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Hello Reader!

Hello beloved one.

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Announcements:

*Office hours are happening at Wolverine Farm on Thursday from 10 to 12. It will be delightful.

*We are taking a whole church rest for Labor Day weekend. This means we will not have meet in person on September 1st. Please stay home and eat a big breakfast. Or, go camping. Or, walk a meandering path. Or, sit and watch a bird. Or, snuggle with someone you love. We’ll provide an at-home liturgy closer to the date.

*Stay tuned for some upcoming fall events...we hope to announce next week!

How to Live Forever

We usually follow the Revised Common Lectionary. Click on the link if you want to see what we'll be exploring in the weeks to come.

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INVOCATION

Redeeming Sustainer,

visit your people

and pour out your strength and courage upon us,

that we may hurry to make you welcome

not only in our concern for others,

but by serving them

generously and faithfully in your name.

Amen.

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SONGS

Come Thou Fount of Every Ble... Sufjan Stevens PREVIEW   ​

You Have Won Me Bethel Music, Brian Johnson PREVIEW   ​

The Breastplate of Saint Pat... The Porter's Gate, Wendell K... PREVIEW   ​

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SCRIPTURES & READINGS

​John 6:51-58, 60​

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TAKEAWAYS & COMMUNITY QUESTIONS

• In John 6, Jesus said he was the bread come down from heaven. If you’re not familiar with the reference, read Exodus 16.
• Jesus tells the crowd that if they want eternal life they must eat the flesh and drink the blood of the son of man (hint: that’s Jesus himself). People argue about what he meant. What do you think he meant? Do you think they (the crowd he was taking to) knew what he meant?
• John writes in verse 60 that this was a “hard teaching” for many to accept and many turned around and stopped following Jesus. What hard teaching has made you want to “turn around?”
• There are hard teachings that are hard because we understand they are hard to follow. And there are hard teachings that are hard because we don’t even understand what is being taught.
• Can you think of hard teachings you don’t understand — maybe this one from John 6? Do you think it’s okay to just let go of the need to understand right now? Do you think God or Jesus or the ultimate source of all being can ever be really understood?
• I think God is not waiting to be understood through intellectual ascent. I think God is waiting to be experienced, encountered, “digested” in moments of presence and awareness.
• Can we let go of our need to know? Yes, thinking is helpful and even fun sometimes. Study. Think. Discuss. Then let go because we are talking about ultimate reality here! We are talking about Source, The Divine, God!
• This is just me (Darren) articulating here so for what it’s worth, I believe trying to intellectually and clearly understand Jesus — how much more, God — is exhausting. Jesus didn’t come to exhaust us, okay? So I believe God is encountered through…
  •practice (prayer, movement, liturgy, community),
  •surrender (letting go of certainty and judgment and accepting reality as it is), and
  and
  •awareness (presence, paying attention, being where your feet are)

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ARTWORK

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BENEDICTION

You are God’s Child

Gifted with dreams and visions.

Upon you rests the grace of God like flames of fire.

Love and serve the Lord in the wildness of your being.

Practice Resurrection.

And may the deep peace of Christ be with you,

The strong arms of God sustain you,

And the glory of the Holy Spirit shine upon your face.

Amen.

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Resource: BEMA + Heschel This quotation from Joshua Heschel is pure gold: God is not always silent and we are not always blind. In every person’s life there are moments when there is a lifting of the veil at the horizon of the known opening a sight of the eternal. Each of has at least once in our life experienced the momentous reality of God. ​ Each of us has once caught a glimpse of the beauty, peace, and power that flow through the souls of those who are devoted to Him. But such experiences are rare events. To some people they are like shooting stars, passing and unremembered. In others, they kindle a light that is never quenched. This BEMA episode is a fun and interesting conversation around our sacred text

Practice: See it and Seal it At the end of our gathering on Sunday, Darren mentioned that when we see God in our midst, we also can seal that experience into our being. That way, it becomes a monument or an anchor point that we can go back to. This week, as you see glimpses of God's glory, see it and then take another moment to seal it into your memory. Perhaps doing something physical, like putting your hand over your heart, or nodding your head, will help you to "seal" the moment. Give it a try!

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Grace and Peace,

Katrina and Darren

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