Messages on Belonging & Connection (Page 9)

Messages on Belonging & Connection (Page 9)

Cosmic Mind, Home Heart

This week, Rev. Ken opens with a quote about spirituality by Walt Whitman.Continuing in our Heirloom Connections series, we share Evan and Micah’s pen pal videos. They’re asked to describe their “Ows and their Wows.” This brings them to some heavy topics, with some big and broad ideas, but they also look at the smaller things too – particularly superheroes.Ken also ponders astronaut Michael Collins, who had some spiritually enlightened things to say about being the furthest person ever away…

The Big Picture

Rev. Lee opens our new Message series by recounting “The Josh Battle.” She remarks how right it feels that “Little Josh” was allowed to win. This is the way it’s supposed to be when we say we want better for our kids. She also shares a recent “Maslow Got it Wrong” article. She highlights the difference between the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs and the “teepee” of the Blackfoot Indian Tribe.Rev. Lee speaks a bit about our current message series by…

Belonging Sunday

This week, Rev. Lee explains the meaning of Belonging Sunday in our congregation. She reflects on what it means to belong to a community, especially now that we’re in a pandemic. Later, she asks us to consider how there can be a cloud and sunshine in something as simple as a piece of paper. Our new members are introduced, and Rev. Lee goes over what’s in the welcome package we delivered to each household. There’s also a special welcome from…

Heart and Compassion Practices

Rev. Ken speaks about the issues that come along with having the news on all the time, and how sometimes it’s important to turn it off. He shares a story about a news reporter who shows emotion while reporting on a family. In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, we walk through a heart practice you can do at home. Rev. Ken also shares a prayer for kindness, then a lovingkindness meditation where we can practice compassion even for people we…

Christmas Eve

Rev. Lee brings us our annual Christmas Eve service, this year inspired by the movie Home Alone. Christmas Eve Maybe you’ve had the feeling this week that you were running out of time as you hit refresh on a package that youwere tracking for delivery, as you thought about all the things that needed to happen, I guess, before Christmas.Maybe that’s one of the things that has become clear to you, all of these preparations and plans for Christmas.Which ones…

Darkness Visible

Ken shares a story from Anne Lamott wherein she talks about calling around to different friends asking about what Advent means to them. She doesn’t have much luck until she reaches a Jesuit friend who has 35 years of sobriety. He shares a dramatic event which happened early in his own recovery wherein folks at a 12-step meeting showed compassion to a man in a terrible state. The patience they showed then, evoked the feeling of Advent for this friend.…

Break Your Heart

In this week’s message, Rev. Lee talks about the upcoming election, and admits that she’d gone back and forth on what kind of message to deliver this week: one where she reassures us that everything will be okay, and one that warns us that it won’t be. She remembers words Rev. Ken said to her at her ordination: “Let your ministry break your heart,” and tells us that out broken hearts are good enough. She concludes with a story about…

Woven Fine

Rev. Lee begins this week’s message by talking about a new framework for the stages of grief, including an added a sixth stage: “finding meaning.” Of course, that’s a very hard concept to accept, especially if we’re in the early stages of grief. She also talks us through the conundrum of how we can all support each other when we’re all going through the same thing. She shares the “Parable of the long spoons,” where the answer isn’t to feed…

The Care of Souls

Rev. Ken begins this new message series by offering the Mourner’s Kaddish for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. He talks about a videogame he’s playing now where a being called “Stella” guides souls to the afterlife, and how surprisingly touching it is. He also talks about how we can help each other through our collective mourning process by honoring the connections between us. The Care of Souls [00:00:00]The following is a message from Wellspring’s congregation.[00:00:06]Good morning, Wellsprings.[00:00:09]It was on Friday evening…

Blinded By the Light

This week, Rev. Ken continues our Spiritflix series with a message about the movie Blinded By the Light – a film where the main character is asking the question “How do I fit in?” Rev. Ken talks about how this film reminded him of the eulogy President Obama gave for John Lewis, calling us to a “Vibrant, big-hearted, tolerant America of perpetual self creation.” He also reflects on the importance of the Bruce Springsteen lyric “No one wins unless everybody…

Garden State

Lay preacher Beverly Fox continues our SpiritFlix series with a message about the film Garden State. Her message explores the concept of home. What does that mean to you? Where can you find home? Garden State [00:00:02]Good morning.[00:00:03]My name is Beverly Fox, and I am beyond honored to be serving as a preacher today. Today, we are going to be sharing amessage from our SpiritFlix series, which for any of you new comers welcome, who may not know what that…

Troop Zero

This week, lay preacher Josie Waldman shares the movie Troop Zero with us, and what the film meant to her, as a girl who was picked on in school. She shares some of her personal experiences and wonders what it is that makes some kids act the way they do. She asks us to consider the essential question of the movie: “What kind of world would it be if every homely, strange little girl thought she could do whatever she…