About 10 minutes after worship ends, we’ll gather together for Aftertalk. We hope you’ll join us! Bring your questions, stories, insights, musings, imaginings and whatever else you need to Aftertalk. Join us for some food, fellowship, laughter and ample space for reflection and real questions to help us make the transition from worship to world.

Themes for this week:
Acceptance, Peacemaking, Health Community, Courage, Vulnerability

38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” 

42 “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me…"

• John seems to want to place boundaries around the exercise of compassionate ministry.  Are there ways that we do the same thing?
• Jesus seems to imply that we must guard against factors from within the community that might cause little ones to stumble. Who are the little one? What might those factors be?

Esther and others in her story lend their voice and their power to those who are under threat of violence – “little ones” perhaps in her context.

• Esther is often held up as a model of courage. Is she?
• What does courage look like?  Do you picture big or small acts?
• How does vulnerability play a part in courage? What does it mean to be vulnerable? 
• How do courage and vulnerability help us in making broken situations better?
• What acts of courage do you remember from your own family stories?

Additional Reading:

On Courage

Lectionary Texts:

Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22 | Psalm 124 | James 5:13-20 | Mark 9:38-50

(...for further consideration):

About 10 minutes after worship ends, we’ll gather together for Aftertalk. We hope you’ll join us! Bring your questions, stories, insights, musings, imaginings and whatever else you need to Aftertalk. Join us for some food, fellowship, laughter and ample space for reflection and real questions to help us make the transition from worship to world.

Themes: Qualities of Character, Faithfulness, Humility, Sustainability in Relationships

• What makes a person great?

• How is greatness defined in these texts? Is there a conversation taking place? What do you notice that you hadn’t before?

• The Mark reading ends with Jesus using the example of welcoming a child as the way to greatness. This week produced a few stories of privileged people using their power to inspire and reward others. Have you had similar experiences? In what ways do you think you could leverage your power for the benefit of others?

• The Proverbs text of the “faithful wife” is a minefield for many, evoking expectations that speak to gender inequality, patriarchy, unexamined privilege and the like. Based on your own experiences, what questions does it raise for you? In an age when we are finally beginning to take note of wage inequality---that women make perhaps 77 cents on the dollar compared to men for the same job, for example, is there any good news in a text like this?

• Whose relationship inspires you? Why? How?

In the News:

The Case of Ahmed Muhamed

Stephen Colbert: His Faith, Islam, and the Pope

Lectionary Texts:

 Proverbs 31: 10– 31 ● Psalm 1 ● James 3: 13– 4: 3, 7– 8a ● Mark 9: 30– 37

(...for additional consideration):

Or have a look at "Why Gender Equality is Good for Everyone" from Michael Kimmel (TED).

We have a new format for Sunday, beginning this week. Worship will begin at 10 AM. About 10 minutes after worship ends, we will group together for Aftertalk. Bring you questions, stories, insights, and whatever else you need to Aftertalk. Join us for some food, fellowship, laughter, and ample space for reflection and real questions to help us make the transition from worship to the world. We hope you'll join us!

This week we focus on Wisdom, Discipline, and Guidance. 

• Wisdom, discipline, and guidance seem like "churchy" words. Or do you think of school? Or child-rearing? Or work? In your own words, what would you say about what these actually mean on the "ground" of your own day-to-day living as a Christian? Do more evocative terms come to mind?
• How do we know that our decisions are wise? That we've received real guidance? Does a story come to mind that illustrates this? How do you need to carry these questions into what you see happening for this week?
• In Mark, Jesus says to take up our cross. What does it look like to do this? And what might this not mean?

Further Reflection:

"A man who won't die for something is not fit to live."
      - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"Jesus had no romantic notion of the cost of discipleship. He knew that following Him was as unsentimental as duty, as demanding as love."
      - Brennan Manning

"I am an average Good Christian, when you don't push my Christianity too far. And all the rest of you — which is a great comfort — are, in this respect, much the same as I."
      - Wilkie Collins

Lectionary Texts:

Proverbs 1:20-33 - James 3:1-12 - Psalms 19 - Mark 8:27-38

In the News:

Clerk in Kentucky Chooses Jail Over Deal on Same-Sex Marriage

Most Americans Support Sending Kim Davis To Jail, Poll Shows

Insane Things Republicans Say: Ted Cruz Edition

We Don’t Need Kim Davis to Be in Jail

(...and some additional media for consideration):