God’s light has entered into the world (John 1:1-18). We are not the light. We are witnesses to that light. We are called to reflect the light in all that we are and do. Take some time to share the light of God/the light of Christ with someone who most needs to hear that word of wonder and love.

When the paper and gifts are all unwrapped; when the house has settled back a bit to what we now term normal; when the guests are gone and places around us are somewhat still, take time to give thanks to God for all the grand gifts God has showered upon us, near and far.

What would it be like, if God’s messenger were to come to you and declare that God’s own holiness was to be born in you and take the shape of a human being who would save the world? What would you say? How would you react? Fortunately for all of us, when God’s messenger approached Mary with the news of a savior to be born in her, she said yes. What would the world be like, if we were to say yes to God’s life being born in us? Take the time this week to consider the life that God has given you and the wondrous things that can be born in you, in and through God’s grace.

This Servant Song in the book of Isaiah (Isaiah 61:1-4) describes a person who will rebuild the ruins of God’s holy place into a setting of justice and grace for the oppressed and downtrodden. The old ways are done for; the new ways of God will be to provide a place of blessing for those who formally had no hope. May we take the time to celebrate the advent of this gracious reality: God in our midst.

God’s people had been waiting for hundreds of years for the Messiah, when some wild guy shows up in the wilderness, described in Mark 1:6 as ‘clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist.’ While this description is not so meaningful to us, God’s people around the Jordan River would have identified that strange person as none other than Elijah (II Kings 1:8), the messiah’s forerunner. John was pointing, not to himself, but to one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. May God’s life, grace, and Holy Spirit power appear among us this season.

The church year begins this coming Sunday, in Advent. When our hemisphere is bracing for another winter, God asks us to be ready. When cuddling sleepily in covers seems more attractive, God asks us to keep awake and stay alert. When we prepare for Christmas, God asks us to prepare for another arrival. Whenever a guest comes unexpectedly to my door, I rush around the rooms, straitening up as best I can, making the place hospitable, at least for a time. In distinction, when I know company is coming, I have a better plan for how to prepare and be ready when my guests arrive. What measures shall we take this week, to prepare for Jesus’ arrival in our midst? How will we respond, when Jesus appears in the face of our neighbor in need?

In this Gospel passage (Matthew 25:21-46), we are reminded of God’s abiding love for the poor and God’s undeterred command for us to care for the poor. A few decades ago, people were worried that some poor people were taking advantage of the U.S.’s welfare system, and so began to describe these cheaters as the undeserving poor. This sadly led to an expansion of this notion to indicate poor people generally as negligent or undeserving of our attention and compassion. Nowhere in the Bible do we see any indication that God’s or Jesus’ dedication to helping the poor had any restraints. As Christians, we are called to care for the poor as if they were Christ in our midst. The person who leads us to this conclusion is none other than Jesus in today’s passage. May we go out and look for Christ in the world wherever we go.

This coming week’s Gospel passage (Matthew 25:14-30) reminds us that we each have talents and that we are asked to use them wisely. Talents are not evenly distributed. Instead, we are each asked to manage wisely what we have been given and not worry about how many or few we have. How does one determine one’s gifts or talents? Some of them are natural and obvious, even to ourselves. Others need to be exercised or developed. Still others are learned entirely. With some gifts, others can see them in us and will help us recognize and develop them. This week, consider your own talents; think about other neighbors who have real or hidden talents, and encourage them to use them; be prepared to teach; be ready as well for advice from others to you about how you might exercise underused or undiscovered gifts. The more we do this as a community, the better we will reflect the love of God in this world.

The scout motto for girls and boys is “Be Prepared.” This is a helpful reminder that life routinely throws us curves and puts us into situations where our usual skills are insufficient. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, many of us were unprepared, even though scientists knew something like was likely. Leaders in particular were warned in advance of this pandemic. Those countries with wise leaders took immediate steps to lessen the impact on the citizenry where they served. In contrast, dictators like Putin and his ilk saw only to their own interests and fears, strangely thinking that responsible actions might somehow incite panic. They thus hid the enormous impact of the disease from their people, with disastrous results. Jesus reminds us here (in Matthew 15:1-13) to be ready, not unprepared; to be forthright and not afraid. May we all be ready to receive what comes our way, confident in God’s care: that God’s hand is leading us and God’s love supporting us.

On the first Sunday in November, we celebrate All Saints’ Sunday. This means a number of things. One, we are each and all saints, because of what God has done for us in Christ Jesus. Our sainthood thus has more to do with who God is and does than who we are or what we have done. God covers us in Jesus Christ’s holiness and blessedness. Two, we especially name those who have died this past year, since the last All Saints’ Sunday. This day is set aside as a conscious remembrance of and time to honor those departed friends and family members. Furthermore, we expand the remembrance and honor to include all those people we know who have died before us. The communion of saints comprises all those who believe in the Lord Jesus, from every time and every place. Thus, even on this small Island we remember and honor a great cloud of witnesses. Take the time to lift up, remember, and give thanks for the saints in your life, living and dead, knowing that we are together in Christ Jesus, this day and forever.

This coming Sunday, Lutherans go off the regular lessons to consider Reformation Sunday, that time in 1517 when Martin Luther invited public discussion on some ideas concerning Scriptural and church authority. He started it off with a bang by declaring: “When our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ said (as for example in the Gospel of Mark), ‘Repent, and believe in the Gospel,’ he intended the entire life of the believer to be one of repentance.” What became so upsetting to the established church at the time was that Luther questioned the Church’s right to sole possession of God’s authority and power. God’s power belongs to God. When we are faithful in the church, we reflect that power and share that authority with all who need to hear God’s word. May we do so, with gratitude and energy, this day and always.

You know things are heating up for Jesus when two warring religious groups the Pharisees and the Herodians agree to unite together against Jesus (Matthew 22:15-22). In a lesson we looked at three weeks ago (Matthew 21:25-27), Jesus asked an incriminating question of the chief priests. So, trying to turn the tables on Jesus, the officials ask Jesus a question about taxes, figuring if he said you need not pay taxes, they would get on him for being an insurrectionist. If he went along with taxes, he would be accused of being a Roman collaborator. So, win-win against Jesus. Jesus instead asked about the writing and inscription on the coin. Whose is that? “Well, Caesar’s,” they replied. So, Jesus replied, give that stuff to Caesar. Then, with everything that has God’s name and likeness on it, give that to God. As you look around at the beautiful fall on this gorgeous Island, I hope that you will be filled with the wonder of all that God has created and the panoply of beauty that surrounds us. Then, with a grateful heart, find ways to give thanks to God that involve reaching out to others.

In this parable (Matthew 22:1-14), when the invited guests did not attend the wedding banquet, folks were sent throughout the countryside, to the very outskirts of that place, in order to fill the wedding banquet with guests. God’s love extends to all of humanity, far beyond the few people we imagine would be worthy, to include all humans, wherever they might be and however they might choose to live. This day, be grateful that God’s invitation in Christ Jesus extends to you and me, and seek to find ways to expand that invitation to enter into God’s love to all people everywhere.

Jesus is sharpening his arguments against the religious leaders, clergy and non-clergy alike. Jesus spoke in parables, this one describing unworthy tenants who disrespected everything that the owner stood for, to the point of killing the owner’s son. When someone disrespects an institution so baldly, they have no right to continue in that place. They must be replaced at the earliest opportunity, forever banished from representing the owner ever again. This is why people rise up to oppose such leaders as Vladimir Putin, because they are despicable people, interested only in themselves. Jesus reminds us that God returns to us, again and again, with entreaties to be generous and compassionate, especially to the poor, because God wills that all should know Christ’s love. Take a moment to thank God for the compassionate love of Christ which keeps us mindful of those most in need, near and far, today and forever.

So, Jesus has been teaching with authority for some time, unlike the professional clergy and other religious officials. Jesus has received a following and now an opposition, who challenge his authority. Jesus demonstrates their reluctance to speak openly by posing them a question about John’s authority and godliness. Jesus’ opponents won’t talk about John the Baptizer for fear of either agreeing with Jesus or displeasing the crowds. For Jesus, the point is to speak the Word of God, no matter what people think. Those who need to hear of the mercy and grace of God will flock to that word, because it is like water in the desert, like sunshine after a week of cloudy days. We are called to hear the word of God and follow. What is God nudging you to do and be this day, this week, this year?

The book of Jonah in the Hebrew Scriptures is a bit of a gas. Jonah is called by God to go into Nineveh, and declare that God will destroy the city, due to their wickedness. Jonah first runs as far from Nineveh, – and presumably from God – as he can, heading east, whereas God asked him to go west. Jonah gets shipwrecked and swallowed by a huge fish, who after a few days pukes him up on shore, whereupon God speaks to him a second time, wondering if perhaps Jonah would now care to do what God asked him to do in the first place, which he then does. Jonah goes to Nineveh, and preaches a wonder of declaration, speaking so convincingly that the king of Nineveh changes his ways and declares a city-wide fast of repentance. The repentance impresses God, who declares to Jonah: Tell the citizens of Nineveh that I changed my mind. I won’t destroy them after all. And Jonah, instead of being ecstatic, goes into a funk, complaining that he KNEW God would repent and be merciful. That was his complaint: that God was abounding in steadfast love and mercy! Anyway, God – instead of ditching Jonah to his own foolish, crabby heart, spent the rest of the verses of the book of Jonah, trying to show Jonah how being merciful and generous was a good thing, even when it meant that Jonah’s prophecy of doom did not come to pass. The book ends with an appeal to Jonah of God being merciful...even to Jonah. We never do hear how Jonah responded. Hopefully, it was with thanksgiving to God. Take some time this week to see where you can be merciful and how you might share the gift of forgiveness.

After hearing about the blessings of reconciliation (in last week’s lesson, Matthew 18:15-20), Peter wondered how often he should forgive someone: “As many as seven times?” he asks, hopefully. This was a nod to Jesus and a disregard of traditional wisdom, which – like ours – held basically to three strikes and you’re out. Jesus’ response to how often does one forgive? Was...a lot. A lot more than you think. A lot more than you can even hope or imagine. One set of manuscripts reads seventy times seven as Jesus’ answer: 490 times. Many modern translations have reduced that to a seemingly more manageable yet still incredible seventy-seven times. (Haver you ever counted that high before you blew your top? Me neither.) Now, if you are in the holds of an abuser or a narcissist, you can get into considerable trouble forgiving like that: all the time, for everything. The type of forgiveness Jesus recommends here makes more sense when we apply it to ourselves of God, who continually forgives us despite our being continually and resolutely, well,...ourselves. God’s love and forgiveness knows no bounds. Thanks be to God for that! This is not the way to rehabilitate abusers. Instead this forgiveness is a marvelous testimony to the abounding grace of a loving God. Bask in God’s forgiveness today, and do what you can to share it, where you are, with people in need of redemption, near and far.

I think it’s funny that the Gospel for this coming week talks about people’s sins and (Matthew 18:15-20) says If another member sins. I don’t know about you, but...even in my most hectic times, in the busiest of days,...I always manage to find some time to sin against my neighbor. God provides other people in our lives to help us be God’s followers, and to help us address God in humility, asking for pardon, forgiveness, and “time for amendment of life,” so that when (not if!) we are sidetracked, we might be set aright and can serve anew. Take the time this week to thank God for the saints in your life that help to orient you toward God.

After confessing that Jesus was the Messiah (Matthew 16:21-28), Peter began to back-track and tried to take Jesus aside and “educate” him into what a proper Messiah should do and be, without all that messy suffering and dying stuff. Jesus would have none of that. He reminded Peter and all his followers that the Messiah must undergo death in order to overcome it. Jesus willingly faced suffering and death so that we might not be afraid or ashamed in the face of death and any other life-wrenching trial. Instead, we are called to face hardships directly, and stand and serve with the oppressed and persecuted everywhere. No one other than Jesus asks this of us. So let us be; so let us go.

When Jesus asked his followers who people thought he was (Matthew 16:13-20), their answers were all over the place. When asked directly, it was Peter who blurted out the truth: that Jesus was God’s Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One of God who would bring the faithful to the kingdom and open up to the cosmos the blessings of God. In what ways does your life and practice reflect the wide and deep mercy of God and the wonders of God’s love?