MIKE - enjoying the journey

March 15th, 2010

when my dad died at the age of 45, my mom spoke these great words of wisdom to me:

“your father and i were always waiting for something. …until we married. …until he was out of school. …until we had kids. …until you kids were grown. our until never came and now he is dead. live now, don’t wait for the untils to start living.”

at age 41 my wife died, and these words came rushing back into my memory. we had waited until………. fill in the blank. now she was gone.

a buddy and i used to make road trips to vegas and california. we got up early in the morning and started driving, as fast as we could go. the gas station was the only respite. gas,food and a potty break and we were on the road again. we were men on a mission. we had a destination, and nothing was going to stop us from reaching our objective. driving thousands of miles we saw nothing. appreciated nothing. it wasn’t the journey we cared about, it was the end result. on these trips we missed so much. the landscape of the land. the joy of each other’s company. the quiet time with God. we missed the present, because we were looking to the future to make us happy.

in his book “the wounded healer”, henri nowen says:

“we keep hoping that one day we will find the man who really understands our experiences, the woman who will bring peace to our restless life, the job where we can fulfill our potential, the book which will explain everything, and the place where we can feel at home. such false hope leads us to exhausting demands and prepares us for bitterness and dangerous hostility when we start discovering that nobody, and nothing, can live up to our absolutistic expectations.”

outside of God we will never reach the destination that our hearts truly desire. so what are we to do? how can we enjoy the journey? what would it look like to live in the here and now and pay no heed to the future? what can we do to make sure we don’t miss what God has in store for us, today?

in the devotion “the meal that makes us family and friends”, henri nouwen states:

“We all need to eat and drink to stay alive. But having a meal is more than eating and drinking. It is celebrating the gifts of life we share. A meal together is one of the most intimate and sacred human events. Around the table we become vulnerable, filling one another’s plates and cups and encouraging one another to eat and drink. Much more happens at a meal than satisfying hunger and quenching thirst. Around the table we become family, friends, community, yes, a body. That is why it is so important to “set” the table. Flowers, candles, colorful napkins all help us to say to one another, ‘This is a very special time for us, let’s enjoy it!’”

as i read these words, i looked back over my week. an amazing week, but really a typical week. i have made it my vocation to live immersed in community. redemptive community. making time for coffee with friends. going on movie dates. being vulnerable. sharing meals together. small groups.  all just vehicles for sharing the landscapes of our hearts. a chance to know and be known. as nouwen says: “the most intimate and sacred human events.”

it would be such a pity to miss these amazing life changing interactions, because my dreams and my heart were in some future destination that may never be attained. my desire this lent is to stay in the present and enjoy and smell all the roses God brings into my journey.

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MIKE - and now the other side of the story

March 8th, 2010

as i was talking with two friends, one commented on an unpleasant meeting she had had with a mutual acquaintance, i’ll call him scott. i was amazed at how much energy and anger i used to try and convince the other friend how evil i thought scott was. that is what has lead to the writing of this blog. i realized, that as far as i think i’ve come, i still have the great propensity to be a huge judgmental asshole.

in the book “a denver book of prayer” cheryl lawrie’s says:

i am fasting this lent (not from chocolate or red wine, let me hasten to add, or muffins from deganis, coffee, or cut flowers of any description).

i am fasting from knowing.

so in a cafe, yesterday she, sitting next to me, exclaimed over the headlines:  “britney shouldn’t be let near those children, should she?

and i (deep breath) said, i won’t ever know enough about britney to know”.

you know - and this is much more embarrassing than interesting - this lent, unexpectedly, i am finding i want to hear britney’s story all of it and i think i might even want to understand. (could this be compassion?)

it’s much harder than i thought it would be, this fasting.

as i watched a documentary called “the garden” at a recent refuge movie night i became almost livid at how poorly some people in the margins were treated by a rich man and a couple politically powerful women. i was so incensed that i got on the internet to get more dirt on these evil people, but was surprised by what i read. there was, actually, another side that the documentary “forgot” to tell. what they said was true, but what they left out spoke volumes. a friend of mine says “a half truth is a whole lie.”

my friend bob was shattered when his fiancee, linda, called off their wedding, because bob raised his voice to her. bob has a history of abuse and anger but has been in recovery for years, learning a better way to do life. in my community we all adore the “new bob”. he is one of the kindest, gentlest man i knew. bob’s whole community rallied beside him, because we knew his heart. linda’s community is looking at this incident a little differently. when they heard that bob had raised his voice to her, they told her to run. he is still abusive. (ironically, the same advice my community would tell a woman, if her fiancee, with abuse issues seemed to be being abusive again.) they just know linda, but not bob’s, amazing heart. is one a victim and the other a villain or are they both just broken people trying to live life in a relationship?? only God knows the real/whole story.

ralph had an affair that ruined his marriage and didn’t want to try and fix it. we love mary, his wife, and speak poorly of ralph. jack had an affair with megan which  causes megan’s and roy’s marriage to crumble. megan did nothing to try and get back together with roy. but, we love jack and so we try to help him and megan make their new relationship work,  while roy’s friends think ralph and megan are evil. on paper these stories seem, quite absurd, but they are in fact real stories with the names changed to protect the innocent.

there are ALWAYS two sides to a story. ALWAYS!! i find myself taking the side, that i am so sure is the the only true side.or at least my friends side. i put little effort into  learning or caring about the other side of the story.

this lent, as cheryl stated in her poem, i am going to try to fast from being judgmental of john, linda, ralph and all those whom i sense are not living up to my expectations and moral codes. and try to see thing from their perspective. after all who made me the judge, jury and executioner?

for years paul harvey ended his broadcast saying: “and now you know the rest of the story.” do we???

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MICHELLE - The Beauty of Lent: Marking the Time

March 1st, 2010

sand stepsAs I come as a newbie to the practice of Lent, I am drawn like a child to the wondrous Lenten stories.  The ironic fact is that in the last few years, I have let go of my entire lifelong collection of core theological beliefs, even some days, of my belief in God.  Why then I ask myself, celebrate Lent, or any of the Church Liturgical Calendar?  As I ponder that paradox, I have simply chosen to come to Lent in freedom, no strings attached, in beauty and simplicity.

I listen to the stories of the desert fathers and mothers, of St. John the beloved, of John the Baptist and St. John of the Cross, of Gregory of Nyssa, Julia of Norwich and St. Francis of Assisi.  And I feel connected to the great and mysterious timeline of our shared human history.  I find myself drawn to this wild and crazy collection of stories of our collective humanity and our relentless search for that which is timeless and eternal. The marking of my own time in this small space of humanity’s history moves me deeply as I contemplate this season.  Lent, and its place in the seven seasons of the Church Calendar, calls me to mark my time along with all those who came before me, and those who journey with me, as a celebration of the Mystery of God in our time.

Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and Ordinary Time, all call me to celebrate the mystery of each season of the year, but also of my life. The expectancy of hope and new birth, all the innocence of childhood, the growing awareness of truth and understanding, the wilderness seasons of loss and death and letting go, the miracle of new life, the infusion of Spirit and the potency to reach for my dreams, and the long seasons of simple, day to day ordinary time.

As a woman, perhaps, the cyclical nature of this way of marking my time by the seven seasons of the church calendar resonates with the natural rhythm of the cycle of life. Or maybe my hunger for joining in this centuries old liturgical calendar is a way to recover a soothing rhythmic motion to my chaotic and unpredictable life.  As Diana Butler Ross said, in her book, A People’s History of Christianity, speaking of the rich tradition of the Church Calendar:

“Rich, poor, young, old, city dweller or stranger -all are invited into the mystery of God as experienced physically in human time.”

For now, I am simply enjoying the beauty of this spiritual tradition that resonates deeply with my own story as I mark my time in this great adventure we call life.

Posted in church calendar, michelle | 2 Comments »

Walking the Labyrinth

February 22nd, 2010

Walking the labyrinth provides an opportunity to be attentive to God’s presence in new and fresh ways.  For many, the labyrinth is a new tool but even for those who have experienced it before, each entry into the labyrinth can be an opportunity to encounter the Divine in a new way. The labyrinth has only one path to the center. There are no dead ends or wrong turns. Everything on the path is a metaphor for life’s journey.

Once a month we are offering a time to walk the labyrinth together in the Denver/Boulder area. A few who went in January share these reflections about their first experience.


AA: At First Glance

At first glace, the labyrinth looked like a regular maze design painted on a concrete floor.  As I entered, however, I realized I was entering an experience that would reach into my very soul.  I took a deep breath and began shuffling slowly through it.  As I walked back and forth; following the path, I contested being distracted by the others who were also in the labyrinth.  It was quiet in the room.  I knew the path I was on would eventually lead me to my destination (the center).  But I kept gazing towards the center, strategizing a faster way to get there.  At the center, I would be able to sit down, reflect and refresh.  But like my life, I had to follow all the turns, walk over all the cracks and stay within the path.  I became cognizant I was not alone in my labyrinth journey.  The others were also following each turn, crack and path; just as I was.  It allowed me to remember that in my life journey, I am also not alone.  I felt a sense of peace with this awareness.  It comforted my spirit.

As I eventually arrived at the center, I felt ready to receive what I was going to take away from my labyrinth experience.  If I had hurried or found a short-cut, I wouldn’t have had the capacity to fully refresh.  Just as deoxygenated blood returns to the lungs to receive fresh oxygen, I was ready to receive.  I did sit down in the center and began to reflect on my life.  I was grateful for each turn and crack because they required me to slow down.  My soul was finally quieted.  I was still.  I was at peace.

As I began to saunter out of the center and work my way back towards the outside of the labyrinth, I was like reoxygenated blood being pumped out of the aorta of the heart to the body.  Ready to give.

MJ: Life’s Labyrinth

Reluctantly, I faced the path in front of me. Resistance flooded every part of me.
So unfamiliar the path. So alone. Grief washed over me, for the loss of all that was familiar. Tears came and went and I realized I could no longer stand on the sidelines of my life. And I stepped into this new labyrinth of my life.

Fear, uncertainty, irritation quickly came over me, at all the loops and turns. Then a nice long stretch brought some comfort to me. “This isn’t so bad”, I realized, about a quarter way thru, “I can do this.” Pausing for reflection, I felt the solidness of my feet on the firm ground. Trust began to flicker and grow stronger- from a source too Real to limit with human words or ideology.

My breathing slowed and a keen awareness of walking gently in my own space enveloped me. And yet I could sense the nearness of others and felt trust for their journey as well. Separate, distinct sojourners, yet so unified in spirit it was palpable. I finally reached the center—a place of rest and reflection. Must I leave? Despite the deep attraction to remain in the labyrinth center, a growing sense of joyful anticipation began to pull me back toward the path to the outer world.

My pace quickens, the longer pathways feel like I’m skating along, carefree and joyful.
Suddenly, the pathways are short with multiple hairpin turns and I must slow down. Wisdom whispers to me “go slowly in this season; see all the sharp curves still ahead for you.” I oblige, knowing the path will again smooth out in the distant future. Patience grows.

With each step back towards the outer labyrinth, the integration of my inner world with my outer world strengthens. Integrity and wholeness grow. Yeah, I made it! Back in the outer world, I rest gratefully in the sun. Peaceful, I felt a renewed confidence that my life’s labyrinth is a good path to be on, one step at a time.

JH: The Cracked Path Continues

In anticipation of a time of serenity I was eager to step on the path and have a little bubble of peace. It seemed like the labyrinth would be a good discipline for me to stay in the present moment, know God’s presence, and experience the metaphor of my journey in a way that brings peace and insight.

As I entered the labyrinth, instead of being able to find a nice meditative pace for walking and breathing, I noticed I was gasping for air and trying to hold back a cough, hoping my bad cold wouldn’t disturb others! I remembered the 3 movements on the labyrinth journey are “release, receive, and return.” I could be mindful of those. Soon I felt lost, unsure of the direction I was going. The labyrinth path winds around and doubles back over and over again. Each turn required courage to keep going. I seemed no closer to the center. It looked like the entire journey would be about releasing and relinquishment. Sadness and fear. The cracks in the cement seemed to speak of imperfection, things gone wrong, yet soon, this actually became a great comfort to me. In spite of the cracks the path was not deterred and continued on its way. I rubbed my foot over each crack as if to say, “The cracks are okay. They won’t prevent me from reaching my destination.” Eventually the assurance came to me, “God, you are with me in the ‘cracks’ as well as the ‘perfect’ parts of the path.” I needed to know that.

When I got to the center I didn’t want to leave, but after a few minutes gathered the courage to start out again. At the points where the path crossed over to the other quadrant of the design it seemed to be especially symbolic of my journey. I knew I needed God’s help and presence to cross over to what is next. When I exited the labyrinth path I was tired, but was enjoying the sense of God’s presence. It had not been the little serenity bubble I expected, but was an amazing time with bits of insight and surprise. There was no outcome to control or predict, so it was as it should be for this visit.

They say the labyrinth is very user friendly. You cannot get lost nor can you fail. You go along at your own pace and listen to the inner voice. After all it’s your metaphor!

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KARL - Party on, Party off…

February 15th, 2010

…or said another way, Fat Tuesday, Ash Wednesday. I admit, I am brand new to the rhythm of the church calendar.  Sure, I know how to do the occasional church potluck with ham bake and lime jello, but I don’t believe I have ever participated in anything that would resemble a corporate fast.

I am excited to experience this new way of living.  The story of our faith has thousands of years of partying (called feasts and festivals) that I am sure had not one bowl of jello. But maybe the reason I have not felt like partying is that I have not been “hungry” for it.

Easter Sunday is filled with fun memories of baskets and chocolate eggs and bunnies. Yet, if I am honest, it is not that big a deal. I know that technically it is the most significant of all Christian holidays, but it is always just a nice day for me.

I have been on a bit of an extreme diet lately. It is amazing how wonderful and sweet a good apple tastes when you have had no sugar or treats for 3 weeks. Or how good a vacation feels after a particularly difficult season of work.

It is the wanting and not having that makes an experience special.

I am anticipating a bit more memorable Easter this year, because I plan to get ready for it. Instead of just another day in April, it will be after 40 days of wanting.

Everyone is in a different place, but if you want, perhaps you can share how you are feeling about Lent, if you are going to experiment with giving up something, or what have been your experiences in this rhythm of party on and party off.

Posted in church calendar, karl | 1 Comment »

KATHY - follow me

February 8th, 2010

“One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.” “Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear! A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking. When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m too much of a sinner to be around you.” For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed. Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!” And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.” luke 5:11, NLT

this past saturday night we had a fun conversation about the calling of the first disciples in luke 5:1-11. part of the power in the Bible is being able to identify with the story, to notice the intersections with our own life & to notice what God might be stirring up in us in the midst. in our conversation together there were a few observations about the story that i want to highlight here for those of you who weren’t there and are just reading for the first time.

God always chose the least likely. these lowly fisherman weren’t the last pick, the ones left over. they were the first pick. i don’t think we can ever dismiss the message that Jesus continues to embody–the ways of the kingdom are totally counter-cultural to the ways of the world and many religious systems. when peter saw the loads of fish in the net, he cried out “i’m not worthy.” my guess is that many of us feel unworthy, too. what do we have to offer God? what do we have to offer others? maybe in the world we don’t have the skills or the talents or the put-togetherness, but in the kingdom none of that seems to matter. this passage cries out “the least, the last, the willing”, that’s who Jesus seems to continually point to.

to be a disciple means that we must become students of the Teacher. that means that we will have to humble ourselves and respect that we have a lot to learn. we can all say that in theory but actually submitting ourselves to the master’s teaching is whole other story. “following” requires humility & a softening of our pride, ego, and all things that keep us in control of our own destinies and comforts. also, students don’t learn everything at once; real learning is a forever process. we are more infiltrated with the worldly message of “quick, easy, success” than we probably even know, and i’m guessing it really affects our ability to lean into the long & never-ending work of ongoing transformation.

everyone’s “calling” is different & one isn’t more important or better than another. for some, it is a big one–God is asking us to make some big shifts in our life, give up something that is comfortable and familiar for an entirely new direction. for others, it might just be a prompting to risk ourselves in a way we aren’t used, a calling to trust God through action in a relationship, situation, or experience. and then there’s everything in between. the big idea is that if we each have to listen to what Jesus is stirring up in us individually. what is he calling us to that scares us, no matter how big or small.

if we listen to the voices rattling in our head or from the outside, we will always find ways not to go. we explored some of the voices that come rushing in when we hear the stirring, the call to “follow”, whatever that may look like some of these voices might say “what if you fail?” “you’re not good enough to do it”, “what if that’s not really God’s voice?” “it’s just not possible” “who do you think you are trying that?” “change is just too hard” “what if i heard wrong?” the list could go on and on, but in this passage it seems to me these first disciples didn’t spend too much time listening to the voices. they took a chance, they went.

marty shared a quote she had recently heard that is really worth pondering,

“fear, resistance and struggle is all in your head.  your heart is the part with the courage and the wisdom. live from there.  act from there.”

there were so many other thoughts shared. if you were there and have a few others that stuck out to you, please share them here.

this year i really want to explore what it means to humble myself & follow. to go where i’m afraid to go. to follow God’s lead to the low and scary places. to learn what it means to be a student of the master.

ps: at the end of our gathering, we had a little journaling exercise to take home and consider this week for those that wanted to explore this idea a little more. here are the questions:

  • Read Luke 5:1-11
  • Looking back, what are some decisions that you have made that have made you proud, that you are glad you took?
  • Is God stirring up something in your heart, a step you are contemplating to somehow ”follow him”?
  • How will this step require humility?  Courage?
  • What are some of the obstacles in the way (real or perceived or just things rattling around in your head) that might keep you from moving forward?  What would it look like to overcome them?
  • What would you like to see transformed in your life journey?
  • Read Psalm 138

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transition colorado - our grange neighbors!

February 1st, 2010

we are thankful to have new neighbors at the grange: transition westminster/arvada/broomfield. we have mentioned the work that they are doing at different times over the past few months, but we thought it would be good for you to hear from them directly and know more about the work that they are doing in our community. the refuge is thankful for their spirit and dedication to community and look forward to sharing space and ideas in the months and years to come. you can learn more about upcoming events at www.transitioncolorado.ning.com

this article was written by don studinski (thanks don!) & hopefully will give all of us a greater sense of their vision and passion.

Transition Westminster / Arvada / Broomfield (TWAB for short) is  a social network group with its roots in Transition Colorado which, in turn, is a part of the international Transition movement started in England by Rob Hopkins.  Transition is about moving from our current unsustainable way of life (key issues include Peak Oil, which means we will have less energy in our future, environmental depletion, which means we are exceeding sustainable use of natural resources, and economic collapse, which means we are living beyond our means) toward a more sustainable and pleasant way of life which can include an endless list of possibilities limited only by our imaginations.  Wow, that’s a mouth full!

Hopefully, I haven’t lost you already.  Those of us in TWAB want very much to be a positive force within our community, not a doom and gloom group.  Specifically, we describe ourselves with this statement:  “A community of citizens that believes we have the power to build community resilience and self-reliance such that all species, now and in the future, will be able to meet their basic needs while maintaining a healthy planet.”  Anyone is welcome to join.  It’s free.  As of this writing, 1/11/2010, we have 49 members in our online group and about 10 to 20 actively involved with our events.  Our members are as close as walking-distance to the grange and as far away as Thailand.

Transition initiatives, like TWAB, exist to “unleash the collective genius of their own people to find the answers to this big question: for all those aspects of life that this community needs in order to sustain itself and thrive, how are we going to:
significantly rebuild resilience (in response to peak oil)?
drastically reduce carbon emissions (in response to climate change)?
Typically, self-determined solutions will involve some flavor of relocalisation.”
Everything TWAB does relates back to rebuilding community resilience and self-reliance, but beyond that there are no limits.  Examples of our 2009 events include:
Building the Broomfield Community Permaculture Garden at the Presbyterian Church of Broomfield,
Hosting a community seed exchange,
Hosting several pot-luck dinners,
Showing several documentary films (we call this awareness raising),
Attending a “listening session” with some state senators,
Hosting a Northwest Earth Institute class called Voluntary Simplicity,
Hosting a canning class,
Hosting a composting class.
Hosting a Pachamama Alliance class called Awakening The Dreamer

We started in January, 2009, with 7 people in a coffee shop.  It didn’t take long for TWAB members to realize that we needed a place, beyond our member homes, to hold our events.  Therefore, a few TWAB members joined the Crescent Grange.  As members of the grange community, we have the good fortune to be able to use the building for significant events, and, beyond that, to create a community garden at the grange.  We call it Crescent Grange Community Permaculture Garden which we will be building in 2010.  This gives our group a sense of “place” much like the Broomfield Community Permaculture Garden did in 2009 (this will continue in 2010 as well).  We now have a bulletin board in the Southwest corner of the building where we will post flyers about community events.  This will include all the community events we learn about, not just TWAB sponsored events.  For example, there are Broomfield Auditorium Cultural events posted over there right now.

We have visions of all sorts of community-building events and activities we hope to do in 2010 and beyond.  Examples include growing an abundance of food, building a hoop house on the grange property, holding a clothing exchange, holding periodic book exchanges, creating a community “resilience” library, helping with grange maintenance and improvement, planting an orchard of fruit and nut trees, teaching classes in composting, permaculture gardening, canning and drying herbs and vegetables, sewing, beekeeping and others, holding monthly community dances, game nights and drum circles.  We are limited only by the time, energy and ideas our members bring.  We whole-heartedly invite everyone to participate.  If you like one of these ideas, or have your own, please, feel free to make it happen!  Clearly, no one of us can do all this alone.

Our community resilience is completely dependent upon the web of relationships we build among ourselves.  Everyone has value to bring and we all benefit from our combined cooperation and effort.  We look forward to an exciting 2010 in community at the Crescent Grange.  If you have any questions or comments for TWAB please feel free to contact us on-line or call Don Studinski at 303-248-6677.

The garden at the grange is coming soon, so if you are interested contact Don!

http://transitioncolorado.ning.com/group/transitionwestminster
http://transitioncolorado.ning.com
http://transitionculture.org/
http://www.postcarbon.org/
http://transitiontowns.org/TransitionNetwork/TransitionNetwork
http://www.nwei.org/
http://pachamama.org/
http://awakeningthedreamer.org/

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MIKE - successful vs. fruitful

January 25th, 2010


in our western culture we seem to confuse material wealth and success with the abundant life, promised us in john 10:10. when good things happen in our lives, we proclaim how God has blessed us. as long as it is good it has to be of God. but if it’s something hurtful, harmful or opposite of what we want it must come from some where else. after all, james 1:17 says: “whatever is good and perfect come to us from God above….” but what about those things that we don’t perceive as good? could they come from God as well? and could these things actually be the abundant life that we are promised???

henri nouwen writes in a devotional titled “fruits that grow in vulnerability”:

“there is a great difference between successfulness and fruitfulness. success comes from strength, control and respectability. a successful person has the energy to create something, to keep control over it’s development and make it available in large quantities. success brings many rewards and often fame. fruits, however, come from weakness  and vulnerability. and fruits are unique. a child is conceived in vulnerability. community is the fruit born through shared brokenness. and intimacy is the fruit that grows through touching one an others wounds. let’s remind one another that what brings us joy is not success, but fruitfulness.”

success and riches can, in many ways, make life easier and better, to be sure, but they never guarantee a joyful life. in fact they can become a barrier in our quest to have the life God has for us. j paul getty, who was, before bill gates, the richest man in the world, said two interesting things. when asked how much money was enough he said: “just one dollar more”. he also said: “i would have given all my fortune to have had one of my marriages work”. in contrast, everyone, rich or poor, can experience the joy of fruitfulness. the shared brokenness of community and the intimacy that develops by touching someone’s wounds and having them touch ours is transforming. i know of no greater joy than that of walking through the sorrows of life in the redemptive community of broken people.

if we reads the 10th verse of john we will see that the whole chapter is a comparison between Jesus, the Good Shepherd and us, His sheep, and a  shepherd and his flock. just as the sheep were safe from the wolves if they stayed close to the shepherd and listened to his voice, we, too, will be safe from the powers of darkness, if we stay close and listen to the voice of our Master. i see nowhere in the scripture where we are promised a life of abundance, although some Christ followers may experience this (along with many who do not follow Him). we are, however, promised an abundant life, an eternal life, as we follow Him.
i want my life to be fruitful, not successful.

and just as the jews missed the coming of their Savior, because He didn’t come to earth the way they had expected Him too, i hope will not miss the abundant life we have been promised because it doesn’t look or feel the way we thought it would.

Posted in community, mike | 2 Comments »

2010 refuge prayer

January 18th, 2010

as we focus on the church calendar together at our saturday evening gatherings and continue to cultivate the spirit and ethos of our life together in community, we will be using this closing prayer together.  we hope the repetition of these words help penetrate our hearts–individually and corporately–and move us toward Jesus and each other.

God,
we cry for mercy, show us your way.
Jesus,
we are here, help us listen and learn.
Holy Spirit,
we are available, give us humble hearts, open minds, willing hands and feet.

we are here to practice and try.
we need you to pierce our pride,
infuse us with courage.

we want to be sober.
we want to love.
we want to live.
we want to be agents of hope and peace.

teach us how to love Jesus, others, ourselves.
teach us how to be loved by Jesus, others, ourselves.

amen.

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KATHY - the church calendar, refuge style

January 4th, 2010

when you hear the words “church calendar” what do you think?

when you hear the word “liturgical” what do you think?

different people have different reactions. some might say “i have no idea what either one means.” others might think “liturgical means something lutheran, catholic or episcopalian and it’s usually boring.” because we are a community with an extremely wide breadth and depth of faith experiences, we always want to be cautious about throwing in words and ideas and thoughts that could exclude or throw people for a loop. at the same time, we are deeply dedicated to filling in the space between all of our diversity and finding our common thread. that thread, i believe, is Jesus. sure, there are people who aren’t quite sure about Jesus or have all kinds of weird associations with him that typically come from wacky church experiences, but the one thing we seem to be fairly clear on is that we are trying to learn what it means to follow Jesus. i like to think of our life together as a community as a place to learn what it means to “love Jesus, others, and ourselves and learn to be loved by Jesus, others, ourselves.” it’s a place to learn, a place to practice.

this year together at our saturday evening gatherings we are going to do something we have never intentionally done together since the refuge started 3 1/2 years ago–follow the church calendar. this means that instead of us as a community randomly deciding which passages or themes to use each week, we will use what millions of other Christ-followers around the world are using at the same time. for those of you who aren’t familiar with it, the new year of the church calendar starts with advent, which is the last sunday (saturday for us) in november. we’ve always celebrated advent as a community but then just left it there at christmas eve. this year, we’ll continue with the seasons of the church year all the way through until advent 2010 and see how we do. remember, everything will still be refuge-style. conversational, interactive, experiential, weekly communion and eating together. i think what will be really good for us is we’re going to learn a lot together. we’ll use the gospel passages–the stories of Jesus–as our guiding thoughts. we’ll intersect with the scriptures in ways that we might not have before. we’ll hopefully stir up some trouble–good trouble, the kind that moves us, transforms us.

here’s a helpful way to maybe think through the church seasons. it comes from the story formed calendar:

advent - the season of expectation
christmas - the season of celebration
epiphany (this is where we are now, the upcoming weeks are called “ordinary time”) - the season of illumination
lent - the season of listening
holy week - a time to remember
easter - the season of “hallelujahs” and the
season after pentecost becomes the season of intentional living in love, justice and mercy, in praise and gratitude

my take on it is that it is going to be a challenging & inspiring & fun year for us a community. i am excited about orienting my heart and my head toward the big story of God in a new way, to intersecting with the gospel stories from new angles and letting their power stir up new life in me.

i love that we are a community that is willing to try new, creative things on our faith/life journey together. so much beauty awaits.

i’ll close with this, i think it’s what our year holds for us, what our faith/life journey through the gospels will remind us of, point us to:

“it is in the contemplation of the mysteries of the faith, the deep-down wrestling match of conflicting ideas, that resides the motivating power it takes to become what we see in Jesus.  the world around us tells us that life is about money, security, power, and success.  but the Gospels tell us that life is about something completely other.  real life, the Gospels tell us, is about doing the will of God, speaking for the poor, changing the lives of widows and orphans, exalting the status of women, refusing to make war, laying down our lives for the other, the invisible, and the enemy.  it is about taking everyone in instead of leaving everyone out.” - joan chittister, the liturgical year.

here’s to a beautiful, challenging year together. i’ve got a lot to learn. i hope you do, too.

Posted in church calendar, church stuff, kathy | 3 Comments »

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