Let’s Not Do This

When you think about your story of faith, is there a season where you felt especially burdened by the teachings and ideas around you? Kimberly Culbertson follows up her October 1st message, “Rethinking Priesthood” with a reminder of three areas, Problematic Sexual Ethic, Religious Responsibility, and Disregard for Self, where we should reconsider how religious leaders have set limitations to reinforce their own power instead of offering mercy to the marginalized. [Matthew 23:1-5]

Reflection

• What burden might God be trying to lift from your shoulders this morning?

God Loves Every Part

What does a hug from God feel like? On this Fifth Sunday, Vanessa Maleare, leads our entire community, including our younger ones from Greenhouse and Zamyn, in a wonder moment. She reminds us that God loves us holistically, including our being, thoughts, and feelings [Genesis 1:1-5, 26-27, 31]

Reflection

• Which song or breath practice might you deepen?

Resources

• Film: Inside Out by Disney’s Pixar

Marcus Clarke, Resident Artist at Vesper, enters into a conversation with Weylin Lee exploring how art articulates and forms us along our spiritual journey, and encourages us to see our various callings as part of exercising our God given creativity. [Genesis 1:1-5, 26-27, 31]

Reflection

• How are we invited to practice creativity and co-create with Creator?

Resources

• Website: Studio Delmar.  The artistic practice of Marcus Clarke

 https://www.delmar.work/

What is Collective Discernment?

How do we create a community of equals that resists becoming a cult of personality… that resists celebrity culture? Gena St. David wraps up our fall series on non-hierarchy by inviting us to recall the wisdom we’ve gained from each of our teaching team’s perspectives and practicing collective discernment by listening deeply to the Spirit, our bodies, and to on another as we navigate community conversations and practices. [Philippians 2:1-2]

Reflection

• What questions are alive inside me today?

How do we exercise power effectively and holistically? Christopher Mack examines different organizational models and what characteristics might characterize a faith community moving beyond non-hierarchy. [Philippians 4:1-7]

Reflection

• In a crisis, where do you tend to look for safety, control, or influence?

Resources

• Book: Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations by Frederic Lafloux

What hesitancies do you have when you consider yourself in relation to priesthood? Kimberly Culbertson explores how we are invited to be hope carriers, resource facilitators, and sacrificial relators as we live out a shared calling. [1 Peter 2:4-5, 9]

Reflection

• How have you been called out of darkness into marvelous light? 

Resources

• Book: Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church by Rachel Held Evans

How can we grow from engaging tensions in our world? Vanessa Maleare shares her story of being shaped by tension in living out her calling, while reflecting on the story of Peter living in the tension of past failure and present affirmation.  [John 21:18-22]

Reflection

• Where in your life are you fleeing from tension?

Resources

• Book: Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone by Brené Brown

How is a practice of shared leadership resistance against oppressive and harmful structures? Weylin Lee vulnerably reflects on the journey of Vox from hierarchy toward non-hierarchy and how this practice is a form of resistance.  [Philippians 2:1-8]

Reflection

• Who are the voices we need to include at the table?

Resources

• Podcast: The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill by Christianity Today

What has been your experience of (non)hierarchy in faith communities? At the beginning of our Fall vision series, Gena St. David interrogates our relationship to power and experience of hierarchy in light of a nonviolent messiah who embodied humility.  [Philippians 2:5-8]

Reflection

• What are the strengths and shadows of hierarchy?

Resources

• Podcast: The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill by Christianity Today

How do you work through your expired dreams? On the eve of our Fall vision series, Christopher Mack ponders how setbacks, dead ends, failure, and loss shape our spirituality. How might we see ourselves and one another with new eyes of hope, imagination, and solidarity for the journey ahead?  [Exodus 3:1-15]

Reflection

• How have you been shaped by expired dreams?

Resources

• Book: Does God Have a Big Toe? Written by Marc Gellman and illustrated by Oscar de Miejo