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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, “Our goal is to create a beloved community and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives.” What changes might be needed in your own soul to move another step toward beloved community today?  What quantitative changes might be needed in your own life?  

Dr. King writes: But the end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the beloved community. It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opposers into friends. It is this type of understanding goodwill that will transform the deep gloom of the old age into the exuberant gladness of the new age. It is this love which will bring about miracles in the hearts of men. – from “Facing…

Dr. Martin Luther King wrote: The aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community, so that when the battle is over, a new relationship comes into being between the oppressed and the oppressor. I left India more convinced than ever before that nonviolent resistance was the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom. It was a marvelous thing to see the amazing results of a nonviolent campaign. India won her independence, but without…

Our worship series, Toward Koinonia, opened last Sunday with reflection on the Magi’s journey home by another road.  This Sunday we’ll explore Koinonia Partners, a Christian community in Georgia. Their website states: Koinonia is a Christian farm community founded in 1942 by Clarence & Florence Jordan and Martin & Mabel England. Home of the Cotton Patch Gospel, birthplace of Habitat for Humanity, Jubilee Partners, Prison Jail Project, Fuller Center for Housing and other ministries. Still growing pecans and peanuts, welcoming…

Yesterday’s worship gathering centered around the Magi and Herod.  We offered prayer for the tragedy in Arizona, listened to the story read from Matthew 2, sang the story in the form of the traditional hymn We Three Kings, and heard the music team sing the story as imagined in James Taylor’s Home By Another Way. Read the lyrics to James Taylor’s song below.  Herod presented obstacles, so the Magi went home by another way.  What obstacles are blocking your faith…

Where the Map Begins by Jan Richardson: This is not any map you know. Forget longitude. Forget latitude. Do not think of distances or of plotting the most direct route. Astrolabe, sextant, compass: these will not help you here. This is the map that begins with a star. This is the chart that starts with fire, with blazing, with an ancient light that has outlasted generations, empires, cultures, wars. Look starward once, then look away. Close your eyes and see…

Read the story of Epiphany from Matthew 2.1-12 here. Matthew writes, 9When [the Magi] had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was.  What would it look like for you to journey toward the child today?  Where do you see stars guiding your journey?

We’re beginning a journey Toward Koinonia at The Table this week.  Koinonia is an ancient Greek word for intimate community.  We’ll be exploring how communities, both past and present, have lived in Koinonia. This Sunday we’ll focus on the story of the Magi in the Gospel of Matthew.  We’ll unpack and reflect upon the very real obstacles the Magi found in their journey to and from Bethlehem. What obstacles are you finding in your own faith journey these days?

While Christmas was put away days ago in stores and many homes, today marks the eleventh day of the Christmas season according to the church’s calendar.  We will move from Christmas to Epiphany, the celebration of the Magi visiting Bethlehem in Western Christianity, on January 6. The story of the Magi is linked to Christmas in the hearts and minds of most.  Like the nativity story, it’s details in our sacred texts are sparse yet the truths of the story…

As we move toward the end of the Christmas season, the church’s calendar invites us to remember the journey of the Magi. We’ll hear and reflect on their story this Sunday in worship at The Table.  As you journey through this tenth day of Christmas, where do you see God being born into the world?

Our Christmas Offering at The Table totaled $1,300.  The entire offering will support Safe Ground, a city-wide effort to end homelessness in Sacramento.  May you continue to reach in love as the Season of Christmas unfolds toward the new year.

Celebrate Christmas Eve at The Table. Sanctuary of Central UMC | 5265 H Street Sacramento, CA  95819