Exploring Intentionality in 2009!

One of the things we hope to do in 2009 is to explore ways to become more intentional about our individual and communal spiritual lives. We want to engage the desire and the goal of growing closer to God and growing our faith. Towards that goal we have started discussing "weekly graces" on Sunday mornings, that are a special focus for our prayers and activities for the coming week.

June's Weekly Graces:

Week of June 28... Please take some time to look over the notes from this Sunday's discussion about participation at Church in Bethesda. The online notes have a theological flow of Ephesians 4 and the list of our eight "Zones of Participation." We're asking you to prayerfully consider what area of our church's life you might dig into and really make your own!

Week of June 14... You have homework! In keeping with our discussion of "shared life" this morning you are encouraged to intentionally find time this week to gracefully meet with someone from our church family and just listen, hang out, share life. Also, find someone not of our church family and be present with them, buy'em a cup of coffee and invest some time in them. They'll be blessed, and so will you!

Week of June 07... We blessed our graduating seniors this morning. Life is a journey, and it is changing for these two young men in amazing ways. How about you? It's a great time for us all to stop and reflect a little on our own paths... any turns or corrections that need to be taken? How is your walk with God?

May's Weekly Graces:

Week of May 31... How will we live and move in confession as individuals and as a community of faith? What forms might we adopt and practices might we follow? This is your question and challenge of the week! Our hope is to enact the healing and forgiveness that scripture shows us living in a life of confession.

Week of May 24... Our discussion of the Sacrament of Service dealt more with our "being" than our doing, that we are made to serve, we are "God's great currency on earth to purchase the divine will." As a weekly grace, we talked about incorporating a practice of daily examen in our spiritual lives, taking time to reflect on God's presence and our following. St. Ignatius taught the examen as a way of better seeing and hearing God's movement in our lives. There's some good online info on the examen here and here.

Week of May 17... Well, it was amazing to celebrate wedding vows during our worship service! As we talked about the foundation of the Sacrament of Marriage we identified a few things from scripture... submission, respect, love and honor. But these are not reserved only for the marriage covenant. We can take them into the coming week and grace the people around us with transforming life! Imagine a going into your home, school and work place as a person of covenant, placing others before yourself and living a "covenant lifestyle" of respect, submission, honor and love. A people of "daily covenant" just might change the world.

Week of May 10... Go bless some folks around the table this week! We talked about the Sacrament of Communion this morning, and now you are invited to take that sacrament out on the road! Sit, break bread and share life with people this week, intentionally listening and communing with them. See if God doesn't open a Way for words of hope and peace to be planted in someone's soul!

Week of May 03...  We spoke Sunday about the Sacrament of "Blessing." We tried to wrap our minds around the idea that blessings, and the act of blessing, is a re-ordering of reality... blessings create a new thing. So, our Grace was to think of how we will begin to re-order the world around us by bringing God into the situations and speaking the words of blessing. Maybe, this is a week to learn how to look and listen and be a people who know what needs exist around them in the lives of fellow students, workers, family members and neighbors?

Previous Weekly Graces:

March & April 2009

January & February 2009