How do you reconcile faith in a good God with a world where life is undone by death, joy by sorrow, and health by illness? This sermon moves from Greek philosophy and deism, through Nietzsche’s desperate sentence, to Paul’s hymn about Christ as the image of the invisible God and the firstborn from the dead (Colossians 1). God’s will, it turns out, is not the instant erasure of what is broken but a bridge joining heaven and earth, a bridge whose visible sign today is the church. Listen if the words ‘your will be done’ have grown harder for you to pray.
Your Will Be Done, on Earth as in Heaven
On Earth as It Is in Heaven
Does our conversation with God make a difference? As we listen to the prayer known as the “Our Father,” we discover that it changes our perspective on the world and helps us bring together in our lives what should be brought together. As we repeat the words of this prayer, we begin by talking with God about God and about our relationship. In the second part, we talk with God about ourselves and our relationships with others. And the purpose of this entire conversation is to bring these two worlds together-what is in heaven with what is on earth. That is what talking with God is all about.
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15 sermons
