When the Sermon Preaches You
“Maria Magdalena” and “Maria” by Svetlana Tartakovska
I’ve realized over time that I’m usually the one who most needs to hear my sermons.
The funny thing is, I don’t remember this until I’m literally in a pulpit halfway through the message I think you need to hear. If you watch carefully, you’ll always see a little moment when I realize mid-sentence that this one is for me.
A minister clued me into this long ago when I was a bit panicked mid-week about what to preach on. He said, “Just preach the thing you most need to hear this week.” It’s great advice and usually keeps the sermons clear and powerful.
But even knowing that, and sharing that advice with others, I often still preach something that I think I’ve mastered and figured out and just, like, need a little reminder on.
Nevertheless, I always seem to have amnesia on that point and forget it by Sunday morning worship time.
The wonderful thing about Spirit is that She doesn’t mind how many times I forget Her teachings. She always lovingly reopens them for me as often as I need.
This exact thing has happened with the Advent course I’m currently teaching; Mary, Mother of Light. I had this idea that I was going to share this really interesting apocryphal gospel from an intellectual perspective. I’m such a nerd that I rarely consider that teachings can also come from the heart .
I think that wisdom is all about information, data, and knowledge. I mean, I’m kind of obsessed with collecting weird facts and figures and storing them for some unknown future use behind my big forehead.
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But this Mary course has done for me exactly what I said it would do for you, the students who enrolled.
It’s opened my heart and brought the incredible fierce softness of the Eternal Holy Mother into my life, my relationships, and yes, my teachings.
It’s obvious once I see it, but it’s exactly what I needed after this year. For me, 2025 has been a year of bracing, hardening, armoring up, and walling off from the onslaught of just pure horror being poured out on this planet by truly evil forces and the people infected with them.
But the thing I actually need to maintain my humanity and feed my courage to keep loving this world is that holy softness of Mary. And as I’ve learned in my own course, her softness comes not from a peasant girl’s naive humility, but from the power and discipline required to devote oneself fully to the presence of God.
She is fiercely soft and tender because she opens her being to incarnate Spirit itself.
For those of you in the Catholic and some indigenous traditions we just celebrated the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe where pilgrims walk or even crawl for miles in devotion to this woman.
I had a sweet prayer ceremony the night of December 11th for Guadalupe where I spent hours in front of an altar filled with roses and votives of Guadalupe’s image.
As I watched the candles burn and the roses bloom on Her altar I felt my heart melt into the very teachings I had offered over the previous two weeks. Then I felt it open in anticipation of the luminous teachings to come.
The Vision of St. John on Patmos (The Woman Clothed in the Sun) by Giovanni Gasparro
All of this to say that if you’re in need of melting and softness, it’s not too late to join the course.
Lots of students have been writing to me to apologize that they’re behind with the material. Beloved friends, it’s material worth savoring and going slow with.
For those of you still interested in the course, it will be just as important to stay soft in January, February, and all of 2026 as it is during Advent of this year.
And whether or not I see you in the course, may you find something this season that softens the hardness of the year and opens your heart to the Mother in the sky and beneath our feet. She’s all around us at every moment.
Many blessings to you, tender children of God.
Cindy
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This course is designed for seekers of all paths who long to make the journey from the head to the heart within the Christian story and to explore how Mary’s tender power mirrors our own. We’ll trace her journey from conception to birth, from temple to threshold, uncovering layers of hidden symbolism that speak directly to the modern soul.
Whether you come from a background of faith, curiosity, or creative spirituality, you’ll find in this course a living gospel — one that invites you to awaken the same light of consciousness that Mary carried into the world.
LIFETIME ACCESS FOR WHENVER YOU NEED A SOFT HEART: $129 (INCLUDES 30-MIN SESH W/ REV. CINDY )
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