Ian Reed Twiss public
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Wouldn't it be nice to have the perfect argument that silences those we oppose?Of course, when you think about it, the argument that leaves people gasping for words is really a thing of fantasy. In any dispute there is always a comeback. In fact, the notion that argument alone can sway somebody is sort of a dream in general. With most people, by th…
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If the day of judgment makes sense to you, that’s totally cool. But I’ve always had trouble with this idea that there will come some moment in the future when we who were faithful in life will spring from our graves and occupy a new earth with Jesus and God and all the saints. It seems a bit literalistic—like one more among many ideas and tradition…
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The promise of All Saints' day, captured in the John O’Donohue poem we read, is that those we've loved are here in some metaphysical way as well--a cloud of saints who have entered into joy, watching and praying for us on our own way there. I always think of the "cloud of witnesses" passage in Hebrews 12, which is oddly never assigned on All Saints…
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It’s such a paradox to discover that your place in the world is so small, and that God is so immense, and yet to find this discovery strangely invigorating and joyful. It reminded me of a time soon after my own conversion experience, when I was so abundantly happy. The world seemed to be opening up to me in new ways, and I was full of energy and ze…
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If we listen carefully, if we pay close attention, the animals who accompany us in our lives have much to teach us about what God wants for us: An open, loving approach to the world. An ability to live in the present moment and let God provide. The utter rightness and wholeness of being in relationship. Healing. Faithfulness. How to be the people o…
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Imagine this: you are driving through an upscale neighborhood somewhere--you know, the kind of place with velvety lawns sweeping back to multi-story homes, gleaming front doors kissed by circular drives, birdsong and weed-whackers humming in the golden air. As you pass this neighborhood's well-kept, Episcopal church--slate roofed and sprouting eleg…
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What is it about the cross--what is it about this shameful, traumatic execution--that we call holy? Maybe it's that "when we face and name our shame it no longer has power over us. Because the lowest moment in our story, like the lowest moment in Jesus’ story, can actually become the moment that most deeply connects us to one another, a door that o…
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This sermon invites us to consider that it is better to know ourselves, and count whether doing something will be too hard for us, than to go rushing into something because "it seems like the right thing to do." "Let's take forgiveness, for example. Parishioners in the course of my career have admitted to me privately that they were struggling to f…
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Part of Hebrews' point, expressed in the phrase let us run the race that is set before us, is that each of us has a different race set before us. Some have better weather and fewer hills and injuries than others. Some have faster bodies and some have more endurance. Who can say why? It's one of the great mysteries of life, that some die young, that…
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