![]() “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” ~John 3:8 To speak of Trinity is to speak of a God in motion—at work, at play—a divine dance of transforming, creative, inviting presence we encounter in the astonishment of the world around us and in the course of our own pilgrimage. Trinitarian doctrine is not explicit in the scriptures. It is not born from some academic philosophical problem. It is a recognition we live into as we encounter God’s saving ministry in real-world events. In the resurrection, God the parent ministers to the Son through the Spirit in death. God’s ministry, then, is shared ministry. And we too are have a share in God’s life-giving ministry, in God’s arrival in death and death-dealing moments to raise new life. Do you see it? Enter into worship. Readings: Isaiah 6:1-8 † Psalm 29 † Romans 8:12-17 † John 3:1-17 About the Art: Anonymous. Trinity, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56146 [retrieved May 14, 2024]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Canteiro_en_Berres,_A_Estrada.jpg. This stone stele was erected along one of the paths that lead to Santiago de Compostela, an important pilgrimage site. Photograph by Noel Feans.
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![]() “In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your daughters and your sons shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your elders shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both women and men, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.”… ~Acts 2:17-18 In the human family tree, the genus Homo goes back about 3 million years, and includes more than a dozen named hominin species, including modern humans, according to our best scientific understanding. Seventy thousand years ago, there were at least six different human species on earth. They were insignificant animals whose ecological impact, according to Yuval Noah Harari in his book Sapiens, “was less than that of fireflies or jellyfish.” Today, only one human species remains, us, Sapiens, who rule the planet. Something revolutionary happened in the Sapiens brain that enabled language, and imagination, and the development of myths, stories about non-physical things, about things that, technically, don’t exist. We can believe in things that exist purely in our own imagination, like states, and money, and human rights. We can believe in God. We can imagine possibilities and futures; we can prophesy and dream dreams, and we can organize ourselves around them. As long as communal beliefs persist, the imagined reality exerts force in the world. The story of Pentecost is a story of imagining the possibility that we belong to one another, that we are siblings in a story of salvation that leads toward connection, that leads toward mutuality rather than division, that leads to love rather than hatred, that leads to peace. Enter into worship. Readings: Acts 2:1-21 † Psalm 104:24-35b † Romans 8:22-27 † John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15 About the Art: He Qi. Holy Spirit Coming, Oil on Canvas, 1998. Retrieved on May 6, 2024 from https://artandtheology.org/tag/he-qi/. Original source: https://www.heqiart.com/store/p96/50_Holy-Spirit-Coming_Artist_Proof_.html.
![]() The opposite of an ordinary fact is a lie. But the opposite of one profound truth is complemented and given life by another profound truth.” ~Nils Bohr, Nobel Award winning physicist This Sunday we are pleased to welcome back Yarrow Durbin to our Sunday morning gathering. Rather than worship in our traditional way, we will gather together for a day of learning as we did on March 17th. Led by experienced presenter Yarrow Durbin, we will further the concept of polarities and how they play out in our own life together and shared mission. To that end, we are both deepening and expanding the conversation. This time around we are welcoming community partners to the conversation. Polarity maps allow us to explore tough, persistent dilemmas that are not actually problems that can be “solved” but ongoing polarities which can be navigated constructively. They involve a polarity—a relationship between two opposing ideas that each have some good in them. In fact, you need both sides to achieve your goals. And guaranteed, if you overdo one side, you get trouble. The good and bad news is that you can’t get rid of a polarity. Ever. Based on the work of Barry Johnson, Polarity Management is a powerful yet very accessible model of thinking, assessing, planning, and acting that moves individuals and teams from resistance and conflict towards embracing the complexity of their challenges and working together towards their common purpose. When groups learn it, they are more able to work effectively with “opposition”, build stronger teams, make better decisions, and focus their energy where it will make a bigger positive difference. If you’d like to do a little work in advance, here are two excellent resources: 1. Polarity Thinking 101 2. Polarity Thinking: A Powerful Tool for Building Leadership Capacity Come and join us Sunday morning beginning at 10:00am. We will finish at noon. About the Presenter: For 35 years, Yarrow Durbin has been creating stimulating, powerful and engaging learning experiences for individuals and groups, integrating state of the art approaches from many disciplines. Yarrow works with individuals, small and large groups in a wide variety of settings, committed to making a positive difference for children, families, and our diverse communities. Her focus is on transformational learning for leaders and groups facing conflict or breakdowns in trust, rapid change, and those desiring truly equitable and supportive environments in which everyone feels included. She launched CourageWork in 2005 to offer individual leadership coaching, team retreat and workshop facilitation, and change consulting in education, human services, government, health care, law, and social justice-oriented not-for-profits and businesses. She built on skills gained teaching high school for 18 years, working in adult professional development, and founding a non-profit based on the work of Dr. Parker Palmer. Yarrow has a master’s degree from the University of Washington in Curriculum and Instruction, as well as certification as a Courage & Renewal® facilitator, Integral® Coach, Certified Polarity Management® trainer, Immunity to Change® consultant and coach, Leadership Circle Profile and EQ in Action Profile, and many others.
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