Homiletics 2

slides are/will be available atwww.brianmclaren.net

In my travels, I’m finding four great hungers:

In my travels, I’m finding four great hungers:1. For a fresh understanding of the biblical narrative - a new theological framework. (A New Kind of Christianity)

In my travels, I’m finding four great hungers:1. For a fresh understanding of the biblical narrative - a new theological framework. (A New Kind of Christianity)2. For a fresh framework for mission. (Everything Must Change)

In my travels, I’m finding four great hungers:1. For a fresh understanding of the biblical narrative - a new theological framework. (A New Kind of Christianity)2. For a fresh framework for mission. (Everything Must Change)3. For a fresh view of Christian identity in a multi-faith world (upcoming)

In my travels, I’m finding four great hungers:1. For a fresh understanding of the biblical narrative - a new theological framework. (A New Kind of Christianity)2. For a fresh framework for mission. (Everything Must Change)3. For a fresh view of Christian identity in a multi-faith world (upcoming)4. A fresh approach to the spiritual life. (Naked Spirituality)

The Scriptures offer many vital images

for the spiritual life ...

The Fourth Gospel

- Making space for the Spirit

The Lord’s Prayer

1. Our Father above us and all around us …

2. May Your unspeakable Name be revered.

3. Now, here on earth may Your commonwealth come.

4. On earth as in heaven may Your will be done.

5. Give us today our bread for today.

4. Forgive us our wrongs as we forgive.

3. Lead us away from the perilous trial.

2. Liberate us from the evil.

1.For the kingdom is yours and yours alone.

2. The power is yours and yours alone.

3.The glory is yours and yours alone.

4.Now and forever, amen.

5. Now, here on earth may your commonwealth come.

4. Here on earth may your dreams come true.

3. Hallelujah2. Hallelujah1. Amen.

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’

His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ So they took it.

When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.’

Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

jars

ceremonial

empty

jars

wedding

ceremonial

wine

empty

full

We all begin in Stage 1,

Simplicity.

The first posture in Stage One is ...

here.

Through here we become present

to the Presence of God - here and

now.

2 views of God:

outside, above, up there ...

around, within, down here...

The Spirit of God

here

now

here

Second is thanks,

the essential practice of gratitude.

The distribution of discontent  "Consumer society, by constantly making us aware of what we don't have, instead of making us thankful for what we do have, has turned out to be the most efficient system yet devised for the manufacturing and distribution of unhappiness."  

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

Happiness doesn’t come from having,

but from appreciating ...

thanks

Third isO!

- the joyful practice of wonder and

worship.

God as apprensible -

Not comprehensible.

God as glorious mystery ...

Savoring God’s splendor.

O!

herethanksO!

These are foundational practices of Stage One,

Simplicity.

Many of us continue on to Stage 2,

Complexity.

Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’

Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’ Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You must be born from above.” The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’

Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

Teacher, we know that you are a teacher ...

Are you a teacher ... and yet you do not understand?

Wind ... a mystery beyond understanding: you do not

know ...

Many of us continue on to Stage 2,

Complexity.

In Complexity, the wordsorry

introduces us to the practice of regret.

Personal sin

(Psalm 32)

&

Social sin

(Nehemiah 9)

Seeking forgiveness and

seeking salvation/liberation

sorry

The simple wordhelp!

is about expansion, reaching out for

strength beyond our own.

Asking for the removal of stress -

or the increase of strength and

character?

Philippians 4:6Translating anxiety

into requests ...Naming our need,Directing it to God.

help!

Next comes

please,

the practice of compassion.

Responding to the pain, grief, and

suffering of others ...

Not ignoring, distancing,

blaming,

explaining ...

but feeling with -

with those in pain and

with God.

Joining our compassion

with God’s greater

compassion.

“Holding them up to the

Light.”

please

sorry. help. please.

Perplexity.

Some of us never leave Stage 2. Others move on to

Stage 3,

[Jesus] had to go through Samaria. So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’. (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’

Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’

Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come back.’ The woman answered him, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are right in saying, “I have no husband”; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet.

Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem....

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’

mountains ...

and fountains

destroyed temple -

tragedy or opportunity?

Perplexity begins wtih the simple

question,when?

The unfulfilled now

when?

What happens when

we wait and wait and wait

and no help comes?

We enter into rage or refusal, conveyed in

the simple word

no!

Your no is a refusal to give up ...

and a refusal to be satisfied with an

unacceptable situation.

Stage 3 culminates in

why?- the practice of

lament.

Beyond refusal.why?

Not a demand for an explanation ...

But an acknowledgment of unknowing.

Acceptance with hope...

Why?Why does it have to

be this way?

Why?

TextWhen?No!Why?

sometimes uninvited

guests bring

unexpected gifts.

simplicitycomplexityperplexityharmony

Harmony.

Beyond Simplicity, Complexity, and Perplexity,

we enter Stage 4,

We enter this stage through the practice

of meditation:behold.

Non-dual seeing.Seeing what’s there.

be-ing

hold-ing

behold.

Then comes the simple word for

joining or surrendering:

yes.

Not my will, but your will be done.

No ... Yes.

yes.

Finally comes the practice of contemplation, of simply and silently being with, for which there is no word -

only the gentle sound of your own heartbeat and

breath...

Godand I have become

like two giant fat people livingin a tiny

boat.We

keep bumping intoeach other

and laughing

(the Persian poet Hafiz)

behold

yes

...

here, thanks, o!

sorry, thanks, please

when? no! why?

behold, yes, ...

Joy to the world! the Lord is come. Let earth receive her king!Let every heart prepare him room.And heaven and nature sing ...

O come let us adore him ...

With Kindness From “Songs For a Revolution of Hope, Vol. 1: everything must change.”

Words and music by Brian McLaren. 2007, Brian McLaren. Publishing, Revolution of Hope Music Group SESAC 2007.

All rights reserved. Registered with CCLI.

Christ has no body here but ours.No hands, no feet, here on earth but ours.Ours are the eyes though which he looksOn this worldWith Kindness

Ours are the hands through which he works.Ours are the feet on which he moves.Ours are the voices through which he speaksTo this worldWith Kindness.

Through our touch, our smile, our listening ear,Embodied in us, Jesus is living here.

Let us go nowFilled with the SpiritInto this worldWith Kindness

Christ has no body here but ours.No hands, no feet, here on earth but ours.Ours are the eyes though which he looksOn this worldWith Kindness

Ours are the hands through which he works.Ours are the feet on which he moves.Ours are the voices through which he speaksTo this worldWith Kindness.

Through our touch, our smile, our listening ear,Embodied in us, Jesus is living here.

Let us go nowFilled with the SpiritInto this worldWith Kindness