Sermon Talk Back Part 3

 

So far this week we have looked at the Sermon on the Mount as a whole ~ tried to see the forest for the individual trees.  We have named and notices what in the Sermon frustrated us or fascinated us or caused us to suppress a yawn…even as you wondered if it was okay to bored with a Jesus sermon??

 

Yesterday, I invited you to examine and explore the spices on the shelf of your soul and on the shelf of our church.

 

Today, I invite you to listen to your own soul.  Your life is preaching and proclaiming a sermon right now.  Your words, actions, prayers, volunteering, resting/renewing (which is holy because God rests on the seventh day and calls that space “sacred”), friendships and family, conversations, connections, and ways you embody God’s image ~ all that on the spice shelf of life is your sermon.

What are you preaching?

 

So often, we narrowly define/confine a sermon to words spoken by some preacher on Sunday morning.  But a sermon is the art of creatively and faithfully living our belovedness.  Sermons are the creativity of the Creator let loose in our lives each day.

 

What sermon would you like to preach today?  What words would you like to share at the meeting on your calendar or lunch with a friend?  What if we lived our life with the attention and intention that we are preaching always, using words when necessary (which is sometimes attributed to St. Francis).  Or as Paula D’Arcy says, “God shows us disguised as your life.”  Or Parker Palmer who encourages you to listen to your life.  To be awake, aware, paying attention to what you say or don’t say, what you do with enthusiasm and where you grit your teeth, who are the people like a fountain filling your life and who are the people that are like a drain emptying all your emotional energy.  Your life is a beautiful mystery, not to be solved, but experienced and explored and experimented with ~that is the invitation of Lent.  You are invited to put on an apron alongside God to let loose in the kitchen of your soul ~ to try a new spice or combination of herbs.  To notice what gives you comfort and what challenges you ~ and your own tolerance of each of those moments.  Your life is the sacred space for the Spirit swirling, may you sense that truth today and throughout this Lenten season.  Amen.