… for the week of March 23, 2025
We Have Choices
We have choices, right? Obviously. There’s little question about that; it’s a fact. Many of these choices are piled and piling up in the lockboxes of our upbringing and experiences, of our moral certainties, religious convictions, political opinions, or economic maneuverings. We make choices about our educational endeavors, vocational callings, use of our days and years, relationship commitments, dietary habits, travel destinations, color coordination, hairstyles, sexual behaviors, EV or gas, whole or skim, movie or book. All these choices—be they monumental or minuscule, automatic or sleep-depriving, public or private, frivolous or practical, courageous or cowardly—we shuffle, sort, and seal in one envelope or another: one labeled right and one marked wrong, the good envelope and the bad envelope.
Our choices mostly happen like that until for some reason, hard telling what reason, our certainties are disturbed and our absolutes begin to rattle like loose bolts under the frame of an old truck on a potholed road. It’s what happens when, by mistake or under force, good or bad luck, we discover that broccoli isn’t disgusting, snakes aren’t slimy, the earth isn’t flat, men may love men, more might not be better, aliens need not be strangers, and God’s justice surely demands mercy.
Jesus started tugging at a snag of choices with a parable about a tree, a vineyard, a gardener, a saw, and manure. The tree was a no-hoper (there could be lots of reasons). With not a fig on a limb, if it had been another variety of fruit tree you’d call it a “bad apple.” The choice: saw or donkey dung. Jesus rejects the blade, chooses the excrement.
Martin Luther (liking Latin) said, “Simul justus et peccator,” meaning we are at the same time both saint and sinner. Or as Jesus put it, love those bum branches down to their roots, put your hands in the dirt, and see what fruit they bear.
Devotional message based on the readings for March 23, 2025, reprinted from sundaysandseasons.com.
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… How God Loves Us – Devotion
In a world where love often feels conditional and fleeting, God’s love stands apart—unearned, unchanging, and undeserved. This short booklet explores what Scripture teaches about the depth, certainty, and reality of God’s love for sinners.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GtBkKm8DiATB71cEUqyK_ajxL_twqUVM/view?usp=sharing
… The Lord’s Prayer During Lent
The Lord’s Prayer During Lent explores the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer with reflections on faith, repentance, and God’s grace. Hopefully this booklet helps you meditate on the depth of God’s promises, strengthens your faith, and points you to the cross.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1slkXGPLXwmbXrasDRhaJW2pSl6rXqug_/view?usp=sharing