The fruits of our harvest!!!
Don’t miss the picture gallery of the Harvest Party at the bottom
Don’t miss the picture gallery of the Harvest Party at the bottom
This
coming Sunday, September 14th, the Fourteenth Sunday
after Pentecost, we will have two services, at 8 and 10 a.m. We hope you will
join us for worship and fellowship followed by Coffee Hour.
The
readings for this Sunday are Exodus 14:19-31, Psalm 114, Romans 14:1-12, Matthew 18:21-35.
The
Annual Harvest Gathering Party last Saturday was a
huge success! Thanks to all the harvesters: Sally, Grete, Patti, George, Duane,
Heidi, Joan W, Barbara Lord, Dale, Ann, Chris Boldt, and especially Gretchen,
who not only oversaw the harvesting and preparing of the squashes, but had
planted and tended the vines. Special thanks too to Gretchen’s brothers Karl
and Robert for their assistance and support.
Calling all lovers of homemade jams,
jellies, pickles, etc.
Sandwich Fair is coming up the second weekend of October. Anyone who wishes to
create their own delicacies for sale, please contact David, Gretchen, Chris or
Carol with questions and requests for labels. For all who love to consume
homemade canned goods, consider saving you empty jars for re-use by one of us.
Also, if you frequent yard sales and happen to see 8 or 16oz canning jars, grab
them. (New jars run from $8-$12/case of twelve) We will reimburse you.
Help needed with Dinner
Bell this Sunday Twice a year Heidi and Duane (367-8220) are scheduled to do
Dinner Bell with the young people of the parish, often assisted by their
parents. But family lives are not predictable! It happens that this year none
of the families are available. Can you lend a hand? Either with pre-making
something at home, being part of the cook team from 4 to 6, or arriving at 5 to
doing dish-washing? Haven’t done Dinner Bell before? Come be part of this
important ministry to the wider community! No experience necessary?
Fall
Programming: There’s more to the fall than the Sandwich Fair! And there’s more to Saint Francis
than the blessing of the animals!
Embracing an Alternative Orthodoxy: Richard
Rohr on the Legacy of St. Francis. I am excited to offer this study series which is based on a
five-session DVD, each segment of which will lay out some information and get
us thinking, so that we can then engage in a focused discussion among
ourselves. (This is NOT a book group, so it does not involve reading
assignments, though there’s a useful reflection activity that is suggested in
advance of each session.)
If you are someone who has felt that
“theology” is boring and over your head, this might be just the thing to change
your mind! And if you are someone who cares about theology and wrestles with
what you think the church has taught you, this might be for you! And if you are someone who has been deeply
formed by the church’s theological understandings and who thinks you have a
pretty good grasp of what you know and how it continues to shape your life,
this may broaden your understandings and open you to new perspectives. Whichever
category you may place yourself in, the goal of this exploration is not
academic learning, but deepening and enlivening our faith and spiritual lives,
all of which undergirds our ability to reach out into the world in the name of
Christ!
The five topics for exploration are:
1. Atonement Theology
2. Eco-Spirituality
3. The Cosmic Christ
4. Orthodoxy vs. Orthopraxy
5. Mysticism over Moralism
The five topics for exploration are:
1. Atonement Theology
2. Eco-Spirituality
3. The Cosmic Christ
4. Orthodoxy vs. Orthopraxy
5. Mysticism over Moralism
Richard Rohr is a Franciscan priest,
founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, and author
of numerous books. To get a sense of his work and a flavor for his approach,
Googling his name will give you plenty of exposure. If you’d like to receive
daily reflection pieces go to https://cac.org/sign-up
When
will this group be meeting? The suggested time
is alternate Wednesday mornings at 10:15. If you are interested, please contact
me directly or sign up on the sheet posted in the Parish Hall. I’d like to get going
a soon as possible.
On Wednesday, October 1, as part of our “First Wednesday
Supper” series, Sammie Wakefield will be showing slides and talking about her
most recent trip to Peru with Eleanore’s
Project, working with children and their families to provide custom
wheelchairs. Sammie is our emissary in this extraordinary ministry. We will
gather at 5:30 for a light supper while we view the pictures, followed by time
to ask questions and engage in deeper discussion. While normally our “First
Wednesday” gatherings end promptly at 7:00, this session may go a little
longer, but you are free to leave as necessary.
Plan ahead: On
October 5th we will honor
the Feast Day of Saint Francis with our annual Blessing of the Animals at our 9:00 service. As usual, dogs on
leashes are welcome, cats and other small animals should be caged or crated. We
will designate the transept as an “Animal Free Zone,” and welcome larger
animals for a blessing outside at 10:15. Invite your friends to “Bring-Your-Pet-to-Church
Sunday!”
Food
for thought from Richard Rohr on Unlocking Attachments …
Contemplation
is the key to unlocking the attachments and addictions of the mind so that we
can see clearly. I think some form of contemplative practice is necessary to be
able to detach from your own agenda, your own anger, your own ego, and your own
fear.
I
find most people operate not out of “consciousness,” but out of their level of
practiced brain function, which relies on early-life conditioning and has
little to do with God encounter or grace or mercy or freedom or love. We
primarily operate from habituated patterns based on what Mom told me, what went
wrong when I was young, and the defense mechanisms I learned that helped me to
be right and good, to be first and famous, or whatever I may want to be. These
are not all bad but they are not all good either.
All
of that old and practiced thinking has to be recognized and accounted for,
which is the work of contemplation. Without contemplation, you don’t see
clearly. Everything is all about you, and you just keep seeing everything
through your own agenda, anger, and wounds. Isn’t that most people you
know? Few ever achieve much inner
freedom. Contemplation, sadly, helps you see your woundedness! That’s why most
people do not stay long with contemplative prayer, because it’s not very
glorious. It’s a continual humiliation, realizing, “Oh my God, I did it again.
I still don’t know how to love!”
We
need some form of contemplative practice that touches our unconscious conditioning,
where all our wounds lie, where all our defense mechanisms are operative
secretly. Once these are not taken so seriously, there is finally room for the
inrushing of God and grace!
See you in church!
Blessings,
Heidi+
