Words of Welcome

Philippians 3:4b-14 We live in a culture of success.  The more you have and the bigger you build, the better.  Look at sports teams.  The Yankee’s payroll annually stands above 200 million.  They might not always win the World Series, but the owners are willing to pay whatever it costs to win now.  The Dodgers are trying to do the same thing in the National League.  We’ll see if it works out for them.  Or think about Apple.  It’s net worth is greater than that of many countries.  Not only that, but it  currently sits on 137 billion dollars in cash – and growing rapidly.    Jesus points us in a different direction.  For Jesus, life doesn’t consist in an abundance of possessions. Remember the parable he told about the Rich Fool? He told of a man who reaped a huge harvest.  Since his barns couldn’t hold it all, he tore them down and built new ones, so he could sit back and eat, drink, and be merry.   U...

Luke 14:25-33 St. Francis of Assisi was the son of a wealthy cloth merchant, a soldier home from the crusades, and a playboy. He wasn’t what you’d call religious, but one day he had a mystical experience that changed his life. This experience was so profound that he exchanged his life of leisure for a life of poverty and celibacy. And at least in the movie Brother Sun, Sister Moon, he gets so carried away that begins throwing bolts of cloth out the window of his father's business. He changed so drastically that both family and friends thought he’d gone mad. His embarrassed father even locked him in the cellar hoping Francis would come to his senses. When that didn’t work, Francis’ father went to the bishop for help — maybe to have him deprogrammed! The bishop told Francis to either use his family’s fortune wisely or give it up. And that’s what Francis did. He tore off his clothing and renounced his inheritance. As he read through the Gospel of Matthew, he began to hear a call to be...