Our theme was stones-yes the lectionary was used-and a brief mention of Stephen's stoning-but also the stones pilgrms carry, stones in the world, and a quick synopis of 5 stone stories in the Bible-the cornerstone the builders rejected, Simon-becoming Peter-Turn this stones into bread, The women caught in adultery-let the sinless throw the first stone, and The teachers asking Jesus to quiet his disciples- "But the very stones would cry out" 

One of the same hymns as seeler

Like a rock

Hey - we sang "Like a rock" too - the Linnea Good one?  Kids went to the front & did actions too - it was a new piece for us. 

Sermon was complex; not sure I can do it justice by trying to precis it here.

I met a new young family with a baby & a 3 year old 

Theme was Stones on the Road:  Rolling Stones using both the Acts reading and the reading from 1 Peter.   I identified 6 rolling stones that are flattening churches. and stones churches can use to build resistance to those roling stones -- posted at st-matthews-uc.org.  Good comments on music:  guest soloist today who was awesome.  Five more services and I am finished at St. Matthew's.

Where are you going Jim Kenney?  Are you able to say? 

You look so young   ..... are you retiring? lol

This past Sunday was not an unusual service . . . nothing extra or special happening on this day.

The attendance, although low for a regular Sunday, was higher than I thought it would be for a long weekend.   An obvious absence of the younger families, but the elderly regulars were all there.

Our hymns were:

Let us Build a House

Where Cross teh Crowded Ways of Life

Behold I Make all Things New

We also had a video song, but I can't remember the name right now.

The gospel reading was John 14:1-14 . . . and the minister spoke about Jesus using the phrase "I Am".  And that the scripture that says "I am the way, the truth, and the life" is not meant to be about being exclusive, as in that those who don't follow Jesus are excluded, but rather Jesus being the Way in that we are to follow the way that he lived and taught about.

We had a very nice service.  It wasn't especially well attended due to the holiday weekend, but still a few families.  That's most important to me since I offer the Children's Time every Sunday.  I had six kids or so to hear my story that I wrote based on the 1 Peter reading.

http://southminsterunited.org/?q=node/151

We sang
Holy God, We Praise Your Name
Behold, Behold, I Make All Things New
How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds
Love Devine, All Loves Excelling

The choir sang "Come Build a Church" and the soloist sang "In Christ Alone".

I watched Carter's little cousin, just 4 months older than Carter when he got hurt, gets his hands on Carter's run bike after we gave it to him, and ride it exactly like Carter rode it that spring 2 years ago.

That's as close to spiritual as I get.

He remembers Carter, he knows it was Carter's bike, knows it's his now, and it was possibly the most moving passing of a torch I've ever seen in my life.

That is good.

Just as Carter would have wanted.

A reminder that spiritual takes many forms and spiritual isn't found only in church.

sweet chansen

"Only"? The spirituality I've seen on display at churches, through rituals and hymns and scripture and substituting window coverings for clothes, can only be described as "contrived". I'm sure it happens, but I can't believe it's a regular occurrance.

Carter knew and willingly shared toys with his infant cousin. He'd want to share his bike with him now. They also share an aptitude for biking and finding the biggest obstacles they can roll over. While I was cheering him on, I called him "Carter" by mistake. I was back in time for just a moment. It was great.

I'm sorry, but this is how people live on - through shared interests, memories, and aptitudes of those close to them and those they share some DNA with. Not through some stupid fucking story about an afterlife. I honestly still don't know what "spiritual" means. All I really mean is that it was profoundly moving to me that this kid gets to ride Carter's bike, does it almost exactly as well as Carter did, and is just as crazy about it as Carter was. Most kids can't, and aren't.

I went for a ride tonight myself, and for the first time in two years, I was able to put my head down and just go. It's that zen-like state where your muscles are mad at you but you tune them out. Time passes more quickly, but the trees slow down. I'm a chicken on a bike, because I didn't grow up riding through forests. One trick is not to use your brakes, because conserving momentum is key to going fast and being economical with your effort. I use my brakes too much because I don't want to bounce off a pine tree. Tonight, I spent my last lap talking to Carter. I was alone on the trail almost the entire lap, and it seemed like the thing to do. Not really talking to him - I know that - but I started channeling his care-free approach to new things. I flew through a section I had to slow down for on previous laps. I just kept repeating, "Mah do it!" to myself. Right out loud. 

So there's a lesson Carter taught me: Trust yourself.

Chansen - I wish that you could have dropped in to our church this morning and seen how we 'worship' on Wednesday mornings.  

Hi Chansen...

Did you intend to insult some present here who value the story? Or are you just having a bad day?

George .

I just think it's a stupid story, and there are moments when its stupidity becomes more clear than others.

Hi chansen,

We could discuss the merit or lack of merit the story makes available, something i would enjoy doing in another thread.

The post from which I lifted the quote is warm and insightful. This said, the two insulting words seem somehow out of place. I wonder why you felt them necessary?

George

In my world, this is spiritual, chansen. I've had some of my strongest ideas and insights riding through woods on a bike. Hell, I've written sermons on bike rides (in my head, not literally).

Mendalla

It's the best guess I've had as well. I think that these moments just happen, and that no incantations, rituals, hymns or clothing will bring them on any stronger than, say, a child or a memory can.
.
So to say thay they don't only happen in church, I think, misses the point by miles. They happen everywhere. The ones you have to concentrate to make in church can't be half as powerful.

In saying they don't only happen in church, means, to me, they happen everywhere.  Perhaps "only" was not the best word to choose . . . perhaps "just" would have been better.  Spiritual does not just happen in churches (or temples, or synagoques, or mosques, or smudge ceremonies, etc. - spirituality is everywhere.

What is powerful for one might not be powerful to another.  For some, what they experience in church is powerful to them.  I don't think what a person feels is measurable compared to what another person feels.  And we all feel and are moved by different things.

I have had powerful spiritual experiences in church.

I have had powerful spiritual experiences out of church, often in nature.

Riding a bike through the trees being an example of that back in the day when I used to haunt the bike paths around Kitchener.

This is likely part of why I'm a pantheist. I don't sense that there is some special place where "God" is located, rather that "God" is there whenever and wherever we are open to the presence.

Mendalla

Hi...

Very nicely put.

The spirit is free as the wind, which blows from the North as well as the West. And when least expected, from the South, or maybe the East. To say nothing of any and all points between the four.

I noticed some years ago that the stupid story presents Jesus as one who meets persons along the way. From serendipitous to serendipitous, Jesus moves about the landscape encountering persons and introducing the opportunity for surprise. The kind of surprise which exceeds the sum of its parts.

I have had many such surprises along the way of my journey to this point. Each surprise served like food for a part of me that had been hungry and thirsty. Eating and drinking freely I began the transformation of my being in the world as creative freedom. Now that transformation approaches its maturity.

Remarkable things happen after you decide to accept the logic of death. Putting off the natural daily you begin to live and move in the spiritual. This process was initiated by my parents shortly after my birth. It was advanced at the age of thirty, when I was immersed into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This baptism was followed immediately by my baptism into the Holy Spirit.

Here's a sample from our coming together as a community of faith in Steinbach Manitoba:

George

And my point to that is, spirituality or whatever you want to call it, is best when it happens organically. You can no more force an extremely powerful moment, than you can force yourself to pitch a perfect game. The best moments just happen.

It's not that I know you're wrong, it's just that I don't think you're right. I think religion tries to simulate powerful moments. I suspect it's a placebo. I don't have proof, but that's my best guess. Like I said above, it just looks so contrived.

I agree that you can't force those moments to happen, but sometimes those moments just happen to happen to persons in a church service too, the same way they happen to persons in other places.

Okay, so what's the advantage of church, then?

I'm not sure there is one at an objective level. However, spirituality is not about objective knowledge, it is about subjective personal experience. I do find that some people, self included, do find it meaningful and conducive to spirituality to gather in community around our beliefs. It isn't just theists, either. Look at the many humanist UUs and the Sunday Assemblies. IOW, church is optional for many but for many other people it is important and meaningful, not because it makes us better people or keeps God happy but because it contributes to our spiritual experience of the world.

Mendalla

From the earliest day we have gathered round fire, for the singing of songs, the dancing of dances, the sharing of food and the telling of stories. This gathering round the fire establishes the meaning and purpose of our human being in and through the natural order.

Some years past we gathered to the pulpit for insight as to the meaning and purpose of our labours under the sun. That formative place has been eclipsed by the attention seeking machinery of the mass media. The latest communications device is increasingly the sole source of meaning and purpose.

Are we not firm in the grip of this machine by which we are joined in the semblance of community? Every nuance recorded and sorted by algorithms, to inform the strategies of manipulation by which the masses are moved to serve the production and consumption of the unnecessary and the harmful.

Jesus gathered a community of resistance in the days of the Pax Romana. I suspect they drank cheap wine, ate barley loaves and fish, sang songs and told subversive stories.

Like the experience of riding a bike to the edge of common sense. This is where ordinary lets go and extraordinary gets in.

George

Excellent post George *thumbs up*