Luke 14: 15 - 27

When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, "Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!" But he said to him, "A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the same time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is now ready.' But they all alike began to make excuses.

The first said to him, 'I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused'

And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.'

And another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.'

So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, 'Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.'

And the servant said, 'Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.' And the master said to the servant, 'Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.'"

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to him, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple"

Things have been pretty encouraging in church recently. The cluster is back again after the june holidays, and recent feedback from the cell members seems quite positive. Pastor josh has a pretty big vision for the youth ministry for the rest of the year, and it will take a lot of faith, prayer and perseverance from the core team to put this vision into reality. Dan and I went with pj just now to Trinity College, to sit in on a module that talks about well... if I get it correctly so far.. the theology and praxis of youth ministry? I didn't know the term 'praxis' has theological roots! I can't confirm if I can join the rest of the module yet, because of the double commitments to nj and nus. Wanted to squeeze in a 3rd lang and a short asef conference for the new sem, but I think I'll give one or two of them a miss, cos I can't multitask very well in general. Anyway, I am going to focus on Luke for the next few weeks. I hope the book of Luke will clear some conceptual/spiritual blockades in my mind. Yeap, Luke, here I come.