The story of the Israelites as found in the Old Testament has many interesting applications in our current world.  One that I haven't heard being used much is actually a set of books that describes what happens when the Israelites coming out of exile from the conquering Babylonians are encouraged by the king of the Babylonians to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city and its houses of worship and community gathering. 

                This Sunday will mark the 5^th anniversary of the landfall of hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast region.  Not only did the rains and floods wreak havoc on the communities affected, but once the levee system dissolved, all hell literally broke through.  Over a thousand people perished, millions had to begin an exodus to drier ground and 80% of a great American city was drowned.  This type of devastation is overwhelming, but faith communities and (to some degree) governmental agencies provided relief to this area and its people and along the way, we were all changed.

In Tuesday's (8.17.10) Kansas City Star, there was an article about police arresting fourteen peace protesters at a manufacturing plant construction site.  The reason the group was protesting is because once operational, the Kansas City plant would be producing parts for nuclear bombs, the first new plant of its kind in America in over thirty years.  The article noted that the plant will provide up to 2,100 jobs but that was not reason enough to warrant allowing such a destructive creation, according to the protesters.

When we look at the Kingdom of God as described in Luke 13:18-21 we see Jesus talking about the kingdom (or as my colleague, Justin Zeigler puts it-the feast of God) in allegory.  Jesus describes this feast as a mustard seed that grows into a life-sustaining tree.  Later, Luke's account describes God as a baker-woman and the kingdom as the yeast that is added to make a huge amount of bread.