Pastor Eric's sermon

Yesterday I went to my friend Eric's Lutheran church where he is pastor. It was great to see him in
action again presiding at a service which has the same liturgical format as a Catholic Mass, but a little more informal. The most touching thing is that he doesn't preside from a presider's chair at the front, but its in the front row with his wife and small daughters. It makes  me think about our married deacons and how we can make space for them to worship with their families as well as minster at the altar.

Eric is a great preacher. He preached on the feeding of the 5000 and referred to the the common idea that God invites our cooperation in his work. But he did it so well. He made the scripture account alive, painting a picture of the scene and emphasising that Jesus didn't push the disciples out of the way saying "step aside, I've got this covered I' m going to do a miracle". He told them to "give the people something to eat yourself", and then multiplied what  they found.

He then applied it to the life of the church with a great image. He asked us to think about the ways in which the church is like an orchestra, talking about different roles and working in harmony of each them. The twist was in saying that while he as pastor might correlate to the conductor of the orchestra, asking who in the church is the orchestra? While we immediately thought of the musicians and servers and official ministries, said that we, the whole congregation are the orchestra. We are not the audience. Who in the analogy is the audience then? Seattle. Or in our case, Kincumber, or wherever we are. As a church we live our Christian lives, witness and serve, for the benefit of the world, not just ourselves, so that, as in the Acts of the Apostles, people might say "see how they love each other" thereby see Christ at work.

We also went to Mass in the evening (Eric's wife is Catholic, and they go to both churches). The homily was all theologically true and quoted Pope Francis. But it was remote, aloof, it had no story, no illustration, no hook, and I've already forgotten what it was about.

Comments

  1. Unknown9 August 2017 at 04:17

    Thank you for this Jim. Eric sounds very much like you - your sermons are never forgettable. Safe journey ahead. Love to you from all the Logans.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hannah9 August 2017 at 06:40

    Mmm...unfortunately an experience we can relate to. But there is this one priest we know who is very engaging and memorable.🤔 He goes that extra mile and is very encouraging with kids. Indeed we still travel up the freeway to hear him when we get the chance....though not often enough🙁. We look forward to catching up with him when he gets back.☺

    Praying you have a safe return trip✈

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Spiritual Exercises

Image
Any way of prayer or mediation may be considered a spiritual exercise. Just like physical exercise it helps to have a plan, a coach and some discipline. The Spiritual Exercises (notice the capitals) are a series of meditations and contemplations which 16th century St Ignatius of Loyola composed from his own prayer experience, and then taught to his followers, who became the Society of Jesus (The Jesuits). The Exercises are mostly contemplations of scenes in the gospels, where we are to use our imagination to place ourselves within the scene so as to meet Jesus intimately, allowing the gospel account to unfold as we watch, listen, feel and take part. Following the contemplation of the scene is a prayer dialogue with Jesus about whatever we experienced and learned. Woven throughout the program of gospel scenes which Ignatius chose are some specific meditations on sorrow for sin, choosing to follow Jesus, and then giving yourself wholeheartedly to Jesus. The Exercises can be don...
Read more

Doing the Spiritual Exercises

Image
During my time in Omaha I studied the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius . It is one thing to study them, but another to do them.The exercises can be done as a 30 day intensive retreat, or a week by week program. Much as I would love to, there isn't a spare month I could be away from the parish again, so I am doing the 30 week version. I receive spiritual direction via Skype from my director (referred from the Jesuit retreat centre in Pymble ). Each week she sends me a list of scripture passages to meditate on and other prayer exercises, and then in an hour conversation via Skype we talk just about how I have been praying. It has been a very focused experience of prayer thus far. In other experiences of spiritual direction in the past we have talked about a broader range of issues of life, prayer and ministry, but this is just about prayer, nothing else. I am praying with passages of scripture which of course I have known, such as Jesus' declaration of bringing good news t...
Read more

Brian Wilson

Image
Brian Wilson was the brains behind The Beach Boys, who seem to feature in the soundtrack of most people's teenage years. Tonight I went to hear him in concert in Omaha as he played for the 50th anniversary of the Pet Sounds album, a record so groundbreaking that Paul McCartney cites it as inspiration for Sergeant Peppers. I wouldn't have known the concert was on except that The Beach Boys are my room mate Kevin's favourite band. I fell in love with Brian Wilson when I watched the biopic Love and Mercy last year. Wow. What  perfect concert. It was outdoors at sunset, but in a small amphitheater rather than a stadium. As befitting a concert by a 74 year old and attended by hippies of various generations it was over by 9pm so not a long late night (its a school night!) and close enough to walk the couple of miles home. Brian and his 10 piece band played the whole Pet Sounds album including the sublime God Only Knows plus all of the upbeat favourites like Good Vibra...
Read more