New Year Benediction: Being Aware And On The Lookout (based on Matthew 13:9)

As we leave today, we head into an unmapped future. As we live it, may we have our eyes, ears, hearts, and minds open.  May we be aware of God's presence, which can be found everywhere around us as well as within us. May we be on the lookout for it in the parts of our lives where we could use more love and grace. May we pour it out into God's world, which yearns to be made new again.

May compassion and hope, which are found in God, be the road on which we walk, today and always.

New Year Reflection and Renewal: Give Us Awareness

God, for some of us, the forthcoming New Year brings feelings of excitement, empowerment, and anticipation. We look back and feel fulfilled in what we have achieved in the last year and look forward to what we will take on in the coming year.

However, for some of us, the passing of another year simply adds to the tally of days, weeks, months, and years of hardship. A New Year arriving reminds us of how long we've been in pain, of how long we've felt incomplete, of how long we've seen injustice, cruelty, prejudice, hate, and violence continue to do damage in your world, God; of how long we've been waiting for something good to come our way.

From whatever condition we find ourselves in God, hear our prayer.

If we feel fulfilled and at ease, give us empathy for those who are suffering and help us to be your hands and feet to them. If we are suffering, help us to notice where some answers to our prayers may already be waiting for us in the world you created and called "good."

Amen

New Year Call To Worship: Live In Awareness (based on Ephesians 4:1)

A new day has dawned. A new year is about to begin. Jesus, may we look to how you've showed us to live. As we move towards our hopes and dreams for the future, Spirit, may we listen for your voice. As we enter a new year with anticipation and excitement, and as we gather now to give thanks and praise, guide us God.

Holy Family 2x Fled Murderous Tyrants As Refugees

The Holy Family was twice forced to flee as refugees to get outside of a murderous tyrant’s jurisdictions. 

This fact debunks the common talking point that the Holy Family’s flight “wouldn’t qualify them as refugees” because they were “moving within the Roman Empire.”

2 years after Jesus was born, Herod the Great issued a command that all male children two years old and younger, in and around Bethlehem, are to be put to death (Matthew 2:16).

So Mary, Jesus, and Joseph flex from Bethlehem to Egypt, which was outside the jurisdiction of Herod.

After Herod died in early 4 B.C., they soon begin their travel back to Judea and Bethlehem. However, as Mary and Joseph approach Judea, it is discovered that Herod Archelaus, the eldest surviving son of Herod the Great, is the new ruler of the area (Matthew 2:22). Like his father, Archelaus ruled with tyranny and cruelty.

Joseph's fears about living within Judea are confirmed when God sent him a warning in a dream. The family continued their travels northward to their hometown of Nazareth (Matthew 2:22 - 23).

The city was part of Galilee, which was outside the jurisdiction of Herod Archelaus. Galilee was ruled by a another son of Herod the Great named Herod Antipas. This son had a slightly less violent disposition than Archelaus. (Citation: http://www.biblestudy.org/maps/the-journeys-of-mary-and-joseph.html)

It should also be noted that nowhere in Scripture is it indicated that Mary, Joseph, or Jesus were Roman Citizens. (Citation: https://historum.com/threads/is-jesus-christ-a-roman-citizen.134847/)

Incarnation = Embodiment In The Human Condition

Advent Reflection and Renewal: Radical Hope

God,

It may seem naïve to us, in a world that is still full of grief, to talk about the joy of good news; to speak of all oppression ceasing in a world that is still full of suffering and injustice. 

But Jesus came to bring joy into our grief and light into our darkness; to bring good news to the poor, and to fill the hungry with good things.

Help us to embrace the radical hope of your kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven; of peace on earth and goodwill to all.

Amen

Advent: Hoping, Crying Out, and Laboring for Peace and Justice - Do Justice

This Advent, let's cry out against suffering and injustice, let's keep hoping for the coming restoration and renewal, and let us work diligently to bring about as much of that hopeful vision as we can, as soon as we can. 

War, wildfires, violence, famine, people fleeing danger forced to be refugees, people fleeing death and violence forced to be asylum seekers. Oil spills and poisoned water and seas choked by plastics. It’s no wonder the whole of creation groans for freedom from bondage, hopes for glory and restoration.  It’s no wonder that we Christians too, filled with the Holy Spirit, long for full adoption into the family of God as we colabor in the redemption of all creation.

Romans 8:18-25 captures perfectly the sense of these times. As the earth literally burns around us, as people flee their homes around the world before the sometimes figurative, sometimes literal scorched earth of violence and abuse, we cannot help crying out.

And yet, we find that we must wait.

But waiting patiently is different from waiting quietly. Creation groans, and we groan. We cry out in our suffering, just as the creation in California cries out to God, dressed in ashes like Jerusalem in mourning. Refugees lament, and rightly so. Asylum seekers lament, as they should.

In our crying out, we are in the same boat as God. Jesus, “God with us,” arrived in a time of turmoil to an occupied and oppressed people, not a time of peace.

Waiting patiently is also different from waiting passively. Through the act of crying out, we learn the urgency felt by the people who are suffering. From lament we are called to action.

We are supposed to work diligently and urgently toward the peace, reconciliation, and restoration we hope for. We are to work to help all of God’s creation, and this is a means of displaying our love for God as well.

Throughout this Advent season, let cry out with the suffering creation and all who are living through hardship. Let us keep hoping for the coming peace, restoration, and reconciliation that will finally end all suffering and injustice. And let us work faithfully, diligently, patiently, for all of God’s creation to bring about as much of that hopeful vision as we can, as soon as we can.

The full article is available here

Jesus Was Born As One Of The Oppressed - Shelley Douglas

The Real Mary Was Seen As Dangerous By Powers That Be - Scot McKnight

Read The Bible For Discernment To Respond Decisively Here & Now - Thomas Merton

Advent Reflection: Who Exactly Is "God With?" - CRC Office of Social Justice

If the gospel of Emmanuel is to be good news to all things - then now is the time for that gospel to be proclaimed and lived like never before.

In Colossians, Paul writes that, in Christ, God is “pleased to reconcile to himself all things” (Col. 1:20).  All people, of course. But “all things” means a whole new ball game. The creation belongs to God, and he is reconciling all of it.

At this moment in history, this is good news like never before - and an unprecedented challenge. That’s because in less than 50 years, our earth has lost more than half of all of its mammals, fish, reptiles, and birds. They, who once flourished with their Creator’s blessing, have dwindled under the heavy hand of habitat destruction, pollution, and exploitation.

If the gospel of Emmanuel is to be good news to all things - then now is the time for that gospel to be proclaimed and lived like never before.

The full article is available here

4 Ways to Support Asylum Seekers at the US-Mexico Border - Do Justice

Many are wondering what Christians who are far from the U.S. southern border can do to seek justice and support the dignity of those who are migrating.

Here are a few ideas:

1) Contemplate/Meditate. If you’re wondering where you can find words to guide you in contemplation and meditation focusing on the “migrant caravan,”these words might help.

2) Learn. Watch and share this video, where CRC pastor Rev. Sandra Van Opstal interviews leaders who are on the ground in Tijuana (including OSJ’s mobilizer on the ground in Southern California, Vanessa Soltero Martinez).

3) Give. Organizations like Matthew 25 So Cal are working tirelessly to support leaders in Mexico and along the border. They’re seeking gifts that go directly to the migrants.

4) Advocate. Your voice is critical -- and it’s easy to raise it. Go to this action alert to learn more.

The full article is available here

Thoughts On Lauren Daigle and Wrestling With Being Affirming of LGBTQ - Jeff Wiersma

Sure, Lauren Daigle's recent statement might not be as fully fledged of a statement of support of LGBTQ people as I'd have preferred.  However, it is evidence of someone willing to wrestle with their faith out of a desire to have intellectual integrity; someone who isn't content to settle for what Fundagelicalism takes as a given and often demands rigid adherence to.  Doing so runs counter to the Fundagelical rip current, and anyone willing to go against that powerful of flow should be commended.

I've never been much of a fan of Lauren Daigle's music, but to be fair, I fastidiously avoid almost all "Christian Music." 

Though Daigle is undeniably talented vocally, her unmistakable singing similarities to Adele always struck me as a bit derivative.

That being said, I was intrigued by her recent comments on no longer being able or willing to say that homosexuality is a sin - due to the fact that there are people she loves who are homosexuals and she is not God. (I read about it on CBN's website, but there's NO WAY I'm linking to them from my blog, sorry.)

At first blush, I was disappointed.  I wished she had been able to be fully affirming of LGBTQ people. As a straight white person, I share her privileged position of not having my humanity questioned by moralizers, and to me it felt like her not being affirming was a missed opportunity by someone in that kind of privileged position.

However, I then thought back to the fear and cognitive dissonance I felt when my beliefs and convictions on this subject matter began to grow and evolve while I was still inside the cloistered Fundagelical world. 

Though I was in a position of leadership, I didn't have anything even remotely resembling the public persona that Lauren Daigle does - and I knew all too well how truly terribly the Fundagelical boundary police often conduct themselves.

I won't be surprised at all if major corporate interests in Contemporary Christian Music Industry seek to severely punish Lauren financially.  CD and record burning parties and vitriolic character assassination wouldn't surprise me in the least. 

As a veteran of the CCM industry, Daigle knew full well that she was risking a backlash, and yet she had enough courage and integrity to be forthright about where she currently finds herself in her pursuit of truth as regards LGBTQ.

Sure, Lauren Daigle's recent statement might not be as fully fledged of a statement of support of LGBTQ people as I'd have preferred.  However, it is evidence of someone willing to wrestle with their faith out of a desire to have intellectual integrity; someone who isn't content to settle for what Fundagelicalism takes as a given and often demands rigid adherence to.  Doing so runs counter to the Fundagelical rip current, and anyone willing to go against that powerful of flow should be commended.

5 Of The Most Problematic Christmas Carols - Bob Hiller

All I want for Christmas is you … to think critically about the songs you sing in church, even during Advent and Christmas.

This is the time of year where some of our weakest, most heterodox, and downright strange church songs get lots of attention. It is rather frustrating that these songs tend to be quite popular!

It's likely these songs will be sung in your church this season, despite the fact that they contain some significant flaws. Sentimentality and nostalgia are powerful emotions , but why can they be problematic in Advent?

Because a vital component of the story of Jesus' birth is that it wasn't all warm and fuzzy. It took place in the midst of real life pain, blood, poverty, imperial oppression, and discomfort. Jesus was fully human, and cloying fictional and sanitized stories can obscure or distract from this crucial understanding.

All I want for Christmas is you…to think critically about the songs you sing in church, even during Advent and Christmas.

(5) Do You Hear What I Hear? Here’s a song that is just trying too hard to be profound. Instead of propounding some penetrating spiritual insight, it merely creates a fictional game of telephone taking place on the night that Jesus was born.

(4) Away In A Manger. This song exemplifies one perpetual problem we find plaguing Christmas hymns: sentimental Gnosticism. There is something inside of us that doesn’t want to think of our Lord as being fully human. We want to clean him up. We think it impious and crass to speak of the holy infant as a baby who fills his holy diaper and keeps his parents up at night crying for milk.

(3) We Three Kings of Orient Are. Liturgically, this song doesn’t belong to Christmas either. The magi are men of Epiphany. In light of this, I am recommending that my church do an Epiphany Living Nativity. Only, in this one, instead of everyone standing around, reverently gazing at the baby Jesus doll, we’ll have six or seven overly costumed magicians chasing my two year old around our parking lot while Mary cooks dinner and Joseph has bad dreams.

(2) Little Drummer Boy. The story isn’t true, it's fiction. It also puts forth some works righteousness (do your best and then the baby Jesus will smile at you). But most crucially, it doesn't seem plausible that an exhausted, sore, and still pain-addled mother would let a drummer bang a snare drum for her newborn baby.

(1) Silent Night. The main idea of this song is not…well…true. The night when Jesus was born was not a silent or calm one, just as no human birth has ever been silent. Far from the Gnostic, sentimentalized picture of a baby with glorious beams of light shooting from his face, our Jesus was born into a loud, sinful, messy world in a loud, painful, and messy way. Mary gave birth next to a feeding trough.

Biblical Pronouns For God Include Feminine Ones: How Do We Utilize Them? - Aaron Potek

The concept of a feminine component to God has roots in traditional Judaism.

Although God in the Hebrew Bible is predominantly described using masculine imagery and pronouns (especially when translated into English, which lacks any gender neutral pronouns), there are several instances where feminine imagery and pronouns are used.

After all, the concept of a feminine component to God has roots in traditional Judaism.

For those of us who works with language in a church leadership setting (songs, liturgy, preaching, etc.), there are a few ways to work with this issue, including:

1) Use female pronouns for God.  While referring to God as "she" might distracting since we're not accustomed to it, that concern may be outweighed by the significant downside of using exclusively male pronouns for God.

2) Remove all pronouns for referring to God. While this may technically be the most accurate way to speak about God, it can be linguistically challenging. Nevertheless, avoiding gendered pronouns may be the best way to disentangle God, and, by extension, conceptions of authority, from destructive affiliations with a particular gender.

3) Use the singular "they." The first human is referred to as “them” in Genesis 1:27. In Genesis 1:26, God says, "let US make man in OUR image."

Yes, changing the way we speak about God can feel daunting. But these changes can be viewed as progress, moving us away from a flawed conception of God as “masculine.”

Maybe these changes can bring us closer to the fulfillment of the second commandment: “You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image, or any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or on the earth below…” (Exodus 20:4).

The full article is available here

Christian Humanitarian Group Responds To Trump Trying To Change US Asylum Law - World Relief

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1158

"To attempt to restrict the right to request asylum is both morally troubling and legally questionable,” said World Relief senior vice president Emily B. Gray. 

"Our staff have witnessed those seeking asylum being told to wait for several weeks before being allowed to lawfully present their claims at the port of entry, which is why some have availed themselves of the legal option of requesting asylum elsewhere, as explicitly permitted by U.S. law.

To attempt to restrict the right to request asylum is both morally troubling and legally questionable,” said World Relief senior vice president Emily B. Gray.

“While we call upon our government to follow U.S. law as it adjudicates each case, we also are mindful of the role of the church," said World Relief president Scott Arbeiter.

"Jesus instructs to love our neighbors, and he made clear in his parable of the Good Samaritan that the ‘neighbor’ whom we are called to love could specifically include a foreign traveler in need."

"We encourage Christians throughout the country to respond with Christ-like compassion to the plight of these individuals, and to advocate with our elected officials to ensure that life-saving asylum protections within U.S. law are not disregarded.”

The full article is available here

Religious Right's Disturbing Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Video: Attack On Christian Social Justice Organizations

The open letter linked to the anti-Semetic video was signed by Eric Metaxas, George Barna, Steve Largent, and Everett Piper, among others. 

President Trump's religious right supporters have just launched a new antisemitic conspiracy-theory video attacking Christian social-justice organizations.

The so-called "American Association of Evangelicals," which first emerged on the eve of the 2016 presidential election, alleges that Christian social-justice organizations are a part of "Soros's formula for killing America."

The open letter linked to the anti-Semetic video was signed by Eric Metaxas, George Barna, Steve Largent, and Everett Piper, among others.

If you don't have a weak stomach, you can view the video and letter here.

Fear Is Not A Faithful Response To Refugees - Sandy Ovalle

Most often, God comes into the world in the form of those we least expect: the blind, the leper, the foreign woman, and now, these immigrant families.

Families from the Northern Triangle of Central America often cite poverty as a leading cause to migrate north. Usually unseen are the larger causes that contribute to poverty in Central America — the acts of violence that target vulnerable families and the U.S. involvement in the destabilization of these countries.

Multiple false narratives have vilified mothers, children, and families who are seeking a safer and more stable future. Many have appropriated this moment for political gain, painting these people's plight as a “national emergency” that is to be met by armed troops.

Others point to national security, emphasizing the presence of Africans and Middle Easterners among the people in the "caravan," seemingly to stoke fear. And other responses portray immigrants as disease-carrying agents, even “lepers” that will infect people in the U.S. and create a public health crisis.

Fear can prevent us from hearing and receiving the many gifts that immigrant families bring with them. Fear will only drive us further from love and further away from each other.

Most often, God comes into the world in the form of those we least expect: the blind, the leper, the foreign woman, and now, these immigrant families.

The full article is available here

Why Nationalism is Dangerous and Incompatible with Christianity - Jennifer Butler

Here are two fundamental reasons nationalism doesn’t work for Christians:

First, we believe in human dignity as described in Genesis and the creation story. Human beings are created in God’s image and to be treated with dignity and respect regardless of nationality, race, or religion.

Second, love of God is inextricably intertwined with love of neighbor. Jesus told us the Greatest Commandment was to love God, and the second was tied to it: love your neighbor as yourself.

The full article is available here

Nationalism Is Idalotrous - Jonathan Martin

Reflection And Renewal: Life Is Free & Abundant, Not Controlled & Limited (based on John 10:10)

God, you are the source of beauty and the maker of all good things. Your handiwork is on full display in your universe. Your divine spark indwells all of your creation.

But we don't always give you the credit that you deserve for that, especially when we don't see life as something that you've freely and abundantly gifted to your universe.  Instead, we create idols - of status, of power, of wealth, of being in control - each stemming from a fearful, constricted view of life.

You give life to all with open hands. We clench our fists to hang on tightly to what we can or to forcefully fight for take what we want to be in possession of.

Forgive us. We know that when we’re honest about our shortcomings and brokenness, you promise to not hold them against us. Instead you move within us in grace and love. Help us to be willing to let go of our fearful lenses and to begin to see your world as the gift that it is.

 Amen.

The Church and Structural Injustice - Archbishop Oscar Romero

Finding the We: God’s Grace can Transform Environmental Racism - Do Justice!

The Christian Reformed Church is one of many denominations that has taken the symbolic action of repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery. The concrete actions required to undo its horrific legacy in our hearts, minds, and society require us to follow our faith into a very counter-cultural lifestyle. It takes conscious decisions every day.

The water crises in Flint and Detroit are more universal than we readily see. In mainstream U.S. culture, we view water as a “resource.”

Rather than a gift from God which is necessary for all of creation to flourish, or a living relative with which we share kinship in God’s creation, most of us view water as a commodity. However, we don’t just do this to water: we do it to people, and to entire communities.

Commodification of God’s creation and people in the United States and Canada has deep roots in the Doctrine of Discovery, heretical teachings pushed forward through Christian institutions to justify theft, slavery, and genocide in the colonial era by putting white Europeans at the top of a Church-sanctioned racial hierarchy.

Today, those of us born and raised in the United States too often unconsciously perpetuate the systemic racism and greed with which our continent was colonialized.

The Christian Reformed Church is one of many denominations that has taken the symbolic action of repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery. The concrete actions required to undo its horrific legacy in our hearts, minds, and society require us to follow our faith into a very counter-cultural lifestyle. It takes conscious decisions every day, and only by the grace of God can we change.

The full article is available here

Benediction: We Are All God's Children Who Were Made For Abundant Life (based on Psalm 32:1-5)

Rich, poor; young, old; goody-two-shoes or scoundrel ... we are all God's children. God desires to transform all of us into the loving, giving, and life-filled people we are meant to be.  Where we are broken, we can begin healing. Where we are separated from others, we can have begin to have meaningful connection restored.

God, as receivers of your grace, help us to be grace-givers in the lives we lead in your world.

Call To Worship: The Infinite Goodness Of God Is Available To Us (based on Ephesians 3:18)

The bottomless depth of God's mercy, the infinite expanse of God's grace, and the endless wellspring of God's love: all of these are available to us as we join in God's work of restoring all of creation to the fullness of life and original goodness it was created for.

Christian Nationalism Exemplified By Pro-Trump Propaganda Film "The Trump Prophecy"

In the film’s blasphemous theology, resisting the authority of a sitting president - or, at least, this sitting president - is conflated with resisting God.

 The Trump Prophecy is more than just a ham-fisted, low-budget movie created by Liberty University.

It’s the purest distillation of pro-Trump Christian nationalism: the insidious, idolatrous heresy that implicitly links patriotism and U.S. Exceptionalism with Conservative, White Evangelical Christianity.

The Trump Prophecy wants you to believe that submission to Authoritarian Right Wing political powers and submission to God are one and the same.

In the film’s blasphemous theology, resisting the authority of a sitting president - or, at least, this sitting president - is conflated with resisting God.

The full article is available here

Benediction: Welcoming Love That Includes Everyone (based on Isaiah 43:19)

May we seek God's Spirit within and around us, so that we become agents of restoration and renewal in God's world. May we seek to be God’s hands and feet and to practice welcoming love which includes everyone.

Reflection and Renewal: Oceans of Justice, Rivers of Mercy (based on Amos 5:21-24)

God speaking to his people:

"Religion that doesn’t seek justice and love mercy rings hollow to me. I am the God who stands with the poor, the marginalized, the refugee, the orphan, the foreigner in your land, the widow, the oppressed.

Do you know what I really want? I want justice - oceans of it. I want mercy - rivers of it. That’s what I want. That’s all I want."

Journeying As Spiritual Discipline: Changed On The Way - Marjory Bankson

Pilgrimage - journeying beyond our own comfort zone - will do that; shift focus, explode prejudice, reveal God in a new way.

Retreat is a time to step back, survey the field and listen for God’s whisper. Pilgrimage is a “call of the wild,” to be open to discomfort, challenge and the rough wild path of change. Spiritual seekers need both.

In Mark 7:24-37, Jesus wants retreat. He’s gone to the beach in Phoenicia, to get away from pressing crowds. Mark says he didn’t want anyone to know he was there. But then a local woman comes to beg a favor. She wants Jesus to heal her daughter.

He tries to protect his privacy. He’s snippy and cold, using language close to a racial slur: “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”

She swats back: “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

With that rhetorical slap in the face, Jesus himself is changed. His world expands. He’s on the rough wild way of a pilgrimage now, suddenly seeing with new eyes, hearing with fresh ears. He drops an old view, accepts a new reality. Jesus has been changed on the way.

Pilgrimage - journeying beyond our own comfort zone - will do that; shift focus, explode prejudice, reveal God in a new way.

The full article is available here

Thoughts On John McArthur's "Social Justice & the Gospel" Statement - Daniel José Camacho

The statement on "Social Justice & the Gospel" by these conservative evangelicals needs to be seen for what it is; a misguided reaction - based on fear - which is intent on sacralizing the interpretations of privileged white men.

This statement attempts to bifurcate social justice concerns from the Gospel and paint these concerns as secular impositions on scripture.

This statement sees "intersectionality, radical feminism, & critical race" as ideological enemies of faith & as inconsistent with biblical teaching.

But what does this practically mean?

The result is smuggling in various prejudices and presenting them as purely "biblical.”

The statement on "Social Justice & the Gospel" needs to be seen for what it is; a misguided reaction - based on fear - which is intent on sacralizing the interpretations of privileged white men.

The full article is available here

When Christians Sell Out To Empire For Political Power - Religious News Service

What is the cost of this wholesale Religious Right sellout? Among other concerns ... is the plight of persecuted Christians and other religious minorities around the world, as well as Muslims fleeing terrorism and civil war fought with chemical weapons, who have been all but abandoned by the Trump’s near shutdown of the long-standing U.S. refugee resettlement program.

On August 27, the Trump White House hosted something like a state dinner to "honor the leadership of American evangelicals."

Many cabinet members were present, along with the president, the first lady and dozens of members of the group of informal evangelical advisers (Religious Right leaders mainly) who enjoy unique access to President Trump, including Trump's spiritual advisor Paula White; the 3x married heretical prosperity gospel preacher.

It’s the latest puzzling contradiction raised by evangelicals working in the service of a president whose character and so many of his policies stand in direct contradiction to the words of Jesus.

What is the cost of this wholesale Religious Right sellout? Among other concerns is the plight of persecuted Christians and other religious minorities around the world, as well as Muslims fleeing terrorism and civil war fought with chemical weapons, who have been all but abandoned by the president’s near shutdown of the long-standing U.S. refugee resettlement program.

However, it's not surprising that most of the president’s evangelical supporters are not lobbying on behalf of Muslim refugees. Some of them were calling for a Muslim ban before Donald Trump did. Inexplicably ... soul-wrenchingly ... fully 3/4 of white evangelicals supported the president’s initial executive order barring refugees and Muslims from entering the country.  (A refresher on Jesus' Good Samaritan parable would seem to be in order).

The full article is available here

The Church Shouldn't Coerce Because God Doesn't Coerce - Anthony of Sourozh

Benediction: A New Way Of Life In Our Everyday Lives (based on Matthew 6:10)

In our everyday lives, may God's spirit within us and all around us help us to be hopeful in seeking, thankful in receiving, and joyful in finding.

May we embrace the way of life which Jesus both taught about and modeled for us, which can help to align us with our calling to work towards bringing out the best in everyone and everything.

The Cliches Of Popular Religion - Thomas Merton

Call To Worship: Where Love Rules Over All (based on Proverbs 16:7)

The Forge (Swords Into Plowshares) by Bo Bartlett

God of grace, we have come to catch a glimpse of your kingdom of kindness; a world where loves rules over all, where enemies embrace. We want to see a world where division and fear disappear in light of your love. 

We come to be reminded again of who you are, what you've done, and what you will continue to do. You are loving and trustworthy, with limitless and overflowing grace, and you don't give up on us.

For this, we give you thanks and praise.

Call To Worship: God Is Always Within and Around Us (based on 1 Corinthians 3:16)

God is gracious and merciful.  God is full of compassion and love. Even though we may feel alone at times, God is always within and around us.  For this constant and tireless grace, may our hearts and souls be filled with gratitude.

So let's join together and give thanks.

Call To Worship: God Is The Creative Spark of All Life (based on Isaiah 6:3)

God, you are the creative spark of new life. We have come seeking you in this new day. As the architect of life and wholeness, we ask that you would open our souls to your stirring. 

Spirit, you are the creator of awe and beauty. Open our eyes to your ever-surrounding and indwelling presence.

Jesus, you are the one through whom everything came into existence. Open our hearts to your love and hope.

Everything that God creates is good. The entire universe is filled with God’s goodness. For this all-encompassing grace, we give thanks and praise.

The relationship between U.S. evangelicals & Putin's Russian Orthodox Church - The Christian Century

The greatest peril that both groups face in forging these alliances with nationalist authoritarian movements of Putin and Trump is political co-optation. After all, the gospel is NOT about stabilizing national identity or securing national pride.

U.S. evangelicals had formed an odd alliance of their own with leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church. American evangelicals are led to make common cause with Russian Orthodoxy - and with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin - because of a deep and shared suspicion of postmodern Western cultural progress and diversity.

Sexual and gender politics have generated the most culture war heat for these 2 groups, but “traditional values” have also included nationalistic tropes like patriotism, respect for the military, and the celebration of historic religious national identities (which are idolatrous), as in “Christian America” or “Holy Russia.”

The language of "traditional values" is a slippery slope. While there may be much that Christians through the centuries have been able to agree upon, issues of sexuality, gender, and war require ongoing theological reflection and clarification.

Moreover, appeals to so-called "traditional values" tend in practice to marginalize non-Orthodox religious groups in Russia and both non-believers and non-evangelical believers in the U.S.

The greatest peril that both groups face in forging these alliances is political co-optation. Afterall, the gospel is not about stabilizing national identity or securing national pride.

Both U.S. evangelicals and Russian Orthodox hierarchs could do much more to resist the unjust policies and totalitarian tendencies of their respective presidents and to work to move their nations - and churches - toward self-examination, humility, and repentance.

The full article is available here

Evaluating Your Faith Practice - Reverend Jes Kast

Call To Worship: Take Up Our Cross and Follow (based on Matthew 16:24)

Loving God, you call us to turn away from our own selfish interests, to take up our cross, and to follow you. To find our lives, may we live them in service of your mission.

As we come before you this morning, give us open hearts and open hands. Make us eager to hear your voice and seek your guidance. Open our minds to your ever-present spirit that is always moving within and around us. Open our spirits to your nudging and open our lives to your love.

Call To Worship: Doing Work of Jesus In The World Today based on Luke 4:18

Our job is to bring the spirit of Christ’s message and to do the work of Jesus in the world today. In Luke 4:18, Jesus said that work was to: “... [t]o proclaim good news to the poor, freedom for the prisoner,  recovery of sight for the blind, and to set the oppressed free.”

Today, it is up to us to be the good news of love and liberation. We can do this once we see the world through the eyes of God, who sees those who are suffering and oppressed as “blessed.”

For this boundless and limitless grace, we give thanks and praise.

Call To Worship: Re-centering Ourselves With God's Presence (based on Matthew 22:39)

God, you call us to live in ways that honor you and bless our neighbors. Your goodness is our source for the love, justice, and peace which you've tasked us with pouring out into your world.

So we come once again seeking to recharge in your life-giving presence. As we re-center ourselves around your perfect love, may you shape and reshape our hearts to be more like yours.

May what we say, sing, and hear this morning open our spirits to connect with you, God, and lead us to be your hands and feet to the world which you created and called "good."

Benediction: May We Be All About Life (based on Ephesians 2:10)

As we go out from here to our parts of God's world, may God's love be where we find our identity. May that love help us be "all about life," bringing peace, hope, care, and comfort to any and all who are in need of it.

Call To Worship: The Expanse Of God's Love Shaping Who We Are (based on Genesis 1:31)

As we gather today God, help us to listen so that we may hear your voice in this world that you created and called “good.” God, open our minds to the vast expanse of your love. Help us to allow it to shape who we are. God, open our eyes to see your fingerprints in all that surrounds us, so that our lives will be worship to you.

Reflection and Renewal: Our Stories Shaped By Larger Stories Around Us (based on John 10:27)

God, thank you for the power of stories to move us, to inspire us, and to guide us. Thank you for the way that you've designed life to be meaningful and interconnected, for how our smaller stories are part of the larger stories around us.

If we follow what Jesus taught and modeled, we are invited into your love's larger story, a story that Jesus always inclusively expanded the scope of.

But we don't always give your story our undivided attention. We live in the midst of other powerful stories which have entirely different priorities than yours; stories which tell us to see everyone else as competitors to be bested by any means necessary, that tell us to look out for number one, that tell us that the way to become great is to acquire and wield power, wealth, influence, and control.

When we live pursuit of those aims we can end up being "of the world, but not in it." When we follow those skewed values, we often withdraw from others and miss the work of renewal and restoration that you've tasked with living out in your world.

Forgive us. Helps us to keep your love's story as our primary guide. Give us awareness when we've tuned it out in favor of contradictory narratives, even unintentionally. Help us to grow from "life being all about us" towards "us being all about life."

On The Mountain Top - Jeff Wiersma

Up on the mountain top, there's a pristine calm and peace. The sky is stretching on forever in all directions. Pretty much all that I can hear are birds singing, insects buzzing, and the gentle afternoon breeze in the trees.

Every so often, a jet goes by thousands of feet above; a mechanical interruption of the otherwise-natural serenity. Instinctually, I’m extremely annoyed by this unwelcome interruption. But in my quest to let all things me by teacher, I pause and decide to calm down. As I do, I'm reminded of the real world - away from this mountain top - where we all live; where there's noise and clamor, busyness and greed, violence and disharmony.

The contrast between the peace and quiet of the mountaintop and the perpetual noise and busyness of the real world are reminding me of how much life is an art of balance. 

The mountaintop feels quiet and safe now, in the afternoon; but should I remain here after the sun sets, it might not be. It would be extremely risky to try to make my way down mountain trails in darkness, let alone the nocturnal wildlife I might encounter!

And while the world below this mountaintop can be a grind, it's also where the people and places that I care about - which bring my life meaning and fulfillment - reside.

We need experiences of both solitude and fulfilling usefulness to the world in order to be well and whole. We need contemplative times of quiet and solitude so that we can cease striving for awhile. 

The time away from the treadmill of "work, produce, consume, and repeat" allows us to refill our soul's reserves, which are often drained by the demands of everyday life. Without times of reflection and literal recreation, we become calculating and cynical realists; we become solely results-oriented.

Ignoring our innate need for quiet often leads us to withdraw inward to protect the self, but can quickly lead to an insular view of life.

As well, we need meaningful real world lives in community. After all, we are hardwired to be about the work of doing what our's to do to bring out the very best in everything in our portion of the world. 

Ignoring our innate need for interconnection and "being human together" leaves us as less-than-fully-living beings.

To use the times of each day when we are awake and asleep as an analogy; time away from the busyness of life is the "sleeping" to the "waking" of everyday life. 

If one goes without sleep for too long, the ability to continue to function declines precipitously. Deprived of rest, our cognitive abilities quickly become impaired.

If one sleeps and never wakes, nothing in life would get done. What's ours to do in the work of rehumanizing our world would be neglected. Those who rely on us to help meet their needs would be deprived and would suffer.

And so we must balance our times of sleeping and waking to be a whole being.  As far as analogies go, I find it instructive.

Reflection and Renewal: Not Being Fully Present Makes Us Miss Grace (based on Psalm 103:12)

God, when you look at us, your view of us isn’t defined by the things that we’ve all done wrong. Instead, you see us in the original goodness that you created the entire universe with.

If we're honest, we have to admit that we're not nearly as good as you are at seeing the world in that way. We tend to hold onto lingering unforgiveness and grudges towards people we've seen do wrong.

We often define people solely based upon their moments of imperfection. This can keep us from seeing them as people who you've called us to help to bring the best out of.

Other times, we form finals opinion of others before we’ve even met them - based on their appearance,  their status, their ethnicity, or a whole host of other preconceived notions. We’re so used to quickly  devaluing people in this way that we often do it without even meaning to or without even realizing that we’re doing it!

Forgive us. Help us to better at being aware enough to be fully present in our lives. Help us to remember the truth that your all-encompassing grace can be found in each and every moment.

Amen.

Benediction: Being Fully Present To Actively Listen and Be Aware (based on Revelation 21:5)

As we go out from here into our parts of God's world, may we practice being fully present in our lives so that we can actively listen for, and be paying attention to, all that needs healing, renewal, and restoration; both within us and around us in God's world.

Call To Worship: As We Gather, Help Us To Be Fully Present (based on Psalm 46:10)

God, as we gather this morning, some of us may be distracted. Help us to feel some calm. Some of us are carrying worry. Help us to feel some peace.

Some of us have lives that are cluttered. Help us to find some room to breath. Some of us have minds that are racing. Help us to feel some stillness. Some of us are clinging tightly to things due to fear. Help us to feel some calm.

Help us to be fully present as we come seeking connection with you and each other.

The Bible's Resistance To Power - John Wilson-Hartgrove