter climbers end up hang in from a fixing slipping under the weight. Father at lower end makes son in middle to cut rope holding father, killing him, but saving brother and sister.
Not a good thing to kill your father, but in this vase, the right thing to do.
The class got it !!! :-) :-) :-)
Oops for vase, read case!!
With regard to the rich, the dangers are pride in one's self sufficiency (who needs God?) and contempt for others. Spiderman has it: "With great power..." as does the Book of Proverbs (30:7-9)
Post a Comment