Posts Tagged ‘Christmas’

The Smallest God Ever

By ryan • Dec 21st, 2009 • Category: Worship Reflections

“Your God’s not big enough!” Preachers always like to say junk like that.  Certainly it’s true, but I never hear anyone say, “Your God’s not small enough!” And I suspect that our God really is too big, especially for Christmas.  The huge God who is older than time, who is before the creation of matter, who makes billions [...]



Some Really Christmassy Thoughts

By ryan • Dec 29th, 2008 • Category: Beloved Ramblings

Joan Osborne’s song “One of Us” has almost become cliche, but I remember when it first came out… I remember the outrage of so many pastors, calling it blasphemy and saying, ‘God is not just a slob on a bus!’  I didn’t really get what everyone was so offended about.  Were they offended that Joan [...]



Body Imago : The Incarnation

By ryan • Dec 29th, 2008 • Category: Worship Reflections

Christmas One ‘09 Body Imago
(Written by Gloria Stubitsch, Paula Best and Ryan Marsh)

INTRODUCTION:
PAULA: Welcome to Christmas at Church of the Beloved.  Yes, I know, you thought Christmas was over and life could finally go back to normal.  But in the Christian calendar the Season of Christmas begins on Christmas day and continues for twelve [...]



Christmas Eucharist Prayer

By ryan • Dec 22nd, 2008 • Category: Worship Reflections

ONE: Henri Nouwen, the patron saint of Church of the Beloved, wrote:
“People who wait have received a promise that allows them to wait.
We can only really wait if what we are waiting for has already begun for us.
So waiting is never a movement from nothing to something.
It is always a movement from something to something [...]