Some of Sharon’s Sparks

Sunday Mornings with Twitchy Women YouTube | March 8, 2021

Alone in a Crowd

Atlantic Health System YouTube | March 18, 2022

Thinking Outside of the Box: Palliative Care and Spiritual Distress

An Email Conversation with Sharon Burniston and Ruth Gais | Spring 2015

A Theology of Loss

Christian Sermons on Listening, Authenticity and Disability

I have been counseled by a few good friends that perhaps I should not include these pieces on my website as I am presenting myself as someone who is spiritually multi-lingual. I thought about that as I considered the lack of integration with other traditions in this writing that some might view as a “red flag.” I cannot deny the harmful personal experiences of many who are wary of encountering any figures that might represent an institution that continues to make them uncomfortable. As I ruminated over this decision, I decided that I can only “preach” authenticity and acceptance by modeling inclusion of all parts of myself. I not only made the decision to include these sermons, but also to leave the thoughts as they were presented when I was the Pastor of the Verona United Methodist Church in Verona, NJ 2010-12. They are based on the sacred scripture of the audience for which they were created, which is also my own home tradition.

As I re-read what I preached over ten years ago, I felt strongly that they continue to reflect the core of my current philosophical and theological understandings. I decided that I needed to include the sermons because I believe they represent basic spiritual principles that are universal. I also believe it is important for me to model for those I am working with that even though my own personal spiritual quest has become more fluid and continues to bloom in unexpected gardens, I have no need to reject any piece of myself that continues to be important and authentic.

  • Who Do You Say That You Are? Describes my approach and my emphasis on active listening as I was working with a wonderful group of individuals with a diversity of physical and developmental disabilities.

  • Holy Holes A Christian expression of a God that loves and blesses our authentic selves. God does not create our scars and divine healing is not about denying wounds.

  • Healing in the Center of the Road God does not create disability, society does by its rejection of those that are considered different. Divine healing, therefore, is often more about embracing community interdependence than medical interventions that force difference to reflect social norms.