Romans 12:9-21, Gospel: Matthew 16:21-28 August 30. 2020
I want to start with a classic story I last shared 11 years ago, so most of you either haven't heard it or have forgotten it. It is about misunderstanding what is meant by certain terms. I tie it into the misunderstanding between Peter and Jesus as to what the term Messiah actually meant.
A minister's widowed wife was planning a week's vacation to another denomination's summer camp. But she, being a bit nervous about this solo trip and being prim and proper, worried about the bathroom facilities. So she wrote to request assurances that the facilities were clean, private and accessible. As she wrote, she felt the word toilet was a bit crude to write, so instead she used the term bathroom commode. But for her, even that sounded a bit forward, too, so after the first page she abbreviated it BC. “Does the cabin where I'll be staying have its own BC? If not, where is the BC located.”