Back to normal; understanding parables; and a gardener

It's Monday. Easter is over. I am t-i-r-e-d. We had a great Easter day. At church we have breakfast instead of Sunday School at 9 am. 77 people for that. Then we had 118 for worship at 10. That's a good sized crowd for us. The music was good; people were in a good mood; the sun was shining (most of the time). And I took a longggg nap in the afternoon.

Now... hmm, what do I do now that Easter is over? And, for the next two Sundays I will be at our church, but won't be preaching. That will be wierd.

UNDERSTANDING PARABLES
In my reading this morning (The Secret Message of Jesus), McLaren talked about why Jesus spoke in parables. I thought it was pretty good. On p. 46 he says:

"Why did Jesus speak in parables? Why was he subtle, indirect, and secretive? Because his message wasn't merely aimed at conveying information. It sought to precipitate something more important: the spiritual transformation of the hearers. The form of a parable helps to shape a heart that is willing to enter an ongoing, interactive, persistent relationship of trust in the teacher. It beckons the hearer to explore new territory. It helps form a heart that is humble enough to admit it doesn't already understand and is thirsty enough to ask questions. In other words, a parable renders its hearers not as experts, not as know-it-alls, not as scholars... but as children."

On p. 49: "Human kingdoms advance by force and violence with falling bombs and flying bullets, but God's kingdom advances by stories, fictions, tales that are easily ignored and easily misunderstood. Perhaps that's the only way it can be." Need I say... peace revolution?

THE CONSTANT GARDENER
Jane and I watched this movie Sunday evening. Isaac recommended it to us. Wow... what a sad movie. It was funny though, he came home later and asked how we liked it; and he said something about disliking the woman all the way through - until the end. And that was just what I thought. I was so mad at the woman throughout the whole movie... only to find out how incredibly good and loving she was in the end. It makes me wonder... how often do I do that with real people, and never get to the end to find out how loving they really are?

This was a sad movie, but a really good movie. I hope it's not true, but I need to give a damn about more things. I would discuss it more, but don't want to spoil it if you have yet to see it.

Good day, mates. Peace. The revolution continues.