Jonathan Rowe

"Removing the marks of circumcision" lands a bit differently in the update. 🤔

Umm...
Did anyone read the Daily Office's First Lesson (1 Maccabees 1.1-28) from the NRSVue today? 🤔⚓

Actually, intergenerational conflict seems like low-hanging fruit for Jesus to take credit for... 🤔

"For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household."
(Matthew 10.35)

MP hit hard this morning. I'm the filling in a three generational family. In a small house. ⚓

In Greek, the persistent widow's cry in next Sunday's Gospel is more about "vengeance" than "justice". With that in mind, perhaps we should be seeing her less like the first image and more like the second...
#SermonClub ⚓

First Sunday at the altar in more than two years; first time preaching since last February. 🤯

A white and brown scruffy dog with floppy ears lies on a light brown carpet, looking towards the left side of the frame. In the foreground, a light grey, S-shaped object rests on the carpet. A colorful patterned rug is partially visible in the background.

The dog loves the new chew toy shaped like an Allen wrench. The most beloved toys get names. Is it too perverse to call this one "Allan the Allen wrench?'
#ScruffyDog 🐶

A hand with a ring and a smartwatch rests on a wooden church pew, with two books visible on a pew in the background.

Tonight's #TouchPews comes from the King's College Chapel. My vocation was nurtured here, and I had the privilege to wear vestments again for the first time in nearly two years. We saw old friends and met new ones, and I'm looking forward to the chance to come back again. ⚓

A silhouette of a person sitting in prayer on a grassy hill against a vibrant sunset sky, with the text "INCREASE OUR FAITH Luke 17.5-10 #SERMONCLUB" overlaid on the image.

The great liberation of Sunday's Gospel! Luke 17.5-10 frees us from the constant pressure to always do more in our faith life. It reminds us that our value comes from simply being a child of God, not from our endless output. We are free to serve from love, not from ambition.
#SermonClub ⚓

I try to be polite to any robots that I have to *speak* to. Even though I *know* it's not a person, the way I speak to a disembodied voice will eventually affect the way I speak to actual people around me.

"...or forgive each other multiple times a day, like I was just talking about. But just imagine! If faith was a wish-granting superpower, can you imagine how messed-up the world would be?"

I have yet to hear a compelling reason WHY anyone would want a mulberry tree cast into the sea (where it will definitely die). I'm pretty sure Jesus is making a joke here. (He does that a lot in Luke's Gospel.)

On a perhaps related topic, can we get a show of hands? How many people thank their smart devices? Why or why not? 🤖

Servants who do what they've been told to do are anything BUT "worthless". They're actually doing their job.

The "unprofitable servant" teaching forces is to reject the idea that God OWES us praise, thanks, or reward for fulfilling our duty. It calls us to serve out of pure allegiance.

A woman in a black T-shirt and red apron wipes her forehead. She looks exhausted. Text overlay says: "INCREASE OUR FAITH Luke 17.5-10 #SERMONCLUB"

Next Sunday's Gospel challenges us with a deeply problematic phrase: "We are worthless slaves."

This language feels offensive, but Jesus uses it to make a radical point: the Greek could just as easily mean "We are not owed anything" for doing our duty. #SermonClub

Volume 3 of Meier's "A Marginal Jew" is my go-to reference for stuff like this. The other volumes are good, but this one specifically addresses major factions of Judaism, AND the disciples: as a group, as subsets of that group, and also as individuals. 🤓

⚓

A vibrant green tree stands in a field under a clear sky, with text overlay reading: INCREASE OUR FAITH Luke 17.5-10 #SERMONCLUB

Tired of struggling for "more faith"? Jesus says "Size doesn't matter".

Next Sunday's Gospel tells us that we don't need to generate a stronger belief; we just need to act with the simple trust we have. What challenges in our lives get easier if we can trust that reassurance?
#SermonClub

Exactly. It took a few minutes, but we figured it out. The waiter had never noticed such a glaring typo, and apparently no one had ever pointed it out. 😀

This is what happens when your left hand doesn't know what your right hand is doing. 😂

If you were at a restaurant and saw that an item on the menu was served with "ARUIT NARNISH", would YOU know what that meant? 🍽️

Father-in-Law put a note he'd found in his pocket into the collection plate. Then realised it wasn't his offsetting envelope. And had to ask if he could please look through the collection plate and get his grocery list back. 🫢

A first-person perspective shot from a wooden church pew, looking towards the altar. In the foreground, a person's hand with a wedding ring and a smartwatch rests on the pew in front. In the middle ground, another person is seated in a pew, facing the altar and reading. The altar area is visible in the background, featuring stained-glass windows and religious decorations. The church interior has warm lighting.

This morning's #TouchPews comes from Christ Church, Amherst, where we worshipped with my in-laws this morning. Later this week, I'll get to deacon at King's College Chapel in Halifax, and next Sunday I'll celebrate and preach at All Souls', Oxford. ⚓

He said to her, “If they do not pay attention to the social media and the printed notices, neither will they pay attention, even though one rise from the dead.”

Abraham replied, “They have the notices in the bulletin; let them read them.”

She said, “Nay, Father Abraham; but if one read out unto them the notices after church, they will pay attention.”

Then the ACW President said, “I pay thee, therefore, Father, that thou wouldest have Lazarus say something after church on Sunday about the Fall Sale — for we have a lot of parishioners—that he may testify unto them, that they may also come into this place of torment and support our Fall Sale.” ⚓

This parable is not just a morality play. It unmasks the fictions of privilege and challenges the social barriers that separate the wealthy from the poor. The great reversal in the story shows that God has a special care for the poor," and we are called to bridge the chasms in this life.

A collage of diverse faces forming a background, with two hands reaching out to each other in the foreground. Overlaying the image are the words 'THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS' and 'Luke 16:19-31', along with the hashtag '#SERMONCLUB'.

The Rich Man and Lazarus isn't just a story about the afterlife; it's a call to transformation right now. It challenges us to live a life of radical generosity. This Sunday, we might reflect on how this parable's transformative emphasis can make us more compassionate, generous people. #SermonClub ⚓📕

A (now largely omitted) third verse of All Things Bright and Beautiful went:

🎶The rich man in his castle,
The poor man at his gate,
He made them, high or lowly,
And ordered their estate.
All things bright... 🎶

I'm glad that social divides are no longer sung about as divinely ordained. 😳

The more I think about this, the worse the rich man looks in this story. When he needs comfort, he specifically asks for help from *Lazarus*.

Lazarus wasn't an anonymous stranger at his gate, but someone he knew *by name* and didn't help. 😡