Hello Reader!

Hello beloved one.

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Announcements:

*Office Hours: 10 to 12 Thursday mornings at The Neighbor (144 S Mason). Come hang out to chat and get to know some folks better.

*After Hours: Much like Office Hours...just in the evening! Please come hang THIS Wednesday, October 28th, from 5:30 to 7:00 at The Neighbor (144 S Mason)

*Election Day Communion: Let's gather together on election day, November 3rd, at 5:30 p.m. to pray and remember together. Plan for 30 minutes. All are welcome.

*PLEASE SEND IN SOMETHING YOU LOVE! Remember a few years ago when we compiled a Commonplace Book? It's a lovely collection of quotations, artwork, poetry. We're going to compile our second volume for Advent 2026! This means we'll need your submissions! Get more details here.

*What Grows In Wonder Conference, November 7 & 8: Our dear friends, Peak Community Church, are hosting a conference on the intersection of art, science, and religion. You should go!

Sunday in Review: Impeccable Words

I N V O C A T I O N

God of silence and God of all sound,

help us to listen.

Help us to hear your soft voice

calling us deeper into You.

Give us attentive ears

that begin to separate the noise

from the sounds that are You.

Today help us hear you anew.

Amen

S C R I P T U R E

​James 3:1-18, MSG​

S O N G S

Free Gungor PREVIEW   ​

Be Thou My Vision Aaron Strumpel PREVIEW   ​

Leave the Rest to You • The... Leave the Rest to You • The... PREVIEW   ​

A R T

T A K E A W A Y S and Q U E S T I O N S

*What word was spoken to you (or about you) long ago that has stuck with you and was harmful or untrue, but has continued to reverberate through your life?

*What word was spoken to you (or about you) long ago that has stuck with you and has been helpful and centering?

*“Be impeccable with your word,” is one of the four agreements from Toltec wisdom tradition. Impeccable is not perfection. It is literally “without sin.” To sin according to the teaching means to speak in a way that is not consistent with who you honestly understand yourself to be as one of God’s unique words in creation.

*We say things we DON’T mean because we want to fit in, belong, keep the peace, or break the tension. This often feels phony.

*We don’t say things we DO mean or believe because we want to belong and be loved and liked and it feels pretty scary and risky to be vulnerable right then and there.

*It’s okay to change your mind. It’s imperative in fact. Means you’re growing. Just don’t wield your words and authenticity harmfully.

*A couple axioms I’ve found helpful:

>>>you don’t have to answer questions they are not asking

>>>you can’t and shouldn’t say everything you think and feel to everyone

B E N E D I C T I O N

You are God’s Child

Gifted with dreams and visions.

Upon you rests the grace of God like flames of fire.

Love and serve the Lord in the wildness of your being.

Practice Resurrection.

And may the deep peace of Christ be with you,

The strong arms of God sustain you,

And the glory of the Holy Spirit shine upon your face.

Amen.

Resource: Pray As You Go Podcast We quietly reflected on Ecclesiastes 3. Listening to scripture and then getting quiet can help us discern God's movement in our lives. A helpful tool for this is the podcast Pray As You Go. They put out episodes for each day and they are about 10 minutes long. Give it a listen this week. click here to listen

Practice: Making Room for Impeccable Presence We all have a few or a couple (please God, at least one!!) relationships where we feel so safe with our words, with the silence, even radical honesty. And we have others where that is not as much the case. This practice can be enriching and helpful in the easy, middling, and harder relationships. Try it out as you move through all of them. Try this in your interactions with other humans: Wait longer than normal to speak. If you can, wait long enough for it to feel a little awkward (this is trickier with a phone call for lack of non verbal communication, but indeed doable). In the listening and the silence, feel your attention shift from your head to your heart. Wait a beat. Give yourself permission to say nothing. Notice what you are noticing. With room to listen to the other’s words in the privacy of your own heart… Do you have a new insight of their meaning? Is there a childlike question arising? Do you sense any softening in your attitude or your feelings about this person? What is it you would have said that you didn’t? What did you say that you might not have said without this quiet space in your heart?

Grace and Peace,

Katrina

&

Darren