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PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Jesus, help me think of you when I'm watching parades this Labor Day weekend! Amen.

If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, husband and wife, brothers and sisters, they can't be my disciple," Jesus told a crowd. "If you're going to build a tower, you have to check first to see if you have the money to finish it, or people will laugh at you. In the same way, you have to give up everything if you're going to follow me."

This weekend is Labor Day weekend. Like a lot of big summer holidays, there are parades all over. It's fun to go to a parade and see the floats, fire trucks and especially the marching bands. You wonder how they can play music and march at the same time!

People in marching bands can't do their own thing. They have to practice for a long time to be able to learn the music - often by heart - and match each other's steps exactly. Some bands even do dance moves while they're playing.

This week's Gospel (Luke 14:25-33) is also about giving up doing your own thing. Jesus can sound a little scary when He talks about "hating" your family in order to be one of His followers.

His point is that you can't say you're going to follow Jesus and then go on living your life exactly the way you always have. You might have to do things - volunteering, for example - that make your family nervous, but help others the way Jesus wanted us to.

A marching band where everyone had their own ideas about how to play and march would be a mess. To put on a good show, the musicians have to work as one unit. Jesus wanted people to do the same thing when you join His "band" of followers: Give up some of your own ideas and fears, and march to His music![[In-content Ad]]

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