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Paper Dolls
There is no topic more widely discussed and fretted about in family philanthropy than that of donor intent. Horror stories (both true and fabricated) are floated by institutions and endowments warning parents there is a high likelihood that their children will abandon their values and wishes almost as soon as both parents have been laid to rest. The classic example is that of the Ford Foundation whose trustees, according to the story, were so blatant about diverting from Henry Ford’s instructions that his son resigned from the Board in disgust, claiming the trustees had betrayed their responsibilities by funding causes that would have been abhorrent to his father’s intentions. In…
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Neighbors
Like most of us, I’ve heard the Parable of the Good Samaritan since childhood and one thing has remained constant: the Samaritan has always been presented as a second-class citizen to the Jews. The Samaritan is always the underdog and the object of scorn, derision and even persecution. So naturally, I’ve been trained to think of them as victims who did little to deserve the injustice they suffered. Isn’t the point of the story that it is the people we least expect to be compassionate who reveal our hypocrisy? Isn’t it those who have been demeaned who show us up for who we are? But the Samaritans were not victims.…
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An Open Hand
In the middle of the crippling cold snap in Texas the store manager of the HEB grocery store had to make a decision. With hundreds of anxious shoppers lined up at check-out the lights flickered and then all the power went out. It was clear there were only a few options available. He could order customers to put everything back on the shelves. He could demand they pay in cash or check since the credit card machines no longer worked. His last option was what he chose: Let everyone leave the store with what they had in their carts without paying. One of the customers, Tim Hennessy, described it in…
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The Sower and the Soils: Luke 8
I’m always reluctant to teach a parable. Flannery O’Connor, the great Catholic writer said, “In most English classes the short story has become a kind of literary specimen to be dissected. Every time a story of mine appears in a Freshman anthology, I have a vision of it, with its little organs laid open, like a frog in a bottle. I realize that a certain amount of this what-is-the-significance has to go on, but I think something has gone wrong in the process when, for so many students, the story become simply a problem to be solved, something which you evaporate to get Instant Enlightenment.” Too often we are doing…
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Jesus and Simon the Pharisee
Our story opens with Jesus being invited to have dinner with Simon and his friends. It must have been a mixture of curiosity and a court trial on their part. It was not hospitality or an invitation of a friend to dinner. They showed none of the common courtesies they would have to him. Had he been a celebrity they would have fallen over themselves making him feel welcome. But they invite him to dinner to examine him – not to welcome or include him. He’s been upsetting too many people and disturbing the peace that they so carefully control. It might be that a word of warning or common…
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Faith, Focus and Fame in Luke
This morning we are going to look at faith, focus and fame in the book of Luke. 1. Faith is not always the same The Paralytic: Luke 5 It is the faith of his friends. The widow with the dead son: Luke 7 No mention of faith at all. His heart was touched. The man with the withered hand: Luke 6 No mention of faith but a rebuke to the Pharisees. The man with leprosy: Luke 5 “Lord, if you are willing.” It’s almost a question. But in these next cases there are even more expressions of faith. The faith of the centurion – Luke 7:1-10. This is a man…
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Late Night on a Long Drive
As a boy I did not have much time alone with my father. The best opportunities came late at night on long car trips while the rest of the family slept. Dad loved driving in silence alone with his thoughts. But, sometimes when it felt right, I would lean over the front seat and ask a question. On that evening I remember even now I said, “Dad, what do you want me to be?” I suppose every boy wants to hear his father answer that question and it was especially true for me that night. At first, I thought he did not hear me because the pause was so long…
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Three Stories: Luke 5:17-6:11
This morning we are looking at three stories: Jesus healing the paralytic, Jesus going to dinner with Levi and Jesus breaking the Sabbath laws. All three of them have something in common and that is why we are looking at them together. They all are stories about Jesus intentionally breaking the norms. They are stories about the threat Jesus represents to not only the established traditions but to the core identity of Judaism. They are stories that show us how quickly Jesus moves from people being amazed at his gracious words in the synagogue to the leaders anxiously and furiously talking among themselves about how to deal with a now…
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The Good Samaritan
Last week we talked about the temptation to discover secret meanings in the parables and read them as mysteries instead of reading them for what they are. They are stories that speak to the part of our minds and hearts that are not reached by proclamations and straight facts. They are torpedoes and not missiles. Until now, I had never thought about the title given to this parable. But this week I started wondering why it has been labeled “The Good Samaritan”. Jesus doesn’t call it that and there is no mention of the word good in the parable itself. I think whoever later came up with that phrase must…
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Calling Of The First Disciples: Luke 5
Luke 5:1-11 Context 4:13-21 The passage is part of a larger passage which is not just about the preaching of good news and personal salvation. It is far more than that. Isaiah 61:4-9 It is about national restoration and prominence. A day of justice and vengeance. A time for the rebuilding of the national esteem and release from the captivity of an oppressive enemy. 4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. 5 Strangers will shepherd your flocks; foreigners will work your fields and vineyards. 6 And you will be called priests of the LORD, you…
