The Houghton Missioner

Trinity Episcopal Church  Sunday, October 20, 2019       Lectionary:  Genesis 32:22-31,  Psalm 121,  2 Timothy 3:14-4:5,  Luke 18:1-8 “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” Many years ago (when I was still but a young lad), I attended a large Church youth event called “Youthquake.” Although the name of the event sounds a bit silly (and one can only imagine how silly it sounded to middle schoolers), this annual youth event on the side of a mountain in North Carolina did allow me to deepen my faith as a new convert. For the most part it consisted of guitars and drums and smoke machines and a worship band playing some powerful come-to-Jesus songs (fresh off of their latest album of course). But these too helped me approach the Mystery of Christ as a young man - to know the ineffable the Mystery of God’s Love. I didn’t have any fancy theological terms for it at the time, but I knew that the Spiri...

"Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14: 26-27) These words of our Beloved Savior are some of what many call “the hard sayings of Jesus.” They are referred to as such because many of us Jesus Followers who would like to follow him in the Way of Love find such words jarring . We might even flinch at the thought of hating anyone. Especially our parents and friends and family. Upon hearing Jesus say these words for the first time, one can imagine someone in the crowd raising their hand saying…                         “Hold up.   Can you repeat that? I mean, I would prefer to not be alienated from my relations and… did you say carry a… cross?   Yeah… I...