Homiletics 2

slides are/will be
available at
www.brianmclaren.net

In my travels, I’m finding four great
hungers:

hungers:
1. For a fresh understanding of the
biblical narrative - a new theological
framework. (A New Kind of Christianity)

hungers:
2. For a fresh framework for mission.
(Everything Must Change)

hungers:
3. For a fresh view of Christian identity in
a multi-faith world (upcoming)

hungers:
3. For a fresh view of Christian identity in
a multi-faith world (upcoming)
4. A fresh approach to the spiritual life.
(Naked Spirituality)

The Scriptures offer
many vital images
for the spiritual
life ...

The Fourth Gospel

- Making space for
the Spirit

The Lord’s Prayer

1. Our Father above us
and all around us …

2. May Your unspeakable
Name be revered.

3. Now, here on earth
may Your
commonwealth come.

4. On earth as in
heaven may Your will
be done.

5. Give us today our
bread for today.

4. Forgive us our
wrongs as we forgive.

3. Lead us away from
the perilous trial.

2. Liberate us from the
evil.

1.For the kingdom is
yours and yours alone.
2. The power is yours and
yours alone.
3.The glory is yours and
yours alone.
4.Now and forever, amen.

5. Now, here on earth may your
commonwealth come.
4. Here on earth may your
dreams come true.
3. Hallelujah
2. Hallelujah
1. Amen.

On the third day there was a
wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the
mother of Jesus was there. Jesus
and his disciples had also been
invited to the wedding. When the
wine gave out, the mother of Jesus
said to him, ‘They have no wine.’
And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what
concern is that to you and to me? My
hour has not yet come.’

His mother said to the servants, ‘Do
whatever he tells you.’ Now standing
there were six stone water-jars for
the Jewish rites of purification, each
holding twenty or thirty gallons.
Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with
water.’ And they filled them up to the
brim. He said to them, ‘Now draw
some out, and take it to the chief
steward.’ So they took it.

When the steward tasted the water
that had become wine, and did not
know where it came from (though
the servants who had drawn the
water knew), the steward called the
bridegroom and said to him,
‘Everyone serves the good wine first,
and then the inferior wine after the
guests have become drunk. But you
have kept the good wine until now.’

Jesus did this, the first of his signs,
in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his
glory; and his disciples believed in
him.

jars
wedding
ceremonial
wine

empty
full

We all begin in Stage 1,

Simplicity.

The first posture in
Stage One is ...
here.

Through here we
become present
to the Presence of
God - here and
now.

2 views of God:
outside, above, up
there ...
around, within,
down here...

The Spirit of God
here
now

Second is
thanks,
the essential
practice of gratitude.

The distribution of discontent

"Consumer society, by constantly
making us aware of what we don't have,
instead of making us thankful for what
we do have, has turned out to be the
most efﬁcient system yet devised for the
manufacturing and distribution of
unhappiness."

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

Happiness doesn’t
come from having,
but from
appreciating ...

Third is
O!
- the joyful practice
of wonder and
worship.

God as apprensible -

Not comprehensible.

God as glorious
mystery ...

Savoring God’s
splendor.

These are foundational
practices of Stage One,
Simplicity.

Many of us continue on to
Stage 2,

Complexity.

Now there was a Pharisee named
Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He
came to Jesus by night and said to
him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a
teacher who has come from God; for
no one can do these signs that you
do apart from the presence of God.’
Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I
tell you, no one can see the kingdom
of God without being born from
above.’

Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can
anyone be born after having grown
old? Can one enter a second time
into the mother’s womb and be
born?’ Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I
tell you, no one can enter the
kingdom of God without being born
of water and Spirit. What is born of
the flesh is flesh, and what is born of
the Spirit is spirit.

Do not be astonished that I said
to you, “You must be born from
above.” The wind blows where it
chooses, and you hear the sound
of it, but you do not know where
it comes from or where it goes.
So it is with everyone who is
born of the Spirit.’

Nicodemus said to him,
‘How can these things be?’
Jesus answered him, ‘Are
you a teacher of Israel, and
yet you do not understand
these things?

Teacher, we know that you are a
teacher ...

Are you a teacher ... and yet you
do not understand?

Wind ... a mystery beyond
understanding: you do not
know ...

In Complexity, the
word
sorry
introduces us to the
practice of regret.

Personal sin
(Psalm 32)
&
Social sin
(Nehemiah 9)

Seeking
forgiveness and
seeking salvation/
liberation

The simple word
help!
is about expansion,
reaching out for
strength beyond our
own.

Asking for the
removal of stress -

or the increase of
strength and
character?

Philippians 4:6
Translating anxiety
into requests ...
Naming our need,
Directing it to God.

Next comes
please,
the practice of
compassion.

Responding to the
pain, grief, and
suffering of
others ...

Not ignoring, distancing,
blaming,
explaining ...

but feeling with -
with those in pain and
with God.

Joining our compassion
with God’s greater
compassion.

“Holding them up to the
Light.”

Some of us never leave
Stage 2. Others move on to
Stage 3,

Perplexity.

[Jesus] had to go through
Samaria. So he came to a
Samaritan city called Sychar,
near the plot of ground that
Jacob had given to his son
Joseph. Jacob’s well was there,
and Jesus, tired out by his
journey, was sitting by the well.
It was about noon.

A Samaritan woman came to draw
water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give
me a drink’. (His disciples had
gone to the city to buy food.) The
Samaritan woman said to him,
‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a
drink of me, a woman of
Samaria?’ (Jews do not share
things in common with
Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the
gift of God, and who it is that is
saying to you, “Give me a drink”, you
would have asked him, and he would
have given you living water.’ The
woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have no
bucket, and the well is deep. Where
do you get that living water? Are you
greater than our ancestor Jacob, who
gave us the well, and with his sons
and his flocks drank from it?’

Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who
drinks of this water will be thirsty
again, but those who drink of the
water that I will give them will never
be thirsty. The water that I will give
will become in them a spring of
water gushing up to eternal life.’ The
woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this
water, so that I may never be thirsty
or have to keep coming here to draw
water.’

Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your
husband, and come back.’ The
woman answered him, ‘I have no
husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are
right in saying, “I have no husband”;
for you have had five husbands, and
the one you have now is not your
husband. What you have said is
true!’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I
see that you are a prophet.

Our ancestors worshipped on this
mountain, but you say that the place
where people must worship is in
Jerusalem.’ Jesus said to her,
‘Woman, believe me, the hour is
coming when you will worship the
Father neither on this mountain nor
in Jerusalem....

But the hour is coming, and is now
here, when the true worshippers will
worship the Father in spirit and
truth, for the Father seeks such as
these to worship him. God is spirit,
and those who worship him must
worship in spirit and truth.’

mountains ...

and fountains

destroyed temple -

tragedy or
opportunity?

Perplexity begins
wtih the simple
question,
when?

What happens when

we wait and wait and
wait

and no help comes?

We enter into rage or
refusal, conveyed in
the simple word
no!

Your no is a refusal
to give up ...
and a refusal to be
satisfied with an
unacceptable
situation.

Stage 3 culminates
in
why?
- the practice of
lament.

Beyond refusal.
why?

Not a demand for an
explanation ...
But an acknowledgment of
unknowing.

Acceptance with hope...

Why?
Why does it have to
be this way?

sometimes uninvited
guests bring
unexpected gifts.

simplicity
complexity
perplexity
harmony

Beyond Simplicity,
Complexity, and Perplexity,
we enter Stage 4,
Harmony.

We enter this stage
through the practice
of meditation:
behold.

Non-dual seeing.
Seeing what’s there.
be-ing
hold-ing

Then comes the
simple word for
joining or
surrendering:
yes.

Not my will, but
your will be done.
No ... Yes.

Finally comes the practice
of contemplation, of
simply and silently being
with, for which there is no
word -
only the gentle sound of
your own heartbeat and
breath...

God
and I have become
like two giant fat people living
in a tiny
boat.
We
keep bumping into
each other
and laughing

(the Persian poet Haﬁz)

here, thanks, o!
sorry, thanks, please
when? no! why?
behold, yes, ...

Joy to the world! the
Lord is come. Let earth
receive her king!
Let every heart prepare
him room.
And heaven and nature
sing ...

With Kindness
From “Songs For a Revolution of Hope, Vol. 1: everything must change.”
Words and music by Brian McLaren.
2007, Brian McLaren. Publishing, Revolution of Hope Music Group SESAC 2007.
All rights reserved. Registered with CCLI.

Christ has no body here but ours.
No hands, no feet, here on earth
but ours.
Ours are the eyes though which
he looks
On this world
With Kindness

Ours are the hands through which
he works.
Ours are the feet on which he
moves.
Ours are the voices through
which he speaks
To this world
With Kindness.

Through our touch, our
smile, our listening ear,
Embodied in us, Jesus is
living here.
Let us go now
Filled with the Spirit
Into this world
With Kindness

Homiletics 2

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