BANCHORY TERNAN EAST CHURCH
  • Home
  • May Sunday worship 2022
    • April Sunday worship 2022 >
      • March 2022 >
        • February 2022 >
          • January 2022
  • Christmas 2021
    • December 2021 >
      • November 2021 >
        • October 2021 >
          • September 2021 Morning worship >
            • August 2021 Morning worship >
              • July 2021 Morning worship >
                • June 2021 Morning worship >
                  • May 2021 Morning Worship >
                    • April 2021 morning worship
                    • March 2021 morning worship >
                      • Feb 2021 Morning worship
                      • Jan 2021 Morning Worship
                      • Lenten Studies
                      • Holy Week 2021
  • The East church blog
  • Wednesday Break archive
    • Wednesday Break 16 September 2020 >
      • Wednesday Break 12 August 2020 >
        • Wednesday Break 5 August 2020 >
          • Wednesday Break 29 July 2020 >
            • Wednesday Break 22 July 2020 >
              • Wednesday Break 15 July 2020 >
                • Wednesday Break 8 July 2020 >
                  • Wednesday Break 1 July 2020 >
                    • Wednesday Break 24 June 2020 >
                      • Wednesday Break 17 June 2020 >
                        • Wednesday Break 10 June 2020
                        • Wednesday Break 27 May 2020
                        • Wednesday Break 6 May 2020
                        • Wednesday Break 29 April 2020
      • Wednesday Break 9 September 2020
  • Christian Aid
    • Kandy
    • KANDY PLUS
    • Fairtrade
    • Nansato
  • Serving our Community
    • Crafty Church
    • Serving the parish
    • Fellowship and Community
    • Mens group
    • The Ronnecht Magazine
    • Walking to health
    • The East Church Guild
    • Christian aid week 2021
  • Donate to the East church.
  • children and families work

Decisions, cricket and parables. Luke 16: 1-13. It's all quite complicated actually.

20/9/2016

 
Picture
The Kent cricket team from the 1970s started my thinking towards the sermon on Sunday. Maybe you remember some of the names; A P E Knott, Derek Underwood and Colin Cowdry were among them. Whether it was wielding the bat, bowling a ball or catching at full stretch, they were a joy to watch especially at the ground in Canterbury with that tree in the way just by the boundary. Only in cricket would a tree be replaced to ensure continuity if play if it were damaged like this one was during the war. What a decision that was to make. To replace it elsewhere might have made things a little easier. It's just not cricket is it? But decisions are needed in cricket if you are to influence the outcome of a game. How does this relate to Luke's gospel? Well through the range if decisions needed.
You see the bible reading this week was a hard one so no doubt my mind wandered elsewhere as I thought of what Jesus meant us to take from the parable of the shrewd (dishonest?) manager. Luke seems to have struggled with it too. He added his own pithy little summary to help us all out. You can't serve both God and money. But is that satisfactory here? One way of reading the story suggests we should reward dishonesty. For me this parable is like a game of cricket. You read it and you read it again. Each time you read it, you are living within different situations of life. Sometimes in cricket you reach for a catch other times your hitting the ball for six while next week you might be tripping over the boundary rope as you try fruitlessly to stop the ball rolling over. It's the same with this parable. Is the master always God or is he just a master-someone in control; a person holding power over another? Is this about a better life or eternal life? Are we to see exploitation here for financial gain or the excercise of sympathy to help out those in need? When you get down to it, the road map for life that the gospels offer is still full of decisions; of balancing requirements and wondering what it all means. That's one of the great things of being part of the church-even all these years after Jesus told his stories, even though we now have cricket to show us fair play, we still have to work out just how Jesus wants us to apply his stories to our lives in different situations,

Comments are closed.

    Author

    Ever wondered how  a sermon gets written. Listen in to the weekly conversation amongst minister, community, bible and God. Discover what hits the cutting room floor here..

    Archives

    November 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Location

Picture

Banchory Ternan East Parish Church of Scotland
Station Road
Banchory
AB31 5YP

Minister: Rev Alan Murray
AJSmurray@churchofscotland.org.uk

Office Telephone:
Our offices and buildings are closed at the moment. 
Please contact us through


​banchoryeastchurchoffice@btconnect.com

Scottish Charity No: sc011251


Privacy notice
CLICK HERE FOR HOME PAGE
  • Home
  • May Sunday worship 2022
    • April Sunday worship 2022 >
      • March 2022 >
        • February 2022 >
          • January 2022
  • Christmas 2021
    • December 2021 >
      • November 2021 >
        • October 2021 >
          • September 2021 Morning worship >
            • August 2021 Morning worship >
              • July 2021 Morning worship >
                • June 2021 Morning worship >
                  • May 2021 Morning Worship >
                    • April 2021 morning worship
                    • March 2021 morning worship >
                      • Feb 2021 Morning worship
                      • Jan 2021 Morning Worship
                      • Lenten Studies
                      • Holy Week 2021
  • The East church blog
  • Wednesday Break archive
    • Wednesday Break 16 September 2020 >
      • Wednesday Break 12 August 2020 >
        • Wednesday Break 5 August 2020 >
          • Wednesday Break 29 July 2020 >
            • Wednesday Break 22 July 2020 >
              • Wednesday Break 15 July 2020 >
                • Wednesday Break 8 July 2020 >
                  • Wednesday Break 1 July 2020 >
                    • Wednesday Break 24 June 2020 >
                      • Wednesday Break 17 June 2020 >
                        • Wednesday Break 10 June 2020
                        • Wednesday Break 27 May 2020
                        • Wednesday Break 6 May 2020
                        • Wednesday Break 29 April 2020
      • Wednesday Break 9 September 2020
  • Christian Aid
    • Kandy
    • KANDY PLUS
    • Fairtrade
    • Nansato
  • Serving our Community
    • Crafty Church
    • Serving the parish
    • Fellowship and Community
    • Mens group
    • The Ronnecht Magazine
    • Walking to health
    • The East Church Guild
    • Christian aid week 2021
  • Donate to the East church.
  • children and families work