THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT 2016 LUKE 13:1-9The first thing Lee does after services on Sunday is to collect all the bulletins that have been left in the pews. Then he brings them to the office where, on Monday, Liz sifts through them to see if anyone has accidentally left some money in one. Now occasionally, one of these discarded bulletins bears a handwritten message from a worshiper. For example, here’s one from last week; and someone has written in pencil two words – “Rubik’s Cube”. So this got me wondering. Why would someone write ‘Rubik’s Cube’ on their bulletin? I’m not going to conduct a witch hunt, it’s OK. You know who you are. Now, it seems to me that the only time anyone could do this is during the sermon – the rest of the time we have our eyes closed, or we’re reading, or singing. So, what was it about the sermon that made someone think of this 1980s puzzle? I like to think that it is because the sermon was ingeniously designed, perfectly structured and adorned with vibrant colors. That’s what I’m telling myself. The alternative is that it was impossible to understand. A priest friend of mine tells his ushers to hand out a GPS to everyone as they come to church so they can try to follow where the sermon is going.

It was a bad day to be at the Pool of Siloam, the day the tower fell. It dawned just like any other at that pleasant reservoir by the southeastern wall of Jerusalem. Women were coming and going, fetching water for their families. Children dangled their hands in the pool and splashed each other before being ordered to stop by their mothers. Tradesmen hurried by, en route to the city to wheel and deal. The day the Tower fell did not surprise the handful of Roman soldiers who had been posted to the aqueduct. Pilate had built that bridge, part of a program of civil engineering works to improve this remote corner of the Empire. But those sentries were not impressed. They whispered to each other about the shoddy workmanship, and now they could see water dripping steadily from one of the towers. Later that day, when it collapsed, it took eighteen lives and broke countless more hearts. It was a bad day to be at the Pool of Siloam, the day the tower fell.

It was a worse day to be at..... (Read the full Sermon here: When towers fall and soldiers come )