This Curious Doorway - December 30, 2018

There are particular graces that attend beginnings,
and mercies that wait to meet us when we are setting out into unknown terrain.

Just as we cannot know with certainty what the terrain will hold,
we cannot know at the outset what these graces will look like.

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They can take all manner of forms:
a curious occasion of provision,
a seemingly chance meeting that holds a surprising gift,
sustenance that arrives when we need it most,
space to rest and regather.

I think of such occasions as small-g graces
that bear witness to Big Grace, Grace-with-a-capital-G,
the Grace of God.

Flowing out from Big Grace,
graces enter into the details of our lives,
finding their way into the nooks and crannies of our path.

Graces help us begin, and they help us keep going.
They are part of the secret of the journey.
~ Jan Richardson

Love in Four Acts - Act III: Enter the Hero - December 23, 2018

There are particular graces that attend beginnings,
and mercies that wait to meet us
when we are setting out into unknown terrain.
Just as we cannot know with certainty
what the terrain will hold,
we cannot know at the outset what these graces will look like.

Click Image Above to View Worship Guide

They can take all manner of forms:
a curious occasion of provision,
a seemingly chance meeting that holds a surprising gift,
sustenance that arrives when we need it most,
space to rest and regather.

I think of such occasions as small-g graces
that bear witness to Big Grace, Grace-with-a-capital-G,
the Grace of God.

Flowing out from Big Grace,
graces enter into the details of our lives,
finding their way into the nooks and crannies of our path.
Graces help us begin, and they help us keep going.
They are part of the secret of the journey.

~ Jan Richardson

Love in Four Acts - Act II: Evil Takes the Stage - December 16, 2018

May the sounds of Advent stir a longing in your people, O God. Come again to set us free from the dullness of routine and the poverty of our imaginations. Break the patterns which bind us to small commitments and to the stale answers we have given to questions of no importance. Let the Advent trumpet blow, let the walls of our defenses crumble, and make a place in our lives for the freshness of your love, well-lived in the Spirit, and still given to all who know their need and dare receive it. Amen.

~ Howard Thurman (1899-1981)

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Love in Four Acts - Act I: A Promising Start - December 9, 2018

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  May the sounds of Advent stir a longing in your people, O God. Come again to set us free from the dullness of routine and the poverty of our imaginations. Break the patterns which bind us to small commitments and to the stale answers we have given to questions of no importance. Let the Advent trumpet blow, let the walls of our defenses crumble, and make a place in our lives for the freshness of your love, well-lived in the Spirit, and still given to all who know their need and dare receive it. Amen.

         ~ Howard Thurman (1899-1981)

Love in Four Acts: The Finale - December 2, 2018

Lord Jesus, Master of both the light and the darkness,
send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations for Christmas.
We, who have so much to do, seek quiet spaces
to hear your voice each day.
We, who are anxious over many things,
look forward to your coming among us.
We, who are blessed in so many ways,
long for the complete joy of your kingdom….
We are your people, walking in darkness
yet seeking the light.
To you we say, “Come, Lord Jesus!” Amen.

~ Mark Neilsen

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Out of This World - November 25, 2018

“If we only had eyes to see and ears to hear and wits to understand, we would know that the Kingdom of God in the sense of holiness, goodness, beauty is as close as breathing and is crying out to born both within ourselves and within the world; we would know that the Kingdom of God is what we all of us hunger for above all other things even when we don’t know its name or realize that it’s what we’re starving to death for. The Kingdom of God is where our best dreams come from and our truest prayers. We glimpse it at those moments when we find ourselves being better than we are and wiser than we know. We catch sight of it when at some moment of crisis a strength seems to come to us that is greater than our own strength. The Kingdom of God is where we belong. It is home, and whether we realize it or not, I think we are all of us homesick for it.”

~ Frederick Buechner

A Homeless Hallelujah - November 18, 2018

“Piglet noticed that even though
he had a Very Small Heart,
it could hold a rather large amount
of Gratitude.”

~ A.A. Milne (1882-1956)
Source: Winnie the Pooh

When We Suffer: The God to Whom We Cling - November 11, 2018

O God, teach me to see You,
and reveal Yourself to me
when I seek you,

For I cannot seek You
unless You first teach me,

Nor find You
unless You first reveal Yourself to me.

Let me seek You in longing,
and long for You in seeking.

Let me find You in love,
and love You in finding.

~ Ambrose of Milan (339-397)

When We Suffer: The Friends We Don’t Need - November 4, 2018

I am reminded of the biblical use of the term saint in the book of Acts. That it applies to each of us. All who are attempting to imitate the Christ in their lives merit the title of "saint." Some do it more fully than others and are willing to let go of more to get the job done.

~ Matthew Fox

   Source: Confessions

When We Suffer: The Truth We Must Speak - October 28, 2018

“You must keep collecting threads—threads of meaning, threads of hope, threads of purpose, energy and will— along with all the knowledge, skill that every weaver needs.

You must keep on weaving—stopping sometimes only to repair your broken loom—weave a cloak of warmth and light against the dark and cold, a cloak in which to wrap whoever comes to you in need—the world with all its suffering, those near at hand, yourself.

And, if you are lucky, you will find along the way the thread with which you can reweave your own tattered life, the thread that more than any other laces us with warmth and light, making both the weaver and the weaving true—the red thread they call Love, the thread you hold, then hand along, saying to another, ‘You.’”

~ Parker J. Palmer

(from his longer poem, “November 22nd”)

When We Suffer: The First Question We Ask - October 21, 2018

   “Tell me, ye mighty waters, why did ye sustain the ponderous load of misery?... And God…be not angry with us while we come into this, thy sanctuary, and make the bold inquiry in this, thy holy temple, why it was that thou didst look on with the calm indifference of an unconcerned spectator…?”

~ Nathaniel Paul

An Address Delivered on the Celebration of the Abolition of Slavery in the State of New York, July 5, 1827

Competing Kingdoms - October 14, 2018

“It has long been a matter of serious moment that for decades we have

studied the various peoples of the world and those who live as our neighbors

as objects of missionary endeavor and enterprise without being at all willing

to treat them either as brothers or as human beings.”

~ Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited

Falling Down and Getting Up - October 7, 2018

We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken away from a [person] but one thing: the last of the human circumstances, to choose one’s own way.

~ Victor Frankl

Good News for Real People: Gospel for the Discouraged - September 30, 2018

God comes to us not where we should have been

if we had made all the right choices in life;

not where we could have been

if we had taken every opportunity

that God has offered us;

not where we wish we were

if we didn’t have to be in the place

where we find ourselves;

not where we think we are

because our minds are out of sync with our hearts;

not where other people think we are

or think we ought to be

when they are attending to their own agendas.

God meets us where we really are.

~ Margaret Silf

Good News for Real People: Gospel for the Unsure - September 23, 2018

Spirituality is about seeing.

      It's about intimate relationship with things

      rather than achieving results or meeting requirements.

Once you see fully, the rest follows.

You don't need to push the river,

      because you are already in the river.

God's life of love is being lived within you,

      and you must simply learn how

      to say yes to that life.

~ Richard Rohr

Good News for Real People: Gospel for the Trapped - September 16, 2018

There are hard things
that I must do today, dear God.
Hard things, but I
should like to do them well,
and bravely as I can.
I ask for courage.
Let me not give up
when things go wrong,
but gladly try another way.
Dear God, be near me through the day
and help me do the hard things well.

~ Edith Kent Battle, “For Hard Things”

Good News for Real People: Gospel for the Lonely - September 9, 2018

“Loneliness is as universal as love…Is it possible that the lonely place in you and me is somehow essential and even a gift from God, if we have eyes to see it?”

Good News for Real People: Gospel for the Overworked - September 2, 2018

“Many of us who claim to believe that we’re being made whole by grace behave as if our worth in the world depends on what we get done and how well we perform.”

Finding God in All the "Wrong" People: Jesus’ Greatest Miracle? - August 26, 2018

Life is not meant to be a burden. Life is not a problem to be solved. It is a blessing to be celebrated. Every dimension of life, its gains and its losses, are reason for celebration because each of them brings us closer to wisdom and fullness of understanding.

~ Joan Chittister

Finding God in All the "Wrong" People: The Shackles That Bind Us

By reading the scriptures I am so renewed that all nature seems renewed around me and with me. The sky seems to be a pure, a cooler blue, the trees a deeper green. The whole world is charged with the glory of God and I feel fire and music under my feet.

~ Thomas Merton