Celtic Odyssey

Matthew 2.9-12; CEB. When [the magi] heard [Herod] the king, they went; and look, the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stood over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy. They entered the house and saw the child with Mary his mother. Falling to their knees, they honored him. Then they opened their treasure chests and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Because they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country by another route. This passage was part of my reading this morning. I have seen things today that I hadn’t noticed before. Let me share with you what I saw. First, this is a very well known story; that of the Magi. We sing their song every Christmas. They’re in every nativity play and scene during the holy day holiday season. The importance of this is that the Magi were not Jews. More about this in a moment. Second, notice that “the star they had see...

9. In the Lindisfarne Community gender, sexual orientation, age, race or class are not barriers to service and function. We believe that both men and women may be called by God to the offices of bishop, priest and deacon. In God’s sight we are all equal. In the story of the garden, God gave to Adam and Eve an equal dignity, an equal calling, an equal responsibility and an equal blessing. Yet, at the same time we are called to radical subordination, preferring the other above our self. In this we seek to allow the Spirit to dig deep into our unconscious to remove hidden prejudices; that our attitudes, speech, and actions may be free of discrimination. Equality has been an issue in the church for such a long time. And it’s sad. Of all places that people should be treated as equals, it should be in communities who follow Christ. However, as we are all too aware, it seems that those communities are the last place where equality is seen. Even today, we have some communities that are sti...

Thank you, Sara for inviting me to speak this morning. And thank you all for having me. I’ve actually been here a few times before and really enjoyed it. I’d like to start off by telling you about a dream I once had. I used to live in Chickasha and we had a small but prominent Mennonite community there. The men can be identified by their attire and their...beardiness. In my dream, I’m standing in a farmhouse with a Mennonite man. We’re looking out a window into a field. I turn to him because we’re having a conversation yet there’s no sound. When I look back out the window, I see a huge tornado coming right at us. There’s no way out. When I turn to my companion, he has transformed into a monster. I woke up. I told a friend of mine about my dream. She said that it was obvious enough to her what it meant. The Mennonite man represented the church. I represented a challenge to the church. The storm and the monster represented the trouble that would come from both outside and inside the chur...