Our series is entitled: Transformed, taken from II Cor. 3, "We all with unveiled faces, contemplate the LORD's glory, are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the LORD, who is the Spirit."
Last week, Transforming Time was an examination of what it means to Keep the Sabbath as a reaction to a culture that tries to teach us that either time is our oppressor or else time is ours to control & manipulate.
Our Thanksgiving Text is: Luke 14:12-24
Our Thanksgiving Theme is: Transforming Place, an examination of the role of hospitality in the life of the church. Here's one quote from Elizabeth Newman's Untamed Hospitality: Welcoming God and Other Strangers
"To say that worship itself is our participation in divine hospitality is also to say that worship is the primary ritualized place where we learn to be guests and hosts in the Kingdom of God."- What hath worship to do with hospitality?
- What does the grace received teach us about the grace we give?
- What are some distortions to our practices of generousity -- Faux Hospitality, as it were?
Our Sunday Texts are: Isaiah 55 & Mark 10:13-16
Our Sunday Theme is: Transforming Space, an examination of the role of recreation (or ReCreation) in the life of the church.
Honestly, I haven't chased this down very far yet. But I do know there is something here about delight. About participating in play and art and nature and laughter. This is the part of Sabbath that got amputated from the legalistic version many people grew up with. But there is something incumbent upon a Transformed Community to find delight and beauty and love, even in ordinary places. So, to that end, here is a youtube link you may appreciate.
I am always interested in thinking about how Sabbath is lived in both church and family communities. That is, what if your delight in Sunday afternoon sports conflicts with my desire to have a day not driving you anywhere? What if your desire for potluck conflicts with my desire not to cook? :) Or your desire to relax and watch football conflicts with the child's desire of "a whole day with Daddy!" What if my desire for a walk and a chat conflicts with your delight in a nap and a book? And then we're always back to 'there isn't time for everything...'
ReplyDeleteYes, its a very practical and real concern, indeed. I don't know the answer except to live into it and figure it out as you go. I do know that Marva Dawn told the story of one family where each family member got one Sabbath a month on which they got to decide what would be delightful and participatory in reCreation. The other members participated, perhaps unwillingly, because even that grace of delighting in something for the sake of someone else can be a meaningful engagement with the Kingdom.
ReplyDeleteThis points to a larger question -- who is the Sabbath for? Is it for me? Or is it for my community?
I think it's neither. Both individual and community practices are a means to an end-- "...to the Lord your God."
ReplyDeleteRight you are, Sara. (Sorry for the delayed response.) And, in fact,there is a danger of becoming utilitarian and self-centered/self-seeking even in keeping the Sabbath. It is more than just me doing the things I like doing (although it doesn't preclude that necessarily). AND it is more than my community of people doing what seems right in our own eyes. "unto the LORD your God" is our Sabbath accountability. But I'm not still not perfectly clear on how the end ("to the LORD") shapes and fashions the means.
ReplyDelete