Saints and Superheroes

"For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted." - Luke 18: 14

In the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, the Pharisee prays to God, reminding God of all the great things he is doing to stay holy (giving money, fasting), while the tax collector humbly says, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!"  It brought up the question, just what is doing good, anyway?  So we made a list of some of the things that are "good":
-try your hardest
- be nice to people
- do what is right
- praise God
- tell the truth
- follow directions
- help people

But as soon as we thought of these things, some tricky situations came up immediately.  What if you gave money to someone, but did it in a way that made them feel bad.  Would that still be good?

Following directions and the law is good, but what if you think the law is wrong, the way that protesters did during the civil rights movement?

And once again we returned to the situation of the "white lie."  Is it OK to lie because you are trying to not hurt someone's feelings?  But then you might have to tell another lie to cover that one up!  It can get pretty complicated.  One thing we agreed upon is that being good is not just about doing good things.  The spirit of the action has to be right.  Everyone seemed to agree that you can't do something good and expect something in return.

Almost everyone could think of someone in their life who is definitely good.  Two people said they had friends who did almost everything on the list above.  And they were doing it for the right reasons, too.  Not just to be recognized like the Pharisee in the parable.  And finally we talked about saints.  Saints are people who have been recognized by the church for doing a lifetime of good deeds.  Kind of like church superheroes!  Maybe some of these saints, or some of these friends could be role models for us.  When we are in a difficult situation, we might ask ourselves what they would do.

The last thought was this:  Maybe there is someone who looks up to us, and will imitate us in the future.  So we might want to think about how we are acting... it may be setting an example even though we don't realize it.

Jesus Heals Ten Lepers – or One guy had Leprosy and nine guys got Amnesia?

In Luke 17, the story is retold about ten guys with a serious problem, who stumbled upon the one person who could help them.  The story says Jesus just happened to be passing through their town on his way to Jerusalem.   

They immediately jumped on their good fortune and, standing at a distance, called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us”.  This had to be an incredible answer to years of prayer.  They obviously knew who he was.  He was The Healer! The miracle worker!  He had already healed a guy with leprosy!  He was also a homeboy from Galilee!  Of course he would pity them!  Or would he? Galilee was considered by lots of folks to be the place only losers came from.  What did Nathaniel once say about Jesus himself: “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”  

 It’s like people in NYC saying, “Nyack?  You’re joking, right?”  On top of that, they were near Samaria, a land which all respectable Jews felt, had no redeeming qualities whatsoever.  Jesus once spent two days there after speaking to a woman at a well.  (What did we say about those Galileans?)  So these guys had some serious issues.  They were lepers; outcasts; the lowest of the low. Their disease forced them to live alone because the rest of society despised them.  No one wanted anything to do with them, not even their families. They could be contagious.  They looked and smelled bad.  They scared small babies.  They were also foreigners, not part of good ole Israel: totally unimportant.  So why should Jesus even care?

As we spoke about the story it was discovered that one of us had a cold, well actually just a sore throat!  The clarification was made only after someone else jumped out of their seat in reaction to the first statement and moved away from the “contagious” one to another seat.  While other “respectful citizens” jeered at the “outcast”, others (definitely “homeboys”) took issue with the one who moved (probably a “foreigner”).  Immediately we had ourselves a good ole “Galilean-Samaritan” impasse.  “That’s not proper Christian behavior”!” “Well, I still love that person!  I just can’t afford to be sick!”  “That’s being selfish!”  “Actually I’m not.  I’m saving thousands I will come in contact with at school!” (Well, maybe just dozens.) “You’re just saying that now because we’re saying something about it!” “Don’t even go there!”  Exciting stuff, right?  What tension.  What drama.  What was the outcome you ask?  Well, the 9 guys got healed of the terrible disease of leprosy, and caught a more serious case of another ailment: amnesia.  Only one of them came back to thank Jesus.  No, no, you know that you say.  What about in the JYG class?  How did that end?  Uh, I forget.  Did I mention there were only nine of us?

- Steve

Do All Dogs Go to Heaven?

This week we had the blessing of the animals at Grace Church, a service I always enjoy.  This is something that many churches do around the world.

How cool is it that you get to bring your pets to church and have them blessed!  But I got to wondering: why do we do this?  Turns out, it has to do with Saint Francis of Assisi.

Saint Francis was born in Italy over 800 years ago, and was the son of a wealthy merchant.  According to one source, “He used to drink and party with the young princes of the land.”  Until one day a beggar asked him for money, and that got him thinking about those less fortunate than himself.  So he gave the beggar some money.  Not only did his friends make fun of him, Francis’ dad yelled at him for being generous.  Soon after, Francis became very seriously ill.  When he recovered he decided to devote his life to God.  Needless to say, his parents and friends did not support this decision.  He gave away whatever he had and went from village to village, preaching and helping people.  

He seemed to have a special connection to animals, especially birds.  It is said that when he would preach, birds would gather around him.  So paintings of him often show him with animals, especially birds.

Tomorrow, October 4^th is the “Feast of Saint Francis,” so that is why we had the blessing of the animals.  But that gets me wondering.  Animals definitely have personalities, but do animals have souls?  If they do, are their souls different than ours?  Do they know right from wrong?  If they are good do they go to heaven?   

What do you think?  Do you have a good story about your pet?  Post it!