Call To Worship: God, Help Us To Be Open (based on Proverbs 19:11)

God, the noise in our lives is loud. Open our ears to your still, small voice.

God, the darkness within and around us feels threatening. Open our eyes to the light of your presence.

God of overflowing mercy, we cling tightly to so many things. Open our minds and hands in generosity and joy.

God of all people, we're often told that we need to fear those who are “other.” Open our arms to the stranger, the refugee, and the oppressed. Open our hearts to the expanse of your love.

God, replace our anger and fear with your peace. Open our souls to receive your grace as we give you thanks and praise.

The Trinity: The System Update Christianity Needs - Cynthia Bourgeault

Benediction: Grace Givers (based on Ephesians 4:32)

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

Responsive Call To Worship: We Have Brokenness In Our Lives (based on Psalm 34:18)

Reader: God, we gather as people who know we have brokenness in our lives.
All: We admit that we need your help.

Reader: Our need for your mercy is constant.
All: Yet we know that no one is beyond your grace.

Reader: So graciously move in our hearts and minds.
All: Keep reminding us of the hope that we have in you.

Reader: May the love of Jesus become alive in us.
All:  Thank you for your mercy and love.  We give you praise.

Lent: A Season to Remember - from Bread For The Journey

Teresa of Avila: A Mystic for Our Times - Mirabai Starr at Shalem Institute

What can Teresa of Avila offer us five hundred years after her death?

Teresa of Avila models the living balance between action and contemplation, serving others and developing an interior life, engaging in passionate human relationships and surrendering to the divine mystery. She was an ecstatic mystic and skillful administrator, a fool of God and an insightful psychotherapist, a penitent when she needed to be and an epicurean when she could be.

Teresa of Avila was fully, deeply, unapologetically herself. If she had written a letter to which her correspondent had not replied, she did not hesitate to write again, demanding, “Why haven’t you answered my letter? Don’t you love me? Do you have any idea of the pain your silence is causing me?”

Nor was she reluctant to talk back to God. In the midst of harrowing external trials, Teresa’s first response was to withdraw to a quiet place and go within. There, she would confront her Beloved: “What’s going on here, Lord?” One day, the divine voice answered, “This is how I treat my friends.” To which Teresa responded, “Well, then, no wonder you have so few!”

She was keenly discriminating about spiritual phenomena. When her nuns prayed so fervently they gave themselves nosebleeds, she would send them to bed with a sweet cup of tea and a soft blanket and forbid them from entering the chapel for a few days.

“God save us from sour-faced saints!” she would say about the self-important clerics who felt it was their job to uphold orthodoxy while never having held the Holy One in their arms and rocked him all through the night, as she regularly did.

The full article is available here

Sermon On The Mount: A Theology Of Resistance - Lindsey Paris-Lopez

Now is the time for a robust theology of resistance.

What do we make of a sermon that declares the poor blessed and commands us to love our enemies in a culture where profit equals power and war is endless?

The Sermon on the Mount is a call to resistance. It has always been subversive and counter-cultural because of its core ethic of nonviolence and its insistence on the blessing of the powerless.

Jesus blessed the people on the margins of his culture by embracing them, showing solidarity with them, building a community in which those who had always been shunned were welcomed and loved.  As the body of Christ, we are called to be that blessing.

Of course, this means we must stand with the immigrants and refugees who seek opportunity or simply survival in our nation, but it also means we must stand with those who mourn their loved ones in the wake of our government’s drone attacks and our society's economic exploitation.

The resistance Jesus teaches is neither acquiesce to evil nor returning evil for evil. Jesus instructs us to reject oppression by asserting our own dignity with firm compassion, refusing to participate in or perpetuate the cycle of violence. In doing so, we refuse to be either a helpless victim or a heartless monster, reaffirming not only our own humanity, but also that of the one who would dehumanize us.

The full article is available here

The Divine Image In All Things - Richard Rohr

Symptoms of Spiritual Awakening - Laura Marie

A time of awakening is when people have a strong desire to become their true selves as well as the change that they wish to see in the world.

We are living in a time of spiritual awakening.  Many people are filled with a desire for change. Many people are becoming more conscious and aware of issues and practices that have lasted for too long and that must change.

Many people now want to take their lives back into their own hands and escape the model imposed by society in order to really know happiness and live the life they truly want to live – not one dictated by television, magazines, movies, social identifications and all kinds of meaningless clichés many now want to get away from.

In such times, people's consciousness grows, their interests evolve, the meaning of life changes for them, and they have new aspirations and inspirations, coupled with the desire to change themselves in order to also for many, change the world.

Do you recognize yourself in any/some/all of these?

1) The feeling that something has changed inside of you

2) Awareness of your old negative habits 

3) The need to be alone or with new people more aligned with who you've become 

4) Rejection of superficiality and the inauthentic 

5) Deep sadness / compassion about the suffering in the world 

6) Feeling the need to make this world a better place 

7) A deep yearning for meaning in your life 

8) Hypersensitivity 

9) Creativity and increased inspiration 

10) Willingness to know who you truly are 

11) Increased intuitions and desire to reconnect with yourself 

12) Loss of interest in worrying – Actions based on Love and not Fear 

13) Loss of interest in any type of judgment towards others or yourself 

14) Increased willingness to love and give without expectations 

15) Feeling of being connected to everything and everyone

The full article is available here

The Bible's Upside Down Social Order - Rev Jim Wallis

God Doesn't "Bless America" - John Pavlovitz

When ideas of nationalism begin to define our theology or create our religious worldview, we fashion ourselves into an idol.

The phrase "God Bless America" implies that God chooses favorites.  This lazy phrase has saturated our Christian culture and flooded our churches and pulpits, and yet beyond an easy high, beyond a feel-good phrase to fuel our nationalistic and religious fervor—it doesn’t really mean much.

I understand patriotism. I get loving where you come from. I understand how proximity naturally breeds affinity.

It’s when these ideas of nationalism and home and country begin to define our theology or create our religious worldview that we fashion ourselves into an idol. We begin to actually renovate God in our own opulent, aggressive, materialistic image and ask that the world bow down to it.

When we imagine America as specifically blessed, we replace God’s will with our national desires. We make our country God’s focus. We act as if Divinity is on our payroll. We can then easily justify seeing those beyond our borders as inferior or dangerous or even evil.

The full article is available here

The Sad Irony of Refusing Refugees

Getting to Know Your Muslim Neighbors - The Banner

Our faith moves us to embrace people who are different from us.

I know a lot of Christians who are interested in relating with Muslims these days.

Some are learning Arabic or visiting mosques. Others are striking up conversations with Muslim business owners in their communities. While their approaches differ, all of these folks seem to be compelled by the same motivation: Christ’s call to love our neighbors as ourselves.

We don’t need to be experts on Islam to relate to Muslims. In fact, relationships are the best way for us to learn about Islam. While our brokenness makes us good at “othering”—ascribing evil motives to those who are different from us—our faith moves us to embrace our neighbor.

How magnificent it is that a Reformed theological understanding of the world affirms and encourages this kind of engagement!  Our faith moves us to embrace people who are different from us.

The full article is available here

God Of Infinite Abundance - Richard Rohr

Let Us Go Out With A Divine Dissatisfaction - Rev Martin Luther King Jr

Quotes from Southern Christian Leadership Conference address on  August 16th, 1967.

Let us go out with a divine dissatisfaction.

Let us be dissatisfied until America will no longer have a high blood pressure of creeds and an anemia of deeds.

Let us be dissatisfied until the tragic walls that separate the outer city of wealth and comfort and the inner city of poverty and despair shall be crushed by the battering rams of the forces of justice.

Let us be dissatisfied until those that live on the outskirts of hope are brought into the metropolis of daily security. Let us be dissatisfied until slums are cast into the junk heaps of history, and every family is living in a decent sanitary home.

Let us be dissatisfied until every state capitol houses a governor who will do justly, who will love mercy and who will walk humbly with his God. Let us be dissatisfied until from every city hall, justice will roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

Let us be dissatisfied until that day when the lion and the lamb shall lie down together, and every man will sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid. Let us be dissatisfied.

The road ahead will not always be smooth. There will be still rocky places of frustration and meandering points of bewilderment. There will be inevitable setbacks here and there. There will be those moments when the buoyancy of hope will be transformed into the fatigue of despair.

Our dreams will sometimes be shattered and our ethereal hopes blasted. Difficult and painful as it is, we must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future.

Inaugural Lament - Janel Apps Ramsey

An Exhortation To Action On Inauguration Day - Richard Rohr

The Church Needs To Actively Participate - Rev Martin Luther King Jr

How To Help Church Move On From "Praise & Worship" Music - Jonathan Aigner

Even by its own standards (i.e., number of butts in the seats) commercialized, contemporary praise & worship is a failed experiment at the congregational level.

I see the 3 main reasons for the decline (if not demise) of the commercialized "Praise & Worship" model.

(1) Younger generations are seeking old ways of doing things. This thankfully means an increasing rejection of the church of the 1990s and 2000s. More emphasis is being placed on liturgy and community, and less on using corporate worship chiefly as a contrived evangelistic tool. There is a burning desire to move past the shallowness of contemporary evangelicalism.

(2) Contemporary worship is an unstable and non-theological movement. To be thoroughly contemporary necessitates a slavish allegiance to the new, the current, the hip, the cool, and the commercial. It requires a thorough rejection of what is old, passe, not current, not cool, and what doesn’t make money. The bright shiny objects that get butts in the seats must continue becoming brighter and shinier. This bait-and-switch tactic is wearing thin.

(3) It's a failed construct. Even by its own standards (i.e., number of butts in the seats) commercialized, contemporary praise & worship is a failed experiment at the congregational level.  While it may fill ostentatious megachurches and suit their money-changer business model, it is an AstroTurf approach when congregations work best with grass-roots approaches.

Here are a few ways we can push forward toward a more profound understanding and experience of corporate worship.

• Choose music that can be sung well by a congregation. Corporate worship is about a time of gathering together, not about conformity to commercial forms. The "Praise & Worship" music that the Christian industry produces deemphasizes the human voice, and emphasizes soloistic interpretation, affected vocal production, and contrived performance.
• Stop conditioning attendees to be spectators. Look for liturgy, not entertainment. Worship is supposed to be the work of the people, not the jesusy entertainment of the masses. Music in worship isn’t supposed to be a vehicle for emotional manipulation, sensory gratification, or hooking an audience. Be a church where music serves the liturgy, not the masses.
• Reduce the influence of the commercial worship industry. It should disturb us greatly how much of contemporary worship is driven by money. It leads to a Sunday morning flood of poor compositions, both musically and theologically. It leads to what Michael Raiter calls “Hillsongization,” when everyone sings the same songs in basically the same way. It leads to the quality of a church’s “worship” being judged solely by how good their cover band is. It leads to a further loss of the importance of gathered worship, and the understanding of “worship” as more than just cool music. It leads to the mentality of, “With my iTunes, I can worship anywhere!”

It’s not really about music; it’s about the very purpose of gathered worship. It’s about theology, not experience. It’s about participation, not consumption. It’s about liturgy, not jesusy entertainment. It’s about being a church for the world, not getting butts in the seats.

The full article is available here

"Faith Without Works Is Awesome," Says Seattle Man - Lark News

After cramming his calendar with volunteer events for the last six years, Al Simpson finally quit all ministry activity and discovered that “doing nothing for the Lord feels way better than I expected.”

Simpson still enjoys daily time with the Lord and Bible reading. But he now refuses to lift a finger for the gospel and says no to every request to serve.

“Faith without works is an amazing lifestyle,” he says. “A little piece of me comes back to life every time I tell someone, ‘No, thanks. Find someone else.’”

The full article is available here

Was There Really "No Room in the Inn"? - Mario Seiglie

A more authentic cultural understanding enhances the meaning of the story, rather than diminishing it.

We’ve grown up hearing the account that the “inn” in Bethlehem was full, with no “room” available, so Joseph and Mary ended up in a stable, with Jesus Christ born and laid in a manger there.

This image has been used to promote the typical Christmas nativity scene for generations. Yet a careful analysis of the biblical text reveals quite a different story!

This is important, because a more authentic cultural understanding enhances the meaning of the story, rather than diminishing it.

A typical translation of Luke 2:7 says about Mary giving birth to Jesus, “And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” 

The New Testament was originally written in Greek, and the Greek word translated “inn” here is kataluma. It means a place of rest, usually a guest room. In fact, the same writer Luke uses this very word later where it clearly refers to a guest room and not an inn.

Furthermore, Luke elsewhere in his Gospel uses a different Greek word when he writes about an actual inn. 

While Jesus was conceived of God the Father through the Holy Spirit, his was nonetheless a typical birth for the common man of his day. Though God, he truly came as one of us.

Jesus was rejected at his birth by Herod, but the Bethlehem shepherds welcomed him with great joy, as did the common people in later years. The city of David was true to its own, and the village community provided for him. He was born among them, in the natural setting of the birth of any village boy, surrounded by helping hands and encouraging women's voices.

For centuries Palestinian peasants have been born on the raised terraces of the one-room family homes. The birth of Jesus was no different. His incarnation was authentic. His birth most likely took place in the natural place for a peasant to be born; in a peasant home.

The full article is available here

Chanukah & Christmas As We Approach Trump Presidency - Rabbi Michael Lerner

Reflection and Renewal: Not Pursuing or Believing In Peace (based on Isaiah 9:6)

God,

The birth of Jesus is an amazing reminder of how much you celebrate and value the world which you created. Thank you for your endless and all-encompassing love.

The angels who announced Jesus' birth sang of that love, which they proclaimed as a message of "peace on earth and goodwill to all."

But if we're honest, we need to confess that sometimes we don't think much beyond our own narrow interests. We all too easily fall into the trap of looking out for #1 and thinking that your world is one where we need to compete with our neighbor to get ahead.

Instead of taking the posture of sacrificial love - which brings about the kind of peace the angels sang about and Jesus taught - we try to achieve peace for ourselves through strength, power, and status.

Other times, we give up hope that peace and goodwill are even possible.  When we see the need and brokeness around us, we can become despairing and cynical.  We must confess that we often lack faith in your promises and your design for abundant life.

We need your help. Keep us open.  Keep us hoping.  Teach us to rest in you.

Amen.

The Song 'Mary Did You Know' Misses What The Magnificat Is About - Jeff Wiersma

Based on the text of the Magnificat, it sure seems like Mary knew, which would render the song 'Mary Did You Know' moot. 

In addition to that, the lyrics of 'Mary Did You Know' glosses over the subversive social message Mary sings of in the Magnificat.  

As Nadia Bolz Weber writes in Preaching The Whole Magnificat:

"Mary's song isn’t a docile picture of obedience singing about how great it is to be pregnant. Mary is singing of nothing less than complete overturning of the social and economic order.

You see, there’s a reason why the Magnificat is said to have terrified the Russian Czars. Because, the message is that if you find yourself rich and powerful then … watch out! This young little Jewish girl is not singing about a whole lot of good news for you."

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

Reader: God is the creative spark of new life. 

All: We have come seeking God in this new day.

Reader: God, you are the architect of life and wholeness.
All: Open our souls to your stirring.

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

Reader: Jesus, you are the one through whom everything came into existence.
All: Open our hearts to your love.

Reader: Everything that God creates is good.
The entire universe is filled with God’s goodness.
All: For this endless, all-surrounding grace, we rejoice and give thanks.