Messages on Change (Page 8)
Nomadland
Rev. Lee shares her last message from her Philadelphia home about the movie Nomadland. This film focuses on the demise of a company town after the industry supporting it shuts down. She reflects on the fact that she’s about to move into a place that once used to be a company town too. She reflects on how the story of a company town suddenly closing down speaks to our own pandemic experiences, when the things we thought would always be…
Exterminate All the Brutes Documentary
Rev. Ken begins this week’s Message with the President’s statement about the Armenian Genocide, along with the response from the Turkish government. Many of our historical stories are difficult to reckon with, but it’s important that we’re honest about what happened, even if it’s painful. If that pain opens up a productive gap between reality and our aspirations, there can be growth and healing. Ken also shares a quote from James Baldwin about how accepting the past doesn’t mean drowning…
Holding Tightly and Holding Lightly
Ken introduces a “gifts discernment” chart which asks you to plot things you both like and dislike, and things you’re good at and things you aren’t. This connects with our first SpiritFlix movie of this year: Soul. A movie which explores this very question. What are you good at, and what what brings you vitality. Holding tightly versus holding lightly. This is demonstrated in the movie by showing souls in a flow state, versus souls in a state of fixation.…
The Practice of Adulting
This week, Rev. Lee talks about little moments that sneak up on you and stay with you forever. She remarks on the differences between what “adulting” looks like to younger people observing adults, and what it actually means to the people living it. Our Heirloom Connection Penpals this week are Nan and Tina, and Julie and Ron. Nan and Tina talk about a shared interest in counseling, and how their life circumstances effected their ability to pursue that. Ron shares…
Life of the World to Come*
This week, Rev. Ken talks about the Mountain Goats album “Life of the World to Come” and explains how it’s the inspiration for this message. He talks about the concept of “temporal distancing” and how it can be a useful tool in mindfulness practice. He tells us about a time when – quite unexpectedly – he experienced a profound change in perspective. Given this week’s events, Rev. Ken takes a moment to reflect on the George Floyd murder trial, before…
It’s Okay to Not Be Okay
This week, Chris reflects on the entirety of the weight of the pandemic. There are different levels of loss, but she validates the fact that we’ve all lost something. Perhaps we’ve remained healthy, perhaps we’ve kept our jobs, perhaps all our loved ones are safe; yet we’ve all lost things this past year. She contemplates why we are encouraged to shout our joyful moments, but to keep our lamentations quiet. Naming our grief and giving it space can be healing.…
Life Among the Living
Rev. Lee begins this week by acknowledging that we are all “in need of a resurrection.” She sympathizes with the women in the Easter story of the resurrection who were visiting his grave that Sunday. She reminds us that when Jesus is resurrected, he isn’t recognized by his friends and family – he’s unfamiliar. A messenger reminds the women that we can not look for the living among the dead. We can’t find new life in what is past. We…
The Fire Next Time
This week, Rev. Ken begins with an analogy about how characters in a horror movie often have a moment of thinking the danger has past. Rather than thinking those characters are acting foolishly, we’re invited to find empathy for traumatized people. He’s also made a playlist looking back on a year in a pandemic, and he focuses on the song lyric “How am I gonna be an optimist about this?” Rev. Ken talks about Transgenerational trauma, and how trauma travels…
We Remember So We Can Grow
Rev. Lee begins with a story about a healthcare worker isolating from her family, and the stress it caused on her young son. This worker asks her son to “remember this feeling” as we move towards a return to normal. Rev. Lee invites us to remember those who became sick, or those who were lost to this pandemic in the past year. She also references an essay which went viral last year which pointed out that the “old normal” wasn’t…
Apocalypse and Awakening
This week, Rev. Ken opens our new message series called “New Normal (or How Not to Waste an Apocalypse), by talking about a sculpture unveiling in honor of his father’s service to an art museum. As we approach the one year anniversary of Covid lockdown, he reminds us that the Greek word apocalypse means “unveiling.” We can look at this time as potentially a time of awakening. Rev, Ken also invites us to complete the lyric: “It’s the end of…
Make Way
This week, Rev. Ken opens our annual New Year’s service with the story of The Epiphany, and talks about the restoration of a painting of the Magi by Leonardo da Vinci. After the painting was cleaned, more detail and color than anyone expected was revealed. Isn’t that how life is sometimes? So many things can build up and get in the way of us living the lives we really want. Make Way Good morning, Wellsprings. It’s good to be with…
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…