Faith in Progress

Epiphany 4, Year C Jeremiah 1:4-10 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.”   I’ve always loved these words from Jeremiah and the idea of being so completely and utterly known by God, so chosen and called by God. Remember in the first Harry Potter book and movie when clueless Harry is invited to be a student at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?  He receives a letter and when his aunt and uncle try to hide it from him, replica invitations start coming in — under the door, through the windows, through cracks in the walls — until they are swirling around Harry like a tornado too insistent and obvious to miss?  That was Harry’s call to something beyond himself; the beginning of a whole new way of life. God’s invitation to Jeremiah is super-clear this morning too.  Words straight from God; Jeremiah is even touched by God.  There is no doubt that God has a plan for Jeremiah, and God is confident Jeremiah

Epiphany 1 Isaiah 43:1-7 and Luke 3   My family watched The Force Awakens on the IMAX screen at the Air and Space Museum over Christmas.   ( Don’t worry - no spoilers for the new movie, in case you haven’t seen it yet. )   But before we saw the new one, we prepared the kids by watching the original three movies.   These are of course now numbered 4,5, and 6, just to confuse the older generations. I’d seen the originals only once before, in high school, when my friend Eric was aghast that I had missed that very important part of culture and sat me down to watch all of the movies that then existed in one fell swoop. I’m not sure I thought much about it then, but as I watched the movies again recently, I kept thinking of all the great sermon fodder.  There is so much theology in these movies.  The hero’s journey.  Good and evil, darkness and light.  Fall and redemption.   And there is so much of the Christian story in particular.  Self-giving love even to the point o