Peace Out(doors)/Interconnect — current program
This is the most recent program from our Peace Out(doors) or Interconnect gathering.
Learn more about Peace Out(doors)
Learn more about Interconnect
Welcome — our time to join together
Greeting
First reading
Today’s first reading is by Pepa Paniagua.
I often refer to God, in the Holy Spirit, being as close as our breath — and it is a wondrous and humbling thing to consider that life, our life, is like a breath.
How often do we think about the act of breathing?
I would imagine anytime we have been sick, or breathing has been labored, our breath becomes something we are much more mindful of. But even moment to moment, breathing is not something I think much about- it is simply something my body does.
And perhaps, in that lack of attention to my own breathing, I have missed the ways that the Holy Spirit is living and moving within the rising and falling of my own chest.
I wonder what we might witness or experience, if we paid closer attention to our breath, and closer attention to the movement of our day to day living.
Recognition of worship space (font, mandala, prayer journal)
Centering
The Word — a time for sacred readings
Recognition of scripture context
In today’s story from Mark’s gospel, a righteous man who seems to have checked all the boxes approaches Jesus to see if he’s missing anything from his spiritual resume. The response from Jesus is not what the man expected. This leads to a lesson for the disciples that calls into question some fundamental values of the society in which they lived, as well as some foreshadowing of things to come.
Scripture reading
Today’s scripture passage is Mark 10:17–31.
As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. You shall not defraud. Honor your father and mother.’ ” He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”
Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age — houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions — and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”
Special Reading
Today’s special music is “God Said No” by Dan Bern (performed by Ben).
I met God
On the edge of town
Where the wind meets the stillness
Where the darkness meets the light
Where the ocean meets the sky
Where the desert meets the rain
Where the earth meets the heavens
Out on the edge of town
I met GodI asked God
Do one thing for me
Send me back in time
Send me to Seattle
Let me go
Find Kurt Cobain
Take away his gun
Take away his bullets
Talk to him
Make him want to live
Tell him how we love him
Help him see his gloryGod said no
If I sent you back
If you really found him
You would only ask him
If he could
Help you get a deal
If he knows a lawyer
If he can help you
God said noI asked God
Do one thing for me
Send me back in time
Send me to Berlin
Let me find
The one they call Hitler
I will stalk him
I will bring him down
I will bring along
A powerful gun
Loaded with bullets
Obliterate his memoryGod said no
If I sent you back
You would get caught up
In theory and discussion
You would let your fears
Delay and distract you
You would make friends
You would take a lover
God said noI asked God
Do one thing for me
Send me back in time
Send me to Jerusalem
Let me go
Let me go find Jesus
Let me save his life
As they try to kill him
Let me take him down
Down from the cross
Take the iron from his body
Try to heal his woundsGod said no
If I let you go
If you really found him
Walking with the cross
You would stare
Your tongue no longer working
Eyes no longer seeing
Ears no longer hearing
God said time
Time belongs to me
Time’s my secret weapon
My final advantage
God turned away
From the edge of town
I knew I was beaten
And that Now was all I had
God said no
Response — our time to join in prayer and fellowship
Prayers
Fellowship
Sending — our time to focus from our immediate to our greater community
Centering
Unison Sending
Make us worthy, Lord, to serve our siblings throughout the world.
Give them today, through our hands, their daily bread.
Through our understanding, give them love.
Give peace and joy. Amen.
Works Referenced
Bern, Dan. “God Said No.” New American Language, 2001.
Paniagua, Pepa. “as close as our breath.” Daily Ripple, October 2, 2024. https://dailyripple.substack.com/p/as-close-as-our-breath