13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

1. 1 Kings 19: 16b, 19-21
   
2. Psalms 16: 1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11
   
3. Galatians 5: 1, 13-18
   
4. Luke 9: 51-62
   

• Succession plan
  
• Most of us go from week to week without giving much thought to who will pick up the baton when we hang up our spurs, but we ought to.  None of us lives forever, but the Kingdom that we serve will.
• If God called you into something new, and you had to give up a ministry that you are presently in, how long would that transition take?
• Whom do you think would be the ideal person to replace you?
• What can you do to help make sure that they are ready when the time comes?
  

• An inheritance like no other
  
• In ancient Israel, ideal was that the only transference of land was by inheritance.  In a way, where you were from defined you.  So it is with us, but we inherit from God because Jesus has made us God's children.
• Lots of people feel entitled to things, treatment, respect.  What are you entitled to as a child of God?
• How do you know that you are a child of God?
• Do you ever feel abandoned by God?
• How do you explain such feelings when you are a child of God?
  

• Freedom
  
• We value our freedom.  At times willing to die to defend our freedoms.  Just what does freedom entail?
• What are the most important freedoms that you enjoy today?
• What are some freedoms that you wish that you had?  Maybe it is freedom from worry, freedom from work that grinds you down, maybe freedom from a disease, freedom from too many possessions, ...
  
• How would your life be better if you were more free?
• How would your life with Jesus be better if you were more free?
• What are you doing to get there?
  

• Leaving it behind
  
• At some point in our lives, it becomes less about avoiding serious sin and more about choosing the best alternative in favor of other alternative(s) that are good in their own right, but not the best alternative, the one that God is pointing us to.
• What are some good things that you have had to give up, in favor of better things?
• How did you make that decision?
• How did that change your life?
• Do you ever wonder what might have happened if you had decided the other way?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where is God calling me to mentor others?
2. How is God offering me a share in His life that I may not see just now?
   
3. Where can I be more free?
   
4. Is there room in my life for what God wants to offer me next?
   

Shalom!