All Saints’
The Weekly WWW.ALLSAINTSCARMEL.ORG
Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost •August 25, 2013
God’s Extraordinary Hospitality in Freedom from Shame By The Rev. Rick Matters
The woman, bent over for eighteen years, experienced the extraordinary hospitality of God as Jesus set her free. (Luke 13:10-17). However wonderful that freedom, the woman discovered an even greater healing when Jesus turned the shame of the leaders back on themselves. How tall she must have felt in standing straight after all those years, how much taller when freed from the shame.
Scripture Lessons Today
Shame is debilitating, because it diminishes who we are. When I was a teenager, shame almost cost me my life. The healing of Jesus was a two-step dance. The first step was the sudden realization: I am loved! I matter! The second step was recognizing that, by the grace of Jesus Christ, I am worthy of God’s love. Accepting this grace-filled worthiness took layers of prayer, vulnerability, and spiritual work. Sometimes I forget. But whenever we forget, the voice of God welcomes us with the freeing message of love.
Proverbs 25:6-7 Psalm 112 Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16 Luke 14:1, 7-14
Isaiah 58:9b-14 Psalm 103:1-8 Hebrews 12:18-29 Luke 13:10-17
Scripture Lessons for Next Week
Recommendation:
Sabbath in the Suburbs By Robin Denney
Sabbath in the Suburbs: A Family’s Experiment with Holy Time by Rev. MaryAnn McKibben-Dana In the Isaiah reading today we hear about the importance of keeping the Sabbath, and in the Gospel we see that the authorities of Jesus’ time had missed the point of the Sabbath entirely. This book is by a Presbyterian Pastor about her family’s year long journey to observe the Sabbath. With gentle humor she points out how our to-do lists can become idols, and how our over-functioning leaves us drained. This is a fun read that is both thought provoking and encouraging to find Sabbath time in our own lives. If this busy family with three tiny kids and two more-than-full-time working parents can do it, why not me?