The Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), October 29, 2017 - Matthew 22:34-46 and 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8

Matthew 22:34-46

from First United Methodist Church, Bristol, Tennessee 

fumcbristol.org

The Fundamentalist

Though Jesus knows the point of metaphor,

Which is, unto the heart, an open door,

And knows you cannot parse how David's Lord

And son, Messiah, both are in accord,

He is a fundamentalist, it's clear,

On whether we should love our neighbor, dear,

For otherwise, one's faith is undercut.

Go, love, he says; no ifs, or ands, or buts.

Scott L. Barton

When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”’? If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?” No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

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1 Thessalonians 2:1-8

 Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879): The Kiss of Peace (1869)

Item: A doctor goes from Worcester, Massachusetts to Liberia, learns how to put on and take off the protective gear, and, when caring for a pastor with Ebola, finds himself prayed for before the pastor dies: http://nyti.ms/1rh6o07

The Doctor Who's a Nurse

The pastor prayed for Dr. Hatch

Who'd known he could not stay detached

From human need, and thus has dared

To give, to those he might, God's care.

I know not if he calls it such;

I know not, if he prays, how much,

Or if he thinks that he's been called;

But this I know: that writer Paul,

When speaking of the tender nurse

Whose gentle care for children mercy

Shows, cares more for deeds than words,

And giving self is grace conferred.

Scott L. Barton

You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you was not in vain, but though we had already suffered and been shamefully mistreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition. For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts. As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others, though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.