"The light is the sign that love will guide you home."
Outside CAUMC there was a thick coating of fallen yellow oval leaves on the ground. Yay, autumn!
We've also recently been hit by consistently cool enough weather -- highs around 60F and not humid -- that I've started wearing my Smith hoodie (over short-sleeved shirts -- and feeling warm enough to take off the sweatshirt before I even reach my destination).
***
CHPC Unison Prayer of Confession this morning (added emphases mine): We confess, O God, that we struggle with ourselves; we allow our fears and anxieties to keep us from caring for others whose livbes are even more fragile than our own; we speak of seeking peace and justice, but we are content with the false peace of avoidance, the injustice of silence, sometimes because we just cannot see how we might make a difference. Forgive us our hesitations and timid excuses, and inspire us to be faithful witnesses to your peace. Amen.
(Peacemaking through Worship, vol. 2)
***
Tiffany preached on the Esther story tonight (Esther 4:9-17).
She talked about how Esther was "perceived as one thing, born as another" (wicked subtle, right?). She talked about how Haman tricked the king by talking about "those people," never actually naming them. (When she went on to talk about how we sometimes talk about or are ourselves "those people," I, of course, thought about how I often feel connected in some way to the "those people" being talked about in my communities -- even as I recognize that in those communities, the "those people" are often those who are in positions of oppressing power, so the negative attitude toward them is arguably more justified than that directed at minority communities.)
Tiffany talked about how through this conflict, Esther gains a clearer sense of who she is and her calling and her community -- and how she's a boundary crosser, inhabiting both the center and periphery (something that resonated for me -- given my previous thought about dominant privileged groups or whatever), and she chooses both, and it is through the public acknowledgment and affirmation of her dual identity that liberation comes. [I really should reread the entire Esther story.]
Tiffany talked about how this is National Coming Out Week and some of you may say, "But Tiffany, I've been Out for 5 years." Or 15 years. Or whatever. But we come out regarding other parts of our identities besides just sexual orientation and gender identity. We might come out as Republican :) I said, "I love you so much." Or as Christian, which was what she focused on for the next segment of her sermon -- seguing into the other Scripture reading (Matthew 28:16-20 -- The Great Commission) and inviting us to think about what we are called to do as CWM community, talking about how the Greek addition to the Esther story has Esther bringing peace and justice and equality to all Persia and talking about MLK's "fierce urgency of now."
***
Walking home from CWM around 8pm, I saw ALDS Game 3 on a projection screen out in front of the UCC church. So of course I crossed the street to see if I knew any of the people there. The first person I encountered was UCC!Ian. He explained that they had run the cable from Owen, who lives above the parsonage next door. Heh. They even had tea and hot chocolate and stuff (which one of the women had made in the church kitchen). I opted to go home so I could update LJ and call the bff and stuff, since I'm not a big baseball watcher anyway, but I did think it was very cool.
We've also recently been hit by consistently cool enough weather -- highs around 60F and not humid -- that I've started wearing my Smith hoodie (over short-sleeved shirts -- and feeling warm enough to take off the sweatshirt before I even reach my destination).
***
CHPC Unison Prayer of Confession this morning (added emphases mine): We confess, O God, that we struggle with ourselves; we allow our fears and anxieties to keep us from caring for others whose livbes are even more fragile than our own; we speak of seeking peace and justice, but we are content with the false peace of avoidance, the injustice of silence, sometimes because we just cannot see how we might make a difference. Forgive us our hesitations and timid excuses, and inspire us to be faithful witnesses to your peace. Amen.
(Peacemaking through Worship, vol. 2)
***
Tiffany preached on the Esther story tonight (Esther 4:9-17).
She talked about how Esther was "perceived as one thing, born as another" (wicked subtle, right?). She talked about how Haman tricked the king by talking about "those people," never actually naming them. (When she went on to talk about how we sometimes talk about or are ourselves "those people," I, of course, thought about how I often feel connected in some way to the "those people" being talked about in my communities -- even as I recognize that in those communities, the "those people" are often those who are in positions of oppressing power, so the negative attitude toward them is arguably more justified than that directed at minority communities.)
Tiffany talked about how through this conflict, Esther gains a clearer sense of who she is and her calling and her community -- and how she's a boundary crosser, inhabiting both the center and periphery (something that resonated for me -- given my previous thought about dominant privileged groups or whatever), and she chooses both, and it is through the public acknowledgment and affirmation of her dual identity that liberation comes. [I really should reread the entire Esther story.]
Tiffany talked about how this is National Coming Out Week and some of you may say, "But Tiffany, I've been Out for 5 years." Or 15 years. Or whatever. But we come out regarding other parts of our identities besides just sexual orientation and gender identity. We might come out as Republican :) I said, "I love you so much." Or as Christian, which was what she focused on for the next segment of her sermon -- seguing into the other Scripture reading (Matthew 28:16-20 -- The Great Commission) and inviting us to think about what we are called to do as CWM community, talking about how the Greek addition to the Esther story has Esther bringing peace and justice and equality to all Persia and talking about MLK's "fierce urgency of now."
***
Walking home from CWM around 8pm, I saw ALDS Game 3 on a projection screen out in front of the UCC church. So of course I crossed the street to see if I knew any of the people there. The first person I encountered was UCC!Ian. He explained that they had run the cable from Owen, who lives above the parsonage next door. Heh. They even had tea and hot chocolate and stuff (which one of the women had made in the church kitchen). I opted to go home so I could update LJ and call the bff and stuff, since I'm not a big baseball watcher anyway, but I did think it was very cool.