What kind of returns are we seeking on what types of investments?

What sort of motes are we digging around our castles – who is kept out?  Who is shut in?  

What does it mean that “In God We Trust” is printed so boldly on the reverse of the currency that represents wealth and opportunity in our economy? 

Chasm is deep and wide between Hades and the place of eternal blessings... but is it any wider than the gap between the rich and poor in our world?  And, note that the story isn’t specific about who has been digging that ditch, resulting in the distance... who would create such a mote, and why?

Is the radical equality of God’s kingdom only a future hope, or should we be seeking and building toward such a kingdom now on earth with what we do have and control? 

What choices are we each making day by day with what we do with our wealth and the decisions we make in relationships, in conversations, in our daily interactions in our offices and neighborhoods, and at the voting booth?

What kind of returns are we seeking on what types of investments? 

"...I won't die lonely, I'll have it all prearranged... a grave that's deep and wide enough for me and all my mountains o' things."  (from Tracy Chapman's song, Mountain O'Things)

coming back to forgiveness... again and again

embracing radical, unreasonable, unbelievable forgiveness... challenged to charitably love each other, even when our motives are mixed and the circumstances less than ‘clean’, honest, and ideal

Interested in higher costs of living?

Interested in higher costs of living? 

Living and loving in Christ ain’t cheap... but oh so worth the price.  

“Choose life so that you may live” (Deut 30:19)....

be useful and forgiving (Philemon)...

continually re-examine priorities and re-consider commitments (Luke 14:25-33)

philoxenia and agape, or profit-minded pretense and akedia?

On this day of sacred Sabbath and feast, what to make of tomorrow’s secular ‘Labor’ Day? 

Retreat into pure leisure?

Reflect on the economic justice of the labor markets that have catapulted our commercial interests and make it deceptively easy for more of us to indulge in luxuries and bargains?

Humbly and repentantly consider what divine hospitality and labor look like in God’s kingdom (as revealed through Jesus)? 

Who's hosting the real feast? How is status seen? Who is working and serving, and how? Who is invited? Am I inviting who Jesus invites? 

Am I sharing generously... or presuming arrogantly?