Thoughts for the Day

Jesus said 'No one can serve two masters: for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.'

(Church in Wales Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

I looked at working with two bosses last year (see 'Two masters' above), but there is another way to look at this parable. I once held two entirely different jobs - as a Diocesan Children's Officer, and the Religious Education Adviser. In the first, I helped parishes work with children under 14, sorting out difficulties, looking at new legislation, or trying new ways of worshipping with all ages. The other job involved working with 130 schools and children aged 5-18 as well as their teachers. I taught staff about assemblies and religious education, devised a new Diocesan RE Curriculum, and helped to appoint headteachers and senior staff.

Both jobs involved running large-scale events, and had totally different time-scales and different priorities. In the very tiny passage from Matthew's gospel above, we see Jesus reminding us that we cannot serve two masters. Doing two jobs certainly felt like serving two masters, not least because schools were open five days a week in the daytime, and parish work was largely evenings and weekends. Equally we cannot work flat out for the things of this world (by only thinking about earning more money, for instance) for if we do we take our mind off God and His Kingdom, which calls us to care for others, and not be so concerned with ourselves. This parable calls us to look again at our life-style and our priorities, and to listen to what God wants for us, and for our world.

Heavenly Father,
teach us to serve You
and to enable Your Kingdom of love
to grow in our world.
Help us to become less concerned
with ultimately unimportant things,
but to care more for our natural world,
and the fate of other people.
Amen.