PILGRIM VIRGIN MISSION
View allAll Photos Tagged discipleship
The ministry & mission of BSUC is organized by way of a Governance Board – Ministry Team model. The Governance Board oversees the governance and stewardship of the church, while the teams tend to ministry in the following areas: Administration, Faith Formation, Communications; Community Connections, Finance, Hospitality, Pastoral Care, Property, Personnel and Worship (incl. Music Committee). In our discipleship, we work together toward spiritual growth and maturity in faith.
The ministry & mission of BSUC is organized by way of a Governance Board – Ministry Team model. The Governance Board oversees the governance and stewardship of the church, while the teams tend to ministry in the following areas: Administration, Faith Formation, Communications; Community Connections, Finance, Hospitality, Pastoral Care, Property, Personnel and Worship (incl. Music Committee). In our discipleship, we work together toward spiritual growth and maturity in faith.
St Mary's, Dolgellau - saith fflam: saith rhodd neu saith cynneddf yr Ysbryd Glân / seven flames: www.archspm.org/faith-and-discipleship/catholic-faith/wha...
The Holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew was a publican, a tax collector, before Jesus called him to apostolic ministry. He followed Jesus and became one of His closest disciples, participating in His ministry, discipleship and co-ministry.
Saint Matthew the Apostle personifies transformation and the possibility of meeting God in the most unexpected circumstances. His life and message remind us that every person can become a disciple and messenger of Christ, regardless of his past.
Matthew was a tax collector. As Jesus passed by the tax office, he saw Matthew, also called Levi, there. Matthew heard a surprising invitation: Jesus said to him, “Follow me” (Matthew 9:9). Matthew immediately responded to Jesus’ call. He wrote about this in his Gospel: “He [Matthew] arose and followed him” (Matthew 9:9). Matthew left his job as a tax collector and became a disciple of Jesus.
Матвій був збирачем податків. Проходячи повз податкову контору, Ісус бачить там Матвія, якого також звати Левій. Матвій чує дивовижне запрошення: Ісус каже йому: «Іди за мною» (Матвія 9:9).
Матвій відразу відгукується на заклик Ісуса. Про це він пише у своєму Євангелії: “Той [Матвій] встав і пішов за ним” (Матвія 9:9). Матвій залишає роботу збирача податків і стає учнем Ісуса.
"My borrowed face
And my third-hand grace
Only reflect your glory"
-neil peart
Of course we know that the moon has no light of it's own. Same is true for us, of course. We are both reflectors. In fact, the earth is a much better reflector than the moon, but we're losing our ability it would seem. We are increasingly absorbing and trapping more than we are reflecting.
Though the results of this are easily felt and observed, the cause and effect is much less clear. No one seems to agree as to what are symptoms and what are causes.
The average reflective ability, or albedo of the moon is about 7% of the sunlight that strikes it. Right now, the earth's is somewhere around 30%. If we were to observe a "full earth" from the moon, it would be about 100 times brighter than a full moon seen from earth.
How much sunlight (and thus heat) we continue to reflect can be monitored by observing how much of our light is reflected back from the moon. This is called “earthshine.” There have been several plans in the past decade to send machines way out into space to constantly monitor how much of the sun’s energy we reflect, but this has yet to happen. Meanwhile, as should probably be the most obvious way of knowing what we’re reflecting, we watch to see how much of us is reflected back again.
Earthshine, as viewed from the moon, is an indicator of our own albedo, just as my friends and family give me an indication of how much I reflect the light sent my way, by reflecting it back to me.
And I should never mistake that bright swath of reflected sunlight along the bottom as my own, lest all data be skewed.
Paul Claudel’s reflections on the crucifixion are gathered in a meditation on the Apostle’s Creed titled I Believe in God. When Jesus was trying to get across to his disciples what their discipleship would involve, particularly the mother of the sons of Zebedee, he talked about servants and slaves and declared, “[T]he Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matt 20:28). Claudel observes, centuries later, “Well, if it is true that you came to serve, I daresay you got what you were after!” and then criticizes the casual attitude we have toward Christ in the liturgy: “It is painful to know that you are here at our disposal and that we can think of no better use for you than to help pass that tedious half hour before dinner on Sunday.”6 Familiarity has deadened our amazement. “A god is about to die before our eyes. . . . On the very brink of this act by which all things exist he found no way to defend himself from the shaft of love. The earth trembles and gapes, the curtain of the temple is torn from top to bottom, the graves vomit up their dead. There is a universal shuddering of the whole creation around the cross. On all sides things break asunder and yawn open.”7 The first creation, the one we stained with sin, had to be split open so that the seed of new life could find its way to the surface. And to plant such a seed in ourselves, we, too, must be split open. The blows of the hammer upon the nails in his hands must be redirected to us in order to crack us open. But this feels impossible, Claudel laments. “I feel that I have undertaken something beyond my strength. These wings of wood, how can I adjust them to sit on my shoulders?”
-LITURGICAL MYSTICISM, DAVID W. FAGERBERG