Originally posted by josephwAs a point of clarification, is this your sermon entry? If so, fine. If not, leave the judging to the judges.
I just can't help myself. I tell myself to just let it go, but I can't.
vistesd, don't be offended. I'm going to feel crummy for this because you probably really believe what you posted here, and put your heart into it and all that.
But I just don't get it. Here, you say love is this, and there, you say love is that. If I say to you, "I don't think you kno ...[text shortened]... love.
I'm quite certain I look and sound foolish. Oh well. 😳
Originally posted by josephwUnless this is an entry in the competition, please desist in commenting upon the sermons offered. I'm going to try and judge this competition as objectively as possible, based on the criteria posted earlier (as well as on considerations of cogency, consistency, etc.), and I don't want my opinions swayed by your or others' criticisms. If you find something in a posted sermon that you take to be contentious, then start a new thread about it.
I just can't help myself. I tell myself to just let it go, but I can't.
vistesd, don't be offended. I'm going to feel crummy for this because you probably really believe what you posted here, and put your heart into it and all that.
But I just don't get it. Here, you say love is this, and there, you say love is that. If I say to you, "I don't think you kno ...[text shortened]... love.
I'm quite certain I look and sound foolish. Oh well. 😳
Originally posted by bbarrYou're the judge! Sorry.
Unless this is an entry in the competition, please desist in commenting upon the sermons offered. I'm going to try and judge this competition as objectively as possible, based on the criteria posted earlier (as well as on considerations of cogency, consistency, etc.), and I don't want my opinions swayed by your or others' criticisms. If you find something in a posted sermon that you take to be contentious, then start a new thread about it.
I hope this doesn't hurt me in the contest.
Originally posted by josephwNo need to feel crummy at all. I'm not offended.
I just can't help myself. I tell myself to just let it go, but I can't.
vistesd, don't be offended. I'm going to feel crummy for this because you probably really believe what you posted here, and put your heart into it and all that.
But I just don't get it. Here, you say love is this, and there, you say love is that. If I say to you, "I don't think you kno love.
I'm quite certain I look and sound foolish. Oh well. 😳
A “We” can be created out of love, or out of hate. A We cannot be created out of indifference. (A “We” created out of hate is, of course, doomed to self-destruction. It is self-contradictory and pathological.)
In that We, one lays down the strict boundaries one’s soul/life. That is risky business. It is only by taking the risk that one can discover whether or not it is, in fact, safe. In a loving We, the little “I” communes in something larger, a larger whole.
Intimate human love is an example. The We is not just an exchange or a transaction, or even just a relation—it is a communion. I know that communion, in which I am more than myself.
It is, in fact, difficult to put into words—partly because our language is language of relation (subject-verb-object), and not of communion.
Although I do not restrict myself to Christian symbolism, or call myself a Christian, I think it is quite orthodox to point out that, in the Christian story, God becomes human in the incarnation. Jesus, as the Christ, is the complete communion of two natures, human and divine. Jesus’ human “I” risks death in that communion. And, of course, that whole divinely initiated communion is one of love, that either invites or draws (I’m not going to get involved in all the diverse theological interpretations and arguments here) the whole world into communion with the divine We.
____________________________
My sermon was neither on topic, nor did it keep to the rule of only one scriptural reference. I fully expected that it will be “disqualified.” I had to do it anyway.
EDIT: Removal of (positive) comment on other sermon submission, per bbarr's post. I would like to withdraw my own submission from consideration at this time. That ain't really why I wrote it...
Originally posted by vistesdI have to confess I'm really jealous of your intellect and writing abilities. In a heathy way of course! 😉
No need to feel crummy at all. I'm not offended.
A “We” can be created out of love, or out of hate. A We cannot be created out of indifference. (A “We” created out of hate is, of course, doomed to self-destruction. It is self-contradictory and pathological.)
In that We, one lays down the strict boundaries one’s soul/life. That is risky business. ...[text shortened]... hdraw my own submission from consideration at this time. That ain't really why I wrote it...
If I were the type to be deliberately offensive, you would heap coals on my head!
Originally posted by vistesdYour petition for removal of your sermon is denied. Whether it was on topic is a matter the judges will decide, but I believe the topic was meant to be interpreted broadly, and I'm sure that the topic was not meant to de facto exclude sermons from the contemplative tradition by virtue of presupposing any particular conception of "I".
No need to feel crummy at all. I'm not offended.
A “We” can be created out of love, or out of hate. A We cannot be created out of indifference. (A “We” created out of hate is, of course, doomed to self-destruction. It is self-contradictory and pathological.)
In that We, one lays down the strict boundaries one’s soul/life. That is risky business. hdraw my own submission from consideration at this time. That ain't really why I wrote it...
Originally posted by bbarrJesus Christ, did you go to law school too?!
Your petition for removal of your sermon is denied. Whether it was on topic is a matter the judges will decide, but I believe the topic was meant to be interpreted broadly, and I'm sure that the topic was not meant to de facto exclude sermons from the contemplative tradition by virtue of presupposing any particular conception of "I".
Brothers and Sisters, I stand before you a changed man. I used to live in a bubble, impervious to the outside world. Were people hungry somewhere? Well, so was I, because my money was all being spent on tobacco and booze. Were people sad? Lonely? Hurting? Well, sad to say, my brothers and sisters, but many was the night I cried myself to sleep from feeling sorry for myself, and the rest I passed out instead. Even if I had known that there were people in the world with real problems, I couldn't have helped them. I was hitting rock bottom. So what changed all that? Psalm 139. You see, many of my problems were from being terminally unique. There was no one like me, so no one could understand me...and of course, if they really knew what I was like, then they'd really dislike me. But then I read Psalm 139, and a Light came on.
In this Psalm, David acknowledges that God knows everything about him. He not only knows the outer things: when David sits and when he stands, but he also knows David's inner thought. Yet these are really the ordinary things you would expect from a diety. Of course God knew all about my practicing to near perfection the seven deadly sins, my abundance of impure thoughts and deeds, my bad checks and cheating and drinking binges. God knew all about David's fallen nature and his cheating too. David also recognizes that he can't hide from God, even in the depths.
But there is something else. This Psalm isn't a Hebrew version of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town. There's something else in it, something very important. “For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb. ... My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (Ps. 139:13, 15-16)
God saw me before I was even born, while I was being formed. God created me, and furthermore, God thought I was worth creating! How do I know this? We all know the creation stories from Genesis. God created the sun and moon and plants and animals and declared them all to be good. He created humans and declared them to be very good, but that's 6000 years ago ... and look how they turned out! How many of us think that the seventh day, that day of rest, has lasted those 6000 years? How many times did I think that the sixth day was the last time God created anything? But now through David, God is telling me that He also created me; I'm not just the result of a sperm race. He created me intentionally.
So what does that mean for me? Do I believe that He made me because He was bored and wanted something to torture as a boy does with an ant? Nowhere does the Bible indicated that God created anything just to annoy it. No, God created me because I was worth it, even though I certainly didn't act like it. While I wallowed in self-pity because nobody understood me, God not only understood me perfectly but loved me as well.
His Creation didn't end on the sixth day, and it didn't end with me either. Brothers and sisters, God created you, too...each one of you. He created us because we're worth it. He loves us and watches over us because we matter. And because we matter, He gives us the strength to turn our lives around. He gives us people to travel with on this journey through life. He forgives us when we need it. And in turn, when we open ourselves up we can help others as we've been helped. I have made meals for homeless shelters and brought food to food pantries, but also tried to help feed souls and spirits and well as bodies. I have found ways to reach out to others who are sad, lonely, hurting. Even in the worst of times, I try to share my blessings with others. I am truly not the man I was.
Originally posted by bbarrThe final cowardice of the contemplative denied? (Tentativeness in the face of a non-contemplative world; retreat, not to the cloister, but to a kind of hypocritical halfway house?) Well, then—time for the last letting-go... Which is the real setting-forth...
Your petition for removal of your sermon is denied. Whether it was on topic is a matter the judges will decide, but I believe the topic was meant to be interpreted broadly, and I'm sure that the topic was not meant to de facto exclude sermons from the contemplative tradition by virtue of presupposing any particular conception of "I".
Morituri te salutamus!
Let the battle be joined...
Originally posted by pawnhandlerPreach it Brotha!
Brothers and Sisters, I stand before you a changed man. I used to live in a bubble, impervious to the outside world. Were people hungry somewhere? Well, so was I, because my money was all being spent on tobacco and booze. Were people sad? Lonely? Hurting? Well, sad to say, my brothers and sisters, but many was the night I cried myself to sleep fro ...[text shortened]... of times, I try to share my blessings with others. I am truly not the man I was.
*fanning self*