For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace.
Wayne Dyer:
“How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.”
Luke 13:1-9 (NRSV)
1At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? 3No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. 4Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them — do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”
6Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ 8He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. 9If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”
The Good News Proclaimed
Preached by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins at the Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, March 7, 2010.
I love that old song, There’ll Be Some Changes Made…
“There’ll be a change in the weather and a change in the sea; from now on there’ll be a change in me. My walk will be different, my talk and my name; nothing about me’s going to be the same.
I’m going to change my way of living and if that ain’t enough, I’ll even change the way that I strut my stuff…”
Today’s scripture readings challenge us to make changes… deep, internalized changes that are meant to then effect change in the world around us. The kind of change that disrupts what we thought we knew… that strips away comfort upon which we have long depended… because only radical change will change lives and only changed lives will change the world. Read more »
1The Lord is my light and my salvation —
so why should I be afraid?
The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger,
so why should I tremble? 2When evil people come to devour me,
when my enemies and foes attack me,
they will stumble and fall. 3Though a mighty army surrounds me,
my heart will not be afraid.
Even if I am attacked,
I will remain confident.
4The one thing I ask of the [God] —
the thing I seek most —
is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
delighting in the [God’s] perfections
and meditating in [God’s] Temple. 5For [God] will conceal me there when troubles come;
and will hide me in the sanctuary.
[God] will place me out of reach on a high rock. 6Then I will hold my head high
above my enemies who surround me… I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy,
singing and praising the Lord with music.
14Wait patiently for the Lord.
Be brave and courageous.
Yes, wait patiently for [our God].
1The Lord is my light and my salvation —
so why should I be afraid?
The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger,
so why should I tremble? 2When evil people come to devour me,
when my enemies and foes attack me,
they will stumble and fall. 3Though a mighty army surrounds me,
my heart will not be afraid.
Even if I am attacked,
I will remain confident.
4The one thing I ask of the [God] —
the thing I seek most —
is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
delighting in the [God’s] perfections
and meditating in [God’s] Temple. 5For [God] will conceal me there when troubles come;
and will hide me in the sanctuary.
[God] will place me out of reach on a high rock. 6Then I will hold my head high
above my enemies who surround me… I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy,
singing and praising the Lord with music.
14Wait patiently for the Lord.
Be brave and courageous.
Yes, wait patiently for [our God].
Luke 13.30-32, 34-35 (Lamsa)
30[Jesus said] “Behold, there are some who are last who will be first, and there are some who are first who will be last.” 31In that very day some of the Pharisees drew near and said to him, “Get out and go away from here; for Herod wants to kill you.” 32Jesus said to them, “Go and tell that fox that I cast out demons and I heal today and tomorrow , and on the third day I will be finished… 34O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, murderess of prophets and stoner of those who are sent to her! How many times I longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you were not willing! 35Behold, your house is left to you desolate; and I say to you that you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is [the one] who comes in the name of [our God].’”
The Good News Proclaimed
Preached by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins at the Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, February 28, 2010.
Last will be first. First will be last.
A message of hope. A message of liberation. A message of empowerment. A message of inclusion.
Causes a stir, doesn’t it? We want what we want, but not for “them”.
Did you know —
Sunshine Cathedral is home to a social services agency that provides counseling and elder care and youth groups. We don’t make money on those services. Most of those services are offered at no charge, and other than a grant that provides for the cleaning of the elder care center, we receive no money from the social services ministry. Those services are subsidized by the tithes and offerings of those who worship at the Sunshine Cathedral. Read more »
Prayer does not change God — it changes us. Sincere desire is a form of prayer. Deep desire is essential for spiritual growth. It is desire — earnest, intense desire — that draws the whole being up out of mortality and its transient joys into the power to appreciate and receive real spiritual blessings. This is a demonstration, the proving of a Truth principle in one’s body and affairs. It is the manifestation of an ideal when its accomplishment has been brought about by one’s conformity in thought, word, and act, to the creative principle of God.
Luke 4.1-13 (NCV)
1Jesus, filled with the holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. The Spirit led Jesus into the desert 2where the [accuser] tempted Jesus for forty days. Jesus ate nothing during that time, and when those days were ended, he was very hungry.
3The [temper] said to Jesus, “If you are the son of God, tell this rock to become bread.” 4Jesus answered, “It is written in the Scriptures: ‘A person does not live on bread alone.’”
5Then the [tempter] took Jesus and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in an instant.6The [evil one] said to Jesus, “I will give you all these kingdoms and all their power and glory. It has all been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I wish. 7If you worship me, then it will all be yours.” 8Jesus answered, “It is written in the Scriptures: ‘You must worship… your God only.’”
9Then the devil led Jesus to Jerusalem and put him on a high place of the Temple. He said to Jesus, “If you are the son of God, jump down. 10It is written in the Scriptures:
‘[God] has put… angels in charge of you to watch over you.’ 11It is also written:
‘They will catch you in their hands
so that you will not hit your foot on a rock.’ “
12Jesus answered, “But it also says in the Scriptures: ‘Do not test the Lord your God.’”
13After the [accuser] had tempted Jesus in every way, he left him to wait until a better time.
The Good News Proclaimed
Preached by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins at the Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, February 21, 2010.
We pray every Sunday during the Lord’s Prayer (which we reflected on extensively during our Ash Wednesday service), “Lead us not into temptation.”
But today, we see Jesus being led into the wilderness where he does in fact face temptations. But whereas the spirit leads Jesus out of the place that is comfortable, familiar, out of what he has always known (and that feels like a wilderness experience), it isn’t God’s spirit that is offering the temptations. The spirit has led Jesus into the new and unknown; it is something else entirely that tempts Jesus to take short cuts along the way. Luke shows us today how Jesus overcame these temptations, and how we might as well.
1st Temptation — Turn these rocks into bread.
Jesus responds (Deut. 8.3), “One does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from God.” Luckily, Jesus knew scripture well enough that he could use to help himself, rather than allow others use it to keep him down.
2nd Temptation — I will give you power and wealth if you worship me.
Jesus responds (Deut. 6.13), “Revere and serve God only.”
3rd Temptation — Try to hurt yourself, for the scriptures say, “God will order angels to protect you” and “They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone” (Psalm 91.11-12).
Jesus responds (Deut. 6.16), “Do not test your God…” Read more »
Ashes symbolize repentance. John the Baptist came, saying, “Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Repentance means denial; it is a relinquishment and should be made without too much vehemence. Therefore, I deny out of consciousness old error thoughts, as if I were gently sweeping away cobwebs, and I affirm positively and fearlessly that I am a child of God, and that my inheritance is from God…
In Christ it is not difficult to eliminate belief in strife and contention. If petty quarrels, jealousy, uncharitable thoughts come into my life, I overcome them by a quiet but positive denial made in the realization that no error has any power or reality in itself. I turn away from the belief in negation, and my thinking changes. I rid my consciousness of limited thoughts that have encumbered and darkened my understanding. I break down mortal thought and ascend into a spiritual realm… In the spirit of divine love I affirm: “Forgetting the things that are behind, I realize I am strong, positive, powerful, wise, loving, fearless, free spirit. I am God’s perfect child.”
Matthew 6.1-6 (The Message)
1“Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding. 2-4“When you do something for someone else, don’t call attention to yourself. You’ve seen them in action, I’m sure — ‘play-actors’ I call them — treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that’s all they get. When you help someone out, don’t think about how it looks. Just do it — quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.
5“And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a… production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat?
6“Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense [God’s] grace.”
The Good News Proclaimed
Preached by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins at the Sunshine Cathedral on Ash Wednesday, February 17, 2010.
Matthew chapter 6 is a hard passage of scripture. It isn’t hard to understand; it’s hard to accept. It is part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, and much of that sermon is confrontive, challenging, prophetic. Chapter 6 is so difficult, we’ve enshrined part of it… the prayer Jesus taught us (often called the Lord’s Prayer) while ignoring the tone and teaching of the chapter. It’s always easier to venerate than to emulate, and so, we have repetitiously recited the Lord’s Prayer, while ignoring the larger context in which the prayer is offered.
Matthew’s Jesus says, “When you pray, don’t make a big production of it in the worship space and on street corners (which would certainly include public school class rooms), but instead, when you pray go to your ‘inner’ room, close the door, pray in secret. And God who is with you in the secret place will reward you.” Then in verse 9, he goes on to say, “This is how you are to pray…” and that’s where the Lord’s Prayer, as a model, is presented (a shortened version is repeated in Luke’s gospel).
Now we know the words to the prayer.
What we often over look is the method of the prayer: Read more »
The soul is divine and in allowing it to become translucent to the Infinite Spirit it reveals all things to us. As a person turns away from the Divine Light do all things become hidden. There is nothing hidden of itself. When the spiritual sense is opened, then it transcends all the limitation of the physical senses and the intellect.
Luke 9.28-36 (NIV)
28About eight days after Jesus said [that there were people listening to him who would not die before experiencing the kin-dom of God], he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30Two men, Moses and Elijah, 31appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. 32Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. 33As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “[Teacher], it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters — one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.)
34While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my [child], whom I have chosen; listen to him.” 36When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves, and told no one at that time what they had seen.
The Good News Proclaimed
Preached by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins at the Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, February 14, 2010.
Today in Luke’s story, we find Jesus and Peter and John and James hiking up a mountain to pray. Jesus is a reminder that God is with and in us. Peter, John, and James may represent Faith, Love, and Wisdom…divine gifts to be cultivated in our lives and which are cultivated by the practice of prayer. And in scripture, mountain experiences almost always represent the divine presence, communing with the Infinite, experiencing the Sacred in a particular moment of time.
Jesus…one with his eternal Source, is cultivating Faith, Love, and Wisdom by acknowledging the presence of God in prayer. If we went no further, we’d have a powerful lesson. To experience more of the divine Nature and the gifts that It offers, we need to be intentional about spending time in the Silence, in communion with the Source of Life. But Luke does takes us even further.
While Jesus, Peter, John and James are on the mountain they see TWO men…Moses and Elijah, appearing in a sort of dream or vision with Jesus. Later, in Luke 24 (v. 4), we find at Jesus’ tomb, TWO MEN in dazzling garments! Wonder who those two men are for Luke? Is he placing Moses and Elijah at the scene to say something about Jesus? Is he reiterating what he has crafted in today’s story? We who love scripture and who love Jesus can have a lot of fun exploring the many interesting possibilities.
Moses and Elijah. What do they represent, what are they symbolizing in Luke’s story? What is Luke using these two characters from ancient sacred literature to say about Jesus, and for that matter, about the readers of his gospel message?
Luke is a disciple of Paul’s, not Jesus’. And Paul never met Jesus…though he claims to have had a mystical experience of the eternal Christ on the road to Damascus. And, scholars used to date Luke’s gospel at the end of the first century, but many scholars now think it may be as late as the early 2nd century. So, Luke who is the disciple of a person who never met Jesus, is writing at least 50 years after Jesus’ crucifixion and maybe as last as 90 years after the crucifixion. So, whatever Luke is saying about Jesus he is saying it for the benefit of the people reading or hearing the gospel. He isn’t remembering Jesus, he is imagining Jesus in a way that will affirm and empower people who desperately need encouragement in their lives. To serve this purpose, he borrows a story from Mark’s gospel about experiencing light on a mountain top with Jesus. In the story, Moses and Elijah figure prominently, and they may actually make a cameo appearance again at the end of Luke’s gospel during the Easter story. Let’s look at Moses and Elijah.
What does Moses do? He confronts the powers of privilege and oppression. He leads people into the uncertainty of freedom. Bondage is a sure thing…freedom is risky, but it’s worth the risk. He represents the sacred journey instead of the comfort of the status quo. Egypt may be what we’ve always known…it may seem familiar, but Egypt didn’t want us. Egypt didn’t love us. Egypt didn’t respect us. Egypt didn’t affirm us. Egypt treated us like beasts of burden, and that’s just not good enough for the children of God…Moses represents leading people out of the First Egyptian Church and into the scary wilderness of freedom…where people have to live by faith, and grace, and hope, and courage, and a vision of a promised land still to come.
In Egypt…you were told you were NO GOOD. In the wilderness…you learn to depend on your goodness, to trust it, to depend on it, to let it guide you into richer, more liberating, more fulfilling experiences. Sometimes, in the wilderness, the people miss the days of bondage…it was in some ways easier to be told what to do and what to think and how worthless they were…but whenever they are tempted to build idols to the oppressive past, there is Moses to destroy that golden calf and urge the people on to their true destiny. Bondage kills the soul…liberation, working out your own sense of sacred value with fear and trembling may be harder, but it is also more rewarding…it leads to the promise of milk and honey that is what you are worth and were even before you knew it. Bondage told you what to think. Freedom teaches you HOW to think. God save us from bondage. God grant us freedom, liberation, salvation!
What does Elijah do? Elijah is a prophet…prophets are not fortune tellers, they are truth tellers. They comfort the afflicted AND afflict the comfortable. They challenge the complacent and call for fairness and justice. They name hypocrisy and they call people to be their best selves.
The prophet Elijah, the story insisted, somehow escaped death. Instead of dying, he was caught up in a whirlwind and taken to the depths of eternity. Legend said that he might one day return (Malachi 4.5), but he never did. Not in a literal sense.
When Mark tells the story of the Transfiguration event, he says that Elijah DID return in that mountain top vision. He takes great license to interpret the legend for himself…not in a literal way, but in a literary way to suggest that what Elijah represents is available to us here and now. Mark has moved from being told what to think, to learning HOW to think for himself.
The early church hoped that Jesus might return in their lifetimes…in fact, they taught that he would return almost immediately. We see that in Luke’s story today, when he says this all happens right after Jesus said some in his day would live to see the reign of God fulfilled. Maybe Luke, when he is writing Acts, is suggesting that Jesus did return in a symbolic way at Pentecost…when the spirit of God that was in Jesus enlivens the Church to be Christ’s body on the earth (Acts 2). Elijah, the spirit-filled prophet whose spirit doubly blessed his disciple Elisha does return in our mountain top experiences of prayer. And Jesus, the spirit-filled wayshower whose spirit blessed his disciples to lead the early Church does return as we live into the mission of loving the God in all people, by doing unto others as we would have others do unto us. Luke has moved from being told what to think, to learning how to think for himself. He’s left bondage behind, and is calling us to do the same.
Moses and Elijah.
The Law and the Prophets.
The Scriptures…the story of God’s people…the Word of God.
Matthew said the Golden Rule, Do unto others as you would have others do unto you IS the law and the prophets (Matt. 7.12), that’s what the scriptures boil down to.
Luke continues that theme in chapter 10 when tells of the Good Samaritan…who is the godly one in that story, the righteous one? Not the Levite and the priest following the letter of the law and hurting someone in the process…the Good person is the Samaritan who doesn’t use scripture or tradition as an excuse to wound, exclude, or dismiss people but who simply shows love where love is needed!
Moses and Elijah represent the Law and the Prophets, the scriptures that Jesus knew…and Jesus said if you want to put the whole bible on a billboard here it is: If you wouldn’t like it, don’t do it to nobody else! Just love your neighbor, and PS – EVERYONE is your neighbor.
Well…Jesus and Moses and Elijah on the mountain of God. Peter (FAITH) is tempted to make the mistake we have so often done in the name of faith. We’ve had a marvelous experience…we want to lock it up it tight in a box, claim ownership of it, limit it, control it, freeze it in time, determine who else can have access to it. We want to build shelters, idols…But Peter didn’t know what he was saying…
Notice John (LOVE) didn’t say “let’s create an idol to this experience that is already past.” Notice James (WISDOM) didn’t say, “let’s create an idol to this experience that is already past.” Enjoy your experience…and let others have theirs. We don’t have to hammer out a lot of doctrines…its way more important to learn how to live in love. Don’t enshrine Jesus in a shelter…listen to him. Follow his example. Do what he says…which is love. Love. LOVE!
Love your friends. Love your family. Love your lovers. Love your enemies. Love your NEIGHBOR whoever they are…love your leather neighbor. Love your drag neighbor. Love your trans neighbor. Love your Christian neighbor, your Jewish neighbor, your Muslim neighbor, your Buddhist neighbor, your agnostic neighbor, your Hindu neighbor, your gay neighbor, your straight neighbor, your male neighbor, your female neighbor, your butch neighbor, your fem neighbor….LOVE! Just love. Love yourself for who you are; then love your neighbor as yourself.
Building shelters is easier.
Staying in bondage is easier.
The wilderness of love…that takes work. In Jesus’ name…DO THE WORK.
Work it out with fear and trembling, with courage and hope…That’s what it means to be the church, and maybe that’s what Luke is saying almost a century after Jesus’ execution. Instead of waiting for him to come back and do it for us…let’s allow his light to guide us…let’s US be his body, his people, his church doing the work of love and healing…let’s not wait anymore, let’s start doing it…let’s really be the church of all-inclusive, unconditional love, and when we do, THEN Christ has returned! And isn’t that the good news? Amen.
By the grace of God I am what I am; and the grace that is in me has not been in vain; for I labored more abundantly than them all, yet not I, but God’s grace that is within me.
1In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the [ETERNAL] sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, [with a] train [that] filled the temple. 2And above… stood the seraphim; each one had six wings… 3and one called to another, and said, “Holy, holy, holy is the [God] of hosts; the whole earth is full of [God’s] glory.” 4And the posts of the door shook at the voice of the one who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5Then I said, “Woe is me. I am dismayed; for I have unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the [Sovereign], the [Overseer] of hosts.” 6Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in hand… 7and touched my mouth and said to me, “Lo, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sins are forgiven.” 8And I heard the voice of the [ETERNAL] saying, “Whom shall I send…?” Then said I, “Here am I; send me.”
Luke 5.1-7. 10-11 (NIV)
1One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret,with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, 2he saw at the water’s edge two boats… 3He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” 5Simon answered, “[Teacher], we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” 6When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. 10…Then Jesus said… “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch [people].” 11So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.
The Good News Proclaimed
Preached by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins at the Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, February 7, 2010.
I love that song, whether it’s sung by Bing Crosby or Doris Day or almost anyone…Would you like to swing on a star, carry moonbeams home in a jar, and be better off than you are, or would you rather be a fish?
Now in that song, the animals are meant to represent one not living up to one’s highest potential. Mules are stubborn, pigs are untidy, fish are slippery and shiftless, but each person can choose to be better than these characterizations, because, in truth, humans are innately better than these characterizations! One might make unwise choices and not live into one’s potential; one might appear mulish or piggy or fishy, but one always has the right and the option of being better by simply acknowledging one’s potential and making the most of it. Read more »
4Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Audio reading and sermon (http://sunshinecathedral.org/sermons/audio/20100228_6.mp3)
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