Repentance and Fig treesLuke 13:1-9

At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

He asked them, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?

No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.

Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them--do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem?

No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did."

Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none.

o he said to the gardener, 'See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?'

He replied, 'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it.

 If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'"

What Does The Passage Say?

• What happens in the story?

• Who are the characters?

What Does The

Passage Mean?• What are the

key themes?

God and Suffering

In this passage, Jesus is saying that God does not use misfortune to punish people

Repentance

• What does it mean to repent?

• Use it in a sentence• Why might it be a

good idea?• Is it a once-for-all

thing? (aka what does the manure mean?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDadfh0ZdBM

Repentance• Change your mind• Not just “assent to

some new truths”• “do not be

conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds” Romans 12:2a

Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And an outstanding reason for choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship— be it JC or Allah, be it Yahweh or the Wiccan mother-goddess or the Four Noble Truths or some infrangible set of ethical principles— is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things— if they are where you tap real meaning in life— then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough. It’s the truth. Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you.

David Foster Wallace, author of Infinite Jest

How?

Story Based AnimalsWe’re less convinced by arguments than moved by stories; our being-in-the-world is more aesthetic than deductive, better captured by narrative than analysis. Indeed, the philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre says that stories are so fundamental to our identity that we don’t know what to do without one. As he puts it, I can’t answer the question, “What ought I to do?” unless I have already answered a prior question, “Of which story am I a part?”

Smith, James K. A. (2013-02-15). Imagining the Kingdom (Cultural Liturgies): How Worship Works

SeasonsChurch seasons are part of living into the Christian story. It’s not so much about learning some new stuff as becoming a new sort of person.

Lent

• Its purpose is to prepare us for Easter• It’s the Old English word for “Spring”• It’s a way of ritualizing a wilderness experience

Key Stories

• What are some key stories for our culture?• What do they mean?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWr8hbUkG9s

Question

• What is going on in that film? • What’s the message(s)?

Decode This• Clue: it’s from the

Hermitage in St Petersburg

Success• You can achieve

anything you want to do

• What’s good about this?

• What’s bad about it?

What is our story?How do we own it?