We had an amazing gathering at C3 yesterday. There was a Sudanese choir from Grand Rapids. Absolutely breathtaking. There should be video of this at the C3 website later in the week. Such freedom and passion. It was great. And we had three dancers in the service from Laura Armenta Studio in Grand Rapids. They were superb, and evoked very powerful reactions from the congregation. One of the highlights of the service was when Laura was teaching the kids to bellydance. She did a great job and the kids were really getting it.All in all, it was a service that evoked an incredible sense of wonder, and the power of wonder to inspire greater humanity.
The sermon in this context was barely necessary. Christmas had already come alive as a present reality. We recieved many Christmas miracles. There were many Christmas angels present.
I explored angels in the sermon. A lot of time could be spent on the question, "Do angels exist?" It seems more fruitful to ponder why a belief in angels is so enticing. Maybe as humans we have an appetite for wonder, and angels are an attempt to put flesh and bones on this wonder. My intention in the sermon was neither to feed a superstitious belief in literal angels, nor to feed skepticism. My hope in the sermon was to feed the appetite for wonder.
Im interested in other perspectives on angels. Feel free to leave comments.
One note; because of the nature of the gathering, the text of the sermon is a lot fuller than the audio and video. My suggestion would be to read the text this week.
"Angels evoke a sense of wonder and imagination, the sort of wonder and imagination that inspires us to “be” angels for others......
Do you believe that God blesses the world? Or do you believe that the world is full of blessings?
Either way, we can all agree. You are the way God blesses the world. You are the way that the world blesses itself. You are a blessing machine. You are an angel when your blessings surprise you and others into a wider perspective, that you are here to live and love, give and remind, poke and provoke, here to make the world a more wondrous and gentle place. You are an angel, a messenger of wonder."
to read the whole sermon
http://www.christ-community.net/sermons/sermon12_14_08.htm
2 comments:
Ian -- love, love, love your blog! Helps stretch my spiritual muscles while living in the religiously "land-locked" community that I do. :)
As far as angels go, I think we are all angels whenever we look outward and serve someone else's needs -- with kindness, love, respect, acceptance and with no motive and/or agenda. This world would not move forward without them.
Ian -
You are so right ... We are God's angels; we are the ones responsible for blessing those around us. With so many lives in upheaval right not there is no shortage of opportunity.
Rev. Scott
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