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10:30 am Worship

Due to Breakfast Church we will not be recording our service Sunday, June 29th. We will be back online next week. 

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Luke 22: 24-27

²⁴ A dispute also arose among them as to which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest. ²⁵But he said to them, ‘The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors. ²⁶But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves. ²⁷For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

An old Zen tale.

A man bought his son a horse. The neighbors said, “What a fine horse.” It will be good for the boy. The Zen master said, “We shall see.” Then, the horse threw the boy off, breaking his leg. The neighbors said, “What a tragedy for the boy to be hurt.” The Zen master said, “We shall see.” Then, the nation went to war, and all the young men had to offer their lives in service, but the young man was unable to go. “How lucky you are,” the neighbors said, “that your son alone among our children is protected from war.”

The Zen master said, “We shall see.”

Christianity imposes a strange burden on those who embrace it. A difficult task. Our faith requires us to look backward and forward at the same time. We must remember all which has happened in order that we might see what might happen again.

All the tales of the Bible embrace an understanding similar to that in the old Zen tale. What seems to be bad may turn out for the good and vice versa. When Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt, it ended with him being the most powerful man in the land. When Egypt offered respite to his father and brothers in time of famine, it ended with Israel enslaved. Follow all the old tales and see if it isn’t true. Examine all the heroes of Scripture and see if it isn’t true. Samson. David. The disciples. Paul.

Again and again, as we reread the ancient religious histories, we see how our knowledge of that which is good and that which is bad fails us. We can see the disastrous consequence of allowing emotion and desire to rule the moment. I am reminded of Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “If.” Listen to a portion of it:

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the will which said to them: “Hold on;”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings – nor lose the common touch;

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

If all count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty second’s worth of distance run –

Yours is the earth and everything that’s in it,

And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!

The people who followed Jesus argued among themselves about who was greatest, and Jesus told them instead to make themselves lowest. Make this your lodestar, he advised, and not that which seems real but isn’t. This too is present in all the stories. Those who served experienced good times and bad, much like everyone else, but they also received the fullness of life itself. Those who prized only the good stumbled their way into disaster.

We can look back and see the truth.

We can look at the present and see it unfolding yet again.

We can look ahead and see the disastrous consequence of wrong choices.

We must do it all at once.

Hymn of the day: Be Thou Humble. Online at Rossford UMC - Media.

Rev. Lawrence Keeler