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Showing posts from May, 2021

Sunday, May 23 - Particularly Welcome

  This sermon was preached for the Feast of Pentecost Sunday, May 23, 2021 for a joint online service for St. Andrew's, Wellesley and St. Michael's, Framingham. The texts for this sermon were:  Ezekiel 37:1-14 ,  Acts 2:1-21 ,  John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15 , and  Psalm 104:25-35, 37 . In 2008, a small self-published novel by William Young, The Shack , hit the bestseller lists in U.S. The book has caused quite a stir for its personification of the Holy Trinity as three mysterious characters the protagonist converses with and learns from throughout the novel. In particular, it was Young’s depiction of God the Father as a motherly black woman called “Papa” that stuck with me - not necessarily because of how she was illustrated but for this small conversational habit of hers. Every time the protagonist mentions anyone to Papa, God pauses, repeats their name with a smile and remarks in an off-handed way, “I’m particularly fond of him” or “I’m particularly fond of her.” When I say anyone