And part of the journey into enough is also one of asking for and receiving help, acknowledging that it is in our inter-woven state, a community of individuals who support each other, that we are in fact enough. So Paul today graciously agreed to write the reflection, which I include below. He is a man of many talents- and I am thankful for his time on this day when he also is hosting our community meal and making home-made pizzas! Please bring an appetite and an open heart as we continue to walk together in this season of preparation. peace, Courtney
Ash Wednesday: Enough
I am really sick of the idea of abundance. Everywhere you turn there is another church conference on ‘Scarcity and Abundance’ or ‘Resting in God’s Abundance.’ I don’t really get it. I mean-doesn’t this idea collude a bit with the dominant culture? Isn’t it the American dream to have more, bigger, better? Is abundance therefore the best way to talk about God and what God provides in our life?– More than we could ever want, need or imagine? What if instead God was simply enough? And our spiritual work then becomes about resting in God’s enough, even when it looks different than our own expectations. This Lent at Church in the Cliff we are exploring practices that help us discern how much is enough.
Shiny, Happy People
What happens to our bodies when we spend time near to God?
I love this scripture about Moses leaving Mount Sinai after forty days and nights with the Holy One and his face is shining like the sun. And he doesn’t even know it. That is the best part for me.
I have known lots of sparkly people. I have even at times tried to be a sparkly person, or better stated, to perform what I thought other people thought was ‘a sparkly person.’
Live Coals
There are some days which separate our lives into ‘before’ and ‘after.’ Some moments, be they of beauty, or death, or an unexpected encounter with God, cleave our world in two.
Haiti
Over the past two Sundays we collected over $900 for Partners in Health, an organization that provides community-based health care in Haiti and other developing countries around the world. They have over twenty years of experience working on the ground in Haiti’s poorest communities and are well equipped both to respond to the crisis and help rebuild the health infrastructure …
Be Not Afraid
But Yahweh doesn’t stop there. He also speaks to the objection in Jeremiah’s heart, the one too tender to name. Yahweh, firmly and lovingly tells him “Do not be afraid, I am with you.”
What is the relationship between fear and responding to God’s call? I think the two may be more intertwined than we realize.
Church as body not building
Paul outlines in his letter to the Corinthians a vision of a church which is not a building, but a body of people, caring for one another, sharing the work of God in the world. As a church without a building, I wonder how this description sounds to our community. The past few months I have been reflecting a lot on our worship space and feel grateful for it. I love that we are nestled there in between a view of pond and ducks on one side and the sounds of basketball games on the other. We worship between creation and community, with no where to hide except perhaps in the shadow of God’s wings.
Partners in Health in Haiti
Partners in Health is an organization which inspires me greatly. They build relationships with the global poor to improve health. I have a good friend in Boston who is their grant-writer/manager and several other friends who support their work, including Sandy who forwarded me an email today asking if our, and I quote “superfly church is interested in making a special …
Gifts on the Green
Spiritual gifts are not merit badges of holiness or signs of approval from a paternalistic Godhead. Rather they are God’s response to the needs of our communities. And as people on the Jesus Way, our job is to do our own inner work, to get out of our own way, to allow God’s gifts to manifest through us.
Wisdom on the Dance Floor
The Eve of the New Year is upon us and so I thought it a good moment to lift up one of this week’s lectionary readings from the Wisdom tradition. Sirach (sometimes called the Wisdom of Ben Sira or Ecclesiasticus) is a collection of sayings, similar to Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, full of advice for sound living. And what does Wisdom have to …