[Rest and Bread] the conversion of Paul [2010-10-27]
[FirstChurch Mailing List] Carving out a little time for prayer and communion, Rest and Bread
Dear Beloved,
Every Wednesday, about seven of us from our congregation and neighborhood carve out a little time in the middle of our week to pray and to serve communion to each other. It seems that we get to know each other a bit more deeply, we who are able to come. We think and pray for each other during the week. It is a way to be known to each other and to know God. If you've been wanting to get involved in a small group, here's one that meets every week from 6:30-7:05. Music for meditation begins at 6:15. We'd be so tickled if you'd join us.
Love,
Laura Ruth
The Sacred Text was Acts 9:1-15 -- the Conversion of Paul.
Keith gave the Reflection and said that Ananias' experience was as if George W. Bush went, unarmed, to a repentant Osama bin Laden -- and I saw Laura Ruth's face light up with the dawning of understanding of just what a radical thing it was that Ananias was called to do.
During "We Reflect," Laura Ruth talked about having gone to see Scott Brown last week "because I thought he was Saul" and talked about the possibility that she may be Saul. And then she lit another candle and talked about the reminder that she needs 3 days of not talking and maybe even of fasting to find God.
Althea said she has often imagined herself as Saul but she wonders if she will ever by called to be Ananias to someone, and that she hopes and prays she will be.
I said I wonder about the friends of Saul, who lead him into the city and who then vanish from the story. I said I can imagine what happens with them after the three days, but I wonder what happens with them during those three days.
When Laura Ruth opened the Prayers of the People, she mentioned, our friends, who wait with us during our blindness, wondering if we will ever find God.
Doing the Call to Confession, I said, "Having offered up our prayers of petition and of thanksgiving, we also offer up our prayers of confession -- acknowledging to God and to ourselves those times when we have missed the mark -- when, like Ananias initially, we turn from opportunities to do good, and when like Saul, we actively do harm. We acknowledge these moments, not to dwell in them, but to let go, to let of the pain, knowing that God is always welcoming us back, into the light, into God's love."
After service, Jeff borrowed Laura Ruth's guitar and practiced "step by step" (a spare copy from re/New happened to be in the chapel) and so I was singing that as I walked home.I will seek you in the morning
and I will learn to walk in your ways
and step by step you'll lead me
and I will follow you all of my days
Dear Beloved,
Every Wednesday, about seven of us from our congregation and neighborhood carve out a little time in the middle of our week to pray and to serve communion to each other. It seems that we get to know each other a bit more deeply, we who are able to come. We think and pray for each other during the week. It is a way to be known to each other and to know God. If you've been wanting to get involved in a small group, here's one that meets every week from 6:30-7:05. Music for meditation begins at 6:15. We'd be so tickled if you'd join us.
Love,
Laura Ruth
The Sacred Text was Acts 9:1-15 -- the Conversion of Paul.
Keith gave the Reflection and said that Ananias' experience was as if George W. Bush went, unarmed, to a repentant Osama bin Laden -- and I saw Laura Ruth's face light up with the dawning of understanding of just what a radical thing it was that Ananias was called to do.
During "We Reflect," Laura Ruth talked about having gone to see Scott Brown last week "because I thought he was Saul" and talked about the possibility that she may be Saul. And then she lit another candle and talked about the reminder that she needs 3 days of not talking and maybe even of fasting to find God.
Althea said she has often imagined herself as Saul but she wonders if she will ever by called to be Ananias to someone, and that she hopes and prays she will be.
I said I wonder about the friends of Saul, who lead him into the city and who then vanish from the story. I said I can imagine what happens with them after the three days, but I wonder what happens with them during those three days.
When Laura Ruth opened the Prayers of the People, she mentioned, our friends, who wait with us during our blindness, wondering if we will ever find God.
Doing the Call to Confession, I said, "Having offered up our prayers of petition and of thanksgiving, we also offer up our prayers of confession -- acknowledging to God and to ourselves those times when we have missed the mark -- when, like Ananias initially, we turn from opportunities to do good, and when like Saul, we actively do harm. We acknowledge these moments, not to dwell in them, but to let go, to let of the pain, knowing that God is always welcoming us back, into the light, into God's love."
After service, Jeff borrowed Laura Ruth's guitar and practiced "step by step" (a spare copy from re/New happened to be in the chapel) and so I was singing that as I walked home.I will seek you in the morning
and I will learn to walk in your ways
and step by step you'll lead me
and I will follow you all of my days