Community: The Practice of Encountering Others

"Walk joyfully on the earth and respond to that of God in every human being" George Fox

Encountering Others Reflection for Practice:
We must love the God we did not make into our image. We must love the stranger who does not conform to our image as if she or he were our own strange, peculiar self.

Summer 2013: Spiritual Practices

This summer we are delving into the wild world of spiritual practices. Spiritual practices are common to many religions. Put simply, Buddhists meditate, Muslims pray with sacred prayer rugs, Jews light candles and fulfill the particularities of the Mosaic Law. Christians have practices as well: fasting, alms keeping, vigil, and meditating. Many of us are not adept at keeping our practices even though these practices refine our faith (they do not save us or justify us in and of themselves). Practices do not make us Christians, they teach us what it means to live as Christians. Our disciplines form us. They make us aware of God's presence in our lives and teach us to respond to God with gratitude, obedience and faith.

I invite you to journey with us this summer.
If you are up for lively discussion, you are welcome to stay for coffee hour as we delve into each week's practice.

If you would like to look at a couple of companion pieces, we are looking at:

An Alter in the World: A Geography of Faith by Barbara Brown Taylor
Mudhouse Sabbath: An Invitation to a life of Spiritual Discipline by Lauren F. Winner