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Do you have a favorite Gospel account of Jesus’s life and ministry? Whenever I’m asked this question, my answer often depends on whichever Gospel I happen to be preaching from at the moment. I love the order and structure of Matthew, the brevity and urgency of Mark, the memorable parables that we only find in Luke (the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, etc.), and the fascinating characters we find in John (Nicodemus, the woman at the well, etc.). I love how each of the Gospel writers tells the same story of Jesus in their own way, with their own unique accent. The United Methodist author and pastor Adam Hamilton considers Luke to be his favorite Gospel. He describes growing up in a home that was not particularly religious. He didn’t go to Sunday school or Vacation Bible School as a child. But his grandmother gave his family a Bible, and as a teenager, Adam decided to read it from cover to cover, to see for himself what it was all about. When he finally came to the Gospels, he found the Jesus in Matthew and Mark to be a compelling figure, but he was still skeptical as to whether it was true, real, or relevant to his life. But when he read through Luke, something changed in him. “I came to love Jesus,” he writes, “as I read Luke’s Gospel.” The night he finished reading Luke, he got down on his knees beside his bed, and he prayed to the crucified and risen Jesus, “I want to follow you. I want to be your disciple.” He went on to write, “the best parts of my life have all been somehow connected to that decision to believe the witness of the Gospels and entrust my life to Jesus Christ.” This new church year, from Advent through Easter, we will be following the story of Jesus as we find it in the Gospel of Luke. Last Sunday, Bill kicked us off by looking at the story of the promise to the priest Zechariah of the birth of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus. After the choir’s Christmas cantata this Sunday, we’ll continue exploring the Advent stories in Luke—the visit of the angel to Mary, the visit of Mary and her relative Elizabeth, and the visit of the shepherds to the stable of Bethlehem. Then we’ll look at the stories of Jesus as an infant and as a tweenager. And in the new year, we’ll follow his ministry all the way from his baptism through his death and resurrection. I’d like to invite you, between now and Christmas, in preparation for our journey together through the story of Jesus, to read through the Gospel of Luke yourself. Make note of what insights you gain, what questions you have, what differences you see with the other Gospel accounts. And I’d like to invite you to share those observations with Bill and me so that they can help inform our messages and reflections. I hope as we make our way through the Gospel of Luke together, we’ll all come to love Jesus even more and want to follow him even more closely as his disciples.

Our preschool director Tricia and assistant director Erin and I dressed up for Halloween last week. They were dressing up as Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, so they suggested I dress up as Prince Charming. Turns out I could do it fairly easily. I could wear black pants and a blue dress shirt untucked. I have a gold sash from my college alma mater. And I could use my kilt belt to tie it all together. It was fun, and the students and families seemed to enjoy their royal welcome that morning! Then I was asked to lead a Vespers worship service where the assigned psalm is Psalm 146, which contains the following verse: “Do not put your trust in princes…” (v. 3). What? Not even in Prince Charming? The psalm goes on to clarify that princes are mortals, like everyone else, and that “when their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish” (v. 3-4). “Happy are those,” on the other hand, “whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them” (v. 5-6). It is the Lord, the psalm proclaims, “who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry” (v. 6-7). It is the Lord who “sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin” (v. 7-9). While princes are mortal and come and go, “the Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations” (v. 10). So the psalm closes with the same words with which it opened: “Praise the Lord!” We are now (at long last!) on the other side of this year’s election. We have voted for a number of “princes” and “princesses” at various levels of our national, state, and local governments. A vote is a gesture of trust. It’s a way of saying we trust in this person to do what we think ought to be done. But this psalm tempers the trust we should put in the principalities of this world. It reminds us that our ultimate help and hope is in the Lord. And the psalm reminds us where the Lord’s focus is, where the Lord’s attention and affections are—not on the power-full, but on the power-less. On those who are vulnerable, desperate and downtrodden. The hungry. The oppressed. The imprisoned. The blind and bowed down. The strangers, the widows, and the orphans.  Turns out, that’s where Jesus’ focus was as well. And it’s where he wants our focus to be, too, those of us who follow him, no matter who is president. For Jesus is the Prince of Peace. He is the only Prince in whom we should put our trust, in whom there is help, in whom there is hope.

Every time there is an election, I am mindful of the advice that John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, gave to voters back in his day. With our nation’s election coming up next week, I wanted to share this advice with you for your prayerful consideration. In his journal from Thursday, October 6, 1774, Wesley wrote: “I met those of our society who had votes in the ensuing election, and advised them: 1. To vote, without fee or reward, for the person they judged most worthy; 2. To speak no evil of the person they voted against; and, 3. To take care their spirits were not sharpened against those that voted on the other side.” In the come and go of election cycles, Wesley’s words never fail to be relevant. Let’s break his advice down a bit. First of all, Wesley encouraged them to vote. Our right to vote freely for the candidates we judge most worthy is a sacred privilege and should not be taken lightly. This is a right that people have fought and died to secure and to preserve for us to exercise. Let us not forget that have a voice in what is important to us, and our vote is that voice. And it is incumbent upon us to be informed about the platforms and priorities of the candidates for office, not just at the national level but especially at the state and local levels where many of the policies often more directly impact our lives. And then, once we are so informed, to vote for those we in our own conscience judge most worthy. Second, he advised them not to speak evil of those they voted against. Sadly, in election seasons like this, we tend to hear far too much evil, misinformation, and mean- spiritedness spoken by candidates on all sides about their opposition. But just because we hear so much evil being spoken doesn’t mean that we need to speak it ourselves. Christians are called in Christ to a different way of being in the world. We are called to a higher standard. I’m reminded of Paul’s words to the Ephesians: “Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear” (Eph 4:29 NRSV). And third, he advised them to be careful that their own spirits were not sharpened against those who may have voted differently. In other words, we are to guard our own hearts, that we don’t look upon our neighbors as enemies. Again, I’m reminded of Paul’s words to the Ephesians: “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Eph 4:20-31 NIV).  I pray that Wesley’s words from long ago may resonate in our hearts and minds in the days and weeks to come, and that we also remember that regardless of who may be in the seats in the halls of earthly power, the Lord God is still on the throne of heaven.

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A University Motto with a Discipleship Message

“Take up and read. Take up and read. Take up and read.” These are the words that a down-in-the-dumps professor of rhetoric heard floating over a fence in a garden in Milan, Italy, nearly seventeen hundred years ago. They may have been the words of a child at play, but they turned out to be the very words that the professor needed to hear. Newly inspired, he picked back up the book that he had been reading before he became despondent. They were the words of the Apostle Paul in his letter to the church in Rome. The words he read there touched his heart and changed his life. He became a believer in Christ, he left his post as a professor, and he went on to become one of the most influential theologians in the history of the church. The turning point was when St. Augustine heard those words: "Tollo lege," which is Latin for “take up and read.” I’d like to issue that same invitation to you, to “take up and read” the entire New Testament over the remaining days and weeks of this calendar year. It’s only about 14 weeks now from the beginning of Matthew to the end of Revelation, reading just a few chapters a day. If you’ve ever wanted to read the New Testament all the way through, now’s a great opportunity to do it. I’d also like to invite you to “take up and read” the New Testament in community with other readers from our congregation. On Tuesday evenings at 7 pm in the Leap of Faith classroom (beside the library in the front of the church), we will gather to review the previous week’s readings and share observations, questions, and maybe even some life and faith decisions. Now, I don’t know if anyone will decide to leave their jobs like Augustine did, but there may well be some new dimensions of discipleship that are discovered. So let me say it again: “take up and read.” The reading schedule is posted on our church’s website, in our weekly email newsletter, and on our bulletins. Even though we started in Matthew this past Sunday, there’s plenty of time to get caught up. Here’s this week’s schedule: Sunday, September 22 – Matthew 1-2 Monday, September 23 – Matthew 3-4 Tuesday, September 24 – Matthew 5-7 Wednesday, September 25 (today) – Matthew 8-9 Thursday, September 26 – Matthew 10-12 Friday, September 27 – Matthew 13-14 Saturday, September 28 – Matthew 15-17 Sunday, September 29 – Matthew 18-20

I have shared with you before that I incorporate an app on my phone “Lectio 365” into my prayer and devotional life. You can also access this resource online at www.24-7prayer.com . Lectio is the Latin word for “reading,” and the app incorporates scripture readings into daily prayers for both morning and evening. It also refers to a spiritual practice called “lectio divina,” which means “holy reading” or “sacred reading.” I like the way the app sets up the daily readings and prayers. It uses the acronym P.R.A.Y. I have come to enjoy using this acronym in my prayer practice more generally, and I commend it to you for your consideration. P stands for “pause.” It’s about pressing pause in our often busy and stressful lives, whether we’re just getting up in the morning or getting ready to go to bed or somewhere in between. It’s about putting aside your phone for a moment (even if you’re on your phone accessing the prayer guide), closing your eyes, taking a deep breath or two, and being still and simply being. It’s about recentering ourselves and putting ourselves in a posture of readiness to receive what the Lord would open to us. R stands for a couple of things in the app, but I like the word “reflect.” It’s about reflecting on a passage of scripture. You can read the scriptures that are suggested in the app. You may have another reading plan you are following. There are several reading plans in the Bible app of various lengths that you can start any time. I’m following the “Read through the Bible in a Year” plan that our conference has suggested ( https://www.holston.org/readtogether ). But whatever the scripture, read it reflectively. Maybe that means reading it aloud. Or a couple of times, or three. Or in a different version. Or maybe even in a different language. Ask yourself what words or images stand out in your mind. Is there something in this passage that speaks to you in some way? That comforts you. Convicts you. Inspires you. A stands for “ask.” Ask of the Lord what you feel you need, what you feel you are lacking. Ask for yourself. Ask for someone else, someone you know and love. Ask for a stranger. Maybe your ask will be inspired by your reflection on the scripture passage. Maybe it will be inspired by something happening in your own heart and life. Maybe it will be inspired by something happening in your family, your congregation or community, or in the world. However it is inspired, ask—simply, clearly, confidently—trusting that the Lord is listening. Y is “yield.” Like the triangular traffic sign, to yield is to let another have their way. It’s the phrase of the Lord’s Prayer: “thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” It’s the prayer of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane: “not my will, but thine be done.” For me, this can be the hardest part of praying. But I’ve found that it can lead us into the very heart of what faith is—trusting that, come what may, God is always at work for our good and for God’s glory.