"The striking feature of our age is not the presence of anxiety, but the inadequacy of anxiety, the insufficient awareness of what is at stake in the human situation...The cardinal problem is not the survival of religion, but the survival of [humanity]. What is required is a continuous effort to overcome hardness of heart callousness, and above all to inspire the world with the biblical image of [humanity], not to forget that [humanity] without God is a torso, to prevent the dehumanization of the human. For the opposite of the human is not the animal. The opposite of the human is the demonic."
Our conversation in last week's service centered around conquering tyranny. What was inspirational to me was how quickly we saw the tyrannical within ourselves at work; how there is a way that the "self" becomes the tyrant and we find ways to keep God from leading us, from transforming our hearts. Heschel reminds us that the result of this dehumanizing work is not to make us animals. Scripture suggests that God cares for all nature (feeding birds and dressing the lilies of the field). So what we encounter is thedemonic and not the animal within us. This language is heavy and difficult for many, but the contrast is essential if we are going to even begin to understand the transformation that is at work by the Holy Spirit with in the heart of each of us and our community as a whole.
Announcements:
Our Bible study continues this coming Tuesday! Come one. Come all. We will be working through Acts and reading the Rule of Saint Benedict using a book that has daily readings from the rule with a brief reflection by Joan Chittister. Our hope is that in the 14 weeks of the bible Study that we will take these reading up as a daily devotional. All are also invited to join the community of the Holy Trinity in their evening prayer service at 7pm before the Bible study.
There will be no Sunday evening service on Sunday, November 26th. Most of us will still be out of town. Enjoy the holiday!
December 24 and 25: We will join Immanuel Lutheran Church for its services. On Christmas Eve there is a 6pm service. On Christmas Day the service is at 10am.
Do not forget to change your clocks this Saturday evening! Spring forward...fall back! Set your clocks one hour earlier when you go to bed!
Spiritual Direction: We would like to remind anyone who is interested that Larry Kamphausen is available for Spiritual Direction. If you are curious about possible resources or would like Larry to be your director, please contact one of the pastoral team.
Seabury Western Theological Seminary, the local Episcopal seminary, has invited us to write an article for their winter newsletter, Seabury Crossroads. This is a greatopportunity for us. The deadline is November 15th. Tripp and Larry will write the article, but if there is anything that you would like to share, please contact them.
Finally, in Advent you will notice one or two liturgical changes. Please keep your eyes peeled and your hearts opened to these changes. Let us know what you think about them. We will try the changes through the Advent season and then decide if we want to keep them in our regular liturgy.
May God grant you Peace and All Good Things this day,
Tripp Hudgins
No comments:
Post a Comment