Sermons
Free of limitations of habits (Nur’llah)
Reverend Nur’llah (Cathy) Layland — August 18, 2025 (Emerging Light Sufi Center, Lehigh Valley, PA).
Summary: Using the “false spring” feeling of garden season (and the Charlie Brown/Lucy football loop) as a metaphor, this sermon explores how we get trapped in habitual patterns and ego-desire (nafs), and how freedom comes through seeing our attachments, practicing daily self-reflection (muhasaba), and making small, disciplined choices aligned with the Divine across wisdom traditions.
Miracle (Mumtaz)
Rev. Mumtaz Kammerer — August 16, 2025 (Siraj – Universal Worship, Baltimore, PA; August 2025).
Summary: Centered on the theme of “Miracle,” this sermon surveys miracle stories across many faith traditions—from Krishna and Lord Caitanya to Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad—then turns toward “everyday miracles” (birth, plant growth, mercy, compassion) as signs of the Divine that can be noticed in ordinary life. It emphasizes that miracles strengthen faith, and that with the Divine Presence, every moment can be experienced as miraculous.
Resilience and Renewal (Nur’llah)
Reverend Nur’llah (Cathy) Layland — June 23, 2025 (Universal Worship, Emerging Light Sufi Center, Lehigh Valley, PA).
Summary: Framed by a tender story of doves returning to nest again after loss, this sermon invites listeners to embody resilience and renewal by directing their energy with hope, faith, and trust—like gardeners tending a season of abundance at the Summer Solstice. Drawing on Ziraat/co-creation imagery and poets and teachers (Sa’di, Goethe, Pir Vilayat), it asks what seeds we will plant now—within ourselves and in the world—to nurture “the best of all possibilities.”
Grace (Mumtaz)
Rev. Mumtaz Kammerer — June 8, 2025 (Siraj – Universal Worship, Baltimore, PA).
Summary: Drawing on Hazrat Inayat Khan’s teaching that divine grace is an unearned, all-sided “loving impulse” flowing from the Heart of God, this sermon invites listeners to shift from fixation on suffering to trust in grace as the true governing force of life—bringing consolation, liberation, and deeper communion with the Beloved. It closes by calling us to actualize grace through self-forgiveness, gracious action toward others, and courageous, grace-filled engagement with the world.
Hope (Mumtaz)
Rev. Mumtaz Kammerer — April 13, 2025 (Siraj – Universal Worship, Baltimore, PA).
Summary: Woven around Emily Dickinson’s “Hope is the thing with feathers,” this sermon explores hope as a resilient inner “winged” force that can lift us beyond limitation—while also urging discernment so hope doesn’t become empty wishing or vengeful intent. Drawing on scriptures and Hazrat Inayat Khan, it frames hope as essential spiritual fuel that steadies us in turbulent times and gives courage for ethical action toward a better tomorrow.
Spring 2025 (Nur’llah)
Reverend Nur’llah (Cathy) Layland — March 20, 2025 (Emerging Light Sufi Center, Lehigh Valley, PA).
Summary: Welcoming the Spring Equinox, this sermon invites listeners to attune to nature’s renewal—birdsongs, blossoms, longer light—and to celebrate Holi (including Holika Dahan as a ritual of burning away fear and affirming good over evil) as a living symbol of hope. Even amid global turmoil, it calls us to actively co-create joy and goodness through small, intentional acts, grounded in teachings and blessings from multiple traditions.
Love (Nur’llah)
Reverend Nur’llah (Cathy) Layland — February 14, 2025 (Emerging Light Sufi Center, Lehigh Valley, PA).
Summary: Centered on Hafiz’s invitation—“Show me all your news of love!”—this Valentine’s Day sermon calls listeners to practice Love with a capital L as a lived spiritual orientation: waking each day expecting love, noticing it in ordinary moments, and letting it naturally overflow as kindness, presence, and generosity that transforms the world around us. Drawing on Sufi teachings (and even the heart-opening “oxytocin” spark of beloveds and pets), it frames love as our true nature once the veils of habit and limitation fall away.
Soul, Self, Spirit (Mumtaz)
Rev. Mumtaz Kammerer — February 9, 2025 (Siraj – Universal Worship, Baltimore, PA).
Summary: Beginning with the disarming question “Who are you?”, this sermon explores how spiritual practice helps us move beyond identity rooted in name, role, body, and mind into direct awareness of Soul/Self/Spirit—the inward “eternal object of the quest” found within the heart. Drawing on Hafiz (via Ladinsky), scriptures, and Hazrat Inayat Khan, it emphasizes turning inward, releasing distractions, and living now in a lived relationship with the Beloved through prayer, meditation, and remembrance.
The World Marks Winter Solstice 2024 (Nur’llah)
Reverend Nur’llah (Cathy) Layland — December 21, 2024 (Emerging Light Sufi Center, Lehigh Valley Universal Worship).
Summary: Using the memory of Paul Winter’s Solstice concerts at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine as a doorway, this sermon explores how cultures around the world mark Winter Solstice—Yalda, Dongzhi, Inti Raymi, Soyal, Yule and more—highlighting shared themes of rebirth, light returning, purification, healing, feasting, and community. It closes by inviting personal reflection on how to honor this turning point through inner listening, simple rituals, gratitude, and service as a sacred gift.
New Year Epiphany 2024 (Nur’llah)
Reverend Nur’llah (Cathy) Layland — January 1, 2024 (Emerging Light Sufi Center, Lehigh Valley, PA).
Summary: Framing New Year’s Day through the lens of Epiphany, this sermon reflects on the Magi’s star-led pilgrimage as a call to active faith—leaving comfort, trusting divine guidance, and becoming co-creators through courageous action on an uncertain path. Woven with Hazrat Inayat Khan’s “Riding on the horse of hope” and Isaiah’s vision of radiant awakening, it invites listeners to “Arise! Shine!” and step into the new year with hope, patience, endurance, and conviction.
Interdependence Autumn 2024 (Nur’llah)
Reverend Nur’llah (Cathy) Layland — Autumn, 2024 (Emerging Light Sufi Center, Lehigh Valley Universal Worship).
Summary: A reflective meditation on forest bathing and the living interdependence of trees—through roots, fungal networks, and shared intelligence—that mirrors our own spiritual interconnectedness. In noticing the trees fully, we’re invited into presence, wonder, and a felt experience of shared holiness.
Happiness 2024 (Nur’llah)
Reverend Nur’llah (Cathy) Layland — October 13, 2024 (Emerging Light Sufi Center, Lehigh Valley, PA).
Summary: A contemplation on happiness as peace, perspective, and an inner attitude shaped by discernment, responsibility, and spiritual grounding. Through teachings from Inayat Khan and the example of Lily Ebert’s resilience, the piece invites us to “make friends with your life” and practice happiness as a sacred, shareable way of being.
Get Ready to Die 2024 (Nur’llah)
Reverend Nur’llah (Cathy) Layland — August 11, 2024 (Emerging Light Sufi Center, Lehigh Valley Universal Worship).
Summary: A spiritual reflection on preparing for death by strengthening the moral and spiritual self—through conscious choices, compassionate living, and surrender to the Divine. Drawing from multiple faith traditions and the Saum prayer, it reframes death as a threshold into freedom, unity, and peace.