Conventional wisdom is that congregations do not grow in numbers if they engage in social action. It is a belief that has been as an excuse to disengage from the world around them, lest someone be offended. There is a very recent challenge to this belief. According to the Church Times,
Continue reading~Resisting the Irresistible~ Do you resist God? Do you find yourself having thoughts of self-judgment: “I should have or shouldn’t have…”? Do you find yourself having thoughts of blame, whether of yourself or others? These internal thoughts and movements are ways we resist God, truly. Softening our own hearts is
Continue reading~Beginning Again~ I determined to explore the writings and life of Howard Thurman more fully, more deeply. Mike took a class on his life and writings and many of his books are in our personal library. I’ve been reading Ph.D. Dissertation ABOUT Dr. Thurman while reading one of his books, The
Continue reading~Barriers & Breakthroughs~ “I want to say how inspired I am by your heroic stories.” Those were Mike’s words of reflection as we went around the circle. Over 30 people gathered to have a conversation. The frame of the conversation was simple: what are the barriers to housing, what made
Continue reading~Can People Blossom?~ There is a very long tradition of reading the Bible daily through a schedule of readings called the Daily Office. The reading for the morning of Feb. 1, included Psalm 72. It’s a royal psalm, exhorting the king to “defend the cause of the poor people, give
Continue reading~~Inspired by Richard Rohr~~ The story is a doorway to the infinite. The story is NOT the infinite. We cannot contain the infinite in the story. That is the mistake made by fundamentalism. Our story, the Christian story, opens the doorway to these truths: God overcomes the gap and comes
Continue reading~Carolers Bring Cheer~ Thank you to: Christi Wiley, Carol Wiley, Tom Reed, Jennifer Marceau, Shelby Marceau, Hank Mollet, Julie Zivnak, Julie Jolly, Bob Benza, Amy Ellison, Alicia Martin, Jan Akin, Ray Akin, Mike Fronk. Together we went caroling to many of our home-bound members on Dec. 4th. It fills me
Continue reading~Humility~ “Where there is no humility, all things rot…holy humility receives from God the power to yield fruit, thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold.” John Climacus – Medieval Christian Mystic It is pomegranate time. Our tree has a nice collection of gorgeous and not so gorgeous looking fruit. Pomegranate juice is deep ruby red in color.
Continue readingFour questions were asked at the Regional Assembly, the biennial gathering of the Pacific Southwest Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The questions were answered by four or five speakers during worship, having to do with being “the body of Christ.” I was asked to be on one
Continue readingJulie’s Jar It was called “The Great Hunger”. They were tenant farmers, already living at a subsistence level. The potato they grew was calorie dense and made the subsistence lifestyle a little less hunger. Almost half the population of the country depending on this potato and most of that half
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