Down by the riverside I laid my burdens down and I'm travelin' light
Posted in Sermon Notes on Dec 9th, 2014
The Story of God: Courage Esther 4:1-17, NRSV Matthew 5:13-16, NRSV Reflections Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality. A chastity or honesty or mercy which yields to danger will be chaste or honest only on […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Dec 6th, 2014
The Story of God: Hope Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:2-4; 3:17-19, NRSV Matthew 26:36-38, NRSV Reflections As I have grown old, my feelings about God have tapered down to gratitude and hope. Gratitude is the pleasure of hope come true. Hope is the pain of gratitude postponed. Gratitude comes easy, on its own steam, whenever we know […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Dec 6th, 2014
The Story of God: Trust Isaiah 36:1-3, 13-20; 37:1-7; 2:1-4, NRSV Matthew 5:14, NRSV Reflections To escape the distress caused by regret for the past or fear about the future, this is the rule to follow: leave the past to the infinite mercy of God, the future to his good providence; give the present wholly […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Dec 6th, 2014
The Story of God: Humility Micah 6:1-8, NRSV Matthew 9:9-13, NRSV Reflections But you will perhaps see how, as baptized people are drawn into the priestliness of Jesus, they are called upon to mend shattered relationships between God and the world, through the power of Christ and his Spirit. As baptized people, we are in […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Dec 6th, 2014
The Story of God: A Difficult Descent 2 Kings 5:1-19, NRSV Matthew 18:2-3, NRSV Reflections If I had to name my disability, I would call it an unwillingness to fall. On the one hand, this is perfectly normal. I do not know anyone who likes to fall. But, on the other hand, this reluctance signals […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Dec 6th, 2014
The Story of God: Wisdom 1 Kings 3:4-28, NRSV Matthew 9:35-36, NRSV Reflections In the literature of Scripture, wisdom is, broadly speaking, the knowledge of God’s world and the knack of fitting oneself into it. The wise person knows creation. He knows it boundaries and limits, understands its laws and rhythms, discerns its times and […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Dec 6th, 2014
The Story of God: Confrontation 2 Samuel 12: 1-9, 13, NRSV Matthew 4:17, NRSV Reflections Comprehensible, sensible sin is one of the unexpected gifts I’ve found in the monastic tradition. The fourth-century monks began to answer a question for me that the human potential movement of the late twentieth century never seemed to address: if […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Dec 6th, 2014
The Story of God: Simplicity Joshua 24:1-3; 14-15, NRSV Matthew 4:8-10, NRSV Reflections When you agree to live simply, you put yourself outside of others’ ability to buy you off, reward you falsely, or control you by money, status, salary, punishment, and loss or gain of anything. When you agree to live simply, you have […]
Traveling Light Relay
Down by the riverside I laid my burdens down and I'm travelin' light