"Finally, I suspect that it is by entering that deep place inside us where our secrets are kept that we come perhaps closer than we do anywhere else to the One who, whether we realize it or not, is of all our secrets the most telling and the most precious we have to tell." Frederick Buechner
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Elizabeth Gilbert on Doubting Thomas
Okay, so Elizabeth Gilbert, author of "Eat, Pray, Love", is not preaching on Doubting Thomas, but she might as well be.
She muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses - from ourselves, actually - and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person "being" a genius, all of us "have" a genius.
It's a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk.
One of the best sermons on Doubting - and Believing - no matter your name.
Because, for me, doubting is an integral part of the creative process. And, what the church - indeed, the world! - needs more of is creativity and imagination.
So, sit back for the next 18 minutes or so and give a listen. I'm betting this is going to be the best "Low Sunday" sermon you're going to hear today.
As Gilbert would have us say, "Olé!" - none the less.
5 comments:
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(With thanks to Sojourners)
I'm on!
ReplyDeleteI saw that recently... Excellent.
ReplyDeleteHow can there be faith without doubt? Faith cannot exist without it.
Ideology alone - that is a stick wielded by many under the misnomer of "faith."
Faith is dynamic, alive and organic - fed by doubt that does not stop at its own doorway.
Oh, Elizabeth, thank you for sharing that. For me, the process is crafting sermons. There are times when I "show up" and write and write and rewrite and back up and try again, and it is a struggle to wring any meaning out of the text. And there are other times when the "genius" comes blasting through me and picks me up and shakes a sermon out of me. Once it happened as I sat down to eat lunch in a restaurant. The "genius" came and all I could do was write. And the sermon came, complete and whole and ready to preach.
ReplyDeleteYou got it RevMama.
ReplyDeleteI saw this last year, and you know, I'm glad I got to see it again today. I needed a does of that!
ReplyDelete