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  • Tags: temptation

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pittspublic/thurman/pdf/394-022_A.pdf
In this sermon, Thurman discusses the strangeness associated with following Jesus and taking up the life of ministry. The strangeness of this act is that one must leave the known for the unknown, convert family into strangers, and assume a spiritual orientation to a material world. When Jesus opted not to turn stones into bread he must have done so, Thurman muses, knowing that while humans do not live by bread, alone, they do live by bread. While the time men and women spend on earth is a time…

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pittspublic/thurman/pdf/394-022_B.pdf
In the second temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, Thurman explains why Jesus resisted making himself an exception to the rule of the natural order. The tempter’s efforts to convince Jesus to operate beyond the logic of physical reality was an effort to get him to be less human. Jesus did not act outside of life so that he could speak to human life, Thurman notes. No one can do as one pleases or “disregard the structure of dependability that holds life in focus.” Trusting God rather than…

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pittspublic/thurman/pdf/394-023_A.pdf
In his third sermon regarding Jesus and the tempter, Thurman discusses the dilemma one faces when deciding whether personal ascent to power will compromise one's spiritual integrity. It is possible, Thurman says, that Jesus considered how ruling over the kingdoms of the world might position him to further the aims of God’s kingdom. Perhaps Jesus contemplated the potential of his teaching, healing, and miracle-working power backed by political authority. However, Thurman warns that “the nerve…

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pittspublic/thurman/pdf/394-023_B.pdf
Thurman’s fourth sermon in this series expands the traditional frame of the wilderness temptations and portrays Jesus’ decision to go to Jerusalem for the last time as a crossroads dilemma. In this instance, Jesus must decide whether to go to Jerusalem, where he would be rejected and killed, or, to continue his ministry elsewhere and live. Thurman explains the crossroad faced by Jesus as a dilemma because this moment reflects the "agony" of any dilemma in that one must choose either between…

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pittspublic/thurman/pdf/394-024_A.pdf
In the final sermon of this series, Thurman affirms that Jesus does not struggle with the fact of death but the fact of finality swallowing all future possibilities. When Jesus asked God whether the cup before him might pass, what he possibly considered, Thurman notes, is whether more time living might be better than dying. The test of faith, Thurman says, comes when life’s agony is not relieved. In Jesus’ yielding expression, “Thy will be done,” Thurman interprets God’s ability to intervene “in…

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pittspublic/thurman/pdf/394-171_A.pdf
In this recording within the We Believe Series, Thurman reflects upon the Thanksgiving season. He lists a litany of feelings, emotions, materials, and states of being that he is thankful for: air to breath, food to eat, shelter, love, etc. He then discerns the way in which humanity may overlook many of the things that humanity should be grateful for: the ability to have food, all that dies in order for us to live, etc. He then concludes this meditation by discerning the ways in which one could…

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pittspublic/thurman/pdf/394-190_B.pdf
This recording is a part of a wider series of conversations from September to October of 1980 where Howard Thurman met with a variety of young men and women who were discerning their calling to ministry. Thurman poses the intent of this group as an opportunity to "open up for one's self the moving, vital, creative push of God, while God is still disguised in the movement of God's self." The majority of this recording is a group of young people working through the nature of temptation, and Jesus'…

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pittspublic/thurman/pdf/394-360_A.pdf
This recording is a part of a wider series of conversations from September to October of 1980 where Howard Thurman met with a variety of young men and women who were discerning their calling to ministry. Thurman poses the intent of this group as an opportunity to "open up for one's self the moving, vital, creative push of God, while God is still disguised in the movement of God's self." This recording opens with one student's reflection on the inner life, which is followed by a discussion on…

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pittspublic/thurman/pdf/394-780.pdf
In this recording within the We Believe Series, Thurman reflects upon the Thanksgiving season. He lists a litany of feelings, emotions, materials, and states of being that he is thankful for: air to breath, food to eat, shelter, love, etc. He then discerns the way in which humanity may overlook many of the things that humanity should be grateful for, and suggests that Thanksgiving should be approached as a sacrament which points one towards humility and gratitude.

In this recording within…
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