sunday's homework

ponder these questions before sunday if you can, and if not, then i'll have 'em waiting for you:

a) where do you feel wellspring has been....where is it now....and where is it going?

b) acts 2:41 says that the early christians 'committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers.'

how are we doing each of those individually, and how can we continue to add some depth to them?

i think these are good questions for our little community to be asking...
and i think there are more to come.
questions of what it means to live missionally and what our place is in this big world,
but for now, think of these...and i'll see some of you on sunday.

6-17-07

what does it mean to be devoted to a teaching?
to read it repeatedly?
to strap or bind it to one's body?
or simply to remember as you walk through life...
step by step?

who gets to interpret such readings and teachings?
do you? do i? do we?
who do we give permission
to translate,
to decode,
to interpret?

how do we decide what is
truth,
justice,
and faith?
how do we know if we're close-
if we're on the right track?
how do we know where to act,
what to do,
and who to love?

so many questions with responding echoing silence.
may you continue to ask to listen to respond.
it is in community that we being to understand
what it means to be devoted and to walk in faith.
be blessed as you ask your questions.
perhaps that's all we can do right now...
is ask.
perhaps that's when we grow and mature.
perhaps that's when we actually become the church...
step by step.
amen.

6-10-07

let us be blessed
as we join our minds
as we read, learn, and view the past
remembering times of long ago.

let us be blessed
as we join our hands
as we learn the lines of each others faces
the troubles of one anothers hearts
living life together
and changing the world
side by side.

let us be blessed
as we break bread together
as we fill our stomachs and our hearts,
laughing, loving and learning with one another
sitting close enough to feel each others energy and pulse
close enough to hear the beating and the rhythm of our hearts

let us be blessed
as we bow our heads
as we choose to be silent,
if only briefly,
allowing ourselves to be vulnerable
and perhaps strangely warmed.

let us join
minds,
hands,
and hearts
as we travel down this road together.

let us laugh together
let us cry together
let us hope
and change
and dream
together.
ever growing
ever trying
ever loving.
in sickness and in health
in good times and bad
until,
if we choose it,
till death do we part-
and perhaps meeting in a place that we do not know yet.
amen.

6-3-07

blessings on you
who stand in the tension and flux
of understanding God.
in the struggle to understand what is
and what isn't,
what was
and what will be,
what we are
and what we should be.
blessings on you
who step out of the battle waging on
who choose to be peace
who choose to listen
and who choose to be humble
in a world that seems so very sure
and so very lost.
blessings...as you change,
as we revisit places we've been,
and look toward the places we'd like to see.
as we embrace dialogue,
as we choose love,
and as we rejoice in this journey.
continually thankful for the chance to
grow,
the chance to think,
and the ever-present chance to change.
amen.

Prayer

I can't pray sometimes because, like Karen said, I'm often too embarrased or ashamed to face God with the crap in my life.
I can't pray sometimes because I'm afraid of the answers or results.
I can't pray sometimes because I lack the faith.
I can't pray sometimes because I don't feel like I deserve the attention of God.
But when I make it back into prayer, back to fellowship with God, I know God will be there to welcome the prodigal son and it feels so good. To be able to lift a prayer to the one who spins the universe is a awesome thought. To be able to talk to God in the middle of a conversation with someone else and know He's there and listening is an awesome thought.
Prayer is an integral part of my belief in God and Jesus Christ. Without prayer I'm not sure where I would be in my life. Too many struggles, trials and pains to go through alone.