A sacrament is what we call it when physical things take on spiritual meaning. When Mary said, "May it be unto me according to your word," her life as she knew it was over, and yet because of that decision, that yielding, that consenting to the Lord's plan, her life became a sacrament. Her physical life took on great spiritual meaning and purpose. Part of what Mary teaches us is that we’ve all been created with this same potential. Your physical life can take on great spiritual significance if, when God comes to you and asks you to relinquish control, you offer your consent just as Mary did. We all have a part to play in the story of God.
Read MoreThe colossal misunderstanding of our time is the assumption that insight will work with people who are unmotivated to change." - Edwin Friedman. That that people really can change is an essential Christian belief. However, change rarely happens in response to information or argument. People are motivated to change by relationship. In the calculus of the Kingdom of God, acts of compassion & brotherly love hold more power than doctrinal acumen or religious piety. That's the message of John the Baptist in today's passage.
Read MoreOver the course of thousands of years God called a people out of the nations, and formed them in his own image. Part of how God did this was that anytime his people encountered the natural pains of life, God walked with them so that the pain of life wouldn’t wreck them, but would make them stronger, more faithful, more beautiful, and ultimately more able to bear the image of God to the surrounding world. This seems to be what Malachi has in mind in our passage for today.
Read More