Category Archives: Bible Study

Bible Study, Community Organizing, Sermons

Lessons from the early church: learning to listen

Imagine that you are part of a small church. Imagine that your small church is racially and culturally diverse.

Some people in the church have ancestral roots in the land where you live and the others come from foreign lands.

Some speak one language and the others speak another.

Some come from the dominant religious background and the others come from another.

One group has historically had the upper hand of privilege. The other has historically been looked down upon and denied basic human rights.

I’m talking about the earliest church. It’s their story as much as it is ours.

Continue reading Lessons from the early church: learning to listen →

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Bible Study, Immigration Justice, Music, Sermons, Social justice

Shake off the dust: or, leave it as you found it

I used to think that Jesus’ admonition to “shake the dust off your feet” was a silent, nonviolent and slightly snarky protest against those who didn’t welcome the followers of Jesus.

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But recently I joined faith leaders from across the country in a deep immersion in Honduras and Guatemala seeking to understand root causes of migration.

Now I hear Jesus saying,

“When you go into a community, go with your hands and pockets empty. Bring no gifts that leave room for empty promises, no gifts that can be used to manipulate, no gift that may insult or mislead. Come with empty hands and an open heart. If the community does not receive you, then leave, and as you leave, shake the dust off your feet. Take nothing that is not freely given, not even the dust on your feet. If the community doesn’t welcome you, leave it just as you found it.” Matthew 10:9-14.

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Bible Study, Get to know Beloved, Music, Racial Justice, Sermons, Social justice

Guest sermon from Beloved Leah Clements: How Will We Respond?

Beloved Leah Clements leaves to go to Candler School of Theology at Emory University next week, and we will miss her dearly. Her sermon last night was a call to action for us all.

She preached on this text from Mark 4:35-41:

“On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him.

A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’

Continue reading Guest sermon from Beloved Leah Clements: How Will We Respond? →

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Bible Study, Lenten reflection, Social justice

Holy Saturday Reflection from Rev. Angie: Claiming Them As Our Own

She is slowly taking her leave,
The painful withering away
Of mind and body
That is Alzheimer’s.

She lies still in her own bedroom
Given the dignity of dying in her own home
By her beloved devoted daughter Lynn.

Grace, who is full of Grace,
Has been at their side
In constant loving care
For both dying mother
And grieving daughter.

Continue reading Holy Saturday Reflection from Rev. Angie: Claiming Them As Our Own →

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Bible Study, Lenten reflection

Good Friday Reflection: The Stations of the Cross

This visual reflection from the Episcopal Church Visual Arts registry, by Kathrin Burleson, entitled “The Soul’s Journey: A Mystical Approach to the Stations of the Cross,” contemplates Christ’s journey through imprisonment, crucifixion and resurrection. Click on each image to view a prayer you might pray while contemplating each stage of the journey. 

I: Jesus Prays in the Garden of Gethsemane

He came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed him. When he reached the place, he said to them, ‘Pray that you may not come into the time of trial.’ Then he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, ‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.’ Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength. In his anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground. — Luke 22
Continue reading Good Friday Reflection: The Stations of the Cross →

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Bible Study, Lenten reflection

The Heroic and Visionary Women of Passover (Reflection by Ruth Bader Ginsberg)

This reflection from the American Jewish World Service was written by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt. It reflects on a story from Exodus that is central to Passover – the story of Pharoah’s murder of every firstborn male child (Exodus 1:8-21). The role of women in this story is not often emphasized, but as this passage tells us, women stood up to defy the law.

Several Beloveds will observe passover tonight as part of the UCC Joint Maundy Thursday/Seder Service at Covenant Community UCC. We will remember that Christ also observed Passover on the night he was imprisoned.

The Heroic and Visionary Women of Passover

By Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt

Shared via the American Jewish World Service

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On Passover, Jews are commanded to tell the story of the Exodus and to see ourselves as having lived through that story, so that we may better learn how to live our lives today. The stories we tell our children shape what they believe to be possible—which is why at Passover, we must tell the stories of the women who played a crucial role in the Exodus narrative.

Continue reading The Heroic and Visionary Women of Passover (Reflection by Ruth Bader Ginsberg) →

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Bible Study, Lenten reflection

Lenten Reflection from Davey Williams: Sacrifice

love-your-enemies

So, it’s about 1967 and I’m a teenager playing a record on the stereo in our living room, and I say to my dad, “I love this record!”  He listens for a minute and then says, “You mean you’d sacrifice for it?”

It turned out that love is not primarily a feeling, and despite misinformation from the entertainment industry, love does not always begin as a feeling.  It’s in fact a commitment larger than ourselves.

I bring this up in light of Jesus’ telling us to “love our enemies.”  In theory this is my commitment, but recently this ideal has hit a snag.

Mob mentalities like that of the “so-called Islamic State,” Boko Haram, etc. seem to be an “enemy” that is hard to “feel” love for, let alone “sacrifice” for.  Continue reading Lenten Reflection from Davey Williams: Sacrifice →

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Bible Study, Lenten reflection

Lenten Reflection from Palmer Maxwell: “I was so much older then”

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When Bob Dylan recorded “My Back Pages” for the album ANOTHER SIDE OF BOB DYLAN he was transitioning from folk artist to folk artist critic with his own  career and his own songs directly in the cross-hairs of that critique.

The next album, BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME, revealed a much more nuanced and mature understanding of human nature and the role of protest. These albums and others that followed went from being protest songs of injustices in world events to protest songs about conformity to false images and ideals of self, beginning with the his own role of being the “spokesperson of his generation.”
Continue reading Lenten Reflection from Palmer Maxwell: “I was so much older then” →

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Bible Study, Lenten reflection

Lenten Reflection from Palmer Maxwell: Distracted from Distraction by Distraction

The title of this reflection comes from The Four Quartets by the American poet T.S. Eliot.  Midway through the season of Lent—intended I think to be a period of reflection and prayer on the deeper meaning of our faith and the Easter event—I find instead that my mental state resembles more accurately the description Eliot had of modern life.

And each distraction carries its own passport and identification number marked “Priority 1” and stamped in large letters: A.S.A.P.!!!!
Continue reading Lenten Reflection from Palmer Maxwell: Distracted from Distraction by Distraction →

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Bible Study, Lenten reflection

Beloved Lenten Reflection from Cindy Jones: Goodbye

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THE BEATITUDES

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

-Matthew 5

Continue reading Beloved Lenten Reflection from Cindy Jones: Goodbye →

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