{"id":5041,"date":"2016-11-28T15:24:12","date_gmt":"2016-11-28T20:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/?p=5041"},"modified":"2016-11-28T15:24:12","modified_gmt":"2016-11-28T20:24:12","slug":"thoughts-for-sunday-the-4th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/2016\/11\/thoughts-for-sunday-the-4th\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts for Sunday, the 4th"},"content":{"rendered":"

A TIME TO BLESS<\/span><\/p>\n

The first verse of Chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes declares: \u201cTo every thing there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

David Spangler asks: When is the time to bless? (p. 79)<\/span><\/p>\n

For reflection: Think about all the times you encounter some form of blessing ie public occasions, worship, ceremonies etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

When are the times you are most likely to encounter a formal blessing?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBlessings are asked at beginnings and endings, and at many points in between. Indeed, any time we feel a situation or a person <\/span>needs the benefit of divine providence<\/b><\/span> we ask for a blessing. This is how we normally understand a blessing in our culture. <\/span>It\u2019s an invocation of the presence and the power of the sacred upon a person\u2019s life or upon the function of an object.\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBUT <\/b><\/span>as much as a blessing is an invocation, <\/span>it is also an act of discovering the part of us that moves in harmony on the dance floor of creation.<\/b><\/span> In fact,<\/span><\/p>\n

the art of blessing is not only about the act of blessing, but about an attitude towards the world, a way of seeing things that go beyond our ordinary perceptions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On Sunday we talked about somehow being in harmony with the greater mystery. We had difficulty naming it (which is as it should be!). Spangler uses the metaphorical language of flowing energy, of obstruction, and of openness.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our tradition might use the term \u201cgrace\u201d – the continual flowing of divine energy in our behalf.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are a couple of questions to ponder: Can you identify a time when you have felt yourself in \u201cthe flow\u201d of blessing? of unexpected grace? (be careful not to censor your insight or understanding when something comes to mind).<\/span><\/p>\n

As you recall, were you able to be in a state of openness – receptivity? <\/span><\/p>\n

Did anything in you \u201cobstruct\u201d the flow? or were you able to receive and let it pass on through you in some way to its next \u201cdestination?\u201d ie: can you identify a time when you were \u201cblessed in order to be a blessing?\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe real power of blessing is that it awakens us to the power of spirit. A blessing is an energizing of our sense of the sacred: the more we attune ourselves to that presence, the more we live in its midst.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A TIME TO BLESS The first verse of Chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes declares: \u201cTo every thing there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.\u201d David Spangler asks: When is the time to bless? (p. 79) For reflection: Think about all the times you encounter some form of blessing ie public occasions, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-study"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5041"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5042,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5041\/revisions\/5042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}