A Two Goal Lead is the Most Dangerous Lead...

Sometimes it is amazing how the Scriptures can capture the spirit of humans who have succumbed to the power of greed. Entitlement has to be one of the other most egregious characteristics that exist in human relationships as well. I heard another story that I think captures this a little more. God appeared to this farmer and granted him three wishes, but with the condition that whatever God did for the farmer would be given double to his neighbor. The farmer, scarcely believing his good fortune, wished for a hundred cattle. Immediately he received a hundred cattle and he was overjoyed until he saw that his neighbor had two hundred. So he wished for a hundred acres of land, and again he was filled with joy until he saw that his neighbor had two hundred acres of land. Rather than celebrating God’s goodness, the farmer could not escape feeling jealous and slighted because his neighbor had received more than he. Finally, he stated his third wish: that God would strike him blind in one eye....

Sermon, Preached on August 27th, 2023, Proper 16A, 13 Pentecost As we went on our trip out west, to drop Eliot off, I was definitely trying to look at my relationship with him from a 10,000 foot level. I intended to kind of reflect on the last 19 years, and understand how cancer, divorce, switching schools, step parents and all the challenges he faced formed him into the person he is today. But I never reached 10,000 feet. I don’t think I even reached 5,000 feet. Stopping in the Badlands, he took off and started climbing around and taking selfies and panoramic pictures and just being generally overwhelmed by the beauty of that place. Erin and I and our arthritic knees and old bodies could barely handle the trails off the beaten path much less climbing the same dunes he was. Looking much past 10 feet in front of me was nearly impossible. And so it went all week, given sight to see, or form to fill out, we were kept right in the present, trying to navigate this new college experience and...