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GREETING (responsively) The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you And also with you. The risen Christ is with us. Praise the Lord! OPENING PRAYER (all) Almighty and everlasting God, in whom we live and move and have our being, you created us for yourself, So that our hearts are restless until they…

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Leading Worship evaluation sheet

Response to “Leading Worship” course November, 2024 Name: Local Church: 1. What I most appreciated (or) found most meaningful was: 2 What I’d like to say to Betsy Schwarzentraub as teacher: 3. What I’d like to tell others about Betsy’s book, Tossed In Time Expanded Edition: 4. After participating in this planning retreat, I’d like…

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The Understory

I was moved by Rebecca Janzen’s article, “Healing from the ground up,” in the Nov. ’24 issue of The Christian Century. In it she reviews a new book called The Understory: An Invitation to Rootedness and Resilience from the Forest Floor. In The Understory the author, Lore Ferguson Wilbert, moves back and forth between personal…

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Advent Devotion Based on John 1:1-5

“In the beginning,” John says—the very beginning, as “when God began to create” in Genesis chapter one, verse one. So here is a new genesis: God’s speaking the Word of Love incarnate, in the One we would come to know in human history as Jesus of Nazareth. But not only Him. God’s love is embodied…

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Hanging of the Greens: Their Origin and Meaning

Excerpts from an article by Tracy L. Meyers The Hanging of the Greens occurs annually at the start of Advent* and is a multisensory communal event. . . . ADVENT = a time of preparation for Christmas and preparing ourselves for a new year living in the presence of God through our relationship with his…

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Electronic Resources for Advent & Lent Planning Retreat 9/2024

In addition to print book, Tossed in Time Expanded Edition: Steering by the Christian Seasons (includes season themes, questions, and activities) For the Christian Year 1. Dr. Marcia McFee, worship consultant: Worship Design Studio Partnership with the California-Nevada Annual Conference: You Tube uploads from Marcia McFee (317 of them!): https://www.youtube.com/@marciamcfee5248 including The Inn Advent Worship…

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Flipping Expectations thread for Lent, Year C

1st Sun. 3/9/2025 God is our Refuge. Don’t put God to the test. Week: Testing God Luke 4:1-13 – Jesus tested by devil: We don’t live by bread alone; Worship only God; Don’t put God to the test. Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16 – God my refuge, fortress, and dwelling place. God rescues those who know God’s…

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The Technology of Time

“From Scrolls to Scrolling” is a fascinating article about the “technology” of Judaism. Ever since the COVID pandemic, I’ve been intrigued by the Christian worship seasons and the reassuring framework they give to help us steer our way through time, so this piece in the latest issue of The Plough immediately caught my eye. J.…

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Nourishing Our Souls

“Nourishing Our Souls” was the name of a retreat I attended recently. It was led by colleague and friend Rev. Maggie McNaught. She’s a therapist, spiritual director, and minister, but don’t let that fool you. She doesn’t live inside a conventional religious box. She’s always reaching out for the Spirit, beyond the usual parameters. I…

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Another Look at the Book of Job

Who knew that reading the Book of Job would be about so much more than just dealing with unfair suffering – as if that weren’t enough! Chapter by chapter, the Book breaks down our conventional wisdom that denies the suffering of innocents. Reading it is not for the faint of heart! But as I read…

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Post-Pandemic Resilience

These are more than just “tough days.” Ever since emerging from the pandemic, it seems we’ve been ripping away at our own social fabric, with take-no-prisoners politics, arbitrary violence, and Armageddon thinking. If there was ever a time requiring resilience, we could say it is now. “Resilience” is actually something scientists have been studying. They…

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This Week In Between

Reign of Christ Sunday is hardly a household phrase, much less its earlier designation (begun in the 1920s), “Christ the King Sunday.” This is a special worship day – the end and climax of the entire Liturgical Year – that points to an important head-and-heart experience for a follower of Jesus. It celebrates the sovereignty…

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No Chicken Little

I’ve never been the Chicken Little type of person to cry, “The sky is falling!” But I do believe in taking a sober look around when necessary to reassess the situation, in order to search for some genuinely good news. That’s why now is an essential time to reassess our need for a stronger foundation…

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An Intrinsic Writer

Yesterday was the twelfth anniversary of my mom’s passing. I’m proud of her vibrant legacy. She was an intrinsic writer infused with high-energy living. Officially a traditional homemaker until she was fifty. Mom was basically a community advocate and organizer whose commitment arose out of following that radical1 Jesus. She entered Stanford at age sixteen,…

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Reading Wide

I read an interesting book review in the Christian Century encouraging Christians to read – and not just the Bible. It was Erik Hoeke’s review of Jessica Hooten Wilson’s new book, Reading for the Love of God: How to Read as a Spiritual Practice. It’s a good bet that readers of the Christian Century, the…

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