Here are the resolutions I made in last weekend’s sermon on John 1, Resolutions for a New Year.
- To be about life; to awaken not only our bodies and minds but also our spirits; to live intentionally, joyfully, hopefully, gracefully.
- To live in community, to listen carefully, to touch and be touched by the heartfelt needs of others in order to see the true light that is coming into the world.
- To turn orthodoxy (right belief and praise) into orthopraxy (right living and practices); talk into walk; believes into beloves; head-thoughts into heart-actions; sentimentality into self-giving Love.
At the end of the service I prefaced the benediction with the well-loved poetry of Howard Thurman:
When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the [Wise Men] are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers [and sisters],
To make music in the heart.
Now, on to the worship that is our very lives.
~ Joe Phelps