Blog (Page 24)
Parables
“…Jesus’ parables of judgment…are about an action going somewhere to happen. They are not about a system of static recurrences in which time goes on forever-where there is always, by the rules of the system, time for a second chance at everything. They do not allow you the luxury of a historical perspective in which a step taken too soon or a move made too late can always be remedied the next time around. Rather, they are about a world…
Prayer
Rescue me, O God, from the foolishness of presuming to know what I do not know. Save me from failing to trust whom I can trust. Allow your comfort to enter me. Help me prepare for you as you are and will be. Amen. (based on a prayer by John Indermark from Parables and Passion p. 77)
Giving up certainty
“In these times I don’t, in a manner of speaking, know what I want; perhaps I don’t want what I know and want what I don’t know.” ~Marsilio Ficino from The Letters of Marsilio Ficino vol. 3
Toward Sunday
We are inviting our community to Give Up Certainty for Lent as we root ourselves in the parables of Jesus. We move into our third week and the Parable of The Wise & Foolish Bridesmaids. What is a parable? Exact definitions vary from “stories of life with religious or spiritual lessons” to “metaphors or similes that take narrative form.” We will be operating on an understanding of parables as “thin places” where the usual boundaries between heaven and earth, holy and…
Prayer
“I thank you, O God, for grace that did not uproot me when I showed more of my expertise at doing harm than my longing to do good. Teach me to practice such patience so that I might see the beautiful potential of myself, others, even my enemies. Amen.
Weeds
How does one live in a world where weeds do infest the ground, and evil does rear its head in powerful ways that defy certainty and simple answers? The Parable of the Weeds. Matthew 13.24-30
Toward Sunday
We are inviting our community to Give Up Certainty for Lent as we root ourselves in the parables of Jesus. Today we move into our second week and the parable of The Weeds. What is a parable? Exact definitions vary from “stories of life with religious or spiritual lessons” to “metaphors or similes that take narrative form.” We will be operating on an understanding of parables as “thin places” where the usual boundaries between heaven and earth, holy and ordinary,…
Location, location, location.
“Where are we to look? What are we to go after? Barbara Brown Taylor suggests that “God decided to hide the kingdom of heaven not in any of the extraordinary places that treasure hunters would be sure to check but in the last place that any of us would think to look, namely, in the ordinary circumstances of our everyday lives.” Not too high up, not too far away. ” ~Barbara Brown Taylor Where do you find God on a…
Ash Wednesday
“In these bodies we will live, In these bodies we will die. Where you invest your love, you invest your life.” ~Mumford & Sons
Toward Sunday
We begin a new worship series this week. We are inviting our community to Give Up Certainty for Lent as we root ourselves in the parables of Jesus. What is a parable? Exact definitions vary from “stories of life with religious or spiritual lessons” to “metaphors or similes that take narrative form.” We will be operating on an understanding of parables as “thin places” where the usual boundaries between heaven and earth, holy and ordinary, known and mysterious, come together. Those are…
The way ahead
“The way unfolds like an open hand. The way unfolds like I didn’t plan. And only in looking back do we understand, That the way was true as an open hand…. This song is one that I play often when I walk in the early morning hours. The Table @ Central UMC has unfolded in ways that I never dreamed. Often I am asked “how did you do it?” and I know that the answer is closer to this song…
Story
“It is well to remember what the ancient creeds of the Christian faith declare credence in. God of God, Light of Light…for us and for our salvation came down from heaven…born of the Virgin Mary…suffered…crucified…dead…buried…rose again…sitteth on the right hand of God…shall come again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead. That is a series of largely flesh and blood events that happened, are happening, will happen, in time and space. For better or worse, it is…