TAKELEY CHAPEL IS PLEASED TO HOST:
Havers Community Church
Kanlungan Youth Mission Church
Daily Readings from Lectionary- Daily Readings for Sunday, March 29, 2026
- Daily Readings for Saturday, March 28, 2026
- Daily Readings for Friday, March 27, 2026
- Daily Readings for Thursday, March 26, 2026
- Daily Readings for Wednesday, March 25, 2026
- Daily Readings for Tuesday, March 24, 2026
- Daily Readings for Monday, March 23, 2026
- Daily Readings for Sunday, March 22, 2026
- Daily Readings for Saturday, March 21, 2026
- Daily Readings for Friday, March 20, 2026
- Bible Gateway’s Verse of the Day
- 2 Corinthians 5:21
Generosity
In this perplexing parable of Jesus I think we are supposed to see that the shrewd manager managed the debtors of his master to his advantage and pleased his master who it appears was none the wiser about his dishonesty and even commended him! I wonder if the hearers entered into the dramatic irony and were amused.
But here is the thing, we are all in receipt of abundant grace from our heavenly father and through us he chooses to give. As shrewd disciples we must be generous and give to all. It is intriguing how the ones who use dishonest wealth to gain friends are welcomed by them into eternal homes. I see this as a call to generosity to all, the deserving and the undeserving, that those who receive from us are blessed and our generosity heralds them into the kingdom where they receive us with thanks giving.
The wealth the manager had charge of was the dishonest wealth which he was commended for stewarding. In our daily work we may find ourselves compromised, but through generosity we can be shrewd and ensure all are blessed despite the source of the wealth maybe. The rest of the teaching is wisdom indeed after gaining our attention.
I have not relented
Al spoke to us this morning and he reminded us that chaos brings desolation and God’s purpose is unrelenting, seen in the cross, the lost sheep, the lost coins and the mercy extended to Paul: God looks for a new creation. Even when people are stupid and desecrate the land, Jeremiah tells us there isn’t a full end and the psalm reassures that out of his true people there comes restoration.
It is Christ that restores, Christ the shepherd and Christ the widow searching for her coins. In the Jeremiah passage it is clear how God looks to the created order to see how the land is to be destroyed, and the wind, so useful at the time of harvest for the cleansing of the grain becomes destructive, not a means of purification. I find it problematic to say that the people were made militarily weak because of their unrighteousness, as then that would imply the might of their enemies was because of their faithfulness to their god. No, God withdraws and allows the foolishness of his daughter, Jerusalem to run its course: they have listened and the uncoercive, unrelenting love of God runs its course and as a result his daughter is to experience devastation.
Paul is one who was a man of violence who encountered the mercy and grace of Jesus, whose love transformed him. This is the way of love that heralds ever flowing love.
It is good to discuss these things and know our need. Where were you?
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Christ the true potter.
Gabriel who usually delivers our talk is on holiday in his home nation of the Philippines.
Today we focused on Jeremiah and how the reading helped us understand the words of Jesus. The Psalm was also significant in out discussion.
We noted how God is viewed as a potter working with the clay. The clay has all it’s character and God works with it. We see how the original lump proved spoiled and the potter knocks it back and starts again. Christ, incarnate God is the new Israel. The nation is renewed in Christ and the potter continues to work with the clay.
Just as in Philemon, where Paul says :..I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your good deed might be voluntary and not something forced, God works. Humanity spoiled is remade by the divine hand who draws out the clay in Christ. There is no coercion just healing and setting on the narrow way of love. This is being saved.
We are secure in God’s hands as the Psalm reminds us, formed in Christ the One who is forgiveness from the beginning, humanity formed from the very earth and God’s image, a humanity he took upon himself. The Psalmist writes: How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! I try to count them—they are more than the sand; I come to the end—I am still with you. The last part tells us that our resting place is in Jesus not the beyondness of divinity or our thoughts on God.
And so Jesus prepares his followers for hard times. For most of us, our times are not as hard as they were to experience. Yet we will have hardships to bear and our security threatened by wars or rumors of wars. Jesus warns his followers their security needs to be in him not in family or possessions and they were to be peacemakers. In our comfort and security we need to listen to this carefully and continue to draw on the unforced, ever flowing love of God the father, revealed in Jesus.
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