6 November 2026 - using things for people, not using people for things

Today's Readings
(Audio)

 

The steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do,
now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me?
I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg.

The steward recognized that, apart from his stewardship, he didn't really have anything else. There was nothing that was purely his with which he could pay his debt, neither strength nor wealth. 

I know what I shall do so that,
when I am removed from the stewardship,
they may welcome me into their homes.’

The steward also recognized that the debts owed by his master's debtors were not ultimately his own. It would have been foolish to cling to such things even in the face of impending judgment from the master. He resolved to let go of such debts, even though they may have been the only things that gave him a sense of wealth and power, in order to try to earn the favor of those who owed them. Then he would have something truly valuable, the friendship of others. Thus when his own work came up short and he was found wanting there would be something on which he could fall back, that being the charity of his friends.

We too are supposed to recognize that nothing we have is truly our own in the strict sense. We have it all on loan, as stewards. Since we can't cling to it indefinitely, in the face of death and impending judgment, we ought to use it for the sake of bringing others into the Kingdom, making friends whose prayers can benefit us in this life and beyond. But, unlike the deceitful but prudent steward, we are often foolish in that we fail to recognize the urgency of our situation and ignore the fact that our privilege, power, and possessions, and abilities, are insufficient to save us. We can't use them as though they were are own, over and against the master, to escape our obligation to him, since they were his gifts to begin with. But if we put them to use so as to make spiritual friends he will commend our prudence. Obviously we must not cheat our fellow servants on earth. But when we freely use the gifts of God he is not cheated and cannot be. He has an infinite abundance, and supplies us with all we need for every good work (see Second Corinthians 9:8). 

We are meant to announce to our fellow servants that their debts are forgiven and that the true year of Jubilee has begun. This is in fact what God desires. He is not overly eager to collect. But those things to which we cling as though they were absolute goods will inevitably be torn from us. When we instead seek first the Kingdom it is then that we receive all else besides. This will keep us safe from the fate Paul describes for those others whose "minds are occupied with earthly things":

Their end is destruction.
Their God is their stomach; 
their glory is in their “shame.”

Rather, we are meant to remember that the source of our value and strength is not from earthly things, but from heaven.

But our citizenship is in heaven, 
and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

As Christians we have the privileges and protection accorded to citizens of heaven. This world, its power, and its judgments, have no ultimate say over us and our destinies. Therefore let us be prudent with the things of earth and "stand firm" in the way of Christ.

 

Matt Maher - Lay It Down

 

5 November 2026 - priority one

Today's Readings
(Audio)

What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them
would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert
and go after the lost one until he finds it?

Why does it almost seem that Jesus loves the one lost sheep more than the ninety-nine? It strikes us as somewhat unfair that those sheep who did not stray were deprived of the shepherd so that one who had could benefit. But the Pharisees also felt this way. Jesus did not lavish praise or attention on them but instead went to seek those who knew they needed him. He constantly directed his attention to those who did not yet know him, and those who shared his heart followed in his footsteps. It was not just the Pharisees, but all those who were not lost, or who perhaps did not realize they were in fact actually also lost, were not as open to receiving the love of Jesus as were those who were lost and who knew they were lost. It was precisely these later who were capable of making the most profound response to Jesus, the ones who could most experience having been loved much and then, in turn, love much themselves.

And when he does find it,
he sets it on his shoulders with great joy

In bringing back the lost sheep Jesus fulfills his mission to seek and to save the lost (see Luke 19:10). What is it about this that fills him with such joy? It is doubtlessly the love he is able to lavish on the sheep, open as they are to receive it, and his assurance of the way that love will transform them. 

We may be among the ninety-nine safely home. We may not be at immediate risk of predation. But we may still be at risk of complacency and a lukewarm response to the shepherd in our midst. Jesus, no doubt, is happy we aren't being consumed by wolves. But he would probably prefer if we learned to value his presence just as much as the one who was lost valued it. Honestly, we need him no less than the lost one. For we remain in the sheepfold only because he has taken care for the sheepfold to abide in safety. The only reason we don't stray ourselves is not from our innate goodness, but rather a gift of divine providential protection. The trick for us is to be grateful for every sin we avoid and virtue we pursue as gifts from the shepherd to his sheep. Then we can in some measure share the appreciation of the lost sheep for Jesus and never entirely lose the zeal of new converts.

The more we recognize our need for Jesus the more he delights to fill that need. Nothing gives him greater joy. Nothing has more potential to transform our lives. This is why, for us, as for Paul, it should be our number one priority.

But whatever gains I had,
these I have come to consider a loss because of Christ.
More than that, I even consider everything as a loss
because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

Britt Nicole - The Lost Get Found

 

4 November 2026 - cost of discipleship

Today's Readings
(Audio)

 

Which of you wishing to construct a tower
does not first sit down and calculate the cost
to see if there is enough for its completion? 

We are called to consider realistically the difficulty of what we are being asked to undertake for the sake of Jesus and for his Kingdom. We are being told, as Paul puts it, to work out our "salvation with fear and trembling". This is probably almost enough to make us want to give up. In terms of our human resources we are definitely outmatched in the battle. If we start this tower with only what our abilities and possessions it is probably going to end up just like it did at Babel. What we want to do, rather than fighting for ourselves and our egos independently of Jesus, is to find out what are his terms for peace. We must remember that the construction of the tower and the victorious life are not things we can accomplish. They are only possible for us to share through participation. To do so we must keep in mind that "God is the one who, for his good purpose, works in you both to desire and to work".

When we recognize the limits of our own efforts and abilities we will more frequently resist the temptation to fall back into operating at the level of the flesh rather than the Spirit, of settling for the merely human, when what we need is the assistance of divine grace.

In the same way,
everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions
cannot be my disciple.

It is not merely our own possessions that we must renounce but even our claim to our own lives. There must be nothing, not wealth, not even family, that we would choose over and against Jesus himself. No matter how necessary preferring the things of this world sometimes seems to us, doing so is to participate in the losing side of a battle, whose ending is already written and known to us. Family that does not have its foundations in Christ is destined to dissolve. Anything we strive to build, any legacy we hope to leave, apart from Christ, will ultimately prove to be an unfinished tower. This explains the why it is necessary to carry our own cross. It is not about self-hatred. Rather, it means that we must find our true place and discover our true purpose in Jesus himself, and nothing less. It requires us to share in the same attitude that was in Christ Jesus who humbled and emptied himself for our sakes. Put simply, it means consciously deciding to give God himself the first place in our lives and in our hearts.

The upshot is that, when we count the cost, and realize we can't pay, we can understand that we were never meant to do so. Jesus paid it all. We can't win the fight. But Jesus already has the victory. We must now put our pride aside so that he can manifest that victory in our own lives and make us "shine like lights in the world".

Matt Maher - Shine Like The Sun

 

3 November 2026 - bad excuses

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

“Blessed is the one who will dine in the Kingdom of God.”

We face the risk of recognizing the possibility of this blessedness in the abstract but then failing to respond to the invitation. The banquet sounds amazing, the facilities impressive, and the menu delicious. But the realities of our daily life seem too pressing. We may think we are simply putting it off, or we may be hoping for a different, still better invitation in the future. And yet, no matter the form the invitation takes we never seem to respond with our whole hearts. We seem content to allow our mundane daily existence to keep us preoccupied and trapped.

But one by one, they all began to excuse themselves.

The things we choose instead of the wedding banquet of the Kingdom aren't even necessarily that good. We may have some sympathy for the person who was just married. But what about the guy who wanted to go and inspect some property he just acquired? What made him choose that over a fabulous feast? It seems easy to pass judgement on such characters through the safe lens of a parable. But we are basically like them. Somehow the feast seems to lack a sufficiently robust reality in our minds to motivate us. We consider it something more than imaginary, but not quite on the same level as worldly relations, transactions, and business. Really, quite the opposite is true. The worldly realities are the ones that are only temporary, destined to pass away. The thickness of the reality of the banquet is because its roots are in eternity and it shall never end. If we wonder why this is so hard for us to get our heads around we ought to look to those who do seem to get it, to see what distinguishes them.

Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town
and bring in here the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame.

The people who get it are often the people who are not sated with the things of this world. Among them there are those who find it impossible to be satisfied with the world because of the circumstances of their lives. And there are also those who refuse to be satisfied, because they know that too much satisfaction with this life is a trap, based on a false promise. These are all people of the beatitudes who are not addicted to wealth or pleasure or power. Their pure hearts are able to see through to the truth of the invitation. Others of us, whose hearts are preoccupied with earthly things, lose the ability to see spiritual things clearly. Earthly things are bright and blinding, loud and deafening. Spiritual things do not overwhelm our senses in this way. They are subtle and require discernment and attention. If we spend too much time focusing on the former we will found ourselves unable to see the later.

The master then ordered the servant,
‘Go out to the highways and hedgerows
and make people come in that my home may be filled.

The master wants people who want what he has to offer. He is not planning to send soldiers to force people to sit rigidly and quietly at a banquet they do not wish to attend. And so, if we do desire the banquet at some level, we must become people capable of responding to the invitation. We must find a way to leave room in our hearts, even in the midst of everything going on around us, and all our pressing concerns, to truly hear and comprehend what the master is offering. The only way to ensure this is to "Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus", willing to let go of our rights and prerogatives because we are confident that God has something better still in store for us.

Dan Schutte - Table Of Plenty

2 November 2026 - its about him

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

On this commemoration of all of the faithful departed we celebrate our communion with those who have gone before us united to Christ in the hope of the resurrection, but who are still undergoing their final purification before they seem him face to face. The focus is not so much on the fact of the purification as it is on the certainty of the hope. On one level there might be some helpful fear that can motivate us to get our own acts together so that we can avoid as much of purgatory as possible. But today is really more about confidence in our hope because of our communion with these deceased brothers and sisters.

And this is the will of the one who sent me,
that I should not lose anything of what he gave me,
but that I should raise it on the last day.

Confidence is actually a more robust motivation to help us in our pursuit of holiness than is fear. Fear might be potent in the short-term. But when we feel fear we might have the mistaken sense that it all comes down to us and our efforts. Thus when things become difficult, or feel impossible, we are more likely to give up if fear is all we have on which to rely. We are right to fear our fallen sinful human nature, our ability to ignore or squander the grace that God desires to give us. We are right to acknowledge that his holiness is a consuming fire. But our confidence helps us to realize that his strength is even greater than our weakness, that it is ultimately far more about him than it is about us.

But God proves his love for us
in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

When we pray for the dead who are still being purified we acknowledge the fact that, for them, hope is certain. They know that it is only a matter of time before they see Jesus face to face. In our union with them they help us to share in their own unclouded vision, their view of the end of the race. They know what it means to let the grace of baptism have its full effect and help us to see how worthwhile it is to give ourselves entirely over to that gift in our own lives.

We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, 
so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead 
by the glory of the Father, 
we too might live in newness of life.

As long as we don't give up on Jesus he won't give up on us. From the faithful departed we learn a sense of urgency for responding to the call of Jesus, one that is not primarily motivated based on fear and avoidance of punishment, but rather based on our growing awareness of the magnitude of his unstoppable love.

For this is the will of my Father,
that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him
may have eternal life,
and I shall raise him on the last day.

Brian Doerksen - Refiner's Fire

 

1 November 2026 - marching orders

Today's Readings
(Audio)

The beatitudes are strategies for avoiding the illusions of worldly fulfillment in order to find the things that truly satisfy. We might be so bold as to rephrase them this way:

Blessed are those who do not seek wealth as their ultimate goal, they will receive a lasting reward, and true treasure in heaven.
Blessed are those who are not addicted to worldly comfort, they will be open to "be comforted" by God himself, who will wipe away every tear (see Revelation 21:4).
Blessed are those who do not seek power as their highest good, they will share in the victory of Jesus in the battle that truly matters (see John 16:33).
Blessed are those who refuse to be content with the injustice and compromise of the world, in the end they will see their desires realized (see Luke 18:7).
Blessed are those who are willing to  forego vengeance or strict justice in favor of mercy whenever possible, since, in doing so, they welcome the source of all mercy.
Blessed are those who hearts aren't filled with the toxic words and images with which the world tries to fill them (see Luke 6:44-46). They will remain sufficiently clear to see the only vision that matters, the only sight that can satisfy the heart.
Blessed are those who attempt negotiation and conciliation rather than resorting to violence. In doing so they become like Jesus himself, who came to save us, rather than condemn us (see John 3:17).
Blessed are those who are not deterred from playing their part for the Kingdom of God because of threats, violence, or other opposition. Since it is necessary to undergo trials for the sake of the Kingdom (see Acts 14:22), only people with such firm resolution can attain it.
Blessed are those who do not shrink from confessing Jesus as Lord because of insults, slander, or persecution. Jesus will more than recompense whatever we suffer for the sake of his name. This is why we read that the disciples in Acts were "rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name" (see Acts 5:41).

God does not enjoin the beatitudes on us merely because they are good for us, but because they reflect the priorities of his own heart when it is expressed in a human life. Thus, they perfectly summarize the attitudes of Jesus himself, who preferred nothing to the will of his Father. But do we see how they also perfectly capture the heart of Mary? Mary was she who, in her Magnificat rejoiced in her lowliness. Repeatedly we are told that she kept the pure treasure of God's words and deeds as the central focus of her heart (see Luke 2:19, Luke 2:51). 

The beatitudes are not merely meant to be a positive spin on a fallen world. They are the only path to joy. They are the blueprint for becoming who were are meant to be. They take as many expressions as their are people. In the saints we recognize the manifold shapes that living the beatitudes can take. Far from religion insisting on conformity and taking away what makes us unique, the beatitudes allow us to become our true selves, and empower us to overcome our false selves enslaved by fear. The benefits of the beatitudes really do begin here and now, even in this life, since they save us from so many false promises. But they reach their culmination in a climax of worship that we hope to enjoy, together with the saints we celebrate today, in the courts of heaven.

After this I had a vision of a great multitude,
which no one could count,
from every nation, race, people, and tongue.
They stood before the throne and before the Lamb,
wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.
They cried out in a loud voice:

"Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne,
and from the Lamb."

 

Oasis Worship - Salvation Belongs To Our God

 

  

Trevor Thomson - For All The Saints

31 October 2026 - assigned seating

Today's Readings
(Audio)

 

“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet,
do not recline at table in the place of honor.
A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him,
and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say,
‘Give your place to this man,’
and then you would proceed with embarrassment
to take the lowest place.

In general it is a good practice to not overestimate our own importance, taking the highest places because we think we deserve them more than others. It is even more important to not try to posture for positions which we know we do not deserve. But there is more to this parable than a general recipe for social gatherings. It is about a wedding banquet, that is, the coming together of God and man in the person of the bridegroom, Jesus Christ, and his bride, the Church. 

Rather, when you are invited, 
go and take the lowest place
so that when the host comes to you he may say,
‘My friend, move up to a higher position.’

Thus, what we must avoid is to attempt to fill the highest places in our hearts and in our worlds with anything other than Jesus Christ. The highest position at the banquet table is meant for him and him alone. If we try to fill it with anything else the best we can hope for is to be asked to relinquish our place. Then, whether do so or not will come down to whether we will humble ourselves before him or whether we take offense at him.

 

Jesus did not immediate come to jockey for the positions which the world, in its pride, had already occupied. He himself came and took the lowest place. It was our host, his Father, who invited him, through the resurrection and ascension, to the highest possible place. He did not come to fight for his place since he knew that was unlikely to do anything but antagonize the prideful and the powerful. Rather, by taking the lowest place he chose a way in which a genuine invitation might be made me to those who needed to change seats. Indeed, it showed them that it was not such a bad thing to have the lowest spot if even the highest man might choose it. But so too, when the Father called him higher, did it demonstrate the validity of his claim to be the one for whom the whole wedding banquet was being held, and therefore vindicated his claim to the highest position. This was how God cast down the mighty from there thrones and lifted up the lowly. Those who clung to their perceived mightiness would not willingly arise to join in the feast. But those who humbled themselves enough to be lifted up by God would enjoy the eternal banquet.

Christ will be magnified in my body,
whether by life or by death.
For to me life is Christ, and death is gain.
If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.
And I do not know which I shall choose.

Paul was an example of one who had previously chosen an exulted seat but responded with humility when God revealed his Son to him. After that Paul let go of his own claims to greatness and no longer felt the need to be have the final say about his own destiny. He was content with whatever path God would give him, even up to an including dying for Christ. But he was not so eager to depart with Christ that he was reluctant to continue his work in the world. He was able to continue that work with the full strength of his heart. But even this complete level of commitment did not imply that he could not at a moment's notice leave it all behind to be with the Lord. Most of us sit on one side or the other. We are either so involved in the world that we can't bare to part with it, or else so ready for heaven that we have become useless to the world. As Jesus recommends and as Paul demonstrates we must let the host, rather than our self-will, determine our direction. We know that, whatever form it takes, end result will be deliverance.

 

Elevation Worship - There Is A King