SERMONS & IDEAS
Living Words, Wonder Words
Ours is a lively community of faith, creativity and ideas. In a lot of ways, our ministers draw from all the folks who move in and out of their lives each week. Below, you'll find a recent sampling of their preaching and thinking in worship. In the end, there's really nothing like being here. And we hope you'll join us Sunday morning--for the conversation that continues, for the word that unfolds endlessly. God is still speaking!
Sermons and Meditations by Dave Grishaw-Jones
12/18/11 - "On Earth As In Heaven" (Mary's Magnificat)
9/11/11 - "Forgiveness and a Crazy World"
Sermons and Meditations by Cordelia Strandskov
1/22/12 - "Fishing for People"
OCCUPY JESUS!
WHY THIS EXTRAVAGANT WELCOME?
The Language of God (Video)
Who Are We?
Allies & Friends
Our Core Four: Christian Practices
On Mindfulness
The great mystics of all religions agree that in the very depths of the unconscious, in every one of us, there is a living presence that is not touched by time, place or circumstance. Life has only one purpose, they add, and that is to discover this presence. The men and women who have done this – Francis of Assisi, for example, Mahatma Gandhi, Teresa of Avila, the Compassionate Buddha – are living proof of the words of Jesus Christ, ‘The kingdom of heaven is within.’
But they are quick to tell us — everyone of them – that no one can enter that kingdom, and discover the Ruler who lives there, who has not brought the movement of the mind under control. And they do not pretend that our own efforts to tame the mind will suffice in themselves. Grace, they remind us, is all-important. ‘Increase in my my grace,’ Thomas a Kempis prays, ‘that I may be able to fulfill thy words, and to work out mine own salvation.’
The hallmark of the man or woman of God is gratitude – endless, passionate gratitude for the previous gift of spiritual awareness…. it surrounds us always. Like a wind that is always blowing, said Francis de Sales; like fire, said Catherine of Genoa, that never stops burning...
(Eknath Easwaran, Teacher and Author)
"Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
On Forgiveness
To forgive is clearly the mark of a humanity touched by God - free from anxiety about identity and safety, free to reach out into what is other, as God does in Jesus Christ. But it may be that the willingness to be forgiven is no less the mark of a humanity touched by God. It is a matter of being prepared to acknowledge that I cannot grow or flourish without restored relationship, even when this means admitting the ways I have tried to avoid it. When I am forgiven by the one I have injured, I both accept that I have damaged a relationship, and and accept that change is possible.
(Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury)
On Discipleship
The followers of Christ have been called to peace...and they must not only have peace but also make it. And to that end they renounce all violence and tumult. In the cause of Christ, nothing is to be gained by such methods...His disciples keep the peace by choosing to endure suffering themselves rather than inflict it on others. They maintain fellowship where others would break it off. They renounce hatred and wrong. In so doing they overcome evil with good, and establish the peace of God in the midst of a world of war and hate.
(Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German Pastor and Martyr)
Provocative, creative, spirited, passionate...jazz feeds the soul in a thousand ways and inspires us to deeper service and compassion. Every Sunday at 11, you'll find
How would the human heart dance without music and the arts? Where would we find the language we need for praise, for hope, for grief, for connection?