August 6, 2023
WORDS OF GREETING AND NOMOFOMO
Pastor Amanda Miller Garber
Know any students who will be starting at one of our Harrisonburg area colleges or universities this Fall? Consider helping them to connect with RISE by sharing their name(s) and/or contact info with us. We would be happy to reach out - We LOVE to connect with new students!! Email us, call us, text us, tell us in person, or even better, take a moment to fill out this short form to let us know a little about them: https://forms.gle/rAUDR1QMMS2UfsUJ6
Coming Soon!
RISE Together at the Harrisonburg Summer Concert Series - Wednesday, August 16, 6-8 pm at Turner Pavilion
Join with RISE friends for a great night of free music, conveniently playing right across the street from our Homebase, featuring Twisted Pine, and Indie Folk / Jazz / Bluegrass group touted as “A lively grab bag of star players making music described as sheer pop glory, funky all day grooves, and spacecraft sonics.” The 2023 Levitt AMP Harrisonburg Music Series features an exciting line-up all summer long on Wednesday evenings. More info on the full line-up can be found here: https://downtownharrisonburg.org/levitt-amp-harrisonburg/The Hungry Games will continue on Saturday, August 19 @ 6 pm when we’ll gather at the home of Chris and Amanda Zepp in Bridgewater for a night of fellowship, food, and fun. Mark your calendars now and contact Chris or DM us with any questions or for more info.
We’ll be gathering for worship on Sunday mornings at 10ish in the Arboretum all summer long, with a weekly variety of spiritual practices and experiences to connect us with God, one another, and the natural world! We will begin each week on the terrace by the Welcome and Education Center (on the hill) - Bring lawn chairs, blankets, etc as you desire. For more information about the Arboretum, visit www.jmu.edu/arboretum/index.shtml
(In the event of rain, watch our socials and text line for updates - any day-of weather related calls will be made by 9 am)If you would like to connect more deeply with RISE, you can start by submitting this short form to Get Connected!
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Please continue to check social media/the website for all updates and information!
Requests for care and/or prayer can always be sent via e-mail to cares@riseharrisonburg.org, texted to 833-803-0868, or submitted online via our RISE Cares form.
Check out the latest edition of the RISE Report - Your bimonthly(ish) source of information for all things RISE!
WELCOMING STATEMENT
RISE believes that God has open arms, and so should we. Our Creator wants us to love, accept and affirm every human being, including persons of every age, race, ethnic background, nationality, gender identity, sexual orientation, family or socioeconomic status, educational background, religion or creed, and physical or mental ability. We celebrate our diversity and recognize the sacred worth and dignity of all. Everyone is invited and encouraged to join us as we seek to follow Jesus with mutual respect, understanding, and love.
*Read more about “Why Pronouns Matter” HERE.
SPIRITUAL PRACTICE AND THEOLOGICAL EXPLORATION
*For a PDF version of these instructions and background, click HERE
LECTIO DIVINA - “Praying the Scriptures
Latin for “Divine reading” – Lectio is way of approaching scriptures that invites us to let go of our own agendas and open ourselves for the Spirit of God to speak to us in and through the scriptures. In this practice, we aren’t looking for “what the scripture means” or what the writers were trying to say to their readers. It is a personal reading - unique to a particular moment in time - and is more about spiritual openness than any effort to correctly understand or comprehend. As such, it is often considered a way of “Praying the scriptures”
HISTORY:
Long tradition, deep roots - 3rd century CE at least
Central to many monastic traditions
St. Benedict spoke of the practice as cultivating the ability to listen deeply with the “ear of our hearts”
In the 12th Century, the process was formalized into four steps (see below) - WE WILL BE DOING AN ABBREVIATED VERSION TODAY
Traditionally practiced privately, but is now often practiced in group settings (as we will do so today)
PROCESS:
Lectio (Reading) – Hear the word (to you, right now)
Selected scripture will be read twice. Listen for the word or phrase from the passage that attracts you or stands out to you. Allow it to echo in your heart and mind. Sit with it in the silence which follows (1 min.).
When given the opportunity to share, say aloud only that word or phrase (without elaboration).
Meditatio (Meditation) – How is my life touched?
Scripture will be read again. During the silence which follows (1 min.), consider how the passage touches your life today. Allow it to interact with your thoughts, hopes, memories, and desires.
When given the opportunity to share, offer a sentence or two of how you feel the passage may speak to your life, perhaps beginning with words like “I hear…, I see…, I sense…, etc.”
Contemplatio (Contemplation) – Listening for God’s Invitation (for you)
Scripture will be read one final time. Listen to discover how God may be speaking to you and inviting you into deeper relationship and/or service. Ask yourself, “What is God inviting me to do or to become in this time?” Open yourself to God’s transforming presence in the silence that follows (2 min.)
When given the opportunity to share, briefly share what God is inviting you to do or become.
Oratio (Prayer) – Praying for your response
How has this time of listening called you to prayer? Gathered in a circle, we will offer time to write prayers for yourself, others, your community, and/or the world. Feel free to draw, scribble, write, or whatever comes to mind. We will exchange these prior to leaving today and will commit to praying for one another throughout the week.
Matthew 6:25-34 (CEB)
25 “Therefore, I say to you, don’t worry about your life, what you’ll eat or what you’ll drink, or about your body, what you’ll wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds in the sky. They don’t sow seed or harvest grain or gather crops into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth much more than they are? 27 Who among you by worrying can add a single moment to your life? 28 And why do you worry about clothes? Notice how the lilies in the field grow. They don’t wear themselves out with work, and they don’t spin cloth. 29 But I say to you that even Solomon in all of his splendor wasn’t dressed like one of these. 30 If God dresses grass in the field so beautifully, even though it’s alive today and tomorrow it’s thrown into the furnace, won’t God do much more for you, you people of weak faith? 31 Therefore, don’t worry and say, ‘What are we going to eat?’ or ‘What are we going to drink?’ or ‘What are we going to wear?’ 32 Gentiles long for all these things. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 Instead, desire first and foremost God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore, stop worrying about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
COMMUNION
Pastor Amanda Miller Garber
SONG
“COME AND FIND THE QUIET CENTER”
~Shirley Erena Murray
Come and find the quiet center
in the crowded life we lead,
find the room for hope to enter,
find the frame where we are freed:
clear the chaos and the clutter,
clear our eyes, that we can see
all the things that really matter,
be at peace, and simply be.
Silence is a friend who claims us,
cools the heat and slows the pace,
God it is who speaks and names us,
knows our being, touches base,
making space within our thinking,
lifting shades to show the sun,
raising courage when we're shrinking,
finding scope for faith begun.
In the Spirit let us travel,
open to each other's pain,
let our loves and fears unravel,
celebrate the space we gain:
there's a place for deepest dreaming,
there's a time for heart to care,
in the Spirit's lively scheming
there is always room to spare!
FINAL BLESSING
~A Celtic Blessing attributed to St. Bridgid
I arise today
Through a mighty strength:
God's power to guide me,
God's might to uphold me,
God's eyes to watch over me;
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to give me speech,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to shelter me,
God's host to secure me.
Amen.