NUDGINGS: a journey into the unknown

Is the main purpose of the church to provide community? I doubt that anyone would say ‘Yes” to that question. If the reason we go to church is for the community, then I would posit, the church is not fulfilling its real job. I recently heard a preacher make this statement during the sermon: “Some folks, if they are honest, would say that they come to church for the community, not the sermon not the liturgy…  but because they like like the company of like-minded people…and that’s OK, that is a valid statement” And so I ask you, “How any times have you heard a similar statement or perhaps even made it yourself?” It was probably followed by something like ‘It doesn't matter who the priest is’; 'I really don't care if they don't use......’;  and a lot of others, all to be followed by ‘I go, because of the community, because of the people there’. And of course there is nothing wrong with this statement.  We all like to be with people who think like we do and

‘For the last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice. and to make an end is to make a beginning.’ ~T. S. Eliot These are thought-provoking words with which to begin a new year. Can I, or even do I want, to leave the words, and by extension the happenings, of last year behind? Do I really want to see the new year as the beginning of something new? How much baggage do I want to being with me?  Do I actually need to bring any of it? These are all questions I have been asking myself over the last  few weeks. New Year’s thoughts aside, these are challenging words for anytime.  I know that I do not always see an end as the beginning, right then, of something new. Yet even the grieving that accompanies the end of something is in fact a new beginning, a new way of coping, a new understanding of reality coming into fruition. ‘ For the last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice.’  How

Most people change their email addresses, and most computers remember those addresses long after they have been ‘deleted ’   from your contact list. Just the other day, I got caught again! Admittedly I wasn ’ t paying all that close attention to what I was doing.  The email had been written, proofread and mulled over. Adding the address was a ‘no-brainer ’ . Several days later however I noticed one of those ‘Delivery Status Notification Status (Failure) ‘ messages and found to my chagrin that the computer had picked up an address long discarded in place of any of the current ones. So off the message went again along with a note of apology this time for my lack of attention the first time round. As I was silently berating myself for my inexcusable carelessness, I realized that my mind is very much like my computer in this regard. Not long after this, my husband was reading a monthly publication and remarked that he   ‘missed’   a certain column in it, one that hadn’t been there

Have you seen people wearing shirts that say "Property of Jesus"  Perhaps you have seen them for sale in a Christian book store? Have you stopped to consider just what that motto says about the wearer, or more importantly just what it might say about you? 'Property' in a business dictionary, is defined as: " Quality or thing owned or possessed . In Law: Article, item, or thing owned with the rights of possession, use, and enjoyment,...  " So if we are the property of another, then they have complete control over us. We are in fact their slave . According to the dictionary, a slave is " someone who is legally owned by another person and is forced to work for that person without pay ; a person who is strongly influenced and controlled " I wonder if the persons wearing these shirts ever consider what they are actually proclaiming? If in fact they are the 'Property of Jesus', does that not mean that they have no choic