Everyone has a story...

Christmas is a good time to remember this.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-foreman/
compassion-vs-consumption_b_369800.html

Chew on this...11/24

How fitting is it that we are reading a book written specifically for a friend? On page 13, Henri Nouwen writes about what is "happening" in his friendship with Fred. He writes, "What was happening between us seemed to me quite similar to what happened when Jesus looked steadily at the rich young man and was filled with love for him" (Mark 10:21). This story speaks of monetary wealth, but doesn't each of us come with her own "riches" at some point? And then, it is a friendship like ours that reminds each one of us that our Belovedness is rich enough for all the humanly defined wealth imaginable. Thank you...you are in my thanksgiving prayer this week.

We discussed words like holy, profane, eucharist and communion. Here are the definitions Kathy shared. These are not direct translations of these words, but more a paraphrase of our discussion last Tuesday. I looked up the direct translations...I thought it was more information that was necessary for this purpose. Feel free to look them up if you want to.

profane: common (We typically think of this word to mean bad, contemptuous or vulgar)
holy: to be set apart. The opposite of profane.
eucharist/communion: referring to ritual of sharing bread and wine. The literal translation is "The Thanksgiving"

Kathy's homework for the week:
Read John 15:15-16, Matthew 26:26, Mark 14:22, Luke 22:17-20

The question to contemplate for next week:
What makes us resist daring to reclaim the truth that we are God's chosen?

Life of the Beloved

I am not sure how many of you reading this have started the book, but I am reading about brokenness.....heavy. For a long time I thought as a Christian "we" could not talk about the 'ugly' stuff out loud. To read about being broken and EMBRACING that is siring my spirit. I am ready to start discussing this book with you all; is it the 24th yet?

Miss you all and our time together.

J.

November prayer requests/praise reports

Well, I thought I'd put this in for November since we won't be meeting until almost toward the end of November. Just list your prayer request/praise report as a core thought.

Chew on this while we take our break...

Oh, how I have been touched by this sermon by Henri Nouwen. Take a moment....listen. I know you will be glad you did. What a great introduction to our next book.

Love and miss you.
Julie

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3701709082567809182#

'Grace' Song on Oprah

Check out this link! This is a great, new song by Bebe and Cece Winans called "Grace".

http://www.oprah.com/media/20091023-tows-bebe-cece-winans-perform