Journey Together>>Richard Jones

I'm not posting here

2011-02-16T14:41:00.000-08:00

As you may have noticed, I don't use this page any more. You can check out my online comments at my facebook page facebook.com/richardleejones or check richardleejones.posterous.com.

God Is Good--Really

2010-03-04T11:51:00.000-08:00

In The Good and Beautiful God, James Bryan Smith says:
"Nearly all ancient religions were built on a narrative that says that we have to do something in order to get the blessings of the gods, and conversely, if we anger the gods we will surely be punished. The narrative can be summed up as, 'God is an angry judge. If you do well, you will be blessed; if you sin, you will be punished."
Smith goes on to say that this "is the most prevalent narrative about God among Christians."
I am sorry to say that I think he is right and the photo of the church sign here seems to bear that out.
But is there another way? In the 1600's, George Fox (founder of the Quaker movement) sensed the Holy Spirit say to him: "There is one, even Christ Jesus that can speak to thy condition." Smith applies this thought and says; "I have learned to ask myself this question when it comes to choosing the right narratives about God: Is this understanding of God consistent with the God Jesus revealed?"
What did Jesus have to say on this subject? Plenty. One of the Scriptures that I think speak to the kind of God Jesus believed in is Luke 13.1-9. This is our Scripture for this Sunday (March 7, 2010) in worship. Join us at 9:30 or 11am!
This week's worship bulletin is here.

Youth News for Feb. 17

2010-02-17T13:43:00.000-08:00

Fruit Gleaning Service Project Sunday February 21
2-6pm (dinner is at 5:30)
We will gather to pick fruit to benefit Ishkash*taa Refugee Fruit Harvesting Network. Ishkash*taa uses the fruit to benefit refugee families, but also gives produce to 20 different agencies in Tucson (The Community Foodbank, Primavera, Casa Maria, etc.) We will meet in Fellowship Hall at 2pm and will return at 5:30pm and have dinner together. The dinner is free, but we will receive an offering to help with the cost. Yes, youth, YOU can give a couple of bucks towards this, too! This project is for members, visitors, singles, youth, parents, senior adults, families—everyone is invited!
Parents, you are invited to join us! We will need you PARENTS to drive! Dress to be outside, and if you have fruit picking implements, bring them. Feel free to invite a friend! This is great for community service hours! We also need plastic milk crates that can be donated to Ishkash*taa. Contact Richard with any questions (403-2403 or richard@catumc.org). You can stay after dinner for awhile if you like and play some basketball or just hang out in the youth room. Richard is closing everything down at 7pm—but the official event is OVER after dinner—probably about 6pm.
I am planning for our regular youth group crowd, so parents if you are coming, let me know (that way I can have a good count for dinner).

Paintball is being rescheduled to Saturday, April 24.
Saturdays this Spring are pretty full. This is the first available date I’ve got, and something might come up on this date. I’ll let you know.

Youth Group will not meet on Sunday February 28 (Rodeo weekend).

South District Sports Tournament is Sunday, March 7 from 2-7pm. This is an annual event held at St Marks UMC. We compete in 3-on-3 half-court basketball (middle school guys, middle school girls, high school guys, high school girls) and co-ed volleyball.

An Interesting Map...

2010-02-17T11:33:00.001-08:00

I found this Gallup map on Matt Iglesias' blog. The Gallup article is here.
Matt titled his post "Who Goes to Church? Southerners and Mormons". Maybe a more accurate title would be "Who Goes to Church MOST? Southerners and Mormons". The church is not dead and gone in other locales.

Invitation to a Holy Lent

2010-02-17T11:14:00.000-08:00

“I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.”
from The Book of Common Prayer

Catalina Youth News

2010-02-11T12:39:00.000-08:00

Hey there, friends! This is just a short note to let you know what is going on!

1-Sunday School will meet at 9:30 in E-225.

2-Youth group will meet with our regular schedule this week. Dinner is at 5:30 and everything is over at 7:30. Yeah, I know it is Valentine’s Day, but I am celebrating on another day (Friday) and you can, too. We will have some special Valentine’s Day activities and I will have a gift for each of you.
3- Fruit Gleaning is February 21!! Here are the details:
This is a great opportunity for you to:
serve God
help people in need
get outdoors
do some physical activity
use what God has given you to benefit others
build relationships with people in your church
work together as the body of Christ for the kingdom of God

What will we do?
We will gather at Catalina (in Fellowship Hall) at 2pm and divide into teams. We will travel to various locations and pick fruit from trees. We will gather back at Catalina at 5:30pm for dinner together. (Dinner is free of charge, but we will accept donations to help with the cost--it isn't free to us.) We will see a short video about the work of Ishkash*taa.

What do we need?
We need workers.
We need drivers.
We need fruit picking implements.
AND
We need plastic milk crates!

Wear comfortable clothes and shoes to be outdoors working.
Contact Richard with any questions: email him (richard@catumc.org) or phone/text him (403-2403).

This Sunday, we will have a sign up list so I can get an idea of how many to expect for dinner.

4-Paintball will be FRIDAY FEBRUAY 26 [Rodeo] Details to follow.

Catalina Parents E-News

2010-02-11T12:37:00.000-08:00

Here are the announcements I sent the youth: [scroll down for some parenting-type stuff]

1-Sunday School will meet at 9:30 in E-225.

2-Youth group will meet with our regular schedule this week. Dinner is at 5:30 and everything is over at 7:30. Yeah, I know it is Valentine’s Day, but I am celebrating on another day (Friday) and you can, too. We will have some special Valentine’s Day activities and I will have a gift for each of you.

3- Fruit Gleaning is February 21!! Here are the details:
[***This event is for ALL ages! Parents, YOU are invited—encouraged—to come with us and help with this project!]

This is a great opportunity for you to:
serve God
help people in need
get outdoors
do some physical activity
use what God has given you to benefit others
build relationships with people in your church
work together as the body of Christ for the kingdom of God

What will we do?
We will gather at Catalina (in Fellowship Hall) at 2pm and divide into teams. We will travel to various locations and pick fruit from trees. We will gather back at Catalina at 5:30pm for dinner together. (Dinner is free of charge, but we will accept donations to help with the cost--it isn't free to us.) We will see a short video about the work of Ishkash*taa.

What do we need?
We need workers.
We need drivers.
We need fruit picking implements.
AND
We need plastic milk crates!

Wear comfortable clothes and shoes to be outdoors working.
Contact Richard with any questions: email him (richard@catumc.org) or phone/text him (403-2403).

This Sunday, we will have a sign up list so I can get an idea of how many to expect for dinner.

4-Paintball will be FRIDAY FEBRUAY 26 [Rodeo] Details to follow.

FOR PARENTS

Teenage girls 'have poorest diet' http://foxyurl.com/Pe3

Take your family on this hike http://www.localhikes.com/Hikes/HBsouthtrail_8520.asp

Tech-savvy 'iGeneration' kids multi-task, connect http://ow.ly/15UNw

Fruit Gleaning is February 21!!

2010-02-10T10:29:00.000-08:00

This is a great opportunity for you to:
serve God
help people in need
support young people in your church
get outdoors
do some physical activity
use what God has given you to benefit others
build relationships with people in your church
work together as the body of Christ for the kingdom of God

What will we do?
We will gather at Catalina (in Fellowship Hall) at 2pm and divide into teams. We will travel to various locations and pick fruit from trees. We will gather back at Catalina at 5:30pm for dinner together. (Dinner is free of charge, but we will accept donations to help with the cost--it isn't free to us.) We will see a short video about the work of Ishkash*taa.

What do we need?
We need workers.
We need drivers.
We need fruit picking implements.
AND
We need plastic milk crates!

Wear comfortable clothes and shoes to be outdoors working.
Contact Richard with any questions: email him (richard@catumc.org) or phone/text him (403-2403).

This Sunday, we will have a sign up list so I can get an idea of how many to expect for dinner.

Transfiguration Sunday February 14, 2010

2010-02-10T10:16:00.001-08:00

This Sunday is Transfiguration Sunday in the church year. This is the last Sunday in the season of Epiphany, and therefore the last Sunday before Lent--which begins with Ash Wednesday (February 17). The Scripture for this Sunday is Luke 9.28-43. The worship bulletin is here. With the conclusion of Transfiguration Sunday, the work of Epiphany is over: Jesus is presented as the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God. And the Transfiguration story finishes this. Jesus is shown in his heavenly glory and is elevated above Moses and Elijah--the Law and the Prophets.
And the message of the Transfiguration is a fitting introduction to Lent. As we will see this Sunday.
Join us for worship at 9:30 or 11.

Jesus Meets Us in Every Day Life

2010-02-02T13:25:00.000-08:00

This week we will continue our study of who Jesus is. Our premise is simple: at Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus (and rightly so), but whose birth is it that we celebrate? The season of Epiphany (which follows Christmas and lasts until Lent) strives to communicate that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah.
We have been considering the lectionary texts for the Sundays in Epiphany in our worship. This Sunday the text is Luke 5.1-11. This is the story of Jesus calling his first disciples. I think this text tells us about how we, too, can encounter Christ, and how that can lead us forward in our faith journey. Join us Sunday!
The worship bulletin is here.

Atheist and Atonement

2010-02-02T11:31:00.000-08:00

The Blind Beggar blog (say that 5 times really fast) posted this excerpt from an interview with famous author and neo-atheist Christopher Hitchens.

Christopher Hitchens on the Atonement

Published by Rick Meigs on February 1st, 2010 in Quotes.

Christopher Hitchens was in Portland recently for a speaking engagement. Unitarian minister Marilyn Sewell interviewed him for a local publication, Portland Monthly. The interview was pretty much what one would expect, but I did find the following a fascinating observation from Hitchens:

Sewell: The religion you cite in your book is generally the fundamentalist faith of various kinds. I’m a liberal Christian, and I don’t take the stories from the scripture literally. I don’t believe in the doctrine of atonement (that Jesus died for our sins, for example). Do you make any distinction between fundamentalist faith and liberal religion?

Hitchens: I would say that if you don’t believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and Messiah, and that he rose again from the dead and by his sacrifice our sins are forgiven, you’re really not in any meaningful sense a Christian.

Now, I think there are several possible responses to this exchange.
First, you could say, "That's right!" And in many ways, I would agree with Hitchens about what it means to be a Christian.
Second, you could say "Wait a minute. An atheist is not going to define Christianity for me." And I think that is a valid point too.
Third, I think we must come to terms with the fact that people (yea, our whole culture) HAVE defined Christianity. We all live with that definition whether or not it fits with our personal faith. When you say "Christian", that means something generally to the general public. It might mean something different to you, but in order for language to have meaning, there must be some level of agreement on what the words mean. Does that mean we start calling ourselves something different? This reminds me of the video series "Christfollower vs Christian" (a parody of the Mac vs PC commercials) that you can probably find on Youtube. Or does this mean that we proudly and maybe rebelliously wear the label Christian? Knowing that people are going to judge us anyway, why try to hide? This reminds me of how gay people have taken back the epiphet "queer" and have used it themselves.
I believe strongly that there is a different kind of Christian today--one that is not defined by the religious/political fundamentalism that you find in mainstream America. But in the end, we must admit we are Christian. Maybe we should let how we live define us more than what label we insist on.

Snowblast 2010 Photo/Video

2010-01-25T14:27:00.000-08:00

Youth Group News for This Week

2010-01-21T14:55:00.000-08:00

We had a GREAT Snowblast! Thanks to all of you who made it great fun for all!
Youth group will meet this Sunday with regular schedule (5:30-7:30)! Everyone join us!
I hope to have photos and video from Snowblast ready to show you Sunday night. I’m probably going to wait and put it online AFTER I show it in youth group Sunday.
Also, we may have a first look at our winter/spring youth plans.
Remember, Sunday School is at 9:30!

I’ll see you Sunday!

Richard
403-2403

Snowblast 2010 is this weekend!

2010-01-12T14:12:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to remind all Catalina youth and parents that youth Sunday School and youth group will NOT be meeting this Sunday, January 17, since many of us will be on Snowblast 2010!!

Youth group and Sunday School will return to normal schedule on January 24.

THANKS to all who helped with Project Hospitality! You guys did a great job, worked hard, were friendly hosts, and were a lot of fun to hang out with!

Richard 403-2403

Kristin 602-696-5411

The Refuge Sunday January 10, 2010

2010-01-07T10:14:00.000-08:00

This week's worship bulletin is here. This Sunday is part of the season of Epiphany, which presents Jesus as the Son of God. The Gospel readings during this time include the visit of the Magi, the baptism of Jesus, his first miracle, and the Transfiguration. This Sunday, we continue our theme "Who Is Jesus?". We celebrated his birth with much hoopla at Christmas, but whose birth is it that we celebrate? That is our study for the next few weeks.
This week, we look at the baptism of Jesus, as found in the Gospel of Luke. The Scripture is Luke 3.15-17, 21-22. Who is Jesus? Jesus is God's dearly loved child. What implication does that have for us? Come and hear about it!
We will also observe a traditional reaffirmation of baptism this Sunday.

Youth News for January 10, 2010

2010-01-07T10:06:00.000-08:00

Here’s the news!

Sunday School is at 9:30 in E-225.

Regular youth group schedule for this Sunday:
5:30 dinner, everything over at 7:30. I think we are planning to do music this Sunday.

If you have not registered for Snowblast 2010 yet, I MIGHT be able to add you. Go to http://foxyurl.com/MJA for details.

The youth group is hosting and providing meals for Project Hospitality this Friday. All the info is at http://foxyurl.com/NGj .

On Sunday, January 17, there will be NO Sunday School and NO youth group—that’s Snowblast 2010!!

We’ll see you Sunday!

Richard 403-2403
Kristin

Project Hospitality for Youth Friday January 8

2010-01-07T09:47:00.000-08:00

I’m sorry this is getting to you so late, but it has been one of those weeks. Here is the scoop for the youth facilitating Project Hospitality at Catalina this Friday:

What it is:

During the winter months, more people than maximum capacity seek shelter with the Salvation Army. Various churches agree to house a few men to relieve the overcrowding. Catalina has been doing this for years. The men are screened by the Salvation Army (usually they send out their regulars that they know) and we house and feed 6 men each week.

What we need:

Set up: I need 2 or 3 people to show up at 5pm on Friday in the church kitchen to help set up E-23 (room next to kitchen) for sleeping and dinner.

Dinner: We provide dinner for the 6 men and any of us who are here at the time. I anticipate feeding approximately 12 people. Here is what we need:
3 boxes of spaghetti (we will cook it at church-it needs to be here by 5:30)
2 pots of sauce (already prepared-can be re-heated at church)
Rolls/bread
2 large bags of salad
2 bottles of salad dressing
Dessert

Clean up: We will clean up dinner tables and dishes.

Overnight: As part of Project Hospitality, we must have someone stay all night. I will be doing this and any interested youth are invited also. However, keep these things in mind:
You will stay all night.
You will need to cooperate and help.
You need to bring sleeping gear because we will sleep.
We will have some work we will be doing.
Feel free to bring games or movies.
This is not something to bring friends to.
We will be getting up EARLY. Breakfast is at 6:15am—and we must prepare it.

Breakfast:
3 doz eggs
3 lb bacon
3 cans of biscuits
2 jugs of juice
1 gallon milk
Fruit
1 tub magarine
1 large jar of jelly

If you plan to come, I need you to bring something. I know this is a rush, but I need to know right away what you can bring so I can resolve any duplicates and know what we don’t have covered. Items can be split up; you can bring 1 dozen eggs, not all 3, etc. You can bring something and leave. You can bring something and stay for part of the time. Obviously, it would be better for me to get the spaghetti sauce covered for sure (since it needs to be prepared ahead of time).

Alright. I THINK that covers it! If you can bring something PLEASE let me know ASAP. You can email me at richard@catumc.org or text or call me at 403-2403.

Thanks.
Richard

Truer Words Were Never Spoken--I mean Written

2010-01-05T11:04:00.001-08:00

From here.

Youth News! For January 3, 2010

2009-12-30T10:34:00.000-08:00

A little variety is in store for this Sunday!

High School Youth Group is at Richard’s House

This Sunday January 3. We will begin with dinner at 5:30, and will be finished by 7:30. We will eat, play some games, discuss, pray, share—all the stuff we do at youth group, only in Richard’s living room. What a great way to END (how sad, I know) your holiday break! Casual, informal, fun—don’t miss it.

Here are directions:

1-Go EAST on Broadway PAST Camino Seco.

2-Turn LEFT on to Gollob. Gollob runs between 2 apartment complexes and is the first cross street after Camino Seco.

3-Turn LEFT on to E Berkshire Place (this is the first left on Gollob).

4-My house is the second house on the left (9080 E Berkshire Place).

If you get lost, call me 403-2403.

If you need a ride, I will try to arrange it, but it would probably be with a youth.

Can you bring something? I could use brownies (or other dessert you eat with your fingers), cut up veggies, cut up fruit. Let me know ASAP if you are bringing something, so I won’t get it at the store. Feel free to bring friends.

Parents, if you are driving your youth, feel free to stay to avoid driving around too much. (Or you could park it up at Safeway and have a Starbucks or at McDonalds, etc)

Middle School Youth Group is Bowling this Sunday! Meet at Lucky Strike (Speedway east of Alvernon) at 5:30. Bring money for bowling and food. Parents are invited to stay and bowl! More info? Call Kristin 602-696-5411. I wonder how many of you can beat Kristin at bowling?

Youth Sunday School begins to meet at 9:30 this Sunday in E-225 (upstairs over library).

Snowblast 2010 registrations are due THIS SUNDAY!!!! Info is at http://foxyurl.com/MJA

Project Hospitality Friday January 8 The youth group will be filling all the spots for Project Hospitality on January 8. Project Hospitality is a ministry of our church that takes 6 men from the Salvation Army shelter (they are too full when it’s cold) and houses and feeds them at our church. That means I will need a couple of you to come set up, a few to bring and serve dinner, a few (actually, anyone who wants to) to stay overnight in the library (kind of like a camp-out/overnighter), a couple to bring and serve breakfast. I will have specifics next week. But think about how you would like to help. Maybe your family or friends would volunteer to bring dinner or breakfast. Let me know!

Read a Psalm, high school students!!

Christmas Caroling Photos are at http://foxyurl.com/Nd8

We’ll See You Sunday!!

Richard 403-2403

Kristin 602-696-5411

Epiphany Sunday

2009-12-29T20:33:00.000-08:00

Epiphany is always January 6 (like Christmas is always December 25). It is the celebration in the church that commemorates the visit of the Magi to the Christ Child. An intro to Epiphany can be found in the worship bulletin. Epiphany Sunday is the Sunday nearest Epiphany--so this Sunday (January 3) is Epiphany Sunday. I think Epiphany is a very important observance in the church. Come and find out why this Sunday! The worship bulletin will let you know about our music for this Sunday and give you info about the history and meaning of Epiphany.
Our study from Christmas to Lent is Who Is Jesus? We celebrate the birth of Jesus, but exactly who is it that we are celebrating? On Epiphany Sunday, we consider that Jesus is Lord of all.

Catalina Youth: News and PHOTOS!!!

2009-12-23T15:13:00.000-08:00

A few words for this week:

1-Christmas Caroling was great! Honestly, I think it was our best year ever! You guys participated very well, and we were received by our "victims" very enthusiastically!! Photos are at http://foxyurl.com/Nd8 and on my Facebook.

2-Christmas Eve services are 5pm [sanctuary], 9pm [hall], and 11pm [sanctuary].

3-No youth group OR Sunday School this Sunday! We WILL be having Sunday morning worship [9:30 and 11]!!!!

4-January 3, Sunday School moves to 9:30am.

5-January 3, high school youth group goes to Richard's house. Word will come on the middle school plan.

6-I have signed up 20 out of 30 spots for Snowblast 2010. Get your paper and deposit in SOON!! Info is at http://foxyurl.com/MJA

Richard
403-2403

Advent Week Three: LOVE

2009-12-17T19:03:00.000-08:00

This should be the crowning week of advent; after all, God IS love. Maybe this is why the climactic week is love and week three is joy-although joy is often portrayed as the main emphasis at Advent. The worship bulletin is here. There will be lots of great music this week, too.

The Body of Christ

2009-12-17T09:13:00.001-08:00

This is another great post. This one from the blog Sunday Papers.

At the first Christmas God didn’t send a book, or a message via a body-less ‘audible’ voice, no text, no website, no thunderbolt but a baby, a vulnerable body. This was the most vulnerable act where this god-child could have been exposed to emotional, physical, sexual and spiritual abuse.

‘The incarnation had nothing to do with theology. It was rather about vulnerability, about letting go, about emptiness, about surrender and none of that is in the head’ Richard Rohr

The two big events celebrated in the Christian calendar in remembrance of Jesus are united by the centrality of body. The commonalties include, nakedness, vulnerability, letting go and emptiness. At Christmas, the tenderness of new born soft flesh and at Easter, the torn, whipped stripped, beaten and wounded flesh and finally killed body.

Even though body is central to Church celebrations it remains uncomfortable with body and often is intent on rejecting and punishing the body. Society is full of people who are unhappy with body and feel the need to cover it, decorate it, change it, build it, enhance it and wound it. The Church often appears to be in constant conflict with body and continues to struggle to unite sensuality, sexuality and spirituality with sexuality and gender issues still hotly debated often causing disintegration.

However, when Jesus asked us to re-member him he didn’t ask us to read a book, obey certain laws, recall and repeat special words or perform a ritual. Instead he asked his followers to re-member his body, to embrace body, to eat body, to reconnect with body, to be embodied.

So this incarnation Christ invites us to hold his small vulnerable body and also his whipped, naked, beaten and wounded body. Christ invites us to love body, listen to body, and welcome body and to be tender with body; mine, yours and the body of Christ.

This is the body of Christ,
We are the body of Christ
We are body
Body!

This item was posted by James Hawes.

The Mood of Advent: We All Need A Savior

2009-12-17T08:43:00.000-08:00

This post is from the Internet Monk blog. I think it speaks for itself. Think about it.

Whereas the first week of Advent focuses on the hope of the new creation, the second week looks around at the sinful world we live in now. The mood could not be more different. This is the week we learn to lament. Seeing the evil, corruption, and injustice around us (and in us), we cry out to the King of Righteousness to come and put the world to rights. “Cast out our sin and enter in; be born in us today!” is our prayer.

To promote the wholesome practice of lament among God’s people, today we run an iMonk post that Michael wrote in December, 2007.

We need a savior.

This is the time that we stop and see that the powers of evil are entrenched in the world. Evil authorities and and evil persons are having their way. A good creation is being ruined. Hearts made for love and light are imprisoned, crying out and empty.

There is war, terror, the loss of innocence and the curses of ignorance, poverty and death. The wise men of this age are propagating nonsense. Men and women made in God’s image are addicted to the worst the darkness has to offer. They think backwards and cannot find their way out of the dungeon. They have lost their will to live and love, and have settled for the cheapest and palest of imitations.
Advent’s darkness includes the failure of religion to bring any light to this fallen and dying world. Religion has become as empty as fool’s errand as can be imagined. The religious take themselves seriously, but the world hears the hollowness of it all.

In the Christian family itself, the prosperity gospel makes a mockery of the very savior it claims to proclaim. Western Christians plunge into the pagan celebration, spending thousands on themselves and their children. We spend enough on our lights to save thousands upon thousands of lives. But those lives are in the darkness of Advent’s waiting. Our “lights” are nothing more than an extension of that darkness. They have nothing to do with the true light that comes to the world.

The real center of Advent’s dark mood is that we need a savior. We who sing and go to church for musicals and eat too much and buy too much and justify the season by our strange measurements of suffering.

We light candles and wait because, after looking around and taking stock, there should be no doubt that we need a savior.

Ironically, after 2,000 years of offering our Savior to others, we- Christians- need one more than ever. When we mark ourselves has “having” Christ more than “needing” Christ, we miss the Spirit of the Advent season.

Despite the fact that the world needs a savior, those offering him and his story to the world look no more “saved” than anyone else. In fact, with an extra facade of religion or two, we seem to be in every bit as bad a shape as the world we call “lost.”

The mood of Advent is that we are all lost. Advent isn’t about the “saved” telling the “lost” to “get saved.” Advent is a light that dawns in all of our darknesses. Advent is bread for all of our hungers. Advent is the promise kept for all of us promise-breakers, betrayers and failures.

Can we find a way to celebrate Advent as those who NEED to be saved? As those who NEED a savior? Not as those who know for certain that someone else does?

Scripture says that we who had not received mercy have now received mercy. Those who were nobodies are now the people of God.

The key to Advent is not living as if we are the people of God and always have been. The key is to live as if we need a Savior, and he has come to us, found us, saved us and is there for everyone in the world.

The mood of Advent isn’t “come be religious like us.” It is “We are all waiting for our Savior to be born. Let us wait together. And when he comes, let us recognize him, together.”

When the day dawns, let us all receive him. We go to the manger and worship. We give to him our gifts. We take his light to the poor.

Until then, we are the poor, the weak, the blind, the lonely, the guilty and the desperate. We light candles because we who are in darkness are in need of a great light. We need a savior.

So we wait amidst the ruins, we protect the lights we hold in hope. We sing to one who is coming. We look and wonder. We pray for his star to take us, once again, to the miracle.

The Second Sunday of Advent

2009-12-02T19:27:00.000-08:00

This Sunday, the second Sunday of Advent, the traditional theme is peace. Peace. Don't we need it? In all its many forms. Will there ever be peace in our world? Will there ever be peace in my life? Peace. Jesus is called Prince of Peace. Jesus will bring peace. Can I have a down payment or an installment now? The Scriptures for this Sunday are:
Isaiah 2.1-5
Isaiah 9.2-7
Luke 1.67-79
Isaiah 32.16-17
The worship bulletin is here.

God’s Renewed Creation: Call to Hope and Action

2009-11-30T08:48:00.000-08:00

This link is to a letter from the United Methodist Church Council of Bishops. Take time to read it.
"God's creation is in crisis. We, the Bishops of The United Methodist Church, cannot remain silent while God's people and God's planet suffer. This beautiful natural world is a loving gift from God, the Creator of all things seen and unseen. God has entrusted its care to all of us, but we have turned our backs on God and on our responsibilities..."

The Season of Advent – Holy Waiting and Watching

2009-11-24T09:41:00.000-08:00

I found this great post on Advent over at Interrupting the Silence. It really goes with our theme of silence from last Sunday. Read and think about the implications for your life this Advent.

A new liturgical year begins this coming Sunday, November 29, 2009, with the First Sunday of Advent. The Season of Advent consists of the four Sundays before Christmas. The liturgical color for Advent is purple or sometimes blue. We will begin a new liturgical cycle of seasons, feasts and fasts, and scripture lessons. This year the gospel will focus on the Gospel according to Luke with The Gospel according to John interspersed throughout the year but primarily in the Easter season.

The liturgical cycle is not, however, simply about passing time. The liturgical cycle tells the story of God’s life in the world. But it is more than just reciting the story. We are participants in the story not simply spectators or listeners. It is a ritual re-living of the life of Christ. Liturgy is the means by which we tell, live, and experience the story. It becomes real. It becomes our story not in the sense that we own it but in the sense that the liturgical cycle tells the story of our lives.

It has been said that liturgy is humanity’s yearning for God and grace is God’s yearning for humanity. Liturgically, this story of holy yearning—God’s and ours—begins in Advent. Advent means coming or to come. Advent is really about two comings. It is waiting and watching for the coming of the Christ child—new life, new birth, new hope coming into our world and our lives. It is the fulfillment of God’s promises. It is also waiting and watching for the coming of the eschaton—the end times when the fullness of God’s kingdom will be present. These are both future events and at the same time a present reality. They are already and not yet. Both of these advents are about the coming together of humanity and divinity.

The four Sundays of Advent are too often seen as the countdown to Christmas, as the time when we get things ready for Christmas. Santa Clause has been out since well before Halloween. Shopping lists are growing and the number of shopping days is shrinking. Menus are being planned. Travel is being arranged. Families are gathering. Expectations and hopes are growing. The countdown is well underway. Trees need decorating and presents need wrapping. Somewhere in all that is the stuff of everyday life – work, school, car pool, sports, paying bills, and running errands. There is so much to do and time is running out. The temptation is to live a “hurry-up, get busy, Christmas is almost here,” Advent. That is not the liturgical understanding of Advent. That kind of Advent can only lead to a “hurry-up, get to church, open the presents, take down the tree, Christmas is over,” Christmas.

The four Sundays of Advent are not the time when we prepare for Christmas but the time in which we are being prepared for Christmas. Advent is a time when the Church stands up in the face of the busyness of life, shopping, parties, cooking, traveling, and decorating and asks us to slow down, be still, and be quiet. We are to keep awake, looking and listening for the God who is always coming to us. We are called to prepare the way of the Lord. We watch and reflect on who we are. We look for the Christ in all the unexpected places – in the stuff of everyday life, in the poor, the hungry, and the needy. We live with expectancy and anticipation of God’s presence in our lives. We wait for the angelic messenger that promises us that the womb of our humanity will bear a child named Jesus.

That is hard work any time but especially in one of the busiest times of the year which may just mean it is even more necessary. Advent reminds us that waiting and watching are holy work. So how do we do this? Silence is the key. Silence is a way of waiting, a way of watching, and a way of listening to what is going on within and around us. We come to self-knowledge through stillness and silence, through attentiveness and watchfulness.

The desert mothers and fathers knew well the practice of waiting and watching. Abba Arsenius said he heard a voice say, “Arsenius, flee; be silent, pray always.” And Abba Poeman said, “Be watchful inwardly; and be watchful outwardly.” These practices are not just for the ancient desert dwellers. Living as we do in a culture of excessive distraction, noise, busyness, comfort, and instant gratification the wisdom of the desert should not be ignored.

So I wonder what we would discover if for the Season of Advent we took five minutes, ten minutes, thirty minutes even an hour each day to just sit in silence and stillness waiting and watching. What would the Coming One show us, say to us?

2009-11-19T12:40:00.000-08:00

Lets try this for Advent: each Wednesday evening from 6:15-6:45, I will host a time for silent meditation in the chapel at Catalina UMC. No experience or preparation is required. Just come and enjoy the quiet. We will meet December 2, 9, 16, and 23. Everyone is welcome!

Silence

2009-11-19T12:14:00.000-08:00

This Sunday, I am attempting to give you a pre-emptive inoculation against the stress and hurry of the holidays. Yes, they are upon us. Our worship service will feature a theme of silence this week. The worship bulletin has everything you need in it: live links to the Scriptures and to the video we are going to watch. We will also talk a little about Thanksgiving, and this Sunday is Christ the King Sunday (there's a link in the bulletin to info about that, too).

Wesleyan mDNA By Steve Manskar

2009-11-16T15:23:00.000-08:00

This post first appeared here.

“What if the church is not about attracting people into a building but living as God’s people in the public space of their own community and neighborhood?” (Alan J. Roxburgh & Fred Romanuk, The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2006), 170.)

This quote, and the book where I encountered it, have awakened me to a clearer perception of my work and ministry. To use a much over used phrase, I have experienced a paradigm shift. I think I now see more clearly the nature and purpose of the church as it is revealed in Scripture. And, I now see why the United Methodist Church in North America is declining.

Church is what we do between 9:00 am and 12:00 pm on Sunday. It’s where we know we can go to receive religious goods and services. In other words, we have turned the church into a religious version of Wal-Mart.

We have forgotten our Wesleyan DNA. Or, to use Alan Hirsch’s term, mDNA (missional DNA). We have turned the church into an institution. We have encumbered it with structure, bureaucracy and real estate. Consequently, we talk about the church as a static edifice. It is the place we go on Sunday morning and Wednesday night. We go there to be blessed and to grow in our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Church is what we do between 9:00 am and 12:00 pm on Sunday. It’s where we know we can go to receive religious goods and services. In other words, we have turned the church into a religious version of Wal-Mart.

In the vast majority of United Methodist congregations membership has very little meaning because there is very little expected. Church membership has been reduced to something akin to membership in Sam’s Club. You pay your nominal dues and then you are entitled to all the benefits of discounted goods and services. This is particularly true when most congregations reduce membership vows to “will you faithfully participate in [the local congregation’s] ministries by your prayers, your presence, your gifts, your service, and your witness.” Nothing is asked about rejecting the evil powers of this world and repenting of sin, accepting the freedom and power God gives to resist evil, injustice, and oppression, or confessing Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

When we reduce membership to “prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness” we put ourselves and the local congregation on center stage. Christ and his mission for the world are relegated to the margins. The church’s ministry is focused upon attracting as many people as possible to itself. Discipleship becomes an optional program. Mission is relegated to sending money and prayers to missionaries in foreign countries. And if the people who come happen to meet Jesus along the way, well that’s a special blessing. What really matters is that people come to the church. To that end, the governing principle of most congregations is the General Rule of Pastoral Prudence: “The absolute minimum in obligations in order to keep the maximum number of people.”

The Wesleys understood that the church does not exist for itself, it exists for the world that God loves. People are drawn to it when it is like salt of the earth and light for the world.

I am convinced that one of the reasons the North American United Methodist is declining is that more and more people today are looking for meaning and purpose. They are drawn to communities that are missional. They yearn to give of themselves to something bigger than themselves. They want to meet and experience the power of Jesus Christ. They want to make a difference in the world.

The Wesleyan movement was essentially missional in character. It attracted people because of the mission to “reform the nation, particularly the Church; and to spread scriptural holiness across the land.” The Wesleys and Methodism were all about participating in Christ’s mission for the world: to prepare Earth for the coming reign of God. They were a people on a mission. And the mission was centered in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Wesleys understood that the church does not exist for itself, it exists for the world that God loves. People are drawn to it when it is like salt of the earth and light for the world.

We need to reawaken this latent Wesleyan mDNA present in the North American United Methodist Church. God’s reign will come with or without the United Methodist Church. Our task is to become the church that God can use; the kind of church that is like salt and light; the church that witnesses to Jesus Christ in the world, and follows his teachings through acts of compassion, justice, worship, and devotion under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Steven W. Manskar is the Director of Wesleyan Leadership for the General Board of Discipleship.

Guilt-Ridden Faith?

2009-11-16T10:43:00.001-08:00

Another video by Tim.

Guilt-Ridden Faith from Recycle Your Faith on Vimeo.

How To Pray

2009-11-16T10:40:00.001-08:00

Pray With Your Feet from Recycle Your Faith on Vimeo.

How To Pray

2009-11-16T10:40:00.000-08:00

Pray With Your Feet from Recycle Your Faith on Vimeo.

Forgive Me My Shellfish Ways

2009-11-16T10:33:00.000-08:00

The quote below is from Forgive Me My Shellfish Ways at the United Methodeviations Blog. Before you get offended by something said, read the article. You may not agree, but you might be spurred in your thinking.

"What would really be great? To have a faith based on a Savior and not a book. Wouldn’t it be cool if we could find a religion based in grace and goodness rather than rules and judgement? I would like a faith built around doing good, not worrying about who is doing “bad.” But I know that what I eat for dinner is much more important than people dying of curable disease, hunger and malnutrition. I am so thankful that I am part of a church that expends millions of dollars to hold annual and general conferences to argue over personal behaviors and beliefs instead of making disciples to transform the world. Otherwise how would I know who to love and who to condemn? I just hope and pray that no one raises the biblical issue of shellfish, because I would be in big trouble."

WOW! The BEST Christmas Post EVER!

2009-11-09T10:15:00.001-08:00

Well, that may be overstating it--a little. But read this post from the LobotoME blog about keeping Christmas simple.

11.09.2009
{ a simple Christmas }

On average, it takes 6 months for families to pay off holiday bills...ouch. The mode of our culture is to consume and shop throughout the year. During the holiday season people feel they have to shop even MORE than normal. But it doesn't have to be that way. This year can be different. You don't have to spend a lot to have a meaningful celebration. Instead of shopping like crazy, here are some ways to simplify your holidays. { Here is my original post on this topic and here is a great article from the Seattle Times about moms taking back the holidays by taking on consumerism. }

1) Establish or honor family traditions.

2) Sit down with a calendar and make a list of things everyone in the family would like to do over the holidays. I like to build these things into our advent activity calendar.

3) Schedule in some "helping other" activities...donating food at the food bank, donating blankets to the homeless shelter, adopting a family for Christmas, etc. Involve your kids in choosing and taking part in these acts of giving. For example, I have Sam decorate paper bags that we then fill with food for the food bank, go grocery shopping and deliver them together.

4) Celebrate the Winter Solstice on December 21st. We always do a fancy dinner at home with sitting outside looking at the starts & drinking hot chocolate.

5) Light a special candle each night during the month of December and take turns reading stories, poems or saying things you are each grateful for. We generally try to incorporate this into our evening dinners together.

6) Make Christmas Day about spending time with family & friends and not about the gifts. We do this by having a simple bunch- Swedish coffee cake (my Gram's recipe), bagels & cream cheese, egg casserole (make ahead of time)...And then we all don our snowshoes and go snowshoeing together.

Last year we pared down the gifts for the kids into 6 gift giving categories...But this year we are doing advent calendar activities and only 3 gifts. Note: Sam thinks Santa leaves ONE gift for each child (lots of kids to give things to...only one per child reasoning). We have again asked all of the grandparents to go easy on the gift giving (1-2 gifts per child) or donations to the kids college funds. So for Samme this translates into:

1 Want from Santa: A piano. I found a great (and super cheap) piano at the thrift store a few weeks ago. Score! Sam has wanted a piano forever....

1 Need: Winter gear - she outgrew last years snow boots.

1 Read: A new book.

Henry gets...

1 Want from Santa: An Ikea Trainset

1 Need: New PJ's

1 Read: A new book.

I've also created a year in review photo book from Shutterfly for all of the grandparents and birthparents. This is all our parents/grandparents are getting {oh and some custom (painted by Samme) artwork}.

Teachers are getting homemade bread and LobotoME notepads. Neighbors are getting bread or cookies. Hostess gifts will be wine & LobotoME notepads.

We are putting up our lovely reusable tree after Thanksgiving (I prefer the term reusable to fake...as much fun it would be to tromp into the woods and cut down a tree I can't bring myself to do it)...the peace on the front door, a live tree with white lights on the front porch (that we'll plant in the spring) and our stockings hung by the chimney. That's it. The rest of the holiday decor went to the thrift store last year.

The holidays are about spending time together. Peacefully. Not rushing around like chickens with our heads cut off.

What are you doing to keep it simple this year?

All Souls Procession

2009-11-06T09:29:00.001-08:00

NEWSFLASH! We are going to the All Souls Procession downtown for youth group Sunday! This is something I've wanted to do for a couple of years, but we always had conflicts in schedule, so I forgot about it. Chloe suggested it Thursday, and I thought, "Why not?".

DINNER WILL BE AT 5pm and NOT 5:30. Do not be late, we will leave you. We hope to return by the regular 7:30 ending time, but regardless, we will return close to that time and if there are any changes, you can call.

This is a Tucson tradition (since 1990) that is creative, fun, spiritual, and centers on remembering and honoring those who have left this life. The website for the event is http://www.allsoulsprocession.org/

The low for Sunday is 56, but that will not be the temp at 6pm, but I would wear pants and comfortable walking shoes and bring a sweatshirt or jacket in case you want it. If you have any questions, email me or call me. Parents and friends are welcome to join us!!

Richard
403-2403

Half of U.S. Kids Use Foodstamps Before Age 20

2009-11-05T07:16:00.000-08:00

Mark R. Rank of the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis co-authored a study analyzing the financial circumstances of U.S. kids (ages 1-20) over a period of 30 years. Key findings include:

* 49% of all U.S. kids will be in a household that uses food stamps at some point during their childhood.
>> 90% of black kids
>> 37% of white kids
>> 91% of kids in single-parent homes
>> 37% of kids in married homes
* Nearly 25% of all U.S. kids will be in households that use food stamps for 5+ years during childhood.
* 97% of U.S. kids by age 10 who are black and whose head of household is not married with less than 12 years of education reside in a food stamp household.

Even limited exposure to poverty can have detrimental effects upon a child’s overall quality of health and well-being.
- Mark R. Rank :: George Warren Brown School of Social Work

While these findings encompass decades of ups and downs, do not forget that current food stamp usage is at record levels (10%+ of the total U.S. population). Simultaneously, 80% of food banks can not meet demand (based on May ‘09 research).

Churches can help fight this hunger.

(via USA Today)

Psalms Wiffiti

2009-11-03T13:26:00.000-08:00

To add a thought on the Psalms, you can
1-post a twitter with "psalm" in it and it will eventually get picked up.
2-Text @wif10874 + your message to 87884
3-Go to http://wiffiti.com/screens/10874 and post your thoughts.
[You can click in the right corner of the screen to go full screen.]

Challenging Article on Prayer

2009-11-03T12:02:00.000-08:00

I ran across this article on the United Methodeviations blog. Good (but challenging) thoughts on prayer. What do you think?

Why People Think We’re Crazy November 3, 2009

Posted by doroteos2 in Congregational Life, Critical Thinking, prayer, spiritual practices.
Tags: anti-intellectualism, Myths, prayer, spiritual practices
trackback

There are times when Christians drive me absolutely nuts. One way this happens is when I hear well-meaning and sincere Christians confuse faith and superstition, relying on prayer as a magical talisman or incantation. I listened to a United Methodist colleague share recently that he no longer prays because it never makes any difference. He told of a time when he was getting a cold and he prayed fervently that he not get sick, but got sick anyway. “I have better things to do with my time,” he concluded. Well, duh! Prayer isn’t our opportunity to tell God what to do or to corrupt it as a selfish want list. This irrational magical thinking does nothing more than give Christianity a bad name. We don’t need any help looking less enlightened than we already do to a growing educated and informed segment of our society. Ignorance, self-centeredness, judgmentalism, and narrow-mindedness are the four most prevalent reasons younger non-Christians give for avoiding the church (and the faith). When we promote a mythical-magical, pre-rational (irrational?) faith, we do ourselves no good. For example –

A weepy woman pastor wails on about how Down Syndrome babies are a gift from God. She explains that this affliction is a blessing to test parents capacity to love. That Down Syndrome children are the happiest and most carefree of all His children. She explains that Down Syndrome children are the earthly equivalent of cherubs, and that anyone with a Down Syndrome child is doubly blessed and will be richly rewarded in heaven — where their Down Syndrome children will be restored to full health (though why God would want to tamper with their perfection and blessedness is beyond me…). This lunatic actually invited mothers to pray with her that they might experience the blessing of having a child with Down Syndrome. Now, I don’t know what this lady’s brokenness is, and she may sincerely think she is offering a message of hope to families with a Down Syndrome child, but I do not for one moment believe that it is “God’s will” that a child or a family endure torments and heartache — especially as a test! OMG!

And then there is the crying couple who discovered that their son, missing for months in Afghanistan, was released and is coming home. “Our prayers brought our Son home safely from Afghanistan,” said the father. Mom added, “Jesus saw the love in our hearts and rewarded our faith. He gave us our baby back!” Touching, sentimental, and as the commentator said, “a powerful testimony to the power of prayer!” So, what about the hundreds of praying parents who receive word that their son of daughter is dead — killed in a senseless war while back home faithful people ask God’s protection and grace? When you link the answer to prayer to one’s level of faithfulness, what are you implying about all those who don’t get their heart’s desire? Is one person’s faith qualitatively different from hundreds of others? When ten people pray for rain and ten people pray for sun, is it an automatic proof who God prefers when it does one or the other? When one town prays the hurricane won’t hit them, is it an indictment of lack of faith on the town it does hit? When a terrorist prays that the bullet they fire will hit with deadly accuracy and it hits and kills the young person praying fervently that they will not be hurt, does that mean the terrorist’s version of God is stronger than our version? Prayer indeed is a comfort in time of distress and tragedy, but it is not some magical incantation that makes us somehow exempt from the uncertainties of life that plague everyone else.

The willingness to ascribe a supernatural cause to the unpleasantness of real life is widespread and has a long history. I sat on an airplane with a thirty-something woman who told me that her ”cancer occurred because I let Satan into my life.” She went onto say that “cancer isn’t really a disease, but an outward manifestation of what you really are. If you are a truly good person, you don’t get cancer. Cancer is the darkness of sin when it takes over your life.” There are so many things wrong with this worldview I don’t even know where to begin. Every person who has ever had cancer got it because they are evil? All the people who avoid it are good? The key to beating cancer is to be good? Where did she get this crazy idea from? “My pastor,” she told me. “She had cancer at a time when she was living in sin. She renounced sin, prayed to God for forgiveness, and IMMEDIATELY,” she reported breathlessly, “her cancer went into remission! I’m not there yet, but I am really trying to be good.”

Oh, yeah, and this guy — “My wealth came when I gave my life to Jesus and learned true prayer!” he enthuses. “I began to pray holding money in my hands so that what I had would attract more! The very first time I prayed this way, I held a ten-dollar bill. That same day, I found a ten-dollar bill in a parking lot. Now I have a dedicated prayer space in both my home and my office, and whenever I pray, I place my wallet — my cash, and credit cards, and check book — on the altar. God has yet to refuse to bless me!” Take that Joel Osteen! Even he isn’t this blatant. The “Prosperity Gospel” has all kinds of problems — too many to list here — but once again the implications are troubling: good people get, bad people do not. If you are wealthy, you are blessed of God. If you are poor, or merely middle-class, you possess a sub-standard relationship with God. Shame on you…

I feel sad when I encounter these kinds of “simple faith.” I emphasize the simple, because they reflect a non-critical, non-rational, almost hysteric clinging to magic, where God is little more than a grand genie in the sky waiting to serve our every whim. Many studies into people’s understanding and practice of prayer indicate that these are not isolated examples. Millions of Christians hold this children’s Sunday school understanding of prayer. They might hold Harry Potter in contempt, but they practice no less a Hogswartian approach to prayer as magical incantation than poor Harry and friends.

Readers of this blog know that I regularly raise the questions, “What is prayer?” and “What is prayer for?” I truly believe these are not rhetorical or simple questions. Prayer was a staple of the primitive and pre-modern roots of our faith, where myth, magic, and mystery ruled human understanding. But times have changed. Our spiritual understandings and practices cannot stay mired in archaic and unenlightened times. I believe there is great power and benefit in prayer, but not as a metaphysical means to manipulate the physical. I do believe in spirit and essence and energy, but not so much in magic and occult machinations.

Even our critics often denounce us — not because we believe in magic, but because our magic doesn’t work for them. I remember reading an essay by Steven Weinberg, “A Designer Universe?”, where the main argument was there cannot be a God because of all the bad things that happen. Abdicating all human responsibility for evil and illness, the essay basically says that a God that won’t do what we want him to is no good at all. Only a God that responds to our every whim and absolves us of all responsibility for our actions is worthy of our belief. Yeah, good luck with that…

Christianity in a consumeristic society is bound to be a compromised package at best. We are a culture that wants all the benefits but with the fewest costs. We want an easy faith that will take care of us, but that demands little. Prayer as a discipline? Not a big seller. Prayer as metaphysical mail-order, no money down, no monthly payments? Now you’re talking!

Something That Is Working!!

2009-11-03T10:12:00.000-08:00

An Altar Call from Bill and Melinda Gates

[click on the link above to see the video]

by Jim Wallis 11-02-2009

Last week, my wife Joy and I were front and center when Bill and Melinda Gates launched their new Living Proof campaign in Washington, D.C. I have to imagine that this campaign launch sounded a lot like one of Microsoft’s shareholder meetings. It was replete with charts, graphs, well-defined metrics for success, best practices, and market projections. But present throughout Bill and Melinda Gates’ talk on the state of global health and poverty were not just numbers but the real people whose lives are being saved every day by their U.S. investments in global health. As the Living Proof Web site states,

Much of what people read and hear is bad news — terrible statistics and sad stories. The purpose of the Living Proof Project is to share good news: Together, we can help the world’s poorest people improve their lives. We know, because we’ve seen living proof. People’s lives are improving in measurable ways … They are testimony to the fact that when you improve health, life improves by every other measure.

I believe the Gates Foundation has been so effective in their work for two primary reasons. First, they aren’t afraid to make the “smart case” through clear and definable metrics and at the same time make clear the “moral imperative” for improving global health and ending extreme poverty. Second, they recognize that solutions to problems this big come when everybody is at the table. That means private philanthropy, government policy, NGOs, local leadership, and the faith community all have roles to play.

Too often the well meaning case for the moral urgency of global health and poverty is divorced from a hard nosed look at both what is most effective and what makes the best use of limited resources. The Gates Foundation is changing that. In the “I’m Living Proof” video, they show child after child proudly proclaiming, “I’m Living Proof” that these programs work. They talk about the “Lazarus effect” of how HIV/AIDS drugs are bringing people back to life who were nearly dead. They profiled a small child who nearly died after her mother’s death from HIV/AIDS. Just one year after starting HIV/AIDS drugs, the video shows this same child now thriving. The change is almost unbelievable.

These compelling stories are combined with big goals and measurable outcomes. Bill and Melinda Gates called on each of us to join them in advocating for U.S. investments in reducing the number of child deaths worldwide by nearly half by 2025. That may sound like an ambitious goal, but we’ve already made real progress. The number of children who die before age 5 has been halved since 1960 — from 20 million to fewer than 9 million per year — even as the number of births increased by more than 20 percent. The child death rate declined by more than a quarter (27 percent) from 1990 to 2007 alone. Now we need to further reduce child deaths by half once again.

The kind of gains we have seen in the past and the ambitious goal of repeating them in the future are not the result of any one sector of society, approach, or organization. It is not a choice between private charity, government aid, debt cancellation, trade policy change, or NGO cooperation; rather, it’s a question of getting them all to work together. Change happens most effectively when there is coordination and cooperation between different sectors and forces, not a choice between them. Bill and Melinda make it very clear that even as the Gates Foundation is the single largest philanthropic organization in the world, they can’t accomplish their goals without the cooperation and coordination with government and the nonprofit world — including the faith community.

Bill Gates is known for the smart approach; that came through as he made the compelling case for the results we can have with more investment. Melinda struck me as a real evangelist as she spoke naturally and passionately for all of our involvement. She spoke in moral terms about the “preciousness of every human life.” But the most successful CEO in the world also spoke in moral terms about the deeply held American value of equality and how we now need to be consistent in applying that value around the world. In other words, the poorest kids in the world shouldn’t die from diseases that none of our kids do anymore.

As I spoke with a person at the foundation at the small reception afterward, he explained to me that the Gates had been on Capitol Hill for two days and in almost every meeting they had, Members of Congress told them that the faith community will have to be centrally involved if the U.S. is to make an even deeper investment in global health. At the reception, I thanked both Melinda and Bill Gates for their work and promised that we would be involved.

I almost expected an altar call at the end of Bill and Melinda’s presentation, and I would have gone down the aisle. Because when it comes to the health and well-being of the world’s poorest people, Jesus is already there, and its time the rest of us Christians joined him. And as I suggested to Bill, the combination of the smart case and the moral case is the winning strategy.

The Spiritual Practice of Serving Others

2009-11-03T10:03:00.000-08:00

This is a great post from Off the Map blog. Click on this link to see a good video about this subject.

The Spiritual Practice of Serving Others

1 Nov, 2009 blog

By Jim Henderson

Word association game time…

I say spiritual practice – what images come into your mind?

If you have been formed or influenced by any of the major world religions (including Christianity) you will think of things like
mediation, prayers you recite, ritual liturgical gatherings you attend, mental disciplines and maybe fasting
What you probably won’t include on that list are things like

Listening to someone
Holding the door for someone
Noticing someone across the room who is struggling
Asking someone how they are doing and actually paying attention
Feeding someone who is hungry
Visiting with or advocating for someone who is trouble with the law
Dropping clothes off at Goodwill

You may think of these practices as spiritual

You may even do them intentionally, not for points, but in order to be faithful to the God you follow.

Nevertheless you won’t often hear these practices being referred to by church leaders with the same degree of reverence, frequency or fervency as what has become known as the interior spiritual practices.

For some reason, when it comes to being a serious follower of Jesus, the spirituality of serving others doesn’t count for as much as prayer, worship or church attendance. More insidiously we’ve learned to transfer these same values to God who apparently lacks the capacity to see or value the small and invisible things human beings do in their day to day lives to serve others.

This in spite of the fact that Jesus clearly favored the small, invisible and private over the public and obvious saying such things as when you give don’t let your right hand know what your left hand is doing and when you pray don’t be like the Pharisees and if you want to be my disciples do things like give those without the ability to thank you something as small and ordinary as a cup of cold water (our cultural equivalent would be paying attention to someone without drawing attention to ourselves).

It’s apparent that by his words and practices, Jesus – the founder of our movement and our Master – clearly thought of serving others as a spiritual practice.

Good All Saints Thoughts

2009-11-01T19:08:00.000-08:00

Check out this post from a blog called United Methodeviations about All Saints.

How Does the Holy Spirit Lead You?

2009-10-26T16:08:00.001-07:00

This is a short video discussion on how the Holy Spirit can lead us in our every day lives. It is from the folks at LifeChurch.tv.

Studies in Mark: The Temple Veil is Torn

2009-10-23T11:45:00.000-07:00

Not much time this week. The worship bulletin is here. Watch this video by Petra called "Enter In". It's about the topic of our study for this week in Mark 15.32-41.

Catalina Youth: News and PHOTO!

2009-10-23T11:24:00.000-07:00

OK, friends, this has been a crazy week for me, so no newsletter this week; just a few announcements:

1-YOUTH GROUP MEETS SUNDAY NIGHT! EVERYBODY should be here! Dinner is at 5:30.

2-If you are going trick or treating on Halloween, PICK UP YOUR REVERSE TRICK OR TREAT CANDY this Sunday. Just pick up a bag from me or Kristen. Here is the deal: You go to a house and say "Trick or Treat!" and hopefully, they give you a treat. Then you say "Thank you" like your mother taught you many years ago (and probably reminded you before you left the house). THEN you say, "Here is a treat for you!" and hand them a card with the fair trade chocolate attached! The point is to raise awareness about Fair Trade practices. This is a way that you can have fun and do something for social justice all at the same time!

3-VOTE IN OUR TWO POLLS!! U of A football game tickets: http://bit.ly/SVFAN Youth Group Super Bowl Party http://bit.ly/3yu3bL

4-UofA Volleyball vs ASU!! Friday, Nov. 13 at 7pm Tickets are $2! (I've got 16 tickets available). UofA volleyball women beat ASU convincingly last weekend in Tempe, now they are at home for the rematch. Details on where to meet, and at what time will follow. BUT if you want a ticket, I would reply to me or text me and I will put you on the list. If I run out of tickets, you can buy one at the door, but the line will be long! And the ticket will cost $3. If you want to visit the concession stand, you are on your own for that.

5-The photo of the week is...well, you see it!

6-National Mix-It-Up at Lunch Day is Tuesday, November 10. Info is at http://foxyurl.com/JWd Talk to your friends, teachers, administrators, student government, school clubs, or just do it yourself!!! This event is sponsored by Southern Poverty Law Center (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr founded it) and encourages students to sit with someone new, someone different at lunch on November 10; you get it: MIX IT UP! AND THIS IS THE SHORT VERSION????? Yes, it is.

7-UofA Football Game vs Oregon Saturday, November 21, time to be announced. We are taking a group to this game. Next week, I will announce which ticket package you guys chose and give you the details about ordering tickets (YES, you can bring friends!!). But VOTE IN THE POLL!! See above.

8-PRAYER FOR THE DAY Parent me God where I am lost. Soothe the struggle of my soul. Where I have left the simple trust of childhood, heal my heart. [from Twitturgies by Gerard Kelly]

9-Set up Twitter on your phone http://foxyurl.com/vva and then follow richardinaz for all youth news! Or you can just go to twitter.com and set it up on your computer.

I'll See You Sunday!

Richard 403-2403

Catalina Youth: One More Poll!!

2009-10-20T13:59:00.001-07:00

I am considering buying tickets to take youth who want to go to the Arizona v Oregon football game. Start time has not been announced. The two options are:
The Family Zone ($17 adult, $10 student), which is the north end zone. You are close to the field, but can't see the screen/big scoreboard.
The Economy Sections (Marked with an "E" on the stadium diagram) ($15 package includes ticket, hot dog, peanuts, and a soda), which is upper level at each end of the east side of the stadium. You are very high up, but you can see the screen. Vote on which you would prefer, but ONLY VOTE if there is a good chance you will go to the game.

Click on the stadium diagram and it gets bigger.

Skips answers 3,4,5. I forgot to take them off before I published the poll.

What UofA football tickets should I get for the youth group? (Sat. Nov. 21 vs Oregon) Answer only if you might go.(polling)

Catalina Youth: Take the Poll!

2009-10-19T13:58:00.001-07:00

What should we do about a youth group Super Bowl Party? You can choose more than one answer, but the more answers you choose, the less helpful the poll is.(polls)

we all come to prayer with a tangled mass of motives

2009-10-19T11:36:00.000-07:00

"The truth of the matter is, we all come to prayer with a tangled mass of motives - altruistic and selfish, merciful and hateful, loving and bitter. Frankly, this side of eternity we will never unravel the good from the bad, the pure from the impure. But what I have come to see is that God is big enough to receive us with all our mixture. We do not have to be bright, or pure, or filled with faith, or anything. That is what grace means, and we are not only saved by grace, we live by it as well. And we pray by it." - Richard J. Foster, Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home
HT: Tony Steward

By the way, I have read this book and I recommend it without reservation--as I do with anything written by Richard J. Foster.

Ending Extreme Poverty...Just Over the Horizon?

2009-10-17T08:28:00.000-07:00

Over at Compassion International's blog, I found this great post written by Brianne Mullins. Read it all, (especially to see that charts and stats--they are encouraging, really!) but here are a few quotes.

We used to say that 40,000 children under age 5 die every day of hunger or preventable diseases. Then about 6 to 7 years ago this number was 30,000. Today, 24,000 children under 5 die every day of hunger or preventable diseases.

These statistics show that in 20 years the number of children who die every day of hunger or preventable diseases has been cut in half. Yet, the birth rate is actually going up. The population is increasing.

“Ending extreme poverty* is a practical, achievable objective and is an objective that can be completed by our generation.”

“The wealthy church today, the American church, has been entrusted with a purse of the Kingdom. The majority of Christ’s followers live in the developing world. What do they think of us as treasurers? Are they assuming that we would put the treasuries of the Kingdom to celebrating God’s goodness or caring for the poor? How are we doing?”

The annual income of Christian American churchgoers is $5.2 trillion. The amount of money needed to end global poverty is about $74 billion a year.

Did you crunch the numbers?

Basically, 1 percent of our annual income a year is what is needed to end extreme poverty.

Can you imagine? It could be said of our generation, “And there were no needy persons among them.”

To add a little perspective, the green bar represents the amount of money Americans spend on entertainment every year. We spend ten times more on entertainment ($705 billion) than what is needed to end poverty.

My Top Five Albums

2009-10-16T11:46:00.000-07:00

Over at Jesus Creed, Scot got me thinking. He asked what are your top five greatest albums of all time? Here is what I said:
Top Five? Tough. So many artists albums are uneven. But I would say:
1-U2 Joshua Tree (Why has no one else mentioned this? It should be on everyone's top five--it's a given.)
2-Bob Dylan Time Out of Mind Underappreciated, but full of Dylan soul.
3-Moby Play The only CD you really need.
4-Bruce Springsteen The Rising Full of gems. Full.
5-Jeff Johnson Brendan's Prayer (or Patrick--both great--as is everything else Johnson and his cohorts record)

Was Jesus Like Stewie Griffin?

2009-10-15T14:04:00.001-07:00

How did this thing of Jesus being God AND human work? When did he come to consciousness of his divinity? I think a lot of us imagine Jesus was like Stewie. Stewie is extremely intelligent and has great powers of speech, but he is a baby. Is that how Jesus was? Almighty God in the body of a baby? Or did Jesus become the Son of God at some point? His baptism?
These questions of how the natures of Jesus worked are hard to answer. Why did this come up? Well, this Sunday, I am preaching on Mark 14.32-42, The Garden of Gethsemane. At Gethsemane, we see the human nature of Jesus come through more clearly than anywhere else. At Gethsemane, the struggle between the natures of Christ are revealed. Jesus did pray NOT to have to go to the cross. That prayer was not granted. Jesus did come to the point of praying "not MY will, but THY WILL be done." This Sunday, we will consider two important issues Gethsemane brings up: 1-The nature of Jesus as the Christ, and 2-How does prayer work? (Or did it not work in this case?). We will look at the Nicene Creed, since it was formulated in response to discussion and debate about the nature of Jesus. The worship bulletin is here. Join us Sunday!

Health Care Reform Would Benefit American Business

2009-10-12T17:29:00.001-07:00

During the 8 years that George W. Bush was president, the cost to an American employer to employ an American worker rose 25%. In other words, if it cost an employer $16/hour to employ a worker in 2000, it cost them $20 in 2008. And this is not inflation cost. It is a real increase in the cost to do business. Now, this was not President Bush's fault, and his policies did not cause this. And this increase was not due to tax increases, nor were the employees just making more money. This increase was due to rising health care costs. In other words, rising health care costs are hurting American employers. Health care reform will not just make liberals feel good. It is not to benefit those who can't or won't work. HEALTH CARE REFORM IS GOOD FOR AMERICAN BUSINESS. Who knows, if we could reform health care, maybe businesses wouldn't be forced by economic realities to outsource jobs overseas.

Obama Deserves the Nobel Peace Prize

2009-10-09T20:40:00.000-07:00

The U.S. is the most powerful country in the world. Barack Obama has chosen to reject the in-your-face-it's-my-way-or-the-highway attitude of former U.S. leaders. He has moved America from a position of aggressive international bullying to a position of conciliation and dialog. He holds the position of ultimate power in the world, yet he has chosen dialog and negotiation over threats. This shows great restraint and great wisdom.

Who Wants the Kingdom of God? Not Us

2009-10-07T11:34:00.000-07:00

http://networkedblogs.com/p13764475 Follow the link to a blog post by Steven Burleson. Good stuff. It makes me think. The Kierkegaard quote is right on. And I spelled Kierkegaard right the first time without looking it up.

God's Top Ten #3

2009-10-05T11:16:00.000-07:00

This link is to a sermon text by Don Heatley. It is part of his series on the Ten Commandments. It is about "Don't take God's name in vain". And he hits it out of the park. Read.
http://www.donheatley.com/2009/10/what.html

Seven Mistakes Every Church Should Avoid

2009-10-05T10:31:00.000-07:00

This is a good article posted on The Ooze.

http://www.theooze.com/articles/article.cfm?id=2203

A convicting article

2009-10-04T20:56:00.000-07:00

A convicting article for World Communion Sunday: New and Improved Dark Ages « United Methodeviations - http://shar.es/1hPog

Read it all, but to me, the money quote is at the end:
"I guess I just can’t understand why anyone would choose to wallow in the acid and poison and bile of judgment over the cleansing, living water of grace that we have received through Jesus Christ."

Amen.

The Nature of the Bible

2009-10-02T11:10:00.002-07:00

Good thoughts! _awakening: Reading Scripture Today. - http://shar.es/16mG0

Read, worriers!

2009-10-02T11:10:00.001-07:00

JASON BOYETT: author of the Pocket Guides: Will the World End in 2012? A Conversation - http://shar.es/16mlx

Video from Last Sunday

2009-10-01T15:21:00.000-07:00

This is a link to a video recording of "All Hail the Power" from The Refuge last Sunday. Thanks, Matt!

http://64.156.56.12/fs/v.aspx?v=896e67875a5f7079b197

World Communion Sunday

2009-10-01T15:07:00.001-07:00

This Sunday, October 4, 2009, is World Communion Sunday. The point of this annual observance is to get at what the Apostles' Creed calls "the communion of the saints"--the fact that all believers throughout the whole world and throughout all time are united in Jesus Christ.
We will use a communion liturgy from the United Methodist Book of Worship prepared specifically for World Communion Sunday. We will consider the Apostles' Creed. The meaning and experience of communion will be our focus. Join us for this meaningful service.
According to a tradition at Catalina, we will use small pieces of bread for communion that are colored "red, yellow, black, and white".
Of course, in my mind, a take away from World Communion Sunday is this: if we are going to be unified with other believers, let it start in our own church. Amen.

The worship bulletin is here.

Methodists and Lutherans and Catholics, oh my!

2009-09-30T14:56:00.001-07:00

Read this article. Pretty interesting. And short. I should mention that it is short, too.

Press Center - UMC.org

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The Spiritual Discipline of Serving on Vimeo

2009-09-29T13:50:00.001-07:00

Watch this video!

The Spiritual Discipline of Serving on Vimeo

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Gays in the Church Part 8: Inclusion or Exclusion | Finding Rhythm

2009-09-29T13:27:00.001-07:00

This is the last post in a series by Zach Lind. I would encourage you to read them all. You may or may not change your mind about the issue (that is not MY intent-to try to change your mind), but you might find yourself thinking more deeply about issues instead of just blowing people off.

Gays in the Church Part 8: Inclusion or Exclusion | Finding Rhythm

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No Impact Project

2009-09-29T12:06:00.001-07:00

You may have heard this story: a guy and his family attempt to live one year with no environmental impact--leaving no carbon footprint--or any other kind for that matter. What can we learn?

No Impact Project

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Treehouse Monastic

2009-09-23T17:32:00.001-07:00

Good post on why doubt is important to faith.

Treehouse Monastic

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RELEVANT Magazine - Exploring One Hell of a Place

2009-09-23T15:57:00.001-07:00

This is a pretty interesting article. Give it a read and let me know what you think.

RELEVANT Magazine - Exploring One Hell of a Place

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Sunday September 27, 2009

2009-09-23T14:04:00.001-07:00

I will be out of town this Sunday at the National Youth Workers Convention in Los Angeles. This event is hosted by Youth Specialties.
Seth will be preaching. The title of his message is "What It Means to Believe in God".
The Scriptures are:
Hebrews 11.6
Psalm 62.8
Deuteronomy 6.4

Don't miss the postlude! We will have a great arrangement of "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name", featuring Cornerstone band AND:
Cello: Bob Hutson and Ryan Zamora
Flute: Nancy Hutson
Trumpet: Jordan Dansdill
Vocals: Doug Wingert, Judy Wingert, Dean Wingert, Laura Kadous, Mindy Jones, Brenda Halferty, Jean Mundy, Kevin Lange, Bob Stauffacher, and Karla Zamora

The worship bulletin is here.

Set up Twitter on Your Phone

2009-09-23T12:59:00.001-07:00

You can see all the action at www.twitter.com without setting it up on your phone.

You need to have a Twitter account to begin. Go to twitter.com and click "Sign Up Now".

Here are a couple of links to help you set up Twitter on your phone:

http://www.amitbhawani.com/blog/setup-twitter-mobile-phone-sms/

http://www.butterscotch.com/tutorial/Getting-Twitter-Setup-On-Your-Mobile-Phone (video tutorial)

Or you could just phone Tyler.

Here are youth group-ers I know who are on Twitter:
Richard Jones richardinaz
Tyler Jones TJdrumcaptain
Chris Nellett WhatTheNell
Cody Melcher codymelcher

_awakening: Scripture as History.

2009-09-23T08:51:00.001-07:00

Pretty interesting post:
_awakening: Scripture as History.

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Critical Information

2009-09-16T13:22:00.001-07:00

Don't miss it!
Remember, it is your spiritual duty as part of the Catalina faith family to show up and eat ice cream!

Sunday September 20, 2009

2009-09-16T12:43:00.000-07:00

This week we consider the story of the widow's mite (actually miteS--she threw in TWO coins), which is found in Mark 12.41-44.

This is a thorny little story. Oh, it doesn't seem so at the beginning; pretty straightforward. Jesus is at the Temple near the collection boxes. People with lots of money come by and drop in large offerings. Then a widow [read powerless with no one to support her] comes up and throws in two mites [smallest coins in circulation--less than 7/10 of 1% of a denarius, which was the daily wage of an unskilled laborer]--an extremely small amount. But, this is ALL SHE HAS. Jesus calls his followers over and tells them that the widow has put in more than anyone else; because the others gave out of their abundance and she gave out of her poverty. A straightforward story, right?

But think about this:

In the verses right before this story, Jesus is condemning the religious leaders for being abusive of and predatory toward widows. Yet Jesus commended her giving to the religious establishment.
In the verses immediately after this story, Jesus says that the Temple is to be destroyed. Why would he let her give all she had to something that was soon to be destroyed?
The woman had TWO coins. Why give BOTH? It was all she had.
Jesus had great compassion for the poor. Why didn't he stop her? She needed that money.
What difference would this tiny offering make?

Yet Jesus not only condoned this offering, he congratulated her. Much more to this story than meets the eye, huh?

We will discuss the implications Sunday.

The worship bulletin is here.

Sunday September 13, 2009

2009-09-10T14:00:00.000-07:00

We are winding down in our study of the Gospel of Mark. Last Sunday, we considered the story of Blind Batimaeus, which took place in Jericho. This Sunday, we look at Jesus' presentation of the Great Command(s) in Mark 12.28-34. This event takes place in Jerusalem, where Jesus is arrested and crucified. In other words, our study has taken us to the last days of Jesus' human life.
In this passage, Jesus answers the question of a scribe concerning what is the greatest commandment in the law. There were well over 600 commands in the Jewish law. Come Sunday to find out how Jesus answered, using the Old Testament. I'll post a summary here Monday for those who miss it Sunday.
The worship bulletin is here.
By the way, we've got great music this Sunday!

www.astatum.net: Moltmann - Theology of the Cross

2009-09-07T11:21:00.001-07:00

www.astatum.net: Moltmann - Theology of the Cross

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Translation Tribalism 2 - Jesus Creed

2009-09-07T11:15:00.001-07:00

Translation Tribalism 2 - Jesus Creed

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September 7, 2009 | The General Board of Church and Society

2009-09-07T10:42:00.001-07:00

Thinking Like Christians about Healthcare by William Willimon

September 7, 2009 | The General Board of Church and Society

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Communicating Hate Sucks

2009-09-04T11:23:00.000-07:00

Good Commentary on a bad situation. This is from the Church Marketing Sucks blog.

Communicating Hate Sucks: "

Steven Anderson, pastor of Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Ariz., recently preached a sermon titled, 'Why I Hate Barack Obama.'

Whether you're for or against President Barack Obama isn't the point, but this next part is where it gets weird.

'I'm gonna pray that he dies and goes to hell when I go to bed tonight,' Anderson said in the sermon. 'That's what I'm gonna pray.' Anderson has elaborated that he doesn't condone killing but hopes Obama dies of natural causes so he doesn't become a martyr. 'I'd like to see him die, like Ted Kennedy, of brain cancer.'

This seems like a real live case of Lord, save us from your followers.

When Paul encouraged Timothy to pray for government leaders, I don't think he had death and eternal damnation in mind. You don't have to like the president, but this is a long way from the forgiveness and repentance at the heart of Christianity.

If you hate what Obama stands for, pray that God would change his heart, change his mind and change the nation for good. You don't pray for his death.

All this communicates is hate. Where is the love for your enemies? Where is the compassion? Where is the grace? In a political landscape that's as heated and polarized as ours is, shouldn't the church of all places be able to preach love in spite of our differences? Not too long ago the church did preach love in the face of hate and it changed the world.

And apparently this story isn't weird enough: In an ironic stumper, Anderson and his congregation are now receiving death threats for preaching, um, death.

Translation Tribalism

2009-09-04T11:13:00.000-07:00

Good post by Scot McKnight over recent TNIV flap...

Translation Tribalism: "I am very confident about the prospects of the new NIV (2011). I know those translators and know they are devout and they are accurate translators. I hope you are praying for them, and I hope you listen carefully to what Doug Moo, the chair of the Committee on Bible Translation, has said about philosophy.

But what depresses me about Bible translation debates today is tribalism. Some have raised the bar of this conversation to such heights that variation is tantamount to heresy. I want to do a few posts on translation next week, but today let's have a little fun with the tribalism that does exist, that seems almost inevitable, that does sometimes lead to uncharitable divisiveness, but that can lead us to see ourselves in humorous tones at times. Translations can also be a window to our heart and theology and preferences. So here goes with a sketch of tribalist translation tendencies. Each of these is partially true but not wholly true, so let's not reify but have a little fun...

NRSV for liberals and Shane Claiborne lovers;
ESV for Reformed complementarian Baptists;
HCSB for LifeWay store buying Southern Baptists;
NIV for complementarian evangelicals;
TNIV for egalitarians;
NLT for generic brand evangelicals;
Amplified for folks who have no idea what translation is but know that if you try enough words one of them will hit pay dirt;
NKJV and KJV for Byzantine manuscript-tree huggers;
The Message for evangelicals looking for a breath of fresh air and seeker sensitive, never-read-a-commentary evangelists who find Peterson's prose so catchy.

Sunday, September 5, 2009

2009-09-03T15:29:00.000-07:00

This week we continue our study in the Gospel of Mark with the story of Blind Bartimaeus. It is in Mark 10.46-52.

This week's worship bulletin is here.

I plan to take some time for us to discuss this story, so if you want to read it ahead of time to be prepared, that would be great. One thing to think about is this: Why did Jesus ask Bartimaeus what he wanted? Bart sits by the road and calls out "Son of David, have mercy on me!". Jesus calls him and asks, "What do you want me to do for you?". One commentator responded with "Duh! He wants to see!". When this man's need was so obvious, I wonder why Jesus asked him. What do you think?

We will discuss and share and listen and have communion, and there will be 5 prayer stations/experiences based on the story of Blind Bartimaeus. These come from Blair Cameron.

Our prayer time will feature a prayer of confession from The Pattern of Our Days from the Iona Community.

Compassion Concerning Healthcare

2009-09-02T12:19:00.000-07:00

This post is from the Everyday Liturgy blog.

Compassion Concerning Healthcare: "

I went to the doctor yesterday for a routine phsyical. I was in the office for about 45 minutes and overheard two conversations between very stressed out, uninsured individuals trying to walk the desperate line between finances and health.

The first lady was very concerned and hovering over the office manager when I came in. She had had a routine physical and an EKG but was uninsured, so she was setting up an installment plan to pay for the two services. Two routine services.

The second lady called in and spoke with one of the doctors, very upset that her prescription had run out. The doctor said that they had strung out the daily prescription for as long as possible, and that since it had been a year to the date since her last visit she would have to come in and see the doctor. The scenario playing out was that the woman was taking a daily medication for some ailment, but she couldn't come in and incur the cost of all the additional services that would come along with a simple doctor visit (EKG, blood work, etc.).

My heart really went out to these people. It must be such a state of helplessness. I was wondering what I could do, and I thought support health care reform, but that is just kind of business as usual and simply pathetic. We cannot continue to try to legislate Christian action through secular politics.

So what can a Christian do?

Praying for the President to Die

2009-09-02T11:20:00.001-07:00

This makes me angry and ashamed at the same time.

Tempe pastor reiterates wish for President Obama's death - Phoenix Arizona news, breaking news, local news, weather radar, traffic from ABC15 News | ABC15.com

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Transform Your Pain

2009-08-27T11:33:00.000-07:00

This is from Finding Rhythm, Zach Lind's blog. Think hard about this. I am.
Transform Your Pain: "

“Is your religion helping you to transform your pain? If it does not, it is junk religion. We all have pain—it’s the human situation, we all carry it in a big black bag behind us and it gets heavier as we get older: by betrayals, rejections, disappointments, and wounds that are inflicted along the way.

If we do not find some way to transform our pain, I can tell you with 100% certitude we will transmit it to those around us. We will create tension, negativity, suspicion, and fear wherever we go. Both Jesus and Buddha made it very clear to their followers that “life is suffering.” You cannot avoid it. It is no surprise that the central Christian logo became a naked, bleeding, suffering man. At the end of life, and probably early in life, too, the question is, “What do I do with this disappointment, with this absurdity, with this sadness?” Whoever teaches you how to transform your own suffering into compassion is a true spiritual authority. Whoever teaches you to project your doubt and fear onto Jews, Muslems, your family, heretics, gays, sinners, and foreigners, or even to turn it against yourself (guilt and shame) has no spiritual authority. Yet these very people have often preached from authoritative pulpits.”

– Richard Rohr, The Authority of Those Who Have Suffered

To-Do Tattoos

2009-08-22T09:07:00.000-07:00

Hmmm...I wonder if this would help Tyler remember his homework or chores??

To-Do Tattoos: "

I can’t remember where I first saw these, but the “To-Do Tattoo” caught my attention as a great way to help kids remember things. The temporary tattoos in the kit seem a bit unnecessary, but the skin-safe gel pen is a hit in my book.

Sure, you could easily create a digital list or a list on a sheet of paper, but both run the risk of being lost. This way, you can be sure your child makes it wherever he needs to go with everything on his list.

It’s novel, and I like when organizing can be fun.

Credo: Triune God

2009-08-22T09:02:00.000-07:00

Great post from pomomusings... The Trinity has always been a mystery. But then again, God is SUPPOSED to be beyond our understanding. I'll be teaching on this in youth group as part of our "BIG Truths" study. It will probably then make it to a sermon in The Refuge.

Credo: Triune God: "

This post is part of the Credo Blog Series. For some basic information about the series, go here. Photo Credit.

I believe that God is three persons in one substance. Within the trinity exists the perfect and holy love communion between God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The trinity is a perfect, three-in-one relationship between the three distinct persons of God. The three persons in the trinity are unified together by the same goal: to do the work of Christ and to bring people into relationship with God. They are diverse from each other, but are all completely equal. There is no hierarchy between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit within the trinity.

Someone asked in the first Credo post on God why I didn’t refer to Jesus or the Trinity? Well – I could have been snarky and say something like, “Well – since the BIBLE never uses the word “Trinity” – why should I in my Credo? But it’s really just because I’m going through my Credo according to the way I split up the topics up when I made the Credo in 2000. However, I don’t know that one can really talk about God without talking about God’s relational nature and mutual indwelling (or, one of everyone’s favorite seminary words: interpenetration – snicker snicker…) of the other parts of the Godhead.

Now, I don’t feel like getting into any intensely philosophical debate and start throwing around words like homoousious or anything – but I do still connect with what I wrote in the second sentence. “Within the trinity exists the perfect and holy love and communion.” Through the Triune God, we know humanity is called to be in relationship with other humans. While there are many ways in which people talk about the imago Dei (image of God) – one of the primary ways I see that we are made in God’s image is that we are created to be relational. The community and relationality that exists in the Triune God has to be central to our understanding of both who God is and who we have been created to become.

The one line that I would challenge my 20-yr old self on is where I define what the goal of the Triune God is: “to do the work of Christ and to bring people into relationship with God.” I’m sure this is no surprise, but I don’t think I would want to “box” in the Triune God that much – to say that “These are the two goals of God.” Certainly the Triune God does continue on the work of Christ and draws people into relationship with Godself, but there is so much more than God is up to in this world, I wouldn’t want to simply say “these are the two goals.”

Credo 2009: Triune God

The Triune God consists of God the Creator, God the Redeemer and God the Sustainer. Rather than existing in an hierarchical relationship together, the Triune God is a relational being – one which is dynamic and organic. The relationship is best described as that of a 3-person dance (perichoresis). The relationality between the members of the Triune God gives humanity one of its greatest clues to what being created in the imago dei truly means – to be in relationship with others and with God Godself. Again, as with God, I don’t want to limit the ways in which the Triune God works in the world through Godself, God’s Spirit and others in the world. There is far more about the nature of the Triune God than I will ever know or understand – and that’s a good place to be, I think.

What do you think? What did I leave out?

Life in a cold climate

2009-08-18T11:11:00.000-07:00

I found this great post on Mark Berry's blog.

Life in a cold climate: "

Is 'Church' like living in a cold climate? Odd question to ask during the summer I suppose but the more time I spend outside of 'Church' the more it looks like a bunch of people trying to survive in sub-zero temperatures... we huddle together for protection, we surround ourselves with layer upon layer of insulation from the climate (culture) around us and pray for Summer... we pull our lifeblood back from the extremities into the centre spending more and more time at this meeting or that, this group or gathering or that... I know many good Christians whose whole life is lived in 'Church', whose diary is jammed with 'Church' events (the workplace being the only exception) and whose social life is spent entirely with 'Church' people (families often the only exception) trouble is it seems to me that living like this means sooner or later the extremities will die and ultimately it is not the way to survive... some Christians can't stand the waiting around and the self preoccupation and head off into the cold regardless of the outcome... some seem able to take the risk and acclimatise, adapt, so that they can survive and even flourish... though perhaps in a new way! I want to be hopeful, I really do, maybe I'm just the type who can't stand standing around in a huddle facing in with my back to the weather (like those penguins do on 'March of the Penguins'!) I'm not saying I have the answer, not even saying I know how to survive just that I'm not sure 'survival' is enough or worth it in it's own right... I guess I'm more of a 'blaze (or freeze) of glory' type! My Rural Dean said at the interview for my post that the role should be 'meeting light and relationship heavy' I guess that's part of the reason I'm here in Telford and why at this moment I'm more than happy being outside 'Church'.... with my face, not my back to the storm!

Technorati Tags: Christianity: Church: Community: Emerging Church: Fresh Expressions: Missional: safespace

Sunday August 16, 2009

2009-08-13T10:04:00.000-07:00

Well, I again won't be preaching in the Refuge this Sunday. But I will be in Tucson. In fact, I will be on the Catalina UMC campus. Pastor Ed and I are switching places this Sunday: he is preaching in the Refuge, and I am preaching in the sanctuary (and the chapel at 8:15 also). This is always fun for us and a change of pace. AND we don't have to prepare a new sermon!
Ed is preaching in the hall on Peter's Prayer in Matthew 14.22-32.
I will be repeating (with embellishments!) my sermon on Mark 3.1-6: To Fail to Do Good Is to Do Evil.

Sunday August 9, 2009

2009-08-05T13:51:00.000-07:00

Well, this week you get to hear the message that goes with the notes that were in the bulletin last week! Yes, this means that the inside of this week's bulletin is pretty much the same as last week's--but I did pull the cartoon. I figured most of you would remember it.
This week we continue our study in the Gospel of Mark with Mark 8.27-37. I preached on a parallel passage in Matthew a couple of months ago. Jesus and his disciples are traveling and Jesus asks them, "Who do people say that I am?". Then he asks them, "Who do you say that I am?". Then, Jesus tells them about his impending execution. Peter confronts him and then Jesus talks about what it takes to be his disciple--to really follow him.
The worship bulletin is here.
This Sunday, we will also have communion in the Refuge, since we missed it last Sunday.

What a Month!

2009-07-18T09:47:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't blogged much lately (which kind of defeats the purpose of a blog, doesn't it?), but I will return in another week or so.
The first week of July, I was on our high school missions trip with Center for Student Missions in inner city Los Angeles. It was one of our BEST missions trips ever! The work projects were meaningful, the youth made connections with people, we learned to see people in need as PEOPLE, and we worked very well together with little drama and had a great affirmation time on the beach on Thursday night. Photos are at http://foxyurl.com/ots .
This last week, I had double duty: my sister Becky and her husband were in town, and we had VBS at Catalina. We had a great visit and got to do a lot of fun stuff! My job each year is recreation, which can be a challenge depending on the size of the group in each class and the age of the kids. This year it went pretty well, mostly due to the fact that I kept good records (well, better, at least) last year about what activities I did. I pretty much worked off last year's list with a couple of additions.
Now, I am on vacation! We are going camping in the White Mountains for a few days. We are all prepared for the inaugural Jones family camping trip! I've been camping with the youth group a few times, but this is a first as a family unit (minus my hard-working, two-job-holding, paying-her-own-bills daughter).
I will be back in the saddle on Sunday, July 26 (that's right--I've somehow got to get a sermon and the bulletin done while I'm on vacation!).

Sunday, July 5, 2009

2009-07-02T10:10:00.000-07:00

I will be in inner city Los Angeles with our high school youth on our missions trip this Sunday. We will be serving with Center for Student Missions. Seth will be preaching. The worship bulletin is here. You can get updates about our trip at www.facebook.com/richardleejones.

Sunday June 28, 2009

2009-06-23T12:08:00.001-07:00

This Sunday, we continue our studies in Mark, this week we consider Mark 5.1-20, the story of the demon-possessed man (called "Legion") living in Gergesa. Here is a map that will show you where this happened. You will notice it is diagonally across the Sea of Galilee from Capernaum, Jesus' adopted hometown.
Speaking of maps, there are a couple more here and here. These highlight the area called The Decapolis ("Ten Cities"), which is where this story happened, and it is where the man formerly known as Legion was commissioned to spread the Gospel by Jesus.
The name "Legion" is not the man's name. When Jesus asked his name, the man responded, "My name is Legion; for we are many." Legion was the name of a Roman military group (we would say battalion or company)--the basic unit of the Roman army. A legion consisted of thousands of soldiers, cavalry, and support personnel.
Notice the "symptoms" Legion exhibited: he was isolated, his life was out of control, he was not at peace, he was self-destructive, and he was fragmented. Does this sound like anyone you know? Does this sound like YOU? If there was hope for Legion, there is hope for you. When did his demons leave him? When he came to Jesus. Where was he inexplicably drawn (like a moth to a flame)? To Jesus. I think his healing was not so much the absence of the demons as it was the presence of Jesus.

The man was conflicted about Jesus. He was drawn to Jesus urgently, but he was also afraid of Jesus. I think he was afraid of Jesus for the same reason that the people in the city were: Jesus brought change. This man mirrors our attitudes: we know we need help; we know we need change; we know we need Jesus in our lives; but we avoid him. We are often [usually] content to live with our pain and struggles than to risk change by going to Jesus.

What do we see in this story?
We see the human condition.

We see the healing power of Jesus.

We see the power of a changed life.

We see the purpose of God: to advance his kingdom.

How do I deal with my demons?

I must come to Jesus just as I am.

I must come to Jesus with all that I am.

I must come to Jesus in surrender.

Spend time meditating on the words of Jesus in Revelation 3.20: "Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.

When considering this story, the poem Crazy Bill: The Gerasene Demoniac Revisited by Tim Melton is very much worth reading.

Read this story in Mark 5. Think about what it means. Think about where you find yourself in this story.

The worship bulletin for Sunday is here.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

2009-06-18T10:17:00.000-07:00

This Sunday is Father's Day. It is a little sad for me that my daughter Bethany has to work 12-5, so she will miss the traditional Father's Day lunch. She will come over for games and festivities after she gets off work.
This Sunday we continue our study in Mark, with Mark 4.1-20, the Parable of the Sower. Jesus often told parables--stories with a spiritual lesson behind them. This is one of those stories.
The worship bulletin is here.
In this passage, the people listening did not understand the point of his story. In order to explain why he spoke in parables, Jesus quotes from Isaiah 6.9-10:
And he said, “Go and say to this people: ‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand.’ Make the mind of this people dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes, so that they may not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and comprehend with their minds, and turn and be healed.”
Bible scholars point out that in Hebrew literature, consequence is often portrayed as purpose. In other words, God did not want the people to not understand his word, he was pointing out to Isaiah that the people WOULD misunderstand his message. Jesus, in quoting this passage, is saying that just as the people in Isaiah's day misunderstood his message, so the crowds misunderstood Jesus' message. But Jesus explained it to his disciples. Why? Why explain it to the disciples and not everyone? It seems that to really understand what Jesus is saying, you need to commit to being a follower first. It's sort of like in The Matrix when Morpheus promises Neo that he will have the answers he is seeking if he takes the blue pill(is it the blue pill?), and if not, he can just go on with life as is.
Why does it take a conscious choice? Why does it take effort? v11 “To you has been given the secret..." Why? Because they had left all to follow him. They had demonstrated their dedication. They had made the effort. Are you a casual follower? Or a committed disciple? Commitment is more important than comprehension. You can't wait until you understand everything and have all your questions answered. This makes the prayer "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief." sound a lot better.

I Followed the Crowd

2009-06-18T10:14:00.000-07:00

A few days ago Twitter was all-a-twitter with people rejoicing that they got their new Facebook urls. I didn't even know what they were talking about. I did know that it is a weakness (maybe a strength, depending on how much you like your privacy) that you cannot view someone's Facebook unless YOU sign up for Facebook. Now you can. Facebook allows you to pick your url and then anyone can type in the address and go to your Facebook.
Mine is http://www.facebook.com/richardleejones

I'm Back!

2009-06-18T10:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been away for so long! Very busy times!

Sunday, May 31, 2009

2009-05-28T12:12:00.000-07:00

This Sunday is Pentecost. Click on this link to check out the worship bulletin. It's got an article about Pentecost.

This is also Confirmation Sunday at Catalina. Seth will be preaching so I can participate in the confirmation service (in the sanctuary at 11am). I will be around Sunday, but Seth is doing the heavy lifting! We have three confirmands this year: Andrew Hoskinson, Chris Nellett, and Lauren Melcher. I plan to bring them over to the Refuge to introduce them after they are confirmed.

BUT THE BIG NEWS THIS WEEK IS THE CORNERSTONE CONCERT after the 11am service. It will kick off around 12:15. Don't miss it!

This is an email I received today from the Save Darfur Coalition. I responded. You should, too.

*****************************
Make sure the Obama administration will hold Sudan accountable if necessary.

Khartoum must know they have a choice between a real peace process and real consequences.

Sen. Kerry: hold a hearing on Sudan to make sure President Obama has a plan.
http://action.savedarfur.org/campaign/kerryhearingfb/i8kbg3ura7xmn5i3?

*****************************

Dear Richard,

Sudan's Bashir doesn't think there are consequences for not committing to peace - and so he's growing bolder by the day, even scuttling a peace conference for Darfuri civilian leaders earlier this month.

But the people of Darfur can't wait for peace. We have to make sure the President takes the lead in creating an opportunity for peace.

Two weeks ago, I met with Senator John Kerry to discuss his recent trip to Sudan. Today, we need his help.

Ask Senator Kerry to hold a hearing on Sudan and make sure the administration sets forth a bold agenda for bringing peace to Darfur and all of Sudan.
http://action.savedarfur.org/campaign/kerryhearingfb/i8kbg3ura7xmn5i3?

The path to progress for peace is clear. It lies in offering Khartoum a choice: behind Door One, restoring aid groups and committing to the peace process which would lead to improved relations. Behind Door Two: continued obstruction which would lead to real and meaningful consequences.

Months after Sudan expelled 13 vital aid groups from the country, the government of Sudan has still not been confronted with this choice.

That's where the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee comes in. The committee should call on the Obama administration to adopt a policy that combines incentives for peace with consequences for continued obstruction and violence.

We've set a goal of sending at least 50,000 messages to Senator Kerry and Ranking Member Richard Lugar by June 13 - one month since my May 13 meeting with Senator Kerry, and with plenty of time for him to schedule hearings in June. Please act today.

Tell Sens. Kerry and Lugar to demand the Obama administration outline its blueprint for peace in Sudan. http://action.savedarfur.org/campaign/kerryhearingfb/i8kbg3ura7xmn5i3?

Don't wait to send a message to Sens. Kerry and Lugar - they need to hear from you today. Thanks for your hard work.

My best,

Jerry Fowler
Save Darfur Coalition

Pew Research

2009-05-21T17:35:00.000-07:00

One more gem from Internet Monk: this post is from guest poster Michael Bell.

Michael Bell: How To Stop The Hemorrhaging: A Follow Up To The Pew Forum Data

Grace is dangerous

2009-05-21T17:29:00.000-07:00

Internet Monk (Michael Spencer) has done it again: he has written another excellent and thought-provoking article (some people would just refer to him as "provoking"). Over at Steve Brown's blog, read "Grace Is As Dangerous As Ever".

I remember a quote that claimed that Jesus never got in trouble for being too strict or too hard on anyone. No, the things that caught Jesus in trouble with the authorities were his mercies, his healings, his inclusions, his giving of grace to those who others thought were unworthy. When is the last time that you or I got criticized for being too gracious or merciful?

Sunday, May 24, 2009

2009-05-21T17:13:00.001-07:00

This week I watched a great video online. It is Shaun Groves (a musician I have come to enjoy) sharing about Mark 1.14-15--that's right, our text from LAST SUNDAY! Shaun does a great job explaining about the GOOD NEWS of Jesus; much better than I did. Watch the video. Please. You can also download his song "Kingdom Come" for free here. I don't agree with everything Shaun says, but I agree with SO MUCH.

The worship bulletin for this Sunday is here.

This week, we discuss one of my favorite stories in the Bible. It is not a famous story, but to me it paints a wonderful picture of what our God is like. It is the story of the healing of the leper in Mark 1.40-45. I like the way the NIV reads better than the NRSV (the previous link).

Please read Internet Monk's article "What Was Jesus Like?". This article is REALLY GOOD, especially the part about grape kool-aid. I think it should be required reading for everyone who claims to be a Christian.

Well, there is much more to say, but I'm going to save it for Sunday!

Sunday, May 17, 2009

2009-05-14T13:58:00.000-07:00

This week, we begin our study in the Gospel of Mark: the Shorter Life of Jesus. The worship bulletin is here, and has lots of introductory info.
Here is the format we will follow: we will focus on reading together a chapter of Mark each week. Then on Sunday, our study will center on one section of that chapter. We are not going to try to teach all of it, I will pick a passage (or sometimes two) from each chapter.
And I am not going to attach dates to our study. We may take time off for special occasions, or when I am not preaching. I have 18 sessions on the Gospel of Mark chosen, but it may take us 22-25 weeks to get through them. There is no hurry!
Each week, the bulletin will contain review/think-it-through questions and/or journaling ideas to deepen your study.
I would like to recommend two online study tools:
1-YOUVERSION online Bible. I recommend that you sign up (it's free!) and try it out. I may experiment with commenting on a chapter of Mark as we read it each week. You can check out my comments and--most importantly--add your own. You can search for richardleejones (my user name) and click to follow me so you can check out my comments.
2-EXAMEN.ME devotional website. You can click around and check out all the features. I think it's pretty good. It's also unique with its emphasis on your own reflection and prayer.

If you want to prepare for Sunday, take a look at Mark 1.1-20.

Sunday May 10, 2009

2009-05-07T12:16:00.000-07:00

Well, this Sunday is Mother's Day. So, do your duty and have fun!
We will finish up our study arc we started on Easter. We discussed the Risen Christ, The Indwelling Christ, the Eternal Christ, and this week we conclude with Following Christ. Our Scripture is Matthew 16.13-26. The worship bulletin is here.
On this subject (vaguely), I read a great post by Michael Spencer over at internetmonk. This quote is one of many that stuck out to me:
This is where I’m surprised that the pundits commenting on this situation aren’t willing to connect the dots. A big reason that the average evangelical isn’t evangelistic is the focus on the issues and tactics of the culture war. According to the culture war advocates, “those unbelievers” are the enemies of Christians and the kind of Christian culture we believe we are supposed to fight for. Are atheists, gays, Democrats, progressives and non-evangelicals in America actually people evangelicals are looking at as potential Christians? Give me a break.

We can get sucked into thinking that our position on "culture wars" issues equals following Christ. WRONG. Following Christ is a lot harder than that, a lot trickier than that, and a lot more exciting (sometimes) than that.

Bishop Spong (who I agree with extremely rarely) said something good in an email newsletter I read today: "...for most people religion is not a search for truth, but a search for security." And that is how it often is. We seek safety and security from God, when Jesus is calling us to something different.

Sunday May 3, 2009

2009-04-29T14:50:00.000-07:00

This Sunday, we consider the second of our series of studies loosely dealing with the implications of Easter. If Jesus is the Risen Christ, what does that mean? Two weeks ago, we examined Jesus as The Indwelling Christ. This week we will consider Jesus as The Eternal Christ.

I would recommend reading Frank Viola's post What's Wrong with Our Gospel? .

The Scriptures for this week are:
Genesis 2.1-7
Genesis 1.26-31
Genesis 2.18
Ephesians 1.3-13
Colossians 1.13-20

The worship bulletin is here.

Journey Together>>Richard Jones

I'm not posting here

God Is Good--Really

Youth News for Feb. 17

An Interesting Map...

Invitation to a Holy Lent

Catalina Youth News

Catalina Parents E-News

3- Fruit Gleaning is February 21!! Here are the details:[***This event is for ALL ages! Parents, YOU are invited—encouraged—to come with us and help with this project!]

Fruit Gleaning is February 21!!

Transfiguration Sunday February 14, 2010

Jesus Meets Us in Every Day Life

Atheist and Atonement

Christopher Hitchens on the Atonement

Snowblast 2010 Photo/Video

Youth Group News for This Week

Snowblast 2010 is this weekend!

The Refuge Sunday January 10, 2010

Youth News for January 10, 2010

Project Hospitality for Youth Friday January 8

Truer Words Were Never Spoken--I mean Written

Youth News! For January 3, 2010

Epiphany Sunday

Catalina Youth: News and PHOTOS!!!

Advent Week Three: LOVE

The Body of Christ

The Mood of Advent: We All Need A Savior

The Second Sunday of Advent

God’s Renewed Creation: Call to Hope and Action

The Season of Advent – Holy Waiting and Watching

Silence

Wesleyan mDNA By Steve Manskar

Guilt-Ridden Faith?

How To Pray

How To Pray

Forgive Me My Shellfish Ways

WOW! The BEST Christmas Post EVER!

All Souls Procession

Half of U.S. Kids Use Foodstamps Before Age 20

Psalms Wiffiti

Challenging Article on Prayer

Why People Think We’re Crazy November 3, 2009

Something That Is Working!!

An Altar Call from Bill and Melinda Gates[click on the link above to see the video]

The Spiritual Practice of Serving Others

This is a great post from Off the Map blog. Click on this link to see a good video about this subject.

The Spiritual Practice of Serving Others

Good All Saints Thoughts

How Does the Holy Spirit Lead You?

Studies in Mark: The Temple Veil is Torn

Catalina Youth: News and PHOTO!

Catalina Youth: One More Poll!!

Catalina Youth: Take the Poll!

we all come to prayer with a tangled mass of motives

Ending Extreme Poverty...Just Over the Horizon?

My Top Five Albums

Was Jesus Like Stewie Griffin?

Health Care Reform Would Benefit American Business

Obama Deserves the Nobel Peace Prize

Who Wants the Kingdom of God? Not Us

God's Top Ten #3

Seven Mistakes Every Church Should Avoid

A convicting article

The Nature of the Bible

Read, worriers!

Video from Last Sunday

World Communion Sunday

Methodists and Lutherans and Catholics, oh my!

The Spiritual Discipline of Serving on Vimeo

Gays in the Church Part 8: Inclusion or Exclusion | Finding Rhythm

No Impact Project

Treehouse Monastic

RELEVANT Magazine - Exploring One Hell of a Place

Sunday September 27, 2009

Set up Twitter on Your Phone

_awakening: Scripture as History.

Critical Information

Sunday September 20, 2009

Sunday September 13, 2009

www.astatum.net: Moltmann - Theology of the Cross

3- Fruit Gleaning is February 21!! Here are the details:
[***This event is for ALL ages! Parents, YOU are invited—encouraged—to come with us and help with this project!]

An Altar Call from Bill and Melinda Gates

[click on the link above to see the video]