Month: October 2019 (Page 1 of 2)

I have been anticipating this day for a while. The day after which most days will be mostly frozen, and where the rocky dirt in my yard will become even more impossible to dig into than usual.    Seriously, my yard is filled with rocks. Digging a hole 1 foot in diameter and 6 inches deep requires a 2-hour commitment.   And yet this is just what I’ve been doing over the last couple of months. Cutting into the hard dirt, finding the rocks’ edges, freeing one, by one. And then filling the hole with new soil, and bone meal, and then, placing in bulbs. Crocuses, daffodils, tulips. Trying to get as many in the ground as possible before freeze takes over.    I enjoy the hard work of gardening, mostly – but this digging into rock, I admit, hasn’t been the most rewarding. I mean, there’s no clear pay off. In fact my garden has never looked more unruly, untended to. Whole days of work resulting in things looking worse than before!      Still, I choose to do this not-so-rewarding work because I know it’ll be worth it later. The future me will be grateful. The me in April, and May, and June. When the miracle of green breaks through into the barely-waking earth, and then the flowers emerge from the green. The work today is an act of compassion, and a gift of grace for my future self.   This is one of the ways to think about discipline – the sort of practices that Sean explored in his sermon on Sunday.  We make choices today out of duty and commitment that may be seriously unrewarding in the present – and yet will yield so much good for our future selves.    Speaking of which….how are your practices going? Have you started up with the prayer beads? The Table Blessings? Have you chosen a day for your fast? …wondering what I’m talking about?!  Check out the section below with the header “Practice.”    Next Sunday we’ll explore a particular sort of discipline – the ancient practice of convening with our ancestors, as we celebrate our annual All Souls service remembering those who have died. You are invited to bring a picture, token, or favorite sweet of one of your ancestors for a shared altar (ancestors may be related by blood, love, or any other shared connection).    I look forward to seeing you Sunday at 8:30, 10, or 11:30 – for the day my sister and I used to always call the Holy Day of Autumnal Refreshment…because you get an extra hour to sleep – or whatever you’d like!     In partnership, Rev. Gretchen PS One of our Sisterhood Groups (Lynn DeNio, Mary Kirby, Lola Sorenson, and Sue Taylor) invites us to witness one of their shared disciplines – creating art. After two years of supporting each other, their work will be shown Nov 6 – 16th Wed-Sat at 200 Matthews St. More info here.

Notes from Disciplined: Week 1  Listen to the message    Music Starting Now by Glen Phillips Best time to change is many years ago Next best thing is starting where you are If heaven isn’t waiting, if all there is this Why wait another instant to open up and live Starting Now   Divisionary (Do the Right Thing) by Ages and Ages Do the right thing, do the right thing Do it all the time, do it all the time Make yourself right, never mind ’em Don’t you know you’re not the only one suffering Practices We invited everyone to our collective practice through our Disciplined Practice Guide and gave everyone their own prayer beads. (Note that it will make most sense if you print it – two sided, flip on short edge, folded down the middle)If you missed it, pick up your prayer beads some time this week or next Sunday.In our 11:30, we experienced our Prayer Bead practice together, which you can find on page 3 of the Guide. The audio is available at the link above. Text COMMIT to 970-00 to be a part of our tips and reminders throughout the series.  Text  At 8:30 we offered this reflection on wishing from Lisa Friedman

Call to Worship 10.27.19 Like the arrival of snow that  covers over piles of leaves  that just last week fell on still-green lawns and now-resting gardens   Life has a way of adding up –  with its appalling headlines and endless laundry, the picking of pumpkins, and filling out ballots – before long, it’ll be time for basting the turkey again, and then the stringing of lights on trees, indoors –  I mean, if we’re lucky, life adds up like this – overwhelms us with love, breaks us open with loss makes our bones weary with all these layers of grace –

In this place, with these people Lift up your eyes feel the light of this day offering itself to you as you are calling to you to let go to begin again and to know: You are enough This life is enough  This breath, this daywith its piercing coldand wide sky is more than enough to hold you, to hold all of us to free us, and  to call us all home

Remember – Your habits are what make your life. The best time to start was yesterday, but all we have is now. When we commit to collective practices, we make possible a collective freedom. What is a habit you can start or stop today that will bring you closer to the life you long for?

The other day at the gym I was standing beside the rack of dumbbell weight trying to decide which one I should pick for the next exercise. 

I was free to select any weight. Nothing could stop me from dragging the heaviest weight over to my station. No alarm bells would sound, other gym goers wouldn’t even notice. 

But my freedom of selection wouldn’t help a damn bit when it came to actually lifting the weight. To lift the weight, like every worthy endeavor in this life, requires commitment and practice. Commitment and practice that would have had to begin weeks, months, or years in the past, to bear fruit in the present. 

It required discipline. 

This Sunday we dive into a worship series entitled Disciplined. 

WARNING! This series is demanding.  It’s going to ask you to step up to the proverbial mat and rep out some spiritual burpees. We are going to stretch ourselves to cultivate a deeper freedom through practices that will invite greater intention and connection to ourselves and others. And the best part is you won’t have to do it alone!

Invitation to Collective Practice

During this series we’re inviting everyone to commit to a collective practice including: 

1. A Daily Prayer Practice
2. Table Blessing
3. Weekly Food or Tech Fast

We’ve prepared a practice guide, and we have prayer beads for you to take home. Come this Sunday to learn more. 

Once you’re ready to commit, text COMMIT to 970-00 and you’ll get text reminders, tips, and tricks a few times a week throughout the month.

We always choose one song for each of our worship series that we sing or perform in every Sunday in the series.  It’s usually something you’ll find yourself singing later in the day, without even realizing it.  Because music connects in the deepest parts of our brains, the idea is that we’ll connect more fully with theme, and bring it into our everyday lives. 

For this series, we’ve chosen Divisionary (Do the Right Thing) from the group Ages and Ages. We especially love this video that has all ages singing together! Can’t wait to sing it with all of you throughout this series!!

The service on Sunday is just 1 of 168 hours in your week.

Which means that the way to make Sunday have a real impact on our lives, we need to find ways to bring it into the rest of the week. 

One of the ways we’re trying to do this is by switching up our weekly Communicator email to always start with a follow up directly tied to the prior Sunday. 

It’ll include all the major elements of the service – from a link to the sermon to the text of readings, resources we used, music we sang, and a reminder of the key take away. 

We hope this offers you a touchstone throughout your week to return to and to go deeper – and to pass it on to a friend who you think would appreciate it. 

Last Sunday we wrapped up our Sinners and Saints series (if you missed any of the messages or want to review check out this page).

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about the song we sang at 10 & 11:30 – not just because it’s such a good distillation of the series’ messages.  But also because it centers the ways that our hearts know exactly the impact of what it means to love imperfect people, including ourselves. It’s not easy. It can hurt. And, it’s worth it.

With this series over, a new one begins. Look for more info in your inbox tomorrow. I know there’s snow predicted, but if you can make it, it’s definitely one not to miss – for the message, and because our band will be back with a new singer!

Hope to see you Sunday at 8:30, 10, or 11:30.

In partnership,
Rev. Gretchen

Notes from Sinners & Saints: Week 5 – Brought to Justice
Listen to the message 
 
Music
At 10 & 11:30 we sang All My Favorite People
We sang our theme song one last time: Emma’s Revolution’s Swimming to the Other Side
 
Resources

• Listen to this interview with Michael McCullough on Revenge and Forgiveness or here’s one of his lectures where he presents more of his research.
• Learn more about the Universalist argument about punishment and hell (aka Restorationist Controversy) here….
• Or go even further in this debate & get yourself a Death and Glory t-shirt!  
• New to Restorative Justice? This book is a good place to start
• New to Transformative Justice? This page has many good links to explore, or check out adrienne maree brown’s blog posts on transformative justice

Text

• The reading from Lynn Ungar can be found here
• The story of the two brothers is based in Christian Scripture, Luke 15:11-32

Here’s the call to worship I wrote that I offered at the 8:30 and the 10:00 service:

Give up the fight
For some other moment
Some other life 
Than here, and now
Give up the longing 
for some other world
The wishing 
for other choices to make
other songs to sing
other bodies, other ages, 
other countries, other stakes
Purge the past; forgive the future – 
each comes too soon. 
Surrender only to this life,
this day, this hour, 
not because it does not 
constantly break your heart
but because it also beckons 
with beauty
startles with delight
if only we keep 
waking up
This is the gift
we have been given:
these “body-clothes,”* 
this heart-break, this pulse
this breath, 
this light, 
these friends,
this hope.
Here we re-member ourselves 
All a part of it all – 
Giving thanks, and centering joy.

* this phrase is from Mary Oliver’s My Work is Loving the World

Remember – While we may find some degree of justice in punishment, we are only fully brought to justice when we restore our common humanity, and transform the underlying causes of injustice – of which we are all a part. How are you finding ways to love the hell out of this world today?

Have you been taking time to look out at the moon the past few nights? Wow. 

These sorts of moments of beauty help me when I find myself at that point that Sean described last Sunday – when I just cannot imagine that this is people’s best! Beauty doesn’t make everything all better, but it does help me be better. 

And still – I keep wondering if focusing only on my response to bad behavior is enough – I mean, won’t that just encourage collective slacking? Or, let bad behavior slide?    

When I talked to Sean about this, he clarified that the compassion that is unlocked when we assume that people are doing their best shouldn’t excuse harmful behavior. It only shifts how we move through our response to it, cultivates our empathy and our connectedness.

So then, how should we respond – as individuals, and as a society – when someone’s “best” causes harm? What does justice with compassion look like?

This is where we’ll turn this Sunday in a service called Brought to Justice.  We’ll explore the ethics and efficacy of punishment and dig into the longstanding Universalist question of whether or not “sin” itself is punishment enough.  

Join us this Sunday at 8:30, 10, or 11:30 as we wrap up our series Sinners and Saints.

In partnership, Rev. Gretchen

Notes from Sinners & Saints: Week 4 – Hidden Saints 

Listen to the message    Music The choir offered this piece with a moving backstory shared in the video at 8:30 & 10. Christopher led us in our theme song, Emma’s Revolution’s Swimming to the Other Side At 11:30 we sang MaMuse’s We Shall Be Known Practices  Lovingkindness Meditation. Here’s the lovingkindness meditation we offered in our third service.  If you’re looking for a meditative community of practice, join us on Monday nights.     Resources Brené Brown’s “Are People Doing the Best They Can?” conversation with Russell Brand  Brené Brown on Boundaries   Text Here’s the call to worship I wrote inspired by the choir piece, We Will Walk Together about a late-in-life-coming-out….it was National Coming Out Day afterall!   For the words that haven’t yet made their way  to your lips, the disappointments you have swallowed, the anger you have held at bay, the hope  you’ve told day after day  to not get ahead of itself —  For the silence you have stuffed  into well-locked vaults hidden deep in the well-protected corners  of your heart —  Here we make a place to walk together  until all the stories come tumbling out, held in this sanctuary  of love beyond belief – Love that cannot stop  shaking loose all that  shame, freeing us from all that fear, holding us until we know without a doubt:  Every little part of us  is worthy of the light  Every moment a new chance to  remember what matters  and to learn again to be this  brave – Come, let us worship together.  Remember – Saints are everywhere, when we have the willingness in us to shift our judgment into compassion and to assume people are doing the best they can. Where are “saints” showing up in your life this week?