“Clear Your Heart”
( December 14, 2008 ) Advent is a time for preparing for the good news, but sometimes our hearts are so filled with pain and anger that we cannot receive joy. The good news is that God not only offers us blessing, but God is also one to whom we can lament and unload so that we can become ready to receive greater joy. Sometimes, you just have to let it out. (Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11)
[the stretch of quiet toward the end for people to respond/interact was much longer but was cut down for posting purposes]
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Excellent sermon Pastor Becca. Rock on!
wow, what a great and powerful exercise. i love the ways that you make going to church an active thing. it’s not just a plunk-me-down-in-a-seat-and-listen thing, it becomes an exercise that you have to choose to take part in. fantastic!
[…] Sermon: Clear Your Heart […]
@Morgan,
Thanks again for listening! See, your messages and quotes on Saturday worked right in with what I was thinking, and helped me get through a pretty rocky sermon-writing process.
@Ru,
Well you know me; I have this crazy notion that when Jesus said “Come, follow me,” he didn’t mean “Come, sit on your butt.” Now we need to listen and contemplate, yes, and we need to respond in acts of service to others. But between the two, we need to respond to God with a spirituality that is an active choice not a passive assimilation of whatever others around us believe/think/experience.
Blessings,
Becca
[…] 19, 2008 by Becca Clark In a comment exchange about Sunday’s service, my sister and I discussed: Ru: wow, what a great and powerful exercise. i love the ways that you make going to church an […]