3rd Sunday after Pentecost, Year A, June 25, 2017: What’s a preacher supposed to do with these “hard” lessons for this week? If we set the discipleship bar too high, won’t that alienate the folks who want an easy life? Easy is not always the answer. In fact, most things truly worth having require expenditures of time, effort, and energy. Why should we expect the journey of faith to be any different? If Jesus’ life and ministry and the paths of his early followers are our model, most of us are in real trouble! (Photo: Barbara Kruger, Modern Art Oxford Creative Commons)