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February 22, 2012
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Building Update Lyndale Church is in a partnership with Salem Lutheran and First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ, owning together and sharing space in Salem's beautiful limestone sanctuary at 610 W. 28th St. Lyndale and Salem moved in December 21, 2001. First Christian January 15, 2012. We'll rotate about every 3 months through the three different sanctuaries. Check here for pictures of the construction.
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On Behalf Of July 8, 2007 Psalm 69:29-31 Psalm 69, is this long litany of complaints, the waters have come up to my neck, I sink in deep mire, I am weary with my crying, people hate me without cause, At right at the end of the complaints and cursing of the people who are after him, with a last complaint comes a surprise verse: But I am afflicted and in pain; let thy salvation, O God, set me on high! I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify God with thanksgiving. I Thess. 5:16 – 22 “Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit, do not despise prophesying, but test everything, hold fast what is good, abstain from every form of evil. James 1:1 – 4 “James, a servant of God and of the sovereign Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes in the Dispersion: Greeting. Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. On Behalf Of: this is a spiritual practice using language from InterPlay. I’m going to invite us to try it….then tell a story why I’m preaching about this practice this morning. First, say a silent prayer for yourself. Now, say a silent prayer for someone else Finally, say a silent prayer for Ko Koyama, going through chemo and radiation treatments. On behalf of, something we do in interplay, move on behalf of…in yoga, dedicate the practice to… Great spiritual practice, to practice doing things, praying, dancing, acting on behalf of someone else…may be some power when we do it together. Monday afternoon I met with Belle Wager and in passing she mentioned something called “fire the grid”. She sent me the website, which I read. I also snooped around testing the spirits. I want to tell you the story as I remember it; you can check it out yourself. Fire the Grid, a movement to have people gather thanksgiving, joy, healing prayers, meditation, intentions for the earth at 11:11a.m. Greenwich Mean Time on Tuesday, July 17th. People from around the world. That would be 6:11 a.m. Minnesota time. Here’s the most amazing and odd story. (I told the story as I remembered it with these notes… Shelly Yates, Halifax Nova Scotia 4 year old son, she and he both drown, light beings, voice…fill him with joy, thanksgiving, passion…6 months later, do it for the earth.) You can read it in a short version on this website http://www.firethegrid.org/ Or if you want to hear Shelly Yates in her own words tell the unusual and amazing story of “fire the grid”, you can search Shelly Yates, Fire the Grid youtube (I used google) and her story will come up in different parts, or you can copy and paste this address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqUAluDvuU4&mode=related&search= This quote is from the “firethegridwebsite”. “Collect a series of happy moments from your life, for example your most loving kiss, the joyous happiness of eating ice-cream or the sun on your face after a long cold winter. They were very explicit with their details. The smile you have when you see the kindness of a child or the sheer pleasure you feel while washing your hands under warm water with a fragrance soap. It went on and on. However the basis of it was that there were thousands of happy uplifting moments in our lives that we miss because we are so busy with the business of being unhappy. They said even those in poverty have moments of tremendous joy if they would choose to feel them. When a lover touches your flesh or when your child smiles. If we as a group of humans would take time out everyday and I don't mean huge amounts of time I mean moments to remember a happy moment then we collectively raise the planets frequency a little every day with little effort. It will also raise the level of the humans who participate. Simply close your eyes and remember a thought or feeling that has given you earthly pleasure then be thankful for it. If you only have a few that is alright because as you practice this little exercise you will find yourself finding more and more to feel happy about. It will act like a contagion because others will feel your happiness and it will infect their field.” It was as I read that on Monday evening, that the scriptures for this morning came to me….about offering thanksgiving to God. I found Psalm 69: Psalmist…at the bottom, yet praised God with a song, magnifying God with thanksgiving I Thessalonians…exhortation to rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances…not a command, but a way of life… And the phrase, count it all joy – I had to look up which letter it was in. James, saying, count it all joy, when you meet various trials. As we see live as a University, a place to learn. The University of Life. Like her “guides”, spirits, guardian angels, light beings, whatever you want to call them, the scriptures remind us to give thanks always, rejoice, count it joy when we meet various trials…and as I Thess. Mentioned - not quench the Spirit, nor despise prophesy, but test everything, hold fast to what is good. My first reaction after hearing this story was to test the spirits. How’s she making money off this? She’s not, from what I could determine. If you have computer and internet access, listen to her tell her story. She seems about as real, unreligious as they come. I was talking with Barb about it Monday night and I remembered something I learned at seminary. God chooses people we don’t expect….it’s one of the main story lines of Hebrew and Christian scriptures….people you don’t expect to do God’s work. (And when I came to church this morning, having not seen the finished bulletin, there was the cover reading “unexpected prophets”.) This is the letter I emailed on Tuesday to over 100 people. I’ll email it to the church list after this sermon. Dear family, friends and others who share either my oddness or hope or both, (I feel empowered thinking of the many people I can send this email too - blind copied for your sake.) I just heard yesterday about an intention by people around the earth to send positive, prayerful, thankful, joyful, healing energy back to the earth, for the healing of the earth. It’s taking place on July 17th, for an hour starting at 6:11 a.m. Minnesota Time, 11:11 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time. I will be gratefully dancing, meditating and praying on behalf of the earth at the new Gold Medal Flour Park, just east of the new Guthrie Theater at 6:11 a.m. on July 17th. I invite you to check out the website and listen to Shelly Yates tell her story, then decide if this is something you want to do in the privacy of your home, or with others of your choosing. If you haven’t heard about this yet, you can check out the website at http://www.firethegrid.org/ If you want to hear Shelly Yates in her own words tell the unusual and amazing story of “fire the grid”, you can search Shelly Yates, Fire the Grid youtube (I used google) and her story will come up in different parts, or you can copy and paste this address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqUAluDvuU4&mode=related&search= Obviously an hour of prayer, dance or meditation doesn’t take away from the many ways we are hurting our planet and ourselves, but it certainly can’t hurt to join with others on July 17th to ring the earth with prayers of healing, thanksgiving, joy and love - while we drive less, bike more and work for policy changes in our nation that will bring about a spirit of love, generosity, peace and care for creation and all creatures. I pray the hour on the 17th, will make the rest flow more easily. Don I invite you to test the spirits….and at a minimum, wake up on July 17th, giving thanks to God for all the joyful things in your life….and then as you want: pass on that joy to the healing of the earth. It certainly can’t hurt. Then the next day, July 18th – wake up again giving thanks for the morning, for the joys of the past day that you experienced in the trials and classrooms of this university of life God has blessed us with.
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