Church guide

Easter by Rev. Bob Evans It seems the more I digest the mysteries surrounding the declaration of eternal life made by the disciples of the one called, Christ, the more at a loss for words I become. It is not good for a preacher to run out of words, but the most important word for Easter that comes to the surface from my inmost self is, “Love.” As gravity is the glue that holds the universe together, Love is the force that gives life to, and drives the creative impulse that brings us into existence. Easter reveals to us Divine Ecstatic Love, and that God is the eternal verb continually making things new. Easter’s Loving message is also the answer, for many, to humanity’s question of whether or not there is any meaning to life and what its source of power is. The “Catch 22” in these statements is that they are only true for “believers.” “Believers in what?” some might ask. First, it is simply to believe that there is an answer to our question concerning life and our place in it. Jesus is at the center of Christian believer’s search for meaning, so we look at his actions and words left to us by his disciples that, in many ways, only seem to complicate our search. Many take the words of our scripture as literal history, while others see them as poetry, metaphor, and using the symbols of prophetic language and archetypical images to quicken our hearts to an awareness of our communion with, Beingness, and eternal life. Easter is the final conflict between selfishness and selflessness, between what we ought to do and what we really do, between who we think we are and who we are in the eye of the Creative Mystery we call, God. The cross symbolizes that point where finite time intersects with the eternal in which, in the words of an Emmylou Harris song, “There is no time, but there is day and night.” Of course, this is where, what Christians call the, “Judgement,” takes place; this is the place we let go of selfishness. Those of us who are disciples of Christ have taken up our cross and determined to follow Jesus in letting go of the false self. This has to do with riding ourselves of our sacred biases which are those judgmental prejudices that allow us to look at others as less worthy, while claiming them as God given. It is these prejudices that keep us from becoming aware of our purpose and meaning as children of the Eternal. These must be, in the words of our myth, “crucified on the cross.” But that is only part of the disciple’s journey to the cross and resurrection with Jesus; we must replace these biases with compassion, mercy and Divine Love for all creation. Easter is the celebration of this awareness of one’s true self as an eternal part of God’s image which can only be comprehended by the believer who has learned to let go of his or her sacred biases while becoming a vessel of God’s Love. Jesus’ entire life is depicted as dedicated to doing God’s will and revealing God’s gift of Divine Communion empowered by “Love Divine, All Love’s Excelling.” Jesus path to the cross is written to instill in us a heart big enough to love others enough to die for them as he did. This journey teaches us to see creation more clearly through the eye of God, which is to make God’s name known and is synonymous with the meaning of “Resurrected with Christ.”

Maundy Thursday Service April 18 - 7:00 p.m. Did you ever wonder what the word "Maundy" means? Read on...

END STAGE Improv and Discussion Sponsored by Monroe Library and the Monroe Church COME! It's FREE!

Another delicious, sold out meal. Thank you to all who helped plan, prepare, cook and serve. Thank you to Anne Devin for leading the kitchen. And thanks to the diners who come out to support our little church. We always have so much fun.

Korean Supper prep underway. We’re sold out with a long waiting list! Kimbap (Korean sushi) assembly line. (Nothing raw.)

Palm Sunday Service Sunday | April 14th | 9:00 "No matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here!"

Lost Coin; Lost Sheep; Lost Child Based on Luke 15:1-32 Usually the church as a whole concentrates on Luke 15:11b-32, but I look at this as a mistake, as it must also include the two parables Jesus challenges his listeners to answer that he tells just before the story we now call, “The Prodigal Son.” I say this because the parable of the Prodigal Son is the climax of three parables that are in reality, one. Two of the parables have to do with precious and needed items that are lost, but both of these lost items have no responsibility of their own for becoming lost. The shepherd who loses one sheep feels the absolute responsibility for the safety of the sheep and for the negative effect the loss would have on him personally. He is compelled by all that he is to find the lost sheep. Accordingly, the woman who has lost one of ten coins is equally distraught and knows she is responsible for the loss. It is interesting that the woman may have coins, but not sheep…? Still, she lights a lamp, sweeps the house and searches carefully for this lost coin that is a tenth of her living. Each silver coin was about a day’s wages. The prodigal Son, who becomes lost, seems to have no one following him, or looking for him when he becomes lost and has also lost all of his inheritance. This is important, because when the son asks his father for his share of his inheritance, he is saying, “I’m all grown up and am now responsible for myself.” If we declare ourselves to be grownup, we accept fully the responsibility that comes with “free will.” This is our inheritance, free will, and is the gift that causes us to get lost, but it is also the gift that rescues us. I said that for the poor lost offspring, who has wandered into the lowest possible position in the world as someone who feeds the pigs, which for the Jews is horrible, there is no one looking for him/her, but I did not say, “we,” are not found; (of course this parable has to do with our own spiritual journeys) we, or whoever may be lost, are found by the, “memory of home,” that translates into the Word of God that carries the unforgettable message of family, love, grace and a meaningful life. God does not come looking for us because God has never left us, but is only waiting for us to remember how good we have it at “Home.” Then, very much like, Dorothy, in the Wizard of Oz, we find ourselves coming to our senses rejoicing that God’s Word took root in our hearts and called us into communion with our home of Holiness inherited from our Creator. I will comment on the rise of a jealous streak in the sibling who forgets to celebrate the return of a family member at another time, but it is surely something for us to think about. Peace, Pastor Bob

Favoritism’s Consequences: And Love’s The humanity shaming attack that just took place in New Zealand should appear to everyone who becomes aware of it as absolutely, shamelessly evil. But one of the inherent and horrible truths in this opening sentence is the fact that I feel compelled to say, “…should appear…as absolutely, shamelessly evil.” I have surrendered to the fact that there are people who not only do not see it as evil, but rather as some sort of justice served. It is not. In the mythic language of several of humanity’s most revered, sacred myths, the attack that took place in New Zealand was done by a person whose father/mother is an evil demon. This does not refer to the perpetrator’s literal parents. The meaning of this mythic expression is, this person allowed himself to be lured into a paradigm of self-righteous hate by unbridled selfishness and an unimaginable feeling of self-worth created by, existential fear and a fear of being worthless. The world view of this person is maintained and given power and authority by a terrorist’s vision of a god who expresses favoritism, promises a self-satisfying reward, and jealously pours out punishment on any who refuse to worship this pettiness. Of course when something as indescribable as the murder of human beings praying together, in this case Muslims, we hear many people echoing each other with, “Well, what about the Christians in, wherever, or the Jews, or those LGBTQ people who were killed and so on - and sadly - so on. Really these are all equally good questions that, like the questions we have for this new slaughter of sacred life in New Zealand, need also to be answered. The truth is, asking the questions in this way reveals to us the root of the problem. “Well! What about Me?!” These questions will not be answered until we have the courage to deny any vision of God that is not unqualifiably loving; any vision of God that does not completely reject favoritism and any vision of God that inherently suggests that any particular religious tradition has a monopoly on God and/or on God’s grace. Such beliefs only empower others to become narcissistic, time bombs waiting to prove how much she/he is willing to sacrifice for his/her demon father for some misunderstood reward. All traditions are guilty of feeding these dark sides of our human nature through misinterpreted truth. Christianity refers to this misinterpretation of truth as, Wormwood, and we all need to exclude any teachings that reek of favoritism and reward. The Good News is, no matter what religion we are, or even if we are a humanist, agnostic, or whatever, of all of these approaches to how to exist together on this planet, we do not have to give up on our specific life-anchor, or change religions. All of these paths that help to lead us through the chaos of life lift up “selfless love,” or, for the religious, Divine Love, as the most powerful of all of life’s eternally satisfying gifts. This is the most Creative and Unifying force in existence and how to love divinely is the central teaching of all the highest of our philosophers and prophets. All of us who recognize the wondrous power of Divine Love, let us lift it up continually in all that we do and in such a manner that its goodness cannot be denied except by only the blackest of hearts. If what I believe about the Power and Goodness of Divine Love is just partially true, and if we can truly lift this Love to the forefront of our lives, even these hearts will find peace and be made new. Let us gift everyone with a chance to be loved into God’s Goodness for Goodness’ sake. Peace, Pastor Bob Evans

“Temptation and the, ‘Word is Not Far From Our Lips’” Written by Pastor Bob What does it mean that: “The Word is not far from our lips,” and how does this saying play a part in the vision quest of Jesus? If we just pay a little attention to what Jesus says to his, “Shadow Side,” identified as, Satan the Tempter, in this particular parable found in Luke 4:1-13, after he has fasted for forty days and is very hungry and thirsty. We must ask ourselves, “Who is hungry and thirsty, and for what?” The symbol, “shadow self,” was coined by, Carl Jung, and refers to that part of us that assumes our identity, the image we have of our selves fostered on us by how others see us and shaped by the biases of our particular paradigm. The shadow self is dedicated basically to the needs and desires of the flesh and is the demon that becomes us as it possesses and tempts all of us to conform to the world. The temptations of Jesus in the wilderness show us the way in which we may dominate this other side of us, so that its power to destroy is converted into the power to create. In the Gospel of Thomas,* Jesus uses the all-powerful king of the jungle, the “lion” to symbolize the Satan and/or the shadow self who competes for our identity. Jesus says to his disciples, “Blessings on the lion that the human will eat, so that the lion becomes human. And cursed is the human that the lion will eat, and the lion will become human” (saying #7, Gospel of Thomas). As you read through what Jesus is tempted by you will find they are all the powerful temptations of the world and of the flesh. These temptations are actually for things we need - only taken to the extreme. We need bread, we need social recognition, we need to have courage; we just do not need more than our share. We need to eat, but should feed the body, mind and soul and not just on the bread that feeds the flesh. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says to Satan we need to live on every word that comes from the mouth of God. We are created to be social, but we wish to see ourselves as some sort of “masters’ over others, or at least better off, certainly not too far behind others, in our social network and many take our social needs to an extreme by wanting to control more than their own space and others become despots controlling large portions of the world. This urge for the things of the world becomes so powerful we pursue its illusive prizes that do nothing but draw us away from God and our real purpose in life, which is to be a servant to all of God’s people. We are created to be an extension of God’s grace; these are the true masters of the universe, to use contemporary language. Of course the biggest temptation for humanity is the one of hubris and narcissism especially to the extent that we think ourselves to be somehow favored, chosen, or protected by God because, you know yourself to be God’s child. Does even Jesus make this mistake? According to the Gospel of Mark he cries out to God from the cross, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Did Jesus make the mistake of thinking he would be protected in the end from the Romans, because he was God’s son? How does Jesus defeat the temptation that life bombards us with and that our shadow self declares to be the necessary pursuits of a purposeful life? Jesus judges what is right by the Word of God that he is to live on, as described in the first temptation. It is not far from his lips because the word resides in his heart, as well as all of ours. God’s Word is also in our hearts. We know in the depths of our unprotected hearts what is just and what is not, and we know what it is we ought to do and what is “good.” We just need the courage that faith, hope, and love give birth to, and let it move us through life accordingly. The problem is that we have pursued the things of the world for so long that we do not recognize the Word when it speaks to our hearts and, like addicts, we cannot dare let go of our favorite biases, some that we have even mistakenly called, “sacred.” These sacred biases we all have are very powerful temptations and are the source of the Satan’s power, they are that which shelters the shadow self and the hunger at the heart of the ravenous lion. Paul says in Romans 10, “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart.” He also says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” As we think about this during Lent, let us discover the true name of God that we might pray selflessly and rightly, with our hearts unprotected from God’s gaze by our own sacred biases. Let us give them up that we might hear the Word that is not far from our lips; the Word of life that brings peace to God’s kin-dom. *The Gospel of Thomas, “The Gospel of Thomas is a collection of 114 sayings of Jesus –‘hidden sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Judas Thomas the twin recorded.’ The Gospel of Thomas is the second tractate of codex 2 of the Nag Hammadi library, where it is preserved in Coptic translation.” This is the gospel’s introduction by, Marvin Meyer. The introduction goes on to say that it was probably written in the first century and used by the early Christians in Syria, “…where Thomas was revered and his bones were venerated.”

Becoming Aware, Climbing the Sacred Mountain Based on Luke 9:28-36 Written by Pastor Bob Last Sunday we followed Jesus up the sacred, “Mountain of Revelation,” with James, Peter and John and witnessed with the disciples a changing vision of the meaning of Jesus. This story causes us to think about the many faces of God, or our many different and often conflicting visions of the Divine. There are many spiritual images taking shape in this one event and we could talk about each, such as this story declares Jesus to now be seated in the prophetic chair once held by Moses and Elijah; but I want to concentrate more on this story’s understanding that our vision of what we consider divine must always be ready to change. Our personal visions/ideas of God, the One we personally talk to, are never, nor should they be, static. All of our visions of Jesus and his revelation should always be considered, critically communicated with and questioned, by those of us following Jesus’ teachings. We need to admit that not all visions of God are equal in maturity, even if they are all necessary for those on the “Way.” As Paul says in 1st Corinthians, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face…” This still begs the question, “What face will we see?” Richard Rohr, a Catholic Priest in the Mystic tradition, states an obvious truth when he says, “Our image of God creates us.” If we are truly faithful to the one we pray to, we try to emulate in our own lives the vision of God we see in our prayers. Does the God we pray to play favorites, or, is jealous, vindictive and competitive and whose teachings foster racism and prejudice? That would allow us to be all these things. Does the God we pray to allow the domination of women by men, or does our vision of God permit slavery? You see where I am going. They say, “There is nothing new under the sun,” and this is certainly true when we speak of visions of God. It is obvious there are a plethora of images of God presented in the Bible. The first word/symbol for God in the Bible is, Elohim, a masculine plural of a feminine noun; therefore the expression, “Let ‘us’ make man…” refers to the whole gambit of gender possibilities within the Godhead, as woman and man are brought into “beingness” together in God’s Image. Visualizing God as the fullness of both male and female, makes it much easier to understand the gender possibilities that can be brought into being through the various blending of the Divine attributes. Using this image of the Divine, the writers of Genesis have God say, ‘…let “them” have dominion over…” basically everything on earth. Using this vision of God, men, women and the whole spectrum of that which may come forth in, “Elohim’s Image,” is given dominion over the earth. As we follow Jesus up the Mountain of Revelation, the inner mountain we climb in prayer, we must not be afraid to see, hear and understand what is being revealed to us. Whatever image we have of Jesus, we must always remember to hang it on the command to, Love God with all of our heart, with all of our mind, with all our soul and strength, (our entire being) and also with our entire being, love our neighbor in the same manner. If our image of the Divine cannot “hang” on this command, if it will not hold up under the scrutiny of Divine Love, our image needs to grow. Let us never be afraid to journey up the Sacred Mountain and let us never be afraid to see the Christ with new eyes and let us not be afraid to challenge our visions with the command to love selflessly.

We are having 2 (two) ASH WEDNESDAY Worship services at the church: 11 AM & 7 PM - March 6th

Italian Supper (in one post). Thanks to all who worked so hard to make this another "best one yet" success.

A few prep pics to tease tonight’s supper. We are sold out with a wait list. Here’s why:

Gnocchi making crew this morning for tonight’s sold out supper, while Eric tells us the history of cheese.

“Divine Wisdom” Based on Luke 7:24-35 “All wisdom is from the Lord, and with him it remains forever. Wisdom was created before all other things, and prudent understanding from eternity. The root of wisdom – to whom has it been revealed? Her subtleties – who knows them? There is but one who is wise, greatly to be feared, seated upon his throne – the Lord. It is the Lord who created her; he saw her and took her measure; she poured her out upon all his works, upon all the living according to God’s gift; he lavished her upon those who love him” (Ecclesiasticus, or the Wisdom of Jesus, Son of Sirach). “In the beginning was the “Word.” And the Word was with God and the Word was God” (Gospel of John, Prologue). There is much to say about Divine Wisdom, through which, our sacred writings say, all things were created. Biblical Wisdom is transcendent of worldly wisdom, so I must be wise enough to know what I do not know and to speak carefully. This Wisdom can be known to the seeker, but cannot be put into words. Here are some thoughts, even as they fall short… In Ecclesiasticus the word for “wisdom,” is, Sophia, and the Greek word for, “word,” in the Gospel of John is, Logos. Logos in John is a masculinized version of, Sophia and are both from the Greek language. Word, in John, equals, Sophia, in Ecclesiasticus and as in John, Sophia is the wisdom through which creation came into being. In the Gospel of John we are told there is nothing created unless created through the Word, and in Sirach, the author tells us that God poured out Sophia/Wisdom on all his/her works and upon all living things. What in the world might this mean? It is this Holy Wisdom we talk about today, the wisdom through which everything comes into being. This wisdom, it is said, can only come from God and cannot be learned, but only absorbed by the seeker of eternal life. To be sure, this wisdom includes both the feminine and masculine characteristics as can be seen by the practice of the ancient authors to use both feminine and masculine nouns to describe her – Sophia and Logos. But we must use both feminine and masculine nouns for the, Wisdom of God, in following with the first creation story in Genesis. In this story, the symbol for God is, Elohim. The Hebrew word, Elohim, is a masculine plural of a feminine noun. Within God is contained all the various sexual identities and tendencies that we see in creation. We are all created somewhere along the line of what we think of as the polar opposites with tendencies of both masculine and feminine. I write this for those who have been cast aside and not allowed to be the prophet God made them to be. So what does this have to do with “wisdom?” Wisdom is poured out on all creation and is not something that a race, religion, man or woman, rich or poor, John the Baptist, or Jesus can claim for themselves. As Jesus points out, John came eating locusts and honey and living the life of a dedicated holy man, while Jesus ate, drank and had a good time. Both were condemned by the religious authority. But Wisdom is poured out on all created things and beings, sentient, self-conscious and aware, or otherwise. The tiniest bit of existence, in the smallest subatomic particle – the Wisdom of God grants it the ability to move and to create. Wisdom is connected to knowledge, but knowledge is not wisdom even if knowledge is necessary in our search for the power and meaning in life. The Truth that brings power and meaning to life which Wisdom grants is not brought to life by knowledge alone. It is wisdom, revealed to the seeker by the Holy Spirit, who awakens the seeker to his/her true identity as a child of God. Wisdom understands that, “Goodness,” rules overall and, most importantly, causes us to fear the Lord. Please feel free to ask questions or comment on my posts. In conversation we can learn together…Peace, Pastor Bob

Blessed Is, As Blessed Does Written by Pastor Bob Based on “the Beatitudes” as found in Luke 6 & Matthew 5 We seem to be forever seeking a, “Blessing;” O Lord, bless this day, we pray…bless our journeys, our children, bless our nation and it goes on and on. We feel blessed to have certain things, a house, a car, driver’s license, food and this list goes on….good health, or a good doctor. Who is blessed? Who is not? Blessings can backfire. Blessings are a paradox and may injure our view of reality, or they may correct our view of reality, sometimes through painful events. It is very easy to discern what many in the ancient Jewish tradition understood as God’s blessings. Simply put, the more perfect you were physically, if you were a male, were well off and had all the food you needed and were respected in the synagogues, or you were an important political person or member of the priesthood, you were believed to be blessed by the God of Israel. In simple terms, the higher up one’s standing was in the social structure, the more you were believed to be blessed by God. Sadly, that is still the attitude in most of western Christianity. This is a very literal understanding of what the Jews thought were Divine blessings, but Jesus teaches that these are not necessarily true. In fact, if read literally, his teachings absolutely refute the Jewish traditional thinking of who is, or who is not blessed by God. Inherent in Christ’s teaching about Divine blessings is that they center on life and God’s Spiritual, Creative presence within it. We must look at the teachings contained in the Beatitudes, as with all of Christ’s teachings, from both the literal and spiritual understandings. When we do we eventually find that these teachings apply not just to the rich or to the poor in a literal sense, but rather they are truly spiritual insights for our journey to freedom with Jesus - to the Christ. Richness, health, poor in spirit, hunger and sorrow apply across the spectrum of human social structures, whether rich or poor, and are symptoms of spiritual growth that relate to our awareness, or not, of God’s presence in our lives. The teachings contained in the Beatitudes are literal in the sense that they are addressed to human beings, flesh and blood, mud and dust. Yet, they are intended to capture the ears of the spirit within us and encourage us as we continue on our spiritual journeys. The Beatitudes reassure us that the Holy One is present with us. It is the presence of God in our lives, no matter where we are on life’s journey, which adorns our lives with “Blessedness.” The Beatitudes can be seen as the, “attitudes,” we should adopt as we seek to open our innermost heart to the presence of God’s Divine Love. As an example: Luke starts with, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” Matthew says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew’s version of the Beatitudes is much more poetic while Luke is very stark in contrast and Luke also talks about those who may not be so blessed, as if those who may not be aware of God’s blessings would understand anyway. What I mean is that in order to understand a personal threat, such as those “woes” found in Luke, you must be aware that you are the one being threatened. In Luke, Jesus admits to this problem of hearing and understanding as he says, “But I say to you that ‘listen,’ (my I) Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” To be poor in spirit may be understood to admit and recognize our blindness to God’s Holy Presence. In verse 21 of Luke, Jesus is reported to have said, “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.” Matthew puts it this way, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” It is our hunger and thirst to be fully aware of the presence of God’s Holy Spirit that is at the heart of all these blessings. Christ, the Anointed One of God, in these teachings on the plain and on the mount in Luke and in Matthew, is guiding us as we are becoming “One in the Anointing.” Meditation John 13:18-20 (Christ Speaking) “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” The “world” refers to our seeing Jesus through the eyes of the flesh and perverted understanding. As we live with the attitudes of the Beatitudes in our prayer for communion with God, rather than seeing Christ through the distorted lens of the world/flesh, but we will see through the eyes of the Holy Spirit as we begin to understand the meaning of eternal life. The world cannot see the things of the Spirit; the world is cut off the instant we catch sight of Christ. In that moment, the flesh too, even in its blindness, is blessed.

Emerge and See; Luke 5:1-11 ~ ~ From Pastor Bob ~ ~ “Then there is the doctrine that scriptures were composed through the Spirit of God and that they have not only that meaning which is obvious, but also another which is hidden from the majority of readers. For the contents of scripture are the outward forms of certain mysteries and the images of divine things. On this point the entire church is unanimous…,” and he goes on to say, “…that while the whole law is spiritual, the inspired meaning is not recognized by all, but only by those who are gifted with the grace of the Holy Spirit in the word of wisdom and knowledge.” (Origen of Alexandria, On First Principles, 184-253) “My point, once again, is not that those ancient people told literal stories and that we are now smart enough to take them symbolically, but that they told them symbolically and we are now dumb enough to take them literally” (John Dominic Crossan). I am using these quotes from two doctors of the church, one from the earliest years and one from the 21st Century, to let us think about what it might mean to, cast our net into deep water, as it pertains to our spiritual journey and ability to understand the depths inherent in the, “Spirit of the Word.” This week’s Gospel story was from Luke chapter 5, and is the one in which Jesus comes along and tells Simon Peter and his fishing partners to go out onto the water and cast their nets into the deep water. Peter and the boys have already been fishing all night, they are washing their nets, they are very tired and want to go home. It is this Lukan story in which Jesus calls some of his disciples who would eventually become the Apostles. The, “Miraculous Catch of Fish,” story does not appear in Matthew or Mark, but does appear at the end of the Gospel of John as a sign of the resurrection and an event in which the Apostles “see” Jesus. In the gospels of Matthew and Mark Jesus seems to walk along the Sea of Galilee picking out certain fisherman as he goes and calls them to follow him that they might become fishers of men. To help us see what might be “under the surface, or how it might be heard we need to explore the terms being used, such as, fishermen, water, deep - and transpose these insights onto the story. In the Gospel of John, two of John the Baptist’s disciples are told to follow Jesus, as their new Master and teacher, by the Baptist who sees his disciples are ready for the next step on their spiritual journeys - that is baptism by the Holy Spirit. One of these happens to be someone named Andrew who is Peter’s brother and Andrew tells Peter, “We have found the Messiah.” Andrew and Peter are identified as, fishermen. The very next day Jesus finds Philip who follows Jesus and who, like Andrew, tells Nathaniel, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote…” The gospels describe most of these new disciples as, fisherman, but what are they fishing for? The Gospel of John seems to clear up the meaning of the use of, fisherman, to symbolize those who are consciously seeking the Holy One. In John, the disciples are seekers of the Messiah/Anointing and their vocation is made clear when Andrew and Philip relay the message to their friends and brothers, “We have found the one we’ve been looking for.” The Apostles, were, in the very beginning, seekers after God who would eventually be “fishers of people.” The story in Luke of the huge catch calls these fisherman/seekers back out onto the waters they’ve already fished that is their sacred teachings, but now they are being directed to fish the depths of the waters of the unconscious, where the Holy spirit meets with us, and told to fish “deeper.” We are called to understand that in our sacred writings there are meanings that lie deep beyond the written word, meanings that can only be understood by the heart of the true seeker after like-mindedness with the Christ. We too are called to “see” and to “hear” the things of the Holy Spirit, those secrets that lie deep in the heart of the Holy One that make our hearts leap for joy as we hear our names called with the command to fish deeper. We may hear these words in our hearts while exhausted, yet, “washing the nets,” preparing to try again. However, we cannot fish for what we seek in ignorance and in the dark of night. When we respond to the love of God within us, as disciples of the Word of Creation, we respond to the command to fish the deep waters in the daylight. We are to “seek,” “ask,” and knock, to open the door that leads deep into our own hearts where we may become like – minded with Love – with the Grace of Christ as our Master. We will all be made, “Fishers of Humanity.”

Korean Supper prep underway. We’re sold out with a long waiting list! Kimbap (Korean sushi) assembly line. (Nothing raw.)

Gnocchi making crew this morning for tonight’s sold out supper, while Eric tells us the history of cheese.

Christmas Eve Service 2014

Thank you, Joyce, for the variety of music on Sunday mornings. Thank you to all who volunteer to bring the joy of music to worship.