Gathering Our Spirit with God's Spirit

(Note: There was no Audio Afterthoughts recording session this week.)

The Living Room this week is set up in bright colors -- prayer flags are to still up high in the rafters/pipes. The archway from the last worship unit is still just inside the Servants’ Entrance double doors into the main hallway, with the bright part showing, vines/ivy hanging down, and a few buds beginning to show. The big table is in center of room, with large pots of soil and scraggly looking stuff. Small bowls of bulbs are among the large pots.

• “I Don't Know" by T Bone Burnett/Jeff Bridges plays
• A Journeyer steps up to light the lamp and another rings the bell
• Renee (E) and Stacie (L) make announcements

Worshiping with Our Children

• A Journeyer leads our children in talking about how sometimes we can't see what is happening in God's world. See this bulb? It doesn't look very special; it looks kinda dead. See this pot of tulips? Guess where it came from? We can't always tell what something will turn into…

Welcome and Breathe

• Video of gardening tips plays
• Renee welcomes, has us breathe, introduces series and Gordon Atkinson

God’s Spirit and Our Spirit

• A Journeyer reads a poem. The poem is NOT ON THE SCREEN. Instead, put up an image of a garden or a field.

Paradox and Weeds
Weeds may be seen as beautiful
And flowers may not be attractive.
Some people see growing things as desirable
while others may see growing the same things as
undesirable…

Good and bad are necessary parts of the whole.
In a garden, all are part of life.
Weeds become flowers,
Flowers were once weeds.

The master gardener, therefore,
works with all things.
She learns to do nothing
when nothing is to be done.

It may be her garden,
but she understands
that it is larger than herself.

• Four Journeyers, standing where they are, read quotations

"My garden is a balancing act between weeds and wonders. Though I started out as a frustrated perfectionist, over the years I've learned how to enjoy my garden rather than feel enslaved by it, thanks to a growing know-how and a change in mindset." -- Carol Stocker, gardening columnist for The Boston Globe

"Do not scorn weeds. As a matter of fact, there are some instances where they are necessary for the garden. The question of what belongs, is decided by the dialogue between person and weed." -- Shimpei Kusano, 20th century Japanse poet

"What a diversity of creative wanderers: Weeds. I enjoy their beauty and variety, and do nothing to reap their rewards. I neither hoe, nor plant, nor water, nor fertilize, nor prune ... and they come and go in lovely profusion as the seasons move. Often a pleasure, sometimes a pain in the wrong place; and always an example of the wondrous assertion of Being." -- Mike Garafolo

"Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them." -- Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh

• Dave Madden leads us in singing "Hymn of Promise" by Natalie Sleeth

In the bulb there is a flower; in the seed, an apple tree;
In cocoons, a hidden promise: butterflies will soon be free!
In the cold and snow of winter there’s a spring that waits to be,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

There’s a song in every silence, seeking word and melody;
There’s a dawn in every darkness, bringing hope to you and me.
From the past will come the future; what it holds, a mystery,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

In our end is our beginning; in our time, infinity;
In our doubt there is believing; in our life, eternity,
In our death, a resurrection; at the last, a victory,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

Giving -- To Help God Do God's Work in This World

• Gary L. reads his original poem and leads an offering prayer
• Photo slideshow to "Waited for June" by Megan Burtt plays as the ushers pass the baskets and then take them to the foot of the cross

Telling The Story and Our Story

• A Journeyer reads a Jesus story (RD translation) from Matthew 13:24-30

Jesus told them another story. "The thing God is doing is like a master, with land and fields, who had his servants spread wheat seeds into his fields. But the man who owned the fields had someone who hated him. Once the servants had planted the seeds, the man who hated the master came and threw weed seeds into the field.

"In time, the stalks of wheat sprouted up. They grew. And they were producing grain.

"But then the weeds sprouted up too, in the master's fields.

"The servants of the master came. 'Master, didn't you have us sow good seeds in your fields?' The master said, 'A man who hates me has come and put the seeds of weeds into our fields.' So his servants said, 'Well, shouldn't we go and pull up the weeds?'

"But the master said, 'No, don't pull the weeds. You might also pull up the wheat stalks. Let it all grow. Let both the wheat grow and the weeds grow. When it's time to harvest the field, I'll tell the harvesters, "Harvest the whole field. Take the weeds and tie them into bundles and we can get rid of them. And take the wheat and we'll put it in the barn." Don't worry. There's plenty of time. Let it grow.'"

• Gordon Atkinson talks
• Renee explains bulb planting activity
• Dave Madden plays guitar while folks plant bulbs in big pots and don't pull the "weeds"

Go Out to Serve with Courage and Grace

• A Journeyer reads Philippians passage from an early Christian church leader and teacher, to his favorite church, the Christians in the city of Philippi:

"I thank God every time I think of all of you. I pray for all of you, and I feel absolutely joyful, because you have always been helping with God's work. And I am completely confident of this: God began good work in you. And God will complete it. And it will go on."

• The same Journeyer dismisses by saying, “Go and pay attention to the Garden that is entrusted to you.”
• “I Don't Know” plays again as folks depart