the journey

Let Christ be born in me!

Advent Sketchbook - Eve
Originally uploaded by Soupablog

[Click on photo for larger version.]

May the Christ of Christmas bring salvation to the lost
peace to the fearful and forgotten
comfort to the weary
and may He be the source of our praise forever more.
Amen.

Merry Christmas!

Technorati Tags: Christmas,moleskin,prayer,Soupablog

A famous Christmas Eve Prayer (redux)

I posted this prayer in 2006, but it seems appropriate on a cold day like today:

"Give us, O God, the vision which can see Your love in the world in spite of human failure.  Give us the faith to trust Your goodness in spite of our ignorance and weakness. Give us the knowledge that we may continue to pray with understanding hearts. And show us what each one of us can do to set forward the coming of the day of universal peace."

- Frank Borman, Apollo 8 space mission, 1968

Tags: Apollo 8, Frank Borman, Christmas Eve prayer

Learning to pray

I ran across an interesting (albeit brief) article about prayer at this site.

Here's the accompanying video on YouTube.

Tags: YouTube, prayer, praying

Advent Sketchbook

Advent Sketchbook - Mercedes ...
Originally uploaded by Soupablog

[Click on image for larger versions.]

Paul Soupiset is posing some interesting Advent sketches each day. Originally done with pencil on Moleskin, they've been saved on Flickr for the world to see.

While you're "waiting" for Christmas this year, I hope it's marked by purposeful action and not an excuse for idle hands.

Blessings!

Technorati Tags: Paul Soupiset,Moleskin,sketches,Advent

What is missional church? (Allelon)

I just received word about this via Twitter...

Craig Van Gelder & Alan Roxburgh - What is Missional Church? from Allelon on Vimeo.

Tags: Allelon, Craig Van Gelder, Alan Roxburgh, missional, missional church

The day the media showed up

The Fort Hood Memorial
Originally uploaded by mbushor

It was our goal to be a blessing to those who were mourning as result of the senseless shootings at Fort Hood on Thursday.

One of our Elders prepared a memorial garden complete with crosses and flags & photos of the tribute appeared around the world.

Continue praying for everyone involved.

Children were frightened.
Families waited anxiously for answers.
First-responders saw unspeakable things.
Heart-breaking stories were told.
People were shocked with horrifying news.
And a number of our church families were touched in some ways.

May the God of all comfort and peace bring healing and hope during uncertain times.

Forgiving the church

When we have been wounded by the Church, our temptation is to reject it. But when we reject the Church it becomes very hard for us to keep in touch with the living Christ.

When we say, "I love Jesus, but I hate the Church," we end up losing not only the Church but Jesus too. The challenge is to forgive the Church. This challenge is especially great because the Church seldom asks us for forgiveness, at least not officially. But the Church as an often fallible human organization needs our forgiveness, while the Church as the living Christ among us continues to offer us forgiveness.

It is important to think about the Church not as "over there" but as a community of struggling, weak people of whom we are part and in whom we meet our Lord and Redeemer.

~ Henri Nouwen
Daily Meditation

Tags: church, Henri Nouwen