"Miracles" at ASLC

MIRACLES THUS FAR…
Over the last few weeks, Thus far at ASLC we’ve been looking at the various ways miracles show up in our lives. There’s the Big Miracles – you know, the ones you can’t miss. Then there’s the small ones that are miracles in the sense that they change our perspective on life. It’s normal everyday stuff that, when looked at from a different angle, looked at with a different perception, they help us “see” differently. Then there’s the miracle of faith, that which opens us up to the God stuff. And also the miracle of timing… of being in the right place at the right time.



THIS WEEKS “MIRACLE”… STORY
This Sunday we’re going to be looking at the power and miracle of “Story”. I know many of you have heard this before, but I’ll tell you again of something I read about some elders of a particular tribal background who, many decades ago, warned their youth not to share their sacred tribal stories with the White people – they were sacred and important.
But the elders realized something years afterwards that caused them to lift the ban on the sharing of their sacred stories with the White people. “To them, our Sacred Stories are just that… stories.”



THE POWER OF “STORY”
And yet we do believe in the power of “story”. Remember those stories you’d hear around a camp fire, or the ones you’d hear before you went to bed as a kid? Movies are stories. Movies are a way of expressing “story” in another form.

“Story” in a sense is sacred… when a person tells their story, they’re telling not just what happened, and how they reacted, or whatever… but they’re telling about themselves, about who they are, about what they long for and love, what they need and what they have to give.

Here’s the thing- we human beings have had – I’d say – a need to tell not just “a story”, but in a deep sense, our own story… the story of who we are, where we came from, where we are going, where we want to go, how we see ourselves, etc. Now maybe it’s not autobiography, and maybe not in words, but we need to get out who and what we are somehow. So we tell our “Story”

I have to capitalize the “s” because in a very real way, what we say, whether in words, film or otherwise… is sacred indeed. Your Story is Holy!


THIS SUNDAY – STORIES!
This Sunday we’ll be looking at Story in this way –

We’ll be hearing some of the same bible stories we’ve heard many times, but from a different perspective.

The first reading will be the story of Gen 1, from the poem “The Creation” by James Weldon Johnson – he was an early Civil Rights activist, poet, author, diplomat, very influential. Look him up if you get a chance. http://www.poetry-archive.com/j/the_creation.html
It’s a very powerful expression of the creation account from the mouth of a man who was raised in the deep south at the turn of the century.
It’s pretty powerful for me because I remember hearing this poem from my father’s mouth when I was a kid. This poem was very significant to him. He was raised in an overtly racist era around some overtly racist people. I think he had a heart for those suffering injustice. This poem may have had some connection to this era of his life. Unfortunately, by the time I figured this out… it was pretty much too late to ask him. It’s bitter sweet, since he now has a form of dementia that’s probably now preventing me from even asking him about that connection any more. But either way, this poem has become part of my story now!


The Gospel readings will be Luke 4:13-28 and 10:25-37 from the Cotton Patch Gospel by Clarence Jordan – who was living in the south on a “collective” farm called Koinoia Farms, down in rural Georgia, in the time of deep racism and injustice, just before the Civil Rights era took flight in earnest. This farm was in many respects not only a social justice experiment, but a model for how life could be, even back in the 1950’s. Then in “69 the Cotton Patch Bible was published in the midst of the Civil Rights activities in the south. This experiment was formative for the development of what we now know as Habitat For Humanity- much to the chagrin of the whites around there. http://rockhay.tripod.com/cottonpatch/

Also – I have Rev. Bob Jordan coming to talk. He used to be the pastor of Columbia Baptist Fellowship, and now works for Habitat for Humanity, and has a powerful story about why he’s so into social justice issues.




Remember the Power of Story! It’s not just a “Story”… it’s a life!



Come and be a part! You’re Story with us really does make a difference!