Theme Background

In the season of Lent, we are looking at the benefits of pruning our lives to better eat, share and serve.

Bible Background

Every time I walk towards my front door, they are starring me in the face.   I know that it needs to be done but what if I don’t do it right? What if I do something wrong? Logically, I know that it makes them healthier and more gorgeous.  I know that it is for their good. I know that it doesn’t hurt them.

My roses need to be pruned.  They are out of control and not as vibrant as they could be if I just pruned.

If I step into that moment, the plant will thrive beyond what I can imagine but there is fear behind what I will cut off.  It seems like the opposite direction of allowing a plant to grow and yet everything about roses says that you need to prune them to be healthy.  And the same goes for things in the church.  Sometimes things get unruly and for the health of the overall church and community, pruning may need to happen.  Sometimes we have to refocus our energy, much like plants in order to have the healthiest ministries possible.

But what holds us back from wanting to prune?  Our scriptures today give us insight into what might be holding us back in letting the whole thrive.  Sometimes we carry around fear instead of remembering that God is love. The writer of 1 John is a firm believer that if we believe that God is perfect love and respond as such, instead out of our very human fears, we will approach God with confidence and health.  Our ministries will thrive because there is only room for love instead of fear.  God’s love is grown for new possibly.  Out of pruning, we will find grounds for new growth.

That is much easier said than done but we have to realize that fear only produces death while love produces life.  In our gospel lesson, Jesus is thrown out into the desert to confront just those fears and realize that love wins overall because God is love.  God is pruning Jesus back in essence to restore ministry.

It seems counterintuitive but we have to let go, to be willing to face our fears, and counteract in love in order to grow even more.  During this season of Lent, we will need to ask our community, what must we prune back in order to continue to grow?  What fears must we cast aside about this in order to offer more love?

Quotes for the Week

“As the gardener, by severe pruning, forces the sap of the tree into one or two vigorous limbs, so should you stop off your miscellaneous activity and concentrate your force on one or a few points.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Give a lot, expect a lot, and if you don’t get it, prune.”  Thomas J. Peters

“I believe that every single event in life happens in an opportunity to choose love over fear.”
Oprah Winfrey

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” Marie Curie

“Love is what we were born with. Fear is what we learned here.” Marianne Williamson

1 John 4:17-19 (Message)

God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love. We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. God loved us first.

Mark 1:9-15 (Message)

At this time, Jesus came fromNazarethin Galilee and was baptized by John in theJordan. The moment he came out of the water, he saw the sky split open and God’s Spirit, looking like a dove, come down on him. Along with the Spirit, a voice: “You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life.”

At once, this same Spirit pushed Jesus out into the wild. For forty wilderness days and nights he was tested by Satan. Wild animals were his companions, and angels took care of him.

After John was arrested, Jesus went toGalileepreaching the Message of God: “Time’s up! God’s kingdom is here. Change your life and believe the Message.”

Questions for the Week

What keeps you from letting go?

What fear holds you back?

What might need pruning in your own life this season?

Theme Background

In the season of Epiphany, we are exploring how we can eat, share, and serve, in order to live out our mission to love and serve with all people in restoring all of creation to God’s loving embrace.

Bible Background

The history of creativity is shorter than you might think.  The concept of creativity did not exist in the ancient world of the Bible.  Art was the process of discovery, not of creation.

Even early Jewish and Christian theologians had no concept of creativity.  They knew about creation – but that was an act of God, not of humanity.

It took nearly 1,500 years, until the explosion of art and music of the Renaissance, that human beings began to shift their views.  People no longer merely “discovered” what was already in the world – they became agents who could also create in it.  Just take a look at the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, and you’ll get an idea of why opinions on the subject began to change: http://bit.ly/yj7jfp

Today, we think of creativity as innovative or original thinking.  It is a way of looking at life that passes up the obvious solution to a problem for a more novel approach.  It gives a greater potential for reward (and failure).

It is in this spirit that Eugene Peterson translates our first reading from Galatians in The Message.  He takes Paul’s instructions to “bear one another’s burdens” and interprets them through the lens of a skeptic.

In essence, Peterson is arguing that nobody does this kind of thing in our culture today.  To forgive, to restore, to reach out, to be humble, to be generous – these are all qualities that Peterson associates with creativity.  They represent a range of choices that are not obvious for us to take when we are unhappy with another person.  They are risky, because in doing these things, they open us up to be taken advantage of.  But they make a more fulfilling reward available to us – the ability to enter into a common life with others.

Quotes for the Week

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” (Steve Jobs)

“Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.” (Albert Einstein)

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” (George Bernard Shaw)

“Sometimes you’ve got to let everything go – purge yourself. If you are unhappy with anything . . . whatever is bringing you down, get rid of it. Because you’ll find that when you’re free, your true creativity, your true self comes out.” (Tina Turner)

“Creativity is the ability to see relationships where none exist.” (Thomas Disch)

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” (Scott Adams)

“Another word for creativity is courage.” (George Prince)

“Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.” (Charles Mingus)

“Every act of creation is first of all an act of destruction.” (Pablo Picasso)

“The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.” (Albert Einstein)

Galatians 6:1-6 (The Message)

Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.

Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.

Be very sure now, you who have been trained to a self-sufficient maturity, that you enter into a generous common life with those who have trained you, sharing all the good things that you have and experience.

Mark 9:2-9 (New Revised Standard Version)

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus.

Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ He did not know what to say, for they were terrified.

Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!’

Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

Questions for the Week

How do you recognize creativity?

Who is the most creative person you know?  Why did you pick them?

Think of a famous artist or musician.  How do they embody the best (or worst!) of the creative life?

Written by Pastor Mark

Theme Background

We are focusing on our new theme of Eat, Share Serve.  Today we are looking at worship that feeds people.  We have a lot of language which describes this type of worship.  Someone leaving might declare that they were inspired by worship today.  Martin Luther described sacraments (and therefore worship) as “that which moves the human heart.”  That movement can come in many forms, in laughter or in tears.  It may come in the form of laughter, or anger.  Some people are fed in worship when they find themselves thinking about something in a new way.  Others are moved by an in-depth study of the Bible.  Many are moved by music.  The music that effectively moves people’s hearts is as different as the people who gather to worship.  For some it’s a traditional, well known hymn accompanied by an organ.  Others enjoy praise songs with guitar and drums.  Pastor’s stay up nights trying to figure out worship that will move and inspire as many people as possible, while not angering people who might not like it.

In our worship planning process we analyze each weeks worship, but we do not just throw open the discussion for any comments.  The first question is “Where did you experience God this past Sunday.”  The question forces us to look at where God is moving, instead of focusing exclusively on the holes of what we would have liked.  Those holes are limitless and impossible to fill.

Our biblical reading from Romans today tells us to be sensitive to others as we go about our work.  Craig Nessen the author of the book, “ShalomChurch” says that we need to be aware of our f.o.o.i. (foo-ee).  This stands for family of origin issues.  Much of what we prefer in a worship can be centered in what we experienced in our own families.  The tendency is to think these preferences are universal—that what we prefer is what everyone would prefer.  It can be shocking to realize that others experienced something completely different—even when they share our faith tradition.   The important part is to make sure that everyone is fed.  Every week we put together a meal of worship, hoping they will come and eat and be fed, and then head out into the world to feed and bless others.

Quotes for the Week

Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.

-         May Sarton

A cat can be trusted to purr when she is pleased, which is more than can be said for human beings.

William Ralph Inge

“Fiction is one of the few experiences where loneliness can be both confronted and relieved. Drugs, movies where stuff blows up, loud parties — all these chase away loneliness by making me forget my name’s Dave and I live in a one-by-one box of bone no other party can penetrate or know. Fiction, poetry, music, really deep serious love, and, in various ways, religion — these are the places (for me) where loneliness is countenanced, stared down transfigured, treated.                                                                                                                   David Foster Wallace

Hobbies of any kind are boring except to people who have the same hobby.  This is also true of religion, although you will never find me saying so in print.

Dave Barry

1^st Lesson: Romans 14:1-9  (The Message)

Cultivating Good Relationships

 ¹ Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don’t see things the way you do. And don’t jump all over them every time they do or say something you don’t agree with—even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department. Remember, they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently.

^2-4For instance, a person who has been around for a while might well be convinced that he can eat anything on the table, while another, with a different background, might assume he should only be a vegetarian and eat accordingly. But since both are guests at Christ’s table, wouldn’t it be terribly rude if they fell to criticizing what the other ate or didn’t eat? God, after all, invited them both to the table. Do you have any business crossing people off the guest list or interfering with God’s welcome? If there are corrections to be made or manners to be learned, God can handle that without your help.

⁵Or, say, one person thinks that some days should be set aside as holy and another thinks that each day is pretty much like any other. There are good reasons either way. So, each person is free to follow the convictions of conscience.

^6-9What’s important in all this is that if you keep a holy day, keep it for God’s sake; if you eat meat, eat it to the glory of God and thank God for prime rib; if you’re a vegetarian, eat vegetables to the glory of God and thank God for broccoli. None of us are permitted to insist on our own way in these matters. It’s God we are answerable to—all the way from life to death and everything in between—not each other. That’s why Jesus lived and died and then lived again: so that he could be our Master across the entire range of life and death, and free us from the petty tyrannies of each other.

Gospel Lesson: John 21: 15-19 (The Message)

15After breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter,

“Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Master, you know I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.1

6He then asked a second time,

“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”

“Yes, Master, you know I love you.”

Jesus said, “Shepherd my sheep.

“17-19Then he said it a third time: “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. I’m telling you the very truth now: When you were young you dressed yourself and went wherever you wished, but when you get old you’ll have to stretch out your hands while someone else dresses you and takes you where you don’t want to go.” He said this to hint at the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. And then he commanded, “Follow me.”

Questions for the Week

What are some of your family of origin issues?

Where did you experience God this week?

What about worship inspires and moves your heart?