roadtrip to africa

well.....not literally,

but we are going to move from our usual location to st. simon's anglican church for an evening to learn from carol holmes and her recent trip to africa with the stephen lewis foundation

this is an issue close to the heart of immersn because poverty anywhere should cause pain everywhere.

attached to this is a video from bono as he spoke at the white house prayer breakfast. take a moment to watch this video

it is true that god is consistently shown to be on the side of the poor and the exploited throughout the scriptures.

in fact, jesus' ministry began with an interpetation of isaiah that was focused on setting people free from spiritual, physical and material poverty.

luke 4: 18-21 reads:

18"The Lord's Spirit
has come to me,
because he has chosen me
to tell the good news
to the poor.
The Lord has sent me
to announce freedom
for prisoners,
to give sight to the blind,
to free everyone
who suffers,
19and to say, `This is the year
the Lord has chosen.' "
20Jesus closed the book, then handed it back to the man in charge and sat down. Everyone in the meeting place looked straight at Jesus.
21Then Jesus said to them, "What you have just heard me read has come true today."

it is central to the christian message that we plead the case of the poor, hear the voice of the oppressed & see that god is more concerned with us than we are with each other. as a friend of mine recently wrote on facebook: "[i am] pretty sure that God is a humanitarian first."

amen.

here are the details:

meet @ the usual place at 7...then we'll carpool over.

OR

meet @ st. simon's at 7.15

free coffee...free snax too.

hope you can make it...let us usher in the holy week by seeking to learn more about those closest to the divine heart.

an evening of guided prayer...let us walk where angels trod.

hey gang,

tomorrow night should prove to be very unique...very powerful...very moving.

we will gather, enojy some music, then Cathy Winn will lead us in an evening of guided prayer which is something we rarely get to do (and many of you may know nothing about it) but is a wonderful discipline in which to partake.

hope you can join us as we engage the spiritual world.

what is an angel? why do we care how many of them can dance on the head of a pin?

there is something fascinating about this topic isn't there?

after all, what could be more fun [or frustrating] than trying to understand the un-understandable?

we sit with each other and we talk about demons and we look at the bible and through it all we learn that god is in love with us...that darkness is real and that we are never alone...which is both comforting and scary.

although we live in a scientific and cynical world we are beginning to realize that there is more going on out there than we can detect with our five senses. reality is not dependent on us.

with that in mind we are attempting to lay the groundwork for underdstanding the role of the spiritual beings within our own lives.

the bible takes it for granted that the spiritual world exists...that may make the material irrelevant to some but for others the idea of a spiritual world that is just as real as ours is not so outlandish.

we need to ask these questions and look for answers...we need to approach topics like this in unfamiliar ways...we are not going to intellectually comprehend this topic, we need to rationally explore with our minds and our souls.

this has proven to be an interesting discussion starter and as we discuss the role of angels in the world we take one more step closer to a deeper understanding of the supernatural world...and one more step closer to understanding our own world as well.

join us wednesday, march 18 @ 7 in the hall for food, [fair trade] coffee, snax, community, films & great discussion.

the war in heaven...the battlefield on earth

are we so sure that what we cannot see, hear, smell, touch or taste does not exist?

is it true that what we don't see truly can't hurt us?

is it outlandish to think that a supernatural world exists?

if this world exists...are they benevolent towards us?

last week a group of us gathered to sing, eat, watch, read and share on the topic of demons.

this week we will gather with more music, more food, more things to read and we will dive into the netherworld to see if we can't catch a glimpse of the war which wages on in heaven.

at the heart of the christian message is the eschatological realization of the kingdom of god. not an earthly realm but the spiritual home of yahweh and the followers/disciples of christ (not the same thing as a christian).

but we live in a world torn apart with war, violence, greed, sexual perversion, selfishness and a list that is so massive it threatens to swallow us whole.

however, we are children of hope and our gospel is an attempt to radically subvert the current state of things (not by wearing crappy shirts with stupid logos on them that supposedly i.d. us as christians) and offer hope to a dark and (possibly) dying world.

we are creators and creations, hope-givers and hope-needers, we are the called and the calling, we are both angels and demons.

let's talk about it.

mar 11...7pm.
bring your soul, we'll supply the coffee.

angels & demons

we are children of another world.

we are in this world but not of this world.

there are children of darkness.

there are children of light.

celestial beings...and evil creatures of malice.

in north america ideas like these seem like fantasy & myth (or the fodder for teen vampire books)

however, one of the truths of the christian faith is that we are indeed engaged in a spiritual conflict with cosmic importance. the bible is full of supernatural encounters..even before the time of jesus.

what are we, 2000 years later, to make of this?

thus begins our newest series: angels & demons...a look at the supernatural.

this wednesday, march 4th we will begin by talking about lucifer. who is he? where did he come from? what do we think about him?

join us...no doubt an interesting & fascinating evening of discussion is in store.

7pm....in the hall.