July 23rd, 2006 - Sunday Service

Kelly performed the music with Matt, David and me at the service. The sanctuary was warm due to the hot, humid weather. Pastor Dayle back from San Antonio and Spokane the Sunday before.

The blueprints for Phase 2 and Phase 3 building went up on the bulletin board in the narthex and there was an excited buzz after the service. There were no dollar figures and currently we are hearing overall giving is down during the summer so there is the normal hesitancy that is associated with where plans might go from here.

Preparations were underway for Creator Day Camp which has a strong reputation in the area. Sharilyn made an announcement about the material they still needed and request for a host family for a night of entertaining.

Pastor Dayle's sermon was about taking rest with Jesus. Pastor Dayle juxtaposed the 23rd psalm and a Nora Jones song called Come Away With Me. There was a nice interplay between the words of each. The song is a love song, the psalm is a prayer. Thinking of a love song as a prayer usually brings a fertile perspective and additional understanding to the song. It reminds me of the poetry of Rumi and his blending of love, God and the power of intoxication.

She also talked about the theme for the San Antonio Yought Gathering. There was a word “Cruzando” which means crossing. They talked about crossing boundaries. Boundaries that lead to new life. They talked about crossing boundaries of lands of physical poverty and pain. Hopeless places.

I finished reading Jeannette Winterson's Weight. It is an updated telling of the myth of Atlas and Hercules. The title obviously was about the weight of the worl on Atlas but it turned out the author was also referring to the weight of the future, and of our own fate determined by who we are and the choices we feel we must make. We have root cultural stories and when they shift our lives our shifted. Winterson imagines Atlas does not hold the weight of the world forever. One day he decides tot take the world from off his shoulder. When he does the world does not careen out of orbit, nor is there a catastrophe. Nothing happens. Atlas simply walks off with a dog that has grown dear to him.

So I had a different boundary to cross in my mind as Pastor Dayle spoke. Still it had much to do with rest and recovery for a journey ahead.

I appreciated the fellowship after the service today. I always enjoy the instrumental after the service. It means that sometimes it is hard to get involved in the conversations that are already established after the service. After this service I was expecting the heat would clear people out of the building quickly but many stayed and I found a number of people to converse with and get caught up on what was going on in their lives.

Not an unusal service; simply word, sacrament and music we offered back to God to celebrate God's presence in our lives.