Today’s speaker was David Moore…..
Prayer is focus. If you choose to use words in prayer, words can often support your focus. But sometimes the focus means saying or doing absolutely nothing. We may need to just let it be.
“When I find myself in times of trouble Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, let it be.” Matthew 6:33 says, “Seek first the reality God intends and let it be.”
Walter Thiessen recalls how important it is for us to find meaningful, familiar and emotionally rich things to hold onto even as we need to keep using our heads about “letting go” of the systemic problems that get in the way of institutions and traditions being compassionate and just. He ended with a loose paraphrase of the “armour of God” that you can download.
Today Peter followed on from last week where we mourned together about the invasion of Ukraine, but instead of horror we focused on beautiful things. For instance, we showed the video of Aretha Franklin singing “Natural Woman” in honour of Carole King as she received a Presidential Award at the Lincoln Center. Then we showed a video of “All Who Are Thirsty, ” sung by Sarah Kroger, to remind us to open our hearts to the Lord. Then, after some prayers, Peter spoke about leaders that do monstrous things and we read some passages from the Book of Daniel that promise “a little help” in desperate situations. This led us into discussions about how we might best pray for Ukraine. We finished the service with Joe Cocker singing “A Little Help from my Friends.”
Raymond Funk and Hayden Wiebe led the music this morning, and our hearts were heavy because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Peter Fitch was feeling the same things, so he didn’t bring a prepared talk. Instead, he read Psalm 31 and asked people to share their thoughts and their prayers together. We wove silent prayer together with singing and the prayers and comments that people brought forward. Together, we sensed the need for a global heart of love to encompass the militarization and pain in the heart of the aggressors in this war, and we prayed for God’s deliverance and strength.
With so many strong and polarized feelings around the Convoy Protests in Ottawa, Peter Fitch thought it was a good time to reflect together on the meaning of Jesus’ words about loving our enemies. Jacob Rose and Rick Coates, who played songs before the talk, had the same idea as they started the service with a song by The Brilliance called “Brother.” It begins, “When I look into the face of my enemy, I see my brother . . .” There were many great insights from the crowd around the various Scripture passages that we looked at. Peter made mention of a Daily podcast last week, An American-Style Protest in Canada where he thought that both sides would be able to hear some things that they appreciated. Near the end of the time, Rick Coates, shared some insights from a TED talk, I grew up in the Westboro Baptist Church. Here’s why I left, by Megan Phelps-Roper.
Walter Thiessen followed up his last talk addressing what a church community is for. This time he talked about the need to keep structure & teaching integrated with a living Spirit. Lots of chat at the end about how we keep exploring new things that resonate with the teaching of Jesus and the diverse ways that we can invite the Spirit.
Peter Fitch shares the first part of a lecture on ancient-future orienteering. The focus of this part is the way that Jesus treated people. This leads to a discussion about whether or not “the arc of history is bending toward justice” in terms of abolishing prejudices based on ethnicity, economic status, and gender. The whole talk also relates to the expression, “Anchored with Wings.” Peter thinks that it’s possible to honour people who want to stay closer to the anchor of a tradition and, at the same time, to honour people who want to fly forward with progressive thoughts for their generation.
At the end of the talk we listened to “Apostles’ Creed” by Third Day and Friends and then to “Imagine” by Pentatonix because, together, they represent elements both old and new.
In this talk, Jessica Williams reflects on the longings that drew her to St. Stephen’s University and to the St. Croix Church community. She explores the cracks in the foundation of the church and within herself that “let the light get in,” as Leonard Cohen sings. Jessica ends this talk by reading a letter written by Walter Thiessen earlier this week, offering an update for those who “Joined Us As We Stepped Away” from Vineyard Canada in 2020.
For this Sunday’s talk at St. Croix Church, Peter Fitch gives a couple of important ideas from the Book of Romans in the New Testament, and then he follows this by introducing Rutger Bregman’s book, Humankind. Both parts of this talk challenge conventional wisdom about the nature of humanity and argue for an essential goodness in the heart of people that shows itself in crisis and in caring for others.
In a short (8 minute) talk, Walter asks what the reason is for having a local church community, and he suggests that it’s to create a social place that welcomes everyone interested to participate in exploring meaning together – to express it, to weave it into our lives, to act on it together, to connect it to where we’ve been and where we’re going. You can read the transcript if you’d rather read than watch the video. And after you listen, share your thoughts on what you think is the main reason to have a local church community.