Rev Chris Roth

Matthew 20:1-16 In our Gospel reading today Jesus tells a parable about a landowner who hires people to work in his vineyard. Young men who had no other work would wait at a particular location, hoping to be hired for the day. This is still something that happens regularly around the world. They would usually work hard because they would hope to be hired again and maybe even get a regular job. If they weren’t hired by noon the young men would usually head home, but they would have to meet their families with the fact that they hadn't earned anything for that day, which might mean not eating anything that day. In the parable, the landowner went in the morning and hired people to work his land for the usual daily wage- a denarius. He would know how many people he needed, so it's strange that he keeps returning to hire more. The vineyard owner went again at noon, and then 3:00 in the afternoon and then again at 5:00. Quitting time was around 6:00 or 7:00, as the sun was starting...

  Romans 14: 1-12 What I want to focus on today is our reading from Romans 14. Here Paul is talking about differences in practices among believers. The strong are those who are considered more spiritually mature. They understand what Christ has done and how all-pervasive his work has been. Who he calls “the weak” are those who are less spiritually mature, and so their conscience is more vulnerable to what might seem like a violation of Torah instructions regarding things like the Sabbath observance. In the sense that they don't see Christ's work as being as pervasive. Last week I spoke about conflicts and disagreements in the church and I think that flows very naturally into what Paul is saying here in Romans. The church in Rome was probably a mixed body. You would have Gentiles who are former pagans who are now following Christ, and you would have Jewish people who have come to believe in Jesus as the Messiah, who are still following the cultural practices of their people and ...

As I was writing my sermon this week, I was thinking about Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Life Together . I started writing and I got a little bit carried away so I ended up writing a bit more about Bonhoeffer than I did about the Gospel; but I thought maybe I would share what I was ruminating on anyway.  One of the most powerful little books about Christian community was written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. It's called "Life Together." I was reminded of his words when I was thinking about the Gospel passage today, which has to do with conflict in the church . In Life Together he says: “He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial.” “God hates visionary dreaming; it makes the dreamer proud and pretentious.” We have to be careful with how we use these words because, of course, we have a vision for the church. We have an idea about...

  Matthew 18: 15-20 One of the most powerful books about Christian community was written by the Theologian and Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer. It is called Life Together. I was reminded of his words as I was thinking about our Gospel passage today, which has to do with dealing with conflict in the church. Bonhoeffer warns that we can begin to love our idea of the church more than the actual people that God has put in front of us. Bonhoeffer says, “He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial.” That warning has to do with the way we treat the real community in front of us. … I once met someone with a PhD in theology who no longer attended church because he couldn’t find one that was “doing it right.” His ideal church had become more important than any actual church. It had turned him into a judge of churches, a kind of connoisseur of ...

Exodus 3: 1-15; Matthew 16: 21-28 Last week Jesus asked his disciples who they say he is. And Simon Peter answered,  "You are the Messiah, the son of the living God."  And in response to this answer Jesus says,  "Blessed are you Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it." It's hard to imagine getting higher praise from Jesus. He is telling him that he has heard the voice of God, and that is how he knew how to answer Jesus's question. He then sternly orders the disciples not to tell anyone that he is the Messiah. This is sometimes called the Messianic Secret. This is the idea that Jesus wanted to keep the fact that he was the Messiah under wraps for the time being. And then in our reading for this week it says that Jesus began to show his disciples that he must  "go to Jerusalem and und...

Romans 7: 15-25 When we read Romans chapter 7, many of us feel like we understand the reality that Paul is describing. He says, " I do not understand my own actions for I do not do what I want but I do the very thing I hate." Many of us have the experience of doing things we know aren't good for us. This is the experience of being stuck in an addiction. We often experience sin as a kind of addiction. We often only catch the sin when we look back on our actions, rather than in the moment. When we come to God in confession, we often bring the same sorts of things to God over and over and over. We can feel ourselves stuck in this pattern of sinful behaviors. And so, we feel like Paul is describing our reality- "I do not understand my own actions for I do not do what I want but I do the very thing I hate." Many people have read Romans chapter 7 and have felt their experience described. But Paul isn't actually addressing that psychological and spiritual reality....