Reflexion, A Spiritual Community

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Luke 2:10 Intro: So here we are again, with the angels and the shepherds I chose to read only these three verses, because the story is so well known - but w...

The Liturgical Calendar is a sequence of seasons, that organizes the year around the life of Jesus. Liturgical seasons Invite us to take our place in the great drama of the Gospel To take the time to experience God’s love and redemption through Spiritual rhythms and traditions shared across generations and cultures and faith communities. Practicing the liturgical calendar allows a lot of room for variety of expression, and differences between church traditions, b...

I think you most likely know that I love the Scriptures The more I read them, the more I get from them, - and the deeper I go, the richer my experience • however, the journey is not always pleasant, and ◦ some parts of the Bible are not as easy to digest as others ◦ Hosea is not one of my favorite books • still, there are verses in it that are among my favorites ◦ other than those few, working my way through Hosea, is like crawling through a long, dark tunnel ◦ but the Bible doesn’t have to p...

Years ago, I was engaged in a conversation with two friends In making a point, one of them quoted a famous evangelist, “People change–but not that much” - okay–so I reacted immediately, but kept my mouth shut • this same person stood in front of large crowds, ◦ promising them that Jesus would transform their lives ◦ that in Christ, they would become a new creation • that is the essence of the evangelical message ◦ it’s what we’ve been singing for the past 250 years “I once was lost, but now I...

Since it has been a couple of weeks, let me remind you . . . The book of Hosea is a love story – but not like a romance novel - it was never meant to entertain • God’s message came to Israel in a graphic illustration, ◦ played out in the life of his prophet • first, God told Hosea to marry a prostitute ◦ the point was to give Israel a living re-enactment of ◦ their history with God – deserting him for another god or other gods - Hosea and his wife had three children who were placed onto the s...