Thursday

I am preparing for this Sunday as well as enjoying the festival, "Middle of Nowhere." Great food which unfortunately is not doing anything for my Weight Watchers. I want to make a correction to what I was going to do Sunday. I am going to be talking about one of the five fruitful practices but it will be risk taking mission and service rather than radical hospitality. I plan to do that next week. I hate it when I get a week ahead of myself.

One aspect of the stories from Amos about the plumb line and the expert in law in Luke that struck me was the question that was proposed, "What must I do to have eternal life?" Both speak about the importance of choosing wisely how we live and both end up pointing to living a life that is based on justice and mercy. In my life (and sometimes I am guilty as well), I hear people espouse what others should do. Sometimes that is in the political arena and sometimes it is in the church. At times people state things but when I look at how they live or the choices they make there is a difference between what they say rather than what they do.

I remember when I would counsel families about what is important for their children I always say that what one does says more about one's values than what one says. In other words do we not only talk the talk but do we walk the walk in our lives. This is especially true if we claim we are Christians. Amos and Luke speak to this in the passages from the lectionary.