Posts from June 2015
Toward Sunday
We are so grateful for our worship yesterday and celebration of the historic Supreme Court decision to support marriage equality. All means all. Amen. We conclude our three-week worship series this week on Prayer. It is based on two books: Help, Thanks, Wow The Three Essential Prayers by Anne Lamott and Prayer Finding the Heart’s True Home by Richard J. Foster. This series comes from the desires expressed in so many of our Deep Commitments regarding prayer. While we may…
Thanks
Flora Slosson Wuellner has studied and written a great deal on prayer. In her book Prayer, Stress and Our Inner Wounds she suggests giving thanks for our bodies, often neglected and unappreciated: “Occasionally through the day, give a loving thought to your bodily parts which are being used: your eyes, hands, feet, arms, legs, brain. They are your good friends who work with you…Listen to any signals your body sends you of stress or tension. At these times,….relax your breathing, picture…
Toward Sunday
We continue our three-week worship series this week on Prayer based on two books: Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers by Anne Lamott and Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home by Richard J. Foster. This series comes from the desires expressed in so many of our Deep Commitments last fall. While we may not answer all the questions raised by our Deep Commitments regarding prayer, we do hope to focus on 3 areas: the history of prayer, praying in…
Toward Sunday
We begin a new three-week worship series this week on Prayer. It is based on two books: Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers by Anne Lamott and Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home by Richard J. Foster. This series comes from the desires expressed in so many of our Deep Commitments regarding prayer. While we may not answer all the questions raised by our Deep Commitments, we do hope to focus on 3 areas: the history of prayer, praying in community, and the personal…
First time…again?
“And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time” ~ from T.S. Eliot’s “Little Gidding” from Four Quartets. As adults, so much of what we “know” of the Bible has been learned in settings that teach a “right way” of understanding. While this is not inherently a bad thing it does limit one’s understanding. If you have had the privilege of the initial moment of latching your…
Toward Sunday
We’re so grateful for Jackie Kortright’s leadership in worship on Sunday. We will continue our worship series this week called I Wonder… While Godly Play is our ministry with children, we have shared Godly Play with students at UC Davis and colleagues in various ministry settings. This worship series will be transformational for people of all ages as we wonder together about the stories of our Christian tradition through the lens of Godly Play. Outline for I Wonder… ▪May 31:…
Sunday School
My favorite Sunday school teacher was Bunny Matson. That was her real name. Bunny. She was born on Easter. Bunny welcomed us into our classroom at Clovis United Methodist Church. I was in 1st-3rd grade, if my memory is correct. She always smiled. She was sitting in a low chair with all of us. She greeted us by name and then I remember “doing art.” My favorite was something called “think and do.” There were egg cartons on the tables…
Paying attention to play.
“Theologians have been paying attention to play for a long time. Aquinas and Augustine wrote about it centuries ago. More recently, in the mid-20th century, Jürgen Moltmann’s Theology of Play created a short-lived stir by reframing play as a crucial aspect of our humanity, connecting play to human freedom. Moltmann suggested, contrary to those who view play as a way to pacify people and draw their attention away from the serious theological business of social transformation, that play (like art)…
Toward Sunday
We continue our worship series called I Wonder… this week at The Table. While Godly Play is our ministry with children, we have shared Godly Play with students at UC Davis and colleagues in various ministry settings. We hope this worship series will be transformational for people of all ages as we wonder together about the stories of our Christian tradition through the lens of Godly Play. Outline for I Wonder… ▪May 31: Godly Play Brought Me to Faith, a…