Hello dear ones–this is a personal sermon I gave this weekend as our congregation worked with our monthly theme of acceptance. A challenging practice but not without rewards…. The title, by the way, comes from a line from Libby Roderick’s beautiful song “How Could Anyone Ever Tell You,” which our congregation sang each week this month.
Peace,
Rev. Laura
***
The Zen Buddhists have a tradition of meditating on spiritual puzzles
they call koans.
A koan is sort of a riddle, sort of a story,
a puzzle that you have to sit with for a very long time
before it reveals itself to you completely.
I’ve often thought some artworks are like that too.
I’m so grateful to Mark for playing that nocturne[1] for us today.
It’s a piece I have been living with for a long time
and, in a way, it is the sermon for today.
What I mean by that is, this piece has held for me
a lot of complicated and tender emotions
around acceptance and surrender in my own life.
It has held out for me the promise that we can get through
the very dark times,
the times when everything feels messed up and wrong—
we can get through it and come out on the other side
and rediscover our joy in life. Continue reading
