![]() So they read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading… all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. —Nehemiah 8:8, 9b [Jesus] stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” …The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. —Luke 4:16b-19, 20b The book of Nehemiah tells about returnees from exile in Babylon. They are trying to rebuild, but that is not easy. The future is anything but certain. External enemies threaten, and social, religious, and political institutions are fractured. The people gather. Ezra begins reading the Torah (essentially the first five books of our Old Testament) early in the morning. He doesn’t finish until noon. Everyone is listening and paying attention. And collectively the people weep. We don’t really know why. Are they overwhelmed with grief? Despair? Possibility? Has the weight of the moment finally visited them? Things happen when our eyes are opened. We will see over the next two Sundays what happens when Jesus reads what is essentially his—or Luke’s—mission statement for the Christian faith, and the response of “his hometown” when he puts the story in context. But for now, they too, are together in their attention to a reading that is for all of them and us. With an astonishment we have probably lost over the years, Paul says, we are one body in this Spirit—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free (1 Corinthians 12:13). What happens to us when we truly hear and understand this good news in this current age? Enter into worship. Readings: Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10 † Psalm 19 † 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a † Luke 4:14-21 About the Art: Gogh, Vincent van, 1853-1890. Prisoners Exercising, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55362 [retrieved January 14, 2025]. Original source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_037.jpg.
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![]() Our goal is to create a beloved community, and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives. ~Martin Luther King Jr. Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. ~John 2:11 Watch for the details in this wedding story! It happens at the party—not the ceremony—near the end, when many have already had a little too much, when most have already stopped paying attention. It is a frivolous act, this the first of Jesus’ signs of the kindom. And it means everything. Don’t look away. The servants don’t. They are in on the act from the beginning. They know. The steward, the wedding party, they have no idea what or even that anything unusual has happened, that God’s glory has been revealed. And still they are blessed! Many of us are shaped to imagine we are the ones in the know, but there is extraordinary knowledge to be gained as we learn how to listen more deeply and to voices so often silenced in our company. A variety of gifts. One Spirit. Learn to listen. Listen to learn. Be a partner to the gifts of the Spirit all around. Enter into worship. Readings: Isaiah 62:1-5 † Psalm 36:5-10 † 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 † John 2:1-11 About the Art: Swanson, John August. Wedding Feast, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=58581 [retrieved January 3, 2022]. Original source: www.JohnAugustSwanson.com - copyright 1996 by John August Swanson.
![]() Baptism for Ellen and Kate Flanagan I came from water through the hoop of bone Into this cold pool in the womb of stone. I drowned my first mind in the font’s small well, A new world breaking on my fontanel. Again I broke the waters and again I came Wet and glistening, into my name Drowning, my life passed through me in a flash And I emerged, marked secretly, my sign the fish. Now I have known my origin and my end And swim towards myself in a new element, Marvellously single and, marvellously, a shoal Of all those washed in that water, salt and oil. Seamus Heaney 17th December 1971 There are many correct answers for what baptism is and means. But that doesn’t necessarily suggest we understand it, or, at least, that we come to understanding by way of those “correct” answers. The path for many of us is much different. More circuitous. More poetry than prose. If baptism is about anything, though, it is about belonging and becoming and it is hard to imagine how you can possibly have one without the other. It is an act of God and it has everyting to do with us. Enter into worship. Readings: Wisdom 3:13-15, 4:1-2 † Psalm 143 † 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 † Luke 3:1-6, 15-23 About the Art: The art for this Christmas season is shaped around the theme of “Many Pieces, One Story.” Each week the art will feature a quilt that holds meaning. The quilt pictured on the front cover was made and given to the Shireys by their church, The Newman Center, when they moved to Seattle from Minnesota. The quilt was presented at the end of a worship service along with a blessing of love and safety.
![]() Arise; shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Holy One has risen upon you. ― Isaiah 60:1 It seems to the early Christian community that the birth of the Christ is an act of God that reaches out to ridiculous lengths—farther than had been imagined before—to affirm the claim of God and the blessing of God on all people, not just a single tribal group or coalition or a few insiders of another kind. This is was an astonishing and life-changing notion for these early followers—one that changed their lives, one that deserved every corner of it and every ounce of their strength and energy. Do we understand the extent of this love, and its implications? If we are still seeking to understand this Sunday might help us. We will gather to worship and to celebrate the joining in marriage of Steven Wilson and Sandy Danielson. Come and see the heighth and width, the breadth and depth of God’s love! Enter into worship. Readings: Isaiah 60:1-6, 11 † Psalm 67 † 2 Timothy 1:5-10 † Matthew 2:1-12 About the Art: The art for this Advent season is shaped around the theme of “Many Pieces, One Story.” Each week the art will feature a quilt that holds meaning. The quilt pictured on the front cover was made for Steven Wilson when he was 17 by his foster mom. Steven Wilson and Sandy Danielson will be married today as a part of our worship!
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February 2025
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