For some brief comments on this topic - quoting Archbishop Rowan Williams - please see my article at http://therectorsdesk.blogspot.com/2008/07/august-2008.html . I think it is instructive!
Rennie D
1 August 2008
Friday, August 01, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
a god of possibility
My sermon for the 17th Sunday of "Year A" is availalbe on OVI. I focus on God's name (Exodus 3) being a name of possibility and mystery, an invitation to a journey of continuing discovery and action.
Rennie D
28 July 2008
Rennie D
28 July 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
a benedictine approach to sunday
Joan Chittister, in her daily commentary on the rule of Benedict, shares the following thoughts on the importance of Sunday and Sunday Worship in the life of the Christian community:
It is a day full of tradition and rhythm and rememberings of the simple but important concepts of existence. It is a return to basic truths that are never to be sacrificed for variety and always reinforced through repetition [The Rule of Benedict - insight for the ages; pg 80].
Joan makes these comments in the light of Western culture where "The idea of sabbaths that are fixed and solemn is for most part gone ..." replaced by "... Sundays ... spent in hectic activity designed to make us relax by drowning out the pressures of the rest of the week with the inane uselessness of the weekends" [ibid.]. She compares this with the Benedictine spirituality, where:
... the sabbath is the moment for returning to the surety and solemnity of life, for setting our sights above the daily, for restating the basics, for giving meaning to the rest of the week so that the mundane and the immediate do not become the level of our existence [ibid.].
Rennie D
25 June 2008
It is a day full of tradition and rhythm and rememberings of the simple but important concepts of existence. It is a return to basic truths that are never to be sacrificed for variety and always reinforced through repetition [The Rule of Benedict - insight for the ages; pg 80].
Joan makes these comments in the light of Western culture where "The idea of sabbaths that are fixed and solemn is for most part gone ..." replaced by "... Sundays ... spent in hectic activity designed to make us relax by drowning out the pressures of the rest of the week with the inane uselessness of the weekends" [ibid.]. She compares this with the Benedictine spirituality, where:
... the sabbath is the moment for returning to the surety and solemnity of life, for setting our sights above the daily, for restating the basics, for giving meaning to the rest of the week so that the mundane and the immediate do not become the level of our existence [ibid.].
Rennie D
25 June 2008
Saturday, May 31, 2008
identity
My sermon for Corpus Christi is now available online at OVI. This sermon begins an exploration on identity, taking into account our Modern heritage and the impact of Postmodernism on our lives and faith, specifically the "Us/Them" dichotomy of Modernism and the implications of a Postmodern approach to faith.
Rennie D
31 May 2008
Rennie D
31 May 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
transformation, identity & xenophobia
You will find my thoughts on the relationship between transformation, identity & xenophobia at The Rector's Desk. Have a look!
Rennie D
27 May 2008
Rennie D
27 May 2008
Sunday, April 13, 2008
fullness of life
Unconditional love, fullness of life: what impossible concepts! According to the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures only Jesus gets this right ... it's a characteristic of the Divine. But it is something that humanity is called to live out, to express in our relationships, to transform our lives. I reflect on this in today's sermon.
Rennie D
13 April 2008
Rennie D
13 April 2008
Sunday, April 06, 2008
encounter with Christ
My sermon for today is available. I have focused on the nature of encounter in the post-Resurrection experience of early Christians, and the means it becomes for transforming our daily lives and our very selves into activists for the Gospel.
Rennie D
6 April 2008
Rennie D
6 April 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
palm sunday
My sermon for Palm Sunday is available at http://www.twango.com/media/markrdlong.sermons/markrdlong.10096. Other recent sermons are available at http://www.twango.com/channel/markrdlong.sermons. Today's sermon focuses on Jesus response to his accusers (in Matthew): "They are your words". I focus on the role Scripture plays in Matthew in terms of this response, and the call that it is to us as Anglicans to immerse ourselves in Scripture beyond our times of formal worship.
Rennie D
16 March 2008
Rennie D
16 March 2008
Thursday, March 06, 2008
the creed for a new age
For some time I have searched for a revised version of the Creed that makes sense in the 21st centuary world in which I live. Joan Chittister, in her book In Search of Belief published by Liguori/Triumph (1999; pg 205-209), provides such a Creedal statement. In her book she explores the Apostles' Creed, and expands it in such a way that, in her words, "life speaks to the heart with new timbre for a new age" (pg 205):
I believe in one God
who made us all
and whose divinity infuses all of life
with the sacred.
I believe in the multiple revelations
of that God
alive in every human heart,
expressed in every human culture,
and found in all the wisdoms
of the world.
I believe
that Jesus Christ,
the unique son of God,
is the face of God
on earth
in whom we see best
the divine justice,
divine mercy,
and divine compassion
to which we are all called.
I believe in the Christ
who is One in being with the Creator
and who shows us the presence of God
in everything that is
and calls out the sacred in ourselves.
I believe in Jesus, the Christ
who leads us to the fullness
of human stature,
to what we were meant to become
before all time
and for all other things that were made.
Through Christ
we become new people,
called beyond the consequences
of our brokenness
and lifted to the fullness of life.
By the power of the Holy Spirit
he was born of the woman Mary,
pure in soul
and single-hearted –
a sign to the ages
of the exalted place
of womankind
in the divine plan
of human salvation.
He grew as we grow
through all the stages of life.
He lived as we live
prey to the pressures of evil
and intent on the good.
He broke no bonds with the world
to which he was bound,
He sinned not.
He never strayed from the mind of God.
He showed us the Way,
lived it for us
suffered from it,
and died because of it
so that we might live
with new heart,
new mind,
and new strength
despite all death
to which we are daily subjected.
For our sake
and for the sake of eternal Truth
he was hounded
harassed
and executed
by those
who were their own gods
and who valued the sacred
in no other.
He suffered so that we might realise
that the spirit in us
can never be killed
whatever price we have to pay
for staying true to the mind of God.
He died
but did not die
because he lives in us
still.
“On the third day” in the tomb
he rose again
in those he left behind
and in each of us as well
to live in hearts
that will not succumb
to the enemies of life.
He changed all life
for all of us thereafter.
he ascended into the life of God
and waits there
for our own ascension
to the life beyond.
He waits there,
judging what has gone before
and what is yet to come
against unending values
and, in behalf of eternal virtue,
for the time when all of life
will be gathered into God,
full of life and light,
steeped in truth.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the breath of God
on earth,
who keeps the Christ vision present
to souls yet in darkness,
gives life
even to hearts now blind.
Infuses energy
into spirits yet weary, isolated,
searching and confused.
The spirit has spoken
to the human heart
through the prophets
and gives new meaning
to the Word
throughout time.
I believe in one
holy and universal church.
Bound together by the holiness of creation
and the holiness of hearts forever true.
I acknowledge the need
to be freed from the compulsions
of my disordered life
and my need for forgiveness
in face of frailty.
I look for life eternal
in ways I cannot dream
and trust
that creation goes on creating
in this world
and in us
forever.
Amen.
Rennie D
6 March 2008
I believe in one God
who made us all
and whose divinity infuses all of life
with the sacred.
I believe in the multiple revelations
of that God
alive in every human heart,
expressed in every human culture,
and found in all the wisdoms
of the world.
I believe
that Jesus Christ,
the unique son of God,
is the face of God
on earth
in whom we see best
the divine justice,
divine mercy,
and divine compassion
to which we are all called.
I believe in the Christ
who is One in being with the Creator
and who shows us the presence of God
in everything that is
and calls out the sacred in ourselves.
I believe in Jesus, the Christ
who leads us to the fullness
of human stature,
to what we were meant to become
before all time
and for all other things that were made.
Through Christ
we become new people,
called beyond the consequences
of our brokenness
and lifted to the fullness of life.
By the power of the Holy Spirit
he was born of the woman Mary,
pure in soul
and single-hearted –
a sign to the ages
of the exalted place
of womankind
in the divine plan
of human salvation.
He grew as we grow
through all the stages of life.
He lived as we live
prey to the pressures of evil
and intent on the good.
He broke no bonds with the world
to which he was bound,
He sinned not.
He never strayed from the mind of God.
He showed us the Way,
lived it for us
suffered from it,
and died because of it
so that we might live
with new heart,
new mind,
and new strength
despite all death
to which we are daily subjected.
For our sake
and for the sake of eternal Truth
he was hounded
harassed
and executed
by those
who were their own gods
and who valued the sacred
in no other.
He suffered so that we might realise
that the spirit in us
can never be killed
whatever price we have to pay
for staying true to the mind of God.
He died
but did not die
because he lives in us
still.
“On the third day” in the tomb
he rose again
in those he left behind
and in each of us as well
to live in hearts
that will not succumb
to the enemies of life.
He changed all life
for all of us thereafter.
he ascended into the life of God
and waits there
for our own ascension
to the life beyond.
He waits there,
judging what has gone before
and what is yet to come
against unending values
and, in behalf of eternal virtue,
for the time when all of life
will be gathered into God,
full of life and light,
steeped in truth.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the breath of God
on earth,
who keeps the Christ vision present
to souls yet in darkness,
gives life
even to hearts now blind.
Infuses energy
into spirits yet weary, isolated,
searching and confused.
The spirit has spoken
to the human heart
through the prophets
and gives new meaning
to the Word
throughout time.
I believe in one
holy and universal church.
Bound together by the holiness of creation
and the holiness of hearts forever true.
I acknowledge the need
to be freed from the compulsions
of my disordered life
and my need for forgiveness
in face of frailty.
I look for life eternal
in ways I cannot dream
and trust
that creation goes on creating
in this world
and in us
forever.
Amen.
Rennie D
6 March 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
annual report
I haven't blogged for sometime - Christmas Holidays and all! My Annual Report to our Parish Vestry, presented this morning in the sermon slot at both services is available: the script at http://therectorsdesk.blogspot.com/2008/01/rectors-report-to-annual-vestry-2008.html
and an audio file at http://www.twango.com/media/markrdlong.sermons/markrdlong.10090. It created some emotionally charged discussion at the meeting around the issue of the eurocentric focus of our worship. "Inclusive" and "Flexible" are clearly in the area of VERY UNCOMFORTABLE when used in this context of a growingly diverse cultural congregation!!
Rennie D
27 January 2008
and an audio file at http://www.twango.com/media/markrdlong.sermons/markrdlong.10090. It created some emotionally charged discussion at the meeting around the issue of the eurocentric focus of our worship. "Inclusive" and "Flexible" are clearly in the area of VERY UNCOMFORTABLE when used in this context of a growingly diverse cultural congregation!!
Rennie D
27 January 2008
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