Posts by tablemanna (Page 26)

We move into the last week of Advent as we WAIT WITHin the words of Micah 5.2-5. “The speeches of the prophet we know as Micah are believed to refer to events around the eighth century BCE, a time of great unrest and turmoil for the northern kingdom and Jerusalem because of the domineering strength of the Assyrian nation. The people to whom Micah’s words were directed had no chance to match the warring might of their neighbors. Micah insisted…

In the Bible it says:  “What has come into being in Jesus was life, and the life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it”  (John 1.3b-5)   But yesterday for many of us, it felt like the darkness won.  For awhile it was dark for us all.  For many of us it feels dark still.  So what will be your next step? Is it okay to stayed glued…

“Isaiah’s language in 12:2-6 of the wells of God’s salvation speaks both to those who suffer water’s absence and those who feel drowned in the waters of destruction. God’s salvation flows and overflows, fulfilling the deepest need of parched souls with the very presence of God in their midst…..Water is a common motif in the Hebrew Scriptures. There are narratives of God’s miraculous provision of water for desperate persons (Genesis 21:19) and communities (Exodus 17:1-7). Water is often used as…

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/28486389] Music stirs and touches the deepest longing of the human spirit.  The hymns and songs of the Advent season can awaken our longings and touch our souls at any age.  Our deep longings do not live in the smell of Christmas trees or the curiosity of what is inside the wrapped boxes.  Our deep longings live in the hope of being released from resentments, being loved in relationship, feeling touched by God.  This season we are closing worship…

Three Parts to The Season by Susan Palo Cherwien There are three parts to this season: the waiting and the waiting and the waiting. Waiting for the Christ child to come, to be sure, who we know already came. Waiting for the burning coming of the Christ in our hearts, for the I-am-with-you-always. Waiting for the great coming of the reign of God when each table is a banquet and bread lines are no more. There are three comings to…

We move into week 3 of Advent as we WAIT WITHin the words of Isaiah 12.2-6.  In her blog post on this passage, Audrey West, Assoc. Professor of NT at Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago writes:  “Foreign invaders, political instability, and crises of one kind or another formed the context of Isaiah’s proclamation. The people to whom he was sent and those for whom this book was originally composed lived in a world that was unpredictable and out of…

The unspeakable and prodigious fire hidden in the essence of things, as in the bush, is the fire of divine love and the dazzling brilliance of God’s beauty inside everything. –St Maximus the Confessor

I have spent a great deal of time thinking about fire and living into the question of whether or not fire is a beginning or ending.  One way of reflecting on our text from Malachi for Sunday is to think of fire as the end of times for folks who have not chosen to repent and believe in God.  Another way might be to consider it the beginning of a whole new way of being for ourselves and our community.…

What birth pangs are you experiencing as you wait within Advent for the coming of the Christ child? Where refugees seek deliverance that never comes, And the heart consumes itself, if it would live, Where little children age before their time, And life wears down the edges of the mind, Where the old man sits with mind grown cold While bones and sinew, blood and cell, go slowly down to death, Where fear companions each day’s life, And Perfect Love…

Worship this Sunday will be rooted in Malachi 3.1-4  From this witness of Scripture we are reminded that the people of God have long since been waiting.  God’s promised future is always already not yet.  We, as the people of God in this day, are called to take our place in this season of waiting within. Lori Conrell writes in her blog, “It’s hardly the “deck-the-halls” kind of message that we expect to hear at “the most wonderful time of…

O God of all seasons and senses, grant me your sense of timing      to submit gracefully           and rejoice quietly                in the return of Advent waiting. In this season of short days and long nights,      of fog and grey and cold, teach me the lessons of waiting:      of the rain joining the mystery           of the hunkered down seeds…

Worship is a time to “wait within”.  We wait within our tradition, community, scripture, prayer, communion and experience for a sign from God.  We wait to feel connection with one another.  We wait to hear the story of Jesus and to find our place in his story.  We wait for the desire to love our neighbor.  Waiting within worship takes practice.   What is most difficult for you about attending worship?  What brings you comfort?