What I look for in congregations are companions who wake me up, who challenge me by their very presence to put my nets out into deeper waters and who have traded in respectability for a divine love. I want to be that kind of presence as well. Can we be the radiant presence of the Christ for each other and for the world?

It is moments such as these that I become more and more convinced that just as God accomplished something through

 Jesus, God is seeking to accomplish something through us.  We have a part to play in the creative emergence that is happening on this planet.  We are called to meet the challenges of the postmodern world with creativity and vitality.  We are called as Sanguin again writes, “to look out on the horizon for the future that desires to be born through us.”  What an exciting time it is to be the church, to be the living presence of Christ in the world.

There are several writers and scholars that are forging the way on this new paradigm of Christianity, and I have found the following website a great place to engage this exciting conversation. http://evolutionarychristianity.com/blog/welcome/

If you visit the site, I’d love to hear your thoughts, reflections and questions.

I am grateful to be part of this congregation where the Spirit is alive and well and hearts are open to its prompting.

Blessings to you this week.

Erin Gilmore

Sunday’s at 6:00

• Bring supper and join us for relaxing and fun evenings with our church family
• Look for yellow Holladay UCC arrow pointing the way

• June 2 Granite Park
• June 23 Liberty Park
• July 14 Crestwood Park (come early for a dip in the pool!)
• July 28 Spruces Campground. 11:30 a.m., potluck after worship
• August 11 Murray City Park
• August 25 Creekside Park

More Info? Contact Cher cher@holladayucc.org

The bicycle collective is a wonderful community resource, if you haven’t ever stopped in, I encourage you to do so.

If you have a bike to donate, I am sure Dave would be glad to find an new owner for it!

July 14th to the 21st
This is a wonderful time for all of us to come together! Details on how you can help will be available in coming weeks. In the meantime, check out the website for this great organization at www.fpsl.org. Call Marita Hart (801-703-0346) or Carol Hannah (760-409-4319).

As one who is often overwhelmed by the magnitude of what is happening in the Middle East and at a loss for what I can personally do, I find myself  grateful for this simple but profound opportunity to support two people who are part of our wider UCC family and who have made such a tremendous commitment to do what they can to make a difference.

I read an article from the Ablan Institute earlier this week that helped me name why their story has struck me so deeply. The author of the article, Cameron Harder, talks about a group he started called “Faith Works.”  He wanted to gather folks in their work sites to reflect on what God was up to in those places. Here he recalls the first session:

“In the initial meeting I asked, “Who wants to be first to take us through their workplace?” A young woman put up her hand. “Where do you work?”I  asked. She said she was a massage therapist. I was a bit taken aback. Never having had a massage, I harbored some unfortunate stereotypes about it. And one of our group was a distinguished retired pastor. I won­dered whether he would regard a massage clinic (I was thinking “parlor”) as an appropriate place to begin our exploration of faith and work.

But the woman was keen, so off we went. She showed us her worktable, oils, and techniques and told us what it was like to give a massage. Then we sat down in the waiting room to think about how our faith connected to her work. No one spoke for several long moments. Then finally the retired pastor looked at the therapist and said with some intensity, “I think your calling is much like mine. You’re offering a physical form of confession and absolution. People come in here with knots in their bodies from all of the stresses and problems of their life. And they ex­pose their bodies to you and allow you to touch those knots. It often hurts. You said sometimes there are tears—both from the physical sensation and from talking about what has created the tension. You accept them. You physically release the tension. You bless their bodies with your hands. And they go back out into the world with a new sense of grace and freedom.” The thera­pist listened to the old pastor with tears in her eyes and said, “I will never think of my work the same way again.” And, deeply humbled, neither did I.

Similar experiences occurred again and again as we visited each other’s workplaces. We were discovering that God is active in the 99 percent of people’s lives that are lived outside the church, and we were naming, cel­ebrating, and trying to faithfully interpret that divine activity.

He concludes, “When churches take seriously life outside their buildings and their Sunday morning sacred time, they give their communities an inexpressible gift.”  As I sat listening to Tom and to Mary I was aware of just how alive God was in their story, in their lives, in their work.  To be sure, it has not been my belief that God is only at work in the church, but I do think we fail to talk about how  God is moving and living in our lives, in our workplaces, in our homes. And not just in the brief and exceptional moments, but in the ordinary daily routines of life.

So I wonder, where do you see God active in your life?  Where do you experience the living God, the One who is very much alive and moving among us?

______________________________________

It started on Saturday morning when I arrived at the Rocky Mountain Conference Office for the Board of Director’s meeting still groggy from staying up too late visiting with an old friend from La Foret. The  meeting began as usual, opening devotion, agenda review, appointing time keeper, and approving minutes. Then Tom Rehling, our conference minister, took the floor, and shared with us that he was retiring. wait what? My grogginess wore off.  This was big news. For him and for our conference.  The energy in the room shifted as we began processing this announcement and the task that now sits before us.  An interim conference minister. a Search Committee.  A new direction for the Rocky Mountain Conference.  As I looked around the room I sensed a heightened awareness of Spirit and the sacredness of the journey that we are on together as representatives from across the conference.

It continued on Saturday evening when I arrived at Holladay and had to search for a place to park. The place was bursting at the seams. I see Joe and Russ in their full regalia and an entire line up of folks ready to serve food.  The pie selections, the music playing, the kids running around and the auction items being bid on – it was a scene of joy and cooperation and community.  I sensed the Spirit here too, as over 100 people came together to make this event possible and support the ministries of their church.

Then Sunday came. And I heard this young woman share a piece of her spiritual journey with conviction, humor, and authenticity.  I saw a congregation moved by her story. (If you weren’t able to be there, you can read Megan’s reflection posted under worship) And on top of ALL of that, after worship I had the opportunity to talk with two folks who were visiting on Sunday about their own story and their desire to bring awareness and support to people with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).  It was a connection to the UCC that brought them to our community and the Spirit present within this community that created a safe and welcoming place for them to be.

The Spirit is present everywhere. It is dripping from the trees. It is continually connecting us together. I am grateful for the moments I experience its movement among us, and I pray for the ability to be open to its leading, trusting in its power to expand love’s presence in the world.

Where do you sense the Spirit swirling?

After spending some time discerning what the right questions are – we had people put forward questions that they wanted to be in conversation around and we talked about those questions – people went to the table that the were most interested in talking about – at the end of that time we had the people who asked the question share a bit of the conversation they had and what struck them from the conversation, and the everyone in the room had the opportunity to place a dot next to the question they wanted to continue – or that they felt was most important to continue to be in dialogue about –

Two of the three most highly dotted question were specifically about Jesus – “if Jesus is a credible person to this community – what does he mean to us and how do we understand him?”  ”If Jesus is our example, what kind of example are we living?” And the other one in the top three was of the same substance, “If love is at our center, how do we knock it out of the ballpark?”

Through this process it became clear from among the 65 who gathered, that there is energy and desire to be in further conversation about our identity as a Christian community, “Who is Jesus for us, and what does it mean to follow him?”  We all come with different backgrounds, different beliefs, different perspectives about our faith, our spirituality, our religious life. Being in conversation about Jesus activates us in a way that I long to see among our community. So to continue our conversation begun on March 17, we will be hosting a second follow-up conversation, focusing more specifically on this question of Jesus and of who he is for us as individuals and as a community.  The conversation will be held on May 5th as the bulk of our Spring Congregational Meeting.  Following the service that Sunday  we will stay in the sanctuary to elect our new officers and representatives, and then we will have a volunteer appreciation pot-luck for all who carryout the many ministries of our community as well as maintain our building.  We will then continue our conversation in Mac Hall.  children and youth are encouraged to attend, and we will work to provide childcare for the younger children on this day.

As a little fodder for thought, I invite you to listen to the following podcast of On Being with Krista Tippet interviewing Congressman John Lewis on the Art and Discipline of Non-Violence.

http://www.onbeing.org/program/feature/in-the-room-with-congressman-john-lewis/5141

It is a powerful testament to the way of Jesus and the kind of love of which he spoke. Peace to all this week!

Erin Gilmore

Why Church?

to love and accept, nothing more
to educate and share God’s love, open to all
to recenter ourselves in God’s light and love
to be transformed
to offer authentic caring and spiritual growth
because love is  God and God is love.

Why Church?

to move to a deeper awareness
to nurture our souls, to be embraced as a child of God and be reminded that in the darkest times God is with us
to broaden and deepen our capactiy to be a soulful human being
to create a sense of community that holds and honors our joys, concerns, burdens, gifts and talents
to remind us of who we are, to inspire us, and to help us recognize our talents and use them for the greater good
to gather as a community of progressive Christians, learn and reflect on values exemplified by Christ, that we can act our faith

because love is God and God is love

Why Church?

to nurture and grow disciples of Christ
to feed and challenge our souls
to provide spiritual haven, commune with God, God’s people, and to transform the lives of seekers
to be a welcoming place for everyone to interact with the sacred
to promote human flourishing, connecting with ourselves, our chosen family, and with God.
because love is God and God is love.

In gratitude, 

Erin Gilmore

What a powerful invitation coming to us from our children: to be an Easter People, to be people who dare to love as Jesus loved, not just in church on Sunday  but in all places each day of our lives, at work, at school, in the neighborhood, in our families, at the grocery store, driving in our car, we can practice love everywhere and anywhere we go.  As an Easter People we move through the world trusting that love, rather than fear, and connection, rather than separation is elemental to who we are as a people and a planet.

This year we have a specific invitation coming to us from our national UCC church as to how we can live out this love in our daily lives. During the fifty days between Easter and Pentecost every local church in the UCC is invited to participate in the Mission 4/1 Earth. Our collective goals is to 1,000,000 hours of earth care, 100,000 new trees, 100,000 advocacy letters to our representatives.  I invite you to check out this link:

http://www.ucc.org/earth

and see how you or your family might participate in this UCC wide effort to extend love to people and the planet.  Within our own community a team is being formed to join in the effort to protect the Book Cliffs from a tar sands mine currently proposed for this pristine area so if this is of interest to you contact Dianne Gaschler at dgaschler@gmail.com, or stop by the Take Action table on Sunday morning in MacHall.

Yesterday Lorrie Gaffney showed me a powerful little video that offers hope for our planet, suggesting from a scientific point of view that we are wired for compassion and we are meant to be in relationship. It affirms to me what Easter is all about: love is stronger than hate, goodness is stronger than evil, light is stronger than darkness; we have within us the capacity to love as Jesus loved.  Here is a link to this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7AWnfFRc7g

Peace to you this week,

Erin Gilmore