Thursday, September 8, 2011
CORe Quotes
those who are overburdened and offers them rest,
but he does not blunt the cutting edge of his demands.
~Thaddee Matura (Franciscan scholar and theologian)
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
CORe Quotes
will never be able to make anything of him.
Nothing that we despise in the other
is entirely absent from ourselves . . .
We must learn to regard people
less in the light of what they do or omit to do,
and more in the light of what they suffer.
The only profitable relationship to others i one of love,
and that means the will to hold fellowship with the.
~Dietrich Bonhoefer (Letters from Prison, 1945)
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Ask Yourself
With summer coming to a close, school starting and the holidays quickly approaching, things can easily seem to add up on our daily to-do lists. Recently, three questions were put forward at Brad Powell’s church which when heard at CORe gives us food for thought too. . . three daily questions that one could imagine Jesus asking us.
1. What are we really dreaming about today?
Do we dream about our church making us known so we can have more money? Or do we dream about this place making Jesus known? Do we dream about using this church for the opportunity for us to grow? Or do we dream that this place is about can work through other people’s lives. To do something great for God rather than for ourselves?
2. What are we really crying about?
Easy to say we care about the broken, hungry, need, the lost, those who don’t know God. But do we act on it? Do we cry about our needs or do we cry about the needs of others? Do we cry about other’s brokenness or cry only when we are feeling broken? Do we cry about other’s loss or just when we experience loss?
3. What are we really celebrating?
Are we celebrating history and tradition. God celebrates when lost people find God and hope on this side of eternity. God celebrates the folks who bring others to him. God celebrates his love being expressed through once loveless people. Heaven celebrates people who once needed forgiveness now revealing to others God’s forgiveness through them. That would be celebrating the fruit of this parish going OUT to make disciples.
What are we celebrating? Eternal abundance, hope and love shared out or temporal issues to argue over? Are we celebrating people or accumulated stuff that has lost it’s meaning for this time? Are we celebrating other people’s successes or just mine, yours? Celebrating what we are getting out of life or the generosity we are experiencing in life, by giving life.
Our life depends on our listening and studying outside of our comfort zones. God speaks. Read scripture, seek out commentary. Be aware of the company you keep. Do they encourage you to positive things that God celebrates? Be aware of what you dream for, the true tragedies you weep for, the things you celebrate. Pray, listen, ask, allow God to shape you. Move forward into God’s vision and find joy and peace – and companions in Christ with you on the journey.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Children's Garden
The children of the Sunday school harvested vegetables from their garden at the church this morning. The cucumbers, bell peppers, carrots, and tomatoes will be donated to Lighthouse for the food bank.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
CORe Quotes
It is going on all the time.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
CORe Quotes
All my life I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
Mary Oliver, 21st c poet
Monday, May 16, 2011
Session 3: Anglicanism 101: Christian Formation Continues
Did you know that there are 4 main branches of Christianity? Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, ...... and Anglican.
This coming Wednesday morning, we will look at the origins of our denomination, what formed us and makes us unique and faithful.
If you think Henry the 8th is the reason we exist, that we are just "Catholic-light", please come and find out a more complex story of who we are as Anglicans.
Wednesday, May 11 · 10:00 am - 12:00 pm in the conference room.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
CORe Quotes
Such a Way, as gives us breath:
Such a Truth, as ends all strife:
Such a Life, as killeth death.
Come, my Light, my Feast, my Strength:
Such a Light, as shows a feast:
Such a Feast, as mends in length:
Such a Strength, as makes his guest.
Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart:
Such a Joy, as none can move:
Such a Love, as none can part:
Such a Heart, as joys in Love.
George Herbert
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
CORe Quotes
-even when the community is a very limited one
and is not the total communion that my heart desires.
Only when I live in communion with God
can I live in a community that is not perfect.
Only then can I love the other person
and create a space in which we might be
quite distant or very close,
But we can still allow something new to be born
-a child, friendship, joy, community,
a space where strangers and guests and be received.
Henri Nouwen
20th century priest and mystic
Monday, May 9, 2011
Meijer Community Rewards
Kroger Rewards Program
Session 2 - Anglicanism 101: Christian Formation Continues
Did you know that there are 4 main branches of Christianity? Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, ...... and Anglican.
For the next two Wednesday mornings in May we will look at the origins of our denomination, what formed us and makes us unique and faithful.
If you think Henry the 8th is the reason we exist, that we are just "Catholic-light", please come and find out a more complex story of who we are as Anglicans.
Wednesday, May 11 · 10:00 am - 12:00 pm in the conference room.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Anglicanism 101: Christian Formation Continues
For three May Wednesday mornings we will look at the origins of our denomination, what formed us and makes us unique and faithful.
If you think Henry the 8th is the reason we exist, that we are just "Catholic-light", please come and find out a more complex story of who we are as Anglicans.
Wednesdays, May 4th, 11th and 18th from 10 am to noon in the conference room.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Holy Saturday
In the work that the church is called to do among the battered and broken, it is so hard to see the fullest manifestation of the new life and renewed hope that is the fruit of our faithfulness. So we must live every day in hope, believing that the seeds given to the farmer in Sudan will one day feed his family, and the well that is being drilled will bring the water to a Salvadoran village in need.
Because we do not always see the fruit, we must always believe in the promise that nothing is lost, and that life, not death, is God’s final word.
—Duncan Gray III
Friday, April 22, 2011
The Way of the Cross
As the sun sets and dark descends, The Way of the Cross in our parish will be a quiet contemplative "come as your are" experience of listening, praying, and simple Taize changes. The chants are only one line long and are easy to repeat. Participants can volunteer to come forward to hold the wooden cross during one of the "stations" and feel the weight of the burden, alone or shared with a family member or friend. Like the young people visiting Taize, if so moved, participants are welcome to sit on the floor, at the altar rail, or against the wall-the special spot of their own choosing to end the Way of the Cross.
On this Good Friday night, when we recall the great sacrifice that occurred tow millennia ago, we do not so much seek to offer perfect prayers as we desire to be willing to fully enter into the Passion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with our hearts, minds, souls, and voices. By our Baptism, Jesus' journey to the Cross is the same journey we live today as we seek to do the will of God with the fabric of our entire life. Being Christians calls us to journey on our own Way of the Cross, where great sacrifice may be necessary to be daily ministers of justice, mercy, and peace.
John 19:38-42 (Good Friday)
cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews…And so, because
it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they
laid Jesus there. (19:40, 42)
Throughout my adult life as a Christian I have cherished my
friendships with skeptics, whether they call themselves agnostics or
atheists. One such friend, who was jolly except when talking about
God and the problem of evil, referred to this holy day as Bad Friday.
While his word choices troubled me, I respected that they reflected
what he really thought: That Christians glorify the savage death
of Jesus as a good thing—a response my friend decidedly did not
consider a good thing.
I, too, would call this day Bad Friday if I thought the burial recorded
at John 19:38-42 were the end of the story. While they are not the
conclusion, the death and burial of Jesus mark the turning point of
salvation history. Behold the holy Lamb, provided by God, who takes
away the sins of the world.
—Douglas LeBlanc
Thursday, April 21, 2011
1 Corinthians 10:14-17, 11:27-32 (Maundy Thursday)
all partake of the one bread. (10:17)
Jesus spends his last hours with his friends. The cross looms over
the meal. Jesus takes the role of a servant, washing their feet.
With this action, he epitomizes his life and
the conventions of this world. Greatness is defined by servanthood.
Loving God means loving each other. He is willing to die for this.
We gather at a meal in one place. There is one bread. We share.
We break it in many pieces. Our bodies are fed. That is life. At this
same table, our souls are fed.
In the same way the bread is broken, the world is broken. Jesus will
be broken. Yet there is hope. He leaves us with each other and his
Spirit to guide us.
In this last hour, how will we sit at the table together? How will we
share the one bread so that all may be fed?
—Karen Montagno
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Philippians 4:1-13 (Wednesday of Holy Week)
thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses
all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ
Jesus. (4:4-7)
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
John 12:20-26 (Tuesday of Holy Week)
glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the
earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears
much fruit…” (12:23-24)
In Agua Prieta, by the side of a busy street, there is a large cross
fixed to the bars that form the barrier between the United States and
Mexico. Attached to this cross are hundreds and hundreds of white
and purple ribbons fluttering in the wind, each having the name of
someone who has died in the desert written on it. At the center of
the cross is a wreath of flowers.
It is an Easter cross. And like Easter itself, it is layered with
meaning. At the commendation of
the Book of Common Prayer gives us these words: “Even at the
grave we make our song, Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.”
Jesus said, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it
remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” Death
and resurrection are two aspects of a single reality.
How am I helping to bring life out of death?
—Jeffrey Lee