Link: Shepherds, Baptism, and Abundance, Easter 4 2014

Summary of what I was saying and why:
Good Shepherd with a bad death coming up. Acts and Baptism. Holding all things in common and stewardship. Abundant life that risks and loses everything.

Theology: stewardship
Jesus Count: low
Good News: We are called to abundant life where all is lost because everything has been given.
What did I change on my feet?
What didn’t work/what did I miss?
I had a sermon that was struggling because, as I realized Sunday morning, it was three sermons. Perhaps I’ll tease out just one for next year.
What did work?
There were a couple of good lines in there.

Other sermons I liked:

Priest Baum, Easter 4
“This morning, the Good Shepherd is calling you out of your pew to come to the green pastures of this altar, where you will find the live-giving food and drink of new and unending life in him.”

Priest Collins, Lead us not into Penn Station
“Jesus gives us much credit, I believe, maybe too much. I wonder, do we really know God’s voice when we hear it? I don’t know that we always do. I’ve spoken to many a faithful Christian, good people who try to live good lives, who try to avoid temptation and Penn Station alike. And very often, these folks struggle to hear God’s voice, strain to hear the loving voice of God in times of trial and loss.”
Priest Downs, With: Jesus, Shepherds, and Feeling Alone
For Jesus to guide us, however, we have to let go; trusting that the way Jesus leads us doesn’t pass only through abundant fields, but desolate valleys. In many ways, that’s the proof we need, for doing things “right” doesn’t yield universally happy results. We are assured there will be valleys and we are assured His presence, whether or not we feel it.

(Here’s the list of people I usually listen to. Am I missing someone?)
The Anglican Church of Canada uses the Roman Ordinary Time numbering system instead of numbering the Propers. Because all of this is new to me, I’m now indicating both numbering systems.