Posts from August 2011

The Voice of God is Calling Words by John H. Holmes 1913 (UMH #436)   “I hear my people crying in slum and mine and mill; no field or mart is silent, no city street is still. I see my people falling in darkness and despair. Whom shall I send to shatter the fetters which they bear?”   We heed, O Lord, your summons, and answer:  Here are we! Send us upon your errand, let us your servants be. Our…

Christ Has No Body Christ has no body but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the eyes with which he looks Compassion on this world, Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good, Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, Yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now but yours, No hands, no feet on…

We gather weekly to worship as a way to root our lives in Grace, in God’s unconditional love.  We gather weekly in Kitchen Tables to grow in faith.  We do not always know what it will cost us to be part of such a community, but we learn along the way.  The disciples followed Jesus for quite some time and they, too, struggled to understand the cost of becoming a disciple.  Our worship this Sunday will be rooted in Matthew…

We reflected in worship yesterday on how God calls us to reach in love as a small group of people.  We wondered about our Kitchen Tables, the gifts of those around them and where we might work together to reach in love.   As we begin our final week in this worship series, let us pause to pray: God of Hope and New Life, May your Spirit inspire us as we seek to discern our gifts and the gifts of those…

Our worship this Sunday will be rooted in Romans 12.1-8.  I Mary Hinkle Shore writes, Imagine working with someone to move one of those large racks of folding chairs that populate church basements and school gymnasiums. It takes a theory (“I think this will work if you’re on one side and I’m on the other”); you have to share at least elements of a vision, to be of “one mind” on the nature of the task and its execution. Even so,…

We reflected in worship yesterday on how God calls us to reach in love as individuals.  We wondered about the places in our lives where we feel “other” and the places in our lives where we cause those we encounter to feel “other.”  As we begin a new week in this worship series, let us pause to pray: God of Hope and New Life, May your Spirit sustain us as we seek to reach in love to those around us.…

Here is a link to a Lego re-telling of the story we’ll focus on in worship tomorrow. Who are the “outsiders” or “others” in your life that might be calling out for mercy today?  How will you hear their stories?  How will you respond?

Worship this Sunday will be rooted in Matthew 15.21-28.  Writing about this passage, David Lose calls our attention to this summary by Jim Boyce: So stretch your imaginations to entertain the scene. Gathered in one corner are those familiar disciples, for Matthew the true blue representatives of the faithful lost sheep of Israel, now leaping into the fray like so many ravenous beasts, as it were self-styled guarantors of the holy tradition, on their guard lest the mercies of God…

The following is adapted from Wishful Thinking by Frederick Buechner (page 78): When Jesus said to “love your neighbor” he was asked by an attorney for clarification.  This attorney wanted a legal definition for neighbor in order to help him know exactly who Jesus wanted him to love.  This is the sort of answer he was expecting:  “A neighbor (hereinafter referred to as the party of the first part) is to be construed as meaning a person of Jewish descent whose legal…

Reaching in Love an August Remix continues this Sunday. Our worship will be rooted in Matthew 15.22-28.  Here is a link to the text. This story falls in between 2 feeding stories in Matthew. Spend some time with the story today.  Then consider the following questions: When in your life, have you shifted a strongly held opinion? What prompted this shift in your thinking?  What action(s) did you take that reflected your new way of thinking? Jesus sets the highest of…

God of New Life, You reach to us in love and lure us toward peace with justice.  We pray this day for those who long for Sabbath amidst the rush of ordinary life, for those who long for healing & reconciliation with family and friends, for those who grieve the tragic loss of loved ones. We give thanks for the transformation taking place in our community, both physical and spiritual.  We give thanks for those who will take next steps…

We begin a new four-week worship series this Sunday called Reaching in Love (an August Remix). Our worship this Sunday will be rooted in Matthew 14.22-33.  Spend some time with the story this morning. Who in your life has embodied and modeled “courageous” faith? When have you found yourself “sinking” from all your commitments to reach in love?  Have you ever experienced God’s embrace in the midst of the “sinking” experience? For those in Kitchen Tables, what questions or concerns emerged in…