Posts from October 2011

We begin a new four-week worship series this Sunday called Temenos.  We’ll make our way through the entire Gospel of Matthew in the coming four weeks, highlighting certain passages in worship and Kitchen Tables each Sunday. The word Temenos comes to us from a Greek verb which means “to cut.”  Temenos is a piece of ground surrounding or adjacent to a temple; a sacred enclosure or precinct” (from Oxford Classical Online Dictionary).  Tradition tells us that the Temenos was marked…

On Sunday we will share our commitments for how we’ll live in the next year as people who are rooted in Grace | growing in faith | reaching in love. Many among us struggle with understanding Grace. Here is one person’s personal struggle with Grace:  Grace by Saving Jane. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb3le1MHsH8&feature=fvwrel]

The post title phrase is from “Roll Away Your Stone” by Mumford and Sons.  Defining Grace is not as easy as it might sound.  One way to begin might be to start with your life.  Where did your life come from?  Did you ask to be born?  Most folks would answer “No, I did not ask to be born.”  But here you are.  Your life is a gift, given to you, unearned.  You came into being without having to prove…

Our worship this Sunday will be rooted in Matthew 22.34-46. This selection from Matthew has shaped followers of Jesus throughout the generations and is central to our community of faith today. Our community seeks to be rooted in Grace, growing in faith, and reaching in love.  Read the text again from Matthew while holding these three commitments.  How do these relate to the reading from Matthew 22.34-46?

We’ll sing Wade in the Water as part of our celebration of Baptism in worship this Sunday at The Table.  There’s just something about this clip of Patty Griffin rehearsing the song with Regina McCrary and Mike Farris. One professional musician teaching another. Working together. Watching over one another in love. Laughing. Instructing. Perhaps an image of how followers of Jesus walk alongside one another in living out the covenant of Baptism? [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4crfo0Mgo8&ob=av2e]

Our worship this Sunday will be rooted in the Celebration of Baptism. The United Methodist Hymnal introduces the covenant of Baptism in this way: The Baptismal Covenant is God’s word to us, proclaiming our adoption by grace and our word to God, promising our response of faith and love…Baptism is an act that looks back with gratitude on what God’s grace has already accomplished, it is here and now an act of God’s grace, and it looks forward to what God’s…

A group of folks from our community participated in the Sacramento Valley AIDS Run/Walk run a few weeks ago.  At that run we debuted our new “All Means All” shirts.  Some folks were approached and asked about the slogan.    If you were to wear one of these shirts on a regular basis, what answer will you give if asked “What does “All Means All” mean?

Our worship this Sunday will be rooted in Matthew 22:1-14. This is a parable that can raise concern for the listener!  On a casual reading it may seem overly harsh.   It was the custom of the day for a King to celebrate a wedding by hosting a great feast.  Because many would not have the proper attire, upon entry, the King would offer free wedding clothes .  These were often simple robes that were designed to be worn overtop of…

In a sermon titled “Causes of the Inefficacy of Christianity” John Wesley asks: Does it not seem (and yet this cannot be!) that Christianity, true scriptural Christianity, has a tendency in process of time to undermine and destroy itself? For wherever true Christianity spreads it must cause diligence and frugality, which, in the natural course of things, must beget riches. And riches naturally beget pride, love of the world, and every temper that is destructive of Christianity….But is there no…