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“Shoshin” is a concept in Zen Buddhism meaning "beginner's mind.” It refers to having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when studying a subject, even when studying at an advanced level, just as a beginner in that subject would.
In Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, Shunryu Suzuki writes, "In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few.”
We are invited to share a word, phrase, or sentence that expresses our feelings on the “shoulds” of money. The list includes: guilt; give ’til it hurts; mandatory; more, more, more; intimidation; fear; be better; never enough; my space, your space; cheerful; gah!; don’t have too much; give joyfully; Jesus gave his life; shame; good stewards; should spend less; trust; judgement; envy; can’t out-give God; at least 10%; Jesus is watching…
How does Spiderman sense love? With his Spidey senses of course!
Leslie Diamond talks about how loving blindly does not mean loving without knowledge of another person, but rather seeing those differences and going through them into the core without knowing how it will end.
As our bubbles blew bountifully during worship, the color wheel changes, enhancing the bubbles with different wonder and magic with each turn.
Passage read from Perelandra by C. S. Lewis
"Now he had come to a part of the wood where great globes of yellow fruit hung from the trees - clustered as toy-balloons are clustered on the back of the balloon-man and about the same size. He picked one of them and turned it over and over. The rind was smooth and firm and seemed impossible to tear open. Then by accident one of his fingers punctured it and went through into coldness. After a moment's hesitation he put the little aperture to his lips. He had meant to extract the smallest experimental sip, but the first taste put his caution all to flight. It was, of course, a taste, just as his thirst and hunger had been thirst and hunger. But then it was so different from every other taste that it seemed mere pedantry to call it a taste at all. It was like the discovery of a totally new genus of pleasures, something unheard of among men, out of all reckoning, beyond all covenant. For one draught of this on Earth wars would be fought and nations betrayed. It could not be classified. He could never tell us, when lie came back to the world of men, whether it was sharp or sweet, savoury or voluptuous, creamy or piercing. 'Not like that' was all he could ever say to such inquiries. As he let the empty gourd fall from his hand and was about to pluck a second one, it came into his head that he was now neither hungry nor thirsty. And yet to repeat a pleasure so intense and almost so spiritual seemed an obvious thing to do. His reason, or what we commonly take to be reason in our own world, was all in favour of tasting this miracle again; the child-like innocence of fruit, the labours he had undergone, the uncertainty of the future, all seemed to commend the action. Yet something seemed opposed to this 'reason'. It is difficult to suppose that this opposition came from desire, for what desire would turn from so much deliciousness? But for whatever cause, it appeared to him better not to taste again. Perhaps the experience had been so complete that repetition would be a vulgarity — like asking to hear the same symphony twice in a day."
Are there some things that you might be afraid to do in front of other people? I’m afraid to sing in front of other people; what if they laugh? And I would never dance in front of people, or show them my drawings. Do you ever feel that way? Jesus told his followers to love God and love people with our whole selves – bodies, hearts, thoughts, feelings. That means being bold and trusting that God is with us even if we’re not sure we’ll do everything just right. Let’s ask God to help us with that.
The Neighbor Thing, or, Love Actively:
Our version of the “Love” design is broken up and the letters scattered around the worship space. There is sand on each letter but not enough to cover the colors.
Poem by 14th-century Persian poet and mystic Hafiz:
Look how a mirror will reflect,
with perfect calm and acceptance,
all actions
before it.
There is no act in this world
that will ever cause the mirror
to look
away.
There is no act in this world
that will ever make the mirror
say
“no.”
The mirror, like perfect love,
will just keep giving of itself
to all
before it.
How did the mirror ever get like that,
so polite, so grand,
so compassionate?
It watched God.
A 6’x6’ version of Robert Indiana’s famous “LOVE” sculpture as interpreted by Rick Diamond. Overall, colors are bold but not flashy; this is a reflective series.
What does it look like when you show up in the world with love? While Stephen plays quietly on piano, we are invited to meditate on what we believe these things the scripture was saying look like in real life. We then write some of those ideas on pieces of colored paper distributed earlier. Finally, we all go to the LOVE letters on the stage and tape what we’ve written onto them.
Are there some things that you might be afraid to do in front of other people? I’m afraid to sing in front of other people; what if they laugh? And I would never dance in front of people, or show them my drawings. Do you ever feel that way? Jesus told his followers to love God and love people with our whole selves – bodies, hearts, thoughts, feelings. That means being bold and trusting that God is with us even if we’re not sure we’ll do everything just right. Let’s ask God to help us with that.
Our latest unit is about the love that both Jesus and the prophets talked about being real — not theoretical or methaphorical — in real life, now. How do we "love our neighbor?" What does it mean to make peace? To do what is just and to seek justice? To show mercy? To heal what is broken and sick? And – what does it mean to walk humbly, and to walk with God present? That's what Jesus talked about, so what do these things look like, for real? Each week in this series, we will take an aspect of living out faith and standing for Love and explore it together — and then take action, right where we are, in this moment.
Stepping into “The Middle,” the place of choosing to act, to respond, to speak, to give.
What does it look like when we step from wish to will? While church member Renee plays piano in the background, we are invited to step into the sandbox as a symbol of stepping into action. In the sand on the first side, we consider the prompt, “I wish… I hope… I want…” Then we step across the divider of rocks to the other side and consider how “I will show up… I will help… I will do…”
It's about money — about our feelings about money; about releasing money; about celebrating money — which is of course all about way deeper stuff: spirituality, our feelings about God and being human and the world. Let's see if there are some things that Jesus has to say (which, of course, there are) about living meaningfully and intentionally regarding what is, arguably, the thing that determines everything's value — or seems to…
LOVE: A space for grief, sadness, honoring, healing and prayer time to honor those lost in the Orlando, Florida shootings that occurred on June 12, 2016.
A prayer exercise about leaving fingerprints on the lives we touch.
We are invited to come to the central table to take new pieces of powdered donuts, since most of us ate the ones passes out earlier. With sugar on our hands, we leave marks on the black table cloth in honor of someone who left us with the residue of love without even knowing it.
Go Out to Spread Love’s Residue
The baskets of dusty rocks are passed around to begin a prayer exercise about attachment:
We are invited to take a few rocks — because we all have more than one attachment — and hold onto them through the service. These are not the smooth, slick Journey river rocks. These are dusty and messy and jagged. We are invited to go to one of the “Love” letter Communion stations. As we reach the servers standing on the wooden boxes, we drop the messy rocks we’ve been holding since the beginning of the service to symbolize letting go of our own attachments in order to be open to receiving God’s Love.
As Journeyers were taking Communion and dropping their rocks on the wooden platforms, the noise was startling and made some of us jump. This is a reminder that letting go of our own attachments can affect others, not just ourselves.
An image of American painter Thomas Hart Benton's "Hollywood" is shown on the screen. On the pieces of paper passed out earlier, we are asked to quickly write down a few things that we notice in the image, things that stand out to us. Next, we are invited to get together in groups of 2 or 3 that include people different from ourselves in some way. We each stand on our own pieces of paper, then shift to stand on the paper from another person in the small group. Now we guess what the other person wrote about the image. Notice that even when our guesses are correct, it is still important to talk to the Other to really understand their point of view.
In Journey's entryway, a wall of various crosses are displayed. Different colors, sizes, textures, mediums and history all together in unity of faith. Just like all of us!
We are invited to think about what kind of impression we want to leave on the world, what kind of mark we want to make. With that in mind, we put our hands in the sand on the Love letters and pray about how we are making our marks.
We are invited to think about what kind of impression we want to leave on the world, what kind of mark we want to make. With that in mind, we put our hands in the sand on the Love letters and pray about how we are making our marks.
What does it look like when you show up in the world with love? While Stephen plays quietly on piano, we are invited to meditate on what we believe these things the scripture was saying look like in real life. We then write some of those ideas on pieces of colored paper distributed earlier. Finally, we all go to the LOVE letters on the stage and tape what we’ve written onto them.
We are invited to think about what kind of impression we want to leave on the world, what kind of mark we want to make. With that in mind, we put our hands in the sand on the Love letters and pray about how we are making our marks.
Pastor Rick Diamond discusses two teachers of his who left a "residue" of encouragement on his life, Mrs. Macias and Mr. Warner.
Stepping into “The Middle,” the place of choosing to act, to respond, to speak, to give.
What does it look like when we step from wish to will? While church member Renee plays piano in the background, we are invited to step into the sandbox as a symbol of stepping into action. In the sand on the first side, we consider the prompt, “I wish… I hope… I want…” Then we step across the divider of rocks to the other side and consider how “I will show up… I will help… I will do…”
We are invited to share a word, phrase, or sentence that expresses our feelings on the “shoulds” of money. The list includes: guilt; give ’til it hurts; mandatory; more, more, more; intimidation; fear; be better; never enough; my space, your space; cheerful; gah!; don’t have too much; give joyfully; Jesus gave his life; shame; good stewards; should spend less; trust; judgement; envy; can’t out-give God; at least 10%; Jesus is watching…