Now It's Meddling

The old joke about the guy who likes what the preacher says until it hits too close to home ends with the tag- "Preacher, now you're meddlin'."

Ralph Milton's Rumors Blog (Sermon Helps for Preachers with a sense of humor) regularly gets to that point. In the post on this week's lesson Jim Taylor talked aboutthe gall (chutzpah?) of the gentiles expecting to get into the church without being circumcised. Peter stood up for them and for the incredibly heretical idea that God would accept them just as they were. Taylor said he might preach on:

the astonishment of the circumcised believers who had come with Peter, that the Holy Spirit could be poured out on uncircumcised Gentiles. As if a foreskin was sufficient to keep God out!

So I might explore some equally ludicrous assumptions many of us still cling to. For example:
* That a wedding ring entitles a husband to rape his wife.
* That having a uterus disqualifies women from making decisions about abortion.
* That church rules and traditions can’t be questioned.
* That anyone who can’t speak English can’t possibly be a world leader.
* That using the name of Jesus requires God to fulfill our prayers.
* That those who don’t attend church – or who don’t give generously to it – can’t be truly religious.
* That a gay or lesbian orientation excludes one from the circle of God’s mercy.
Perhaps things haven’t changed all that much in 20 centuries.

Talk about an approach that afflicts the comfortable.

Sounds like something Jesus would do.