Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Weekly Recap for Tuesday, August 23, 2016 from ProgressiveChristianity.org in gig Harbor, Washington, United States "Can humble and modest efforts create a revolution? This and more in our Free Weekly Recap of our most viewed and new resources from last week."

 Weekly Recap for Tuesday, August 23, 2016 from ProgressiveChristianity.org in gig Harbor, Washington, United States "Can humble and modest efforts create a revolution? This and more in our Free Weekly Recap of our most viewed and new resources from last week."
Last Week At ProgressiveChristianity.org ...
We delved into the topics of: Spiritual Practices for Difficult Times, Reform or Revolution?, Life's Burdens and Letting Go.
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Spiritual Practices for Difficult Times
Spirituality & Practice by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Nine practices for times when world events overwhelm us and we feel defeated.
Spiritual Practice Feature by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
August 2016: Rediscovering this article in our archives, we were surprised to realize how timely it is two years after it was written. The details keep changing, but as much as ever, we need help to face traumas around the globe.
August 2014. We came upon a sculpture by Sir Jacob Epstein titled “Elemental Figure” (picture on the right) which spoke to our feelings of fear, grief, and loss after Israel’s assault on Gaza has left thousands homeless and injured, ISIS is threatening the genocide of communities in Iraq and the United States in response is conducting a bombing campaign, the Ebola plague is spreading, thousands of children fleeing desperate situations at home are being denied sanctuary in our country, and global warming continues to wreak havoc on the natural world.
We feel like this primitive fellow hunched up in a ball to protect himself from the onslaught of events and forces. His frozen hands clasp his ankles and his head is tilted in surrender. Today we see ourselves as this anxious and defeated human being.
We also identify with the speaker in this poem by Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda:
With Her
This time is difficult. Wait for me.
We will live it out vividly.
Give me your small hand:
we will rise and suffer,
we will feel, we will fly.
We are once more the pair
who lived in barbed places,
in harsh nests in the rock.
This time is difficult. Wait for me
with a basket, with your clothes,
with your shoes and a shovel.
Now we need each other,
not only for carnations’ sake,
not only to harvest honey –
we need our hands
to wash with, to make fire.
So in this difficult time
let us face up to infinity
with four hands and four eyes.
(translated by Alastair Reid)
How do we respond to difficult times? We turn to our spiritual practices. Here are some of our tried-and-true ones.
Nourish Your Positive Emotions with a Breathing Exercise
1. Breathing in, I experience calm in me. Breathing out, I smile to the calm in me.
2. Breathing in, I experience joy in me. Breathing out, I smile to the joy in me.
3. Breathing in, I experience equanimity in me. Breathing out, I smile to the equanimity in me.
4. Breathing in, I experience openness in me. Breathing out, I smile to the openness in me.
5. Breathing in, I experience happiness in me. Breathing out, I smile to the happiness in me.[Thich Nhat Hanh in Creating True Peace]
Give Thanks for Your Body
While [remaining] in a comfortable position, gather your thoughts and feelings into a prayer. Give thanks for your body, for one particular organ and its ceaseless working. Become mindful of those in the healing professions who help persons who have an illness that affects this particular organ. Pray for those who are ill and those who care for them.
Finally, allow yourself to become aware of the deep connections of the human family, for we are very much alike in the structure and arrangement of our physical selves. Let this connection enter your awareness; pray for the whole human family.[Mary C. Earle in Broken Body, Healing Spirit]
Taste and See That Life is Good
The Bible says, “Taste and see that life is good.” This statement stands up to fear and laughs in its face. It is a refutation of fear. It is a statement of truth. For those who live in fear, life does not taste good. But when fear dissolves, the sweetness and nourishment of life are restored.
When someone gives you a dire message, when your catastrophic expectations start to grow, immediately replace them with this statement of truth. Say to yourself, Taste and see that life is good. Focus on that. Dwell on it deeply. When the fear has passed, you can look at whatever piece of news you were given with calmer, clearer, and wiser eyes. And if there is something that needs to be done, your innate knowingness will reveal it to you.[Brenda Shoshanna in Fearless]
Watch a Night of Television
Here’s a challenge for you: Watch a night of television and notice what seeds are planted inside you by what you see and hear. Notice what gets stimulated in your imagination. Think about the /uploads/features/images you are being fed and their potential effects on your life.
— Sandra Ingerman in Medicine for the Earth
Claim Credit
Everything that happens to us, is us. There are so many times when we want to deny this, to blame others, to pretend it never happened, to distance ourselves from the ugliness we may have been part of. There are other times when we cannot accept our success. We downplay our goodness, we slough off our accomplishments, we fail to take credit when it is due, we do not allow others to be grateful for what we have done. Both negative and the positive, as well as all the moments in between — that is our life. And in order for us to be wholly and truly ourselves, we will need to take responsibility for it all.
Think about the things you have done this year for which you have yet to claim credit. Write out a claim check for each one, and when you are ready, go and “pick them up.”[Terry Bookman in The Busy Soul]
A Day Without the News
Go through the entire day without watching or listening to the news or reading the newspaper. Try your best to shut out the outside world, and concentrate on your own world instead. If someone you encounter wants to talk about current events or the political scene, politely inform him or her that you’re taking a short break from things over which you have little control and are focusing on things you can command.
Following the news day after day can induce a feeling of depression and helplessness. Taking a respite from the constant negativity of the world scene can be rejuvenating.
Fill up the time you normally devote to following the news by doing anything else you love to do — talk to a friend, read, listen to music, go for a walk, visit your favorite restaurant — and make sure you take note at the end of the day if you feel different from the way you normally feel.[Alan Epstein in How To Be Happier Day by Day]
Hum, Croon, or Sing
Do you whistle while you work? If not, then start doing so. Hum, croon, or sing if you prefer. There is no better seed for happiness than making music. If you feel down, express a sad song. It will pick up your emotions and carry you somewhere. Feeling happy? Then put on a happy face and sing about it.
Get yourself a new address book. It doesn’t matter what size it is. Fill the book with as many names of songs that you know. Every time you hear a new song that you like, add its name. Carry this address book with you. Whenever you catch yourself stuck in a feeling that needs to change, get out your address book and dial a song. Sing it to yourself. Know the Bushmen’s secret that passionately singing a song can build a road if you sing it with all your heart and soul. Each song leads to an address, and at the end of its road is a place of transformation, unique and perfect for the situation in which you sing it.[Bradford Keeney in The Bushman Way of Tracking God]
Take the Day Off
Every one or two months,
Take a day where you do absolutely nothing,
Just as you would do if you had the flu,
But do it when you’re not sick.
Switch off the phones; shut down the computer.
If necessary, stay in bed all day.
Do as little as possible.
Just lie still and give the body and the psyche a chance for deep healing.
If you’re married, if you live with your family or friends,
You could even alternate stillness days:
One of you could completely take care of the other, including meals in bed, then switch.
If possible, refrain from watching television or other distractions.
Just lie still and give all of yourself,
Including your senses,
Twenty-four hours of undiluted rest.[Arjuna Ardagh in Leap Before You Look]
Radiate Peace
We may feel powerless in the face of the large and small hostilities lacerating our planet, but we are not. Peace, both individual and global, begins with us. When we embrace a spiritual path that brings tranquility to our hearts and minds, we are taking the first step toward bringing peace to the world. Inner calmness will create gentle speech and moral actions, and we will replace self-absorption and ill will with a genuine caring for others. As we bring these qualities to communications with our families and friends, people we work with, and those in public life who serve us, we radiate peace out into the world.
May my commitment
to not harming others
through my thoughts, words,
and deeds
inspire me to work
to bring peace to all beings
with whom I share this world.[Jean Smith in Now! The Art of Being Truly Present]
READ ON ... 




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Reform or Revolution? by Chris Glaser
...it gives me pause whenever the word “revolution” is tossed about so loosely as it has been this year.
An 80-year-old Nicaraguan told us this was her first opportunity to vote for the candidate of her choice. Her red-inked thumb shows she has been to the polls.
Pat Hoffman, a spiritual guide for me, turned to me during a particularly dry presbytery meeting in the 80’s and asked, “Chris, would you like to go to Nicaragua?” Without missing a beat, I replied, “Sure! Can we go now?!” Anything to escape an ecclesiastical wilderness.
A word about Pat. We wrote our first books together, mine being Uncommon Calling, about LGBT efforts to reform the Presbyterian Church, and hers being Ministry of the Dispossessed, about ministry among the farmworkers of California. We met for lunch every couple of weeks, exchanging and reviewing each other’s books, chapter by chapter. Sometimes we met for tea at Trump’s (yeah, really!) in Beverly Hills; we couldn’t afford their formal tea, but we found we could share a pot of tea and two scones in its stylish bar for a total of $10.
Pat was helping organize a group of twenty Presbyterians, Disciples, and United Methodists under the auspices of Church World Service to witness Nicaragua’s first free and fair election after deposing the despot Somoza, occurring the same week as Reagan was seeking re-election while illegally funding the contras—the counter-revolutionaries who opposed the Sandinista government. A U.S. warship sailed menacingly off Nicaragua’s coast while we were there, and we heard two sonic booms each day as U.S. spy planes flew low overhead.
There are many stories to be told about that trip, including the one when we decided to “crash” the American election party at the U.S. Embassy, where we had earlier met with a diplomat explaining what we considered misguided U.S. policy—after which Pat, with a mischievous smile, asked me, “Is he one of yours?” I laughed, realizing her “gaydar” was as astute as mine.
Anyway, about ten of us crammed into two tiny taxis and showed up election night outside the gate of the highly fortressed U.S. Embassy. The taxi I was in arrived first, so I jumped out of the car and ran up to the gate. As quickly, I was met with bayonetted rifles of several soldiers running out of the waterless moat that surrounded the embassy! To the soldier at the gate, I explained why we were there. He put me on the phone to his commander inside, who politely explained that the party was not at the embassy itself, rather at a hotel, and that it was “by invitation only.”
A few days before we had been welcomed at the Nicaraguan election festivities, which required no such invitation. There we joined hundreds of Nicaraguans in an open soccer field listening to American music as election results began to trickle in—but only after walking through unlighted downtown areas of Managua destroyed by a devastating earthquake years before, never restored because Somoza drained the economic aid that came from other countries. In the darkness, we had to avoid manholes missing their covers.
The reason I bring this up is all the talk about “revolution” in this current election. A history professor with us explained that Nicaragua had experienced a true revolution, but by contrast, she shared many historians’ view that the so-called “American Revolution,” was actually a rebellion, because it did not turn upside down the class system, putting “lower” classes, however defined, in charge. It was still largely governed by wealthy, educated, propertied white men.
I was a little peeved at her for disillusioning me about our seminal American event, but I saw her point. Still, our Founding Fathers and Mothers did set in place a system potentially “of the people” that would radically transform the government, society, and culture. Yet we are a representative democracy, not an absolute democracy.
So it gives me pause whenever the word “revolution” is tossed about so loosely as it has been this year. I had felt uncomfortable when activists in my own LGBT movement claimed ours was a “revolution.” I thought it was too audacious and unrealistic to believe our activities could turn things upside down, as it was said of the first Christians (see Acts 17:6).
Others of us viewed our efforts more modestly and humbly as reformers. The system, both church and government, provided opportunities for reform, and look what the LGBT movement has accomplished in a generation!
Of course, self-proclaimed “revolutionaries” get the lion’s share of press, but in so many cases, the reformers deliberately sculpting our institutions accomplish more in the long run. Self-proclaimed “messiahs” lead to disillusionment because too many followers don’t have the patience to do the hard work—including voting in midterm elections, campaigning for down-ballot candidates and issues, paying attention to so-called “lowly” offices like school boards and town councils, networking with other movements.
Even revolutions require reformers, as we have witnessed in Nicaragua since that election day in 1984. In my journal on the trip, I wrote:
Election Day
Sunday, Nov. 4
It’s like watching the birth of a child, the blossoming of a fruit tree, the first green after winter. It’s one of the most exciting experiences I’ve witnessed. Not just history. Not mere accomplishment. It is hope in action—not a fait accompli, not an ultimate answer, not the promised land—but a signpost along the way. And that’s just it—along the way. Nicaragua is moving—its people are moving. I am grateful to watch from along the way, instead of being in the way or far away.
Where people are on the way, God’s Spirit is at work.
Click Here to Link to Chris Glaser’s Blog: Progressive Christian Reflections READ ON ... 
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The Bent Over Woman by Rev. Dawn HutchingsDo not let your burdens weigh you down. Do not let rules and regulations and law turn you into self-righteous hypocrites.
Luke 13:10-17
It was hot. Already the sun had parched the earth. The air was still. The ground beneath her feet radiated the heat. She was tired. Earlier she had thought about staying at home. Her weary body could use a rest. All week long she had toiled in the heat of the sun. On this Sabbath she longed to rest her crumpled, aching body. She tried to ignore the weakness she felt. She had suffered long and hard. She couldn’t even remember when or how she had become so weak. Over the years, her weakened spirit had left her body bent and crippled. The evidence of her heavy burdens could be seen in her crooked spine. She was ashamed of her appearance.
It had been eighteen long years since she had stood straight and tall. She vaguely remembered running when she was a child. She ran everywhere back then. She ran faster than anyone else in the town. She loved to run. Running made her feel free.
Her mother used to warn her not to run. Her mother tried to stop her. But she was so full of life. She wanted to see everything. She wanted to do everything. She wanted to go everywhere.
Her mother warned her not to be so curious. Her mother tried to keep her busy. Her mother tried to keep her out of trouble. But it was no use, no matter how many tasks her mother gave her; she always managed to find time to explore. She had so many questions. She wanted to know how things worked. Life was so very exciting. She dashed from one adventure to the next. She ran everywhere, everyday. Except of course on the Sabbath. On the Sabbath she walked. She walked with her family to the synagogue. She loved to go to the synagogue. As her father and brothers took their places at the feet of the rabbis, she sat quietly with her mother and sisters and the other women and girls in the back of the synagogue. She listened carefully as the men and boys talked.
She longed to ask questions, and for the longest time she did not understand why she was not allowed to speak. She longed for the freedom to speak. When each of her brothers went in turn to learn to read from the Torah, she longed to sit with the rabbi and learn. She tried to satisfy her longings with questions. She asked so many questions. At first people were amused by her curiosity, but eventually they became annoyed. In time their anger grew.
She doesn’t remember when she stopped asking questions, any more than she remembers when she stopped running, it just sort of happened, without her really noticing it at all. She accepted that she was not free to ask questions. She no longer felt free to run. Her mother may not have been able to give her enough tasks to stifle her curiosity, but her husband and children provided her with so many tasks that she could barely keep up.
Maybe they were right. Maybe she didn’t really need to know. Maybe she was annoying. Maybe she shouldn’t be so demanding. Maybe she shouldn’t question the way things were done. Maybe she should just accept her lot in the world. Maybe she should just make do with what she had. She felt so trapped. Maybe they were right.
Gradually she stopped asking questions and she resolved to carry her burdens in silence. She settled into the routine that life offered. She even stopped running. These days there weren’t so many tasks. She was alone. Her husband was gone. Her children were grown with families of their own. But even the small tasks seemed difficult for her now. Just getting out of bed was more than she could manage some mornings. What was the point? Why bother? She was so very tired.
Going to the synagogue was one of the last pleasures she had. The familiar words and sounds provided some comfort. Sometimes she could forget her burdens for just a moment. Faint hope seemed better than no hope. She had waited until she knew that the others would have left before she set off. Although she could no longer look into their faces, she wanted to avoid the pitying glances that she knew in her heart were there. She could not bear to hear their whispers. She knew that they blamed her. She knew that her ailment frightened them. She would have avoided the synagogue altogether but she knew that he was going to be there. The whole village had been buzzing about him all week long. He had been speaking in the village and his words had stirred people. There were rumours that he had healed many people. Some said that he was the greatest storyteller who had ever travelled through these parts. Surely such a great teacher would be asked to speak in the synagogue, on this Sabbath. For just a moment, she felt a pang of the old curiosity.
She wondered just what it was about this man that had set their tongues to wagging. So she trudged on in the heat. Her bent and crippled body weighed down by the burdens she carried.
The ground beneath her was familiar. For eighteen years her hunched back had limited her vision. Her face looked out at a limited world. She could not see the tops of the olive trees. The sky, even the sun that beat down on her were beyond her vision. What she could see of the town was empty. Everyone was inside the synagogue. She quietly slipped in the side door, relieved that she had once again avoided contact with her neighbours.
As she made her way to the back of the crowd she heard his voice. She could not see him, but somehow she knew that the voice she heard was his. Perhaps it was the authority with which he spoke. Perhaps it was the trace of a Nazarene accent. She barely had time to wonder. He was calling her. She felt the crowd part. She heard him call. Fear turned her feet to stone. She could not move forward. She felt her neighbours’ eyes upon her and she began to tremble. Each breath she took she thought would be her last. Suddenly she felt her old friend curiosity begin to stir.
Why was he calling her? Why was he singling her out? Was he going to chastise her? Was he going to point out her sin? Was he going to tell them that her ailment was punishment for her refusal to accept her lot in life? Was he going to point to her and warn them not to step out of line? She felt the questions rising up in her. She could not stop them. Her feet began to move. She could see them moving and she wanted to run. For the first time in eighteen years she wanted to run. But she knew that she couldn’t run.
She wanted to run right out of there. But slowly, her feet moved her tired aching body closer to him. She stood before him and watched as his chest moved up and down. She wondered what his face looked like. Was he angry? Was he about to lash out at her? Or did he look down on her with pity in his eyes? She focussed on the steady movement of his chest and when the word came she was startled.
“Woman, you are set free from your ailment.”
“Woman, you are set free from your ailment.”
What was he saying? Could it be true? After so many years of longing? Was she finally free? She felt his hands upon her. Gently he rubbed her tired shoulders. And then all of a sudden she felt it. He had called her. Jesus had called her. Jesus had called her up to the front of the synagogue and in front of all the men and women of her village Jesus had declared that she was set free. Immediately she stood up straight and she began praising God. Praising God in the synagogue!
She, a woman who had been suffering from an inner poverty that had left her incapacitated for 18 years; she whose weakened spirit caused her body to respond in kind, leaving her bent forward, unable to stand, she was released from her prison and she stood up straight and she began praising God. She praised God, in the synagogue. Until the leader of the synagogue stood up.
She looked him straight in the eyes and she waited. He was indignant because Jesus had dared to cure on the Sabbath, and he kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the Sabbath day.” For the first time in eighteen years she looked closely at their faces. She saw their smug expressions. She was about to bow her head when Jesus shouted, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or your donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? Shouldn’t this woman, a daughter of Abraham who has been bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath day?”
The words of Jesus put all his opponents to shame. Standing tall and proud, tears of joy streamed down her face as she remembered that she was a daughter of Abraham and of Sarah. That she too was an heir to God’s promises. Overcome with joy she, once again began praising God. The entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that Jesus was doing. Relived of her burdens, set free from her prison, standing tall and proud as a daughter of Abram and Sarah, secure in the knowledge that she too was an heir to all the promises of God, she praised God.
There are days; you know the kind of days, the days when we can see ourselves as this woman. There are days when I wonder when the burdens of life became so heavy that I became crushed by them. When and where did my childish enthusiasm for life disappear? When did I stop running toward life? When did I become so cautious? When did I let my many tasks bare down on me and cause me to just trudge on. When did I stop demanding answers and resolve to carry my burdens in silence? When did I settle into the routine that life offered? There are days when even the small tasks seem difficult and just getting out of bed is more than I can manage. Then there have been those days when I simply can’t bear to look into the eyes of my neighbours, when I want to avoid their pitying glances. Days when I couldn’t bear to hear their whispers, because I knew that they blamed me. Days when my burdens weighed me down.
And there are other days when I can see myself as the leader in the synagogue. Those days when some child dashes under the altar and I try to crush that child with. Or when some rule somewhere is tossed aside or trampled on and I can’t hold my tongue. And there are those days when I self-righteously quote scripture at some poor sod who has gotten under my skin. Those horrid days when I can’t summon up the grace to be anything more than just a hypocrite. Sadly there are even days, when I am threatened by another person’s freedom and I want to cling to the rules, because the rules are familiar and the rules provide order and the rules mean I don’t have to think and I can just put myself on automatic pilot and all will be well.
And then there are those glorious days, when the burdens of life are lifted and I want to dance with the pure joy of life and praise God without ceasing. Like that day when the doctor said I was cancer free, I ran like the wind that day. Or the day I quit my job to go back to university, I danced that night. Or that first day at university, I walked tall around the campus that day. Or that first day at seminary, standing in the chapel singing God’s praises as the faculty processed in decked out in their academic robes. I sang loudly that day and for days after I was full of questions about everything. Or that glorious day when the phone rang and the voice on the other end said, they voted to call you. I felt like I’d been set free that day, free to embark on a glorious adventure.
We’ve all had days when the burdens of life have weighed us down and we’ve all had those horrible days when it seemed easier to heap burdens upon others because the best we could muster was some kind of hypocrisy that enslaved a sister or a brother. And we’ve all had those days when we have been set free to be the people God intended us to be and we can’t help but sing God’s praise. But if this were just a story where you could relate to a crippled woman who is healed and a few hypocrites who want to spoil the party it would just be an ordinary story and we could, depending on the kind of day we are having be satisfied with identifying ourselves as either blessed of burdened. But this is not just an ordinary story. Because we are gathered here in this place; and here in the church, which is the Body of Christ, each of us is called to be Christ to one another. Which means that in addition to identifying ourselves with the one who is healed and the ones who are hypocrites, we are also called to identify ourselves with Christ for we are called to be healers. We are called to set one another free! We are called to lift one another’s burdens! We are called to lift the burdens of injustice, disease, sadness, poverty, and even the burdens of death.
Like Christ, we are called to challenge the religious practices and beliefs of our day that are insensitive to peoples’ suffering.
We worship a God who created us to stand up full and free and have the courage to look God in the eye and to ask God to share our burdens. We worship a God that wants us to stand tall and look one another in the eyes; set one another free, call one another to account and rejoice in God’s steadfast abundant grace. So do not let your burdens weigh you down. Do not let rules and regulations and law turn you into self-righteous hypocrites. Rise up! Rise up, look around and in the faces of your sisters and brothers see the face of Christ and let them see the face of Christ that is in you.
Click Here to visit Rev. Dawn Hutchings Website READ ON ... 
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Three Days Only (8/23 - 8/25)Living the Questions
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Liturgy Selection "Letting Go"
As Joseph Campbell said, “We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the life that is waiting for us.”READ ON ... 
All wisdom traditions understand the need for letting go.  And all wisdom traditions understand how difficult it is for humans to do this.  Possessions, emotions, even difficult relationships… we hold on for dear life in spite of the damage it does to us.  But as Joseph Campbell said, “We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the life that is waiting for us.”





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How to Catch a Raccoon by Wilson Rawls
Do you know how to catch a raccoon? I mean good old backwoods ingenuity, no guns, no weapons of mass destruction. Well, I didn’t know either, until some years ago when my daughter was in the fifth grade and had to do a book report on the children’s classic Where the Red Fern Grows*. I finally got to read it! It’s a lovely coming-of-age story about a boy and his coon hounds in the Ozarks of northeastern Oklahoma in the early 20th century.
In this story, the boy needs his first coon to train his hound puppies, so he goes to his grandpa who is wise in the ways of the woods. And here’s what his grandpa tells him to do: bore a hole in a downed log, and put nails in all around, with just enough space for a raccoon paw. At the bottom of the hole put something shiny, like a quarter-size piece of tin. Along comes the raccoon and he’s terribly curious, attracted by the shiny metal. He puts his paw in to grab the tin, and once he has hold of it, his fist is too big to get it back through the nails. But he’s too stubborn to let go, and so he’s caught.
Well, the boy is skeptical but he sets up the trap anyway, and once his scent has worn off — which takes about two weeks — sure enough, he goes out one morning and there’s a raccoon. So it seems that even though raccoons are pretty smart, they’re maybe not quite smart enough to see that sometimes what they really need to do is to “let go.”
What are you holding on to that is keeping you trapped, just like the raccoon? Can you imagine the life-giving freedom that could come from letting go of it?
In the Greek of the New Testament, the word for “let go” is the same word that is also, in other passages, translated as “forgive.” When you image forgiveness as letting go, and remember the raccoon, you begin to understand the truth of Annie Lamott’s description: “Bearing a grudge is like taking the rat poison yourself, and then expecting the rat to die.” There is no way out except to forgive, to let go. Remember the raccoon.
*Rawls, Wilson. Where the Red Fern Grows (Yearling, 3rd edition, 1996).
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Grudges by Roger Courtney
As we start worship, let us remember the words of Jesus when he said
“if you bring your gift to the altar
and then remember that your sister or brother
has a grudge against you,
leave your gift there at the altar.
Go to be reconciled to them,
and then come and offer your gift”.
Let us take a short period of silence
to reflect on those with whom we need to be reconciled
and what action we can take to make this happen.[Submitted by Roger Courtney, Ireland]-------
Grudges by Roger Courtney
As we start worship, let us remember the words of Jesus when he said
“if you bring your gift to the altar
and then remember that your sister or brother
has a grudge against you,
leave your gift there at the altar.
Go to be reconciled to them,
and then come and offer your gift”.
Let us take a short period of silence
to reflect on those with whom we need to be reconciled
and what action we can take to make this happen.[Submitted by Roger Courtney, Ireland]
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Events and Updates
The Global Unity Games: TomorrowTogether (Sept 11th -21st)
The Global Unity Games launch a 5-year campaign with the purpose of bringing people together from around the world to learn about and know each other, committing compassionate acts in a global expression of hope for a better tomorrow together.
READ ON ...
The Global Unity Games: Tomorrow Together
The Global Unity Games: Tomorrow Together take place from September 11th, a National Day of Service and Remembrance, to September 21st, the International Day of Peace.
The Global Unity Games launch a 5-year campaign with the purpose of bringing people together from around the world to learn about and know each other, committing compassionate acts in a global expression of hope for a better tomorrow together.
Right now in the U.S, communities from Seattle, Silicon Valley, Austin and Louisville are challenging one another as they prepare to play in the Global Unity Games. There are currently teams from over 20 countries signed up to play!
Watch the launch of the Global Unity Games here with 9/11 Day Founder, David Paine, and Compassion Games Founder, Jon Ramer, which was broadcasted live from Points of Light Service and Volunteering Conference! The Conference took place in Detroit, MI from June 19-21, 2016.
Individuals and teams from all over the world can sign up to play in the Global Unity Games!
Learn More and Sign Up for the Global Unity Games Here!
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Start:
September 11, 2016
End:
September 21, 2016
Contact:
Sommer Albertsen
Organization:
Compassion Games
Website:
http://compassiongames.org/global-unity-games/
Email:
Sommer@CompassionGames.org
Our mailing address is:
ProgressiveChristianity.org
4810 Point Fosdick Drive North West#80
Gig Harbor, Washington 98335, United States
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