Hello Reader!

Hello beloved one.

***

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.

*Small Groups! Last call to sign up for small groups. The form will close tomorrow. Have you been on the fence about signing up? Go for it! It's just six weeks! . Sign up here!!!​

*Family Housing Network: It's time to help out! We need some of you fine folks to sign up to provide meals and to host the families that will be living at the building for the week October 4th. Click here to volunteer! ​

Sunday in Review: The Parable of the Hidden Treasure

I N V O C A T I O N

O God,

from your providing hand even the dissatisfied and grumbling

receive what they need for their lives.

Teach us your ways of justice

and lead us to practice your generosity,

so that we may live a life worthy of the gospel

made known through your Son Jesus Christ, our Savior.

Amen.

S C R I P T U R E

Matthew 13:44-46

““The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

S O N G S

King Of My Heart John Mark McMillan, Sarah Mc... PREVIEW   ​

Your Love Is Strong Jon Foreman PREVIEW   ​

Safe Place (Psalm 84) [Remas... Enter The Worship Circle, Ka... PREVIEW   ​

A R T

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

*I love the First Nations Version translation of the kingdom of God as “The Good Road from Above.”

*Even if you’re not looking in a specific way for a specific outcome, if you are showing up and paying attention, you will find the hidden treasures of life.

*Even if you have a plan for life and diligently work to execute that plan, your own heart may be hidden from you. We don’t always know our own hearts until we find what we didn’t know we were looking for.

*We might most often interpret the one finding the hidden treasure or the rare pearl in this parable as us — perhaps finding our destiny, purpose, passion or finding (gulp) God?? It is us — in the field…on the sea…seeking, looking — how we strive to enter the kingdom. Do we stumble on it? Do we strive to see it…enter it? Good question. In all these parables, we are trying to locate ourselves and we are trying to locate God. What does God want? What do I want? What should I, could I, will I do? Now. Usually…most often we locate God as the protagonist in the little or big parables. God is the sower. God is the landowner…the king…the father…the woman baker!! In this parable, we most often locate ourselves in the shoes of the one stumbling on the treasure or the diligent merchant — be diligent! What if we did what we most often do — ie, what if god is the protagonist in this story? What if God is the one finding…the field…the pearl…what if we locate the divine in the looker and the finder…what if what we find is not us finding The Kingdom of God? But rather the kingdom finding us…hidden in a field…lined up and commodified in the marketplace?

*It is no stretch of our interpretative point of view to see Jesus’s Good News: you are the hidden treasure; you are the pearl of great price; you are the one and only you!

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: Joseph Fasano Revisit this poem from Sunday: For You Who Are About to Give Up ​ ​Think of what you'll miss: the voices of children; apples, dark wine on a table; the smell of the Spring before you're ready. Stay. It doesn't get better; it gets truer. Winter. Albums. Madness. Your grief in you like a cello in its locked, black case. The lemon-scent of someone who has gone. ​ ​ Breathe. Just breathe and be here. In my darkest night, in the storm before morning, I heard a voice that told me it was listening. Friend, I would sit with you and listen. As long as you have breath you could be song. As long as you have breath you could be song. click here to read more of his poetry

Practice: You are the pearl. This week, reread Sunday's passage slowly. As you do, imagine that you are the pearl and/or the buried treasure. And, God is the one who finds you. How does that feel? How does it make you see God? How could it impact how you go through the rest of your week? and how you treat yourself and others?

Grace and Peace,

Katrina

&

Darren