2009 Jeff Street Retreat Slideshow

2009 Jeff Street Retreat

Sermon Excerpts

Cindy
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

Over the years since we started this blog, one thing we have done on a regular basis is offer up sermon excerpts here. I thought it might be helpful to create a compendium of these and so. Some of these individual links are to excerpts that run more than one post, so you may have to look a bit further for the rest of the story...



Outsider Art, by Cindy W
Yewt Sunday, by Sarah and Riley
Earth Sunday 2009, by Chie
For Freedom!, by Cindy W
Mindful Living, by Cindy G
Listening as Prayer, by Michelle
Earth Day 2008, by Donna
Fear's the Way You Die, by Roger
A Promise, by Cindy W
Baptism by Flood, by Karen
Radical Breaks, by Cindy W
Hospitality as Resistance, by Cindy W
Tower of Babel, by Rick
Reformation Sunday, by Michael
Life is a Cabaret, by Kevin
Story from Clarence Jordan, by Roger
Standing Up, by Michelle
Hospitality to Strangers, by Michael
Non-Violence and Revelation, by Michael
Be Ye Angry, by Michael
Practice Resurrection, by David D
Confrontation Monday, by Cindy W
Shuffling In, by Cindy W
MLK, Jr, by Cindy W
Voice in the Wilderness, by Karen
Dear Francisca, by Cindy W
Jacob, Have I Loved, by Cindy W
Allah Al-Ghaffur, by Karen
Sub-Version, by Cindy W
God as Woman, by Janel
A Story to Struggle With, by Cindy W
Hagar's Story, by Cindy G
Part of a Larger Sermon, by Cindy W
Render Unto God, by Cindy W
Two Types of Religion, by Michael
Talkin' 'bout a Revolution, by Sammie
Light of the World, by Cindy W

Word on the Street

Frozen Oak Leaf
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

We've been blessed already this year by our Seminary intern, Adam. Adam has been working with our homeless friends at Jeff Street's daily Hospitality Program, which provides a warm, welcoming and safe place for our homeless friends to visit during the week.

Whereas in most places, the homeless are not welcome and encouraged to leave as soon as possible, in our Hospitality Program, they can come and sit as long as they want, use the phone, get some coffee, read the paper, etc. In short, they can, at least for a while, make themselves at home.

Adam has been kind enough to share with us a few times this year his "Word on the Street," reflections on his ministry with the least of these. For this, we are very grateful, Adam...

This Word on the Street is a little different from previous ones because The Word on the Street is that a regular attender of our Hospitality Programs and a recent member of our congregation died this past week.

Richard had been living on the streets for years, 13 of which he was receiving dialysis treatments three times a week that kept him alive.

The precarious nature of his health had begun to shape Richard’s perspective very keenly lately. At the age of 58, he had begun to look back and assess his life, his relationships, and his standing with Almighty God. Some of those from our very congregation were honored with the opportunity to be included as conversation partners in Richard’s final process of reflection.

Now in retrospect, it almost seems like he knew what was coming—he seems to have been methodically going about reaching closure on the loose ends of his life. His joining us here at Jeff Street in the past few weeks was one small part of how Richard was reaching out to God from this side of death. What we didn’t know was that God was also reaching out to him from the other side, arms open wide in welcome.

So this week, let’s rejoice in the life of our brother, Richard, and be grateful that he chose to extend to us the privilege of sharing in some of his last and most sacred days. More than once he commented that the worship and the people at Jeff Street were “different than other churches” that he’d been to, and that he felt at home in that difference.

Let’s also be grateful for the work that God does through the Hospitality Ministries here, without which we might perhaps have missed out on knowing Richard and walking with him for a while, here at the end of his journey.

AMEN.

Hooray!!!

Goatwalker Snippets

Tongues o' Fire

1994ish Ashley Jordan
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

In the last few months, we've been sharing testimonies we've called "Tongues O' Fire" in which we recall someone in our lives who has brought God to us in a very real way. This past Sunday, we heard from Adam, who is an intern this semester at Jeff St. He gave a powerful and delightful honoring of his big sister...

My big sister Carlye taught me that if I act up too much she WILL physically sit on top of me until I calm down and apologize…

My big sister Carlye taught me that if I bite her, or hang a freshly caught fish in a ziplock bag on our maroon refrigerator with magnets, she WILL physically sit on top of me until I understand why that’s gross…

My big sister Carlye taught me that even when no one who drives by the top of our driveway wants to stop at my lemonade stand, or my used toy stand, or my Charlie Chaplin impersonation stand, that I still always have a niche market in big sisters who can never get enough lemonade, rusty matchbox cars, and Charlie Chaplin…

My big sister Carlye taught me that your strength comes from how you love yourself, how your family loves you, and how God loves you; it does NOT matter what the kids at school say or whether or not you have many friends…

My big sister Carlye taught me that you can still listen to bad music; you just sing a different word, like “ice-cream” when mom and dad would tell you to turn it off…

My big sister Carlye taught me that Christians can be real, cool, fun, smart, and engage in all the things everybody else is concerned with around them…Christians DON’T live in enclosed habitats like the animals at the Zoo…

My sister Carlye taught me that women CAN be ministers and that even when a quarter of our home-church leaves when she gets hired, God uses even that kind of occasion to weave good, humbling, and beautiful things…

My sister Carlye taught me that even after seven years of ministry, even when your own friends make you pay in blood for challenging their customs, you still press on and don’t let it stop you…

My sister Carlye is teaching me how to be a parent, how to love little people, and to realize that parenthood is one of those things that gets its own category, FAR beyond that of “full-time job”…

My sister Carlye is teaching me that it is actually OK to change, or grow, and that this doesn’t mean you are betraying the family values but you are honoring them with your own contributions…

My sister Carlye and I are learning together that even when a spouse runs off, when grandparents die, when friends and family move far away, when circumstances arise that you cannot control or see coming ahead of time, and even when postpartum depression makes you question whether your life will ever be what you always imagined it would, that you can rise up like a phoenix from the ashes in resurrection…

My sister Carlye and I are learning together that God never runs out of life to give out or good ideas for new changes of plans…that God is a Tinker who likes to stitch together broken bits of junk and make us into works of art that breath…
======
Thanks, Adam!