Our newly adopted mission statement reflects our core values of justice and compassion, which represent our public and private commitments to Christ-like acts of mercy. These values are rooted in the ancient wisdom of scripture, including teachings from Hebrew prophets and the life and witness of Jesus. This Sunday, we continue to focus on our congregation's mission and how the new community described by Isaiah invites each of us to be part of this community and its "Chorus of Generosity."

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This Sunday, we welcome guest preacher Kat Armas. Kat Armas is a Cuban American writer, speaker, and theologian from Miami, FL. She holds a ThM from Vanderbilt Divinity School, and a dual MDiv and MAT from Fuller Theological Seminary. Kat has spoken at seminaries, universities, and conferences nationwide and her work has appeared in the National Catholic Reporter—where one of her essays was shared by the pope!, Plough Magazine, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Sojornours Magazine, and more. Kat currently lives on a small farm in middle Tennessee with her family—which includes her spouse, young children, chickens, goats, pigs, dogs, and cats. Her new book was released this week. Liturgies for Resisting Empire: Seeking Community, Belonging, and Peace in a Dehumanizing World examines the ideologies of empire that infiltrate daily life and offers a pathway toward liberation. Additionally, Pastor Molly will offer a reflection on our new mission statement, as well as an invitation to participate in our fall stewardship campaign.

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During the fourth and final week of The Seasons of Origins, we are invited to imagine together a more just church and a way forward toward such a church. Imagination is essential here, and one key doctrine that limits the Church's ability to envision what it can become is Original Sin. St. Augustine developed the doctrine of original sin, which claims that we are born "marked with sin." However, through his transgressions of the Jewish purity codes, Jesus shows us that none of us is born contaminated.

We will also be observing All Saints Day. We encourage you to bring photos or mementos of loved ones you remember on this occasion to set on the altar during worship; you can bring them up to the altar before or during the prelude. After worship, please reclaim your items to take them home.

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During the third week of The Season of Origins, we are invited to seek to repair past harms through justice-focused actions. Few harms have affected Christian communities as deeply as patriarchy. Women, children, and men have, and continue to suffer under the oppressive hierarchies that patriarchal thinking promotes. We invite you to join us this Sunday as we seek out new origin stories in the life and teachings of Jesus that can guide us in healing from the harms of patriarchy.

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During the second week of The Season of Origins, we are invited to name and lament the atrocities of the past and examine the role Christian theology played in justifying those past harms. As Angelinos, we can see the harmful effects of Manifest Destiny theology all around us. However, Jesus guides us toward a new way of relating to one another in the Gospels by constantly reminding us that the love of God should motivate us to be responsible to all people, not just those within our tribe.

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Accounts of violence in the Bible, like the story of Joshua's conquest of Canaan, have been used by Christians to theologically justify violence, genocide, and war. But are these the only or main stories we should rely on when thinking about how to engage with the world? During this first week of the Season of Origins, we are invited to seek out the liberative anti-oppressive counter-stories within the Bible and our Christian tradition. As Christians, if we are to heal our past harms, we commit ourselves to living like Christ.

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Conversation is at the heart of our gatherings in The Loft; it's how we worship. On this final Sunday of our Loft 101 series, we focus on a well-known story from John's gospel, where Jesus engages in a conversation with a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. Deeply embedded in scripture, this story shows us a model for how conversation can be central to our community. Join us this Sunday as Rev. Dr. Carter is joined by Everest and Westley in the center as they discuss the importance and challenges of building a big-tent progressive Christian community.

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Compassion was fundamental to Jesus' ministry and the primary lens through which he engaged his community. At The Loft, we strive to follow Jesus' spiritual path of radical compassion and view compassion as one of our guiding values. We invite you to join us this Sunday as we explore why compassion is fundamental to our spiritual practices and essential for both inspiring and guiding our actions.

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In a world that rewards individualism, how valuable is community? At The Loft, we believe there is significant value in creating a culture of belongingness. This value is born out of our reading of the bible, where the importance of belonging is evident in the lives of the Israelites and the early Christian communities, who had communities that they belonged to, a homeplace where they were loved just for being themselves. We invite you to join us this Sunday as we explore the value of belonging with Marilyn Figueroa, an immigration lawyer and member of The Loft community, who will share her insight into the current situation we are facing with ICE and the Department of Homeland Security.

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While the dismantling of the old order began with Moses, and the prophets guided his people through their deconstruction and disorder, Jesus energized his community by teaching and practicing a new way to follow God. Jesus ushers in a new expression of the Mosaic tradition he inherited. Similarly, we are called to practice prophetic imagination, and by putting into practice what we hope for, we embody the prophetic energy, the Spirit of God, to do the work our souls must have.

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