Woeful Lectionary Omissions

This Sunday's reading from Luke 10:1-11,16-20 is remarkable for the verses that get left out.  Verses 12-15 get the ax probably because Jesus uses very harsh language and that is not the picture of Jesus that the lectionary editors want to present to the Sunday pewsitters.
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10 After this the Lord appointed seventy* others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. 2He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. 3Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. 5Whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace to this house!” 6And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. 7Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the labourer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. 8Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9cure the sick who are there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.”* 10But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11“Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.”*
16 ‘Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.’17 The seventy* returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!’ 18He said to them, ‘I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. 20Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’

So, what were the harsh words Jesus had for those unwelcoming towns, places similar to the Samaritan village that would not receive him and that he refused to bring down fire upon in last Sunday's reading?

12 I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.13 ‘Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But at the judgement it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades.

The average Sunday pewsitter, if read these verses, would probably deny that Jesus was the speaker.

Woe to you, lectionary editors!

National Humility Month: Why Not?

Having just endured the seemingly unending news coverage of "Pride Month" and the media's unintended or intended objective to offend as many Christians as possible, it seems reasonable to propose a couple of possible remedies.

I would first propose a month of repentance. This probably would not work very well because our over-sexualized, iand increasingly atheistic culture sees repentance as a religiously based, oppressive concept that hurts people by inhibiting their free expression of their innermost desires.

Instead, I think July as "Humility Month" would be viewed as a good thing in part because most people are not aware of the religious connotations. Parades would not be held during Humility Month, nor would the humble take to the streets in sack cloth and ashes so that people would pay them any attention. No one will "come out" as humble while giving a valedictorian address. Can you imagine seeing modestly dressed movie and pop stars being photographed at public appearances?

If conducted properly, Humility Month would go by unnoticed, with zero media coverage and no credit given to its humble and lowly creator.

Why not?

Harsh Words, Gentle Inaction

This Sunday's reading from Luke 9:51-62 shows Jesus' infinite patience with those who refuse to receive him, but also his heavy demands placed on his followers,

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set towards Jerusalem. When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’ But he turned and rebuked them. Then they went on to another village.

As they were going along the road, someone said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ To another he said, ‘Follow me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ Another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.’ Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’

 "Let the dead bury their own dead..." I wonder if the person asking permission was from that same Samaritan village that Jesus spared.

"But let me first say farewell to those at my home..." Is it possible that this person too was from the Samaritan village.

Just something to think about.

“I can’t imagine a safer place for families to bring children,” she said of Pride parade

From Huffpost/Canada the wackos are out there defending the nudity and sexual activities at "Pride" parades and they are saying that exposing children to all of this is a good thing,

"Each year, in the blazing sun of the Pride parade in Nelson, B.C., Pega Ren and her two young grandkids seek shade under their spinning rainbow parasols. 
Ren, a semi-retired sex therapist, told HuffPost Canada...'I can’t imagine a safer place for families to bring children,' she said of Pride.Putting on her sex therapist hat, Ren emphasized that Pride, from kink to nakedness, is an excellent opportunity for parents to do unbiased sex education."

A "Pride" is about as safe for children as reading them bedtime stories from "Penthouse" magazine.

"David Rayside, a retired politics and sexual diversity professor at the University of Toronto, told HuffPost Canada.
'Pride has always had a kind of outrageous edge to it. And should we alter that? It is not the Santa Claus parade, and it never was. It shouldn’t be. It can’t be...'”

Sexual diversity professor? Don't send your kids to the University of Toronto.

“...'There is absolutely no reason not to take our kids to Pride — it’s a fun day, there are a lot of bubbles, rainbow streamers and enjoyable performances,' writer, educator, and publisher S. Bear Bergman told HuffPost Canada.
Plus, as queer parents, it’s one of their cultural festivals, added Bergman, who who attends Toronto Pride every year with his kids.
'It’s their right as queer spawn. And as a parent, I might want to take my kids to Pride, because they might be lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer or two-spirit.'"

Queer spawn? The only way they can spawn is to make homosexuality cool to children, fun, and full of rainbows and balloons.

Two-spirit? That;s a new one on me. I had to look it up at Dictionary.com which defines it as,

"Two Spirit is a third gender found in some Native American cultures, often involving birth-assigned men or women taking on the identities and roles of the opposite sex. A sacred and historical identity, Two Spirit can include but is by no means limited to LGBTQ identities."

That certainly makes things as clear as mud.

"Bergman defended these elements (the nudity etc) and their right to exist at a kid-friendly event.
'First of all, nobody likes nakedness more than children,' Bergman said.Bergman also pointed out that many children don’t even interpret most of what they’re seeing in a Pride parade as sexual, but rather as dress-up or fun.'On the list of things that I don’t want my children ever to be exposed to are: Compulsory heterosexuality, demonstrations of sexism, demonstrations of racism, demonstrations of ablism, violence. These are all way higher on the list than some homosexual’s tuchus.'”

Sick, sick, sick.

Heaven help us.

When Pigs Swim

From Mean2behappy blog

(Note some of this is a rehash from my post on this passage back in 2013)

Today' s Gospel reading was Luke 8:26-39,

"Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me’— for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) Jesus then asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He said, ‘Legion’; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.

Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, ‘Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.’ So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him."

I have always wondered about the demons in this story. They are far better at detecting the presence of God than most of us, but in spite of their abilities, they cannot foresee the results of the error of jumping into a herd of swine. Demons are pretty sneaky, and I always thought they were clever when compared with us, but they aren't so smart when compared to God.

I guess the demons were doomed anyway once Jesus appeared so it didn't matter what they wanted to do at that point. Their bacon was fried. 

I liked Bishop Dan Martins' take on it,

"The setting for this incident is a cemetery, a graveyard. And nearby is a herd of pigs. To Jewish sensibilities of the time, these were both highly offensive conditions, symbolizing every sort of four uncleanness imaginable. For us the cultural equivalent might be a sewage treatment plant next to a rat colony. So what this means is that Jesus is taking the offensive. He is going right into the belly of the beast to do battle. He’s not waiting for Evil to come to him; he’s bringing the fight to Ground Zero of Evil—a graveyard next to a herd of swine. And right there, at symbolic Ground Zero, Jesus wins. Jesus is triumphant. Jesus conquers the powers of darkness right on their own home field. The spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God, the evil powers of this world that corrupt and destroy the creatures of God, the sinful desires that draw us from the love of God—everything that we renounce when we’re baptized and when we’re confirmed—are cast out of us by Jesus just as he cast the legion of demons out of that man on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee." (Read the rest here)

Pigs can swim but can't when possessed by demons.

The Gay Assault on Children: Cartoons Celebrate LGBTQetc Pride Month

On the heels of PBS airing a cartoon featuring a homosexual wedding in the children's cartoon "Arthur" and its episode, “Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone”, the Powerpuff Girls go LGBTQetc as well as reported by The Christian Post,

"Cartoon Network, the popular television channel watched by millions of children, promoted LGBT pride month by using one of its widely popular shows to encourage fans to 'stand proud.'

...'We want to wish everyone a HAPPY PRIDE and encourage all of our LGBTQ+ fans to stand proud all year long!' the network, which is owned by Warner Bros., tweeted along with emojis representing a rainbow flag, heart and a unicorn.
The tweet also included a picture of characters from its popular reboot show 'Powerpuff Girls.'”

"The tweet included the hastags '#powerpuffyourself,' '#pridemonth' and '#powerfuffgirls.'

Cartoon Network bills itself as being 'the best in original, acquired and classic entertainment for youth and families.'

Last year, it is believed that Cartoon Network’s animated show 'Steven Universe' became the first children’s show to feature a same-sex wedding proposal. The proposal was between female characters named Sapphire and Ruby.
Additionally, Cartoon Network’s 'Adventure Time' series aired a scene in its series finale last year that showed two female characters kissing each other on the lips. The scene confirmed years of speculation that the two were lesbians.
On its website, Cartoon Network is celebrating pride week by promoting its Steven Universe 'made of love' collection. The collection includes LGBT-themed apparel and memorabilia.

Cartoon Network is not the only children’s network that uses its program to shine a light on LGBT relationships.
In 2016, Nickelodeon incorporated a biracial, same-sex couple into one of its shows called 'The Loud House.'”

Not to be outdone, My Little Pony goes gay as reported at Buzzfeed,

From Twitter

"The final season of My Little Pony: 'Friendship Is Magic' will include a lesbian pony couple, just in time for Pride Month.An upcoming episode titled 'The Last Crusade' will feature Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty, a couple who takes care of the school-age character Scootaloo.And no, they're not just sisters or live-in gal pals. They are a bona fide romantic couple."

It is clear that there is an all out assault to indoctrinate children into blessing the LGBTQetc lifestyle through television programming aimed at the very young and most impressionable. Couple this with the lessons they will learn in the public schools and you will understand the difficult challenge that Christian parents and educators are facing.

Parents may have to take John Prine's advice in Spanish Pipedream,
"Blow up your TV, throw away your paper,
go to the country build you a home,
plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches,
try to find Jesus on your own."

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

This Sunday is both Trinity Sunday and Father's Day and I don't want to over think it, the Holy Trinity I mean. You see, many of you will hear sermons today which either will try to explain it or try to avoid speaking about it. Some may even try to revise it to read "Mother, daughter, and Holy Comforter".
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A wise man once explained it this way, "The Three in One and One in Three", and they are all found in one Bible.

That's good enough for me.