![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/429\/2018\/09\/woman-1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nThe following is a sermon I preached at\u00a0Clackamas United Church of Christ<\/a>, near Portland, Oregon.\u00a0 The scripture text was Deuteronomy 4:1-2; 6-9<\/a> and Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23<\/a>. You can read the sermon or watch the video below.<\/em><\/p>\n One of my spiritual teachers is a woman named Krista Tippett. She\u2019s an author and she has a public radio show where she interviews people, often on spiritual matters. I\u2019ve never met Krista, but I consider her a great teacher. Anyone else follow Krista Tippett?<\/p>\n Well, she wrote a book called Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living<\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0And I gotta say, that\u2019s a pretty pretentious title. I mean, if pretty much anyone else wrote a book with that title, I would accuse the author of some serious arrogance. But my dear, sweet teacher Krista Tippett is not pretentious or arrogant.<\/p>\n Rather, she is a compassionate and brilliant storyteller. If you\u2019ve ever watched or listened to her show, \u201cOn Being<\/a>\u201d you know that she conducts a great interview. But recently on her show, she began to respond to listener questions. The very first question she responded to was the question I\u2019ve been asking myself for about the last two year. The question was this, \u201cHow can we stay present to what\u2019s happening in the world without giving in to despair and hopelessness?\u201d<\/p>\n Have any of\u00a0you asked that question recently?<\/p>\n