Standing Naked – A Sermon
When we finally learn that the pain of death is the brith pangs of the life after life, then we will dance… and not care if we are naked!
When we finally learn that the pain of death is the brith pangs of the life after life, then we will dance… and not care if we are naked!
Sainthood for Dummies!
To be a saint is the everyday task of the Christian. However tradition dictates that we can only become saints once we have died. Learning to die is the key to learning to live.
God’s heart goes forth to meet His erring children. The Good Shepherd goes forth to seek His wandering sheep.
As nature with her old mosses and her new spring foliage hides the ruins which man has made, and gives to the fallen tower and broken cloister a beauty scarcely less than that which belonged to them in their prime so human love may be at work too,
Christ risen from the dead, raises all this common work belonging to the order of nature, up to the level of the joy of Grace.
Sincerity seems our only security against losing those who love us, the only cup in which those who are worth keeping will care to pledge us when youth is past.
The supreme happiness of life is the conviction of being loved for yourself, or, more correctly, being loved in spite of yourself.
The parable of the Rich Fool, and in fact the whole of Luke Chapter 12, is not about money, nor about bread, nor even about barns. It is about being, ‘rich towards God’ and so proving the faithfulness and loving kindness of God by living generous lives of active service. And being ever-ready to do so….
None of us can live to himself. For evil or good, for condemnation or blessing, we must exercise a necessary influence over others.
The road ahead is rough not smooth.
But that is not what we are promised. There lie many trials, tribulations and fears ahead of us.
As Julian of Norwich recorded the words of Jesus in her Shewings, ‘He said not “Thou shalt not be tempested, thou shalt not be travailed, thou shalt not be dis-eased”; but he said, “Thou shalt not be overcome.”’