Sunday, July 17, 2005

...And Just One More Thing About Wheat and Tares

This is courtesy of our sermon this morning.

Our pastor noted that his wife is a research scientist by trade, and knows a little something about level one and level two research errors.

Level one errors have to do with including data in the research that shouldn't be there. Level two errors have to do with not including data that should be included.

The parable of the wheat and the tares, said the pastor, is a message to the church to which the gospel was originally written -- a church struggling with issues of self-definition, of apostasy in the face of rejection and oppression, of living in an atmosphere where distinguishing "us" vs. "them" had become of primary concern -- that, when we err, which we will always do because we're human -- we need to err on the side of inclusion, the level one error, because when we err in the other direction we create a much bigger, more destructive and hurtful mess.

This is why I love my parish.

5 comments:

bls said...

I can see why.

This is very good. Nice when you get research science methodologies along with the holy mysteries.

;-)

(Seriously.)

LutheranChik said...

Sometimes I don't think our people realize what a gift they have in our pastor and his wife. Their generosity in sharing themselves with the people in our tiny parish -- especially considering that both of them could be pursuing careers in a cosmopolitan location more suited to their skill sets -- it's a very good thing.

Anonymous said...

LC, is your (blessed) parish part of the "North/West Lower Michigan Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church"?

I ask, re the above mouthful, because my Episcopal parish prays for it EVERY Sunday! (And, as often as I've been Eucharistic Minister---in our parish, the EM always says the intercessory prayer---I can testify it's quite a mouthful! *g*)

LutheranChik said...

Yup -- that's the one. (Actually, the name is rather confusing, because the synod covers pretty much all of the Lower Peninsula.)

How cool is it that your church prays for us? :-)

Anonymous said...

You're welcome!

I gather it's a diocese-wide kinda thang: part of the ECUSA-ELCA Covenant ('scuse me, that one didn't pass on your side: it's "Called to Common Mission" that did *g*)

Doesn't your church pray for the "Episcopal Diocese of Western Michigan" {sniff}? [Actually, LC, since I am still not exactly sure where you are, I don't know if Episcopalians in your neck of the woods might not be in another diocese from the one I'm in]

Ironically, there's no ELCA church in our town---unfortunately (though I can testify that the folks at the local LC-MS church are exceptionally nice. But no, I'm not out to them! ;-/)