At my church we are headed into the third week of a six-week worship series on the Sermon on the Mount ... And we're not taking on the fluffy stuff everybody likes.

You know what I mean.

The Beatitudes.  Salt and Light Stuff.   Shining Lights.  Asking, Seeking, Knocking.

No, we're going with the "You've heard it said ... But I say unto you ..." stuff.  The hard stuff.

We're getting after Jesus' teachings, not thoughts - his teachings - on anger, adultery, divorce, vows, retaliation, loving enemies ... That being said, we tend to keep the fluffy stuff fluffy and often move past the seriousness of the whole thing.

What's struck me as I've dug into these scriptures in Matthew 5 (we're staying in chapter 5 for this series), is that I haven't heard a whole lot of sermons on these things.  At least not on all of the things Jesus teaches in this VERY important text on Christian ethics.  As in, if-you-love-Jesus-these-are-things-you-should-strive-to-do ethics.

While in the midst of my studies, my wife sent me the Richard Rohr Devotional she received on Sunday, and apparently Fr. Richard has been pondering the same thing:
 

He offers much more, but I'll leave it at that.