Greetings Beloved!

I’ve had, I imagine, a week much like yours:  booting up the brain, tuning back into tasks, finding the appropriate gear for this hill or that straightaway, holding a little sprig of summer still inside of us, to mix a metaphor or three.

Last week, I sat on a bench in front of the Charles with Deacon Sue Donnelly, and told her I was trying to have sabbath mind = all the time. I liked the euphony of the phrase as it came out of my mouth (thank you, God! all my best lines are yours), and she picked up on it too. It’s an infectious idea, isn’t it? But how can we do it? How can we do it, and also do all the other things required of us in our personal lives, AND do all the things that following Jesus ALSO requires of us?

I had a pretty big epiphany this summer: I want to share it with you this Sunday in worship. It has something to do with the democracy of time, the reality of free will, and the necessity to take responsibility for both the justice demands of God, and what the ancient Jewish Friday night shabbat prayer calls “the inheritance of the sabbath.”

but before that:  tonight is the second of three Sabbath Dinners this fall, a chance to tell you in less formal conversation what I learned and noticed on my sabbatical journey, and to hear about your own journeys. Last night was full up, and the third and final dinner is also fully booked–but we have three spaces open tonight! Dinner’s at 7p at the Parsonage–a Mediterranean feast. Would you like to come?

Sunday morning in worship, I’ll be preaching from Matthew 26, “The Spirit is Willing, But the Flesh is Busy.” Laura Ruth will offer prayers, and we will baptize both baby Nathaniel and his father, David Douglas! Toni Snow is our poetic liturgist. Choir sings!

And save some appetite for even more spiritual nourishment:  Sunday evening at 7p launches our inaugural cutting-edge worship service, re/New, which you’ve heard about from Jeff von Wald. Juicy, sensory, flexible, funky, relevant, deep, wide. A work in progress, and church made new in this generation! Get in on the ground floor, connect with the ground of your being.

Happy day. Light a candle this evening at sundown, remember the sabbath, keep it holy.
Christlove,
Molly