Category

Talks

Fraggle Rock

Resilience is Messy (& so are we)

By Talks

Jess Williams reflects on impulses she noticed in herself through a recent experience of asking her friends for help cleaning out her house, and found out she wasn’t alone. She points out how vulnerable it is to let others into your mess, even when that’s what you need most. Then she shares some wisdom gleaned from Fraggle Rock’s character, Marjory the Trash Heap, and Jeff Chu’s teaching on the theology of compost. She invites everyone to trust that God is most at home in the mess, and that all of our so-called failures can serve to nurture the soil of our lives.

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Timebanking (Second Breakfast)

By Talks

Mayara and Lorna share the concept of Timebanking, an exchange of skills based on the belief that every person is of value and has something to offer. They are excited to see how Timebanking can build a stronger, more connected community in St. Stephen, and invite and welcome your participation!

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the Witness Blanket

The Connection of Witness & Resilience

By Talks

Pulling from the lectionary readings and our current teaching theme, Wendy VanderWal Martin offered a beautiful teaching on the significance of ‘witness’ and how bearing witness to one another (and to our own lives) as we truly are and in ways that assure us we are seen, known, and loved, is a powerful root of resilience.

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empty bench by a tree

Grief and Transfiguration

By Talks

This week Renate pointed out references in the lectionary that help us see how we can be transfigured when trust helps us find our way through grief – a powerful addition to our “Roots of Resilience” theme!

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Intentional Resilience

By Talks

On Sunday, Marilyn Orr carried forward our teaching theme with a wonderful talk on Intentional Resilience. Pulling from years of insights from speaking and teaching on resilience, Marilyn opened up an engaging conversation about where resilience comes from. Due to the interactive nature of this talk, we’re using the phone recording this week so you can hear what the community had to say!

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The Spirit of Pride & The Resilience of The Suffering

By Talks
Digging into our new teaching theme “The Roots of Resilience” Jess Williams reflects on the suffering we face throughout our lives, and what helps sustain us through it. She connects this to the history of Pride and the oppression of LGBTQ+ people, particularly in the church, and underlines why it’s so important for faith communities to listen deeply to, to learn from, to love, and to stand beside all who have been wronged by the church, whether that’s been based on race, religion, sexuality, or anything else.
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plant with roots

The Roots of Resilience

By Talks

During our 2nd Breakfast potluck, the Leadership Collective shared some thoughts on the new teaching theme. Together, we reflected on what it’s looked like to “be rooted in love together” these last months, and shared a few thoughts on what we’ll begin to explore as we consider “the roots of resilience” individually and communally in the season ahead.

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toddler's hand rests in adult's hand

A Secure Base: Trust as the Foundation for Wholeness

By Talks

Walter introduced the next season’s theme for SCC, “The Roots of Resilience,” by talking about the gift of deep trust that we all need, arising from a variety of sources like a secure attachment to our parents and/or a healing encounter with God’s ever-present Love (and most assuredly not from Divine threats of eternal abandonment).

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Something to live in(to)

By Talks

On Trinity Sunday, Rachael explores (with the help of contributions from her parents!) the mystery of the Three-in-One as less of a doctrine and more of a relational, experiential reality to live in, and live into.

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2 birds at a bird bath

A Tale of Two Cities

By Talks

On this Pentecost Sunday, good friend and frequent guest at SCC, Bradley Jersak, gave some background on the Holy Spirit and then shared how the outpouring of the Holy Spirit recorded in Acts 2 created a unity based on respectful listening and speaking that preserves diversity as opposed to the monolithic and proud empire of Babel. He closed by inviting the Spirit to transform our own listening and speaking today.

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