Anything New to Say?

Somedays it is just like this. There doesn't seem to be anything new to say. I've said it all. After all these years what more is there to say? Isn't it possible that all the possible permutations and combinations of thoughts and ideas have been said and done?

When we reach that point we then just try harder and harder to find something. The Internet has become a great way to do that kind of seeming research. Google something, anything, related to what you think all things have been said about.

And sometimes even that doesn't work. You see nuances and differences so slight that your mind goes numb in trying to figure our what they mean.

I did that with this morning's Gospel lesson on not being stumbling block, not doing things that put others into danger of turning away from Jesus. Which, when I was much younger, I was told was that while some things might not be forbidden to Christians, seeing a Christian doing them might cause others less protected to fall into sin.

But nothing I Googled gave me anything new. There was construction and deconstruction. There was interpretation and re-interpretation. What I didn't see in my quick search was something that came to me as I was looking at it one last time in wanting to write this post. I didn't see anybody talk about the fact that judging others who were doing good works in Jesus name might be what Jesus was talking about.

I realized that all this talk of stumbling blocks was perhaps the inner attitude that says if you don't do it my exact way then you are wrong is the biggest stumbling block around. It narrows the playing field of God's grace. It sets up too many boundaries- human boundaries- on God's will and work.

If they do it in my name, don't worry. My name is being praised.

I know- that was before TV preachers managed to mess that one up. Except maybe not. Perhaps Jesus did truly mean what he was saying. Stop trying to protect Him. He has all the ability needed to do that Himself. Each of us should be doing what it is we are called to do. Don't worry about them. In the long run it may be that the old Rabbi Hillel was right: If it is from God it will succeed. If not, well, it will fail in the end.

See, maybe there is nothing new.