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On the Mount of Transfiguration eternity broke into time, and Peter, James, and John saw in their present what we would call the future—they saw the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. Also, Moses and Elijah, who in the distant past had left this world, also experienced the Second Coming in what they would call their present.

Render unto Caesar his silver coin when he wants it back in the form of taxes. But never render your sacred soul unto Caesar. Your soul is reserved for bearing the divine image of Christ, not the beastly image of Caesar. Jesus Christ is the icon of God, and we are called to become icons of Christ.

When the multitude wanted to make him king Put a crown upon his head Why did he slip away to a quiet place instead? –Bob Dylan, “In the Garden”

Paul's great yearning is to know Christ. Of course, Paul knows Christ. He met him on the Damascus Road. He preached him for thirty years. But the holy yearning remains. To know Christ is to know the infinite God, and so the yearning is infinite.

What does the story of Absalom have to do with Jesus and the cross? In this sermon we explore the striking parallels between two sons of David who reveal two radically different ways of becoming king. Discover how humility, self-giving love, and obedience bring a kingdom unlike any kingdom of this world.

What happens when we receive God’s mercy but struggle to extend that same mercy to others? The story of Jonah shows how easily disappointment and bitterness can keep us stuck in our own perspective. But the mercy of God meets us in the belly of the whale and invites us to lay down our bitterness and become the embodiment of the mercy of God to others.

No Man Is an Island  No man is an island, Entire of itself; Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. Any man’s death diminishes me, Because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee. –John Donne (1571–1631), English poet and priest

"Love alone is credible; nothing else can be believed, and nothing else ought to be believed." –Hans Urs von Balthasar

COEXIST (I Will Bless The Lord At All Times?) U2 "Am I the best or the worst or the worst of the best?" she sang Ice cream smile wide as a mile back then "Say a nice prayer, be a good girl, finger on my lips" When she returned her lipstick had learned how not to kiss I can't fix her, can only love her Can't keep her pocket full I can't keep her face in smiles Someone's stolen what was beautiful I can't sing her home to me in rhymes But I will bless the Lord at all times Bless the Lord at all times I will bless the Lord at all times I will bless I will bless the Lord at all times I will bless the Lord I will bless the Lord at all times Every night we hope and pray for a new day to rise Every morning when the sun shows up it's still a surprise Any child is every child in any mother's eyes I will bless the Lord I will bless the Lord at all times I will bless the Lord at all times I will bless the Lord I will bless the Lord at all times That child you hear has been crying for years in the wilderness A child without armour had no hatred to harbour, only loveliness The driver of the ambulance unpacks his shirt pressed and neat To honour the hurt and the hungry he will later greet There's not so much road left here and no road signs Drones hover without any consciousness over war crimes I will bless the Lord at all times? The tide is rising, all ships are sinking New poets must despise all old ways of thinking Whoever made language must've been drinking Twenty-six characters own all the ink and printing I got so many words in my head but I can't find the lines I will bless the Lord at all times Changes, these changes Will rain on this parade Changes, these changes I am not afraid No one there to write it down But when the prophet came around Said "I've a stranger with me In the fight none can compare But food and shelter we share Beloved community" Every night we hope and pray for a new day to rise Every morning when the sun shows up, it's still a surprise Any child is every child in any mother's eyes I will bless the Lord I will bless the Lord at all times I will bless the Lord at all times I will bless the Lord I will bless the Lord at all times Changes, these changes Will rain on this parade Changes, these changes I am not afraid The pages that enrage us She tears them from the book "Save us, save us" sings the girl of Guadalupe

Kansas City The New Basement Tapes I listen to you time and time again While you tell me just what's right And you tell me a thousand things a day Then sleep somewhere's else in the night I'm going back to Kansas City And I love you dear, but just how long Can I keep singing the same old song And I love you dear, but just how long Can I keep singing the same old song I'm going back to Kansas City And you called me to come, then I do Then you say you've made some mistake You invite me into your house Then you say gotta to pay for what you break Going back to Kansas City And I love you dear, but just how long Can I keep singing the same old song And I love you dear, but just how long Can I keep singing the same old song I'm going back to Kansas City Gypsy woman, you know every place I go Even a thousand miles away from home And you don't care if I'm asleep or I'm awake This fickle heart just turned to stone Going back to Kansas City And I love you dear, but just how long Can I keep singing the same old song And I love you dear, but just how long Can I keep singing the same old song I'm going back to Kansas City And I love you dear, but just how long Can I keep singing the same old song And I love you dear, but just how long Can I keep singing the same old song I'm going back to Kansas City

Into The Mystic Van Morrison We were born before the wind Also, younger than the sun 'Ere the bonnie boat was won As we sailed into the mystic Hark now, hear the sailors cry Smell the sea and feel the sky Let your soul and spirit fly Into the mystic Yeah, when that fog horn blows I will be coming home Yeah, when that fog horn blows I wanna hear it I don't have to fear it And I wanna rock your gypsy soul Just like way back in the days of old Then magnificently we will float Into the mystic When that fog horn blows You know I will be coming home Yeah, when that fog horn whistle blows I gotta hear it I don't have to fear it And I wanna rock your gypsy soul Just like way back in the days of old And together we will float Into the mystic

Thrasher Neil Young They were hiding behind hay bales They were planting in the full moon They had given all they had for something new But the light of day was on them They could see the thrashers coming And the water shone like diamonds in the dew And I was just getting up, hit the road before it's light Trying to catch an hour on the sun When I saw those thrashers rolling by Looking more than two lanes wide I was feelin' like my day had just begun Where the eagle glides, descending There's an ancient river bending Through the timeless gorge of changes Where sleeplessness awaits I searched out my companions Who were lost in crystal canyons When the aimless blade of science Slashed the pearly gates It was then that I knew I'd had enough Burned my credit card for fuel Headed out to where the pavement turns to sand With a one way ticket to the land of truth And my suitcase in my hand How I lost my friends, I still don't understand They had the best selection They were poisoned with protection There was nothing that they needed Nothing left to find They were lost in rock formations Or became park bench mutations On the sidewalks and in the stations They were waiting, waiting So I got bored and left them there They were just dead weight to me Better down the road without that load Brings back the time when I was eight or nine I was watchin' my mama's TV It was that great Grand Canyon rescue episode Where the vulture glides, descending On an asphalt highway bending Through libraries and museums, galaxies and stars Down the windy halls of friendship To the rose clipped by the bullwhip The motel of lost companions Waits with heated pool and bar But me I'm not stopping there Got my own row left to hoe Just another line in the field of time When the thrasher comes, I'll be stuck in the sun Like the dinosaurs in shrines But I'll know the time has come To give what's mine

I'm A Song Stephen Wilson Jr. I'm the showman in San Antonio Middle of the rodeo Daddy's hand that you used to hold When you'd walk back to the car I'm the sound of the county fair Ferris wheel kisses high up in the air A sip of brandy when your soul is bare And you need to share your heart I'm the words that'll hit you That'll get you where you're going So you never go there alone I'm the melody glued to the memory That you can't shake when it comes on I'm the part of you that you listen to Riding in the radio all night long I'm a song I'm a song I was there the day you learned to drive The first time that you got high I even helped you realize that she wasn't right for you You fall down, I pick you up again I helped a boy become a man When your best friend died I helped you cry and finally turn him loose I'm the words that'll hit you That'll get you where you're going So you never go there alone I'm the melody glued to the memory That you can't shake when it comes on I'm the part of you that you listen to Riding in the radio all night long I'm a song I'm a song I'm a song I'm the part of you that you listen to Riding in the radio all night long I'm the words that'll hit you That'll get you where you're going So you never go there alone I'm the melody glued to the memory That you can't shake when it comes on I'm the part of you that you listen to Riding in the radio all night long I'm a song...

As we travel the paths of unseen existences in our long pilgrimage through life, we do so in the company of angels.

"Every one of us is shadowed by an illusory person: a false self. This is the man that I want myself to be but who cannot exist, because God does not know anything about him. And to be unknown of God is altogether too much privacy. My false self is the one who wants to exist outside the reach of God’s will and God’s love—outside of reality and outside of life. And such a self cannot help but be an illusion." –Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation