Sunday, March 8, 2020
Progressive Christians tend not to like to talk about “being born again.” We tend to think of it as something that “other” kinds of Christians care about, but not us. But is it possible we’ve thrown the baby out with the baptismal water? Join us this Sunday as Pastor Curt preaches on a Progressive Christian understanding of being born again and how we can reclaim this concept and find healing and wholeness in the process.
Reflection: Prayers from Hallie Hottle, Pastor of Young Adults at Village Presbyterian Church
God of all creation, we praise you and we pray to you, for all creation glistens with your glory,
and all creation groans at our indifference.
God, how you must despise our worship of convenience that floats as plastic islands in your oceans, and how offended must you be? As we erase the colors of your great barrier reef, before our children get to see.
God, all creation groans under the weight of our indifference, and we need so badly for you to help us hear it.
Action: This week challenge yourself and reflect on . . . how little garbage (including recycling) you can generate. Store your cloth/reusable grocery or produce bags in your car. Decline taking plastic shopping bags from other retailers when purchasing items. Pledge to carry a coffee thermos, water bottle, utensils and straw set. Reduce/eliminate purchasing new plastics by purchasing items packaged in glass or aluminum, or from “bulk” bins and “refill” options.
Sunday, March 1, 2020
Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7
This year our theme for the entire season of Lent is “Toward Wholeness.” Our hope is that week by week we will uncover and discover deeper and deeper senses of being healed. Each week in or after worship, we’ll have a “healing practice” in which to participate. This Sunday we hear the story of Adam and Eve. What better place to begin the healing than at the place where it all started– The Garden of Eden? Join us this Sunday as Pastor Curt preaches on the myth of “original sin” and how the idea “original blessing” is more Biblical and more helpful to our understandings of humanity’s relationship with God and God’s original relationship with humanity.
This month we will also be offering the Deliver Us Lenten Devotional by the StillSpeaking Writers Group. Climate crises caused by global warming. Strident polarization in communities. Gaping income disparities between the richest of us and the rest of us. The rampage of racism and militarism. The existential and everyday threats we face are daunting. With faithful people across the ages, we cry out to God for deliverance … not only pleading for God to act but seeking the courage to let God act through us. We can take such a risk … or we can play it safe. The Lenten season is a time for each of us to explore the ways in which we promote (or prevent) the deliverance we so desperately seek. This devotional is available for purchase at $5 a book on the Welcome Center.
Reflection: A Prayer from the Lenten Devotional, by John Pitney
Creator God, make us worthy of our food. Let us feast to the fullest on the faire of flock and field that most honors the integrity of soil, water, air, the sanctity of human labor, and the sufficiency of community. Let us fast of tables that exploit, deplete, isolate, and condemn. And may we welcome to the best seats, the most marginalized of humanity and the most endangered of plant and creature-kind. If by breakfast, lunch, and dinner, we can condemn, then by dinner, lunch, and breakfast may we be saved? Amen.
Action: This week challenge yourself and reflect on . . . can I go meatless for 1-2 days per week? Consider Meatless Mondays, taco Tuesdays, and/or fish on Fridays. Lowering your meat consumption reduces your carbon footprint and addresses the issue of feeding a population expected to reach over 9 billion by 2050.
Sunday, February 23, 2020
As people living in this world, we know “Everything is connected.” Sometimes we need reminders of our connectedness so we can live and think more ecologically, with all of creation in mind, not just humanity. Join for a special Care for Creation themed worship service this Sunday as Rev. Peter Sawtell brings us a much-needed word of connectedness and reconciliation through an eco-theology lens.
While we know parking on Sundays may occasionally come as a challenge, we would like to kindly remind the congregation to please be mindful of our neighbors surrounding the church and to be cautious to not block or impede any driveways. We appreciate your understanding!
YAC recently contributed to the efforts of Soul Box Project, and would like to invite you to add to it as well. Soul Box Project is a national community art project that displays paper origami boxes for every person killed or injured by gunfire since 2014. First Baptist Church of Denver is leading efforts to create 30,000 boxes from communities across Colorado, as a way to foster hope, promote healing and to increase awareness. They will then be sent to a national display in Washington DC. Instructions and papers are available on the Welcome Center and here https://soulboxproject.org/home. We will collect them until March 15.
Sunday, February 16, 2020
In Sunday’s reading from I Corinthians, Paul tells the people that they are still behaving like children and clearly not mature enough to be good ambassadors for the Gospel. He mentions jealousy, quarreling, and infighting among the members of the early church. At the center of the problem is the question of who gets credit for the good work the church is doing. Paul’s answer is God and God alone. While we each have a part to play—some plant and some water—at the end of the day, it is God who gives the growth. Join us this Sunday as Pastor Church preaches on giving credit where credit is due and how we can all benefit from a deeper reflection on our role in the unfolding of God’s kingdom among us.
The Mission, Outreach, and Evangelism Board and Care for Creation Committee have teamed up to survey the congregation about your interests so they can better plan programming. Please take the survey here. We will also have paper copies available at church. Thanks!