Friday's thoughts on Sunday's sermon

Palm Sunday becomes one of the most interesting Sundays of the year when you consider what happened after it. The celebration of the triumphal journey into Jerusalem is put into the context of arrest, trial, and crucifixion and all of it is put into a larger context of Easter and resurrection.

There are speculations about what happened and why and that is about all we can have because none of the gospel accounts tell us. We are left to try to figure it for ourselves.

Why would Jesus have been able to ride in triumph and then be treated with contempt? Were the people who cheered him the same ones who jeered him? Were the people who were calling for his election as Messiah the same ones who were loudly begging for his murder as they chose a hardened criminal, Barabbas, to be released instead of Jesus?

Ultimately, it continues to be the case as Rudolf Bultmann has suggested that Jesus was promoting a "radical obedience" that was hard to hear and difficult to follow.

It seems to me when you think about the "abundant life" and what Jesus brought to the world that the world didn't really want it then, and, if we had been there, we wouldn't have wanted it either. It is a difficult and almost impossible ethic to live. It requires consistency and conformity to a creed that is instructed by values that are not prevalent in the world where might makes right and convenience rules over complexity.

So they cheered him and then they jeered him and they cried for his death which is what happened.

Palm Sunday is one of the most interesting and important days of the year because it forces us to decide whom we will follow and how we will live out what it means to be Christian.

What do you think about Palm Sunday and why do you think they put Jesus to death on the cross?

Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net.

If you are willing to have your thoughts viewed by the readers of the blog click in the 'comments box' below.

I look forward to hearing from you.



Charles Schuster

Thursday's thoughts on Sunday's sermon

Trying to answer the complex question posed by the scripture related to Palm Sunday is not an easy task. According to virtually every one of the gospels related to Palm Sunday it seems clear that there was some kind of triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The crowds may have varied according to the particular gospel but there seemed to be a parade sort of event with people shouting praise and leading Jesus into the city with exuberance and excitement.

Scholars tell us that the gospels want us to compare some of the Roman army parades with the entry of Jesus. Whereas the Romans had armored soldiers on magnificent horses and all the flare and flux of a military exhibition of power, Jesus rode a donkey and appeared to the crowd and onlookers as a humble servant who portrayed vulnerability and weakness.

Why did the crowd praise him when he entered the city and why did they turn on him and ask for his death at the end of the week? What changed?

This is my speculation:

I think Jesus came to bring "abundant life" and I think that sounded really appealing to the masses until they figured out what it meant. Abundant life did not mean easy life, it meant faithful service. Abundant life did not mean we could do as we wish, it meant we must live out our conviction.

Abundant life (what Jesus came to give us) is complex, compelling, and filled with obligations and demands.

They learned what he meant and they understood what he came to give them and they didn't want it. That's why they put him to death.

That's how I see it. What do you think?

Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have the readers of the blog see what you've written click on the 'comments' box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.



Charles Schuster

Monday's thoughts on Sunday's sermon

Sunday, April 1st is Palm Sunday. This is one of the most interesting days of the year and one of the most confusion. I have tried to tackle some of the most difficult texts these last several Sundays and this one is no exception.

The procession of Jesus riding on a donkey into Jerusalem is an interesting phenomenon. You have both the adulation of the coming of the Messiah where all attention is focused on him and you have the humility of one who was coming into Jerusalem riding a beast of burden. He received the shouts of "Hosanna" from the crowd like a conquering hero and yet he chose to enter the city in a most inauspicious manner.

The most complex and problematic part of the story isn't that, however. Somehow it has to be explained to us for our satisfaction how it was that he was praised by the crowd on Sunday, and arrested and jeered by the crowd by the end of the week. What made this crowd fickle? How could they have turned him in asking for "Barabbas" to be saved rather than Jesus? And the name Barabbas is an interesting name when you consider that it means "son of the father". Bar means son. Abba means father. Also it is complicated by the fact that Barabbas was a criminal/revolutionary and Jesus was a peaceful man who taught love and respect.

There are many questions to be addressed this coming Sunday; many issues to be worked out in a story most of us have thought to be a simple lesson in praise and celebration.

Do you have answers to any of these questions? Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts with the congregation and the readers of the blog click on the 'comments' box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.



Charles Schuster

Thursday's thoughts on Sunday's sermon

"Wouldn't You Love a New Career?"
II Corinthians

Reverend Eakle is our preacher Sunday. Here are some thoughts about his sermon:


There times when each of us would like a "do over", a new beginning -
a chance to start fresh - it doesn't matter whether we are old or young!

The Apostle Paul tells us that when we are in Christ, we are given a new
beginning - we are a new being - a new creation

Our Lenten Journey offers us the time to consider who we are, where we've been,
and where we're bound - it holds the opportunity to experience the new possibilities
that Christ's offerings for living - an opportunity to find a new direction for ourselves

Paul also tells us that along with the offer of new life comes the offer of a
"new career" that will become life-changing!

Wednesday's reflection on Sunday's sermon

Lonnie Eakle is our preacher Sunday. I will post for Lonnie some of what he is doing with his sermon.

Both Reverend Eakle and I were saddened to learn of the death of Bishop Ed Paup. Ed was a clergy colleague and friend of both of us and the announcement of his death has hit hard.

Ed of one of only two clergy elected from this Annual Conference and he served as an Episcopal leader in the Oregon - Idaho - Alaska area and the Seattle area. He ended his ministry as the head of the Board of Global Ministries.

Several years ago they discovered a brain tumor and he has been through various medical treatments for that condition.

Ed was an innovator and skilled preacher and leader. His leadership has made a significant difference in the church and his death is a very sad thing for all who knew him, loved him, and served with him in the church.

Lonnie and I consider ourselves to be good friends of Ed and we are both grieved by the news we received this week.


Charles Schuster

Friday's thoughts on Sunday's sermon

We are looking for the "one true thing" or "the most important thing" in life. What is it. What might that text have pointed to when Jesus said to Martha, "You worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one."

There are approaches to life that are misguided. There are ways in which we miss the one thing that is needed.

For some of us we tend to think it's about us and we become full of ourselves. We are over the top in our exuberance for ourselves, for our problems, for our accomplishments. It's just about us and the world that revolves around us.

For some of us we tend to think in a different way. It's almost as if we are afraid of ourselves. We continually throw ourselves under the bus. We, like Martha, worry and fret about everything and have little sense of ourselves or how important we are.

The aim in life is to thread the middle between the two. We need not be over the top or under the bus but we strive to be right on target as we catch glimpses of greatness and God in our lives as we live them day by day.

Mary had it right. She was in the presence of Jesus and she was present to him. She had her values and her priorities straight. There was a moment of union and reunion. Things came together for her.

Moments like that happen and we look for them and we strive to be present to them when they come to us.

Can you identify such a time as that; when it happened and how you may have missed it?

Can you recall when it all came together and you took the time to savor the moment and felt that there was more going on in that moment than you imagined?

If you relate to this I'd love to hear from you. Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts with the readers of this blog click on the 'comments' box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles Schuster

Wednesday's reflection on Sunday's sermon

I find these are really difficult days for me. I've never been in a position where I knew I was leaving something but I didn't know where I would be going and I wasn't sure I knew what I would be doing.

When a bishop appoints you to a church while you are still appointed to a church you can tell people where you are you know where you will be. I can't say that now. We don't know where we will live and I'm not exactly sure what I will be doing. Furthermore, I think it is inappropriate for me to spend any appreciable time thinking about that while I'm still here.

I feel a little like Martha in that story where Jesus is speaking to his two friends. I am worried and concerned over many things and I tend, like Martha, to overlook the most important thing.

What is the most important thing that can be overlooked in the midst of change?
What should we pay attention to when our attention span is narrowed to what is immediate?

This sermon will search for such a thing. Probably, it will have to be somewhat autobiographical. Hopefully, other people will be able to relate to it.

What is the most important thing?

Is it the sense of being present in the midst of change?
Is it the idea of God in the ebb and flow of time and space?
Is it love and friendship that supports us when we are concerned and afraid?


What do you think the most important thing is? What do you think Jesus was talking about in the story in the 10th chapter of Luke?

If you have thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts with the readers of this blog click on the 'comments' box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.



Charles Schuster

Monday's thoughts on Sunday's sermon

"Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion." Luke 10:41

This is a difficult passage to figure. Jesus is meeting with Mary and Martha and Mary is listening to their guest and Martha is busy cleaning up the house.

Jesus seems to be promoting irresponsible behavior. Furthermore, what is the one thing? What is the thing that is the most important thing.

I plan to try to discover what that might be and how we might find a way to live it out in our lives.

We can speculate what it is:

1. Is it listening to the spiritual things in life and letting the other things go?

2. Is it being present to the moment and letting the peripheral things take care of themselves?

3. Is it being focused onto the inner life rather than locked into the life beyond the world of immediate concern.


What is the one true thing we should be attentive to?

What do you think about this and why do you think Jesus would have attacked Mary for her work ethic?


If you have thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have others read your thoughts click on the 'comments' box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.



Charles Schuster

Friday's thoughts on Sunday's sermon

Here's the thing. In every life there is a time in life when we look at what was in the past and what is in the future. It is a time when we are face to face with our prelude and our postlude. It is a decisive moment in life and we know it. It is handed to us but we have the chance to do something with it and what we do with it will determine the whole remainder of our lives.

We can think about those times when we determined that we should take a different job; a different approach; a different way of being to the people around us and the God we worship.

We can think of those pivotal times when we realize all that was in coming together with all that is about to be and who we were is merging into who we are becoming.

For Jesus, I submit to you, it wasn't the Last Supper; it wasn't the wedding at Cana; it wasn't the Palm Sunday journey; it wasn't when he was 12 in the Temple debating with the theologians. It happened when he decided to allow his cousin, John to baptize him. That was the time in his life when his past and his future merged; when it all came together for him.

When did it come together for you? When was your "mid-life crisis"?

If you have thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts with the readers of the blog click on the 'comments box' below.

I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles Schuster

Wednesday's reflection on Sunday's sermon

There are times in our lives that we look at as pivotal. Lent is a time to think about those times and to see what is happening in our lives now.

For some of us it is the death of a loved one or it could be a promotion. For some of us it is the day we fell in love or the day we were married or the day we proposed marriage.

I know a young man who will never forget the day he got his first car. It marked a time of liberation for him. It was a day in which his future was opened up.

I know a woman who will never forget the day she decided she could no longer drive. She realized she was no longer safe on the road and there was a chance she could hurt someone or herself.

When you look over the scope of Jesus life we have mostly the last three years of his life. The birth narratives continue to be important to the Christian Story and the incident in the temple when Jesus was 12p has to be considered. The wrestling with his own values in the wilderness that ended with his affirmation of his calling to live a life that was selfless and obedient to God had to represent a turning point.

Of course the wedding at Cana when his mother told him to turn the water into wine and whatever that episode is supposed to represent was a time that he remembered.

But I think THE turning point in his life was his adult baptism in the River Jordan.

That event is not without problems in interpretation. Why would he need to be baptized from sin when he didn't sin? Why was it necessary and why was that such an important time in his life?

Recently, we have had adult baptisms at the church and they are very special events. They represent an adult who had made a conscious decision to be do something with their spiritual journey.

I think that was true of Jesus. I think his baptism was his decision to do something new with his life and I think it was one of the most important decisions he made.

What do you think about this?

If you have thoughts on it write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have others read your thoughts click on the 'comments' box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.



Charles Schuster

Monday's thoughts on Sunday's sermon

"Jesus' Midlife Crisis"

When I met with the students at the "Relationships" Class at Rocky Mountain High School last week I asked them to draw out a line of highs and lows that represented their lives. On a scale of one to ten how might they rate each age of their young lives. Then I asked them to look at the low points and what did the low points have in common. Generally, what put them down, depressed them, or discouraged them in their lives. Then I asked them to look at the high points in their lives and what would they say was the best day of their life and why was it.

Then I asked them to look at the contrast between the high points and the low points in terms of what they had in common. I suggested their philosophy of life could be mapped by a comparison between the high and low points. I believe that says a great deal about how we put things together.

What was Jesus' low point? What was his high point? Since he was probably 33 when he was crucified we could identify that period of his life as his mid-life crisis. Actually, people in his day didn't live as long as we live today so it may not be mid-life for him when we chronicle the years of his public ministry and teaching -- 30 to 33.

What do you think were the high points of his life? What were the low points?

Was his baptism in the River Jordan a low point; a time of confusion? Baptism indicated a person needed to repent. John the Baptist called people to repent and be baptized. What would Jesus have needed to repent about?

What was Jesus' high point? Was it Palm Sunday? Was it his first sermon in his home town synagogue? It really didn't go too well for him in that they tried to kill him after he finished preaching. Was it when he was able to turn water into wine at the wedding at Cana? He did get into a fight with his mother on that occasion but that was the first step in his ministry according to John.

Sunday I want us to look at high points and low points; preludes and postludes and how we are shaped in our thinking and in the way we live by the things that happen to us.

What was the high point of your life? What was the best day you ever had?

If you have thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts with the readers of the blog click on the 'comments' box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles Schuster