Weekly Update

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

written by Molly Baskette

 

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light around me become night,” even the darkness is be dark to you; the night is as bright as the day. – Psalm 139:11-12 (NRSV) Some of us fear darkness, others embrace it, all of us probably want to control when and how it overtakes us.

But we can’t, always.

Seasonal depression moves in.

Circumstances conspire to plunge us into unknowing, the way before us entirely unclear.

We fear the shadowed parts of ourselves: the sadness, the despair, the anger that seems to come out of nowhere. We talk and sing a lot in church about the benefits of light.

We are told that the first thing God did was to say, “Let there be light,” as if everything that came before had no value.

We are told that both we and Jesus are the light of the world, that we shouldn’t hide our lights under a bushel basket.

We sometimes live in a full-sun spirituality that can make our eyes ache with too much hard shining. But light is meaningless apart from darkness.

We need the respite of night, the salvific hibernation of a rainy winter day, the relief of tears.

It’s not always about letting our light shine.

Darkness can shine, too.

The psalmist said that even darkness has brightness, and night shines like the day to our God.

Every part of us—every feeling, mood and memory—can teach and strengthen us, even those we’d rather reject. Plumb your own mysteries, what is secret and hidden, even from yourself.

Find what lives there in shadow and silence, waiting patiently or impatiently to be revealed, noticed, honored.

Be unashamed and unafraid of your darkness, for it has much to teach you.

 

WHAT’S ON AT GRACE…

 

WHAT: Special Council Meeting

WHERE:  St. Peter’s

WHEN:  TONIGHT at 6:30 pm

The purpose of this meeting is to review the preliminary plans for our new church.

All council members, please plan to attend!

 

WHAT: Exploring Our Faith

WHERE:  518 Morris St.

WHEN:  THIS Friday, January 17 at 10:30 am

For this session we will be focusing our conversation on The Six Best Spiritual Practices to Start in 2020; found on page 11 in the January/February issue of Broadview

 

WHAT: Council Meeting

WHERE:  St. Peter’s

WHEN:  Wednesday, January 22 at 6:30 pm

 

ANNUAL REPORTS

It’s that time of the year again!…

… Annual report time, I mean

In anticipation of our annual meeting in February, those of you who are responsible for submitting reports are asked to turn them into Joanne Blackwell by Sunday, January 26.

 

GOOD FUN FOR A GREAT CAUSE!

Marilyn and “Team Dominican Republic” is hosting a trivia night on Saturday, January 25 at 7:00 p.m. at Trinity United, Lively.

Tickets are $10 a person, with proceeds going toward the group’s building project in the Dominican.

Refreshments will be available and there are lots of great prizes to be won.

For more information or for tickets, please speak to Marilyn.

Let’s see if Grace has what it takes to challenge our sister churches with our trivia savvy!

 

CARE PROJECT

For the chilly month of January, we will be collecting WARM WOOLIES to be distributed amongst those in need in our community this winter season.

Your donations of socks, hats, mitts and scarves would be greatly appreciated.

Please bring your gifts to Sunday worship

 

NEW YEAR…  NEW (spiritual) YOU!

The New Year is all about making a fresh start and adopting new “good habits”.  David Langness, a writer and teacher of the Bahai faith suggests several “spiritual New Year resolutions” aimed at promoting spiritual growth.

Here’s one a week for the rest of Epiphany…. Why not see how many you can incorporate into your daily life of faith!

I resolve to practice a period of meditation every day – it doesn’t have to be long or involved, but it has to be a consistent practice of being alone and undistracted for a short time each day to reflect on my thoughts and feelings.

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Weekly Update

FOOD FOR THOUGHT …

It’s over.

The Champagne bottles have been recycled; resolutions have already been broken and unwanted presents have been returned to the stores.

We may now be wondering why we made such a big hoopla about another New Year Eve’s party.

Many of us have made big new resolutions hoping for some real change this year but may be feeling like nothing has really been altered.

Some may have been expecting a new beginning but already things feel like they always have.

We may even be feeling a little let down, a bit empty.

It is a new year but nothing seems to have changed…

At times like this, I wish more people who identify themselves as Christians or followers of Jesus knew more about the roots of their own tradition, Judaism.

The Mother religion of our tradition has a very different kind of New Year called Rosh Hashanah.

For Jews, Rosh Hashanah is preceded with a long period of time for introspection.

It’s time for looking back at the mistakes of the past year and thinking about those whom they may have harmed…

Repentance has become one of the most maligned and misunderstood words in the Christian tradition.

For many of us this picture conjures up bad memories and even pain.

In Hebrew, however, the word repent or Te-shuvah simply means to turn or change course…

I would argue that repentance is a primary teaching of Jesus.

For him it was not a one-time thing.

It was something we must learn to do regularly as a way of life.

First it assumes one is willing to take the time to review one’s life over the past year and to be willing to ask, “where have I caused harm or pain? Where have I done damage to another or to another’s property?”

The second challenge in this process is we must assume responsibility.

I did it and I have to correct it.

The devil did not make me do it.

My sinful nature did not make me do it.

Jesus is not going to correct it.

As part of the universe, if I want be at peace with that Infinite Mystery and I want to experience a sense of ultimate unity, I must make amends whenever possible.

Finally, once we take responsibility, the ancient tradition for repentance assumes we will do something to correct the infraction.

That can be scary, humbling, and possibly costly, but the process is not complete until we do that…

Now let’s go back to our recently past New Year traditions.

How different would we be feeling right now if we had spent the week before this New Year making amends with those whom we had harmed or with whom we had a conflict during the year?

How different would we be feeling if we had slowed our pace enough for some serious reflection about our actions over the year and truly began to take responsibility for our sometimes unthoughtful behavior.

We can choose to ignore the tough and challenging teachings and party all we want on New Year’s Eve.

But if we really want to experience Sacred Unity, the Oneness of all, here and now, we might decide to take these challenging teachings a little more seriously and courageously.

It is still a new year, after all; there’s plenty of time!

 

WHAT’S ON AT GRACE…

 

WHAT: Book Study: “The Heart of Christianity”

WHERE:  St. Peter’s

WHEN:  Tonight at 7:00 pm

 

WHAT: Special Council Meeting

WHERE:  St. Peter’s

WHEN:  Wednesday, January 15 at 6:30 pm

The purpose of this meeting is to review the preliminary plans for our new church.

All council members, please plan to attend!

 

WHAT: Exploring Our Faith

WHERE:  518 Morris St.

WHEN:  Friday, January 17 at 10:30 am

 

WHAT: Council Meeting

WHERE:  St. Peter’s

WHEN:  Wednesday, January 22 at 6:30 pm

 

CARE PROJECT …

For the chilly month of January, we will be collecting WARM WOOLIES to be distributed amongst those in need in our community this winter season.

Your donations of socks, hats, mitts and scarves would be greatly appreciated.

Please bring your gifts to Sunday worship

 

ONE LAST THOUGHT…

The march of time is clock time. The dance of time is spirit time. Spirit time is the space in which we can be still, gaze, wonder, delight in, rest, dance – a time when we can become one with the mountain, the sunset, another human

being, with God. How can I organize my life this coming year to ensure that I have space for both?

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