The idea of the Trinity - a Triune God - Three beings in One is mysterious and perplexing, perhaps by design. Maybe the confusing nature of a God in three forms is intended to draw us into a sense of awe and reverence where we know the power of a God who created the world, knowing all; we sense the quiver of the wise, creative, compelling Spirit who nudges us toward good and right decisions; and we call upon the person of Jesus who is the embodiment of human and Divine perfection able to be compassionate and challenging; gentle and angry; loving and protective.
Our table is only as big as our hearts.
Of course, it is stories -- not statistics -- that change us and expand our hearts. On Sunday, I shared about an experience that changed my heart resulting from an assignment in seminary. In an ethics class focused on the way the arts shape our theology and moral lens, our final was to create a piece of art that challenged us to compassionately portray a person or group of people we perceive as "the other."
Happy May Day!
Today is International Labor Day, and in the US, it commemorates the victory of an 8-hour work day following the Haymarket Affair in 1886. This year, people are taking to the streets not only to commemorate workers' rights but also to lift up the importance of education, healthcare, and immigration.
It's also a day that some - especially in Europe - dance around maypoles with different colored ribbons weaving together a beautiful pattern adorned with baskets of flowers, embracing the start of Spring, earth's flowering season.
No matter your understanding of May Day, perhaps it can be a time to practice spring—a time to notice what is flowering, what is bubbling up, and what needs to come together. Perhaps a practice of prating spring can be setting aside time to talk to our neighbors about what's most important, what you value, and what kind of world you want to spring forth around you.
As we welcome the springtime air and wrestle with the wrongs of our time, let us embrace the Eastertide gift of unexpectedly meeting Jesus on the road of our life's journey. Let us open our hearts to the prophetic imagination that can help us fashion a new kind of world more expansive, colorful, and vibrant than we have yet known.
Throughout this series, Pastor Adrienne is putting together an opportunity for you to talk with your neighbor by equipping you with some deep ways to engage in the imaginative ways of Jesus -- reversing our expectations of the way things have always been.
Join the group to get questions emailed to you every week and to share your experience of talking with your neighbors. Or, just go to the "Talk With Your Neighbor" tab on the website to download the reading and questions for the week.
Let us be transformed in the new ways we can practice spring by engaging with community in deep conversation.
Light
Trust
Threshold
Playful
Wordlessly, between tasks and conversations, Pastor Eli handed me a set of dice and gestured that I should roll them. I did. Carefully inspecting my lot, he nodded and told me, with all seriousness: “It’s time to do the chicken dance.” Sometimes, the Spirit nudges you with delight at small gestures of kindness, other times at a well-timed hug or text, and at other times with something that makes you laugh out loud with uninhibited laughter. When was the last time you had a full-bellied laugh? How do you like to play? How do you see the Holy at work in playfulness?
Holy & Unhindered
- Rev. Sarah A. Speed
I am sure it is important to close your eyes, to pray on your knees,
to fling yourself into deep reverence and even deeper humility. I am sure the Spirit is close when we dress up, when we sing the descant line, when we murmur the words with a sincere and hopeful heart.
And I am sure that when you moonwalk through your living room in soft wool socks, when you
cackle loudly enough for the whole restaurant to hear, when you squeal into the phone and
make pancakes for dinner, when you plunge your hands into the dirt and talk to the sparrows,
when you make a mess of Communion breadcrumbs all around the Table, or when you allow
yourself an undone, unhindered, unpolished sort of joy—that the Spirit loves that just as well.
The angel said, Do not be afraid; I am bringing you joy.
We humans have spent a lot of time focusing on the fear.
Don’t forget: God is also in the joy.
May you find a way to play today!