Mid-Week Message - October 15

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be always with you!

I woke up this morning with an earworm - if you haven't heard that term before, it refers to a song or a tune that feels like it has burrowed into your ear and got stuck there. Most days, I wake up with one - some days they are beautiful, some days they are ridiculous (Raffi singing "We fish you a hairy Christmas" anyone???); sometimes I know why the song is there, but other days it is a mystery where the song came from.

But with my mental soundtrack today, I've been thinking a bit about the arts in general, and how different artistic media allow us to express things that we can't necessarily express any other way.  When I was at AST, I had a professor (shout-out to Dr. Alyda Faber) who used to include an artistic component in every course she taught.  She is a professor of systematic theology, and one of her assignments in each class was to express the theology we were learning using whatever artistic medium we wanted - visual art, music, poetry, dance. One of the more creative projects I saw a classmate do involved using the video game Minecraft to create a video about the teachings of one of the ancient mystics!

Not everyone liked this, but I loved these assignments. In order to do the assignment, I would have to think deeply about what we were learning, but then use a different part of my brain to express it than I would use if I was writing an essay.  I usually defaulted to music as my medium of choice, though I once submitted a poetry collection.

The arts in all of their forms can speak to us about God.  A couple of weeks ago, as we were sharing our God Sightings at Westfield, Joe and I had a brief conversation about sacred architecture, and how churches are designed and built to help evoke in us a sense of God's presence.  Music is another powerful medium that can convey God's beauty, God's majesty, or God's love to us.  Film can hold that power too - this same professor taught a course titled "Jesus in Text and Image" and in each class we would watch a scene from a movie then discuss the question, "What is this filmmaker trying to convey to us about the person and/or work of Jesus?"

So whether you are a creator or an appreciator of the arts, I invite you to keep all of your senses open to what they might have to say about the Divine!

(And in case you are curious, today's earworm is the 5th movement of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique - a piece that I think does have theological overtones, though maybe not in a conventional or expected way! You can listen to it by clicking here.)

Moving on to announcements for this week:

• Worship on Sunday will be at 9:15 at Long Reach and 11:15 at Westfield and Facebook Live. This week, we'll be reading the story about the time that Jacob wrestled... a man? an angel? God?... and was transformed by the experience. We'll be talking about blessing - why do we feel like we need to wrestle a blessing out of God, rather than trusting that the blessing is there all along? If you want to read the story ahead of time, you'll find it at Genesis 32:22-31.

• Asking the Big Questions - our next gathering will be next Tuesday, October 21, from 4:30-6pm. This month's big question will be:  "What do we do with what we've been given?" As always, there will be different prompts and activities to engage with this question, as well as pizza so you don't need to worry about cooking when you get home.

• Romero House Sandwiches - Our next date to make sandwiches for Romero House will be Friday October 24. This time around, it will be:

  Summerville - egg salad (no onions)

  Long Reach - bologna (no condiments other than butter/margarine)

  Westfield - ham and cheese (no condiments other than butter/margarine)

  Please place each sandwich in a baggie, then stack the bagged sandwiches back in the bread bag for ease of transportation.

  Pick-up on October 24 will be: Summerville 9:15 at the church; Long Reach 9:30 at the Fullerton Store; Westfield 9:50 in the church parking lot. (Thank you Bette!)

• "Sock it To Me" - a reminder that this year, instead of socks, we are collecting new mittens and gloves for Romero House (all sizes). Collection will happen on November 2 at Summerville and Westfield, and November 9 at Long Reach. Start watching the flyers for sales!

• Study Leave - I will be on Study Leave next week (Oct. 20-26) which means that there will be no bible study (we will resume the following week on Oct. 29), and no mid-week message next week. I will be out of town for part of the week, so for any pastoral emergencies next week, please contact Margaret S. at 506-xxx-xxxx and she will connect you with the covering minister.
  

Thank You Corner - this week's thank you goes out to Bertis and the Westfield United Church Choir for the fabulous concert last Thursday evening. The music raised spirits and filled the audience with a sense of peace and hope. Thank you for sharing your gift of music - may the remaining 3 concerts in the series be equally beautiful and inspiring!

For a closing thought, I read an article earlier this week by Nadia Bolz-Weber (and yes, I know that I've shared her writing here before!). In it, she writes about recognizing the power that social media algorithms have to shape how we view the world, and then points towards a different way of being in the world, all in a framework fo the AA 12 Steps. To me, the whole article felt like a breath of fresh air. If you would like to read it too, you can click here.

Blessings to you and yours, today and always!

Kate.

Rev. Kate Jones

Two Rivers Pastoral Charge

(506) 757-2201 (office)

(506) 343-1307 (mobile)

www.tworiverspastoralcharge.com

Pronouns:  she/her/hers

  "Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law?"

Jesus replied, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: "You must love your neighbour as you love yourself."

(Matthew 22:36-39)