CC articles on old sermons, religious metaphor, surprising pets, and more.
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** Ministry matters
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I’ve mentioned before that I lead a fully online faith community focused largely on healing from church trauma. This past weekend, we had our first ever in-person retreat! Twenty of us gathered in Stony Point, NY, at the PC(USA) retreat center there—and my goodness, the weekend blew me away. This community that has only met each other in Zoom windows brought their abundant joy, curiosity, and vulnerability (and tears!). It reminded me that what we do matters when we build faithful, loving communities.
Then I hopped a plane straight to another Presbyterian haven in Montreat for the Worship & Music Conference. I must admit that this sort of thing—traditional church music in traditional church settings—I’m a little more skeptical about. But after sitting in a majestic cathedral and hearing a seemingly angelic choir, I can attest that there is real spiritual beauty here.
No new video this week due to all my retreat-hopping. But we have several poignant essays about the things that matter in faith and life: Isaac Villegas on the significance of old sermon notes ([link removed]) ; Rachel Mann on the nature of religious metaphor ([link removed]) ; and Brian Bantum on the power of a pet ([link removed]) (even an unwanted one).
Email me: What has mattered to you in your involvement in church or another faith community?
Jon Mathieu
[email protected] (mailto:
[email protected]?subject=Re%3A%20Editors%E2%80%99%20Picks)
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** The altar in my attic ([link removed])
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“The boxes in my attic are memorials to conversations with scripture, to prayers with God.”
by Isaac S. Villegas
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** Falling into metaphor ([link removed])
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“Metaphor is born. That’s how the story goes. In Eve’s act of disobedience, something new is birthed: literature and poetry, storytelling and the power of fiction to create worlds.”
by Rachel Mann
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** Transformed by the dog I never wanted ([link removed])
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“I wake up to my dog’s joy that I am there, and I realize I am changed.“
by Brian Bantum
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** In the Lectionary for June 25 (Ordinary 12A) ([link removed])
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False security is a lovely, loathsome thing.
by Kirk Byron Jones
Ordinary 12A archives ([link removed])
Get even more lectionary resources with Sunday’s Coming Premium, an email newsletter from the editors of the Christian Century. Learn more ([link removed]) .
** The sin of ableism ([link removed])
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“Erin Raffety gleans examples from her fieldwork to demonstrate how ableism operates in churches today, including through interpretations of scripture.”
Susan Willhauck reviews From Inclusion to Justice
** Waiting in line for communion ([link removed])
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“You look around. No, don’t. Look straight ahead
and concentrate on what it all should mean.
What does it mean? Remembrance—that was it. . . .”
poem by Steven Peterson
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