Sunday Sermon

I know I’m not a priest, preacher or theologian.  I haven’t been to church for years.

I’m possibly not even a Christian in the traditional sense of the word.

I don’t feel like I have a “personal relationship” with Jesus Christ and I am not really sure what that means. Nor do I feel that I have been “saved” in the way fundamentalist Christians believe.  I could not tell you the hour and the day I first believed.

But I do believe.

I believe in a lot of things that I cannot see.

I believe the world was created by a divine power. How can anyone look at the natural world and think it just happened, that it was just a random act? The mountains, lakes, oceans and forests- all the miraculous creatures that live therein-the interplay that helps each survive and thrive. My husband calls the wilderness his "church".

But I don’t believe humanity has exclusive rights to control the world for our own benefit. We may have the power, but do we have the right? I don’t believe it is our “god-given” right to destroy it just so we can all have more "stuff". 

I believe in good.  I think of my friends and the hours they devote to the homeless and rescuing stray animals and I wonder why? I think about the example set by my parents- the hours my dad spent with a lonely alcoholic, the times strangers were invited to our house because they needed a friend. Why did they do it? Why, if not for innate goodness in their hearts? And where does that goodness come from? These are things that make me believe there must be a greater force than transcends self interest. A force that is divinely inspired.

I believe in love.  I know how much my parents loved me, I know the fierce love of a mother. Where does that come from, if not divinely inspired? How can feelings so intense not be evidence of God’s love? And love doesn’t judge. It doesn’t judge who you love or what skills and intelligence or money you have or what you believe or what you have done in your past.

So here I am on a Sunday morning. Birds sputtering around the feeder. Redpolls, a magpie, a couple of blue jays, a couple of pine grosbeaks. The squirrel darting back and forth taking peanuts to his secret stash in the neighbour’s shed. Dog asleep on the couch beside me. Husband still asleep. Kids all safe and warm in their own homes. As I sit here and meditate on what I believe and how that impacts the choices I have made in my own life and the path ahead. 

And I wonder how many of you are doing the same thing?