Today I want us all to do something together. We all did it when we were young. It will bring a smile to your face. I learned it in Sunday school back in the day.
Do, "this is the church, here is the steeple, open the doors and see all the people!
I look up and see this beautiful and extremely original building. I am confess that when people ask me what church I go to and what it looks like, I constantly call it the circus tent. It delights me every week that I pull up and park. I am always in awe when I sit down and allow my eyes to follow the curve of the ceiling to the top. (I have even learned how to turn on the ceiling fan, however I was sworn to secrecy.) This is a beautiful building. But when I look out toward you, I see your beautiful, loving faces; I look into your welcoming eyes, that is when I see the church, my church, our church.
Church isn’t where you meet. Church isn’t a building. Church is what you do. Church is who you are. Church is the human outworking of the person of Jesus Christ. Let’s not go to Church, let’s be the Church.
~Bridget Willard~
Join me in the Call to Worship
Spirit God is not confined to church spires
and pipe organs, but Spirit makes a home
within and through all.
Come Build a Church
Spirit God is not confined to church spires
and pipe organs, but Spirit makes a home
within and through all.
Come Build a Church
The brick and mortar of church buildings
cannot contain the sacredness of the Living
God but the flesh and bone of gathered
community is made sacred by God's presence
among us.
Come Build a Church
amen
Monday, July 20, 2009
Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite
When my 17 year old daughter was a toddler, we had a nightly routine. I would sing You Are My Sunshine to her as I tucked her and all her favorite stuffed animals down into her bed.
As I would leave the room I would say, “Good night” and she would answer back, “good night”. I would say, “See you in the morning” and she would answer back, “See you in the morning”. “Sweet dreams”, “sweet dreams” she would say. “Don’t let the bed bugs bite.” and finally “God bless” as I would turn off the light.
We did this every night.
One night as we started our routine. She stopped me and asked what did it all mean? Why do we say this every night? I thought about it a minute and said, “well we have been doing it every night for so long that I haven’t thought about it”.
I sat down on her bed and said, “I say, “Good Night” because I really want you to have a peaceful, comfortable night’s sleep” I say “see you in the morning” because I will really be happy to see you in the morning so we can start our day. I say “Sweet Dreams” because good dreams are always the best and I want you to have them. I say “don’t let the bed bugs bite because… well because that’s what my mother used to tell me.” She panicked at this point and made me prove that there weren’t really bugs in her bed. Once convinced she asked “when you were little, did you have bugs in your bed?” I said, “No, I didn’t either.” “Well,” she said, “Maybe when you say “God Bless” it scares them away!” Toddlers are always so insightful.
Please join me in the call to worship.
Call to Worship
Here is an ordinary table,
Familiar and worn with use,
Come, look beyond the grains of wood
And sense the power it holds
To feed, unite, and create a holy communing.
May we glimpse godly wisdom that is beyond ordinary sight.
(light a candle)
Here is a pulpit, holding stories of faith,
Perhaps grown ordinary with repetition.
Come, hear anew the sacred words
And listen between the lines.
For the calling and sending, teaching and healing.
(light a candle)
May we glimpse godly wisdom that is beyond ordinary sight.
Here is our ordinary community
Made of eccentrisities and imperfections.
Come, draw near to one another in spirit
And recognize the holy presence that makes
Us an extraordinary people
People of justice and love and good work.
(light a candle
May we glimpse godly wisdom that is beyond ordinary sight.
As I would leave the room I would say, “Good night” and she would answer back, “good night”. I would say, “See you in the morning” and she would answer back, “See you in the morning”. “Sweet dreams”, “sweet dreams” she would say. “Don’t let the bed bugs bite.” and finally “God bless” as I would turn off the light.
We did this every night.
One night as we started our routine. She stopped me and asked what did it all mean? Why do we say this every night? I thought about it a minute and said, “well we have been doing it every night for so long that I haven’t thought about it”.
I sat down on her bed and said, “I say, “Good Night” because I really want you to have a peaceful, comfortable night’s sleep” I say “see you in the morning” because I will really be happy to see you in the morning so we can start our day. I say “Sweet Dreams” because good dreams are always the best and I want you to have them. I say “don’t let the bed bugs bite because… well because that’s what my mother used to tell me.” She panicked at this point and made me prove that there weren’t really bugs in her bed. Once convinced she asked “when you were little, did you have bugs in your bed?” I said, “No, I didn’t either.” “Well,” she said, “Maybe when you say “God Bless” it scares them away!” Toddlers are always so insightful.
Please join me in the call to worship.
Call to Worship
Here is an ordinary table,
Familiar and worn with use,
Come, look beyond the grains of wood
And sense the power it holds
To feed, unite, and create a holy communing.
May we glimpse godly wisdom that is beyond ordinary sight.
(light a candle)
Here is a pulpit, holding stories of faith,
Perhaps grown ordinary with repetition.
Come, hear anew the sacred words
And listen between the lines.
For the calling and sending, teaching and healing.
(light a candle)
May we glimpse godly wisdom that is beyond ordinary sight.
Here is our ordinary community
Made of eccentrisities and imperfections.
Come, draw near to one another in spirit
And recognize the holy presence that makes
Us an extraordinary people
People of justice and love and good work.
(light a candle
May we glimpse godly wisdom that is beyond ordinary sight.
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