God's Word in Action: Ask the Pastor BLOG
Welcome to this new resource! At the suggestion of God's Word in Action (GWIA) subscribers, we are expanding this resource to include the opportunity to ask questions of our Pastors regarding their sermons, weekly Bible lessons for Sunday or any other faith/Bible based topics.
To best facilitate the question and answer process and to best share the benefits of all questions and answers with anyone who subscribes, we have choosen an interactive tool called a "BLOG". Short for "web log", the BLOG format allows for you to view the sermon summary from each weekly edition of GWIA and ask questions and view answers.
How to Use the "GWIA - Ask a Pastor BLOG":
- Scroll down the page to find the GWIA edition you wish to ask a question about. Note that the newest week (date) appears on top.
- Click the comments link under the sermon summary to ask your question.
- A new "Post Comments" form is displayed below the edition you want to ask a question about. Note the other weeks are temporarily out of view.
- Type a name. Even though a name is required, "Anonymous" and "Guest" are perfectly acceptable if you wish to ask your question anonymously.
- Type your email address. Also required but will not be publically displayed.
- Skip the Website field as it is NOT required.
- Type your question in the Comments Box.
- Click the "Add Comments" button at the bottom to submit your question. Your question now appears below the related GWIA edition.
- Click the <<back to the blog link to return to the BLOG and close the Post Comments box.
- Questions are reviewed and answered by our Pastors which can take anywhere from an afternoon up to 2 days in the event of questions posted on Fridays or Saturdays.
How to View Your Answer:
- Return to the GWIA - Ask a Pastor BLOG by clicking the Question Button in one of your weekly GWIA emails -OR- by visiting the All Saints home page and clicking the "view the current edition" link in the subscription box.
- Scroll down to view the GWIA edition you asked a question about and click the "Comments" link.
- This displays all the questions and answers posted for this edition.
- Once you have completed your review, you can click the <<back to the blog link and return to the complete list of weekly editions. From here you may choose to view other questions and answers posted for other edition, etc.
Questions about or difficulities with the BLOG:
Contact Bobbie Tomasek at btomasek@allsaintsphoenix.org or Gina King at ginaking@allsaintsphoenix.org
July 23 Edition: Be the Wheat
Matthew 13:27-30
...“Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?” He answered, “An enemy has done this.” The slaves said to him, “Then do you want us to go and gather them?” But he replied, “No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest;...
Life is messy. Life is not always easy. There are times when we would like God to take utter control, clean things up and make it easy. Applying the elements of the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds, this might instead be said: There are times when we would like God to take utter control, not allow the weeds to grow in the first place, rip out the ones already there and make it easy. This should be so easy – wheat good – weeds evil, why won’t God just clean things up?
Considering the parable of the wheat and the weeds, we might be tempted to think of ourselves as the wheat (or hope we are the wheat) and think of others, the messy ones in our lives, as the weeds. In Jesus’ explanation of the parable to the Disciples, much more than any human parallels of good and evil are revealed. Good and bad grow up together side by side. We are called to ‘grow’ up among the weeds, looking not at them in judgment but showing them Christian love. One of the great lessons revealed in this parable is that the master of the field did not tear up the weeds. Likewise, we can’t always tell evil from good for we are not the judge. We are not to judge what is apparently good or apparently bad. God will come in His own good time to judge the wheat and the weeds. Until then, our job is to be the wheat.
