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Advent 1, Hope Sunday

The Good News Written

The First Advent Candle: HOPE

“As the budding flower burst into bloom; as the glowing light kindles into flame; may the spirit of life and love bloom abd flame within us with ever-renewing light and hope.” (Doris Dow Alcott)

The Wisdom of Rumi

“There is a force within that gives you life. Seek that. In your body, there lies a priceless jewel. Seek that… if you are in search of the greatest treasure, do not look outside, look within, and seek that.”

The Wisdom of Miriam Levering

“Enlightenment, or profound inner peace, is not understood as something we have to work hard to attain. Rather, it is seen as the true character of the awakened mind that is already fully present in each of us.”

Matthew 24.36-42, 44 (NRSV)

³⁶“But about that day and hour no one knows… ³⁷For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of [Humanity]. ³⁸For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking… until the day Noah entered the ark, ³⁹and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of [Humanity]. ⁴⁰Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. ⁴¹Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. ⁴²Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. ⁴⁴Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of [Humanity] is coming at an unexpected hour.”

The Good News Proclaimed

Restoring Hope

by the Reverend Doctor Michael A. Diaz on November 28, 2010, at the Sunshine Cathedral MCC

Have you met those people who are just always optimistic? Always on top of the world? Nothing seems to bother them, whether in good times or in crisis? They always see the good in any situation. They’re always looking for the good in any situation. They never see or foresee a crisis. A few years back, my boyfriend and I at the time were thinking of adopting kids some time down the road, so we decided to first try our hand at babysitting kids. So, any time our friends needed help or someone to watch their kids, we’d jump at the chance. This one time a neighbor of ours asked us if we would watch her 3 year old girl. I had to work but my boyfriend was free, so he told her yes and went over the neighbor’s house that evening to babysit. Well, I was so excited for him because he would finally have the chance to fall in love with wanting a kid of his own. I was just hopeful. So that evening he arrived and the little girl wanted to watch a movie so they did. But in the middle of the movie, the little girl left the living room area and came back a few minutes later with a cup of tea, with just plain water. And my boyfriend was so excited that the little girl would be bringing him a cup of tea, especially since he had always wanted a tea set when he was young, so he drank all of it (it was just water after all). And the little girl would leave the room and come back several more times bringing him yummy cups of tea. Well, our neighbor came home and my boyfriend told her what a great time he had and how he enjoyed playing tea cups with her daughter. “She’s the cutest thing,” he told her. Then the little girl’s mother responded, “She loves her new tea set, but you didn’t drink the tea she brought you, did you?” “Of course I did, why not?” he asked. Then, without hesitation the mother said, “Did it ever occur to you that the only place she can reach to get water, is the toilet?!” He never thought to ask the little girl or check where the water was coming from; he was only focused on the good that was happening in that moment. Sometimes it’s good to have a question or two. Continue reading »

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Reign of Christ Sunday

The Good News Written

Jeremiah 23.3-6 (NRSV)

[Jeremiah, speaking for God, said], “‘I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands… and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. ⁴I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing,’ says the [Eternal]. ‘⁵The days are surely coming… when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch [who] shall reign… and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. ⁶In [those] days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety…’”

Luke 23.33-43 (NRSV)

³³When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. ³⁴Then Jesus said, “[Abba], forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots to divide his clothing. ³⁵And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, [the] chosen one!” ³⁶The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, ³⁷and saying, “If you are the King of the [Jewish People], save yourself!” ³⁸There was also an inscription over him, “This is the [Jewish] King…” ³⁹One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” ⁴⁰But the other rebuked him, saying, “…you are under the same sentence of condemnation! ⁴¹And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” ⁴²Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” ⁴³He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

The Good News Proclaimed

Reign — Not Rule

by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins on November 21, 2010, at the Sunshine Cathedral MCC

When I was a kid, I loved the Winnie the Pooh cartoons. My scene ever from those cartoons is the one where Pooh, an absolute fiend for honey, devises a scheme that included him covering himself with mud and floating above the ground with the help of a helium-filled balloon. He hoped, obviously, to fool the honey producing bees in a tree into thinking he was a raincloud and while they were ignoring the harmless cloud, Pooh would then help himself to some of their delicious honey; and just in case the bees weren’t astute enough to recognize him as a raincloud, he sang them a song telling them that he was indeed a raincloud:

I’m just a little black raincloud, hovering under the honey tree.
I’m only a little black raincloud, pay no attention to little me.
Everyone knows that a raincloud, never eats honey, no not a nip.
I’m floating around, over the ground, wondering where I will drip.

I like the imagery of rain and wind and clouds and rainbows. These are for me much more accessible images of the divine to play with than more anthropomorphic imaginings. The divine Presence guides the children of Israel by day as a Cloud (Deut. 1.33). The prophet Ezekiel imagines the divine Presence as a Rainbow (Ez. 1.28). In John’s Gospel we read that the Wind or Spirit blows where She will, without our knowing exactly where the Wind came from or where it might move next.  Jesus says that the rain falls on the just and the unjust…on everyone (Matt. 5.45). At Pentecost the divine Presence was experienced like a violent wind that filled the entire room (Acts 2). Continue reading »

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The Good News Written

Divine Safety

The Wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita

“Those who commit their every act to Me and worship Me as their highest goal, and meditate on Me with devotion and whose minds are fixed on Me, I will raise them up from the ocean of this world of death.”

The Wisdom of Seneca

“God is near you and is with you and is in you. A holy spirit dwells within us… and is our guardian.”

Luke 21.17-18 (NRSV)

¹⁷You will be hated by all because of my name. ¹⁸But not a hair of your head will perish. ¹⁹By your endurance you will gain your souls.

The Good News Proclaimed

Breakthrough or Breakdown?

by the Reverend Doctor Robyn Provis on November 14, 2010, at the Sunshine Cathedral MCC

Good morning Sunshine Cathedral.  I am so pleased to be with you this weekend.  Thank you for the warm welcome AND the warm temperatures. It is already snowing in Minnesota where I live so naturally when I come to Florida you might be surprised to know that the first thing I notice is actually NOT the temperature—it’s the roads!  I seriously covet your roads.  They are so smooth. They have no potholes. In Minnesota, the land of the frozen chosen- avoiding the potholes is a full time obsession!

So I had to laugh when I read the gospel text for this morning because it felt like a theological pothole.  Seeing this seemingly treacherous text as my first Sunday assignment I said, “No! Really? Shut Up! No, really?” Continue reading »

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Eternal Life

The Good News Written

Wisdom from an Anonymous Source

“Live life so completely that when death comes to you like a thief in the night, there will be nothing left for him to steal.”

The Wisdom of Charles Schultz

“Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It’s already tomorrow in Australia.”

Luke 20.27-38 (NRSV)

²⁷Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to [Jesus] ²⁸and asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. ²⁹Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; ³⁰then the second ³¹and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. ³²Finally the woman also died. ³³In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.” ³⁴Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; ³⁵but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. ³⁶Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. ³⁷And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham [& Sarah & Hagar], the God of Isaac [& Rebecca], and the God of Jacob [& Leah & Rachel]. ³⁸Now [ours] is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to [God] all of them are alive.”

The Good News Proclaimed

What a Wonderful World!

by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins on November 7, 2010, at the Sunshine Cathedral MCC

Let’s look at this morning’s gospel passage.

The Sadducees were a priestly class of religious leaders who were sort of the fundamentalists of their day; they were at least the conservative, traditional branch of the religious community. The Sadducees did not believe in an afterlife because the Torah does not explicitly say that there is one. In fact, it isn’t until very late in the tradition that clear ideas about what an afterlife might look like emerge. The Sadducees were trying to be scriptural literalists.

There was another group called the Pharisees. The Pharisees were lay scholars and they did believe in the possibility of an afterlife experience…they called it Resurrection. The idea was that there would one day be a great divine judgment and at that time the righteous who had died would be raised back to life, they would be Resurrected.

Then there were the followers of Jesus who, like the Pharisees, believed in Resurrection; but instead of believing that it was something that might happen in the distant future, they believed it was something that had already happened in their own experience. After Jesus’ execution they affirmed over and over that somehow he had not stayed dead. And if Jesus could live beyond death, then maybe his followers could too! The idea of Resurrection became a very powerful tool in the resistance against Rome’s oppression, because whatever will you do with people who say, “Do your worst because even if you kill me I have no intention of staying dead”?! Continue reading »