Fries Memorial Moravian Church

Two Things Everybody Wants
(Part 1)

Everybody here wants two things:  Health and Happiness.  We want other things—but without these two things, the other things hardly matter.  Today we are going to talk about health and a long life which go hand in hand. On another Sunday we will talk about happiness. For health and happiness also go hand in hand. Continue reading →

The texts before us this morning all deal with the problems and possibilities of wealth. Because these texts concern us all, in applying them, I have sometimes changed the pronouns in the texts from the third person “they” and “them” to the first person “I” “we” and “us” and to the second person, “You,” both singular and plural. Let’s take a closer look. Continue reading →

38 Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. 40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42 there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42

I love the Scripture for a variety of reasons.  I love it because it points us to Jesus Christ, and to the God that the New Testament calls “the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ.”  What does the hymnist say?

Beyond the sacred page; I seek thee Lord.
My Spirit pants for Thee, O Living Word.

I love the scripture, too, because it perfectly captures our human predicament. It lays bare the thoughts and actions of our ancestors, 100 generations removed, and as it does it penetrates deep into our own hearts and minds and shows us that we are not really so different than them.

This morning our gospel lesson looks at two sisters, Martha and Mary, who once entertained Jesus and (we can assume) his disciples and uses them to show us how we might respond in a similar situation.  When we read the text from St. Luke, with whom did you identify? Are you a Martha, or a Mary? I put that question to men and women alike, because two bachelor brothers, in the same situation, may not have acted so differently. Continue reading →

The Epistle to Diognetus was written between 130 and 200 A.D. by a member of the Johannine community.  In commenting on the place of Christians in the world is opines that “Every foreign country is (our) fatherland, and every fatherland is a foreign country.”  Every foreign country is (our) fatherland because Christians live in virtually every nation in our world. Every fatherland is a foreign country because as Christians we know that our true citizenship is not in the nations of this world but in the Kingdom of God.  As Paul says in Philippines 3, “Our commonwealth (citizenship) is in heaven, and from it we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our humble bodies to be like his glorious body.” You and I hold dual citizenship. How then should we live?

What does the Bible say? Continue reading →