Link: In Which Paul is Wiser, Easter 6 2014

Summary of what I was saying and why:
I love this story. Paul in Athens at the altar to an unknown God.
Early last week, I was talking about some troubling part of theology and how I resolved it for myself with Genesis 1. All things were created good and holy and to the delight of God.
And then Christmas parties in Lent and Easter bunnies during Epiphany-tide became a sermon.
(Also, really stuffed bunnies. Live bunnies are pets and shouldn’t be purchased lightly.)

Theology: Evangelism
Jesus Count: low
Good News: Everything can be used to tell our story of Jesus.

What did I change on my feet?
Not a lot. I found the end on my feet. But this mostly preached as I’d sketched it out.
What didn’t work/what did I miss?
I think there are so many more stories and examples that I didn’t include. And I think I might have been able to lean into my stories more. Make them examples of seizing the moments to tell my story.
I missed an opportunity to really play with “always be ready to defend the hope that is in you” bit in the Epistle. It could’ve melded in beautifully.
What did work?
Christmas parties in Lent. True family story and joke. Which, this week, served the Gospel.

Other sermons I liked:

Priest Baum, Easter 6
“In a romance, the Advocate is not sent to be our helper in the courtroom, but is sent by God to win our hearts. What if God loved the world so much that he sent his only son? Doesn’t Jesus show the ultimate depths of God’s love for you, in that he is willing to lay down his life proclaiming the love of God? Jesus walks among us, preaches the Good News to us, and then . . . well . . . we don’t want to hear it. His courtship is rejected in the Court of Human Hearts.”

Priest Pattison, Easter 6
groping for God, and the courage to go out
“Probably the shortest time to answered prayer.”

My personal rule is that I include preachers from the Anglican/Episcopal tradition. But it is my guideline and this is too good:
Pastor Parker, Paul and Moralistic Therapeutic Deism
“Paul does not just re-interpret the unknown God, but re-interprets the whole religious system. The God that Paul knows is the one who created all things. The God that Paul knows is the one who gives us life and movement and being — and does not require petty sacrifices in order to show mercy. The God that Paul knows, know us — knows what it is like to be born, to live, and die as one of us.”

(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.