Call To Worship: God's Goodness (based on Psalm 66)

God, we gather together to remember your goodness and to give you thanks. Countless generations have experienced your loving guidance and blessing.

God, we gather together to rejoice in how we experience you here and now. We celebrate and give thanks for God’s continuing grace and mercy.

God, we gather together in hope and faith, waiting and expecting. Help us to find you in all of life.

Hear us as we offer our thanks and praise for your steadfast love, mercy and grace poured out to each generation.

Love All Of It - Father Zosima in The Brothers Karamazov

Simply Present

Saint Goes Stage Diving - Ship of Fools

A processing, unsecured statue crashes to the floor in a Toronto church – to the congregation's shrieks of dismay.

More entertaining, though, is what happens next.

A freshly-decapitated St George is lifted up and placed in full view of the congregation... as a warning? Meanwhile the hapless bearers slink off to the vestry.

Religion, Science and Spirit: A Sacred Story for Our Time - David Korten

The challenge before us is to create a new civilization based on a cosmology to guide us to mature relationships with one another and a living Earth. 

Humanity’s current behavior threatens Earth’s capacity to support life and relegates more than a billion people to lives of destitution.

This self-destructive behavior and our seeming inability to change have deep roots in the stories by which we understand the nature and meaning of our existence.

The challenge before us is to create a new civilization based on a cosmology—a story of the origin, nature, and purpose of creation—that reflects the fullness of our current human knowledge; a story to guide us to mature relationships with one another and a living Earth.

Three distinct cosmologies have each had their influence in shaping the Western worldview. Two are familiar; (1) the cosmos is created and ruled by a Distant Patriarch and (2) the cosmos Is A Grand Machine.

The third - and most relevant to the task at hand - The cosmos is a manifestation of Integral Spirit - has ancient roots, and may in one form or another be the most widely held.

Our creation stories have powerful implications for our understanding of our place in the cosmos and thereby shape our most foundational values, our politics, and the distribution of power in society.  Though sharply at odds regarding the presence or absence of a spiritual intelligence, both the Distant Patriarch and Grand Machine cosmologies affirm the self-destructive individualism and separation that lead us to behave in ways that threaten Earth’s biosphere and our future as a species.

The Integral Spirit cosmology appears to offer many of the elements of the story we seek. Yet even with its ancient roots and its affirmation and enrichment by recent breakthroughs in science, it too remains a partially developed story and we are limited to speculating on many of its elements.

The full article is available here

Picking On The Poor: Facts Behind Cutting Food Stamps - Rev. Jim Wallis

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos and Jesus all took issue with those in authority who refused to provide for the poor.

One pastor I spoke to recently, a good man and friend, told me he was worried about government dependence, like the food stamp program. When I told him that the vast majority of food stamps go to working families with young children, and that they are usually only on the program temporarily during hard economic times; he said, “You should get that out.” 

He didn’t know the facts and the faces of SNAP. So many of us in the faith community have worked to tell the facts and show the faces — to share our stories, to “get that out.”

Have you seen the Fox News “face” of a SNAP recipient — a young blond California surfer who brags about cheating on food stamps? Why is Fox News lying? Why don’t they tell the real facts and show the real faces of kids who are still hungry even though their parents work?

How can anyone who has read the prophets or the words of Jesus come up with the opinion that governments are not responsible to champion the cause and the care of the poor? Not only to ensure none go hungry but that opportunity be given to everyone to fully engage as responsible citizens in our society.

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos all took issue with those in authority who refused to provide for the poor. And Jesus insisted that regardless of who we are - individual citizens, persons of influence, government leaders, priests, common people, whoever - that to follow him would require the selling of what we have to ensure the poor are taken care of.

Psalm 72 gives us a portrait of what truly good government looks like: the bringing of justice to those who are poor, the rescue of children in need, the deliverance of those who cry out because of oppression, the care and compassion of the vulnerable, the redemption of those subject to violence, where abundance is generously distributed among all and peace and not war prevails.

Some will respond by saying that the priorities of Psalm 72 refers to a kingdom still to come. I would argue that they are also the priorities God calls us to advance here and now, not only in our theology, churches and private lives, but in what we require of our governments and all those in authority, beginning of course with ourselves.

The full article is available here

Why Environmentalism Is an Important Spiritual Discipline - Stephen Mattson in Sojourner's

The splendor and wonder of creation — Natural Revelation — is observable proof of God and God’s sovereignty. But what happens when it’s not visible?

This concept is often taught from a privileged and Westernized perspective, where scenes of picturesque mountain ranges, pristine lakes and rivers, beautiful wild animals, and lovely plants are used to portray the sheer majesty of God.

For many of us, this is an easy reality to absorb because we love nature and have access to the outdoors, scenic parks, and unpolluted land.  The sad reality is that Natural Revelation — as we interpret it to be — doesn’t really exist for millions of people living in horrid conditions.

If you really believe that the earth reflects God’s glory, when you don’t take care of it and let it become poisoned — you’re essentially keeping people from experiencing the goodness of God.

Pollution, destruction, and the exploitation of our world isn’t a victimless crime — it’s intentionally hiding God from others. The act of making our earth less desirable is blinding others to the goodness of God.

The full article is available here

My Faith Demands That I Make A Difference - President Jimmy Carter

A Sabbath Mood - Wendell Berry

A Healthy View Of The Bible - Unfundamentalist Christians

Evolution of the Church Service - Spencer Burke

What does the idea of a cause community look like in reality? Simply, it answers the question, “How can we love our neighbor?” 

Church function, even its survival, needs more than just a change in metaphors. We are beginning to ask some very fundamental questions.

Do we need to own a building that is used 10% of the week for a 60 to 90-minute teaching service?

Does it make sense in this environmental, carbon-footprint world to drive and listen to a non-interactional presentation, especially when people can capture that teaching while they’re out exercising or driving to work?

It’s clear that people still want commonality and community. Those two aspects of church are staying strong, but what happens in the middle is what holds it all together.  It seems we may be witnessing another fundamental shift in church culture; from a teaching community to a cause community.

In a cause community, the weekly focus shifts from the teaching-based Sunday morning to a multiple-day throughout the week involvement with the community around a cause. Just as Jesus says “come follow me,” rather than “stay and hear me out."

What does the idea of a cause community look like in reality? Simply, it answers the question, “How can we love our neighbor?”

One beautiful thing the church has always had is people who are committed to finding ways to love each other and others around them. In this way, we are resource-rich. If church shifted its purpose to utilizing these resources, a church might look like a mobile barbershop or a community garden, a tutoring program or serving in a senior Alzheimer’s center.

The full article is available here