What if the experience of absence and the accompanying longings and desires are the beginning of an epiphany for you? What if that sense of absence is the star of your life by which God is revealing God’s self to you? And what if your sense of longing and desire is really God’s longing and desire for you?
Tag: Presence
The One Among Us – A Sermon On John 1:6-8, 19-28 for Advent 3B
Maybe the greatest barrier to seeing the divine presence among us is that we already have an idea or image of who that one is or should be and what that one should look like and do. In other words, we think we know and we stick with what we think we know. We can't see the one because he or she does not meet our expectations or fit our categories of who he or she can be. Sometimes, we don't see the one among us because he or she stands outside the box of our beliefs. And more often than not we see and hear in such a way that it only confirms what we already believe.
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“I just needed to be reminded.” – A Sermon on Mark 13:24-37 for Advent 1B
“We didn't do it that way when we were kids.” “This isn't the America I remember. It's not like it used to be.” “The world is a different place these days. It's changed.” “This isn't the church I grew up in. I don't know what happened to that church.” “Back in my day….” “This isn't the life I planned and worked for.” You could add your own version. There's a thousand variations on this theme. They all seem to me to have a common thread or question running through them. Here's the question: What is going on in our world today? What's happening?
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Ears Are a Gateway to the Heart
Psalm 78:1. "Hear my teaching, O my people; incline your ears to the words of my mouth." Several years ago, I spent a summer participating in a pastoral care internship. As the summer progressed, I realized I was really doing…
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When A Loved One Dies – A Funeral Sermon on John 14:1-6
I need you to trust me and work with me on what I am going to say next. It won’t seem true but it is. Brian’s love, his life, and his presence are as real today as before he died. I know it doesn’t look like that and it sure doesn’t feel like that. I know that your grief and tears are saying that it’s not true. But I promise you it is. It is the gospel truth.
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Silence, the Way Home
The 14th century Sufi poet and mystic, Rumi, wrote, “Return to the root of the root of yourself.”¹ His words remind me that I often live on the periphery or circumference of life, disconnected from the root of my being…
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An Open Invitation – A Sermon on Matthew 22:1-14
My first year in seminary we had a church history professor who would say the most outrageous things. He was funny. He was sarcastic. He was sometimes offensive and he was always challenging. You just never knew what to expect…
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Practicing Presence, Disconnect to Connect
“Where are you?” I looked at my wife and said, “I’m right here.” “No, you’re not,” she said. “You’re a million miles away.” She was right. I was there but I was not present. Most of us, I suspect, have…
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Unanswered Prayer? A Sermon on Luke 11:1-13
“One of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray.’” (From Luke 11:1-13, Proper 12C.) As I recall my own life of prayer, prayers I have heard, and conversations I have had about prayer I can’t help but…
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Choosing Like Mary and Martha, A Sermon on Luke 10:38-42
“There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part." (From Luke 10:38-42, Proper 11C and the Feast of Mary and Martha.) There have been times when I made a choice and I knew deep within it…
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Interrupting the Silence 