Tag Archives: Richard A. Wing

LONGING ON TIPTOES

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Isaiah 11: 1-4a, 5-7, 9-10; Matthew 24: 26-44

A Sermon by Dr. Richard A. Wing, Co-Pastor, December 1, 2019

INTRODUCTION: The Bible is about people longing for a future better than the present moment – Why? —because, with few exceptions in the Bible,  the present was the pits!  In Isaiah there is LONGING for a Peaceable Kingdom. “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion . . . . . and a little child shall lead them.  ”Someone said:  “The wolf shall lie down with the lamb but the Lamb won’t get much sleep”  Our New Testament text has Jesus talking to people who are LONGING for better times. Jesus is telling of the in-breaking of God JESUS DOES NOT mean that the world as you know it will stop/explode/evaporate. HE MEANS, WE ARE ABOUT TO SEE THE END OF THE WAY THE PRESENT WORLD DOES BUSINESS! AND THE NEW ORDER WILL BE MORE JUST, MORE LOVING, AND MORE KIND.  I observe two things as we think about such in breaking moments.

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THE THREE MOVEMENTS OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

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PART 2 – FROM HOSTILITY TO HOSPITALITY – Luke 24: 28-35

A Sermon by Dr. Richard A. Wing, Co-Pastor, October 13, 2019

INTRODUCTION: I suggest that we are never so ARROGANT as to think we can find God. However, there are places we can go Where God can find us.

Thomas Merton said: GOD COMES TO US

  • In scripture
  • Inside ourselves
  • In the stranger

The biblical word proclaims: when hostility toward the stranger is translated to hospitality, God comes near. Henri Nouwen describes all of us: “In our world full of strangers, we witness a painful search for a hospitable place where life can be lived without fear and where community can be found.” If we go way back in our family history, all of us will find relatives who came to this land as strangers.  The Mayflower arrived in 1620 and just eleven years later four brothers and their mother came to the new land from Banbury Cross, England.  For a strong 15-year period, the newcomers found tremendous hospitality from the native people who had been there for 10,000 years.

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TO SEE YOURSELF AS GOD SEES YOU

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This summer I filled out 24 pages of an application in order to teach contemplation and mediation to inmates in the prison system in Florence, AZ. When announcing I was entering the prison, some of my friends rejoiced that I was finally found out! Very funny friends. Actually, they remind me that “religion without humor is deadly.” Continue reading →

THE UNTETHERED SOUL

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Notes from a sermon by Dr. Richard A. Wing, Co-Pastor

June 16, 2019

THE UNTETHERED SOUL – John 6: 56-69

We cannot learn our true purpose and meaning in life by focusing on ourselves.

The great gift of the Christian faith is that we are rescued from our self-obsession and our self-preoccupation. Michael Singer wrote in his book from which I took the sermon title, THE UNTETHERED SOUL: ”Your inner growth is completely dependent upon the realization that the only way to find peace and contentment is to STOP THINKING ABOUT YOURSELF.”

AA Members are clear that the aim of the program is to move from the mind that serves itself to the mind that serves others.The Gospel of John says, “Many of (the disciples of Jesus) turned away and no longer accompanied him.” Jesus cut through all of the fear that Peter had and said to him:  “Do you also want to leave?”

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