It's an interesting exercise. I think I have said this before, but choosing a title for the sermon is always tricky for me. I am sure it has a lot to do with the fact that I finally sit down and do real writing on Saturday...and have to come up with a sermon title on Thursday. Now, sometimes the title provides a certain, shall we say, structure to my composition. That's a good thing. But sometimes I find God asking me to say something else come Saturday, that the fresher reading of the scripture challenges my earlier interpretations.
My title for tomorrow's sermon is "Stand in the Place Where You Live." Thank you REM. The lectionary is here. I am focusing on the Nehemiah passage and the Gospel passage. What i am struck by is the preaching moment...that moment when God's word is proclaimed. In Nehemiah, the people ask for the proclaimation. In the second, Jesus is the returning son, the one who made good and who, I imagine, was asked to teach in his home town. It takes courage to do such a thing. It takes courage to receive the word and to proclaim it. And, as a Baptist, I want to say that it is a responsibility that rests upon all believers. I want to push the "priesthood of all believers" in that direction.
This Sunday we also observe the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. There is a connection for me between the scriptures and my take on it and what the the Week is all about. We are to stand where we live and proclaim our perspective, to teach and preach from our tradition. But the end desire, the telos, is Unity. We can stand in the midst of difference, of disctinctions and enjoy the strengths of each tradition and how they bring us together instead of driving us apart.
But this is a rare posture. Nevertheless, I think it is the one to which we are called.
The Young Fogey posted this on his blog.
The whole teaching of the Latin Fathers may be found in the East, just as the whole teaching of the Greek Fathers may be found in the West. Rome has given St Jerome to Palestine. The East has given Cassian to the West and holds in special veneration that Roman of the Romans, Pope St Gregory the Great.I think it gets to the point I am trying to address. By standing in the Great Congregation and proclaiming God's love and intention for the world, we will find Unity. We will discover our brothers and sisters in the midst of the myriad traditions within the Christian milieu.St Basil would have acknowledged St Benedict of Nursia as his brother and heir. St Macrina would have found her sister in St Scholastica. St Alexis ‘the man of God’, the ‘poor man under the stairs’, has been succeeded by the wandering beggar St Benedict Joseph Labré. St Nicholas would have felt as very near to him the burning charity of St Francis of Assisi and St Vincent de Paul. St Seraphim of Sarov would have seen the desert blossoming under Father Charles de Foucauld’s feet, and would have called St Thérèse of Lisieux ‘my joy’.
- Fr Lev (Gillet), ‘A Monk of the Eastern Church’
Thus the title.
Posted by tripp at January 20, 2007 10:45 AM