Sun. Sept. 6, 2009 (Ron Reed)

Oblation: that which is offered to God, the act of making a religious offering; the act of offering the Eucharistic elements to God. Last Sunday Ron Reed (from Vancouver’s Pacific Theatre) pursued the concept of oblation and artists: what do artists offer to God? Using clips from three movies Ron asked us to focus on what we saw: durable stones carefully assembled into a fragile structure; 4000 pictures of the same street corner where each was the same yet different, and the graceful beauty of wind playing with a plastic bag. Common items: stones, a street corner and a plastic bag. Jesus took wine and bread – common items – and blessed them; they continue to be offered to God in the Eucharist, they are consecrated: oblation. It is pronounced good and is blessed. Take a simple thing and look at it, pay attention to the detail and appreciate the beauty, pronounce it good and bless it. Ron said our calling is to be priests, to see priestly things in our life, to gather raw materials and to create. This is our, and the artists, calling. [HN] Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday, Sept. 6th, 2009 using your browser's preferred media player.