Sun. July 13, 2014 (Dr. Shirley Showalter)

Dr. Shirley Showalter (no relation to your Coordinator of Ushers and Food Group Leader) spoke to us of memoirs, both her own and of ours (written and yet-to-be-written) from Psalm 19 in a message entitled I Love to Tell the Story: Where Authority and Authorship Converge.    Paying attention is crucial, Shirley said, when one encounters those special spiritual experiences we sometimes get.  Welcome to mystery, she said, for when mysticism enters our spiritual life, our reason and argument are inadequate to process them.  Atheist Barbara Ehrenreich, in describing her mystical experiences, resonated with Shirley’s own experiences since childhood in ‘hearing the heavens pour forth speech’ in music and beauty.  God invites us to experience creation thorough his authority, and with experiences he gives to us, gives us permission to enter into these worlds again and again.  These mystical experiences imprint themselves on our memory and carry through our lives to give us valuable and alternative points of view when we live the ordinariness of life.  When writing ones own memoir, the crucial factor is to listen to the mystical voice speaking in the story, just as the painter sketches first what he wishes to paint, and then frees his art from the sketch to give us an impression of life and movement far greater than the sketch.  The memoir also frames other people’s stories, and provides access for them to bring the mystical to life in their own lives, allowing God to pour forth speech into their lives.     [AP].

Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday, July 13th, 2014 using your browser's preferred media player.