Listen to Readings and Sermon 9th Sunday after Pentecost The Good News Written Psalm 85.6-8 (NRSV) 6Will you not revive us again, so that your people may rejoice in you? 7Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation. 8Let me hear what God… will speak, for [God] will speak peace to [...]
Listen to Readings and Sermon
9th Sunday after Pentecost
The Good News Written
Psalm 85.6-8 (NRSV)
6Will you not revive us again, so that your people may rejoice in you? 7Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation. 8Let me hear what God… will speak, for [God] will speak peace to [the] people, to [the] faithful, to those who turn to [God] in their hearts.
From the Wisdom of Charles & Cora Fillmore
“We see logically that there cannot be any separation in spirit between the Creator and the created, but the created has the power to think of itself as separate from its source, and this thought makes a mental vacuum in which there is a total absence of spiritual attributes. The human family on this planet has set up this sort of a mental void, and unless we train our mind to think the truth, we find ourselves talking to God as if [God] were in the next room or in some far away heaven in the skies.”
Luke 11.1-4, 9-13 (NRSV)
1[Jesus] was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say: Abba, hallowed be your name. Your dominion come. 3Give us each day our daily bread. 4And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.” 9“I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 10For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 11Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? 12Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? 13If you then… know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will God give the holy Spirit to those who ask!”
The Good News Proclaimed
Preached by the Reverend Michael A. Diaz at the Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, July 25, 2010.
Our gospel lesson from Luke this week picks up right where we left off last week. If you recall, Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins challenged us last week to compare the characters of Martha and Mary and encouraged us to be a bunch of Mary’s (queer Mary’s we are!). In this week’s episode, as you and I can surely relate, after dealing with a bunch of Mary’s, Jesus suddenly feels the need to pray. Sometimes even the best people around you, your own family or friends, will bug you and make you want to pray. My grandfather, who passed away earlier this year, grew up in a small South Texas town called Taft, TX. Taft has had a history of racial tension, and it was a segregated town when my grandfather was growing up. On one side of the railroad tracks lived the whites and on the other side lived the Latinos. Growing up in such an environment, there was always this mistrust my grandfather had of white people. Well, I remember in high school I was dating a cheerleader who happened to be white and I brought her home one day. Well after she left, my grandfather furiously came up and told me, “Mikito (little Mike), listen to me. Please don’t ever bring another white girl to this house.” And I immediately thought to myself, “Oh no, no, no. I have got to pray for this man. Help him God! Help him!” Well, I did pray and years later, I returned to my grandfather’s house. This time I brought a white boy home, and just like that, race was no longer an issue. My grandfather didn’t have a thing to say, but I have a strong suspicion that he felt the need to pray in that moment.
Do you ever find yourself in those moments when all of sudden, you urgently feel the need to pray? Moments when a tropical storm forms on your front porch and you have no time to prepare? Moments when that unexpected bill shows up in the mail? Moments when you receive news that your friend has just been rushed to the emergency room? Do you ever find yourself in those moments when all those around you just don’t understand the challenges you are going through? Moments when your back is against the wall and you feel as if you’re all alone? Do you ever feel the need to pray, but you have no clue what to say? Continue reading »
