Meg Lacy Vega Church Business, Soul Care

Soul Care Week Three: Offering Gratitude

Join us on the podcast this week as we talk about the science, the art, and the spirituality of gratitude.

Wear gratitude

like a cloak,

and it will feed

every corner

of your life.

-Rumi

Pray As You Go: The Examen Prayer

St. Ignatius of Loyola was a 14th century catholic priest who founded the monastic order of the Jesuits, which is still alive and thriving today. In his writings Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius invited the monks to examine their conscience daily, looking for the movement of God in their lives and giving thanks. There are a few days you can practice the Prayer of Examen.

At the end of each day, spend a moment reflecting on this set of questions:

In my day, when did I feel closest to God?
In my day, when did I feel farthest from God?

or

What am I most grateful for today?
What did I find most challenging?

This is a version of the five-step Daily Examen that St. Ignatius practiced, borrowed from IgnatianSpirituality.com.

1. Become aware of God’s presence.
2. Review the day with gratitude.
3. Pay attention to your emotions.
4. Choose one feature of the day and pray from it.
5. Look toward tomorrow.

Family Practice: Thank you notes

This week, harness the power of a handwritten note to offer gratitude and appreciation for those God has used in your life. They don’t take that long to write. So, dig out your personalized stationary, or some craft paper and markers, and as a family make a list of those you want to thank, and write or create a thank you note or card for each name.

Closing prayer:
Dear God, thank you for all the people you bring into our lives. We are grateful for your love and provision. Amen

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A Note to Parents from TCCC Director Kristen OSullivan

Dear Parents,

I hope this finds you well. Or well enough considering. Please know you are doing enough. There is enough newness going on in every home that it is going to be a challenge, no matter what. Now IS the time to slow the pace, look deeply into today’s activity, and be present. Children everywhere are experiencing the same lack of routine, lack of academics, lack of socialization. So there is not a hill for them to slide down. It’s a level, inclusive field. Teachers will meet the children where they are. It will be ok.

Your children need your love, joy, and company. Be mindful to show delight on your face when they walk in the room, even if frustration or defeat is the reality. Fake it if you have to because they will remember how you felt. How your expressions and tone made them feel. Not the letters you practiced after breakfast, the dishwasher yet to be emptied (again), or the laundry forgotten in the washer (again).

…For tomorrow shall care for itself.

Struggle is universal. We all have bad: days, moments, meetings, failures, bedtimes, car rides, heartbreak, workouts, and illness. Every single one of us has a story. And no one gets out of life scot-free without the struggle. Two things: do not Compare Your Struggles and sometimes the best thing you can do is Compare Your Struggles. Here’s what I mean.

Daily bad days, pain, trials, and disappointments loom. For you, today may be one of the darkest hours or the deepest of melancholy. So go ahead, wallow in it. Wrap yourself up in it and live it. For two minutes a day.

Yep, all you get is two minutes each day. Scream, cry, whine, or kick people in the shin. Make these two minutes count. Go ahead and make some noise. Because you get two minutes and then you are done. Then it is time to move on and put a pin in it for tomorrow. Tomorrow if the pain is still there–go ahead; wallow in it. Wrap yourself up in it. For two minutes. 

And when the two minute timer goes off and you can’t stop the despair? If once the tears start, you can’t turn it off? Well, then it is actually time to compare. It is time to look over at the Joneses or toward the greener grasses and consider their two minutes. Have they lost a loved one? Are their children hungry or hurting? Are they alone? Are they at risk simply doing their job? Is their pain irreparable? Consider another, saying two prayers. One for others and one of gratitude. Then put a pin in til tomorrow. 

I know it’s not easy. But it is possible. Moving on daily may be tiny, but it’s a huge step you have to retake everyday. In this pandemic, you deserve your two minutes, to scream, cry, whine, or kick people in the shin. Allow it and then regard the two minutes of others. You will find humility and grace recognizing we all have bad: days, moments, meetings, failures, bedtimes, car rides, heartbreak, workouts, and illness. Your prayers for tomorrow are always at hand, but worry is wasted. 

Care not then for tomorrow. For tomorrow shall care for itself. The day has enough with its own grief. Matthew 6:34

Kristen

Sterling Severns Church Business, Media

Making Adjustments, A Word from our Pastor

It’s hard to believe we’re 40+ days into this wilderness. I continue to be inspired by the resilience of the church and the steady in-breaking of love in this chaos. When all of this first started, in our little corner of the world, none of us knew what to expect. In many ways, we still don’t. I made a conscious decision in the first couple of days to pack up the art on my office walls, alongside a plethora of books, audio/visual cables, and office furniture. My office at church looks like it’s been ransacked and my make-shift office at home is a feeble replacement. I remember telling the staff on that “first” Sunday, 

“We should not assume that we’re going to be working from our offices for the foreseeable future. Maybe we’ll be back to lead worship in the Sanctuary in the week ahead….maybe not? We should be prepared to dock the ship and embark for an unknown period of time.”

Just before leaving that day, I spent the better part of an hour filming the empty building while praying for the people that have called it “home” in innumerable capacities. 

Admittedly, I am really struggling with even the limited time I’m spending in our building. Our old ship at Grove and Meadow feels hauntingly quiet and undeniably lonely. We’re doing our best to conserve energy/resources. Thus, the majority of the space is dim. The majority of the doors are closed, now protecting disinfected rooms prepared for ministry. When I arrive early on Sunday mornings I really struggle with a profound sense of loneliness and palpable grief. I miss “us”. I miss the sound of our children and youth laughing in the hallway. I miss the beautiful chaos of Wednesday night suppers and the sound of music echoing in virtually every corridor. I miss seeing and hearing our teachers guiding children to lunch and the contagious laughter on the playground. I miss the beautiful sight of you all greeting one another before and after worship. I miss the sound of hearing the dialects of numerous Burma-rooted languages. I miss eye contact. I miss “us”. 

Lately, I find myself spending a lot of time sitting in front of my blank computer screen, praying for the Holy Spirit to guide me in determining what visuals to use in the facilitation of our current iteration of worship. We’re blessed beyond measure to have hundreds of hours of video footage and thousands of photographs to draw from. The cache of visuals we’ve collected through the years help remind us of our core values, and remember the ways God has guided us through each chapter of our 130+ year old story. 

Over these 40+ days of wilderness, I’ve found myself continually drawn to the footage I shot on that “first” Sunday after our dispersement. At first, I think I was drawn to it because it validated my sadness. It still does. That said, I continually find myself going back to the footage for a different reason. I’m noticing things that I hadn’t noticed before. You know, that is the tender gift of walking in darkness. Our eyes adjust, and we are given an opportunity to see everything with new perspective. Like the lens of the camera, the pupils in our eyes enlarge in dim light. God made us this way….to allow for more light to come in. 

I encourage you to take a look at this video again. 

  • NOTICE how the dimness at one end of the corridor transforms our understanding of light at the opposite end. The closer we move toward the light, the more we find ourselves adjusting to the emergence of Easter. 
  • NOTICE how the dimness, in the hallway that displays our family photos, accentuates the exit signs that hang directly above our photographs. The previously invisible intimation now states the obvious. The name tags underneath the exit signs are created to help us connect with ONE ANOTHER when we come INTO the building. And yet, in this unique moment they now serve as reminders of Disciples having exited the building, sharing the light of Christ in a world that desperately needs guidance in darkness. 
  • NOTICE the juxtaposition. We see our beloved sanctuary filled with empty pews. The footage makes me long for us to all be together again. However, we also see visual testimonies of God at work in this present moment and, through it, we are reminded that our God is a creative God that always makes a way. Isn’t it strange? Logic would tell us that we’re alone and yet we know that we are not alone. 
  • NOTICE now light pours into the darkened sanctuary when the doors at the threshold are barely even opened. I’m struck by the pattern of light temporarily etched onto the tattered carpet. It feels hopeful. I feels hope-filled. It feels promising. 

Sisters and brothers, I continue to feel the sadness of our physical separation. 

Sisters and brothers, I continue to feel grateful that God has given us each other. 

May Christ continue to help our eyes make the necessary adjustments as we were born for such a time as this. 

AMEN.

******Thank you Anna Tuckwiller, for singing the story!

Meg Lacy Vega Church Business, Leadership Roundtable, Soul Care

Soul Care Week Two: Wearing Skin

Are our bodies important for our spiritual lives?

Join us on the podcast this week as we muse about how wearing skin, being peoples of flesh and blood, can shape and nurture our spiritual lives.

The miracle

is not

walking on water,

but on

the earth.”

-Thich Nhat Hanh

Pray as you go: Walking Meditation

Today, notice what its like to walk on the earth.

Stand outside.
Feel the soles of your feed on the ground.
Take slow movements.
One foot.
Then the next.
Slow down the breath.
Look around you.
What do you notice?
Look within you.
What do you notice?

Give thanks for your body, for all that it does for you, for how God created you and calls your body “good.”

“Walking meditation, whether in a labyrinth or in a park, is a physical expression of the interior journey towards Christ. Like a pilgrimage, forms of walking meditation evoke our earthly journey towards heaven while simultaneously giving us time and space to listen and respond to God.”
– Stephen Barany

Family Activity: NATURE SCAVENGER HUNT

This week’s family activity invites you to walk in nature.

You can do this in your back yard, at a park, or around your neighborhood.
As you walk, be willing to slow down, to observe, bend and reach and notice how your body opens and relaxes in the process of finding the things listed in the Nature Scavenger Hunt card.

At the end, have each family member name on thing they are grateful their body can do, and give thanks to God.

tbc Church Business, Media

MEMBER ACTION REQUIRED: THIS WEEK’S VOTE ON RECEIVING FUNDS FROM THE PAYCHECK PROTECTION PROGRAM.

Member Action Required. from Sterling W. Severns on Vimeo.

This video features Kristen O’Sullivan, Director of our Child Care Center Ministry, and Terry McMahon, Chair of our Administrative Board. They offer timely and specific information on this week’s vote on church approval of receiving funds from the Paycheck Protection Program. 

We have no idea when to expect a call from the bank to secure the $212,900 grant/loan. However, when the call comes we need to be ready. If we miss our window, we may not have access to the funds anytime in the foreseeable future. Thus, we need to break our usual protocol in providing two weeks notice prior to this type of vote. The grant/loan effectively becomes “forgivable” as long as we abide by the specific guidelines. It will make a significant/positive impact on life and ministry in the church. The Administrative Board unanimously recommends that we proceed with securing the grant/loan.

CLICK HERE FOR INFORMATION ON HOW TO VOTE and the Q&A Sheet.

Please help us spread the word, church members can vote anytime BETWEEN the bookends of Thursday, April 23 through 5:00 PM on Sunday, April 26.

We’re in this together!

Meg Lacy Vega Church Business, Media, Soul Care

Soul Care Week One: Becoming Present

The best preparation 

for a life of prayer

is simply to become

more intensely human


-Kenneth Leech

The practice of presence is about paying attention, waking up to the world around us. Each day this week we will post meditations, images, poetry and activities inviting us to become present–in our surroundings, with our deepest selves, and with the Spirit of God.

Pray As You Go: Breath Prayers

Breath prayers are brief prayers found in scripture that we can offer in any moment, using the inhale and exhale of our breath. They are a link that help us stay connected to God’s presence within us, and within the world. Below are some examples of prayers, but there are limitless possibilities if there is a particular Scripture you wish to pray. Each of these prayers follows the rhythm of the breath, the first line being offered on the inhale and the second line being offered with the exhale.

When I am afraid,
I will trust in you.

The Lord is my Shepherd,
I shall not want.


Be still,
and know.

Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
(this is a form of the Jesus prayer)

Family Activity: BLOWING BUBBLES

Rainbow bubbles, bouncing bubbles, big bubbles, and small bubbles — bubble blowing can be  fun family activity as the weather gets warmer. This practice brings awareness to your breath and your child’s breath as they blow out bubbles. “Listen to your breath” is a gentle way to focus attention on Practicing the Presence.

Communion
tbc Church Business

Partaking in Communion this Sunday.

We will partake of communion each Sunday during this Easter Season.

The diversity of our unique theological heritages is one of our God’s greatest gifts at Tabernacle. One of markers of the gift is our diverse convictions about the Lord’s Supper. We believe that Jesus opens the table to everyone. That said, we also believe that each person should remain true to their convictions.  Some of us were raised in traditions that believe communion should only be received after someone has been baptized or confirmed, while others were raised to believe that no specific criteria is required for participation. There is a wide assortment of beliefs about the symbolism and meaning of communion.


We are a priesthood of all believers, an eclectic and beautiful circle of Jesus followers. We celebrate our differences. We make space for people to grow in their understanding of theology while also honoring the places we’ve come from. 


We want you to know that it’s okay for you, or your loved ones, to partake of the elements if you feel that it is appropriate.

tbc Church Business, Media

Easter Ritual

We gather in quiet. Sunlight streams into the darkness as doors are opened. The very candle we extinguished on Good Friday enters the room. The candle is passed throughout the Sanctuary until it is finally placed amid a wreath of flowers. 

We light the candle and proclaim, “He is Risen”!

….and the celebration begins.