Posts from January 2011

Being Open to Following

Our reading for Sunday will be Matthew 4:12-23. Spend some time today reading these verses from Matthew.  In response to this story, Rev. Kate Huey asks: How does God call us, in our own settings, to repent, that is, to turn in a new direction, to open our lives to a radical renewal that may upset and re-orientate them?

New Churches And Koinonia

We’ll be learning about several new United Methodist churches from around the country this Sunday in worship. We’ll reflect on on how these communities are creating Koinonia. Visit their websites. Read about their new ministries. Hear their unique stories. Then, join us Sunday at 10:30 am at The Table for a morning of inspired and inspiring worship. Urban Village in Chicago. Servant Church in Austin. New Creation in Campbell, CA. Revolution and Redemption Churches in Kansas City.

Prayer for the Close of the Day

We reflected on the life and writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer last Sunday. His ministry was a witness to Koinonia. Near the end of his life, Bonhoeffer wrote this prayer: O Lord my God, I thank you that you have brought this day to its close. I thank you that you give rest to body and soul. Your hand has been over me, guarding me and preserving me. Forgive my feeble faith and all the wrong I have done this day, and…

New Communities Reaching New People

We will hear the stories of new United Methodist communities of faith emerging around the country this Sunday in worship.  We believe many of these new church starts are expressions of Koinonia, or faithful community, in our day. When you look around where do you see Koinonia in your own life?

Standing for Koinonia

In worship yesterday we reflected on the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his experience with Finkenwalde Seminary in Germany during the rise of Hitler. Bonhoeffer’s discipleship ultimately cost him his life. His prophetic witness to costly Grace challenges us all to consider how we practice our faith today. Where and how are you standing for Koinonia today?  

New Monasticism

Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes, The restoration of the church will surely come from a sort of new monasticism which has in common with the old only the uncompromising attitude of a life lived according to the Sermon on the Mount in the following of Christ. I believe it is now time to call people to this (from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Letter to Karl-Friedrich Bonhoeffer  on January 14, 1935). What might a “new monasticism” look like today?  How would you live today “a life…

Beatitudes

We will reflect in worship this Sunday on Koinonia through a study of the beatitudes and Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s life in community.  Read Matthew 5.1-12 here. Bonhoeffer offers these words on the beatitudes: Having reached the end of the beatitudes, we naturally ask if there is any place of this earth for the community which they describe. Clearly, there is one place, and only one, and that is where the poorest, meekest, and most sorely tried of all men is to…

Life Together

Our worship this Sunday at The Table will focus on Finkenwalde, an underground seminary led by Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Germany in the mid 1930’s. Bonhoeffer writes, “Christian brotherhood [koinonia] is not an ideal which we must realize; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate” (Life Together, Chapter 1). How is God creating koinonia in your relationships?  When have you been most aware of your own participation in this reality that God is…

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. writes, We must move past indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak for peace  . . . and justice throughout the developing world — a world that borders on our doors. If we do not act we shall surely be dragged down the long dark and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight (Beyond Vietnam). How might you speak…

Change in Our Souls

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, “Our goal is to create a beloved community and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives.” What changes might be needed in your own soul to move another step toward beloved community today?  What quantitative changes might be needed in your own life?  

Reconciliation

Dr. King writes: But the end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the beloved community. It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opposers into friends. It is this type of understanding goodwill that will transform the deep gloom of the old age into the exuberant gladness of the new age. It is this love which will bring about miracles in the hearts of men. – from “Facing…
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