This coming Sunday, September 27th, we are pleased to host Bob Armistead, who has spent years working on projects to provide clean water to folks who otherwise wouldn't have any. Most of us have a hard time imagining what that would be like.
We asked Bob for a synopsis of his presentation, and here's what he wrote:
"I am going to talk about a mission project of the Synod of Living Waters which was the burden of a Presbyterian Minister in Water Valley, Mississippi, Wil Howie. As soon as Wil began to talk about this to his friends it became a Spirit led brain-storm. Their subject was to design a small water purification system that would provide clean, drinkable water for people in Third World countries. They targeted niches where folk had never had drinkable water and who lived in out-of-the-way communities that might never ever have good water for themselves and their children.
This was thought of as a ministry to people in dire need. They hoped it would catch fire in churches as a mission. Therefore several scriptures came to mind:
Leviticus 19:34, Isaiah 41:17, Amos 4:8, Gospel of John 4:10 (From then on they called their project: Living Waters for the World), John 7:38, Mark 9:41.
From that Wil would say, 'Jesus Christ is Living Waters for your body and soul.'
The DVD will be shown called, CLEAN WATER FOR ALL GOD'S CHILDREN.
The title of my 8-minute talk is, WE ALL LIVE DOWNSTREAM.
Living Waters for the World's vision is to use the gift of clean water to bring together Christians in mission, and people of all nations for a life-changing experience with the Risen Christ. It is another way to show the love of Christ to communities with no drinkable water.
Our faith calls us to bring mission teams with national partners in need of clean water. We provide training in partnership development, health, hygiene, spiritual edification and water purification.
Our training center, CLEAN WATER U, has only been existence 10 years, yet 300 clean water systems have been installed, this one in Kenya by a team from FPC Tuscaloosa, and there are communities being served in 22 countries in the world.
This is more or less what this is about."
And there you have it. Thank you Bob Armistead! This will be a great opportunity to hear about clean water efforts in third world countries, AND we will have the chance to see how this project might fit into some "closer to home" water problems.
Please join us on Sunday morning at 9:45. We'll be delighted to have you.
Child care is provided.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
A Week of Hiatus
The Adult Forum will not meet on September 20 as we make preparations for our annual "Dinner on the Grounds," and "Music Sunday". Please join us for the festivities, starting at 11:00
The Forum will resume on September 27th with a talk by Bob Armistead on the effort to bring clean water to third-world countries. Check back later from more details.
The Forum will resume on September 27th with a talk by Bob Armistead on the effort to bring clean water to third-world countries. Check back later from more details.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Improving Cancer Therapy with Storytelling
This coming Sunday, September 13th we are pleased host Dr. Joseph Sobol of ETSU Storytelling Program. The topic is unusual and fascinating.
Dr. Sobol is part of a group at ETSU that recently received a $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health for studying the use of story-telling as a means of enhancing the treatment for cancer. This unusual approach seems immediately to be potentially brilliant and ground-breaking. Dr. Sobol is the group's expert on storytelling. In the upcoming Adult forum, he will give us his perspective on this fascinating topic.
Here's a synopsis of his presentation:
"For six years Dr. Joseph Sobol of the ETSU Storytelling Graduate Program has been working with a group of oncologists, family medicine specialists and qualitative researchers to write a major grant on the uses of storytelling in medical communication. We have recently received funding for the project, which is already underway. Dr. Sobol will speak about storytelling as a research methodology as well as a tool for enhancing empathy in the medical system."
Dr. Sobol's Bio:
"Storyteller, musician, folklorist, and author Joseph Daniel Sobol is an artist of wide-ranging accomplishments. An artist-in-residence for many years in North and South Carolina, he received a Masters in Folklore from University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from Northwestern University. He toured the country from 1994 through 1999 with his award-winning musical theatre piece In the Deep Heart's Core based on the works of Irish poet W. B. Yeats. His book on the American storytelling revival, The Storytellers' Journey, was published in 1999 by the University of Illinois Press. In addition he has released a cassette and three CDs of music and stories, alone and with his group Kiltartan Road. His most recent recording, Citternalia: Celtic Music for Cittern was honored with a "Homegrown CD Award" by Acoustic Guitar Magazine, which called the album "a watershed project--dazzling speed and precision." After eleven years in Chicago, Illinois, doing folklore residencies with high school ESL and multilingual programs and performing regularly with some of America's top Irish traditional musicians, he is proud to have been named Director of the Graduate Program in Storytelling at East Tennessee State University (www.etsu.edu/stories)."
Please join us on Sunday morning at 9:45. We'll be glad to have you.
Dr. Sobol is part of a group at ETSU that recently received a $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health for studying the use of story-telling as a means of enhancing the treatment for cancer. This unusual approach seems immediately to be potentially brilliant and ground-breaking. Dr. Sobol is the group's expert on storytelling. In the upcoming Adult forum, he will give us his perspective on this fascinating topic.
Here's a synopsis of his presentation:
"For six years Dr. Joseph Sobol of the ETSU Storytelling Graduate Program has been working with a group of oncologists, family medicine specialists and qualitative researchers to write a major grant on the uses of storytelling in medical communication. We have recently received funding for the project, which is already underway. Dr. Sobol will speak about storytelling as a research methodology as well as a tool for enhancing empathy in the medical system."
Dr. Sobol's Bio:
"Storyteller, musician, folklorist, and author Joseph Daniel Sobol is an artist of wide-ranging accomplishments. An artist-in-residence for many years in North and South Carolina, he received a Masters in Folklore from University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from Northwestern University. He toured the country from 1994 through 1999 with his award-winning musical theatre piece In the Deep Heart's Core based on the works of Irish poet W. B. Yeats. His book on the American storytelling revival, The Storytellers' Journey, was published in 1999 by the University of Illinois Press. In addition he has released a cassette and three CDs of music and stories, alone and with his group Kiltartan Road. His most recent recording, Citternalia: Celtic Music for Cittern was honored with a "Homegrown CD Award" by Acoustic Guitar Magazine, which called the album "a watershed project--dazzling speed and precision." After eleven years in Chicago, Illinois, doing folklore residencies with high school ESL and multilingual programs and performing regularly with some of America's top Irish traditional musicians, he is proud to have been named Director of the Graduate Program in Storytelling at East Tennessee State University (www.etsu.edu/stories)."
Please join us on Sunday morning at 9:45. We'll be glad to have you.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
A Kingdom Without Walls
For next Sunday, September 6, we will continue the Living the Questions2 series with the chapter entitled "A Kingdom Without Walls." This is one of my favorites and it is typified by the following story:
"As Nikos Kazantzakis walked along a dusty path in his native Crete, an elderly woman was passing by, carrying a basket of figs. She paused, picked out two figs, and presented them to the author. “Do you know me, old lady?” Kazantzakis asked. She glanced at him in amazement, “No, my boy. Do I have to know you to give you something? You are a human being, aren’t you? So am I. Isn’t that enough?”
The legal mandates in the Old Testament are unique among the other known judicial systems in the Ancient Near East in their consistent and outspoken advocacy of the weakest, least protected, and disadvantaged members of the society.
"As Nikos Kazantzakis walked along a dusty path in his native Crete, an elderly woman was passing by, carrying a basket of figs. She paused, picked out two figs, and presented them to the author. “Do you know me, old lady?” Kazantzakis asked. She glanced at him in amazement, “No, my boy. Do I have to know you to give you something? You are a human being, aren’t you? So am I. Isn’t that enough?”
The legal mandates in the Old Testament are unique among the other known judicial systems in the Ancient Near East in their consistent and outspoken advocacy of the weakest, least protected, and disadvantaged members of the society.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Social Justice: Realizing God's Vision
For next Sunday, August 30, we will return to the Living the Question series to focus on the chapter that explicitly addresses how we are called to work for social justice. From the reading text:
Being a person of faith demands balancing spiritual pursuits with action. In a society which is oftenunjust, inequitable, and whose very structures are responsible for generating untold suffering and poverty, we are compelled to pursue social justice as an expression of hope in realizing a better world.
For many, the thought of seeking social justice is an intimidating proposition. Yet God’s vision for the world can only be realized as each one of us sets ourselves
to practicing even the smallest task toward the goal.
Being a person of faith demands balancing spiritual pursuits with action. In a society which is oftenunjust, inequitable, and whose very structures are responsible for generating untold suffering and poverty, we are compelled to pursue social justice as an expression of hope in realizing a better world.
For many, the thought of seeking social justice is an intimidating proposition. Yet God’s vision for the world can only be realized as each one of us sets ourselves
to practicing even the smallest task toward the goal.
Please join us at 9:45. It's free! Childcare provided! You'll be very welcomed!“The prophetic life is one in which you live your faithfulness out of a steadiness, and that is often hard for us to do. We do really good with these rushes of faithfulness (but) the mortal life is the life of the mundane. It is doing the right thing day after day after day and moment after moment. It is not these big movements. It is not these big statements of great profound eloquence. It really is doing it every day. I cannot say it often enough: treating people fairly, decently – respecting them for who they are – knowing that none of us is perfect.”
– Emilie Townes,
Living the Questions
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Our Eight Points of Progressive Christianity
Well, they're not exlcusively ours. The Eight Points come from The Center for Progressive Christianity a group that we are officially affiliated with. This is important to me, personally, because this website is the portal through which I discovered First Presbyterian of Elizabethton.
Our church website notes that we "affirm 'The Eight Points':
By calling ourselves progressive, we mean that we are Christians who…
1. Have found an approach to God through the life and teachings of Jesus;
2. Recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for the way to God's realm, and acknowledge that their ways are true for them, as our ways are true for us;
3. Understand the sharing of bread and wine in Jesus' name to be a representation of an ancient vision of God's feast for all peoples;
4. Invite all people to participate in our community and worship life without insisting that they become like us in order to be acceptable (including but not limited to):
believers and agnostics,conventional Christians and questioning skeptics,women and men,those of all sexual orientations and gender identities,those of all races and cultures,those of all classes and abilities,those who hope for a better world and those who have lost hope;
5. Know that the way we behave toward one another and toward other people is the fullest expression of what we believe;
6. Find more grace in the search for understanding than we do in dogmatic certainty - more value in questioning than in absolutes;
7. Form ourselves into communities dedicated to equipping one another for the work we feel called to do: striving for peace and justice among all people, protecting and restoring the integrity of all God's creation, and bringing hope to those Jesus called the least of his sisters and brothers; and
8. Recognize that being followers of Jesus is costly, and entails selfless love, conscientious resistance to evil, and renunciation of privilege."
Holy Mackerel Hallelueha! Please join us at the Adult Forum on Sunday morning at 9:45 (childcare provided) as we revel in what we believe with lots of personal testamonies.
Our church website notes that we "affirm 'The Eight Points':
By calling ourselves progressive, we mean that we are Christians who…
1. Have found an approach to God through the life and teachings of Jesus;
2. Recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for the way to God's realm, and acknowledge that their ways are true for them, as our ways are true for us;
3. Understand the sharing of bread and wine in Jesus' name to be a representation of an ancient vision of God's feast for all peoples;
4. Invite all people to participate in our community and worship life without insisting that they become like us in order to be acceptable (including but not limited to):
believers and agnostics,conventional Christians and questioning skeptics,women and men,those of all sexual orientations and gender identities,those of all races and cultures,those of all classes and abilities,those who hope for a better world and those who have lost hope;
5. Know that the way we behave toward one another and toward other people is the fullest expression of what we believe;
6. Find more grace in the search for understanding than we do in dogmatic certainty - more value in questioning than in absolutes;
7. Form ourselves into communities dedicated to equipping one another for the work we feel called to do: striving for peace and justice among all people, protecting and restoring the integrity of all God's creation, and bringing hope to those Jesus called the least of his sisters and brothers; and
8. Recognize that being followers of Jesus is costly, and entails selfless love, conscientious resistance to evil, and renunciation of privilege."
Holy Mackerel Hallelueha! Please join us at the Adult Forum on Sunday morning at 9:45 (childcare provided) as we revel in what we believe with lots of personal testamonies.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
The Twelve Principles of Creation Spirituality
Our church website contains the Twelve Principles of Creation Spirituality. They, and some related text are copied below.
This coming Sunday, August 16, Rebecca Nunley will give us a presentation on these Principles and their context within our church. Regular attendees recognize Rebecca as one of our best presenters, one who consistently tweaks our hearts and minds to growth, even a little.
Please join us at 9:45. You'll be very welcome.
The Twelve Principles of Creation Spirituality
1. The Universe, and all within it, is fundamentally a blessing.Our relationship with the Universe fills us with awe.
2. In Creation, God is both immanent and transcendent. This is panentheism which is not theis (God out there) and not atheism (no God anywhere).We experience that the Divine is in all things and all things are in the Divine.
3.God is as much Mother as Father, as much Child as Parent, as much God in mystery as the God in history as much beyond all words and images as in all forms and beings.We are liberated from the need to cling to God in one form or one literal name.
4.On our lives, it is through the work of spiritual practice that we find out deep and true selves.Through the arts if meditation and selves we cultivate a clarity of mind and move beyond fear into compassion and community.
5.Our inner work can be understood as a four-fold journey involving:- awe, deight, amazement (known as the Via Positiva)- uncertainty, darkness, suffering, letting go (Via Negativa)- birthing, creativity, passion (Via Creativa)- justice, healing, celebration (Via Transformitiva)We weave through these paths like a spiral danced, not a ladder climbed.
6.Every one of us is a mystic.We can enter the mystical as much through beauty (Via Positiva) as through contemplation and suffering (Via Negativa). We are born full of wonder and can recover at any age.
7. Every one of us is an artist.
Whatever the expression of our creativity, it is out prayer and praise (Via Creativa).
8. Every one of us is a prophet.Our prophetic work is to interfere with all forms of injustice and that which interrupts authentic life (Via Transformativa).
9.Diversity is the nature of the Universe. We rejoice in and courageously honor the rich diversity within the Cosmos and expressed among individuals and across multiple cultures, religions and ancestral traditions.
10.The basic work of God is compassion and we, who are all original blessings and sons and daughters of the Divine, are called to compassion.We acknowledge our shared interdependence; we rejoice at one another’s joys and grieve at one another’s sorrows and labor to heal the causes of those sorrows.
11.There are many wells of faith and knowledge drawing from one underground river of Divine wisdom. The practice of honoring, learning and celebrating the wisdom collected from these wells is Deep Ecumenism.We respect and embrace the wisdom and oneness that arises from the diverse wells of all the sacred traditions of the world.
12.Ecological justice is essential for the sustainability of life on Earth.Ecology is the local expression of cosmology and so we commit to live in light of this value; to pass on the beauty and health of Creation to future generations.
Through study, ritual, celebration and action, these communities support justice, compassion, transformation and sustainability for the Universe and for all living beings. To find a list of Creation Spirituality communities on the web, go here.
A poem contributed by Libby Cornett:
this darkness is a rope, not a prison:
hand over hand i haul myself in
to touch your face, the blossom.
my fingers crawl toward heaven
leaving behind whirling shadows;
this darkness is a rope, not a prison.
i follow light through forgotten
canyons and grottos;
i touch your face and know that even the sun
has a mission: as it climbs it grows.
this darkness is a rope, not a prison;
not a cell from which i hasten.
freely, hand over hand i follow to
touch your face,
to open and open like a
night-blooming jasmine,
or a well widening with echoes:
this darkness is a rope, not a prison,
i touch your face, i blossom
-- maurya simon, changing light
This coming Sunday, August 16, Rebecca Nunley will give us a presentation on these Principles and their context within our church. Regular attendees recognize Rebecca as one of our best presenters, one who consistently tweaks our hearts and minds to growth, even a little.
Please join us at 9:45. You'll be very welcome.
The Twelve Principles of Creation Spirituality
1. The Universe, and all within it, is fundamentally a blessing.Our relationship with the Universe fills us with awe.
2. In Creation, God is both immanent and transcendent. This is panentheism which is not theis (God out there) and not atheism (no God anywhere).We experience that the Divine is in all things and all things are in the Divine.
3.God is as much Mother as Father, as much Child as Parent, as much God in mystery as the God in history as much beyond all words and images as in all forms and beings.We are liberated from the need to cling to God in one form or one literal name.
4.On our lives, it is through the work of spiritual practice that we find out deep and true selves.Through the arts if meditation and selves we cultivate a clarity of mind and move beyond fear into compassion and community.
5.Our inner work can be understood as a four-fold journey involving:- awe, deight, amazement (known as the Via Positiva)- uncertainty, darkness, suffering, letting go (Via Negativa)- birthing, creativity, passion (Via Creativa)- justice, healing, celebration (Via Transformitiva)We weave through these paths like a spiral danced, not a ladder climbed.
6.Every one of us is a mystic.We can enter the mystical as much through beauty (Via Positiva) as through contemplation and suffering (Via Negativa). We are born full of wonder and can recover at any age.
7. Every one of us is an artist.
Whatever the expression of our creativity, it is out prayer and praise (Via Creativa).
8. Every one of us is a prophet.Our prophetic work is to interfere with all forms of injustice and that which interrupts authentic life (Via Transformativa).
9.Diversity is the nature of the Universe. We rejoice in and courageously honor the rich diversity within the Cosmos and expressed among individuals and across multiple cultures, religions and ancestral traditions.
10.The basic work of God is compassion and we, who are all original blessings and sons and daughters of the Divine, are called to compassion.We acknowledge our shared interdependence; we rejoice at one another’s joys and grieve at one another’s sorrows and labor to heal the causes of those sorrows.
11.There are many wells of faith and knowledge drawing from one underground river of Divine wisdom. The practice of honoring, learning and celebrating the wisdom collected from these wells is Deep Ecumenism.We respect and embrace the wisdom and oneness that arises from the diverse wells of all the sacred traditions of the world.
12.Ecological justice is essential for the sustainability of life on Earth.Ecology is the local expression of cosmology and so we commit to live in light of this value; to pass on the beauty and health of Creation to future generations.
Through study, ritual, celebration and action, these communities support justice, compassion, transformation and sustainability for the Universe and for all living beings. To find a list of Creation Spirituality communities on the web, go here.
A poem contributed by Libby Cornett:
this darkness is a rope, not a prison:
hand over hand i haul myself in
to touch your face, the blossom.
my fingers crawl toward heaven
leaving behind whirling shadows;
this darkness is a rope, not a prison.
i follow light through forgotten
canyons and grottos;
i touch your face and know that even the sun
has a mission: as it climbs it grows.
this darkness is a rope, not a prison;
not a cell from which i hasten.
freely, hand over hand i follow to
touch your face,
to open and open like a
night-blooming jasmine,
or a well widening with echoes:
this darkness is a rope, not a prison,
i touch your face, i blossom
-- maurya simon, changing light
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