Three things to grow

Recent men's Bible Study conversation brought up the idea that a person needs three sorts of things to propel him or herself forward with spiritual development and exercise:

1. Word of God (read Bible with eyes or lips, wrestle with the meanings)
2. Worship regularly with others (not a private, but social experience of praise & thanks)
3. Fellowship (not to go it alone, but to live out the meanings with others interdependently)

So as one moves through the 3 physical dimensions of space and across the passage of time, the meanings recorded in ink and written in parts on a person's heart as well; the interaction and service to others & from others, and the repeating celebration in communal worship all play a part. Lacking one of the legs of this tripod will delay the stream of challenges and resolutions that comprise a life well lived.

Holy spirit in action? Board Meeting.

The regular meeting of the leadership group, the Board of Ministries (BoM), held an eventful session recently in order to balance the 2013 budget in the face of rising utilities and health insurance costs, despite fixed income sources and expanded programming initiatives. As well there had been financial mismanagement that had been discovered earlier and was now to be given final settlement.

So the session began with a prayer, including a reading of James 3 in which 'wisdom' is defined and the dangers of a spiteful tongue or careless remark are spotlighted.

Here were a dozen or so well educated and active, responsible members of the business and professional community coming together in a voluntary association to conduct the church's business. Things proceeded amicably, but with deliberateness and little levity. QUESTION: with or without any empirical presence of the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, the session unfolded. So is the mere supposition of this guiding spirit enough to produce the same outcome, regardless of the actual presence of same?

Expanding on this suppositional view, is the assumption of Good and Righteousness functionally the same as actually having those active forces in our hearts/minds? Can a community of believers by dint of their strong will to bring Thy Kingdom Come into the world enough to actually cause it to become so? And do the daily ranks of Tibetan Monks praying for world peace, therefore, perforce, tip things in that direction through sheer force of will/intention?

sermon Dec 2 - all the fuss about decorating Christmas

[A] On the one hand the visual effect of all the greenery and lighting cheers up the gloom of approaching winter solstice.

But on the other hand this sensory stimulation and cue of past memories of family and giving/receiving presents is a distraction (temptation?) from the everyday message, and the Christ birth message, that should be uppermost in prominence.

There remain the old questions: 

1. WWJD (what would Jesus do?) --how would he make sense of the full-blown industrial production of "the Christmas season"

2. If you met Jesus, what would you talk about; what would you want to know? Surely the proliferation of The Christianity Establishment, franchises, commodities, denominations, and hierarchies or specialists would be something to filter through his original experiences and the world of primitive Christian churches. After all, he was a (fulfilled) Jew, not a Christian as such.

3. If you met a curious foreigner or extraterrestrial would was filled with sincere curiosity and respectfully asked you to describe the main ideas and parts of Christianity, how would you begin. On the one hand it is a simple message: God loves you in full grace and you have only to accept that love, and to extend it to those around you. But on the other hand there are lots of legacies, details, and splitting of hairs for doctrine, practices and feelings.                                                      

[B] Communion was served to day. For an onlooker unfamiliar with the ritual, it must seem strange to take such pains with bits of bread slowly chewed and a sip of the juice of the grape in synchrony.

But the functions of rituals are many. One of these is to slow down the normal, taken-for-granted habits of throwing back food. Some participants will dwell on the historic act that is commemorated, others feel the shared experience of brothers and sisters around the room and those around the world, still others will focus on the essence of creation embodied in these two sources -the grain and the grape. It is possible that some take away the message of belonging to purity and those elected to moral superiority. But others may feel the humility that the symbols represent: the master taking the position of the servant, producing the feeling of gratitude on both sides -the giver and the receiver, bound together in this action.

[C] Sermon snippet: that some people come each week to regain some inspiration and gladness. The worship experience reproduces the right frame of mind and gives some forward motion to one's week.
Others engage with the thinking and discussion of the liturgy and sermon: weaving their fingers of mortal logic around the events and meditation. And yet, ultimately God's ways by definition will exceed or defy our small logic. So perhaps some participants also accept the glimpses of divine craziness that fly as sparks from the pulpit when flint meets metal.