Category: Online Devotional

Corona Sabbath 25 WONDER and AWE


These weeks when we cannot gather in person for Sunday worship, Lakewood United Church of Christ is providing brief weekly sabbath programs for you to listen to on your own or with others in your social isolation group. They will be posted on Friday so that you can schedule your sabbath time to suit your schedule and your spiritual inclinations. We hope these programs are of spiritual support to you in these difficult times.

During these summer weeks, the theme being used is “Grounded.” Some of us feel that shelter-in-place feels like being grounded. Some would normally have travel plans and feel grounded. With the many challenges facing our society, it is important to feel grounded. So these Summer Sundays will focus on key concepts in Christianity that provide grounding. So, welcome to “Grounded.” This post focuses on awe and wonder.

There is a scripture lesson and a contemporary reading from astronaut Edgar Mitchell that was submitted by Katherine Meacham Conover. These are read by Colleen Coughenour. There is a meditation from Pastor Kim Wells followed by music from Hilton Jones.

You are invited to find a quiet space, inside or outside. Light a candle. Take a look around you. Breathe. Life-giving breath. Be present.

You may begin with this reading:

Our world us full of planners and programmers. They make things work, sometimes with deadly efficiency. But we also need people who put a bit of magic back into our world. The clown, the trickster, the seer, the songster, the artist, the poet. And we don’t need these simply to provide a bit of comic relief. We need the seer and the poet to help us see what we should have seen, but dared not. In the process of unveiling and opening up of new possibilities, the artist and the poet take on the mantle of the prophet. They lilt us with the lullaby of long forgotten dreams and dare us to live again with boldness and hope.

If we can no longer soar and dream and hope, we are dead while we live. But if the magic is still there, we will live, no matter how great the difficulties and pain.

Charles Ringma

When you are ready, start the video below.

(For written text of the above video click HERE.)

As you listen to the music which follows, you are invited to notice the thoughts and feelings and that arise for you.

After viewing the music video, you are invited to offer the following closing –

I shut my eyes in order to see.

Paul Gauguin, artist, 19th century

Breathe. Breathe again. Be filled. With awe and wonder. Extinguish your candle and engage whatever may come with a sense of peace and a desire to serve.

LAKEWOOD UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

The mission of Lakewood United Church of Christ, as part of the Church Universal, is to:

  • Celebrate the presence and power of God in our lives and in our world;
  • Offer the hospitality and inclusive love of Christ to all people;
  • Work for God’s peace and justice throughout creation.

USEFUL LAKEWOOD LINKS DURING THE CORONA CRISIS:

 

Corona Sabbath 24 GENEROSITY and SERVICE

These weeks when we cannot gather in person for Sunday worship, Lakewood United Church of Christ is providing brief weekly sabbath programs for you to listen to on your own or with others in your social isolation group. They will be posted on Friday so that you can schedule your sabbath time to suit your schedule and your spiritual inclinations. We hope these programs are of spiritual support to you in these difficult times.

During these summer weeks, the theme being used is “Grounded.” Some of us feel that shelter-in-place feels like being grounded. Some would normally have travel plans and feel grounded. With the many challenges facing our society, it is important to feel grounded. So these Summer Sundays will focus on key concepts in Christianity that provide grounding. So, welcome to “Grounded.” This post focuses on service and generosity.

There is a scripture lesson offered by Earl Waters and a meditation by Pastor Kim Wells followed by a music video featuring Zach Blair-Andrews.

You are invited to find a quiet space, inside or outside. Light a candle. Take a look around you. Breathe. Life-giving breath. Be present.

You may begin with this reading:

Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks! Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle. But you shall be a miracle. Every day you shall wonder at yourself, at the richness of life which has come to you by the grace of God.

–Phillips Brooks, 19th century, Trinity Church, Boston

When you are ready, start the video below.

(For written text of the above video click HERE.)

As you listen to the music video featuring Zach Blair-Andrews, you are invited to notice the thoughts and feelings and that arise for you.

After viewing the music video, you are invited to offer the following closing –

Even
After
All this time
The Sun never says to the Earth,

“You owe me.”

Look
What happens
With a love like that,
It lights the whole sky.

–Attributed to Hafiz (1350-1390)
Submitted by Sue Sherwood

Breathe. Breathe again. Be filled. Let your heart overflow. Extinguish your candle and engage whatever may come with a sense of peace and a desire to serve.

LAKEWOOD UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

The mission of Lakewood United Church of Christ, as part of the Church Universal, is to:

  • Celebrate the presence and power of God in our lives and in our world;
  • Offer the hospitality and inclusive love of Christ to all people;
  • Work for God’s peace and justice throughout creation.

USEFUL LAKEWOOD LINKS DURING THE CORONA CRISIS:

Corona Sabbath 23 PEACE

These weeks when we cannot gather in person for Sunday worship, Lakewood United Church of Christ is providing brief weekly sabbath programs for you to listen to on your own or with others in your social isolation group. They will be posted on Friday so that you can schedule your sabbath time to suit your schedule and your spiritual inclinations. We hope these programs are of spiritual support to you in these difficult times.

During these summer weeks, the theme being used in “Grounded.” Some of us feel that shelter-in-place feels like being grounded. Some would normally have travel plans and feel grounded. With the many challenges facing our society, it is important to feel grounded. So these Summer Sundays will focus on key concepts in Christianity that provide grounding. So, welcome to “Grounded.” This post focuses on peace.

There is a scripture lesson offered by Sue Sherwood and a meditation by Pastor Kim Wells followed by a music video prepared by Music Director Hilton Kean Jones featuring the LUCC choir singing My Life Flows On in Endless Song (How Can I Keep from Singing).

You are invited to find a quiet space, inside or outside. Light a candle. Take a look around you. Breathe. Life-giving breath. Be present.

You may begin with this reading:

But the people forgot.
They forgot that they were
A message of love,
and a prayer from the earth.

And they began to argue….

And often the people
Misused their powers,
And hurt one another
Or killed one another.

And they hurt the earth.

And  after a long,
Lonesome and scary time…

…the people listened,
and began to hear…

And to see God in one another…

…and in the beauty of all the Earth.

And Old Turtle SMILED.

And so did God.

–Excerpt from Old Turtle by Douglas Wood, 1992 Award Winner Best Environmental Book~Midwest Independent Publishers Association
Submitted by Emily Bell

When you are ready, start the video below.

(For written text of the above video click HERE.)

As you listen to the virtual choir music video featuring the Lakewood Choir singing My Life Flows On in Endless Song (How Can I Keep from Singing), directed by Hilton Jones, you are invited to notice the thoughts and feelings and that arise for you.

After viewing the music video, you are invited to offer the following closing –

Then what is afraid of me comes
and lives a while in my sight.
What it fears in me leaves me,
and the fear of me leaves it.
It sings, and I hear its song.

Then what I am afraid of comes.
I live for a while in its sight.
What I fear in it leaves it,
and the fear of it leaves me.
It sings, and I hear its song.

–From 1979, 1 Sabbath by Wendell Berry

Breathe. Breathe again. Be filled. With a sense of peace. Extinguish your candle and engage whatever may come with a sense of peace and a desire to serve.

LAKEWOOD UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

The mission of Lakewood United Church of Christ, as part of the Church Universal, is to:

  • Celebrate the presence and power of God in our lives and in our world;
  • Offer the hospitality and inclusive love of Christ to all people;
  • Work for God’s peace and justice throughout creation.

USEFUL LAKEWOOD LINKS DURING THE CORONA CRISIS:
Corona Sabbath Posts
Sermon and Reflection Texts
Music at Lakewood
Lakewood UCC YouTube Channel
Lakewood UCC on Twitter
Lakewood on Facebook
Lakewood on Instagram
For the above church website links,
please note the “Older Posts” button near bottom of each page.

Corona Sabbath 22 FORGIVENESS

20200725_092239These weeks when we cannot gather in person for Sunday worship, Lakewood United Church of Christ is providing brief weekly sabbath programs for you to listen to on your own or with others in your social isolation group. They will be posted on Friday so that you can schedule your sabbath time to suit your schedule and your spiritual inclinations. We hope these programs are of spiritual support to you in these difficult times.

During these summer weeks, the theme being used in “Grounded.” Some of us feel that shelter-in-place feels like being grounded. Some would normally have travel plans and feel grounded. With the many challenges facing our society, it is important to feel grounded. So these Summer Sundays will focus on key concepts in Christianity that provide grounding. So, welcome to “Grounded.” This post focuses on forgiveness.

There is a scripture lesson is offered by Claire Stiles and a meditation by Pastor Kim Wells as well as a special music video from Music Director Hilton Kean Jones featuring the Doors Open to All installation on the grounds of the church that was created by LUCC member artist William Owen, III.

You are invited to find a quiet space, inside or outside. Light a candle. Take a look around you. Breathe. Life-giving breath. Be present.

You may begin with this reading:

I am not here to pass judgement
or point the finger at anyone.
My name was written in the sand
as one who is forgiven.
Strengthened with hope, impervious to shame,
I walk freely like the freshness
of the dry lands after rain.

Let light spill out of heaven
through my life,
dispelling mediocrity and silent blame.
Too many people, guilt-stricken, wounded,
walk in regret,
feeling bad about failing,
apologise even for breathing.

Raw belief, a passion for others
grows in me,
encircling each moment
with instinctive prayer.
I will carry the freshness
of the dry lands after rain.
Compassion lives in me again.

–Andy Raine, in Celtic Daily Prayer, Book Two

When you are ready, start the video below.

(For written text of the above video click HERE.)

As you listen to the music video featuring music from Hilton and the Doors Open to All installation by William, you are invited to notice the thoughts and feelings and that arise for you.

After viewing the music video, you are invited to offer the following closing –

Give me everything mangled and bruised, and I will make a light of it to make you weep, and we will have rain and we will have begun again.

–Deena Metzger

Breathe. Breathe again. Be filled. With a desire to forgive. Extinguish your candle and engage whatever may come with a sense of peace and a desire to serve.

LAKEWOOD UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

The mission of Lakewood United Church of Christ, as part of the Church Universal, is to:

  • Celebrate the presence and power of God in our lives and in our world;
  • Offer the hospitality and inclusive love of Christ to all people;
  • Work for God’s peace and justice throughout creation.

QUICK LINKS TO OUR RECENT POSTS DURING THE CORONA CRISIS:
Online Devotionals: https://lakewooducc.org/category/online-devotional/
Sermon Texts: https://lakewooducc.org/category/posts/sermon-texts/
For above links, please note “Older Posts” button near bottom of page.
Music: https://soundcloud.com/hilton-kean-jones/sets/music-at-lakewood