Persistence Pays?
Where is the parable? Luke 11.5-8
My husband and I don’t have children, but we do have cats. Over our 15 years of marriage we have had seven cats total. Although each of them had their own distinct personality, they all had one thing in common: they knew how to wake us up in the morning. No matter what their past life was like, they all knew that purring very loudly and/or licking our faces would get us out of bed. And they were persistent…and I can’t confirm it, but I would swear that sometimes they would organize a cat tag-team so that they could rest up between rounds of “wake the human.” And we love these creatures. We really do. They bring us joy and comfort. They entertain us. They help us practice patience. They keep us warm in the winter. They are sweet when they want to be! We don’t get up because we love them—this all usually happens at 4 a.m., just a few hours before our alarm was set to go off. We get up because they are persistent and we JUST WANT THEM TO STOP! We are human and they are animals. We love one another, but none of us are God. God loves us in ways that we can’t imagine. Take the way you love your children, your pets, your family, and multiply that by infinity +1. That is the measure of God’s love for us. And though the friend in this parable gives just so the person will go away, Jesus wants us to know that God will go even further—attending to humanity and providing out of love. If flawed and imperfect humans will give to one another, what more will God provide? How can we show others this generous God this Lent?
Rev. Shannon Cook
First Christian Church Norman
Covid-19: School’s Out
As families and congregations consider how they will interact with people in the coming weeks, click here for a good resource from our denomination’s Ministries Across Generations which is based out of Disciples Home Mission in Indianapolis. These are wonderful opportunities to connect with Disciples across the country dealing with the same issues that we are dealing with in Oklahoma. How will we be church during this time and how will help our neighbors through this uncertain time?
Rev. Michael Davison
Christian Church in Oklahoma
Well, isn’t that special!?!
“The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
(Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011)
I am a child of the eighties. I grew up in an era of rampant capitalism. Ronald Reagan and George H W Bush were the presidents. It seemed that the world was after one thing, money. Everytime you turned on the news, tv shows, or movies it was about doing what was the best for you. The term Yuppie was coined for young urban professionals. Business jobs were the best jobs to have, according to the world. The Wall Street Journal reported the recession ended in 1982 and everything was going to be great. One of the most popular sitcoms was “Family Ties” which starred Michael J. Fox as Alex P. Keaton. He played a high school student that was going to be a businessman, and everything he did was to reach that goal. Then there was “Saturday Night Live” and Dana Carvey’s character “The Church Lady”.
Once a week she came into our homes, with her smugness, high pitched voice, and her catch phrase “Well, isn’t that special”, not to mention her dancing, but that is a devotion for another time. At the time I just took it as a funny bit. Sometime in the last few months when I couldn’t sleep I went back and watched those skits over again on YouTube. Being older, I was able to realize the actual satire that was underneath the surface. When I read this parable I hear the Church Lady (in the form of the landowner) when the first workers complain about receiving the same pay as the last workers. The workers may not have thought it was fair, but the landowner had every right to be equitable to his workers, and thank the Most High he did. Don’t get me wrong, we need to work, if we can, to live, but this is not what this story is about. It is about generosity and grace.
The generous gift of grace that was given to us upon the cross, is the same generosity that happened in this story. The same grace is afforded to us, as was that person on the cross next to Jesus. That grace that is given is a wonderful form of unconditional love that the Holy One has for us and everything in creation. On our walk to Golgotha with our Christ let us remember that catch phrase and turn it from satire to a beautiful new meaning. “Well, isn’t that special. Yes, Yes! It is!”
Travis Carlson
First Christian Church Chickasha
