Lord, teach me. . . .

A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination. –Nelson Mandela There are times, it seems, when we are living in a two-part world: the part where our emotions take charge and help us understand and relate to one another; and the side of life that calls for reason, logic and rational discernment. For some reason, life seems simpler to manage if we parse it up. (What’s that expression about the only way to eat an elephant? One bite at a time?) And within our churches, there are those who insist God is only to be understood in one’s heart. Even John Wesley trusted God only when his heart was strangely warmed at Aldersgate. But—and this is a BIG but (I cannot lie. . .)—John Wesley also read and learned from everything he could get his hands on: Catholic tracts and treatises, secular books and pamphlets and more. John Wesley understood that he was created with an inquisitive mind, and God intended for him to use that mind to better understand God. Jesus’

The thrill of coming home has never changed. –Guy Pearce We have been on a long journey together. It began as a dream: a desire to become truly one congregation, a place where God’s grace and agape love flow freely, uninhibited, to all. We wanted our worship space to reflect the openness of the Kingdom, too, the hope and promise of a future where love wins and peace prevails, while honoring the saints who paved the way, brave souls from whom we have learned so much. Our “extended summer” in the Great Hall has given us time. Time to reflect, to take a break—to be open to the new and different ways God’s Holy Spirit is moving and working among us, transforming lives and hearts. It has also given us time to mourn together, even as we celebrate and anticipate what lies ahead. It’s okay—normal and healthy, even—to have mixed emotions about our renovated Sanctuary. And now, finally, it is complete. We gather this morning for the first time in this new space. We have returned

What’s prayer? It’s shooting shafts into the dark. What mark they strike, if any, who’s to say? It’s reaching for a hand you cannot touch. The silence is so fathomless that prayers like plummets vanish into the sea. . . . Prayer is the wind that fills the sail. And sometimes, by God’s grace,  a prayer is heard.  –Frederick Buechner A group of dedicated believers has chosen October to be a month of prayer for the nation, culminating with the remembrance of those who have gone before, on All Saints’ Day. As we celebrate a fresh commitment as a united church family, fulfilling a promise we made to ourselves, it seems fitting to focus our minds and hearts even more , and perhaps imagine our prayers as outreach into the world. We have grown tremendously as a praying congregation. We pray as one heart, in private and even >gasp< in public! We are discovering that in praying for one another, our own deepest longings are often satisfied. Even more intriguing: we are s