WELCOME
Welcome to The
We come together with diversity of thoughts, stories, talents, hopes and hurts. Our prayer is that in coming together with all our differences and with Spirit we participate in a new divine reality. This is sacred space.
SILENT MEDITATION
Be still and aware of the Divine Presence within and all around us…
OPENING PRAYER
Divine presence within and all around us, lure us out, so that the best of ourselves, the divine that is within us, can sing out loud!
PEACE – TOAST
In this place we creatively express;
Some of us are focused, some are a mess!
We participate during the sermon
And people do connect, we are learnin’
Greet all with a handshake, toast or a wave
At all times feel free to yell, rant or rave
Fake not friends, we can arrive as we are.
Cheers! Here’s to sacred space in a bar!
TELLING OUR STORY
Coming Out – to Hope!
CONVERSATIONAL SERMON
The Content of our Hope
Last week we talked about coming out…
A
”It is the belief in this Spirit, the giver of life and love, that is the basis of hope. In spite of all the destructive forces we let loose against life on this planet, the Spirit of Life is at work in ever new and unforeseeable ways, countering and circumventing the obstacles we put in its path. In spite of my strong tendencies to complacency and despair, I experience the Spirit in myself as calling forth the realistic hope apart from which there is no hope, and I am confident that what I find in myself is occurring in others also.
Since what makes for life and love and hope is not simply the decision of one individual or another, but a Spirit that moves us all, I do not have to suppose that my own efforts are of great consequence in order to believe them to be worthwhile. I can recognize that they may even be futile or misdirected and still persist in them as long as no clearer light is given, for I see what I do as part of something much greater, something in which all persons participate to whatever extent they sensitively respond to the insights and opportunities that come their way. Belief in the Spirit is belief that I am not alone, that in working for life and love in hope, I am working with something much greater than myself, that there are possibilities for the future that cannot be simply projected out of the past, that even my mistakes and failures may be woven into a healing pattern of which I am not now aware.
Belief in the Spirit is no ground for complacency. There is no guarantee that people will respond to the Spirit’s prompting in sufficient numbers and with sufficient sensitivity to begin the healing of the planet. But there is the possibility. The future can be different from the past. Therefore there is hope. Where there is life, there is hope."
ENACTED HOPE
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- Does the Spirit Cobb speaks of resonate with us?
- Do we believe in a Spirit that moves us all?
- What is the character of that Spirit? How did we come to know it? How do we recognize it?
SHARING RESOURCES AT THE TABLE
COMMUNION
Led by Xochitl
FEEDBACK AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Updates on thepubchurch.blogspot.com
November 1, 2008 gathering.
CLOSING
Radiant Source of Life,
You Are Who You Are and we have been created in your Divine image, alike, yet diverse. Birthed in your image, we are born into possibility, each of us a mystery ever unfolding. Help us to honor the rich complexities of who we are; deepen and unite us in you, so that we may know ourselves and others to be bearers of creativity and of your transforming love.
Let us go forth then knowing our place, answering the call, and living in Spirit.
*Inspired by, Transgendering Faith, (p. 129-130)
