My friend Tripp has posted his sermon for tomorrow. I commend it to you. I also, am pointing it out because he and I are parallel to each other in our sermons for tomorrow. I too am focusing on an aspect of the passage from the Gospel, though instead of the titles and names for Jesus, I am focusing on Andrew's and the unnamed disciple's question when they catch up to Jesus after John the Baptist tells them "Look here is the Lamb of God!". They ask Jesus "Where are you staying." This focus on a particular portion of a scripture passage is rare for me in a sermon, I have developed a style of preaching since seminary that seeks to weave together related themes from the three lectionary passages for a Sunday.
I want to ask do we know where Jesus is staying or are we content to simply recognize that Jesus is around and witness with John that he is the Lamb of God. I see ecclesiological and ecumenical implications in this little question and am using these implications to bring to the fore aspects of Reconciler's ecumenical vision and my own take on our vision as one of the pastors of this three year old church start. It has come out in the last two months that the ecumenical vision of Reconciler continues to be something members have difficulty getting their minds around to care as deeply about it as the pastors. I am hoping my sermon in the least will get the conversation around our vision beyond that the ecumenical vision is simply heady stuff. The point of my sermon is that I believe ecumenism at its best is seeking to ask the question and to see where Jesus is staying.
I think ecumenism is the way of the future. You're definitely on the right track. The word prescient comes to mind.
ReplyDeleteIt's not always easy for people to incorporate new ideas into their fundamental belief systems, but there really is a huge movement in high schools and college groups to move away from the archaic foundations, to embrace the curiosities.
Our pastor did a service a while back and he asked the hard questions. The ones that weren't even allowed to be addressed in the strict Catholic realm that I was raised in.
He held up his Bible and said that the answers are in here, all that you need to have true faith, but maybe we've been asking the wrong questions.
He raised certain issues that pointed to the humanity of Jesus and the Apostles, things that were simply answered with 'Jesus is Lord' when I was growing up. And he pointed out that Jesus made Thomas stick his hands into his wounds upon his resurrection. That he understood Thomas' doubts and he made sure to address them.
I think it's really cool that you're finding new ways to touch people. That you're thinking 'outside the box' as people say. There may be some resistance and discomfort as you move away from the expected, but Jesus was considered a 'rebel' in his time too. Sometimes you have to kick down some walls.
Tricia,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment and encouraging words.
I would be interested in your thoughts on the sermon I am going to preach this evening when I post it here. In part because I wonder if what I am seeking and speaking of in my sermon and my ecumenical work is closer to the "archaic foundations" than it would be to the "curiosities". I think this is part of the problem in communicating the vision of the Church. Though really it is not about foundations per se but the continuity with the Church back to the Apostles and Jesus. Ecumenism at its best is to be seeking to find out of the Chaos of the Christian divisions that how to be that community that has not lost connection with all of those who have gone before both in faith practice and personal knowledge of Jesus. That is a tricky thing, and alot of claims both about foundations and about what continuity means to sort through. Yet it is important work because it is the work needed to fully know Jesus, or so it seems to me these days.