Today Sally hosts odds and ends 5 and asks, even in the busyness of the week what has:
1. Colour, pattern, line and design continue to inspire me. I've been updating my suntreeriver design blog and truly enjoying my own creativity.
2. I'm still tremendously challenged by the absence of real life local community and ministry opps and by the lack of human connections who might be able to suggest options and let others know about my needs, background and abilities.
3. After a couple weeks of chilly weather, warmer, longer days have been making me smile.
4. The political insanities in the pre-presidential race in the USA have made me cross and made me need (not just want) to weep.
5. Remembering past experiences of God's faithfulness in spite of me and in spite of everyone else too has kept me going again... scripture constantly encourages - commands! - us to remember and as Walter Bruggemann says, "It all depends on a memory."
Thanks, Sally!
Ways to reconnect, or maybe truly connect for the first time—with God, nature and self...a workshop and a book! some related sites:
Awaken Your Senses: Exercises for Exploring the Wonder of God - website
Awaken Your Senses on Amazon
Beth Booram
Brent Bill
To help more of us experience more of the Divine, to be more present to everything in our surroundings and to ourselves throughout each entire day, Beth Booram and Brent Bill offer a handbook of their own stories, reflections, and exercises for activating more of the creative, intuitive right side of the brain and living more fully through tasting, seeing, touching, hearing and smelling. Since God engages us as whole people with bodies, spirits, senses, intellects and histories, to move closer to a "self-disclosing God," we need to engage that wholeness. We cannot do without the more familiar (to most of us), intellectual aspects of faith, but scripture study, prayer, activism and worship are only part of a multi-dimensional experience. A quote from Marcel Proust, "Not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes [noses, ears, skin, tastebuds]" describes a goal of praying, playing, feeling, and working through this book.
Brent and Beth alternate writing each of the short chapters within each larger section titled after one of the five human senses; each chapter begins with a thematic superscription, most often scripture verses, occasionally from a well-known author. The authors' own stories easily relate to regular everyday lives and for the most part, you can do the exercises for each emphasis in the context of your ongoing journey, or you can set aside a time and place to concentrate on one or more that especially appeals to you. I'm not sure I'd have used the word exercise, but it may be an apt one for the kind of practice that gradually leads to near-mastery and I can't think of a better one right now. Some might enjoy taking 30 consecutive days or more (I'm thinking the liturgical seasons of approximately month-long Advent or the 6 weeks of Lent) and making Awaken Your Senses a life- and world-improvement project. Each activity helps ground us in our bodily sensuousness and in the gifts of creation.
It's very true that a tremendous amount of what we plan to do and then do in the course of any day necessarily is future-oriented; for a multitude of reasons, considerations of the past also are essential, but I love the observation that our senses bring us straightaway into real time. There's a feeling of Sabbath, of simply being, drinking in and savoring who you've become thus far in living more fully with - and trusting - your senses! You find yourself smack dab in this very moment, ceasing any thoughts of any of the past, quieting worries or even plans for the future, releasing anxieties about the here and now when you "relax into observing details."
Additional resources for sensory awakening, acknowledgments, contact information and endnotes conclude the book.
my amazon review: awakening your 5 senses
Today Jan hosts movies 5. This is a quick, easy play for me, since in general I don't do fiction, film, legitimate theater or cinema--I know, surprising since I am sooooo theological and I know I'm missing out on lots of crappy junk and a lot of sublime interpretive experiences, too.
Thinking of movie-watching, what do you prefer?
1. At home or a theater is fine, depending on the cleanness and ambiance of the theater and related complex. The larger screen is good, too, but never ever movie food (for many reasons) and at home you can pause and restart as well as get food from the kitchen. Short answer: both/and.
2. I'll go with anyone willing to accompany me (I'd be almost embarrassed to say when I last took myself to a movie) since going to the theater always is at someone's suggestion.
3. Right no there's no particular movie I look forward to seeing, but I go for beautiful natural, wilderness, and urban visuals rather than narrative, meaning or consummate acting, so invite me and I'll tag along with you--really!
4. The only two movies I've gone back to the cinema to see again, rented and back in the day actually bought (but haven't considered updating to DVD) were Joy Luck Club and White Nights.
5. For food with a movie, if I'm at home or in someone's place probably none, none ever whatsoever in the theater, but a savory or sweet snack or substantial meal afterwards always rings true.
For this first synchroblog ot 2012, Provoketive Magazine is featuring a a synchroblog on hope.
Here's this Paradox, Hope and Revival post on Provoketive.
Hope is the synchroblog theme for this first month of the new year and as I talk about what gives me hope, how I keep returning to hope despite evidence and experience, why not begin by introducing myself for my first post on provoketive?
A few weeks ago a Facebook friend status updated asking about our identity. Mine? I am a daughter of the church, claimed by God in baptism. And I added, "now what?" Last Wednesday evening I let myself into the dark church building to prepare for playing liturgy for our celebration of the Baptism of Jesus. As I always do, I walked toward the entry way and the baptismal font and as always, I signed myself with the cross. What gives me hope? I am baptized, sealed with the sign of the cross forever. Being baptized means an identity and lifestyle shaped according to the contours, demands and relentless grace of the gospel that seeks justice, freedom and shalom for all creation. It is life sourced from Word and Sacrament, modeled by the order of creation, the actions and words of the prophets, the birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus the Christ.
What gives me hope? That in choosing, claiming and trusting me in baptism, God has brought me into an ecumenical community that is supposed to be home wherever I journey, that is supposed to hold me accountable. In his song "The Ark," from City to City, Gerry Rafferty sings, "We’ll take the road that leads down to the waterside // And set out on the journey // Find a ship to take us on the way. // And we’ll sail out on the water // we’ll meet out on the water // Where are all strangers are known."
I prepared for a life of service to church and world, and surprisingly found myself on the other side of mainstream culture and on the subverse of mainline church for longer than I'd anticipated. In the above paragraph I made a couple of transparent comments about what the summoned assembly of forgiven sinners is "supposed" to be and do, and that simply doesn't always or even often happen.
Abram was an ivri, a Hebrew, someone from the other side. In Jesus of Nazareth, we encounter the God from the exceedingly "other side," who even arrived on earth in a manner very "other" from usual expectations and spent most of his life and ministry on the other side of - or at least on the edges of - established religious and social systems, accredited authorities and conventional cultural boundaries. During his brief public ministry, Jesus invited everyone to become part of his insider circle. In my own baptism, has God not called me to live as an outsider to politely authorized, tamed, predictable structures of most kinds? Is that not how the Body of Christ is supposed to be and to live? As an insider to the way of Jesus?
What brings me hope? Sacraments and liturgy are ways to remember who I am and Whose I am. The eucharistic liturgy that retells and re-enacts the history of salvation brings me into an ordered place within those arrays. Like water in the font, bread on the table, wine in the cup, I am an organic part of creation, birthed out of the substance of earth, sky, sea and air. Liturgy and sacraments remind me that God's presence is not something far off, invisible and unattainable; it's as close to us, as sensibly (smell, taste, touch, vision, hearing) apparent and as paradoxical as water, bread and wine, as the neighbor next door, the colleague at the next computer.
I've found myself on the other side of mainline church and midstream society for a painfully long while. But isn't the covenanted community supposed to be an upside down image of prevailing economic, political (and ecclesiastical) realities? Is it not supposed to challenge and subvert the status quo? Is it not supposed to live counter-culturally to the prevailing culture of consumerism and objectification? "The Exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the World" is one of the PC(USA)'s Great Ends of the Church. The worldview of the bible is open-ended, no longer the endless, predictable recycling of the same thing, yet there is a sense of constancy, of divine design and purpose to the order of nature and creation. Similar to the way hue shifts, layer styles, filters and effects reveal previously unseen aspects of an image I'm editing, the Holy Spirit edits, styles, filters, re-colors and reformats people, communities, and institutions and brings prophetic promises and broken hopes to life. In large part because of the continued liveliness of the Church, the Christ and the Spirit are active in the world.
So I'm hoping to emerge from my current location and back into the embrace of the called-out, covenanted community because I know I cannot do life on my own, cannot revive and reformat my own life; that only can come to me as gift. God has claimed me in baptism; I am a daughter of the church.
Other January Synchroblog Participants on Provoketive and their home blogs:
• The Trouble With Hope // John Ptacek
• Hope = Possibility x Imagination // Wayne Rumsby
• Little Reminders // Mike Victorino
• Where Is My Hope // Jonathan Brink
• Hope for Hypocrites // Jeremy Myers
• Now These Three Remain // Sonny Lemmons
• Perplexed, But Still Hopeful // Carol Kuniholm
• A Hope that Lives // Amy Mitchell
• Generations Come and Generations Go // Adam Gonnerman
• Demystifying Hope // Glenn Hager
• God in the Dark: On Hope // Renee Ronika Klug
• Keeping Hope Alive // Maurice Broaddus
• Are We Afraid to Hope? // Christine Sine
• On Wobbly Wheels, Split Churches and Fear // Laura Droege
• Adopting Hope // Travis Klassen
• Hope is Held Between Us // Ellen Haroutunian
• Hope: In the Hands of the Creatively Maladjusted // Mihee Kim-Kort
• Good Theology Saves // Reverend Robyn
• Linear: Never Was, Never Will Be // Kathy Escobar
• Better Than Hope // Liz Dyer
• Caroline for Congress: Hope for the Future // Wendy McCaig
• Fumbling the Ball on Hope // KW Leslie
• Content to Hope // Alise Wright
• Hope: Oh, the Humanity! // Deanna Ogle
recommendation 5 hosted by revkjarla, because she's inundated with requests to write recommendations for future camp counselors, though this 5 has almost zero to do with camps and conferences.
For my first blog post and first Friday 5 of 2012, here are today's 5 recommendations:
1. a favorite worship resource or devotional book, Reflections for Ragamuffins: Daily Devotions from the Writings of Brennan Manning. A single page or less for each day, always something relevant for the current time, place and condition.
2. for a blog I like that others might enjoy, Idube Game Reserve is the most active of several I enjoy from the Sabi Sands, Wildtuin, South Africa. I particularly love following the individual leopards of Sabi Sands Game Reserve; several have their own facebook pages.
3. a fiction book recommendation is a tough one for me, since I read so little fiction, but I'll go with a classic, Light in August by William Faulkner. As someone southern-born, in many ways I resonate with the humanity, complexity and brokenness of Faulkner's characters, but more than anything, I adore his writing.
4. for a favorite recipe/cooking site, I'll highly recommend one of several blogs from Trisha, a friend from A Former City I recently reconnected with (yay, facebook!): food.
5. it's bloggers' choice! Make a recommendation for anything! Of course I'll give a shoutout to my Facebook design page, suntreeriver design. I know lots of peeps from this ring have officially become fans, or "Likers," and I realize a few folks aren't on facebook or don't really do facebook, so given that reality, a second shoutout to my closely related design blog, suntreeriver design on blogspot. Sun, Tree and River are persistent biblical images...
Covenant Prayer From John Wesley's Covenant Service, 1780
I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
... exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things
to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.
Jesus is here and I'm still waiting for redemption, yes I am! Plus, as I pulled together some scattered thoughts and notes, I realized most of them would work better for another, separate blog, possibly during early epiphany. Absolutely for sure I have a lot to say about ways following Jesus leads us into places and situations we wouldn't have guessed, and truly hope to do so soon.
Christmas synchroblog on wordpress and some [serving] suggestions: "And Jesus doesn't always give us what we expect either. We welcome him as a cute little baby but if we continue to journey with him, we soon realize that he wants to turn our world upside down. A child born in a stable is much easier to cope with than a revolutionary leader. This month's synchroblog is centered around the unexpected consequences of our journey with Jesus. Where has it led us that we never anticipated? In what ways has it really turned our world upside down?"
Moving from my advent blog, gifts from the ground; hope for the earth to realizing even before the liturgical and popular celebrations of Jesus' birth on 24 and 25 December we've long known so much beyond the fulfillment of the Advent texts we've been hearing...
Before a baby arrives, we usually have a clue about the baby's parents, about some of their other relatives along with their backgrounds and experiences; we have more than a hint about the baby's geographical place on the planet along with their social and cultural milieu. Despite the quantifiable info, there's so much we don't know about ways that baby become child become teenager and then adult will engage the world, make a name in the news or on the street or possibly fade into oblivion. On the surface, the life of Jesus of Nazareth is pretty much parallel to almost anyone else's in that time and place. You know the narrative!
To quote from my Advent blog, "Though it's common to hear Christianity referred to as 'spiritual' practice, the way of Jesus is heavily economic, highly political and hardly ascetic in its celebration of gifts from the ground, in its perspective that insists on the interdependence of all life, in its historical affirmation of human sexuality and in its charge to care for all creation..."
Maybe especially though for sure hardly exclusively, as church bodies that grew out of the Reformation, we engage the public square and live as political, cultural and economic beings every bit as fully in the world as within the gathered assembly of the church. It's not solely "Jesus and me" but more expansively "Jesus and me in the world and for the world!" from Advent 2B: "...in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home." 2 Peter 3:13
Unexpected consequences of my journey with Jesus? Like Jesus, I was born into linear time and measurable geography. Forget about Christmas 2011--have I been getting what I expected? No, hardly in the least. I prepared for a life of service to church and world, expecting to participate in the economic, political and not ascetic way of Jesus that celebrates all creation; academically and practically I prepared to engage the public square, to challenge and maybe subvert the status quo; I expected to live at least somewhat counter-culturally. I knew the road would be rocky, but never expected to journey alone for so many years and fully expected eventually to come out on the other side of death into a relatively broad space where my participation would be welcomed and valued.
At the end of my Advent synchroblog, I mentioned "a world that cries out for cooperation, interdependence and redemption." Will no one cooperate with, depend upon me, so I might be redeemed, bought back into the land of the living? How else can we live but with each other? How else will I live again?
other synchroblog participants:
• Glenn Hager, Breathe, Underwear for Christmas
• Jeremy Myers, Till He Comes, Unexpected Gifts from Jesus
• Tammy Carter, Blessing the Beloved, Unstuck
• Jeff Goins, GoinsWriter, Day After Christmas
• Wendy McCaig, Unwanted gifts...
• Christine Sine, GodSpace, The Wait Is Over - What Did I Get?
• M Kettleson, The Real Journey, Following the Baby We Just Celebrated
• Kathy Escobar, pain relief not pain removal
• Ellen Haroutunian, Jesus came, did you get what you expected?...
• Carol Kuniholm, Words Half Heard, What the Magi Found
• Sally Coleman, Eternal Echoes, unexpected...
to-do list Friday 5
Jan hosts again today and like me she doesn't "...have church services to plan, but there is much left to be done." In addition, she knows, "No matter how organized you are, there must be some things you still need to do. For this Friday Five, tell us five things on your Christmas 'To Do' List. Include anything you have decided to skip doing this year. As a bonus, give us something that helps you remember why this season even exists."
1. I need to display a few more Christmas decorations like this Nauset Lighthouse at Christmas; so far the only one is the starry lights I won a few years ago at Presbyterian bingo that always goes in one of the front windows.
2. I'm trying to remember that it doesn't need to be like this...
3. I've been noticing Salvation Army commercials on tv (not sure if they're locally specific or not) and for sure those people remind me of myself. I'm thinking of trying to connect with the local Salvation Army and try to get some services that will help me stand and walk again, though that likely would be an after Christmas endeavor.
4. Start playing some fave Christmas music CDs again very very soon! A couple weeks ago I began listening evenings to local KyXy radio when I've been home and really enjoy their selections, especially "Mary, Did You Know?"
5. Trying not to count the years, but instead still be amazed at my accomplishments in so many areas despite everything.
bonus To remember the why of this season, I only need to be aware that in the northern hemisphere we're approaching the darkest, shortest days, and the darker it is, the better to notice and appreciate even the tiniest light.
At the stroke of midnight revkjarla posted today's random 5, "I invite you share five random things about you, or five random thoughts, or five random surprises in your life." Here's my play:
1. I'm astonished at my abilities to survive and produce quality art and theology despite everything. Oh, of course, I always perform well in public at the drop of a hint, so that one's no surprise, but musical performances do not depend on my own creativity and inner resourcefulness as writing and designing do. As I observed on facebook yesterday, Oprah pointed out to a teenager long ago that no one can do life on their own. Your abilities, dreams, desires and hard work matter not at all, without that others, those others, community and context it's all a no go.
2. I'm surprised to find myself both in the usual countdown to winter solstice (you know how quickly the days seem to get longer with more sunshine!) plus actually enjoying the shorter days and happy to be in an unusual southern californian chill as well as a cool, dry Santa Ana. The stereotypical Santa Ana condition features high winds, low humidity and very high ambient temps. I love celebrating the Feast of the Unvanquished Sun followed by the birth of the Sun of Righteousness a few days later.
3. I'm trying to keep this positive, but the trend of ignoring emails, phone calls, snail mail and other inquiries that once was considered a southern california habit (as in "I'll chillax at this job until surf's up and then I am soooo out of here") seems to have extended to everyone, everywhere and that does surprise me.
4. Although I knew there would be exceptions and way back when during the showdown between our church council and the judicatory staff if you'd asked me closely I'd have admitted there would be many exceptions, I remain astonished at my ongoing inability to connect with opps related to my background (gifts, education, experience), esp since for the most part I've simply tried plugging into existing ministries.
5. I played Friday 5 today, yay!
today I offered this prayer to open our Faith, Order and Witness meeting
Holy God, whose Spirit of Life pervades all creation, again you have called us together as a small segment of the church in this county and as people longing for essential unity in Christ yet aware of our denominational differences and distinctions.
Recently we celebrated the supreme Lordship of Jesus Christ and look forward to another journey through Advent and into Christmas and on from there. In some ways we think we already now "what's next," we think we've been there a few times before, yet we also acknowledge you as God of astonishing surprises, including the ultimate surprise of resurrection from the grave.
May our prayerful efforts to understand each others histories and perspectives in this tiny, remnant-style group act as small stones cast into a large pond whose ripples reach out to bring others in.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen!
This is part of the more-or-less monthly synchroblog series.
Advent synchroblog on wordpress and what's going on: "To begin Advent we are exploring ideas that are encompassed in "Jesus Is Coming: What Do You Expect?" ... What are we expecting? How will it impact our lives and our faith?"
I really really appreciate getting a writing (or designing) prompt, something a little more specific than "Advent again!" or "Lectionary Year B again!" and wondering how our expectations might influence and make a mark in our lives and world feels just right. 
You can read the scriptures on textweek and elsewhere.
The texts for lectionary year B - Mark's year again - are about [God's!] faithfulness and about restoration; about transgression and redemption; about covenant and place. Images of personified nature in action, apocalyptic visions and unconventional human pregnancies. When we're pondering secular history, interpreting the past through the present - historicism - is bad form, but we interpret promises and events in scripture through the present literally all the time. During advent we hear about preparations and predictions and although we already know Jesus was born and Jesus still is here, what does it mean to live as people of hope, people once again awaiting God's promised presence in this early 21st century year 2011? From scripture, from Jesus of Nazareth's ministry and from God's grace-filled, Spirit-enabled call to the Church, we know nature is not the backdrop, nor is it the stage, the arena or even the means of God's action and self-revelation; in many ways nature is an actor and an end in itself.
The Feast of the Nativity, the first in the trilogy of great trinitarian celebrations with Easter (redemption) and Pentecost (sanctification) to follow is "The" supreme celebration of Creation. Christmas gifts ideally are gifts of creation: cookies; quick breads; pickled herring; mulled wine; homemade candles; hand knit scarves and sweaters. Considering Judaism's and Christianity's affirmation and celebration of the body and of the natural, phenomenological world, is it surprising (or is it possibly not at all surprising?) that at nativity-tide we acknowledge a newborn infant essentially formed from the substance of the same earth that grows crops to nourish us and that's closely related to other animals, "animate beings," that give yarn for knitting, help fertilize the ground, land that grows trees that shade, that gift us with lumber to make houses and shopping centers... we read scripture backwards and realize this baby named "Jesus - Save!" is the start of the New Creation!
Though it's common to hear Christianity referred to as "spiritual" practice, the way of Jesus is heavily economic, highly political and hardly ascetic in its celebration of gifts from the ground, in its perspective that insists on the interdependence of all life, in its historical affirmation of human sexuality and in its charge to care for all creation--in sacramental theology we even speak of the capacity of the finite to contain the infinite! Advent marks the start of a brand-new liturgical year and in these advent texts we again discover nature and the created environment are not the theater of God's revelation, not the stage of history, but integral to God's actions in history.
from Advent 2B: "...in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home." 2 Peter 3:13
from Advent 4B: 6 I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. 10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place ... 2 Samuel 7
The Feast of the Nativity, the first in order of the trilogy of great trinitarian celebrations with Easter (redemption) and Pentecost (sanctification) to follow is "The" supreme liturgical celebration of Creation; historically Christmas gifts have been gifts of creation.
What now? What do I expect and what am I planning to do for the start of this new liturgical year? How can I live in hope for the earth and for those who make earth their dwelling-place? I'm doing what I can to make my gifts this nativitytide not only gifts of creation but gifts for creation. Like someone trying to sort through accumulated notes, texts, papers and related from a few hundred years of school (that does sound autobiographical?) or similar to doable advice from cognitive behavioral therapy, I'm starting small. Loving where I am and showing it by consuming as little as possible, buying local, bartering goods and services rather than exchanging currency whenever possible. A couple loaves of bread in exchange for a pair of knit mittens? A locally sourced, home-cooked meal for clean windows?
Nature is no more spectator than humans are! In sacramental theology we speak of the capacity of the finite to contain the infinite… whether your theology considers baptism an ordinance or a sacrament, it can't happen without clean, flowing water. Whatever your theology of the Lord's Supper, Holy Communion, the Eucharist, it cannot happen without fertile soil, unfiltered sun, farmers and vintners and bakers, potters and speakers of the word.
I'm starting small this year, by giving gifts of creation to a world that cries out for cooperation, interdependence and redemption.
other participants include
• ron cole at the weary pilgrim – advent: reimagining everything
• liz dyer at grace rules – expect the unexpected
• sarah styles bessey at emerging mummy – in which i’m expecting something from advent
• mix melly at perchance to dream – parousia
• kathy escobar at the carnival in my head – present, humble, vulnerable
• David Perry at Visual Theology – Advent As A Mirror of Possibility
• Christine Sine at Godspace – Jesus Is Coming What Do We Expect?
• Liz VerHage at Living Theology
• Sally Coleman at Sally's Journey – Come Spirit of Advent
• Jeremy Myers at Till He Comes – Jesus Is Returning Today
• Glenn Hager – Antithetical Advent
• Tammy Carter at Blessing The Beloved – His Gift … the way of escape!
• Ellen Haroutunian – Remember Our Story
• Carol Kuniholm at Words Half Heard – What I'm Waiting For
• Mihee Kim-Kort – Advent Expectations: Keep Awake
• Wendy McCaig – We’re Expecting A Baby
• John Reid at Blog One Another – Undiscovered Advent: The Second Coming of Christ
• Dave Wainscott – For Advent I'm Expecting What I Desire and What I Deserve
• David Henson – Reflections on the Second Sunday of Advent
• K.W. Leslie at More Christ – The need for Advent
• david perry at visualtheology – word, life space and enlightenment
"It is a good thing to give thanks to the Lord,
and to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
To tell of your loving kindness early in the morning
and of your faithfulness in the night season;
On the psaltery and on the lyre
and to the melody of the harp.
For you have made me glad by your acts, O Lord;
and I shout for joy because of the works of your hands.
"It is good, it is good, it is good, to give thanks to the Lord on high
To sing of Your faithfulness and loving kindness both day and night
To play on our instruments sweet songs of praise for the things You do
It is good, it is good, it is good, to give thanks to You."
"It Is Good," Psalm 92 by Ron Kenoly
│◥███◣ ╱◥███◣
╱◥◣ ◥████◣▓∩▓│∩ ║
│╱◥█◣║∩∩∩ ║◥█▓ ▓█◣
││∩│ ▓ ║∩ç”°│║▓ ▓ ▓∩ ║
♥•°*”˜˜”*°• From our house to your house •°*”˜˜”*°•♥
♥•°*”˜˜”*°•Happy Thanksgiving to Family and Friends•°*”˜˜”*°•♥
disclaimer: I wrote this more than four years ago and I've posted it with no changes or revisions.
• The Lord be with you.
• And also with you.
• Lift up your hearts.
• We lift them to the Lord.
• Let us give thanks to God.
• It is right to give both thanks and praise!
Holy God, Mighty Lord, Renewer of Creation and Bringer of Joy,
endless are your mercies and unending your grace!
Maker of stars and Giver of dreams,
it is privilege indeed to acclaim and adore you!
At the dawn of time your Word spoke order out of chaos and disorder, and brought beauty into your glorious light;
You formed humanity in your image and drew us into covenant with you; you called us to be your reconciling Presence in the world.
When we strayed from your path and fled from your presence, choosing idols and intellect rather than Spirit and Freedom, you led us through the wilderness into a country flowing with your extravagant supply.
When rebellion against your righteous law broke us once again, you would not let this world remain shattered, and in Jesus of Nazareth, born of Mary, born under the law, you lived among us.
You baptized us with water, with fire and with your Spirit;
and sent Bread from Heaven to keep us wholly alive.
Therefore, in celebration with the people of God in all the ages, with all creation and with the angelic hosts of heaven, we sing:
Holy are you, God of Majesty and Awe,
and blessed is Jesus Christ, your Son, our Redeemer and Lord.
Leaving the boundlessness of heaven,
he came to earth, experiencing doubt, betrayal and abandonment
yet bearing the weight of sin and separation,
he carried us into the liberty of your grace.
Bound to the tree of shame on Calvary's Hill,
shedding his innocent blood, he sealed the covenant between heaven and earth.
Broken and dying for all creation's sake
rising to new life from the bondage of the tomb
he delivered us from sin and death,
creating in our inmost hearts the new creation promised by your prophets.
Remembering Jesus Christ's birth, life, death and resurrection,
with the Church in every place and every time, we proclaim the mystery of faith:
Christ has died;
Christ is risen;
Christ will come again!
On the night of betrayal and desertion, our Lord Jesus took bread,
and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
In the same way after supper, he also took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."
As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes again in glory.
Giver of the journey and Bestower of the gifts,
Send down your Spirit of holiness and transformation,
and sanctify these gifts of bread and cup uniting us to all creation in every place and in every time.
Send down upon this assembly of your creation and redemption – and upon the world – your Spirit of life and renewal;
Calm our anxieties and quiet our fears.
Make us bearers of your grace
that we may be your reconciling embrace for the world, reclaiming, restoring and transforming all creation into the reign of heaven on earth.
Then, at last, when endless morning comes,
when all brokenness is whole and holy,
when all creation once again redeemed,
with all the saints of every time and place
as the family of God in Jesus Christ we will gather around heaven's Welcome Table,
we will sing alleluias to you,
through Jesus Christ, crucified and Risen
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
endlessly into eternity, amen!
forever and ever,
Amen!
© Leah Chang
