Listen to Reading and Sermon 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 [...]
Listen to Reading and Sermon
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.
8Love never ends. 13And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
Audio reading and sermon (http://sunshinecathedral.org/sermons/audio/20100131_6.mp3)
Listen to Readings and Sermon The Good News Written From the wisdom of Florence Scovel Shinn “Thou in me art: Eternal joy. Eternal youth. Eternal wealth. Eternal health. Eternal love. Eternal life.” Luke 4.23-30 (NRSV) 23[Jesus] said to [the crowd], “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, [...]
Listen to Readings and Sermon
The Good News Written
From the wisdom of Florence Scovel Shinn
“Thou in me art: Eternal joy. Eternal youth. Eternal wealth. Eternal health. Eternal love. Eternal life.”
Luke 4.23-30 (NRSV)
23[Jesus] said to [the crowd], “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’” 24And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. 25But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah [when there was no rain for] three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; 26yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow… in Sidon. 27There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” 28When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. 30But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
The Good News Proclaimed
Preached by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins at the Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, January 31, 2010.
I have one great-aunt still living, my Aunt Lois. She’s 95 years old. She was my father’s aunt. She’s about 4’11″ and at her plumpest may have weighed 130 lbs. One day she was at the post-office and as she was leaving, a woman walking near by her noticed an inebriated man lying on the steps. The woman scolded the ne’er-do-well, saying, “Get a job!” She then turned to my great-aunt Lois and said, “I wouldn’t have told him that if you weren’t here with me.” Aunt Lois said, “Who am I, Mohammed Ali?” It’s important to know who you really are… it’s probably the most important thing for any of us to know.
Luke chapter four opens by reminding us that Jesus is a spirit-filled person. Before the dogmas and creedal formulas of later centuries, the earliest followers and admirers of Jesus knew him to be a spirit-filled, grace-filled, god-filled person. And as such, Jesus has the authority to remind us that WE are spirit-filled, grace-filled, god-filled persons. Luke reminds us of this by saying that Jesus was FULL of the spirit.
Next, in chapter 4, we see Jesus having a wilderness experience. Have you ever had a wilderness experience? Have you ever felt alone, unappreciated, unsure of what to do, utterly terrified? Jesus’ ministry is preceded by a time in the wilderness… so take heart. The wilderness moment may actually be leading to something amazing. Don’t give up hope… don’t give up period. Continue reading »
