Last Sunday we wrapped up our Sinners and Saints series (if you missed any of the messages or want to review check out this page).
I’ve been thinking a lot this week about the song we sang at 10 & 11:30 – not just because it’s such a good distillation of the series’ messages. But also because it centers the ways that our hearts know exactly the impact of what it means to love imperfect people, including ourselves. It’s not easy. It can hurt. And, it’s worth it.
With this series over, a new one begins. Look for more info in your inbox tomorrow. I know there’s snow predicted, but if you can make it, it’s definitely one not to miss – for the message, and because our band will be back with a new singer!
Hope to see you Sunday at 8:30, 10, or 11:30.
In partnership,
Rev. Gretchen
Notes from Sinners & Saints: Week 5 –
Brought to Justice
Listen to the message
Music
At 10 & 11:30 we sang All My Favorite People
We sang our theme song one last time: Emma’s Revolution’s Swimming to the Other Side
Resources
- Listen to this interview with Michael McCullough on Revenge and Forgiveness or here’s one of his lectures where he presents more of his research.
- Learn more about the Universalist argument about punishment and hell (aka Restorationist Controversy) here….
- Or go even further in this debate & get yourself a Death and Glory t-shirt!
- New to Restorative Justice? This book is a good place to start
- New to Transformative Justice? This page has many good links to explore, or check out adrienne maree brown’s blog posts on transformative justice
Text
- The reading from Lynn Ungar can be found here
- The story of the two brothers is based in Christian Scripture, Luke 15:11-32
Here’s the call to worship I wrote that I offered at the 8:30 and the 10:00 service:
Give up the fight
For some other moment
Some other life
Than here, and now
Give up the longing
for some other world
The wishing
for other choices to make
other songs to sing
other bodies, other ages,
other countries, other stakes
Purge the past; forgive the future –
each comes too soon.
Surrender only to this life,
this day, this hour,
not because it does not
constantly break your heart
but because it also beckons
with beauty
startles with delight
if only we keep
waking up
This is the gift
we have been given:
these “body-clothes,”*
this heart-break, this pulse
this breath,
this light,
these friends,
this hope.
Here we re-member ourselves
All a part of it all –
Giving thanks, and centering joy.
* this phrase is from Mary Oliver’s My Work is Loving the World
Remember – While we may find some degree of justice in punishment, we are only fully brought to justice when we restore our common humanity, and transform the underlying causes of injustice – of which we are all a part. How are you finding ways to love the hell out of this world today?