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Toward Sunday

In worship this week we will turn to the Parable of the Widow and the Judge (Luke 18:1-8 ).  Our summer worship series is largely based on Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi by Amy Jill-Levine, a Jewish New Testament scholar who teaches at Vanderbilt. Outline of Summer Stories:  A Series on the Parables of Jesus June 26      Luke 15:4-32  Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, Lost Son July    3      Luke 10:25-37  Good Samaritan July  10   …

Toward Sunday

We continue in worship this week by turning to the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard(Matthew 20:1-16 ). Please lead your Kitchen Table through Lectio Divina based on this text.  The process is outlined below. Our summer worship series is largely based on Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi by Amy Jill-Levine, a Jewish New Testament scholar who teaches at Vanderbilt. Outline of Summer Stories:  A Series on the Parables of Jesus June 26      Luke 15:4-32  Lost Sheep,…

Toward Sunday

We continue in worship this week by turning to the Parable of the Pharisee & the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14). Our summer worship series is largely based on Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi by Amy Jill-Levine, a Jewish New Testament scholar who teaches at Vanderbilt. We are practicing Lectio Divina in our Kitchen Tables each week to prepare for worship.  We invite our blog readers to try this as well. Outline of Summer Stories:  A Series…

Toward Sunday

Worship yesterday invited reflection on how the Parable of the Pearl of Great Price calls us to go “all in” so that God’s love and justice will be known for all and not just for some. We continue in worship this week with focus on the Parable of the Mustard Seed ( Mark 4:30-32 ). Lectio Divina will continue to shape our searching of scripture in our Kitchen Tables and we hope you will use this process for praying this parable as you gather…

Toward Sunday

We’ll continue our worship series this week on the parables of Jesus and my message will be rooted in the VERY SHORT parable of the Kingdom of Yeast in the Dough ( Matthew 13:33 ). The Lectio Divina process is outlined below. Our summer worship series is largely based on Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi by Amy Jill-Levine, a Jewish New Testament scholar who teaches at Vanderbilt. Outline of Summer Stories:  A Series on the Parables of Jesus…

Toward Sunday

We’ll continue our worship series this week on the parables of Jesus and my message will be rooted in the parable of the Good Samaritan ( Luke 10:25-37). Lectio Divina will continue to shape our searching of scripture in our Kitchen Tables and we hope you will use this process for praying this parable as you gather this week in your Kitchen Tables. The process is outlined below. I hope your experience with Lectio Divina was meaningful last week. Please remember, like every…

Toward Sunday

We begin a new worship series this week on the parables of Jesus. This summer worship series is based on Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi by Amy Jill-Levine, a Jewish New Testament scholar who teaches at Vanderbilt. We’ll be introducing Lectio Divina as our summer discipline for searching the scripture in our Kitchen Tables this week. My message this Sunday will weave together three parables: Parable of the Lost Sheep, Parable of the Lost Coin, Parable of the Lost Son/Prodigal…

Toward Sunday

This week we consider Fasting & Abstinence alongside Exodus 16 as we conclude our worship series on practicing Christian disciplines to stay in love with God. Outline for Staying in Love with God.   •May 15: Acts 2.1-21 (Public Worship) •May 22: Acts 2:37-42 (Witness/Testimony) •May 29:  Psalm 92.1-4,12-15 (Prayer) •June 5: 2 2 Timothy 3:14-17 (Searching Scripture) •June 12: Matthew 26:26-28 (Communion) •June 19: Exodus 16.1-3, 9-15, 31, 35  (Fasting) In A Blueprint for Discipleship Kevin Watson writes: “Fasting is the practice of not eating food for a period of time. [John] Wesley regularly fasted throughout his…

Toward Sunday

This week we consider Communion alongside Matthew 26:26-28 as we move into week 5 of our worship series on practicing Christian disciplines to stay in love with God. Outline for Staying in Love with God. •May 15: Acts 2.1-21 (Public Worship) •May 22: Acts 2:37-42 (Witness/Testimony) •May 29:  Psalm 92.1-4,12-15 (Prayer) •June 5: 2 2 Timothy 3:14-17 (Searching Scripture) •June 12: Matthew 26:26-28 (Communion) •June 19: Exodus 16.1-3, 9-15, 31, 35  (Fasting) Read Matthew 26:26-28. John Wesley believed “constant communion”…

Toward Sunday

This week we consider Searching Scripture alongside 2 Timothy 3:14-17 as we move into week 4 of our worship series on practicing Christian disciplines to stay in love with God. Outline for Staying in Love with God. •May 15: Acts 2.1-21 (Public Worship) •May 22: Acts 2:37-42 (Witness/Testimony) •May 29:  Psalm 92.1-4,12-15 (Prayer) •June 5: 2 2 Timothy 3:14-17 (Searching Scripture) •June 12: Matthew 26:26-28 (Communion) •June 19: Exodus 16.1-3, 9-15, 31, 35  (Fasting) How have you evolved in your approach to…

Toward Sunday

This week we consider Prayer alongside Psalm 92.1-4,12-15 as we move into week 3 of our worship series on practicing Christian disciplines to stay in love with God. We will also thank our Godly Play teachers for watching over our children in love this year in worship with a short liturgy of gratitude. Matt has been able to complete drafts of two chapters and is working this week on finishing what we hope will be our third chapter. His writing has…

Toward Sunday

This week we consider Witness & Testimony alongside Acts 2:37-42 as we move into week 2 of our worship series on practicing Christian disciplines to stay in love with God. We will also say farewell to two members of our community during worship this Sunday: Lori Ortiz who will be competing her year as Pastor-in-Training and Broghan Hunt who helped create and lead our youth Kitchen Table and is finishing her undergraduate degree at Sacramento State.  Broghan has been accepted to seminary and will be re-locating to Southern California.…
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