This Sunday, we begin with an intergenerational introduction to Lent. All ages (except nursery) will meet in the chapel to sing, encounter mystery and one another, and connect with our earthy origin story in Genesis.

Liturgy drawn from Psalm 103 and Psalm 90. 

Wondering questions: 

• I wonder what God liked the most about the earth creatures God created.
• I wonder what that first human felt when they looked up and saw God face to face.
• I wonder why our ancestors have told this story for thousands of years. What does it mean? What does it mean to you?

We will root our dialogue in John 9 and will pay careful attention to what feral, unexpected, desperately needed hope emerges in the before and after when dirt and spittle mix. What might be if, rather than turning away from mud, grime, and mess, we turn toward it and recognize from those very places God is at work? What transformational conversions and feral hope realities are only possible through getting into the mud and muck?

Scripture reading:  John 9:1-17

Dialogue questions:

• Could you share a before and after moment for you? An encounter, situation, diagnosis, decision, moment–that forever has changed who you were and are to this day?
• “What is your reaction to mud? Love it or hate it?
• Which posture is easier to inhabit–one of questioning skeptics, trying to get it just right (and maybe proving others wrong in the process) or one drawing near to the mess and potentially becoming transformed by the mud? Why?
• What would it take for you to get closer to the realities of mud, muck, and mess, and maybe, see God’s kin-dom invitation more clearly in that very place?

In Luke 9, Jesus tells his disciples to go out, proclaim the kingdom of God and perform miracles, but when they are not welcomed to leave and shake the dust off their feet. 

This Sunday, we'll approach this scripture together and wonder about when it's time to leave some dust behind, to shake off what is clinging to us, and to move forward to new places.

Scripture reading: Luke 9:1-9

Dialogue questions:

• What are experiences you have of making a clean break or starting fresh?
• What do you think of this criterion of hospitality and what are your own criteria? How do we know when it’s time to leave or when to stay?
• Where are places we are keeping the dust on our feet, making it difficult to move on toward a more welcoming place?

This Sunday, we lean into those moments in which we turn and draw near to the dust. What are the pressures that guide us away from the humanity of ourselves and others? What are the practices that draw us back? 

Scripture reading: John 8:1-11

Dialogue questions:

• What is a grounding technique you use?
• What are the pressures that guide us away from the humanity of ourselves and others?
• What are the tethers that tug you back? 

Rev. Ben Boswell will lead us in dialogue from the story of the prodigal son, who finds himself surrounded not only by dust, but by the dirt, mud, and muck of a pigsty. In this story of fathers, sons, and so much more, what can be discovered about the nature of being human and how the love of God can create feral, wild hope in all of us? 

Scripture reading: Luke 15:11-32

Dialogue questions:

• How have you heard the meaning of this parable summarized in your life?
• What do we do when compassion is criminalized?
• How do we fight against a wave of indifference?
• Where is God in this story?

Coming soon.

Coming soon.