Readings and Themes for Week of August 22, 2010

Readings for Faith Sharing
Week of August 22, 2010,
Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading I Isaiah 66: 18-21

Outcasts will be gathered home by God as a precious offering in glory.

Psalm 117

"Go out to all the world and tell the Good News."

Reading II Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13

Discipline strengthens what is weak.

Gospel Luke 13:22-30

The doorway into the kingdom is narrow.

THEME:

Following Jesus calls us to risk and not always taking the easy road.

God’s sacred word shows us the way to eternal life. The entrance is narrow, yet we are strengthened each week as we gather in this holy place to be fed at the table of the word. May the proclamation of today’s scriptures keep our eyes focused on the Lord.

Questions of the week

Question for Children:

How do you show that you are a follower of Christ?

Question for Youth:

Jesus tells us that being His disciple will be very hard.

Of all the things that Jesus tells us about the way that we are to live our lives, what is the hardest thing for you to do? Why?

Question for Adults:

As you wrestle with today’s Gospel, what signs do you see in your
own life that you are “with God”?

Bulletin Bites
"I do not know where you are from"

What will we do if Jesus speaks those words to us when we finally meet him? Will our face go pale and our knees buckle? Will we be very frightened? Will we mumble, “I ate and drank in your company and you taught me”? What if Jesus asks us, “But what did you learn? Did you eat and drink in the company of the hungry, the homeless, the naked, the oppressed, and the diseased? Do they know where you are from? If people in need in our world know where we are from, Jesus will know where we are from. He will recognize us right away and he will be anxiously waiting for us to enter into his presence. Jesus is very clear”: “People will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at the table in the Kingdom of God. For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” Where do we want to be when we all take our places in God’s Kingdom?