A man was moved by awe and wonder at the first sight of a bonsai tree.
I had lunch this week with a man whose daughter was killed in a mass shooting.
So you finally found your dream home site!
You imagine sitting in the living room looking through that plate glass window at the snow-capped mountains and pristine lake below, so you call a builder who makes it happen!And the first day you move in, you wake up, brew a cup of coffee, sit down in your favorite chair and look out at that lake when it happens,
A bird flies by and poops in the middle of your window!
You get up and clean it off, then the same thing happens the next day, and the next, and before you know it, you're no longer paying attention to the view, but the poop.
Since when has cleaning the poop become our most important job? Instead of paying attention to the view - that pristine view, the reason you built the house in the first place.
This Sunday, as we begin the season after Pentecost, the long green season that will take us all the way up through Advent, we run headlong into a group religious leaders that will oppose Jesus at every turn. While they serve God and purport to know God, they fall short when they put tradition and career ahead of revelation.
Yes, Jesus is here to reveal many things, one of the most important is for you and I to stay open to change.
Don't let the insignificant and unimportant keep you from embracing the big picture! Shrug it off, don't pay it no mind, the main thing is keeping the main thing, the main thing!
A politician recently told a crowd to put on the armor of God - and to strap on a handgun.
This is the perfect image of our ongoing American wrestling match - with a cross in one hand, and a gun in the other.
But let's be clear: Jesus didn't advocate violence,
he called himself the Prince of Peace!
He didn't retaliate against his persecutors,
he forgave them.
He didn't defend himself,
but in Sunday's gospel, he says he laid down his life - and that we should too.
Time and again, Jesus showed us love, and that love is ready to die, not kill.
How are we being tempted by our evolutionary and cultural programming to fight and harm instead of following the Jesus Way of forgiveness and peace?