Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”—from Matthew’s Gospel

Gluttony is the insatiable desire to take things in, to consume and to attempt to satisfy desire through gorging… Although associated primarily with food, gluttony can lead to any number of activities that reflect a loss of confidence in God’s provision.  Today, for example, we often fear loss of a job, and the deadly thought of gluttony can take root as compulsive overwork.—Richard Foster

The engaged mind, illuminated by truth, awakens awareness; the engaged heart, affected by love, awakens passion… This essential energy of the soul is not an ecstatic trance, high emotion or a sanguine stance toward life: It is a fierce longing for God, an unyielding resolve to live in and out of our belovedness.—Brennan Manning

‘Driven or Drawn?  How would you describe the flow of your energy? The ability to “marshal and direct our energies wisely” is how Eugene Peterson describes the fruit of temperance or self control. Whether it be your employment, your relationship to your partner, your parenthood, your vision for a church or vision for a neighborhood, where does your energy come from and where is it expended?

This is our last piece in the series of “practice resurrection,” a summer discussion inspired by Paul’s words to a young church on what life looks and tastes like after we give up the ghost. We’re gathering this Sunday from 5-7pm at Carrie’s house, 409 Deckner Ave SW.

We’ll also be saying thank you to Sarah and Myra who have been working with our children over the last year as Sarah prepares to leave for law school at UGA and Myra moves to do social outreach work in Pennsylvania.

You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought. —Matthew 5.5

The garden delves no deeper than its roots
And lifts no higher than its leaves and fruits —Wendell Berry

In our continued series on the fruit that grows in the resurrected life, this week we will explore what Peterson calls “not needing to force our way in life” (paraphrased from Galatians 5.)  What does it mean to know our self, our call, and our efforts for what they are and yet to resist the temptation to market ourselves as better, perfect,or comprehensive.  What does is mean to be meek? How does life of feasting on Jesus, following Jesus into new creation, actually shape a life that delves no deeper than our roots, no higher than our own leaves?  Am I conscious of my efforts otherwise?  Do my friends and my faith community help me observe this and choose life?

This week’s worship gathering will be held from 5-7pm at Mike and Anne’s at 563 Manford SW, 30310.

Here are two old stories that might get you thinking along the lines of our discussion:

The Legend of the Glas Gabhna

In the mountains near Carron, there lived a smith who had a magical cow. When she was milked, she could fill any vessel. The smith knew how valuable she was. He had seven sons and one of them always ‘stood to her’, or in other words, watched over her. Over a long period of time, she gave an endless supply of milk. Even today one can see in that landscape certain bare patches where nothing grows. These are the places the cow was said to have lain down.

Her fame and magic spread everywhere. One day, while on his watch, one of the sons fell fatally asleep. An old woman came by and saw the magical cow unguarded. She had a sieve with her and she began to milk the cow into the sieve. She milked and milked. The milk flowed endlessly onto the earth until the cow fell down. When the son awoke, he saw the ground white with milk beneath the fallen cow. He went to call help.

When the father and sons returned, the cow had gone away. She was never heard of again. Then some time after she had departed, seven streams broke forth from the spot where she had been milked. These are to be seen there today, the Seven Streams of Taosca.

told by John O’Donohue

 

The Woodcarver

Khing, the master carver, made a bell stand
Of precious wood. When it was finished,
All who saw it were astounded. They said it must be
The work of spirits.

The Prince of Lu said to the master carver:
“What is your secret?”

Khing replied: “I am only a workman:
I have no secret. There is only this:
When I began to think about the work you commanded
I guarded my spirit, did not expend it
On trifles, that were not to the point.
I fasted in order to set
My heart at rest.
After three days fasting,
I had forgotten gain and success.
After five days
I had forgotten praise or criticism.
After seven days
I had forgotten my body
With all its limbs.

“By this time all thought of your Highness
And of the court had faded away.
All that might distract me from the work
Had vanished.
I was collected in the single thought
Of the bell stand.

“Then I went to the forest
To see the trees in their own natural state.
When the right tree appeared before my eyes,
The bell stand also appeared in it, clearly, beyond doubt.
All I had to do was to put forth my hand
and begin.

“If I had not met this particular tree
There would have been
No bell stand at all.

“What happened?
My own collected thought
Encountered the hidden potential in the wood;
From this live encounter came the work
Which you ascribe to the spirits.”

- Chuang Tzu
from The Way of Chuang Tzu by Thomas Merton

Faith as involvement in loyal commitments:

Faith is about living in the aftermath of an event that utterly transforms our mode of being in the world… Radical collectives are unified at a deeper level than the mere acceptance of shared doctrines and creeds…The idea is… to provide a context for people to love others and thus begin to love and accept themselves indirectly as a result. In short, to get people to the point where they don’t need psychological crutches.—Peter Rollins

Christian truth is more than correct doctrine. Truth is both socially and linguistically constructed, and at the heart of Christianity is a personal encounter. Propositions may serve that encounter… but the map is not the territory.”     –Stan Grentz

This week, in our continued series on the fruit of the spirit that grow in the life after resurection we are discussing faith.  How does faith play out physically, in material ways in our individual and shared life?  If faith were a fruit, what would it taste like?  Eugene Peterson describes faith as “finding ourselves involved in loyal commitments.”

Check out these ex Galatians 5, Luke 17, and James 2. How do they describe faith as a local practice?

Come contribute to shared worship practices, prayer, and a conversation on this subject of faith.  We’ll share a potluck at the end f our time and be in and out form 5-7pm.  This week we’re meeting at the Bray’s at 773 Joseph Lowery Blvd in West End.  See you there!

It’s time for a great recovery of language, we have to recover the nature of our language because words are holy… People are the same way. As I look at you I can see that you are in the image of God. I’ve got to be aware of that. If I’m not aware of that then you become a way that I can get a better job or use you. When you are no longer of use to me you’re out of here. —Eugene Peterson

What does life look like when you see all things as holy, as pregnant with beauty? How can we uniquely neighbor as people with “a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people.” This week we will discuss “Goodness” in our continued series on the things that grow along the Way of Jesus after we give up our ghost and enter into resurrection life.

This Sunday we’ll be meeting at Sara’s place at the Grant Park Dwell house, 683 Grant St SE from 5-7pm.  Its apotluck, so bring some food to share, see you then!

“No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself.” ~Virginia Woolf

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly. —from Matthew 11

This week many of us are out of town for vacation or spiritual pilgrimage.  If you are home, take time to rest.  We’ll gather again for worship on July 3rd.

Take Care!

Rather than random acts of kindness, what does it look like to become a person of compassion?  How does our encounter with others not lead to “re-actions” but, instead, resonate with the day-to-action of being a person in the Way of Jesus, a person of kindness?  How is our kindness simply a daily habit of life, a fruit of whole life, rather than a point of pride that we become defensive about?

Let us not underestimate how hard it is to be compassionate. Compassion is hard because it requires the inner disposition to go with others to place where they are weak, vulnerable, lonely, and broken. But this is not our spontaneous response to suffering. What we desire most is to do away with suffering by fleeing from it or finding a quick cure for it.—Henri Nouwen

The thought of death and a life after death can lead to fatalism and apathy, so that we only live life here half-heartedly, or just endure it and ‘get through’. The thought of a life after death can cheat us of the happiness and the pain of this life, so that we squander its treasures, selling them off cheap to heaven. In that respect it is better to live every day as if death didn’t exist, better to love life here and now as unreservedly as if death really were ‘the finish’. The notion that this life is no more than a preparation for a life beyond, is the theory of a refusal to live, and a religious fraud. It is inconsistent with the living God, who is ‘a lover of life’. In that sense it is religious atheism.—Jürgen Moltmann

Come gather for worship with us and help co-create a conversation on kindness, fruit that grows out of the resurrected life, through the texts of Galatians 5 and Matthew 6.  Bring food for a potluck. We’ll meet at Carrie’s place from 5-7pm at 409 Deckner Ave SW.

We’re also celebrating the year of service that Leslie gerber has given us, sending her and her family back home to Kansas in a few weeks.

Starting something is not an event; it’s a series of events. You decide to walk to Cleveland. So you take a first step in the right direction. That’s starting. You spend the rest of the day walking toward Cleveland, one step at a time, picking your feet up and putting them down. At the end of the day, twenty miles later, you stop at a hotel. And what happens the next morning? Either you quit the project or you start again, walking to Cleveland. In fact, every step is a new beginning. Sure, you’re closer than you were yesterday or last week, but you’re still…”
— Seth Godin (Poke the Box)

As you begin this eternal movement toward God
you’ll find struggle and no shortage of suffering
and afterwards ineffable joy…

The flitting bird abandons the nest
and so her eggs never hatch.
The monk or nun grows cold
and faith dies, when the monastic
wanders from place to place.

—Amma Syncletica of Alexandria (c. 316 – c.400) (trans. Scott Cairns)

Sunday we’ll be discussing Forbearance, that weird stick-to-it-iv-ness that we recognize in  those who leave legacies behind them.  Paul recommends it to the Galatians as proof of resurrection in the hear-and-now. Jesus’ step brother wrote, “Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life.”  (James 1.12 from the Message)

Come contribute to a discussion on Sticking with Things.  We will be meeting from 5-7 at the DWELL house,817 Dill Ave SW.

God keeps the peace at your borders,
God puts the best bread on your tables. —Psalm 147

If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it
will be enough. —Meister Eckhardt

The coming of the Spirit . . . requires that we yield to a power not our own, which is to concede that we are not in charge and that we are not managers of our destiny and our ministry.  Shalom is precisely the capacity to yield to the gift of power, which comes unexpectedly and unexplained and, therefore, is neither understood nor managed by us.  But capacity to receive and yield is not what we nurture or value.  We stress rather consistently control, mastery, and competence.  And the more we master, control, and manage, the less we can yield to the gift.  So, the Spirit does not come among us.  The table is for those who are ready to receive. —Walter Brueggemann

This week we’ll discuss Peace as a fruit of God’s promised resurrection life here and now.

We’re meeting from 5-7 at Troy and Kelley’s 824 Dill Ave SW.

Every day of your life joy is waiting for you, hidden at the heart of the significant things which happen to you or secretly around the corner of quieter things. If your heart loves delight, you will always be able to discover the quiet joy that awaits to shine forth in many situations. Prayer should help us develop the habit of delight. We weight the notion of prayer with burdens of duty, holiness and the struggle for perfection. Prayer should have the freedom of delight. It should arise from and bring us to humour, laughter, and joy. —John Odonohue

After looking at the way things are on this earth, here’s what I’ve decided is the best way to live: Take care of yourself, have a good time, and make the most of whatever job you have for as long as God gives you life. And that’s about it. That’s the human lot. Yes, we should make the most of what God gives, both the bounty and the capacity to enjoy it, accepting what’s given and delighting in the work. It’s God’s gift! God deals out joy in the present, the now. It’s useless to brood over how long we might live.—Ecclesiastes 5:18-20

In our third week in our series on Practicing Resurrection, we are unpacking “Joy” as a virtue in the life after giving up the ghost.  Come contribute to a discussion on practices of joy.  We’ll meet at Anne and Mike’s house from 5-7pm at 563 Manford Rd. SW 30310.