Jesus and Me ... and the Cats

Mark 9:38-41,50 Listen to this performance of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah.  Did you notice that not everyone is singing or playing the same notes?  In some parts, all the members of the choir are not singing all the same words.  Yet with this diversity of instrumental and vocal voices united by Handel's composition create a powerful harmony.  You know, I think there's a lesson in that for us and for the church. Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah Previously in Mark 9, Jesus chastised the disciples for arguing among themselves about which of them was the greatest of all the disciples.  It what seems like in an attempt to redeem himself and his fellow disciples, John spoke up, saying, "But we did a good thing the other day.  We came across some guy who was casting out evil spirits in your name, and we tried to stop him because he wasn't following us!"  He wasn't following them.  He wasn't one of them.  He wasn't a

Ephesians 4:1-6 “Variety is the very spice of life, That give it all its flavor.”      William Cowper’s poem, “The Task (1785) What I’ve learned in cooking is that a variety of spices will blend together and bring out and enhance the flavor of the basic ingredients of the dish.   Without them, food would be bland, and if we depend on only one of them, that particular seasoning may overpower the taste of the dish.   So too can the life and "flavor" of a local church become if its members are all the same. Diversity in a community of faith is a wonderful spice in the life of a healthy church -- diversity in ages, economic groups, educational levels, ethnicity, life styles, and opinions.   This is why: 1.        Our ideas and beliefs are informed, strengthened and enriched by being in conversations with people who are different than ourselves. 2.        In the church, the Holy Spirit is present and active in our relationships with each other and g

Mark 9:30-37 Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them,  “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”    Mark 9:36-37 (NRSV) It's been said that Jesus came to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."  He often does this by replacing our commonly held world view with a Kingdom of God view which redefines our concepts of things like leadership, power and even hospitality. He certainly does that in today's passage by using an argument among the disciples about who is the greatest among them to show them a new way of looking at greatness, servant hood and the "least among them." How would you define greatness?  Would you use words like "powerful" and "influential?" When the disciples argued among themselves as to which of them was the greatest, perhaps who would be Jesus' s