past and future

Good morning sisters and brothers,
Our reading from Luke this morning continues Jesus' discussion of what is important and where our priorities should be. From there Jesus moves on to the need to be ready for the coming of the kingdom. As we've discussed before, the early church expected Christ's return very soon. It's obvious now that that return wasn't right around the corner. At the same time the lesson of this passage still holds true: we don't know when Christ will return, so we always want to be ready. We tend to get complacent about Christ's return: we figure each generation before us has come and gone without the end of the world so we will too. That may be the case and it may not: the Son of Man comes at an unexpected hour. Perhaps more to the point, assuming Christ doesn't return in the next hundred years, each of us will die some day. We don't know when that will happen but we want to be ready for our death by living in accordance with our faith.

Our reading from Hebrews begins a visit to the "heroes of the faith" exhibit. The author of Hebrews (an ancient church leader wrote, "Only God knows" who wrote Hebrews) takes us through several of the famous heroes of the faith to encourage us to live faithfully in our time. May God fill your heart with strength from our past and hope for God's future.

Blessings,
Sam

Luke 12:32-40
32"Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
35"Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; 36be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. 37Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. 38If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.
39"But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour."

*Sunday Hebrews 11:1-7
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. 3By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.
4By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain’s. Through this he received approval as righteous, God himself giving approval to his gifts; he died, but through his faith he still speaks. 5By faith Enoch was taken so that he did not experience death; and “he was not found, because God had taken him.” For it was attested before he was taken away that “he had pleased God.” 6And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 7By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warning and built an ark to save his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that is in accordance with faith.