Christianity retold
The Ten Budgets is based on Luke 19: 11-27
A priest had to go on a long journey to be appointed Bishop of her local area. She got together ten of her congregation and gave them a budget of ten thousand pounds, telling them to use it to run several church projects until she got back.
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Mushrooms and Toadstools is based on Matthew 13:24-30
Fields and wheat and an enemy coming along to sow weeds – all of this was well known in Jesus’ day. Sowing weeds like darnel was a well-known revenge tactic, one that happened often enough that there were laws against it. This isn’t a parable based on folk-tales, but one based on everyday life – a series of events so familiar that the disciples and the gospel writer include the explanation (Matthew 13: 36-43) to be certain the reader understands that Jesus wasn’t just talking about some village scandal.
[Read more…] about Commentary: Mushrooms and Toadstools: Matthew 13: 24-30Mushrooms and Toadstools is based on Matthew 13:24-30
God’s nation is like a bloke who grew mushrooms in a box. One day he took a nap and his rival came and spread some toadstool spores all over the box. So, when the mushrooms sprouted, the toadstools also started coming up.
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The Tiny Speck and the Giant Tree is an adaptation of Matthew 7.1-5
The first comment to make about this parable is that it really doesn’t need retelling – even after nearly two thousand years, the meaning is still immediately accessible. What can be explored are the translation choices; for example, I replaced ‘plank’ or ‘beam’ with ‘giant oak tree’.
[Read more…] about Commentary: The Tiny Speck and the Giant TreeThe Tiny Speck and the Giant Tree is an adaptation of Matthew 7.1-5
Don’t find fault in others and your own faults won’t be brought up. For in the same way that you search out stuff to be offended by, offensive stuff will be found in you. Trawl through everything someone ever did, everything you ever did gets checked out too.
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Growing from Seeds is based on Mark 4: 26-34
These are two agricultural parables, one about a field crop and the other a garden plant. Both crops still grow in the UK – so the question would be, if these parables were being told for the first time in the modern UK, would these plants be familiar to the people hearing them?
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