We are canceling this week’s indoor church due to snow and potentially unsafe road conditions in the evening on 2/4/19.
We will reconvene next week on Monday February 11th at 6:30pm at the Whatcom Land Trust!
In the meantime, however, I'd like to emphasize that we'll be touching on the theme of "RE-FRAME" for the whole month of February. Last night myself and several Echoes people had the opportunity to hear Nadia Bolz Webber speak about the topic of sexuality and faith. Wow, that was certainly a re-framing!
A few things I heard that were re-framing:
- a serious loathing of the word "inclusive" because when it's used as "we're inclusive!" it means that the group considers itself dominant/normative and anyone who would normally be uncomfortable in that setting is the "less than." It's as if the term perpetuates an "us" and "them." I'd like to give this more thought and figure out possible changes for how we communicate our "inclusiveness" to others.
- shame comes from the snake in Genesis; God is not the origin of shame. Entities other than God (esp those who claim to speak for God) are the ones who demand/form shame.
- church should be a key place that we DON'T have to pretend that everything is okay
She mentioned interviewing Lance Armstrong, and her opening line to him was so good that I looked up the video. It's short, but give it a listen: https://www.facebook.com/nantucketproject/videos/340530633422279/
Is Lance Armstrong "the cancer Jesus" or a cheater?
As we learned at #tnp8, the truth is infinitely more complex...
Also, Eli mentioned in the car ride a podcast that includes a lengthy interview with Nadia about her new book!
If you were unable to come last night and are interested, this podcast might be worth listening to.
https://player.fm/series/a-tiny-revolution/ep-80-making-sex-shameless-w-nadia-bolz-weber
Emma suggest this Mary Oliver poem about First Snows
https://journalverse.com/poem-of-the-month-first-snow-mary-oliver/
Also, I found an excellent article about "framing" within the church, especially as it relates to "conservative" and "liberal." It's kind of dense, but it's a good read in terms of thinking about how we frame things in general. A quote:
"Thinking about frames—and the act of framing our stories well—goes beyond politics, far beyond the old world of “liberal versus conservative” constructed by our ancestors. Indeed, if framing has political consequences it also has spiritual ones. Reframing is a healing act as well as a social one."
https://alban.org/archive/reframing-as-spiritual-change-transforming-hopelessness-into-wholeness/
So that's that, my friends. We'll miss being together this week, but look forward to many more gatherings together. Be safe, warm, and nourished tonight.
And pray mightily (and possibly provide for?) those who are not (human and otherwise).
Peace and love,
Charis