Seeking a deeper sense of connection, community, and belonging? SIGN UP FOR SMALL GROUP MINISTRY Feeling connected and having a sense of community is an essential part of being human. Whether you are new to Emerson or a long-time member, one of best the ways to get connected in this congregation is joining one of … Continue reading SMALL GROUP MINISTRY SIGN-UP
What Does It Mean To Be A Community of Joy? “And God saw everything that God had made, and behold, it was very good.” — The Book of Genesis “In my own worst seasons I’ve come back from the colorless world of despair by forcing myself to look hard, for a long time, at … Continue reading SOUL MATTERS, JUNE 2017, What Does It Mean To Be A Community of Joy?
May 2017 What Does It Mean To Be A Community of Embodiment? “I spend most time wondering if I should be somewhere else. Instead, I’m learning to shape the words “thank you” with my first breath each morning. My last breath each night. So when the very last breath comes, at least I will … Continue reading SOUL MATTERS, May 2017
APRIL 2017, What Does It Mean To Be A Community of Transformation? Let mystery have its place in you; do not be always turning up your whole soil with the plowshare of self-examination, but leave a little fallow corner in your heart ready for any seed the winds may bring, and reserve a nook of … Continue reading SOUL MATTERS: What Does It Mean To Be A Community of Transformation?
MARCH 2017 What Does It Mean To Be a Community of Risk? To act is to be committed, and to be committed is to be in danger. ~James Baldwin Risk is usually associated with the dare devils and thrill seekers. The real danger, we’re told, is a life of boredom. The … Continue reading SOUL MATTERS: What Does It Mean To Be a Community of Risk?
Afraid that our inner light will be extinguished or our inner darkness exposed, we hide our true identities from each other. In the process, we become separated from our own souls. We end up living divided lives, so far removed from the truth we hold within that we cannot know the “integrity that comes from … Continue reading SOUL MATTERS, February 2017, What Does It Mean To Be A Community of Identity?
5january2017-prophecy Our times ask us to exercise our capacity for prophetic witness, by Prophetic witness I mean our capacity to see what is happening, to say what is happening and to act in accordance with what we know…. Prophetic witness …is the ability to name those places where we resist knowing what needs to be … Continue reading SOUL MATTERS, January 2017: What does it mean to be a community of prophecy?
Spiritually, presence can mean two radically different things. On the one hand, contemplatives talk of “being present.” Presence from this perspective is all about awareness and remembering to “live in the moment.” On the other hand, theologians tend to come at presence from the perspective of “otherness.” Their concern is not just that we pay … Continue reading SOUL MATTERS: What Does It Mean To Be A Community of Presence?
As part of our participation in the Soul Matters program, each month our church community will be exploring the same theme together in Worship Services, in Religious Education Classes, and in our Small Group Ministries (which are also kicking off this month.) Well this one certainly seems easy to answer: it takes work. … Continue reading SOUL MATTERS OCTOBER THEME: What Does It Mean To Be A Community of Healing?
