FPC Bellingham

In a recap of our Lent 2023, where we read and discussed The Cultivated Life, the author Susan S. Phillips joins Pastor Doug and First Presbyterian Church to discuss the pursuit of a cultivated life.

Pastor Kerrie shares about her upcoming sabbatical and how she plans to embody the rhythms of Psalm 23. Hint: there are green pastures, still waters, shadowed places, and the table.

The Divine Shepherd

A Psalm of David.

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures;

he leads me beside still waters;

3 he restores my soul.

He leads me in right paths

for his name’s sake.

4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley,

I fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord

my whole life long.

Lent 2023: What helps you bear good fruit?

Welcome to our Lent 2023 podcast series, where we spend time discussing The Cultivated Life, by Susan S. Phillips. Pastor Doug, Pastor Kerrie, and Jocelyn Meyer finish our discussion by talking about bearing fruit, building significant soil, and being violently pruned - in reflection of Chapter 12 and the Conclusion. Scripture read by Emersyn Ahrenholz.

Galatians 5:22–26

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.

Lent 2023: What helps you be a good friend?

John 15:12-15

This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that a person will lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.

Welcome to our Lent 2023 podcast series, where we spend time discussing The Cultivated Life, by Susan S. Phillips. This week Pastor Doug is joined by Isis Marks in reflection on Chapters 7 and 8 which is all about attachment and spiritual direction. The scripture is read by Estelle Blue, and Pastor Kerrie adds some thoughts on how to trustingly connect in our family systems.

2 Timothy 4:9-11

Do your best to come to me soon, for Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me in ministry. 

2 Timothy 4:21-22 

Do your best to come before winter. Eubulus sends greetings to you, as do Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brothers and sisters. The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.

Welcome to our Lent 2023 podcast series, where we spend some time discussing The Cultivated Life, by Susan S. Phillips. This week Pastor Doug is joined by Joan Lotze and Mel Freal in reflection on Chapters 6 and 7, and scripture is read by Isla Louws.

Welcome to our Lent 2023 podcast series, where we spend some time discussing The Cultivated Life. This week Pastor Doug is joined by Pastor Kerrie and Rob Veith in a reflection on Chapters 4 and 5. This week's scripture is read by Aven Bates.

Hebrews 4:1-11

Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest is still open, let us take care that none of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For indeed the good news came to us just as to them; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,

                “As in my anger I swore, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’”

though his works were finished at the foundation of the world. For in one place it speaks about the seventh day as follows, “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” And again in this place it says, “They shall not enter my rest.” Since therefore it remains open for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he sets a certain day—“today”—saying through David much later, in the words already quoted,

               “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not speak later about another day. So then, a sabbath rest still remains for the people of God; for those who enter God’s rest also cease from their labors as God did from his. Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall through such disobedience as theirs.

Reference Links from this weeks discussion:

The Ezra Klein Show, "Sabbath and the Art of Rest".

The book "Sabbath", by Abraham Heschel.

Welcome to our Lent 2023 podcast series, where we spend some time discussing The Cultivated Life. This week Pastor Doug is joined by Pastor Kerrie and Jocelyn Meyer in reflecting on chapters 1, 2, and 3.  The scripture is read by Johnny Meyer.

Mark 4:3-9

“Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. And when the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much.” And He was saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

We kick off our Lent 2023 podcast series with Doug and Kerrie talking to Susan Phillips, author of The Cultivated Life. FPC is seeking time this Lent to make room in our days to read and reflect on the practices of cultivation found in her book.

We want to encourage you to not just read this book, but to savor it. To slowly enjoy it. This is not a sports drink that you gulp down, this is a decadent Bordeaux that you slowly sip and enjoy. Slow down as you read, relax, enjoy and digest the wisdom in these pages. To do that you may need to make some time in your schedule. Voila - this is Lent - and we encourage you to abstain from something you do regularly for these 40 days and use that time to enjoy this book.

As mentioned in the podcast, Susan is leading a Contemplative Lenten Retreat on March 4, 2023 at 9:30 am.

Today we hear a story about Thresholds, recorded live at the Vespers service on January 8th, 2023.

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, or check out our website at www.fpcbellingham.org.

Storyteller: Kerrie Bauer

Host: Jocelyn Meyer