Ground Rules

Dear Members and Friends of Living Table UCC,

This past Sunday we concluded our worship series, Living into Pentecost, in which each Sunday was framed by one of the four movements of worship liturgy. These phrases are not written in a rulebook some place. They are simply one way of describing the flow and intentions of worship. Can you recall them with me?

Showing Up . . . Sinking In . . . Shape-Shifting . . . Shining Out . . .

We will continue to be guided by this frame as we enter our next four-week worship series, entitled, Ground Rules. Each Sunday we’ll wrestle with some of Jesus’ most pithy and potent instructions about what is required of us if we choose to walk the way Jesus’ walked and love the way Jesus loved. If this series had a subtitle, it might be, Ugh! Jesus Wants Me to Do What?!

Here are the Scripture passages for the series.

            July 10             Matthew 7:3-5            First the log; and then, the speck.

            July 17             Matthew 7:1-2            Judge not that you be not judged.

            July 24             Matthew 5:38-42        Turn the other cheek (and surprise the one who hit you . . .).

            July 31             Matthew 5:43-46        Love your enemies and pray for those who hurt you.

These are compelling instructions and SO difficult to practice consistently! Furthermore, such practices require a willingness to see oneself clearly and, in all likelihood, to change one’s thinking and behavior. Such shifts are made exponentially easier within a community of praxis like Living Table UCC.

Will you come be a part of such a daring practice? I’m confident that if Jesus walked in to teach us this Sunday, he’d remind us we are not alone; and that – together – we can do these hard things!