Listen to Readings and Sermon Love Your Neighbor (A compilation of sacred teachings): Taoism teaches, “Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss.” The Sikhs counsel, “Whom should I despise, since the one Lord made us all.” The Jewish sage Hillel said, “That which is hateful [...]
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Love Your Neighbor (A compilation of sacred teachings):
Taoism teaches, “Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss.”
The Sikhs counsel, “Whom should I despise, since the one Lord made us all.”
The Jewish sage Hillel said, “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah; the rest is just commentary.”
The Jain religion teaches, “Just as pain is not agreeable to you, neither is it agreeable to others. Knowing this principle of equality, treat others with respect and compassion.”
Hindu wisdom tells us, “One should never do that to another which one regards as injurious to one’s own self.”
Confucius demanded, “Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself.”
The Baha’i Faith teaches, “And if your eyes be turned towards justice, choose for your neighbor that which you would choose for yourself.”
The Book of Tobit says, “Do to no one what you yourself would dislike,”
And Jesus, quoting the Hebrew scriptures, said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
The will of God has been made known through the spiritual traditions of the world.
Luke 16.19-31 (The Inclusive Bible)
Once there was a rich person who dressed in purple and linen and feasted splendidly every day. At the gate this person’s estate lay a beggar named Lazarus, who was covered with sores. Lazarus longed to eat the scraps that fell from the rich person’s table, and even the dogs came and licked Lazarus’ sores.
One day poor Lazarus died and carried by the angels to the arms of Sarah and Abraham. The rich person likewise died and was buried. In Hades, in torment, the rich person looked up and saw Sarah and Abraham in the distance, and Lazarus resting in their company.
“Sarah and Abraham,” the rich person cried, “have pity on me! Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am tortured by these flames!” But they said, “Child, remember that you were well off in your lifetime, while Lazarus was in misery. Now Lazarus has found consolation here, and you have found torment. But that’s not all. Between you and us there is a fixed chasm, so that those might wish to come to you from here can’t do so nor can anyone cross from your side to us.”
The rich person said, “I beg you, then, to send Lazarus to my own house where I have five siblings. Let Lazarus be a warning to them, so that they may not end up in this place of torment.” But Sarah and Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the prophets. Let your siblings hear them.”
“Please, I beg you,” the rich person said, “if someone would only go to them from the dead, then they would repent.”
“If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets,” Sarah and Abraham replied, “they won’t be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead!”
Can You See Me Now?
Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins, Sunshine Cathedral
Luke 16 (Parable of the Rich Man & Lazarus)
The bible is full of myths, parables, dramas, poetry, hymns…creative story telling meant to communicate spiritual truths in ways that dry, boring facts never could. Today’s gospel reading is another such creative story.
Bible scholar Marcus Borg compares the creative storytelling found in scripture to the storytelling traditions of other cultures. For example, he tells of a Native American storyteller who begins his stories by saying, “Now I don’t know if this happened exactly this way, but I do know that it is absolutely true.”
If you have ever had difficulty reconciling what you know of science with the pre-scientific stories of the bible, or if you have had difficulty squeezing your 21st century world view into the ancient literature that we find in our bible, you are not alone. Continue reading »
Listen to Readings and Sermon The Power of Intention and Attention The Good News Written Psalm 4.6-8 (NRSV) 6There are many who say, “O that we might see some good! Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord!” 7You have put gladness in my heart more than when their grain and wine [...]
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The Power of Intention and Attention
The Good News Written
Psalm 4.6-8 (NRSV)
6There are many who say, “O that we might see some good! Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord!”
7You have put gladness in my heart more than when their grain and wine abound.
8I will both lie down and sleep in peace; for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety.
The wisdom of Tyron Edwards:
Thoughts lead on to purposes; purposes go forth in action. Actions form habits; habits decide character, and character fixes our destiny.
Luke 16. 10-13 (The Inclusive Bible)
[Jesus taught], If you can trust others in little things, you can also trust them in greater, and anyone unjust in a slight matter will also be unjust in a greater. If you can’t be trusted with filthy lucre, who will trust you with true riches? And if you haven’t been trustworthy with someone else’s money, who will give you your own?
Subordinates can’t have two superiors. Either they’ll hate the one and love the other, or be attentive to the one and despise the other. You can’t worship both God and money.
The Good News Proclaimed
Preached by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins at the Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, September 19, 2010.
“Subordinates can’t have two superiors. Either they’ll hate the one and love the other, or be attentive to the one and despise the other. You can’t worship both God and money.” Luke 16.13
“Money” in this case represents greed or selfishness; and the truth is, we can be selfish, greedy, less than generous with things other than money. Whatever we refuse to share…our time, our affection, our praise, our assistance, our talent, our money, our smile, our best effort, our encouragement…whatever we withhold we are being selfish with. And if we are grateful for what we have, we want to express that gratitude; and by giving gratitude, we tend to receive more Good into our lives. Luke is having Jesus call us today to lives of gratitude.
Luke imagine Jesus saying that someone who has two supervisors is likely to end up paying attention to one and not the other, or working hard for one and not the other. The point is divided loyalties leave us not appearing very loyal to anyone. Continue reading »
Listen to Readings and Sermon God’s Love is All-Inclusive The Good News Written A reading from A Course in Miracles: “You always choose between your weakness and the strength of Christ in you. And what you choose is what you think is real. Simply by never using weakness to direct your actions, you have given [...]
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God’s Love is All-Inclusive
The Good News Written
A reading from A Course in Miracles:
“You always choose between your weakness and the strength of Christ in you. And what you choose is what you think is real. Simply by never using weakness to direct your actions, you have given it no power. And the light of Christ in you is given charge of everything you do. For you have brought your weakness unto [the Christ], and [the Christ in you] has given you… strength instead.”
Luke 15. 1-7 (The Inclusive Bible)
The tax collectors and the [so-called] “sinners” were all gathering around Jesus to listen to his teaching, at which the Pharisees and the religious scholars murmured, “This person welcomes sinners and eats with them!”
Jesus then addressed them: “Who among you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, doesn’t leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and search for the lost one until it’s found? And finding it, you put the sheep on your shoulders in jubilation. Once home, you invite friends and neighbors in and say to them, ‘Rejoice with me! I’ve found my lost sheep!’ I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to repent.”
The Good News Proclaimed
Preached by the Reverend Michael Diaz at the Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, September12, 2010.
(Golden Girls Clip — Good ole’ Blanche from the Golden Girls is known as a little flighty and a bit more floozy, but all around fun. Surely she’s not an accurate representation of all Baptists though, at least not the ones I dated.)
That clip comes from an episode of the Golden Girls where Sophia’s best friend, a nun, passes away and Sophia in her grief, loses a screw or two and feels God calling her to become a nun. She goes through the interview process and Sister Claire comes to Sophia’s residence in order to give her a series of psychological tests, tests intended to “weed out the crazies and the undesirables.” It is sort of ironic for any Christian church to weed out the crazies and the undesireables, especially since many of the earliest followers of Jesus were considered just that — crazy and undesirable. Continue reading »
Listen to Readings and Sermon God’s Love is All-Inclusive The Good News Written A reading from A Course in Miracles: “You always choose between your weakness and the strength of Christ in you. And what you choose is what you think is real. Simply by never using weakness to direct your actions, you have given [...]
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God’s Love is All-Inclusive
The Good News Written
A reading from A Course in Miracles:
“You always choose between your weakness and the strength of Christ in you. And what you choose is what you think is real. Simply by never using weakness to direct your actions, you have given it no power. And the light of Christ in you is given charge of everything you do. For you have brought your weakness unto [the Christ], and [the Christ in you] has given you… strength instead.”
Luke 15. 1-7 (The Inclusive Bible)
The tax collectors and the [so-called] “sinners” were all gathering around Jesus to listen to his teaching, at which the Pharisees and the religious scholars murmured, “This person welcomes sinners and eats with them!”
Jesus then addressed them: “Who among you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, doesn’t leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and search for the lost one until it’s found? And finding it, you put the sheep on your shoulders in jubilation. Once home, you invite friends and neighbors in and say to them, ‘Rejoice with me! I’ve found my lost sheep!’ I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to repent.”
The Good News Proclaimed
Preached by the Reverend Doctor Robert Griffin at the Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, September 12, 2010.
The 15th chapter of Luke is pretty much dedicated to stories about what was once lost is now found. As I read and re-read the lost and found stories this past week it reminded me of a bar called the Lost and Found. I never went because I couldn’t figure out which one I wanted or needed to be, lost or found. I concluded that I hadn’t lost anything in there and there was nothing that I needed to find there.
Luke starts this particular chapter with a story of tax collectors and so-called sinners who are received by and seen with Jesus. Each time that Jesus finds himself in the company of the other, the tax collectors and those that the religious establishment had labeled sinners, it raises and creates intense anger from the Pharisees. The Pharisees were a Jewish sect that flourished in the first century. They differed from the Sadducees mainly in their strict observance of religious ceremonies and practices. The Pharisees were lay scholars who believed in the resurrection of the righteous (while Sadducees doubted the existence of an afterlife). The Pharisees were interested in understanding the scriptures and keeping the religious laws, sometimes fanatically. Continue reading »
Listen to Readings and Sermon Release Attachments and Live Abundantly The Good News Written Deuteronomy 30.15, 19 (The Inclusive Bible, Priests for Equality) Today I have set before you life and success, or death and disaster. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today: I set before you life or death, blessing or [...]
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Release Attachments and Live Abundantly
The Good News Written
Deuteronomy 30.15, 19 (The Inclusive Bible, Priests for Equality)
Today I have set before you life and success, or death and disaster. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today: I set before you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live.
Luke 14.31-33 (The Inclusive Bible, PFE)
If the leaders of one country were going to declare war on another country, wouldn’t they first sit down and consider whether, with an army of ten thousand, they could win against an enemy coming against them with twenty thousand? If they couldn’t, they’d send a delegation while the enemy is still at a distance, asking for terms of peace. So count the cost. You can’t be my disciple if you don’t say goodbye to all of your possessions.
The Good News Proclaimed
Preached by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins at the Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, September 5, 2010.
There is something about today’s gospel lesson that seems to get at the heart of following Jesus. And we, at the Sunshine Cathedral, are trying to follow Jesus’ example. He set the bar pretty high, but we have chosen to try to live into the active role that is meant for Christ-followers to take. Continue reading »
