25 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” 

Sometimes we forget that we are still carrying the same loads now as before we committed our lives to Christ. The invite came your way to join Christ in what he is doing in the world and you climbed aboard the wagon but forgot to set your burdens down. The burdens of doing the right things for God to love you or keeping the deal with God so that one thing of importance in your life does not fail. 

We forget that we are fully loved by God. We foolishly believe that the things in life will bring contentment rather than fully knowing God and finding His contentment in the shortcomings of life. Part of the curse of sin is the constant striving and struggles of things not giving us full contentment. 

I have known people who have traded in their brand new kitchens for better ones and others who have traded in brand new hundred thousand dollar motorhomes custom built for better ones. The “dream come true” failed to deliver what was promised and expected. 

Life with Jesus is easy if we are willing to trade in our false hopes for an eternal hope. We must be willing to let everything go to find everything we need that provides peace in our lives. Peace is what Jesus speaks about when he says his yoke is easy. He fills the void that all the other burdens of life fail to promise. 

Pastor Aaron

“A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I command?  I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, listens to my words, and acts on them.  That one is like a person building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when the flood came, the river burst against that house but could not shake it because it had been well built.  But the one who listens and does not act is like a person who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, it collapsed at once and was completely destroyed.”

The image of a solid home that will not be wrecked by a flood is another common every day image to which the listener can relate.  I would argue that even in our time and context we can relate to this image.  Our faith is the home built on sturdy rock.  From that foundation and within that home we grow a heart capable of producing good fruit.  

Perhaps we can look at this lent as a growing season and work to produce good fruits of love, humility, mercy and kindness into our circles of influence with our friends and our foes.  It might be difficult, but as St. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:58 we must be firm, steadfast and dedicated to the work of the Lord knowing that when we do the Lord’s work, we are not laboring in vain.

Cecilia Carroll 

 “A good tree does not bear rotten fruit,

nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit.

For every tree is known by its own fruit.

For people do not pick figs from thorn bushes,

nor do they gather grapes from brambles.”

The Lord is using the same imagery as the prophets of the Old Testament to make a point. The people to whom the Lord is speaking would be very familiar with caring for fruit producing trees and picking only the good fruit to eat, make into wine or olive oil. 

If we can agree with the premise that we are fruit, the next step is to inspect ourselves with the same care we inspect actual produce before purchasing.  

These were the questions that came to me when meditating on this passage:

Do I have blemishes or rotten spots that need attention? 

Am I feeding myself with good nutrients to grow in my capacity to live a life conformed to the Lord?

Spoiler alert, tomorrow, we finish the Sermon on the Plain and use St. Paul to give us a model to become “A good tree producing good fruit.”

Cecilia Carroll

 “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. 

Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap.  For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you. 

And he told them a parable, “Can a blind person guide a blind person?  Will not both fall into a pit?  No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher.  

Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?  How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’ when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.

When I try to boil this down so that I can incorporate this teaching into my life, I come up with one word: “Empathy.”  A kind and empathetic heart will see God’s creation in the other person.  Recognizing the other as belonging to God, helps us to want to extend mercy and love to that person.  It helps us not to judge from a hypocritical place.  After all, we each have great big planks in our eyes at times, don’t we?

Cecilia Carroll

How ready are we to listen?  Are we truly open to the demands of living a Christian life?  Jesus is not making a political statement, he is not commenting on the justice system of his time.  He is simply (or not so simply) giving us our mission.  If we call ourselves Christian, we need to become more “Christ-like.”  Some of Jesus’ last words: “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do,” are about love.  Love is not transactional.  It is freely given.  We have to choose to accept it, and accepting that love comes with challenges and responsibilities.  What are those responsibilities?  Let’s look at what St. Luke writes:

“Love your enemies and do good to them,
and lend expecting nothing back;
then your reward will be great
and you will be children of the Most High,
for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”  St. Matthew says “be perfect as your Father is perfect,” but St. Luke uses “merciful.”  I like merciful; love and mercy go together in my mind.  God’s love and mercy are available to all who would seek them (to all who “hear”), and if we seek God’s love and mercy, we must be willing to extend those graces to others, even our “enemies.”

I always use the weeks preceding Easter as a time to examine where I am in my faith journey.  I try to take consistent time to examine my everyday life, look for ways to deepen my relationship with the Lord, and to strive to live the life I am expected to as Christian.  That seems like a tall order for 40 days and some years, I am more successful than others.  This year, I find myself very attracted to Chapter 6 in the Gospel of St. Luke, the so called “Sermon on the Plain”. (Luke 6: 20 – 49). 

 This is St. Luke’s presentation of the Beatitudes. They are very similar to St. Matthew, but one stark difference is the addition of what is called “The Woes.”  Let’s read through the Beatitudes and the Woes:

“Blessed are you who are poor,
    for the kingdom of God is yours.

 Blessed are you who are now hungry,
    for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who are now weeping,
    for you will laugh.
 Blessed are you when people hate you,
    and when they exclude and insult you,
    and denounce your name as evil
    on account of the Son of Man.

 Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.

 But woe to you who are rich,
    for you have received your consolation.
 But woe to you who are filled now,
    for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
    for you will grieve and weep.
 Woe to you when all speak well of you,
    for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.

Jesus is not castigating those who have economic success and security simply for having that success. He is not teaching that we have to give up all material things and live in poverty.  Jesus is reminding us of the virtues and values of God’s kingdom and warning us not to invest only in the values of the world.  

Contemplating this passage led me to these questions.  I’ll leave them for your consideration.

1. What are the “Woes” in my life that keep me from focusing on the virtues and values of God’s Kingdom? 
2. What can I do during my 2025 Lenten Journey to invest more time, talent and treasure in pursing the values of God’s kingdom in the here and now?

If we dive into the Bible, it has a very different meaning for someone who is a follower. The Greek word translated as “disciple” comes from the verb that means “to learn.” That means disciples are learners, students, or pupils who spend their time and resources learning, studying, and training. Disciples strive to adhere to the teachings of another, meaning they willingly submit to the instruction and guidance of whom they have chosen to follow.

In Luke 9:23-25, Jesus presents deliberate actions to signify you are putting forth the effort to demonstrate you have a relationship with Him – that you are His follower: “Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?”

Giving up our own way does not come naturally to us. Jesus knows this about us, but He still says this action is part of following Him. Although followers of Jesus often wear cross jewelry and t-shirts, the cross signifies a death instrument. When Jesus instructs us to take up our cross daily, He means we willingly put to death those things that would take us away from following Him that day. 

Being a disciple is not a one-and-done kind of deal. We choose to commit our lives to Him, and then we must spend the rest of our lives choosing to follow Him because following Jesus is a choice we make every day. I know the influencer that I am choosing to follow – do you know yours?

Kim Jewell

Here are 10 facts you may or may not have known about the man behind the upcoming holiday:

1. He was English born by the name, Maewyn Succat. He chose the name “Patricius” or “Patrick” after becoming a priest as it means “Father.”
2. He was caught and enslaved as a young teenager. His master took him to Ireland, and he cared for sheep and other livestock. 
3. He eventually escaped and returned to the UK where he joined a monastery just outside of France and eventually became a Bishop.
4. He returned to Ireland in 432 as a missionary, where he played a major role in converting the Irish to Christianity. After his death, he was named Ireland’s patron saint.
5. Legend has it that he chased all the snakes out of Ireland, BUT there were never any snakes to chase out. It is possible that it became a metaphor for chasing out paganism from Ireland.
6. His original color was BLUE not green, but green is a significant color in Ireland so it eventually switched for the holiday as it became more culturally focused than person focused.
7. There are two written works in Latin that are generally accepted as having been written by St. Patrick. The first is called ‘Confessio’ or ‘The Declaration’ in English. This piece was an autobiographical work about his life and his missionary work. This is where we get most of our information about St. Patrick from today. The second piece is called ‘Epistola’ or ‘Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus’, which also includes facts about his life, but in a less biographical form.
8. St. Patrick utilized the SHAMROCK as an example of the Holy Trinity and popularized it as a symbol of Ireland.
9. We celebrate him on the day of his death, March 17.
10. He has a very famous prayer called The Breastplate: A Prayer of Protection

Why do we need to know these things? First of all, it’s important to give honor where honor is due. We are losing the art of respecting and celebrating those who go before us. Hebrews 11 is the ultimate hall of honor and faith. Not only do we need to honor those who have paved the way for our works to flourish, we have to remember them so that we are in turn encouraged to keep moving forward. God constantly challenges his children to remember, to pass on the stories, and to never forget so that they stay focused on him and choose his ways. This need to remember is still true today. Finally, stories like St. Patrick encourage us to choose obedience and sacrifice for the glory of God. Not only did he serve God, he went back to his place of slavery to tell the people who harmed him about the love and grace of Jesus! This is the kind of Christian I long to be!

Let’s wrap up today’s thoughts with the final paragraph of St. Patrick’s prayer: “Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.”

Kim Jewell

One of my personal favorite books of the Bible is the book of Joshua. There is just something about the battles, the victories, the losses, and the challenges that grip me. Whenever Israel obeyed, they had great victory because God did the work; but when they didn’t inquire of the Lord or didn’t obey his battle plan, the enemy won. Again, it boils down to choice!

When you have a decision to make, do you pray first or do you make the decision and ask God to bless it after? When God says to go right, do you follow or do you go left? When God asks you to share your faith with someone, do you choose the zeal of sharing his love or do you choose the fear of stepping out and remain quiet?

I think one of the key ways we can continually choose God is to REMEMBER. Joshua gathers all of Israel at Shechem and reminds them of their history. He reminds them how God brought them out of Egypt; how God lead by a pillar of fire or by cloud; how God provided manna, quail and water; how God is the one who fought and won the battles for the promised land. He reminds them to build their faith and help them confidently make the choice to always follow God!

When we have walked in faith for so long, sometimes we don’t even realize our complacency. We forget to find God in the mundane things of life; we decline to give him the honor he is due when good things happen; we may slowly choose the fears, doubts, idols that the world is throwing at us. My encouragement to us today is wake up! 

Let God rekindle any flame that seems to be dimming so we move from being lukewarm to burning hot for Jesus! Revelation 3:15-16 warns us against being stuck in the middle, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”

Make your choice today! Lord, burn like a fire in our hearts! Remind us who you are, what you have done, and who we are in you. You are worthy to be praised! Ignite a passion for Jesus, the Bible, the Church and for Others deep within us! In your holy name we pray, Amen!