Scott's Weekly Greeting, July 21, 2020

Author: Rev. Scott W. Cousineau
July 21, 2020

Scott's Weekly Greeting ...

Do you remember the old Christmas movie, The Year Without a Santa Claus? It is the 1974 stop motion animated movie that told the dramatic tale of the year that Kris Kringle decided not to deliver toys to the children. Kris woke up with a cold right before Christmas, and his naughty doctor advised him to change his routine since nobody really believed in him anyway.

I barely remember the plot of the movie, but I do remember two of the characters ... Heat Miser and Snow Miser. One of those two characters comes to mind every year about this time. "I'm Mister Heat Miser, I'm Mister Sun. I'm Mister green Christmas, I'm mister hundred and one!"

I am NOT Heat Miser. I am NOT mister hundred and one. I am not even mister ninety-one. I am barely mister eighty-one! After three days of temperatures in the nineties, with high humidity, I was mister grumpy and grouchy. I am definitely much more akin to that fictional Snow Miser.

Yesterday morning, I was out mowing the lawn before the heat index rose any higher. I was miserable. With sweat stinging my eyes, I wrote ballads for the grass, but was really feeling sorry for me. Until ...

Until I remembered that last year dozens of people worked for the entire month of July in ninety plus degree heat preparing the parsonage for Renee and her grumpy, snow miserly husband. I gained a little perspective and my grumpy heart became a grateful heart.

I am continually grateful for all of the hot and hard work that went into preparing the parsonage. I also appreciate those moments when we realize that perhaps our suffering is not the stuff of epic tragedies. I appreciate being reminded of the importance of perspective.

Perspective. Look at this in relation to that. Does your new understanding of this change the way that you think of that?
It is an effective learning aid. It was one of the teaching tools that Jesus used. "Consider this ..."

In this week's message, Jesus strings together a rapid-fire lesson about the Kingdom of Heaven. He begins with a mustard seed, the smallest of seeds, and proceeded from there. Consider this ... how do the parables of Jesus inform our understanding today? What of that mustard seed? What of the yeast? What of the treasure in the field? What of the pearl merchant? What does it all mean for us in today's world and circumstances?

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