Just check out all the work we did last Saturday:

Why plant a garden?  And what in the world does it have to do with faith?

Glad you asked!  Give me a minute to rant and rave and I’ll tell you.

It’s clear that at no other time in human history has a society been further removed from its sources of food, produced more waste and done more harm to their environment, and all of this at the expense of our global neighbors.  Central to our vocation as Christ’s Beloved is a ministry of reconciliation, which includes all Creation.  That means that God is calling us to drastic life-change, not motivated by guilt and fear, but rather, an inward change motivated by delight in God’s good creation and gratitude for the love of Jesus Christ.  Therefore, it’s with this passion at our heart that we recognize a great need in us and in South Snohomish County for a urban garden space to offer empowerment through education, exploration, work, play and prayer.  There in the garden seemingly mundane work, such as sifting soil or constructing a green house, forms ‘good news’ relationships with our neighbors.  The Rosewood Community Garden tells a different story that offers a hopeful vision for the planet and invites hands-on participation at every level.

What you can look forward to in the near future…

Much, much more to come!  When it comes to the garden – we hope to have both community garden beds as well as rentable plots – we hope to erect a green house, expand the composting system, clear out space for an orchard and pumpkin patch.

And when it comes to workshops and events – we hope to have a full calendar of offerings from a canning and pickling party with urban practitioner Mike McGill to “The Spirituality of Gardening” morning retreat with author Christine Sine.  What types of things do you want to learn about?  Do you know about something that you can teach us?  We want to know!  (email ryan@belovedschurch.org)

The Rosewood Community Garden is getting ready for Spring and getting ready for you!  So be on the look out for the next garden work day and come get your hands dirty.  Would you believe that it’s just one small way of joining God’s dream of mending the entire universe?

> SUN Feb 14 TRANSFIGURED BY LOVE – (a special “Alternative” worship service) 5pm @ Rosewood

> SUN Feb 14 BELOVED+ROSEWOOD MEAL – (fondue dinner especially for you) 630pm @ Rosewood

> TUE Feb 16 FAT TUESDAY – (eat pancakes & watch LOST) 7pm @ Rosewood

> WED Feb 17 ASH WEDNESDAY – (a service confronting mortality) 7pm @ Rosewood

> FRI Feb 19 FOOD INC. FILM NIGHT – (watch and discuss the business of food) 7pm @ Rosewood

> SAT Feb 20 GARDEN WORK DAY – (build beds, clear blackberries, install rainbarrels) 12-4pm @ Rosewood

> SAT Feb 20 OPIATE MASS – (breath-taking musical experience) 8pm @ St. Mark’s Cathedral

> SUN Feb 21 LENT 1 – (1 of 5 Lenten worship services: “Into the Heart of Abba”) 5pm @ Rosewood

> SUN Feb 28 LENT 2 – (Jon Glenn Proclaims!) 5pm @ Rosewood

> TUE Mar 2 – Garden Planning with Author Christine Sine 6pm @ Rosewood

> SUN Mar 7 – LENT 3 – (Lebenese Resident Grant Porter Speaking!) 5pm @ Rosewood

> WED Mar 10 – Special Theology on Tap with Grant Porter - God in the Near East 7pm @ Rory’s Pub

> THUR Mar 25 – House Concert w/ Aaron Strumple of Enter the Worship Circle – 7:30pm @ Rosewood

> THUR Apr 1 – Seder Meal on Maundy Thursday ($6) – 6:30pm @ Rosewood

> FRI Apr 2 – Good Friday – Good Grief (worship at the cross) – 8pm @ Rosewood

…More to come

Revealing…Confessing…Absolving…Commissioning

This list is not prescriptive, so much as it is descriptive.  It’s not that worship ought to be like this if you are “doing it right”.  It’s simply what happens because we are who we are and God is who God is and when you put the two together this sorta thing just happens.

REVEALING

You know that you’ll probably hear these words in the first five minutes of being at Church of the Beloved – “Welcome.  God is here.” Because invoked or not, Bidden or not, whether we know it or not, whether we pray for it or not – God is here.  Filling every atom of this space, in, under, over, around, and holding it all together is the presence of the invisible God.

It’s a startling, mind blowing – raise the hair on your arms – kind of reality… that is, if it’s really real to you.  The difficulty is that there couldn’t be anything more ordinary, more common, more everyday – than the presence of God.  It’s like trying to tell a fish it’s in water.  If we were aware of it all the time, we would be filled with so much awe and amazement and terror and excitement that it would be exhausting.  But there are certain moments, unplannable, uncontrolable, holy moments when this revelation of God’s presence stops us in our tracks.  Two people could be in the same room – for one it’s holy, and for the other it couldn’t be any more ordinary.

Elizabeth Barret Browning wrote:

“Earth is crammed with heaven,

every bush is afire with the glory of God.

but only those who see take off their shoes.

The rest of us sit ‘round and pick blackberries.”

For Moses it was finding a fire defying bush in the middle of a hike.  For the Paul it was a bright light that came crashing into his business trip.  For Peter it was at the end of a really bad day at work that he saw the Rabbi Jesus in a whole new light.  But here’s another revelation of God’s presence:  “Lord, when did we see you naked, imprisoned, hungry, naked, sick?”  And Jesus says,  “When you did this for the least of mine – you did it to me.”  For where there is love, God is truly there.  Jesus said that this is the sign by which people will know that your are my followers – how you love one another…and especially the “least” among you.  Worship starts with God revealing God’s presence in the midst of the ordinary.

CONFESSING

Where God’s presence is revealed you can be sure that there’s going to be some confessing going on.

Confession just follows naturally for us.  When we encounter God we want to confess.  When Isaiah encounters the presence of God in the Temple he says, “I am undone!  I fall apart!  I crumble into a pile! I melt into a puddle!”  And when Moses encounters the presence of God in the wilderness he takes off his shoes and hides his face.  He says, “I can’t look you in the eyes!”  And when Peter encounters the presence of God on a boat full of fish he says, “Get away!  Lord, go away!”  Why would a boat load of fish be something to be terrified about?  I mean, he just won the fish lottery!  You’d think he’d say, “We’re in the money! Never leave me!” rather than, “Get away from me!” . . .

What’s terrifying is that he’s just had the epiphany that this is no ordinary rabbi.  His whole perception has just radically shifted about who Jesus is.  Because now he is in the presence of someone who can do for him what he couldn’t do for himself.  And he’s been fishing his whole life!  And he’s been fishing all night long!  And he’s been fishing in that same exact spot that Jesus takes them back to!  And yet, he’s come up with absolutely nothing.  So the terror is that he is in the presence of One who can pull in a boat load of fish, where there were no fish.  An encounter with the Holy God, always inspires a sense of ambivalence in us that says:  “I don’t ever want you to go, and I can’t stand here for another second.  It’s too much… you are too much!  And I’m not enough!

A long time ago I had a pentecostal friend who kept bugging me to go hear this charismatic prophet speak.  I thought it was silly and scammy and didn’t have any time for it.  I kept putting it off until finally I gave in.  We arrived late but got there in time for the prophet to give personal prophecies to anyone who wanted to come forward.  And something happened to me that I totally did not expect.  The thought of being utterly transparent and completely known before this strange man, who I did not trust, filled me with an intense terror.  I was instantly flooded with the thoughts of all the insecurities that rule my life, all my endeavors to be self-important, and all the things that my heart clings to, and I was terrified at the thought of this man knowing me.  And yet!  I wanted to see him and I went forward.  But when he looked at me he said, “Brother, God wants you to know that you are loved more than you can imagine.  In fact, you are a son of promise with a long history of God’s faithfulness to draw from.  Be forgiven.”

I went up front expecting judgement and I, quite literally, was surprised by grace.

ABSOLVING

Where there is confession you can be sure that God is absolving.

This is God’s most favorite thing to do – to absolve you of your sin, to relieve you of your excuses to run and hide, to forgive you of your guilt, to accept you in your shame, to hold you in your frailty, to lift up the humble.  Where there’s confessing God is absolving.

Peter says, “Get away from me. I can’t be near you.  I am a sinner.  I am afraid of you.”  And Jesus says, “You don’t have to be afraid”

Certainly Peter has reason to be afraid, but Jesus says, “Don’t be.  I’m not going to hurt you.  It’s just the opposite of what you think.  I want to heal you of what hurts you.  In fact, I even want to heal you of the fear in you that thinks, ‘God wants to hurt me.  God hates me.’  I want to give you a new understanding of who God is, and how very much God delights in you, recklessly loves you.  Loves you for who you are, not who you can be, what you can do,  loves you regardless of the worst you can do, loves you to the cross and to the grave and beyond.

COMMISSIONING

Where there’s absolving you can be sure that God’s commissioning will soon follow.

This last one I think is the curve ball.  It’s the one that I don’t expect.  Worship doesn’t end at absolution.  Encounters with God prepare us for a purpose.  A purpose that we never would have even dreamed of attempting prior to the encounter.  God doesn’t say, “Thanks for letting me interrupt here.  Just wanted to scare you and then calm you down again.  Now carry on with what you were doing.”  Grace makes a new future open up for you to step into.  God doesn’t send people out guilt.  God wont let it go from revelation to confession to commission and leave out absolution, because God wont ask you to do anything motivated by guilt and fear. God sends people out graced.

God tells Isaiah – “Alright I know you are a potty mouth.  But I’ve touched your mouth and it is clean.  Now I want to use your mouth to speak to my people.”  Jesus tells Peter – “Alright, I know you are one salty fisherman.  But don’t be afraid of me.  From now on you will fish for people.”  There is something about encountering this God, who has loved you from the beginning of time that makes ordinary moments holy, that makes ordinary tasks missional because they are done for others, that gives your whole life new meaning because it’s lived for the one who gives you your life.  When you are caught up in the embrace of this God, you can’t help but offer your own presence – full of transparency, full of grace for the other’s confession, and God’s mission becomes your mission.  The shape of worship can’t help but shape the worshiper.

Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

- proclaim good news to the poor – fulfilled,

- early release for inmates – check,

- sight for the blind – did it,

- freedom for the oppressed – doing it,

- proclaim God’s year to act – fulfilled!

And all spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”

They said: “He’s one of us!  He’s our ‘boy’.  And now he’s come back home to do all these nice things for us.  I like where this is going.”

And it’s at this point that the story could have taken a very different direction.  It could have gone like this:

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, did many wonderful things for the people of his home town and they liked him very much.  He wrote a few books, became a tenured Rabbi, and eventually he died at a ripe old age, surrounded by his disciples singing songs.  The end.  And that would have been a nice story.

But for some reason Jesus didn’t leave it there, while all the people were giving him compliments and pinching his cheeks he had to go and ruin it.

I like getting compliments,  But beware of compliments – for often times they say more about the one who gives them then the one who receives them…  Beware of compliments – for often times they are secretly given in return for your alliance…  Beware of compliments – for often times, when these unspoken alliances are broken, compliments turn into criticism in seconds flat.

So, Jesus didn’t leave it there.  He didn’t quit while he was ahead.  He had to go and ruin it, because he refused to be their little darling.  He refused to reinforce their “cul-de-sac of God’s blessing”, where grace can get in, but it can’t get out, where God loves the insiders and loathes the outsiders.

So, Jesus couldn’t just leave it there.  He knew the short shelf life of praise and the rejection that would soon follow.  He knew that the same crowd who shouts “Hosanna in the Highest” & “Save us Son of David!” on Sunday could just as easily shout “Crucify him” & “Give us Barabbas” on friday.

So, he said to them, “No doubt you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’”  And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown.

But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon.

There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them were cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”

When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage.

Do you think he struck a nerve?  One minute, “They were amazed.”  The next minute, “They were filled with rage.”  Every family system has certain unspokens that everyone knows not to talk about.  Sacred cows, pushed envelopes, pushed buttons, unmentionable that are not allowed to be mentioned at the dinner table.

What are your family’s?  What is the truth that is not allowed to be told?  Do we have any here in the U.S.?  in Edmonds?  In the Church? at Beloved?

Do you think Jesus found one in Nazareth?  What exactly was it about what Jesus said that made these friends from the old neighborhood want to do what happens next?

They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff.

One minute they’re saying, “Hey, you are one of us!”  And the next minute, “Scratch that, we want you dead!  What would it take for them to want to kill one of their own?

Maybe for Jesus to say, “I am doing all these amazing things that the prophet Isaiah spoke about… but… I’m not doing any of it for you.  I’m doing it for the outsiders.”

Maybe for Jesus to challenge their very assumption about what it means to be blessed by God and who is blessed by God.

They, like us, had a certain national and religious identity, and a vision of how the messiah would support that identity… but he didn’t.  And that was the one thing you weren’t allowed to do.  They want to kill him, not because he condemned them… he never condemns them.  They want to kill him, not because he tells them what they have to do or not do… he doesn’t demand anything from them.  He simply tells them what he is doing.

And here’s where it hits the ground:  Whenever the gospel is spoken, it doesn’t remain simply a historical story.  When the gospel is spoken, the risen Christ walks among us and speaks to anyone who can hear it… right now.

So who is Jesus including in his love that might outrage you?  What could Jesus say to make you want to push him of a cliff?  You don’t think you’ve got buttons?  Just think, who would spoil this cozy community for you if they walked in the door right now?  What are the limits of welcome in our community for you?

There’s just too many children, too many old people, too many young people, too many white people, too many liberals, too many conservatives, too many homeless people, too many married people, too many single people…  or just too many people.  What are the limit’s of welcome in our community?

But Jesus passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

The story could have taken a different direction here.  It could have gone like this:  “They led him to the brow of the hill and hurled him off to his death.  Then went home and had some tea and said, ‘That Joseph’s son was always trouble.  Let’s not speak of this again.’  And the world would never have heard the words, “Blessed are the poor.” “This is my body given for you.”  ”Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”  ”He is not here.  He has risen.”  and “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Here’s is God’s love for the villagers of Nazareth:  The love of God that never gives up, that cares more for others than for self, doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.  The love of God that doesn’t strut, doesn’t have a swelled head, that doesn’t force itself on others.  The Love of God that Isn’t always “me first,” doesn’t fly off the handle, doesn’t keep score of the sins of others.  The Love of God that doesn’t revel when others grovel, that takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, that puts up with anything, trusts always, that always looks for the best, never looks back, but keeps going to the end.  This Love of God whose name is Jesus Christ, doesn’t let the story end here, instead Jesus passed through the midst of them and went on his way and they were spared of the ending that they, in their rage wanted most.  The love of God wouldn’t allow it, because the love of God is constantly drawing the outsider in and sending the insider out.  This love never allows for stagnancy.  If you are hearing Jesus it’s only right for you to be filled with rage or filled with compassion for the outsider…  anything less might mean you’re not listening.

A little about the Manor:

Rosewood is a hundred year old, 8,500 sq. ft. mansion on 220th st. in Edmonds.  It’s got 10 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 2 kitchens, 2 living rooms, a breakfast room, library and dinning room and the backyard is being cultivated into a gardening, composting, green, growing playground!  Rosewood is minutes from the freeway, 3 minutes from downtown Edmonds and 20 minutes from downtown Seattle.  Rent is ridiculously reasonable and, while it takes a lot to heat a big old drafty manor, shared utilities keeps the individual costs low.

A little about the Community:

The Rosewood Community is a diverse group of Christians: some single, some married, some with kids, some students, some professionals.  Politics, personality type, age, ethnicity, Christian affiliation – all these things vary between residents.  The unifying thing is the love of God whose name is Jesus Christ and the desire to love and serve Christ in the messy context of community.

The main responsibilities of residents are:

i. paying rent/utilities,

ii. doing a weekly chore ,

iii. participating in Sunday night dinner/prayers/meeting and

iv. taking a minimum of a year long commitment.

It is a very big plus if you:

i. love to garden,

ii. have a heart for hospitality,

iii. are curious about following a rhythm of common prayer and

iv. desire to be a part of the Church of the Beloved.

What Rosewood is not:

i. A cheap place to simply rent a room,

ii. a cult that wants to tell you how to think,

iii. a place to hook up (um… although four couples have met and married at Rosewood… but still, it’s not a place to hook up) or

iv. an ideal Christian utopia free from conflict.

A little about the Future:

Church of the Beloved hopes to purchase Rosewood, continue a residential community, expand our focus on sustainability, begin extensive remodeling and continue a calendar of events to serve Edmonds and the surrounding area.  Now all we need is you.  Email ryan@belovedschurch.org to inquire.

ONE: The Word was first,
the Word present to God,
The Word who was God,

Everything was created through God’s Word;

Every person entering Life

the Word brings into Light.

This Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
and the darkness couldn’t put it out.

ALL: Lord, Have Mercy

ONE: God’s Word was in the world,

the world was made through him,
and yet the world didn’t even notice.

ALL: Christ, Have Mercy
ONE: God’s Word came to his own people,
but they didn’t want him.

ALL: Lord, Have Mercy
ONE: But whoever did want him,
who believed he was who he claimed
and would do what he said,
He made to be their true selves,
their child-of-God selves.

God’s Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
No one has ever seen God,

not so much as a glimpse.
But Jesus, this one-of-a-kind God-Expression,
who exists at the very heart of the Father,
has made God as plain as day.

Dial-A-Ride Transportation (DART) is a paratransit service that provides transportation for people whose disability or condition prevents them from using Community Transit regular route buses.  See their proposed changes here.

This proposal is personal to us, because if this change occurs, Church of the Beloved will lose the Sunday participation of one of our dear friends, Nancy Lind.  While needing to make budget cuts is understandable, the outcome of this cut is horrific.  This decision will work to further isolate those with limited mobility on the day most commonly set aside for worship.  Some of the most vulnerable people in our neighborhoods will lose their ability to gather with their communities of faith, break bread, offer prayers, and hear the Word.  DART transportation is Nancy’s, as well as thousands of other’s life line to the world and that’s why we are asking you to help stop this cancelation and save Sundays.

Church of the Beloved is proposing that we take action in three ways:

1. Pray for the good of Community Transit. Ask that God would bless them in order to prevent this cut.

2. Take the bus. This does two important things.  A. Creates solidarity with our sisters and brothers who rely upon Community Transit.  B. Creates needed income for Community Transit.   Let us start by making Sunday January 31st “Save Sundays – Take the Bus to Church” Day.

3. Make Your Voice Heard.

A. Write an email to 2010changes@commtrans.org

B. Write a letter to 2010 Changes – Community Transit

7100 Hardeson Road Everett, WA 98203

C. Call (425) 353-RIDE (7433)

I want to like love songs.  I do.  But most of what passes for a love song is enmeshed co-dependent disfunction.  I know too much for my heart to swoon to that ear candy.  But, every once in a while there comes a rare a love song that knows the cost and complexity of loving.  I mean, when have you ever heard of a “differentiated love song”?  I could give a little pitter patter for that.  And really, whose up for that challenge more than Wilco?  Their new release, Wilco (the album) is front to back pretty stellar and it’s got this little song called “You and I” that is able to somehow accept the inevitable distance between two people who love each other… and not just tolerate it, but celebrate it and protect the mystery that it holds.  Where most love songs want to consume every detail of the other, this love song abstains.  And, come on, there’s something sexy about that.  Jeff Tweedy, if my heart did not belong to another, you would have it.

You and I, we might be strangers
However close we get sometimes
It’s like we never met

But you and I, I think we can take it
All the good with the bad
Make something that no one else has but

You and I, you and I

Me and you, what can we do
When the words we use sometimes
Are misconstrued

Well, I won’t guess what’s coming next
I can’t ever tell you
The deepest well i’ve ever fallen into

Oh, I don’t wanna know
Oh, I don’t wanna know
Oh, I don’t need to know
Everything about you

Oh, I don’t wanna know
And you don’t need to know
That much about me

How are you in your body?  Is your body achy and tired or is it energized and calmed?  Where do you feel tension in your body?  Where do feel relaxed?  Let your body be before God.

For it is in God that we live and move and have our being.

How are you in your mind?  Is your mind racing and cluttered or is it at rest and ordered?  Where do your thoughts turn when your body stops moving? Let your body be before God.

For it is in God that we live  and move and have our being.

How are you in your feelings?  Are you feeling a low level anger or a managable sadness or contented or happy?  Sometimes it’s difficult to name how you are feeling.  Let your feelings be before God.

For it is in God that we live and move and have our being.

Take a breath.  Hold it, then release it.  That was one breath out of 10,541,200 breaths that you’ve taken over the last year.  Find your pulse on your wrist or your neck.  Feel the pulse of your heart.  That was one beat out of 37,869,120 heart beats during the course of the last year.  Rub your hands together and feel the touch of your skin.  Your outer layer of skin will have replaced itself twelve times over the last year.  Your fingernails have replaced themselves twice.  Your hair has grown about six inches.  Back in 2003 there was not a cell in your body that you currently have now.  Essentially you have a new body every seven years.  And not only is your body changing with time, but Christ is also changing your inner person…. the you of you.

< 2 CORINTHIANS 5:16-20 >

From now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.

I am in Christ, I am a new creation;

The old has gone, the new has come!

I am in Christ, I am a new creation;

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting our sins against us.

I am in Christ, I am a new creation;

And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.

I am in Christ, I am a new creation;

In a couple minutes we are going to reflect on 2009 and wonder what it’s time to do in the new year.  But before you explore the mystery of your heart, ask to receive the Holy Spirit’s guidance so that you can look upon your actions and motives with honesty and patience. The Spirit gives you a freedom to look upon yourself without condemnation and without complacency and therefore be open to growth and maturity.  God’s love has been at work in your life over the course of the last year.  Ask the Holy Spirit to how so that you can give thanks for that time and discern what it’s time to be about now.

< ECCLESIASTES 3 >

There’s an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth:

A right time for birth and another for death,

A right time to plant and another to reap,

A right time to kill and another to heal,

A right time to destroy and another to construct,

A right time to cry and another to laugh,

A right time to lament and another to cheer,

A right time to make love and another to abstain,

A right time to embrace and another to part,

A right time to search and another to count your losses,

A right time to hold on and another to let go,

A right time to rip out and another to mend,

A right time to shut up and another to speak up,

A right time to love and another to hate,

A right time to wage war and another to make peace.

Imagine a blank canvas in your mind.  Reflect now upon your last year.  Perhaps your year felt like a Jackson Pollack painting. Or perhaps like a Claude Monet?  Or maybe more like a Salvador Dali?  Find a style of painting that might represent your last year and imagine the canvas of your year.

Whether this was the worst, best, craziest or most ordinary year of your life, it’s likely that you are thinking about how this new year might be different.  This year, like every year, millions of Americans will resolve to lose weight, quit smoking, spend more time with their family, or get out of debt.  And this year, even though they may want all these things, millions of Americans will refuse to make resolutions because they don’t think new year’s resolutions are effective.  So what will create actual change, not just superficial exterior change that might last through february, but sustainable change in our hearts and minds?  The prophet Ezekiel spoke of a time when God would change his people from the inside out:

< EZEKIEL 11 >

Then you, my people, will return to me, your God, and I will remove all your detestable idols.  I will give you an undivided heart and put a new spirit in you;

We will be your people, and you will be our God.

I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  Then I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my ways and be careful to keep my laws.

We will be your people, and you will be our God.

Before you is a new year, a fresh start, a blank canvas.  In order to move into the future you must pack light.  You can’t, and probably don’t want to take everything with you from the previous year.  But there are somethings, some experiences, some wisdom, some new gifts that you certainly want to bring with you into the new year.  So think back upon the last 365 days.  Where were you in your life a month ago…

three months ago…

six, nine, or twelve months ago?

What events stick out to you?

What things marked you this year, what you might consider now, both good or bad?

What were you involved in and who were you with?

Review your hopes and hesitations.

What moved you to act the way you did?

What things do you want to grieve for?

What things do you want to be thankful for?

What parts of yourself do you want to have compassion on?

What parts of yourself do you want to encourage to blossom?

Lay all these things before the God who made you and continues to make you.

< REVELATION 21 >

I saw a vision of new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.

God is making all things new.

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

God is making all things new.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with people, and God will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

God is making all things new.

God will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

God is making all things new.

Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.  It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.

(you’ll have to do a little preparation to pull off this next part)

So what is it the right time for in your life?

There are two stations here – one for things that you wish to leave behind you and not continue to carry into the new year.  You are welcome to release whatever regret you have, whatever you wish to leave behind by writing it onto paper and placing it into the fire.

The other is for things that you wish to take with you into the new year and to ask for resolve from God’s Spirit.  You are welcome to write whatever desires, memories, plans for the future, whatever change on a letter, address the envelope to yourself and we’ll mail it to you sometime during the year.  Feel free to participate in both, one or none of the stations.  This space is for you to be with God.  Enjoy.

by Ryan Marsh and Tara Ward

ALL SING: Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we’ll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

ONE: At some point in time we have all probably sang the song Old Lang Syne, but who’s ever stopped to figure out what in the world it means?  Well, I  thought I’d look into it and I found that essentially you could translate “Auld Lang Syne” as “For Old Time’s Sake”.  ”For old time’s sake, my dear, for old time’s sake, we’ll raise a drink and make a toast for old time’s sake”  It’s a song to remember friends and times long forgotten.  And when we remember, we bring the past into the present moment.  And that is what do here at this table.  We remember the story of God’s grace for us in Jesus and Jesus re-members us – makes us members of the people of God.

ALL SING: We two have run about the slopes,
and picked the daisies fine ;
But we’ve wandered many a wearyfoot,
since auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we’ll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine;
But seas between us broad have roared
since auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we’ll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

ONE: Perhaps this year many currents have swept you to and from the living memory of God’s grace.  May this story sweep you there once more.

(Pass bread around)

Jesus gathered his friends to a meal, took a piece of bread in his hands and prayed God’s blessing upon it.  Then he broke it apart and gave it to his friends saying, “Here, take it and eat.  Remember Beloved, I am for you.”

Let’s eat to Jesus, the Lord of all time!

ALL: Christ has died

Christ is risen

Christ will come again! (all eat)

(Pass wine glasses around, sparkling white wine is preferable)

ONE: After supper Jesus took the cup of wine in his hands and prayed God’s blessing upon it.  Then he gave it to his friends saying, “Here, take it and drink.  Remember Beloved, I am for you.”

So let’s drink to Jesus, the Lord of all time!

ALL: Alleluia! Grant us peace! (all drink)

And there’s a hand my trusty friend!
And give us a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

ONE: May the Peace of Christ be with you all!

ALL: And also with you.

ONE: Share a sign of Christ’s peace with one another.

(There is a song text set to the tune of “O Danny Boy”, whose first line is “I cannot tell why he whom angels worship” that we are using for a sending song right after this.  It seemed to fit the service and the season.)