Sigmund Freud's favorite story was about the sailor shipwrecked on one of the south sea islands. He was seized by the natives, hoisted to their shoulders, carried to the village, and set on a rude throne. Little by little, he learned that it was their custom once each year to make some man a king, king for a year. He liked it until he began to wonder what happened to all the former kings. Soon he discovered that every year when his kingship was ended, the king was banished to an island, where he starved to death. The sailor did not like that, but he was smart and he was king, king for a year. So he put his carpenters to work making boats, his farmers to work transplanting fruit trees to the island, farmers growing crops, masons building houses. So when his kingship was over, he was banished, not to a barren island, but to an island of abundance. It is a good parable of life: We're all kings here, kings for a little while, able to choose what we shall do with the stuff of life. (see Matthew 6:19-20 “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth...”)
James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited, Wheaton : Tyndale, 1988, p. 339.

The Gospel According to the Hebrews
There is an apocryphal gospel called “The Gospel According to the Hebrews” most of which is lost; in one of the fragments which remain there is an account of this incident which sheds a little light on its meaning. Here is how that ancient text records this story: The rich man said to Jesus, “Master, what good thing must I do really to live?” Jesus said to him, “Man, obey the law and the prophets.” He said, “I have done so.” Jesus said to him, “Go, sell all that you possess, distribute it among the poor, and come, follow me!” The rich man began to scratch his head because he did not like this command. The Lord said to him, Why do you say that you have obeyed the law and the prophets? For it is written in the law, “You must love your neighbor as yourself,” and look you—there are many brothers of yours, sons of Abraham, who are dying of hunger, and your house is full of many good things, and not one single thing goes out of it to them.” And he turned and said to Simon, his Disciple, who was sitting beside him, “Simon, son of Jonas, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” There we have the secret and the tragedy of the rich young ruler. He was living utterly selfishly. He was rich, and yet he gave nothing away. His real God was comfort, and what he really worshipped were his own possessions and his wealth. That is why Jesus told him to give it all away.
William Barclay, Luke, Philadelphia : Westminster Press, 1975, p. 228.

Four Questions for Church Membership A seminary professor named Stanley Hauerwas has a novel idea about how churches should receive new members. A teacher of Christian ethics at Duke University , he has written about the church's need for honesty and has called us to tell the truth as a “community of character.”

To this end, he has a modest proposal. Whenever people join the church, Hauerwas thinks they should stand and answer four questions: * Who is your Lord and Savior? The response: “Jesus Christ.” * Do you trust in him and seek to be his disciple? “I do.” * Will you be a faithful member of this congregation? The answer: “I will.” * Finally, one last question: What is your annual income?

You heard me correctly. When people join the church, Dr. Hauerwas thinks they ought to name their Lord and Savior and tell fellow church members how much money they make. It is obvious Hauerwas does not serve as a pastor of a congregation. His idea just wouldn't work, especially in the American church. Most church members believe salary figures are more sacred than prayer, and would quickly tell an inquisitive minister to snoop around somewhere else. What's more, parish experience tempers the questions a minister asks of church members. Most pastors quickly learn how to dance around the issue of money without ever naming it.
William G. Carter, No Box Seats In The Kingdom, CSS Publishing, Lima,Ohio, 1996.

Are We Rich?
The curse of any kind of valuable possession is its capacity to steal our hearts and souls. The heavier the purse, the tighter the strings. Is it fair to call most of us rich? According to our Methodist founder John Wesley, it is. He said that the word “rich” in the Bible means to have the necessities of life (food, shelter, and clothing) and then something left over. But here is part of the problem of us rich folks. We have increased the number of things we regard as necessities. We want three cars, two VCRs, four computers, a house at the lake, country club membership, and private school education. There are hundreds of things that we call necessities that our parents referred to as luxuries. The Bible says that shelter, food, and clothing are necessities. To have these and something left over, as almost all of us do, is to be rich.
Dr. Bill Bouknight, Collected Sermons, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc., 2002.

Salt
Sodium is an extremely active element found naturally only in combined form; it always links itself to another element. Chlorine, on the other hand, is the poisonous gas that gives bleach its offensive odor. When sodium and chlorine are combined, the result is sodium chloride. What is sodium Chloride? Salt. Common table salt. The substance we use to preserve meat and bring out its flavor. Love and truth can be like sodium and chlorine. Love without truth is flighty, sometimes blind, willing to combine with various doctrines. On the other hand, truth by itself can be offensive, sometimes even poisonous. Spoken without love, it can turn people away from the gospel. When truth and love are combined in an individual or a church, however, then we have what Jesus called “the salt of the earth,” and we're able to preserve and bring out the beauty of our-faith.
Staff, www.esermons.com, Sept 2003. Adapted from a sermon by David H. Johnson.

Demon Possession Then and Now
It is, therefore, an unquestionable truth, that the god and prince of this world still possesses all who know not God. Only the manner wherein he pos- sesses them now differs from that wherein he did it of old time. Then he frequently tormented their bodies as well as souls, and that openly, without any disguise: now he torments their souls only (unless in some rare cases), and that as covertly as possible. The reason of this difference is plain: it was then his aim to drive mankind into superstition; therefore, he wrought as openly as he could. But it is his aim to drive us into infidelity; therefore, he works as privately as he can: for the more secret he is, the more he prevails.
John Wesley: SERMON XXXIII: A CAUTION AGAINST BIGOTRY

Quotable Quotes:

The world is sleeping in the darkness, the church is sleeping in the light.

It is better to be dead and not know life, than to live and not know why?

He who kneels before God can stand in any situation.

Remember, no one is worthless. Any person can always be held up as a bad example.

Christians are hunting mice when lions are devouing the land.