Another opening. Parable of the sower. Happy Birthday Jeremy!

7/12

In working on the service and other things for tomorrow.

Berik and Leila are having another international exhibit, this time Innovation of Fantasy. And Berik’s lined up live music as well. Dion has shown just to be supportive. This is what I'm working on, a community of mutual accountability, that will be there for one another.  And Hugo and Arcadia. And Ish, who we haven’t seen for awhile but who worked closely with Regi on tech stuff related  to our Punto de Encuentro program that made two missions to Brasil. Which of course brings the World Cup into the discussion. No one has been able to even say a word to our Brazilian friends like Junia. Too painful. A nation dumbstruck. Tomorrow presents issues as well. I’ve got a son and Uli and Jana and all kinds of German friends. But then there’s the global south issue…but then Brasil would never support  Argentina. Viva Germany!

I enjoy the art work. Especially Berik’s new work with hidden images. And then back to work.

Leila, Ish, Berik, Hugo, Arcadia

By the time RL drops by with an invitation, I’m ready for a break….

7/13

Sunday. Jeremy’s back. In honor of his birthday, they’re playing the World Cup final. Amber Lee has come to visit us again from Toronto and there’s a woman from California who is, well, slightly more evangelical than the average West-Parker but she sees we’re serious about the Bible and feels comfortable joining in.

We start with Genesis 25: 19-34, otherwise known as the story of Jacob and Esau. How Esau sold his birthright, i.e., two times the inheritance of his brother, for, as the King James has it, a mess of pottage. A fine red lentil stew. A recipe would create a good visual aid. What did it smell like? Taste like?

Jeremy suggests that maybe we’ve got an allegory here about the move from hunters and nomads (Esau) to domestic settled community. (Jacob,who lived in a tent.) John R suggests that we’ve got another one of those stories that illustrate that families are not all they’re romanticized to be and that Christian fetishization of the family is not Biblical. Our California friend says that God’s plans are not always what we expect, like the younger brother being  served by the elder. (They were twins, after all.) I say that anyone who has accompanied a wife or friend through birth knows all too well Rebekah’s late term lament, If it is to be this way, why do I live? And we talk about how we sell our  birthright for a mess of pottage, global warming, college loan

debt, take your pick. The woman from California just wants her son to come back to church. 

Paul is still going on about body and spirit. (Romans 8: 1-11) I explain how that’s much more Greek philosophical than Biblical Judaism. In the end, the body is just another way of saying, like it  or not, we’re human. We will mess up. Which at the end of the day was all Calvin ever meant. And that pneuma refers to wind, spirit and breath. Make of it what we will.

Finally, the parable of the sower. (Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23) Which Jesus goes to great length to explain. Different ways we hear and respond. Who’s down for the long haul? Who burns out quickly? And how are we prepared  to receive the seed? The word? We encourage the woman from California by telling her she doesn’t know how deep the seed went down with her son. Patience. 

We share communion. Hoping we are fertile ground, good ground. Ready to hear, receive, do , and grow. And Jeremy leads us in a gospel version of God be with you till we meet again…and finish with Amen!, Much to Xavier’s delight.

And we do sing Happy Birthday, Jeremy!

The Session reviews the latest inquiries and offers. Decides to nail down a construction manager and star moving forward. Feels like a right decision. 

The World Cup awaits.