Text – Now as he journeyed he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed about him. – Acts 9:3 (RSV)

Text – For the love of money is the root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced their hearts with many pangs. – I Tim. 6:10 (RSV)

Text – Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! – Psalm 150:6 (RSV)

Text – Because you have made the Lord your refuge, the Most High your habitation, no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent. – Psalm 91:9-10 (RSV)

Texts – So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. – Psalm 90:12; For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. – Ecclesiastes 1:18 (RSV)

Text – Arise, O God, plead thy cause; remember how the impious scoff at thee all the day! – Psalm 74:22 (RSV)

Text – But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I perceived their end. – Psalm 73:16-17 (RSV)

Text – "But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them." – Luke 24:11 (RSV)

Text – And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” – Luke 19:33-34 (RSV)

Text – And he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.” – Luke 11:46 (RSV)

Insiders often take their status for granted, but outsiders deeply feel their status. If you carefully read the Gospels, you will discover that many of the people whom Jesus sought out or who sought out Jesus were outsiders. Their behavior or social class or religious inferiority or physical infirmities put them on the outside looking in. They knew it, and Jesus knew it. Therefore he went out of his way to demonstrate that they too were beloved sons and daughters of God, and that God would not abandon them, even though they felt everyone had done so.

Tribe, clan, ethnicity, nationality, location, and religion all have a tendency to create exclusivity. It isn’t necessarily that people intend to become exclusive as such, but their commonality in one or more aspects of their existence may indirectly shut out people from other groups. That’s why human birds of a feather usually flock together. This can work itself out in unanticipated ways.

All of us are continually faced with questions as we journey through life. Some of them are very mundane: Shall I have dessert tonight, or not? What television program should I watch, if any? Shall I take a brisk walk, or sit in my chair and vegetate? But other questions are much more important, and the answers to those questions greatly affect how we live our lives. Those are the types of answers we need, especially when we are very uncertain of what the answers might be.

Jesus did not speak Greek. Or if he did, no one is able to verify it. But the Gospels, and indeed the entire New Testament, was first written in Greek. Therefore in the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus talked about love, he was presumably talking about a certain kind of love which is described by a certain Greek word, even though he would have been speaking Aramaic.

A Sermon by John M. Miller: Text – "For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?" – Romans 8:24 (RSV)

A Sermon by John M. Miller: Text – “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment.” - Matthew 5:22 (RSV)

A Sermon by John M. Miller: Text – But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. – Isaiah 40:31 (RSV)

A Sermon by John M. Miller: Text – May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the needy, and crush the oppressor! – Palm 72:4