[CHPC] sermon: "God--Our Rock of Refuge" [2007-08-26]

This was my first day back in town after flying back from the UK the previous night. I wasn't particularly taken with any of the service, but I was glad I went to church.

The Scripture readings were Psalm 71 and Luke 13:10-17, and the sermon was "God--Our Rock of Refuge." There wasn't much to it, though at least it was brief.

I am finding I prefer the Prayers of Confession of the Opening Prayers. I've never been very worship-inclined, but acknowledgement of knowingly turning away from what one knows is right very much resonates with me.

( Read more... )

[CWM] Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost [2007-08-26]

Xochitl guest-preached [Tiffany had flown back from Wichita that morning] on Luke 9:51-62 (yes, going back in the lectionary a bit). That is a hard text.

The part about burying the dead I immediately wondered what Amy-Jill Levine would say about that, because at one of the Convo sessions she talked about how Christians tend to over-emphasize the importance of Jewish rules about "uncleanness" and talked about how something making you unclean didn't make it bad, using as examples (1) sex and (2) the fact that contact with a dead body makes one unclean but that burying the dead is a mitzvah, a commandment.

(  'If there's magic in boxing [...] It's the magic of risking everything for a dream that nobody sees but you.' See also: replacing 'boxing' with 'Christianity.'  )

[CAUMC] Masturbation [2007-08-30]

While I was in Belfast, I saw Eric's weekly e-mail which included:

Thursday August 23
Small group meets at 7pm in room 15. We'll be looking at what the bible has to say about sex.

I was of course displeased to be missing this (since a contemporary queer Christian sexual ethics is one of my Things), so the next week I was pleased to see:

Thursday August 30 (tonight)
Small group at 7pm in room 15. We'll continue our discussion of sex and the bible.

Distributing the handout, Eric said we'd be continuing our discussion of sex and the Bible, this time focusing on masturbation. "Uncomfortable for most--"
Without missing a beat, I said, "Not if you do it right."
Michelle kinda cheered and I said, "Aren't you glad I'm back?" ( Read more... )

[CHPC] ("The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him.") [2007-09-02]

Karl was away, so we had a guest preacher (Tom Kepler, husband of the previous CHPC pastor). The Scripture reading was Luke 4:14-21, which his sermon was vaguely connected to. It was basically a "This is my interpretation of what Jesus was about." One of his major points was, "people are more important than rules." He talked about how you have rules which are designed to honor God and then you're also confronted with the "crying need" of another human being in distress, and you're commanded to love God but also to love your neighbor as yourself, and that Jesus' answer was always: "people are more important than rules." I was somewhat uncomfortable because Jewish law says you can break any commandment to save a life, so I felt Jewish tradition was being somewhat unfairly represented here. But I'd forgotten about this by the time service was over and I actually could have opportunity to talk to him (plus Alex was sitting behind me, so as I got up we got to talking).

Mostly what I liked was the Hindu writing he ended with (PRAISE BE to the Internet that I managed to find a full text with only the few words I had jotted down). The parts I particularly liked are bolded.

Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads!
Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut?
Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee!
He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground
and where the pathmaker is breaking stones.
He is with them in sun and in shower,
and his garment is covered with dust.
Put off thy holy mantle and even like him come down on the dusty soil!
Deliverance?
Where is this deliverance to be found?
Our master himself has joyfully taken upon him the bonds of creation;
he is bound with us all for ever.
Come out of thy meditations and leave aside thy flowers and incense!
What harm is there if thy clothes become tattered and stained?
Meet him and stand by him in toil and in sweat of thy brow.

-Rabindranath Tagore

( Read more... )

[CWM] Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost [2007-09-02]

Beth had a dream that we met in some wonderful miraculous place.

Before service, Tiffany kind of non-verbally acknowledged me from across the room, and I kind of knew what was coming, and sure enough a minute or two later she came over to where I was sitting and asked if I would do the Scripture reading.

***

( Labor Day, feeling like I need to 'come out' as a conservative bitch, etc. )

So I don't feel like a total slug, a list for myself.

Today [Sunday] I:
* got up a little after 7am! (on purpose)
* created an abbreviated set of Europe photos on flickr for slideshow on Saturday (though I still need to edit it)
* went to morning church
* hung out with Kate briefly [Smith-Kate, not NYC-Kate]
* picked up the MFA September/October film schedule [not a whole lot jumped out at me, though I was sorry to have missed The Cats of Mirikitani; I'm actually most interested in the Palestinian film festival, to my surprise]
* began reading Finding Serenity: Anti-Heroes, Lost Shepherds and Space Hookers in Joss Whedon's Firefly [Ooh, Amazon says there's also Serenity Found: More Unauthorized Essays on Joss Whedon's Firefly Universe]
** sat across from some MIT students (I think) on the Red Line and actually enjoyed them (as opposed to most students, whom I kinda wanna kick [I mean those found in the wild, not my actual friends, of course] )
** unexpectedly saw Layna, albeit briefly, at Davis Square
* went to evening church
* caught up on church writeups
* paid bills