Messages on Recovery

Messages on Recovery

Wild & Precious Life 2023

Our annual Wild & Precious Life service, wherein we ask people in different decades of their lives to answer the question posed in Mary Oliver’s poem, The Summer Day, “What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

God Shaped Hole

Rev. Ken begins this week with remembering his father, who passed away last Fall. He shares with us a poem/song his father wrote called ‘Tsuris,” a Yiddish word equating to “stress.” He tells us about his father’s experiences in the Korean war, and how traumatic they must have been. We are invited to listen to a poem quietly, and consider the busy nature of our lives, and whether that’s serving us. He shares a story about another veteran recounting his…

Multiple Pathways

Today, Rev. Ken speaks with Kate Parsons, PCC, CRS – Leadership and Recovery Coach and founder of The Brightening Center. They both discuss their own recovery journeys, and also offer some options for anyone who may be considering recovery for themselves. Multiple Pathways START OF TRANSCRIPT[00:00:00] Speaker1The following is a message from WellSprings congregation. Morning, Kate. It’s good to see you. I can always wonderful to see you.[00:00:09] Speaker2How are you doing today?[00:00:10] Speaker1I’m doing good. Thank you. It’s nice,…

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.…

Wild and Precious Life

In our annual Thanksgiving service, we ask members of our congregation – from different decades of life – to answer the question from the Mary Oliver poem The Summer Day “What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Wild and Precious Life START OF TRANSCRIPT[00:00:00]The following is a message from Wellspring’s congregation.[00:00:05]Hi, my name is Noah. I’m 16 years old and I am in 11th grade.[00:00:10]I’m going to read this off my computer because…

We Can Be the Space for This

In this week’s message, lay preacher Bev Fox shares the story of her brother who died after a years-long struggle with addiction. She tells us how the slow processing of his death led to her own struggles with mental health. A NOTE FROM OUR WORSHIP LEADER: “Before we move forward, I want to let you all know that in this morning’s message, our preacher Bev shares a personal story that might be difficult or triggering for some folks to hear,…