PORTLAND MENNONITE CHURCH
  • Home
  • About
    • NEW TO PMC?
    • Staff Contacts
    • DIRECTIONS
    • CALENDAR / EVENTS
    • BUILDING USE
    • OUR STORY
  • NEWS
  • MINISTRIES
    • PEACE & JUSTICE @ PMC
    • FAMILY PROMISE
    • NIGHT STRIKE
    • CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Racial Justice Group
    • MENNO PRIDE
  • CONGREGATIONAL LIFE
    • WORSHIP
    • CHILDREN @ PMC
    • YOUTH GROUPS
    • ADULT CLASSES
    • SMALL GROUPS
    • Congregational Care
    • STEPHEN MINISTRY
    • MEMBERSHIP
  • GIVE
  • PRESCHOOL

STORIES FROM THE
​LIFE OF PMC...

The Dishonest Manager

7/16/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
'Becoming Parables'

The stories Jesus told were meant to unsettle his listeners. C. H. Dodd defines a parable as 'a metaphor or simile drawn from nature or common life, arresting the hearer by its vividness or strangeness, and leaving the mind in sufficient doubt about its precise application to tease it into active thought.' 

As you read the parable of the dishonest manager what struck you? Surprised you? What was vivid or strange? How does the story challenge or widen or deepen your faith? 


We live in a very different context from Jesus. Stories about shepherds and farming are distant, almost mythic. Can you imagine a contemporary setting for the story Jesus told (for example, 'the Kingdom of God is like riding a Trimet bus ... or going to Pioneer Courthouse Square ...').

Feel free to post a response to the parable or to the sermon. I'd be glad to know how the stories Jesus told have teased your mind 'into active thought.'

Peace to you,
Rod Stafford



Luke 31.1-8a
Then Jesus said to the disciples, ‘There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, “What is this that I hear about you? Give me an account of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.” Then the manager said to himself, “What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.” So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, “How much do you owe my master?” He answered, “A hundred jugs of olive oil.” He said to him, “Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.” Then he asked another, “And how much do you owe?” He replied, “A hundred containers of wheat.” He said to him, “Take your bill and make it eighty.” And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013

    Categories

    All
    Advent Workshop
    Becoming Parables
    Burt
    Children
    Christmas
    Climate Change
    Convention
    Food
    Game Night
    Giving
    Homelessness
    Immigration
    Jr High
    MCC
    Mcusa
    MDS
    Outreach
    Peacemaking
    PMC@100
    PMC History
    PMC Leadership
    PMC Playlist
    PMC Retreat
    Pnmc
    Sunday School
    Wildwood
    Worship
    Youth

    RSS Feed

CONTACTS
DIRECTIONS
GIVING
PMC LEADERSHIP TABLE
DOCUMENTS
ABOUT PMC


NEW TO PMC?
PMC DIRECTORY HELP
WHAT IS A MENNONITE?
HP FREE CHURCH
Picture
  • Home
  • About
    • NEW TO PMC?
    • Staff Contacts
    • DIRECTIONS
    • CALENDAR / EVENTS
    • BUILDING USE
    • OUR STORY
  • NEWS
  • MINISTRIES
    • PEACE & JUSTICE @ PMC
    • FAMILY PROMISE
    • NIGHT STRIKE
    • CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Racial Justice Group
    • MENNO PRIDE
  • CONGREGATIONAL LIFE
    • WORSHIP
    • CHILDREN @ PMC
    • YOUTH GROUPS
    • ADULT CLASSES
    • SMALL GROUPS
    • Congregational Care
    • STEPHEN MINISTRY
    • MEMBERSHIP
  • GIVE
  • PRESCHOOL