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We’re off this afternoon to the Inhabit Conference in Seattle, WA.  Thrilled to learn from creative faith communities throughout the West Coast for a few days. We’ll be exploring what it might mean to follow Jesus in our particular contexts. Think of one way you will embody the ways of Jesus through practice and presence in place today?

Wendell Berry writes, So, friends, every day do something that won’t compute. Love the Lord. Love the world. Work for nothing. Take all that you have and be poor. Love someone who does not deserve it… As soon as the generals and the politicos can predict the motions of your mind, lose it. Leave it as a sign to mark the false trail, the way you didn’t go… Practice resurrection. How will you practice resurrection today? What will resurrection look…

Ten of us from The Table will be traveling to Seattle this week for the Inhabit Conference.  Worship this Sunday will be rooted in our experience together.  The conference website states: There is a tectonic shift happening under the surface of the church in North America. Parishioners are returning to the parish. The greater our individual mobility extends, the greater the world’s longing and need for a faith that can be lived out collectively – where we can be present……

Beautiful Easter Sunrise gathering in the Rose Garden at McKinley Park.  Inspired Easter gathering in the Sanctuary at Central UMC. Largest turnout for worship at The Table ever.  57 people gathered at dawn for Sunrise and 135 joined us for worship in the Sanctuary at 10:30 am. Where will you notice the risen hope of Christ this day?

We will gather tomorrow at 6:30 am for Sunrise Worship in the Rose Garden at McKinley Park and again at 10:30 am in the Sanctuary of Central UMC.  We hope you will join us for one or both worship gatherings. In preparation, read Matthew 27:57-66.  The full text is available here. What needs resurrecting in your life? What makes it hard to turn this over to God and trust that God will bring you, too, through death to new life?…

We will gather this evening in the sanctuary at Central UMC at 7:00 pm for Good Friday Worship.  Our liturgy will include Matthew 27:32-56.  Read the full text here. How does Jesus’ death tell the truth about our lives and world? How does it give us hope? Where do you see God still at work to redeem and preserve creation? Where do you long to see God? Prayer: Lord God, on the cross you suffered the very depths of our…

Many of us will be traveling to Oakland this afternoon.  We’ll gather for a simple meal in the evening in remembrance of Maundy Thursday.  We’ll then experience Mumford & Sons live outdoors. Matthew 26:17-46 records the story of the Last Supper which we remember on Maundy Thursday.  Read the full text here. What difference does the Lord’s Supper make in our lives? Does the meal we share on Sunday nourish our lives in the world? If so, how? If not,…

We will gather for worship on Good Friday at 7:00 pm in the Sanctuary of Central UMC.  Part of the liturgy will include a reading of Matthew 26:1-16.  Read the full text here. Where do we see hostility and betrayal in our world? Is there anything that would be worth it to you to betray a friend? What small betrayals have we been ensnared by, and how can we make amends for them? Prayer: Lord God, prevent us from allowing our…

We will gather at McKinley Park in the Rose Garden at 6:30 am  and again in the Sanctuary of Central UMC at 10:30 am on Easter Sunday.  We hope you will join us for one or both of these special worship gatherings. Our Easter worship services will be rooted in John 20.1-18.  Read the full text here. Read the story with attention to Mary.  How might Mary have felt in approaching the tomb while it was still dark? Have you…

We pray in our weekly Kitchen Table gatherings for those places in our own lives and in the world that are in need of God’s healing, reconciliation, and hope. We also offer prayers of thanksgiving for the places that are experiencing redemption and new life. You’re invited to share your prayers in the comments section below. For prayer concerns, we hope you’ll follow the form of prayer inspired by O-So-So, the Korean song we’re using for our time of prayer in Lent:…

Our reading for this morning, Matthew 21.1-11, can be found here. Jump from Jerusalem in the days of Jesus to 2011: What do we celebrate as having the potential to save? Celebrities, political figures, athletes, technology? What do we do when we are disappointed in our hopes? Prayer: God of Hope, keep our attention on those things that nurture life and lead us to greater union with you and with each other. Amen.

G.K. Chesterton (1874–1936) The Donkey When fishes flew and forests walked And figs grew upon thorn, Some moment when the moon was blood Then surely I was born; With monstrous head and sickening cry And ears like errant wings, The devil’s walking parody On all four-footed things. The tattered outlaw of the earth, Of ancient crooked will; Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb, I keep my secret still. Fools! For I also had my hour; One far fierce hour…