mini sermon for the week

The lectionary selected
Zacchaeus...
the man of
"small stature"
who climbed a tree
to see.

The wee little
man was he.

And here are some
thoughts about
the "little"
parts in us.

Macrina
Wiederkerh
writes:

What God most longs
to discover in us
is our willingness
to embrace
ourselves as we are
at our beginning - empty, little,
and poor.

Our willingness gives God free space....
Acceptance of our littleness makes
us possible for our greatness
to emerge.

Our greatness,
however,
is a choice.

When we choose to accept
the life God has given to us,
when we allow God
to fill our emptiness,
we are choosing greatness.

And here's what God
aches for us to know
in Hosea 11.

I myself taught Ephraim to walk,
I held them in my arms,
but they did not know
that I was caring for them,
that I was leading them with human ties,
with strings of love....
I was like someone
lifting an infant....

How could I part with you?
How could I give you up?