wrestling with the stormy wind...

Self sufficiency, quibbling, and unbelief. Today's Leaflet talks of the day of "faith battling doubt" and very few are immune (no matter the content of your faith.) The image of the oak tree, strengthened through "wrestling with the stormy wind" is a powerful one for me. May it be so for you as well.

"CONFUTING THE SADDUCEES (Scripture Readings)

"AND they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words. . . And they say unto him, . . . Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?
. . . But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why tempt ye me? bring me a penny, that I may see it.
And they brought it. And he said unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said unto him, Caesars.
And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him.
Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection; . . . And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the Scriptures, neither the power of God ? ... He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living.
Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law ? Jesus said unto him, Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second ts like unto it, Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.

Matt. xxii. Mark xiii

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Passion Week of Human Life (Tilden's Meditation)
CONTROVERSY

"THE cleansed temple within does not stay cleansed. The sheep and oxen and money-changers, though they leave at our bidding, come again, and need renewed expelling. Jesus is supposed to have purged the temple near the beginning of his ministry, as well as at its close. The Pharisees, Herodians, and Sadducees of eighteen hundred years ago, give us little trouble. But we find in each of our hearts Pharisaic self-sufficiency, that makes us content with tithing mint, anise, and cumin, even though we omit justice, mercy, and truth; we find Herodian quibbling, bewildering us with subtle questions about tribute paid in pennies, when our whole souls should be a tribute of praise to God; and Sadducean unbelief, telling us there is no spirit, that death is the end of man, and immortality a false hope. It is the great day of faith battling with doubt. There are those who do not know of this conflict; to whom faith and hope are as easy as song to the bird. Let all such thank God and sing on! Happy, too, are they who, having doubted, having gained strength in the struggle, as the Oak grows strong through wrestling with the stormy wind, can silence unbelief, as Jesus did."

Sing on! and blessings