Plans & Unplans
I make plans. I create checklists. Checking boxes on those checklists is one of my greatest joys. And I’m TOAST without my calendar and its checklists. But Luke’s gospel gives us two very familiar stories in a row (Jesus at the home of Martha & Mary, and the parable of the Samaritan that many call ‘good’), and when taken together, a thread emerges. A thread of invitation beyond the plans. Even the Very Good Plans that we have for our time, our money, our energy. This does not mean that plans are inherently bad; they just occasionally prevent us from being present and responsive to an opportunity or person presented to us, in a moment for which we didn’t plan. Which of these was a neighbor to the suffering one? The one who (chucked their plans and) showed mercy. Go and do likewise… [sermon begins at 23:25]
Audio
Resources
- Land Acknowledgement: Mennonite Worship and Song Committee, 2019, from Voices Together, 878; Real Rent Duwamish: https://www.realrentduwamish.org/
- Blessing our Offerings: https://seattlemennonite.org/donate
- “Go and Do Likewise: Lessons from the parable of the Good Samaritan,” Amy-Jill Levine, (includes quoted excerpt from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s sermon on this parable)
- Bibleworm podcast: Episode 226 – Eternal Life and Truly Living, Amy Robertson and Robert Williamson, Jr.
- Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash
Permission to podcast the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-726929. All rights reserved.
- Be Thou My Vision – Text: 10 10 10 10; ancient Irish; tr. by Mary E. Byrne, 1905; fr. Eleanor Hull’s The Poem Book of the Gael, 1913, alt. Music: Trad. Irish melody; adapt. fr. The Church Hymnary, 1927.
Additional Resources
- God is Here Among Us Voices Together #62 – Tune: Jaochim Neander, 1680; Text: Gerhard Tersteegen,1729
- The Love of God Voices Together #162 – Tune & Text: F.M. Leaman, 1917; arr. Claudia Lehman Mays
- Heart with Loving Heart United Voices Together #62 – Tune: adapt. From “Sollen nun die Grunen Jahre, ca. 1700; Text: Nicolaus L. von Zinzendorf, 1723, trans. Walter Klaassen © 1965