HOMILY: Matthew’s Jesus speaks of division and even accepts a certain responsibility for division: “I came not to bring peace, but a sword.” Before commending a Spirit on the side of human frailty and faith: “You who lose your life [as personal project/possession] for my sake [in the Spirit of love] will find it [as renewed promise/communal gift].”
HOMILY: It’s common for me to find, as I prepare to lead worship or preach, that a particular image will strike me and add grist to the mill of my thinking.
These two images are from Facebook this week. I follow a group called Unique Trees, and I’m often delighted by what people notice and post.
HOMILY: Our readings present major themes: faith and trust, universal blessing, creative community, desire and promise of healing. Each theme, a window on a world in crisis, reveals figures of frailty and fidelity, religious observance, prophetic hope.
HOMILY: Andre Rublev’s 15th-century Icon of the Holy Trinity is a treasure of Russian art, a treasure of Russian Orthodoxy, and a treasure of Christian faith. Already we are thinking in threes.
HOMILY: The Jewish Pentecost (or Shavuot) is a celebration of the fruitfulness of the land, blessed by the sun, rain and “wind/breath” of God. It is also a celebration of God’s giving Torah (good teaching) to a newly liberated people – 50 days after the Passover, 50 days after the Exodus.
In the church, we celebrate how the Spirit or “wind/breath” of God has “in-spirited” human beings – Jews and Gentiles – to live “highly” of themselves. The work of the Spirit is that all creation, including human beings, radiate Christ.
HOMILY: There’s something about our text from John 14 that calls up ancient commentary. Perhaps it’s the promise of the Spirit, a wellspring of experience and testimony. The past recalled in present troubles – deep calling to deep (Psalm 42) – a call for help, a deeply hopeful calling …
HOMILY: Jesus says, “Whoever has seen me has seen Abba God.” Abba/Amma is Aramaic for divine source of life, God as loving father and mother of all. “Whoever has seen me – walked with me, talked with me, shared with me – has encountered God.”
HOMILY: Jesus, John invites us to imagine, is a gate. The metaphor allows many meanings – its expression looms large (just the right size) at the entrance to SSUC, the handiwork of unknown miners and metalsmiths, as well as Cathie, Bernie and André … and soon to be spray-painted heritage green!
HOMILY: Luke 24 (the “Road to Emmaus” and other stories) is structured like a traditional liturgy: gathering, journey, meeting Christ who interprets the scriptures in relation to Wisdom, then breaks the bread, then sends disciples out into the world …
HOMILY: There is an oft-viewed Ted Talk by the Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Adichie called “The Danger of a Single Story”. In it she talks about her heritage and how her reading habits shaped her view of the world growing up …
