Sunday, April 30, 2017

Sunday Supplication - He Has Redeemed Us

Almighty and everlasting God, we give you thanks for the hope and reconciliation you have given us through Christ. Help us to live in the resurrection power of your Spirit. Make our lives a witness to the faith we profess.

We confess our sins and weaknesses, Lord. We repent of the ways we have disobeyed and turned from you. Forgive us and help us to turn away from wrong.  Transform us and give us the faith to press toward life, healing, restoration, holiness, and good deeds. 

You are so gracious to us, and we ask you to make us able and quick to be gracious toward others.

Thank you, O God, for sending your son into the world to save us. We worship Christ Jesus because he is worthy, for he has redeemed, by his blood, people from every tribe, tongue, kindred, and nation.

It’s in his saving name we pray. Amen

Friday, April 28, 2017

Friday Favorites - Detectorists

A new discovery suggested to me by a friend who lives in the UK. From BBC Television, Detectorists is a gentle, slow-paced, and quirky comedy from MacKenzie Crook. It's available on Amazon Prime.


Thursday, April 27, 2017

Thursday Thinking - Designing Sacred Space

Wow! This was really interesting. So many things to think about. Art, beauty, faith, witness, spirituality, human being, religion, mystery, form and function...

https://www.ted.com/talks/siamak_hariri_how_do_you_build_a_sacred_space?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2017-04-22&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_content=talk_of_the_week_image#t-1591
CLICK HERE OR ON IMAGE (12 Minutes)

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Wednesday Words - Today

If ever there were a spring day so perfect,
so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze

that it made you want to throw
open all the windows in the house

and unlatch the door to the canary's cage,
indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,

a day when the cool brick paths
and the garden bursting with peonies

seemed so etched in sunlight
that you felt like taking

a hammer to the glass paperweight
on the living room end table,

releasing the inhabitants
from their snow-covered cottage

so they could walk out,
holding hands and squinting

into this larger dome of blue and white,
well, today is just that kind of day.

"Today" by Billy Collins from Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems, © Copyright 2013 by Billy Collins.

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Tuesday Tome - Leap Over a Wall

Cheri and I started Eugene Peterson's, Leap Over a Wall last week. It's proving to be a very good follow-up to our most recent book, also by Peterson, Answering God. Reading books aloud with your spouse is fun. Give it a try!

Publisher's Description...
Leap Over a Wall is Eugene H. Peterson’s vibrant, insightful, and heartfelt exploration of one of the Bible’s most controversial figures: King David. Peterson beautifully elucidates the Old Testament’s rich depictions of David's failures and victories, recapturing their excitement and immediacy to reveal David himself as a crucially human example of how we relate to God. Leap Over a Wall is a unique opportunity to reconnect with David, a man simultaneously admirable, soulful, and dark, and one of the most complex and vital characters of the greatest story ever written.

Publisher's Weekly says...
Toward the end of this book, Peterson, author of the immensely popular translation of the New Testament, The Message, observes that "the Christian life isn't a romantic idyll." Rather, he says, the Christian life is fraught with pain, spattered with grief and paradox and, in the end, lit by hope. Out of a deep awareness of these truths, Peterson engages in an examination of the life of David to illuminate the ways in which the divine is often hidden in the ordinary. Exploring a number of scriptural passages about the life of David, Peterson shows the ways in which David's life, though fraught with struggles and shortcomings, was one filled with exuberance and animated by God's deliberate power. The author brings the Old Testament world revealingly close to our own century, and he makes vivid the notion that God's purposes are worked out in the ordinariness of specific human lives.

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Sunday Supplication - Good News to All People

O Lord, help us to answer the call of our Savior Jesus Christ. Help us to seriously and readily seek your will for our lives. Help us, by our words and actions, to proclaim the Good News of Jesus to all people. Help us, and all people in the world, to recognize the salvation he brings.

Thank you for the forgiveness and renewal you have given to us through Christ Jesus.  Help us to extend forgiveness to each other. And help us grow into a redemptive and healing community. Help us to have a saving and healing impact on the world around us.

O God, life in this world is more than we can face on our own. Help us to navigate our way through the many challenges and conflicts. Help us to live with integrity and care toward others in authentic Christian fellowship. Help our Valley community to be an instrument of your grace, your truth, and your peace. Make us a blessing to the world around us.

Through Christ, we pray. Amen.

Friday, April 21, 2017

Friday Favorites - Tawakal

I recently had a meal at Tawakal restaurant in Burnsville to get a taste of what Somali food is like. I really enjoyed the beef kay kay. Check it out, enjoy the food, and maybe even meet some of your Somali neighbors.


Tawakal Restaurant serves Burnsville with East African Fare
from the Burnsville Patch 

Large portions and tasty food are two of the features of Tawakal Restaurant in Burnsville that make the two owners proud.

Yussuf and Ifrah Shafie are the brother and sister owners of Tawakal Restaurant, located near Heart of the City at 12609 Nicollet Avenue. Ifrah came up with the name for the restaurant, which means "depending on" or "assurance," Yussuf explained in an email to Patch.

Although they serve mostly Somali food at the restaurant, they serve Ethiopian and Kenyan food as well.

CONTINUE READING


Thursday, April 20, 2017

Thursday Thinking - Eastertide

https://youtu.be/FynTFKdSGjo
CLICK HERE OR ON IMAGE

Published on Apr 11, 2017
"Death and Resurrection," portraying the night before and the morning of the resurrection of Jesus, marks the beginning of the season of Eastertide. The scriptures are drawn from Matthew 27-28, John 19, and 1 Corinthians 15. It was filmed by FULLER studio at Paymaster Landing in Imperial County, California. For FULLER studio: Lauralee Farrer, director; Ron Allchin, producer; Nate Harrison, director of photography;

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Wednesday Words - Prairie Spring

Evening and the flat land,
Rich and sombre and always silent;
The miles of fresh-plowed soil,
Heavy and black, full of strength and harshness;
The growing wheat, the growing weeds,
The toiling horses, the tired men;
The long empty roads,
Sullen fires of sunset, fading,
The eternal, unresponsive sky.
Against all this, Youth,
Flaming like the wild roses,
Singing like the larks over the plowed fields,
Flashing like a star out of the twilight;
Youth with its insupportable sweetness,
Its fierce necessity,
Its sharp desire,
Singing and singing,
Out of the lips of silence,
Out of the earthy dusk.

"Prairie Spring" by Willa Cather from Stories, Poems, and Other Writings. © Library of America, 1992.

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Tuesday Tome - Leap Over a Wall

Having just finished reading Eugene Peterson's Answering God during our morning coffee times, Cheri and I will now be turning to another of Peterson's books, Leap Over a Wall. We're looking forward to more goodness from one of our favorite pastoral authors.

Publisher's Description...
Leap Over a Wall is Eugene H. Peterson’s vibrant, insightful, and heartfelt exploration of one of the Bible’s most controversial figures: King David. Peterson beautifully elucidates the Old Testament’s rich depictions of David's failures and victories, recapturing their excitement and immediacy to reveal David himself as a crucially human example of how we relate to God. Leap Over a Wall is a unique opportunity to reconnect with David, a man simultaneously admirable, soulful, and dark, and one of the most complex and vital characters of the greatest story ever written.

Publisher's Weekly says...
Toward the end of this book, Peterson, author of the immensely popular translation of the New Testament, The Message, observes that "the Christian life isn't a romantic idyll." Rather, he says, the Christian life is fraught with pain, spattered with grief and paradox and, in the end, lit by hope. Out of a deep awareness of these truths, Peterson engages in an examination of the life of David to illuminate the ways in which the divine is often hidden in the ordinary. Exploring a number of scriptural passages about the life of David, Peterson shows the ways in which David's life, though fraught with struggles and shortcomings, was one filled with exuberance and animated by God's deliberate power. The author brings the Old Testament world revealingly close to our own century, and he makes vivid the notion that God's purposes are worked out in the ordinariness of specific human lives.

Sunday, April 16, 2017

Sunday Supplication - His Glorious Resurrection

O God, you gave your only-begotten Son to the death of the cross for our redemption. And by his glorious resurrection you delivered us from the power of our enemy. We pray that you would help us die to sin so that we might live eternally with him in the joy of his resurrection. By your mighty resurrection power, deliver us from evil.

We confess our sins and weaknesses, Lord. We repent of the ways we have disobeyed and turned from you. Forgive us and help us to turn away from wrong.  Transform us and give us the faith to press toward life, healing, restoration, holiness, and good deeds. 

You are so gracious to us, and we ask you to make us able and quick to be gracious toward others.

God of Salvation, we believe that Jesus, your son, is the way, the truth, and the life. Help us to know him and to follow him closely that we might walk in your truth and grace.

It’s in his name we pray. Amen.

Thursday, April 13, 2017

Thursday Thinking - Saying the Right Thing

Thank you to Becky Watczak for sharing this very helpful article with great insights for determining how to say the right thing to the right person during difficult and stressful situations. The key principle is to "Comfort in," and to "dump out." Very much worth your time.  CLICK HERE TO READ (5 minutes)

How Not to Say the Wrong Thing 
April 07, 2013 | Susan Silk and Barry Goldman | Los Angeles Times
It works in all kinds of crises -- medical, legal, even existential.
It's the 'Ring Theory' of kvetching. The first rule is comfort in, dump out.




Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Wednesday Words - Bicycle Spring

Windy, sunny, and Sunday,
the afternoon of your father's promise,
you will learn to ride your bike:

your father breathing hard
pushes, runs at your side,
one hand on the handlebars,
the other firm on the seat,

launching you like a glider
to soar long seconds
before wobbling to crash
in the soft green field

until you know how to ride
suddenly except for the brakes
and your father suddenly
is a speck waving way behind.

as you pedal toward strange sights
in blocks where he
has forbidden you to walk.

"Bicycle Spring" by Kevin FitzPatrick, from Down on the Corner
© Midwest Villages and Voices.

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Tuesday Tome - Vance Havner: Peace Like a River

Yesterday, a friend gave me this little, out-of-print book of folksy meditations by Vance Havner. I will enjoy reading it. Havner's style is a strong dose of old gospel preacher with a good measure of winsome humorist thrown in. Thanks, Jerry!

Publisher's description...
This third collection of meditations, after the pattern of By the Still Waters and Rest Awhile, makes no claim to be profound. Surely in these days we must all be “fed up” with efforts at profundity. A miserable generation, buried under the ruins of its Tower of Babel needs simple truth like sick bodies need old-fashioned air and rest and sunshine. Like David in the cave of Adullam, men long for a drink of water from the well at Bethlehem. This little volume seeks to offer a cooling drink to parched souls in a dry land where no water is. It is offered in the name of Him who invited all to drink of Living Waters never to thirst again. “As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.” There is good news from heaven: it is a day of good tidings from above and we would not hold our peace

Friday, April 07, 2017

Friday Favorites - The Spider John Legacy

This will be a good show.

THE SPIDER JOHN LEGACY: 
A celebration of folk music on the West Bank

Spider John Koerner, Willie Murphy & Tony Glover, Chip Taylor Smith & Paul Strother (Boston), The Cactus Blossoms (duo), Lonesome Dan Kase, Jack Klatt, Dave Babb and Grant Johnson

Sun, April 9, 2017
Doors: 7:00 pm / Show: 7:30 pm
Cedar Cultural Center
$18 Advance / $20 Day of show

From the Cedar Cultural Center website...

The Spider John Legacy
To think about the West Bank folk music scene is to think of Spider John Koerner. For 50 years, Koerner has explored the ranges of traditional American song. He enrolled in 1956 at the University of Minnesota as an engineering student, but in early 1958, he became a student of the burgeoning folk scene. With a borrowed guitar and a Burl Ives song book, he began a journey which helped shape the course of American country blues and folk music, with a music career taking him to stages throughout North America and Europe. Join us at The Cedar Cultural Center on April 9th as we celebrate his music and enduring legacy, from the West Bank to the world.

Thursday, April 06, 2017

Thursday Thinking - When God Feels Distant

The new video in John Ortberg's "Jesus on Location" series is up.

The topic? "When God Feels Distant." It's the Palm Sunday installment, on the Dallas Willard Center for Spiritual Formation website through Pentecost. Don't miss it!

Check it out when you've got about 25 minutes to enjoy it.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/159100618
CLICK HERE OR ON THE IMAGE


Wednesday, April 05, 2017

Wednesday Words - Looking at the Sky


I never will have time
I never will have time enough
To say
How beautiful it is
The way the moon
Floats in the air
As easily
And lightly as a bird
Although she is a world
Made all of stone.

I never will have time enough
To praise
The way the stars
Hang glittering in the dark
Of steepest heaven
Their dewy sparks
Their brimming drops of light
So fresh so clear
That when you look at them
It quenches thirst.

"Looking at the Sky" by Anne Porter, from Living Things: Collected Poems.
© Zoland Books, 2006.

Tuesday, April 04, 2017

Tuesday Tome - Being Christian

This is a great this little book by Rowan Williams – just eighty pages, four chapters. Very helpful, humble, and beautifully written.

From the Publisher...
In this simple, beautifully written book Rowan Williams explores four essential components of the Christian life: baptism, Bible, Eucharist, and prayer. Despite huge differences in Christian thinking and practice both today and in past centuries, he says, these four basic elements have remained constant and indispensable for the majority of those who call themselves Christians.

In accessible, pastoral terms Williams discusses the meaning and practice of baptism, the Bible, the Eucharist, and prayer, inviting readers to really think through the Christian faith and how to live it out. Questions for reflection and discussion at the end of each chapter help readers to dig deeper and apply Williams's insights to their own lives.

Walter Brueggemann
-- author of Reality, Grief, Hope: Three Urgent Prophetic Tasks
"Who better than Rowan Williams to be our teacher about the essentials of Christianity! In this clear, accessible exposition, we get Williams at his best - worldly-wise, pastorally gentle, grounded deeply in tradition, acutely alert to the real world of violence where God indwells. Williams ushers us more deeply into our best discernment of the Christian life."


M. Craig Barnes
-- President of Princeton Theological Seminary
"The genius of this little book is that it gets right to the heart of the essential Christian experience. . . . We are simply invited to enter the new life discovered through the core practices of the church."

Sunday, April 02, 2017

Sunday Supplication - Your Direction and Wisdom

Almighty God, we come to you today asking you to help us to submit our wills and our desires to Yours. Help us to live stable lives with your direction and wisdom. Help us to love your commands and to delight in your promises as we face the challenges and changes all around us. Give us your joy and peace in every circumstance.

Forgive us our sins, O God. Lead us away from temptation. You are so faithful to forgive and restore those who have sinned against you. Help us to be faithful to forgive and restore those who sin against us.

O God, give us the eyes to see your goodness, and the minds to remember your faithfulness to your people throughout history. Give us hearts that are ready to worship you all day every day, and voices that are quick to sing your praise.

Through Christ, we pray. Amen