The Queries that Resulted

What emerged from the friends planning the Retreat:


What do I have in overflowing amounts, fullness or magnificence; life, hope, joy, money, connection to the Spirit? How do I come to have this abundance?

What do I have in abundance NOW, and how can I save, and share, the fruits—but, more significantly—the seeds from that bounty? Is that how we see ministry?

How can I recognize my rich gifts of Spirit and use this knowledge to forge a stronger connection with the Divine?



Psalm 65 (New International Version)
1 Praise awaits you, O God, in Zion; to you our vows will be fulfilled.

2 O you who hear prayer, to you all men will come.

3 When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions.

4 Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple.

5 You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness, O God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas,

6 who formed the mountains by your power, having armed yourself with strength,

7 who stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations.

8 Those living far away fear your wonders; where morning dawns and evening fades you call forth songs of joy.

9 You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it.

10 You drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops.

11 You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance.

12 The grasslands of the desert overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness.

13 The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing.



FIRST-DAY THOUGHTS
In calm and cool and silence, once again
I find my old accustomed place among
My brethren, here, perchance, no human tongue
Shall utter words; where never hymn is sung,
Nor deep-toned organ blown, nor censer swung
Nor dim light falling through the pictured pane!
There, syllabled by silence, let me hear
The still small voice which reached the prophets ear;
Read in my heart a still diviner law
Than Israel's leader on his tables saw!
here let me strive with each besetting sin,
Recall my wandering fancies, and restrain
the sore disquiet of a restless brain;
And, as the path of duty is made plain,
May grace be given that I may walk therein,
Not like the hireling, for his selfish gain,
With backward glanced and reluctant tread,
Making a merit of his coward dread,
But, Cheerful, in the light around me thrown,
Walking as one to pleasant service led;
Doing God's will as if it were my own,
Yet trusting not in mine, but in His strength alone!
John Greenleaf Whittier



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October 9 2010 UFM Retreat
QUERIES the way they started from Worship and Ministry Committee

What do I have in overflowing amounts, fullness or magnificence: life, hope, joy, money, connection to the Spirit? How do I come to have this abundance?

What have been my experiences of sharing my abundance, or of others sharing their abundance with me?

What might I now choose to do to share abundance?What do I have in abundance NOW, and how can I save, and share, the fruits--but, more significantly--the seeds from that bounty? Is that how we see ministry?

Some trees are already beginning to shed their leaves. What do we shed with the coming of winter, so that we don't waste energy bringing it through the cold, and so we have energy and room for new gifts?

How can I recognize my rich gifts of Spirit and use this knowledge to forge a stronger connection with the Divine?

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Okay, um, God, RantWoman is unclear how we all get from A to B here, and SOMETHING in this realm is going to have to get worked out by the time the retreat starts.

Fortunately (?) today RantWoman is blessed by abundant clarity that her Rant du Jour is about a generalized technical issue and therefore belongs in her other blog.