Colourful Dreamer

This sermon can be listened to here   Gate Pa – Year A   - 22 nd   Sunday of Ordinary Time - 2020 Readings: Psalm                          Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26,44                                             First Reading:               Exodus 3:1-15                      Second Reading:        Romans 12:9-21                  Gospel:                         Matthew 16:21-28  What I want to say: Us our passages to explore what we are liberated from and what we might be liberated into What I want to happen: People to reflect on What we mean by naming Jesus our liberator? What are we being liberated from? How are we liberated? What are we being liberated into? The Sermon        1.      Introduction: For most of this year we have ended the prayer for the day “Through Jesus Christ our Liberator” What we mean by naming Jesus our liberator? What are we being liberated from? How are we liberated? What are we being liberated into? Use those questions

For most of this year, we have finished our prayer for the day by praying “ Through Jesus Christ our Liberator, who is alive and reigns with you ….” And I wonder what we understand by that. What is it we are being liberated from, especially during these unusual times of pandemic? And what are we being liberated into? Our readings for the 22 nd Sunday in Ordinary Time: Exodus 3:1-15, Romans 12:9-21, and       Matthew 16:21-28 are about liberation. They sit in conversation with each other, and all that lies behind Peter’s exchange with Jesus. When Peter names Jesus as the Anointed one, or liberator, the kind of liberation he was looking for was not what Jesus was offering. He’d missed this conversation. I suspect the same is true for me at times. I wonder if the late Maya Angelou was closer to what Jesus was trying to teach through his life and ministry [1] : “I am grateful to have been loved and to be able to love, because that liberates. Love liberates. It doesn’t just hold -- t