Thank You for this Day, God.

“Thank you for this day, God, thank you for this day. This HEALING DAY, THIS HEALING DAY. “ That’s from a  simple uplifting song by Karen Drucker which I love. Looking forward to tomorrow’s day of healing – worship with a focus on sabbath-minded lives and then Marta and Laura’s Conscious Healing Concert in afternoon. …

Giving, giving, giving.

In certain conditions and seasons, we can name (must name) a depletion that can occur because we are finite beings. That’s the “natural” way of things and in God’s way we learn the lessons of rest, trust, letting go, saying “no”, receiving help, adjusting expectations, pruning back our spending, exercising new disciple or directions, maybe being…

This!

This passage from John 15 is the eternal Advent, Christmas, Christmastide, Epiphany, Lent, and Easter/tide and all ordinary days invitation!  The verse continues . . . As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have…

YOU ARE A GIFT!

Your inboxes and mailboxes are no doubt full of requests and opportunities to share your financial gifts with worthy endeavors today on “Giving Tuesday.”  It’s become quite the tradition in recent years. Assuming you want to be on those email lists, I encourage you to take a moment to appreciate the  GIFT of all the…

The Hopes and Fears of All the Years..

“are met in Thee tonight.”  Our Christmas Eve preparations are almost complete. Our sanctuary will be filled with our hopes and fears, our peace and hope and joy and love. Incredible music and a faith-full Word and a welcoming Table. Lighting candles (anyway!), we’ll worship in the reality of this Day.  The reality that “Jesus…

Love Came Down at Christmas

I am meditating on the love alive in this place due to the grace of Jesus Christ. I am meditating on the holy days unfolding, all of our respective burdens and the need for comfort and courage (the gifts of the Christ Child we’ve been remembering this season). I am savoring the “deeper joy” of…

Comfort the Afflicted and Afflict the Comfortable

That provocative quote has been circling around my heart and mind this week, including in conversations on true vs false peace (with Laurel and Sarah in Revelation book study) and worship planning on “comfort” of peace for this Sunday (with Linda and Laurel).  Attributed to an early 20th-century journalist, Dunne, in his columns of Peter…

November 6, 2024

Dear Eden Family and Friends, I write tonight to express my care for you and for all of our extended family and community as we process last night’s election of Donald J. Trump to be our 47th President. On Sunday I opened our “Joys and Concerns” time with this excerpt from Carrie Newcomer, a wonderful…

The Upcoming Election

Between this Echo and our subsequent Annual Holiday Letter, we will experience our November elections. I urge you to take your duty to vote seriously. Be radically and holistically informed on the issues and steeped in prayer. In this divided time there are many attempts to ignite fear, indulge in grievances and create enmity. So,…