to create, to redeem, to sustain

Trinity Sunday sermon?

well.... rather than a hasty hack job on doctrine, I’m going to humbly, with faith and hope, begin these Sundays after Pentecost by scratching the surface on the perpetual nature of agape/love to create, redeem, and sustain relationships.

“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31, NIV)

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” (2 Cor 13:13, NRSV)

Pentecost: is it better to give or receive?

how 'bout receiving AND sharing?

grappling with gifts

(even if given to any of us for only a period of time) 

and finding fruits

(tasty and nourishing) 

of the Holy Spirit 

given for our commonweal 

when we share 

in breathing with the very breath of God.

post-Ascension action necessary

Jesus prays for us to know and to be known.  Humble ourselves, cast our cares to God, keep awake.... and stop staring up at the sky; get on with it – there’s plenty to be done in his name here-n-now with the help of the Spirit, til the wolf and lion can lie peacefully with the yearling and lamb in glory. 

[ref. lectionary readings for Easter 7, Year A]

to know; to see; to love

Unattainable idols leaving you unfulfilled? Curious?  Seeking?  

It’s unreasonable that God remains unknown.  Overcome ignorance.  

Open the eyes of your heart to see what Jesus reveals about God’s fleshly and breath-filled intimacy with us all as well as God’s desires for our relationships with each other.  

Follow his Spirit into new life.

[ref: lectionary readings for Easter 6, Year A]

St Paul before the Proconsul by Raphael Sanzio, 1515

our home is where the true heart dwells

Home? How can we know the way?  

Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Believe in God.  Believe in me.” (John 14:1)  

Through Jesus’ example we see God’s nature – yearning for us to be whole and acting toward us all with justice, mercy, and steadfast love.  

We're invited to follow living stones assembling into a holy dwelling, 

serving as strong rocks ourselves, 

sharing nourishing and pure spiritual milk 

(genuine in faith, hope, and mutual love), 

and helping others come to the many abiding places prepared for us in God’s house, an unbelievably big abode in which there are more hospitality suites and living rooms than we can imagine

[ref: lectionary readings for Easter 5 A]

of mothers, shepherds, and sheep

On this fourth Sunday of Easter (Year A), imagining God as divine mother, in all sense of that... the challenges and the comfort.

Bobby McFerrin: "The 23rd Psalm is dedicated to my mother. She was the driving force in my religious and spiritual education, and I have so many memories of her singing in church. But I wrote it because I'd been reading the Bible one morning, and I was thinking about God's unconditional love, about how we crave it but have so much trouble believing we can trust it, and how we can't fully understand it. And then I left my reading and spent time with my wife and our children. Watching her with them, the way she loved them, I realized one of the ways we're shown a glimpse of how God loves us is through our mothers. They cherish our spirits, they demand that we become our best selves, and they take care of us." (from 'Sing Your Prayers: An Interview With Bobby McFerrin' by Omega Institute:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/omega-institute-for-holistic-studies/bobby-mcferrin_b_1582043.html)

Bobby McFerrin's VOCAbuLarieS featuring SLIXS & Friends,

live in Gdansk, Poland at the Solidarity of Arts Festival, 17 August 2013

A Mother’s Day Proclamation by Julia Ward Howe, 1870

Arise, then, women of this day ! 

Arise, all women who have hearts, whether our baptism be of water or of tears !

Say firmly : We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We, women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country, to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.

From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own. It says: Disarm, disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice. Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence vindicate possession. As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of council.

Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them then solemnly take council with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, man as the brother of man, each bearing after his own kind the sacred impress, not of Caesar, but of God.

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women, without limit of nationality, may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient, and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.


For brief, enriching info about this day:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/05/140508-mothers-day-nation-gifts-facts-culture-moms/

http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/mothers-day

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/11/the-radical-history-of-mother-s-day.html

the holy guest becomes our host, and as hosts we see that we’re guests

Don't the best appetizers complement the full meal to come? 

Fruitful sparks can lead to a blazing fire when set within ready kindling. 

Often we’re blind to resurrection and abundance all around us. 

Even as our hearts hunger for what we read and hear, it’s not until they’re also fed through acts of hospitality and generosity, and when bread is broken together (particularly with those once considered strangers), that we’re able, even if only for a few lucid moments, to more fully ‘see’ the truth of Christ in our midst and taste the promise of belonging at God’s heavenly banquet prepared for us - and for all - who repent, forgive, and accept & share the gifts of the Holy Spirit as they’ve been shared with us. 

[ref: lectionary readings for Easter 3 A]