Happy third week of Advent! Last night Richie took the kiddos to Grammy’s for pot-roast to give me time to write our meditation. And I sat there and the words did not come. Fatigue was a fog and I chased the muse down several lonely allies before finally giving up and doing some yoga. I bet several of you …
Composting Bad Theology
Dear friends, So one of my favorite Buddhist meditations instructs the practitioner to meditate on your own corpse. How’s that for a non-cute and sentimental Advent reflection! There are a lot of Zen koans telling students to go and sit in graveyards and hang out in other liminal places. What is this about? I think it relativizes the one …
Nothing is Wasted: Advent 2010
Community Events Dec 1 Prayer Party, 7pm Come down to the Horsey House tomorrow night to recycle prayers from our liturgical history and create new ones together. We are one of 150 book release parties for Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals so 20+ new folks will be joining us from around the metroplex as we explore the book …
Common Prayer Book Release/De (Re) Construction Party
Join us this Wed, Dec 1. Please RSVP (details below) so we can get enough free books for folks. Teri and the Horsey House are hosting a book release/de(re)construction party for Common Prayer: Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals, a new resource compiled by Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove. This party is open to the public and we need everyone to register. …
Emerging from the Baby Cave
Dear friends, Anne Lamott says that there are basically two kinds of prayers: “Help me, Help me, Help me” and “Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.” I feel pretty in touch with both those forms of prayer in this season of my life. Rosetta Day and I are doing well. Babies are always a mystery- they come bringing wisdom from …
Join Courtney for Desert Mothers and Fathers Small Group
Ever crave a little time in the desert? Ever feel like retreating to a cave with nothing more than a mat, a sheepskin rug, and a vessel for water? Wonder how God might sound with all that Big Silence? The Desert Mothers and Fathers speak to us from just such an arid, windblown landscape during a transitional time in the …
Maternity Leave– CitC Style
After about five different false starts trying to engage with a very challenging lectionary passage for this week (Luke 14:25-33 if you are curious, the “hate your family” passage) I give up. I had this whole idea worked out reading the passage through a non-attachment lens but this morning the writing is just beyond my grasp. So instead I will …
Dry-Cleaning Gratitude
Being a pastor is a weird job. I love the freedom to read, plan worship, talk with interesting people, and sit with scripture and the tradition. But sometimes I just have to laugh at myself and at any expectation I have or someone else might have that I can come up with a spiritual word or reflection. Some weeks …
God is Still Speaking
God is Still Speaking Don’t put a period where God puts a comma, God is still speaking. Our faith is over 2,000 years old. Our thinking is not. Church in the Cliff recently voted to explore affiliation with the United Church of Christ (UCC). In addition to being progressive theologically and open and affirming of all people regardless of …
Flirting with Baptists
Church in the Cliff has a story to tell just as each of us do. And this congregation, originally named CityChurch, has an over ten year history with progressive Baptists. Some people think those two terms don’t go together, but they can, and many in our midst claim them both. One of the ways we acknowledge the unique story …