Sermons on Spiritual Life (Page 17)
Responding to the Needs of the Moment
Luke 14:27-33 I have heard tell of a spiritual master who cultivates bonsai trees. He has many pots of miniature trees and he tends each one carefully, adjusting its branches, pruning a little here and holding up a bit there. And every one of his bonsai trees represents one of his disciples, and as he is forming the tree so he is forming the disciple. St. Benedict was big on formation – the process whereby we move from the sinful…
A Prophet In Their Own Home
Ezekiel 2:1-52 Corinthians 12:2-10Mark 6:1-13 “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” That is a saying that resonates from my childhood – I can’t be sure but I think my mother quoted it when she was feeling under-appreciated. But I doubt that she actually saw herself as a prophet. We tend to think of prophets as those who utter prophecy, and prophecy as saying what will happen in…
Rushing past the margins
In 1973 researchers conducted an interesting experiment. They asked a group of seminary students to go from one building to another to complete a task. Some of them were told they would be preparing a talk on the Good Samaritan, others that they were to prepare a talk on seminary jobs. Some were told they were late, others that they had plenty of time. On the way between the two buildings, the students passed a man sitting slumped in an…
God of Chaos
This year most of our gospel lessons are taken from Mark’s gospel. Although it is the second gospel in our New Testament, scholars agree that it was the first one to be written down. Each of the gospel writers uses a different lens in thinking about Jesus’ life and teachings. Mark’s project is to show that Jesus is God by emphasizing his power over demons, sickness, and in todays’ reading, over the forces of nature. As is clear from the…
All will be forgiven.
Do you remember the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral? In one of the weddings, comedian Rowan Atkinson plays a young priest who gets his words muddled and concludes a prayer with the words, “in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Goat”. Determined not to make the same mistake a second time, at the end of the wedding he blesses the congregation in the name of, “The Father the Son and the Holy Spigot.” Was…
On Forgiveness
Acts 1:15-17, 21-26 Ephesians 1:15-23 John 17: 6-19 Today is the 7th Sunday after Easter. It is also the 1st Sunday after the Feast of the Ascension, which was Thursday, May 13th. 40 days after Easter, Jesus ascended to God leaving his followers, for good this time, but promising to send them a helper, an advocate. They are to go to Jerusalem and wait. Today is the Sunday preceding the Feast of Pentecost, so their wait will not be…
What Now?
Acts 8:26-40 1 John 4:7-21 John 15:1-8 “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.” I imagine that many of us have prayed for something and it hasn’t happened. So what’s that about? Does that mean that we are not really abiding in Jesus? Or does it mean that Jesus…
Kissing the Princess
Bible Readings:Romans 8:18-23 http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=485772628Mark 16:14,15 http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=485772672 It is said that when St. Francis could not find people to listen to his preaching, he preached to the birds and they listened. The 13th century book “The Little Flowers of St Francis” says that on one occasion he saw a great flock of birds who seemed to be attentive to him so he preached to them of God’s love for them and told them they must sing to show their gratitude and to praise…
Walking In The Light
This morning’s readings are so full and rich that it’s difficult to know where to start. When that happens, I find it useful to look at the collect, the prayer for the day. “God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation, Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith.” That sums up the readings pretty well doesn’t it –…
Sin In Our Favor
Last week while on retreat, I read several books. One of them was Falling Upwards by Richard Rohr. In it he says among many other things that “salvation is sin turned on its head and used in our favor.” Salvation is sin turned on its head and used in our favor. That is what we are remembering today – the ultimate example of sin turned on its head and used in our favor. On the cross Jesus took the sin…