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Well, as you may be able to tell from the notes, I thought yesterday’s sermon was a doosy. A three pager. It unfolded a bit like a Thomas Hardy novel: there’s a long “set-up” at the beginning, but then things start happening rapidly, and you can then see how all the pieces fit together. At that point your mind is playing catch-up. This is one of the things I love about Father Martin’s sermons.
In short, the sermon was an unpacking of Matthew 25: 1-13, with the emphasis being on love rather than faith (admittedly, impossible to separate completely, as Father Martin Pointed out). What really got me excited was a quote from Luther (not surprising, for those who know me) about the nature of Love. Basically it comes to this: God’s love creates the object it loves, human love seeks love in that which already exists. Simple enough, and logical enough. God creates ex nihlo, we do not. But the implications are staggering. God produces, we consume. God’s perfect love is completely sacrificial, while our love is ultimately selfish. At least that was my reading, or perhaps the what I needed (not wanted) to hear. Of course, with the Holy Spirit’s help (and ONLY with that help) we can learn to love as He does.
The other main points of the sermon had to do with both waiting and acting. Waiting for Jesus, and also being active in the world because He is already present, and in the places we think we are least likely to find Him.
As I said, it was a novel.
Point is, all this is very timely for me because I am beginning a series of posts for Gideon Strauss on “What I Love.” I will link here when they are up (it may be a month or so). I have started a list….
The list is (intentionally) both very material and based primarily on very ordinary things. It is interesting to think about my relationship to these things in relation to “love=consuming/ love= producing.” As an visual artist constantly working in/with the material world the relationship between consumption/ production/ stewardship/ redemption is always present, and often filled with tension. OK, that’s probably too many slashes for one sentence, but I hope you get the gist of it. I’m guessing this might all show up in my posts…
