06-18-20

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
June 18, 2020
Scripture: Matthew 10:11-14
Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. As you enter the house, greet it. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town.

Thought for the Day: Have you ever heard someone say, “I’m like a duck. Stuff rolls off me like rain.” There are probably people who truly are duck-like, but most of us are not. We can have 10 successes in one day, but the one failure (or negative) is what consumes us, especially as we lay in bed that night. Jesus encouraged us to take our peace with us and shake the dust from our feet as we move on. Some of us might be good at this in one aspect of life, but lousy in another way. For more than a decade, the business world has celebrated failure in the belief that innovation requires failure. But innovation won’t happen if we are unable to move beyond the failure. For Jesus, there was an urgency in sharing the news of the Kingdom of Heaven, and it feels as if Jesus wanted us to move forward when things did not succeed. Doing some evaluation and seeking ways of improving are always good, and I doubt Jesus was opposed to such things. Don’t you think it was the “stuck thing” that Jesus was most concerned about? I am reminded of the parable of the sower who sowed the seeds, but didn’t get frustrated and spend a bunch of time digging the seeds out from the rocks or those near the weeds. In many situations, our task is to sow the seeds of love, and to realize (as Paul will say) that maybe someone else will come along, when we are no longer present, and do the watering and the weeding necessary to see it grow and flourish. Don’t let failures, or even less than stellar moments, consume you. There is work to be done.

Prayer: I am a human, not a duck. Stuff doesn’t always roll off me. Help, Gracious God, especially in those moments when I am too focused on a failure to see the next new thing coming my way. Amen.

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