paying for leadership

Good afternoon sisters and brothers,
In today's reading Paul talks about the ways the church supports leaders. In those days it seems some traveling teachers received financial support from the church so they could devote themselves to teaching and evangelism. Paul reminds the Corinthian congregation of that "right" to support that apostles have. We'll see that he goes on from there to talk about why he doesn't used that right. Supporting professional leadership in the church is going to take some creativity in the next twenty years. In some ways Laurelton is ahead of the curve on that; we'll talk more tomorrow.
God bless,
Sam

1 Corinthians 9:1-12

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? ²If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

3 This is my defence to those who would examine me. ⁴Do we not have the right to our food and drink? ⁵Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? ⁶Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? ⁷Who at any time pays the expenses for doing military service? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not get any of its milk?

8 Do I say this on human authority? Does not the law also say the same? ⁹For it is written in the law of Moses, ‘You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.’ Is it for oxen that God is concerned? ¹⁰Or does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was indeed written for our sake, for whoever ploughs should plough in hope and whoever threshes should thresh in hope of a share in the crop. ¹¹If we have sown spiritual good among you, is it too much if we reap your material benefits? ¹²If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we still more?

faithfulness

Good afternoon friends,
Today reading is a reminder that money is part of how we show our faithfulness to God. It is not God, nor is it the most important thing in life.

What do we do with our anxiety?

God bless,
Sam

Luke 16:10-18

¹⁰“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. ¹¹If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? ¹²And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? ¹³No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” 

¹⁴The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they ridiculed him. ¹⁵So he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others; but God knows your hearts; for what is prized by human beings is an abomination in the sight of God. ¹⁶“The law and the prophets were in effect until John came; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and everyone tries to enter it by force. ¹⁷But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one stroke of a letter in the law to be dropped. ¹⁸“Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.

remembering our gifts

Good morning sisters and brothers,
This week we're focusing on money and our anxiety about having enough. Our passage today is part of Moses' farewell sermons as he prepares the Israelites for their new life without him in the promised land. He knows that having enough can be dangerous spiritually, because we often give ourselves the credit. He tells them to remember that that everything they have comes from God. That's always a good thing for us to remember. Even though we work hard for what we have, it comes from God, who gives us the strength and ability to work. We tend to worry about having enough, but God calls us to be grateful for what we have. That's a good place to start.

God bless,
Sam

Deuteronomy 8:12-18

¹²When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them, ¹³and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, ¹⁴then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, ¹⁵who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, an arid wasteland with poisonous snakes and scorpions. He made water flow for you from flint rock, ¹⁶and fed you in the wilderness with manna that your ancestors did not know, to humble you and to test you, and in the end to do you good. ¹⁷Do not say to yourself, “My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.” ¹⁸But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he is doing today.

money changers and children

Good morning brothers and sisters,
I'd like to remind you that after worship on Sunday we will be meeting to talk about possibilities for youth ministry at Laurelton. I hope you can make it since this is an important conversation for all of us.

In this passage Jesus cleanses the temple of those who sold items for worship. The "money changers" were people who exchanged the money people used every day with Caesar's picture on it for approved coins that could be contributed to the temple. The Roman money had an image of a person on it and so was not permitted to be given to the temple. The role of money in our faith is often touchy, but Jesus talks about money more than almost any other topic, so we are called to consider it carefully.

God bless,
Sam

Matthew 21:12-17

12Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a den of robbers.” 14The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them. 15But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he did, and heard the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became angry 16and said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself’?” 17He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.