May 4, 2018
In this past Sunday's sermon, I invited you to think about the difference between a battery and an extension cord. I asked what difference it would make in your life if you thought of yourself less as a battery "feeling drained" and in need of "recharging," and more of an "unplugged" extension cord in need of being "tapped into" or "abiding in the limitless source of love, joy, peace, patience, and generosity: the power of God.Â
Now I invite you to think about the difference between prose and poetry.
Many of you were here three Sundays ago when our guest adult forum speaker Rabbi Danny Zemel spoke.
One of the things Rabbi Zemel said was that while he loved the Jewish liturgy -- the prayers recited in worship --Â he disliked the way those prayers were presented on paper.
Jewish prayers, like much of Holy Scripture -- were written as poetry, not prose.
But, in order to save space and paper, when those prayers (and much of our scripture) gets laid out or presented on paper, we warp poetry into prose.
And unfortunately, whenever you turn poetry into prose, you disfigure it; you damage it.
What is wrong with a lot of Christianity has to do with Christians' tendencies over the centuries (and in our own day) to turn the poetry of Scripture and Jesus' life and teachings and our creeds into prose, until that which originated as wild, original, mysterious, expansive poetry has been degenerated into domesticated, repetitive, predictable and limited prose.Â
But as I hope to explore further on Sunday,Â
Part of our calling as Christians in 2018
is to rediscoverÂ
the wildness,Â
originality,Â
mysteriousness,Â
and expansivenessÂ
of God's Holy and Life-giving WordÂ
as that WordÂ
is most fully revealedÂ
in the Body of Christ:Â
Jesus,
and you and me.Â
See what I mean?Â
See you Sunday,Â
JohnÂ