Luke 5:1-11

1 One day while Jesus was standing beside Lake Galilee, many people were pressing all around him to hear the word of God.2 Jesus saw two boats at the shore of the lake. The fishermen had left them and were washing their nets.3 Jesus got into one of the boats, the one that belonged to Simon, and asked him to push off a little from the land. Then Jesus sat down and continued to teach the people from the boat.

4 When Jesus had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Take the boat into deep water, and put your nets in the water to catch some fish."

5 Simon answered, "Master, we worked hard all night trying to catch fish, and we caught nothing. But you say to put the nets in the water, so I will."6 When the fishermen did as Jesus told them, they caught so many fish that the nets began to break.7 They called to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came and filled both boats so full that they were almost sinking.

8 When Simon Peter saw what had happened, he bowed down before Jesus and said, "Go away from me, Lord. I am a sinful man!"9 He and the other fishermen were amazed at the many fish they caught, as were 10 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners.

Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid. From now on you will fish for people." 11 When the men brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed Jesus.

Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 20th century

Luke 4:21-30

21 He began to say to them, "While you heard these words just now, they were coming true!"

22 All the people spoke well of Jesus and were amazed at the words of grace he spoke. They asked, "Isn't this Joseph's son?"

23 Jesus said to them, "I know that you will tell me the old saying: 'Doctor, heal yourself.' You want to say, 'We heard about the things you did in Capernaum. Do those things here in your own town!' " 24 Then Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, a prophet is not accepted in his hometown. 25 But I tell you the truth, there were many widows in Israel during the time of Elijah. It did not rain in Israel for three and one-half years, and there was no food anywhere in the whole country.26 But Elijah was sent to none of those widows, only to a widow in Zarephath, a town in Sidon. 27 And there were many with skin diseases living in Israel during the time of the prophet Elisha. But none of them were healed, only Naaman, who was from the country of Syria."

28 When all the people in the synagogue heard these things, they became very angry.29 They got up, forced Jesus out of town, and took him to the edge of the cliff on which the town was built. They planned to throw him off the edge,30 but Jesus walked through the crowd and went on his way.

This is the big lie the world tells us: that the universe is connected by trade agreements, electronic banking, computer networks, shipping lanes, and the seeking of profit—nothing else. Whereas this is the truth of God: all creation is one holy web of relationships, and gifts meant for all; that creation vibrates with the pain of all its parts, because its true destiny is joy.

Julie Polter, 20th century

Too Icy for Scripture and Coffee!

Luke 4:14-21

14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Holy Spirit, and stories about him spread all through the area.15 He began to teach in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

16 Jesus traveled to Nazareth, where he had grown up. On the Sabbath day he went to the synagogue, as he always did, and stood up to read. 17 The book of Isaiah the prophet was given to him. He opened the book and found the place where this is written:

18 "The Lord has put his Spirit in me,

because he appointed me to tell the Good News to the poor.

He has sent me to tell the captives they are free

and to tell the blind that they can see again. — Isaiah 61:1

God sent me to free those who have been treated unfairly — Isaiah 58:6

19 and to announce the time when the Lord will show his kindness." — Isaiah 61:2

20 Jesus closed the book, gave it back to the assistant, and sat down. Everyone in the synagogue was watching Jesus closely. 21 He began to say to them, "While you heard these words just now, they were coming true!"

The lack of material well-being among the poor reflects a lack of spiritual well-being among the rest.

William Sloane Coffin, 20th century

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

1My friends, you asked me about spiritual gifts. 2I want you to remember that before you became followers of the Lord, you were led in all the wrong ways by idols that cannot even talk. 3Now I want you to know that if you are led by God's Spirit, you will say that Jesus is Lord, and you will never curse Jesus.

4There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but they all come from the same Spirit. 5There are different ways to serve the same Lord, 6and we can each do different things. Yet the same God works in all of us and helps us in everything we do.

7The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others. 8Some of us can speak with wisdom, while others can speak with knowledge, but these gifts come from the same Spirit. 9To others the Spirit has given great faith or the power to heal the sick 10or the power to work mighty miracles. Some of us are prophets, and some of us recognize when God's Spirit is present. Others can speak different kinds of languages, and still others can tell what these languages mean. 11But it is the Spirit who does all this and decides which gifts to give to each of us.

When I die, God isn't going to ask me "Did I create the Earth in six days or five days?" but "What did you do with what I gave you?"

Richard Cizik, National Association of Evangelicals, 21st century

Luke 3:15-17; 21-22

15The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ. 16John answered them all, "I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 17His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

21When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."

Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy.

Abraham Joshua Heschel, 20th century

Have you read Marilynne Robinson's book, Giliad? If not, here is a great passage that speaks to this week's reading...I like the conclusion...

The narrator of the book is an elderly minister who knows he's about to die after a long and steady but fairly quiet life as a pastor. He is writing to his young son, the child of a late-in-life marriage to a much younger woman, about things like watching his little boy play in the sprinkler, and a young couple walking in the rain. Water, the stuff of life. But he also tells the story of one of his childhood exploits as a preacher's kid who, with another "PK," decided to baptize a litter of kittens. The boys took this all very seriously, he says, but the mother cat didn't, and she interrupted their little service and took the kittens away right in mid-baptism. When the boy asked his father the pastor "in the most offhand way imaginable what exactly would happen to a cat if one were to, say, baptize it," his father gave him a stern response that the sacraments must always be treated and regarded with the greatest respect. The narrator remembers, "That wasn't really an answer to my question. We did respect the sacraments, but we thought the whole world of those cats. I got his meaning, though, and I did no more baptizing until I was ordained."

Now, at the end of his life and after many years of baptizing the faithful of his flock, the old pastor looks back on the day he baptized the cats: "I still remember," he says, "how those warm little brows felt under the palm of my hand. Everyone has petted a cat, but to touch one like that, with the pure intention of blessing it, is a very different thing. It stays in the mind. For years we would wonder what, from a cosmic viewpoint, we had done to them. It still seems to me to be a real question. There is a reality in blessing, which I take baptism to be, primarily. It doesn't enhance sacredness, but it acknowledges it, and there is a power in that. I have felt it pass through me, so to speak. The sensation is of really knowing a creature, I mean really feeling its mysterious life and your own mysterious life at the same time" (Gilead).

Have a great meeting...when I see you next, I will be much older...is it possible? Thinking of you...Priscilla