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Trusting JoyDid you know that Easter isn't just a day? That Easter-Tide is a SEASON?! In fact, it's the longest season of the church year: 50 Days!
That doesn't mean we try to sustain the experience of Joy for 50 days. That's impossible. But it is a time to lean into the joy dimension of our humanity, a time of learning to trust the truth of joy, the very inbreaking of a Risen Christ, a God who is making all things new. So let's linger together in Eastertide and see if we can trust JOY just a little more. |
May 28, 2023 -- "A New Beginning to an Old Story"
"Knowing that this is not a brand new thing, that there is both newness and rootedness, continuity and possibility, that we Gentiles are graciously, through Jesus, welcomed into the work that God has been doing through the 12 tribes of Israel…is essential to maintaining or recovering a Pentecost trajectory. Still, it is really difficult to live at this intersection of roots and possibilities."
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May 21, 2023 -- "Unspeakable Joy"
"Resurrection shows us that the pregnant and prophetic waiting and hoping of Advent and the labor pangs and sufferings of Lent are moving us somewhere—towards a goal, an abundant fulfillment of the God who is incomprehensively Good and overflowing with life FOR US--for us to receive and delight and participate in."
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May 14, 2023 -- "The LIghtness of Joy" or "Disappearing Jesus"
"The Risen Christ is not elusive because God is tricking us. He is fully living in a totally different reality. We expect him to join us on the well-worn paths of our fear and in the ruts carved out by unjust systems, to join us in our shackles. He is inviting us to join him in his freedom, to experience the lightness of joy, the boundless possibilities of an alternative creation, a new humanity."
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May 7, 2023 -- "Disciplines of Joy"
"Joy is outside of our control: it bursts, surprises, overwhelms, happens to us. So what does it mean to have disciplines of joy? It is about cultivating ecosystem so we can more faithfully receive and experience the inbreakings of joy and resurrection and new creation, becoming more fertile for growth in our capacity to trust joy."
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April 30, 2023 -- "Bursts"
"Unlike other faith traditions including some of the ones we hold to (but don't name), the solution to the problem of suffering isn’t to avoid it or try to transcend it through detachment or any particular path. Suffering isn't going anywhere…at least for now.
The solution is to dive into the water and get sopping wet in the joyful bursts that come upon us when they come. And to trust that they are true--deeply, eternally true--when disappointment and suffering and death come knocking."
The solution is to dive into the water and get sopping wet in the joyful bursts that come upon us when they come. And to trust that they are true--deeply, eternally true--when disappointment and suffering and death come knocking."
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April 23, 2023 -- "The Dvine Magician"
"The rain is miserable until you give up your efforts to be dry. Then you can dance and delight in the joy of immersion and drenched and sopping wet. The pursuit of joy is disappointment until we give up and simply let Grace wash over us."
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April 16, 2023 -- "A Season of Joy"
"Even though joy can be unpredictable, uncontrollable, unforced, and elusive, it is not an illusion or deception; it is the true essence of new creation breaking through the cracks of the old, Christ harrowing hell, resurrection eroding death. Trusting this is key to what it means to have faith."
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