Musings with PWC

Jesus told a parable in Luke chapter 14 concerning the Great Invitation.  "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many (Luke 14:16)."  As the invitation went out a series of excuses were offered.  Apparently people did not want to come to the supper and offered a few excuses. 1.  One guy bought some 'ground' and wanted to go and see it.  Now, THAT'S exciting!  'Hey honey, look at this awesome piece of ground.' 2.  Another bought five yoke of oxen.  Again, excitement plus. ' Wow Honey, look at those oxen.  They pull that cart so well.  Better than anyone could ever have imagined!' 3.  Another just got married.  Here's an idea brain-ianic.  Bring her! As I read to feeble excuses I started to think of some feeble excuses we have in our culture.  We just studied Am I A Fan or A Follower at our church--and I'm thinking that it was a 'nice' series but life changing?  Church changing?  Hmmm--Maybe not! We are a culture of excuses.  

I'm sure you have noticed this.  Life is busy and very complicated.  Time schedules, appointments, lists to accomplish and even vacation times fill our lives to the max!  Imagine with me how this next phrase jumped off the page.  I was just reading a morning prayer from my Puritan Prayer Book (The Valley of Vision).  Here is the phrase that jumped  off at me:  "May I cherish simplicity and godly sincerity of character."  Wow really?  Can I still do that?  Better question:  'Am I even capable of doing that?'  Can I stop the rush, the bombardment of things to do, accomplishments, people to meet, stuff to fix, buy and paint--change, change, change-- and cherish simplicity?    Why can't I do that?  What would it take to do that?  Is it even important to do that?  The early church fathers often took a vow of simplicity.  I found, for example this: Vow of Simplicity  (VowofSimplicity) on Twitter https://twitter.com/ VowofSimplicity The latest from  Vow of Simplicity