Posts from September 2013

Toward Sunday

We begin a five-week worship series this Sunday called How Deep?  This worship series will invite reflection on the significance of our Baptismal identities. The United Methodist Book of Worship states, “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 grace will accomplish in the future….Baptism anticipates a lifetime of…deeper experiences of God, acts of Christian…

Hope of Heaven

How silly: we stand on the porch of heaven a little uneasy, though eager, too, the heartfelt invitation in our hands, briefly admiring the pearly gates— amazing, really, the pearl, the craft, the lucent colors purling up the columns, the welcome warmth wafting from within— but then we turn to the hope at hand… and so— how silly, and how sad: we stand and fumble for the keys, and rummage anxiously, and dig around forever, searching, failing, grasping more, our…

Lord’s Supper

When we think of the Lord’s supper, our focus moves from the visible to to the invisible, and we realize that from the communion table we view life differently  What happens at the table profoundly shapes who we are as followers of Jesus.  We are set free.  The “Basileia”, God’s Kingdom come on earth, is made known as we break bread together.

Toward Sunday

We conclude our four-week worship series this Sunday called The Difference Heaven Makes with emphasis on the ethics and hope of heaven. Our worship series has been rooted in the biblical texts below and the work of two important theologians: Christopher Morse (The Difference Heaven Makes) and Jurgen Moltmann (Sun of Righteousness, ARISE! and In the End-The Beginning) Outline of Series September 8: Hearing of Heaven Today (Isaiah 60.1-9) September 15: The Theology of Heaven (I Corinthians 7.29-31) September 22:…

Toward Sunday

We continue our four-week worship series this Sunday called The Difference Heaven Makes with emphasis on the reality of heaven. Our worship series is rooted in the biblical texts below and the work of two important theologians: Christopher Morse (The Difference Heaven Makes) and Jurgen Moltmann (Sun of Righteousness, ARISE! and In the End-The Beginning) Outline of Series September 8: Hearing of Heaven Today (Isaiah 60.1-9) September 15: The Theology of Heaven (I Corinthians 7.29-31) September 22: The Reality of…

Soul

“Consequently I should like to understand the soul in a different way from Plato and say:  human life is completely human when it is completely alive.  But human livingness means being interested in life, participating, communicating oneself, and interest in life, love for life.  It expresses itself in life that is fully lived because it is life that is loved.  Our ‘soul’ can always be passionately interested, and by virtue of love do not hold our lives back but go…

Heaven is a shy bird.

Heaven is a shy bird. If you march out and demand a song you will hear nothing. But sit still for a long time, again and again, and let your waiting spread a safe, green meadow of silence, and because you have waited— not for your own sake but for her— she will sing. Steve Garnaas-Holmes 4.30.12

Wondering

Christopher Morse states, “The most real thing about our present life on Earth now is heaven.” What does this mean to you?

Toward Sunday

We continue our four-week worship series this Sunday called The Difference Heaven Makes with emphasis on the reality of heaven. Our worship series will be rooted in the biblical texts below and the work of two important theologians: Christopher Morse (The Difference Heaven Makes) and Jurgen Moltmann (Sun of Righteousness, ARISE! and In the End-The Beginning) Outline of Series September 8: Hearing of Heaven Today (Isaiah 60.1-9) September 15: The Theology of Heaven (I Corinthians 7.29-31) September 22: The Reality…

Moment of Clarity

  “The resurrection of Christ is not just a promise that you get to go to “heaven” when you die. It’s a moment of clarity that heaven is at the heart of this world. It unveils the reality that God, who brings creation out of chaos and life out of death with loving grace, is actually the dominant force in the universe. Despite the appearances of this world, the anxious workings of our ego-minds, and the powers of this world…
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