| THEOLOGY SERMONS | |||||
| Different Paths, Same
Journey Are you a thinker, a worshipper, a helper, a mystic, or something else? Though we may travel different paths, and even describe the goal in different ways, our journey, and the journey of all religious folks, is the same. This sermon is also available as a chapter in the E-Book, “Living Theology.” |
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| The Law of Attraction A recent book and movie called, “The Secret” repeats an ancient and well-known spiritual principle: that to which we give our attention is multiplied in our lives. But this helpful truth can easily become damaging to healthy spirituality if over-stated. |
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Two Spiritual Goals This sermon is also available in the book, "Good Thinking". |
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The Mystic Experience Mysticism is a spiritual way of directly experiencing divine reality. Across diverse religious cultures the mystic path and the goal mystics describe is similar enough to suggest a common truth and an effective practice useful to seekers of all kinds. This sermon is also available as a chapter in the book, “Good Thinking.” |
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| Spiritual is More Than
Beautiful Many people feel much more inspired, in a way they would call "spiritual" by a Mozart symphony, great architecture, or a beautiful sunset, then they do by a well-reasoned, well preached sermon. Certainly religions take advantage of this congruence by designing awesome buildings and filling them with great art and music. Can aesthetic pleasure and spirituality be distinguished? This sermon is also available as a chapter in the book, “Good Thinking.” |
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| Your Life, Your
Scripture Direct personal experience is the basis of all spiritual insight. The only question is it your own personal experience or someone else’s? This sermon is also available as a chapter in the book, “Good Thinking.” |
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| What's Your Problem? What is it that keeps us from achieving personal happiness and the world peace and justice we all strive for? Only once the problem has been named can we begin to develop an appropriate spiritual solution. This sermon is also available as a chapter in the book, “Good Thinking.” |
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| Heaven Can't Wait Without a certain after life, earthly salvation may be all we ever get. We want the world to be ever better even after we’re gone but we need our own heaven right now. This sermon is also available as a chapter in the book, “Good Thinking.” |
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| A Loving God and A
Suffering World The fundamental question of religion has always been, “How do we make sense of suffering in a world supposedly governed by an all loving and all powerful God?” There are really only four possible answers to the question, and all four completely overturn the traditional understanding of God. This sermon is also available as a chapter in the book, “Good Thinking.” |
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| God of Justice, God of
Love The God of the Torah concerned with order, became with the Prophets, a God of ethics, then with Jesus the single principle of Divine Love. Does our understanding of God evolve or do different theologies forever appeal to different parts of complex human nature? This sermon is also available as a chapter in the book, “Good Thinking.” |
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| Those Disturbing
Miracles To call some phenomenon a miracle means more than merely saying something is wonderful, or unusual. Proclaiming the existence of true miracles implies that a divinity can manipulate reality at will to insure a particular outcome. That’s inspiring on its face, but very disturbing when fully examined. This sermon is also available as a chapter in the book, “Good Thinking.” |
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| Divine Mother For three thousand years our religion and culture have honored a divine father while recognizing no divine mother. But the divine spirit contains all that is positive, those positive values we label masculine, and those we label feminine. This sermon is also available as a chapter in the book, “Good Thinking.” |
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| Prayer as Listening A God that is always with us and always loving doesn't need to be manipulated into helping, instead we need to better hear the helpful words that are constantly being spoken. This sermon is also available as a chapter in the book, “Good Thinking.” |
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| Making Sense of Sin Sin is an important theological category in most religions. All spiritual persons need language that encourages us to admit our imperfections and accept responsibility for our actions. Is there a way to avoid the problems of sin-talk without throwing out the word entirely? This sermon is also available as a chapter in the book, “Good Thinking.” |
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| The Future Doesn't
Exist Theologies that proclaim the eternal nature of God maintain that the future is already completed, though unknown to us. Psychic claims of pre-cognition say the same thing. But a future that’s already concluded doesn’t allow for the freedom required for spiritual purpose and meaning. This sermon is also available as a chapter in the book, “Good Thinking.” |
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| Religion For All Animals and plants, not to mention water and stones, don’t know our religious myths nor concern themselves with morality, sin, forgiveness, or justice. Religion needs to discuss those important aspects of human life, but shouldn’t our religion also have something to say to the rest of existence? This sermon is also available as a chapter in the book, “Good Thinking.” |
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| What We Worship Ralph Waldo Emerson observed that, "A person will worship something." What we most care about becomes the divinity we order our life around. We need to name our worship object, and critically ask if it's worthy of our devotion. This sermon is also available as a chapter in the book, “Good Thinking.” |
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| A Life Worth Living Each of us requires some transcendent goal we’re willing to exchange our life for. We must feel that we have through our life contributed to something significant and larger than ourselves. What this is for you, no one can tell you, but you must be able to name it for yourself in order to achieve satisfaction in your living. This sermon is also available as a chapter in the book, “Good Thinking.” |
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| The Responsibility of
Optimism Being hopeful about the future simply means recognizing that the world can be better with our influence than without it. Because we all must share the one future we create we owe it to each other as well as ourselves to make it the best possible. This sermon is also available as a chapter in the book, “Good Thinking.” |
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| Waiting for God Should we wait for God or someone else to act for us? Or do we have the power and responsibility to act for ourselves? Who's waiting for us, while we wait for the world to change? This sermon is also available as a chapter in the book, “Good Thinking.” |
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| The Same God Is the Trinitarian God of orthodox Christianity really the same God as the monotheistic God of the Jews and Muslims? How about the no-God of Buddhism, or the poly-God of Hinduism? Are some religions simply wrong in their description of the universe or is their a way to honor and celebrate the diverse religious perspectives? This sermon is also available as a chapter in the E-Book, “Living Theology.” |
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| What Do I Know? Rational folks are sometimes suspicious of religion because we see its truth claims based on subjective faith are less reliable than truth claims made on objective facts. But our claim for knowing anything is pretty thin. This sermon is a plea for humility about what we “know” and a greater honoring of what we “believe.” This sermon is also available as a chapter in the E-Book, “Living Theology.” |
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| Religion Needs Science The relationship between religion and science is asymmetric. Science does what it does entirely independent of the concerns of religion for values, meaning, and purpose. But religion relies on science for an accurate description of the world, which is the basis of coherent belief. This sermon is also available as a chapter in the E-Book, “Living Theology.” |
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| Living Word Important texts, like scripture or a nation’s constitution, inevitably present a problem in that they stay in their time while the world evolves around them. We look for the stability and authority of texts like these but also must find ways for them to accommodate present situations unimaginable to the original authors. This sermon is also available as a chapter in the E-Book, “Living Theology.” |
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| Why We're Here The root of the religious impulse lies in our attempts to make sense of existence. Science answers, What and How questions. Every “why?” question evokes a religious response. Whether we have a long answer beginning with “because…” or a short answer like “there is no reason,” or “I don’t know,” we’ve said something important about our faith. This sermon is also available as a chapter in the E-Book, “Living Theology.” |
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| Memories and Meaning Memorial services remind us of the importance of remembering. Telling and re-telling the stories of our lives and our culture creates meaning. "He’s the man who did...," "She's the woman who said...," They are the people who believed...," Remembering our lives, consciously or unconsciously creates meaning. This sermon is also available as a chapter in the E-Book, “Living Theology.” |
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| Today's The Day Emerson spoke of the days as gods walking into our lives and then out again. His image reminds us to treat each day as precious, but also implies something profound about the nature of divinity: that divinity passes through each day with us and us different each day as our lives are different each day. This sermon is also available as a chapter in the E-Book, “Living Theology.” |
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