Back into the Enneagram this Saturday….
Please see our Facebook event page, to RSVP, and for all the details….Saturday’s OHG will be another exploration of The Enneagram, best described as an excellent and ancient tool for Spiritual Enlightenment and self-discovery. We’ve looked into it before. Please make time to join us for another round. Make sure to also make time to take the Enneagram “test” we’ve recommended, so you have a starting point for where you might in the space of things.
Thanks! We look forward to seeing you there! I Love you all!
Pax,
Rev. -DTF
….about ourselves, the other communities that have endorsed this, and the denomination as a whole that we’re connected with.
We are a part of The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and we’re having our biannual General Assembly this summer in Orlando. Part of the “Business” of these Assemblies is to adopt or reject Resolutions, proposed by individual congregations and organizations (see the whole list of Resolutions here). These statements are not binding on to or over any individual congregation, but are simply ways for us as an international Christian community to describe where we are in the midst of our life and Journey together.
OHG, along with several other congregations, connected especially through The Disciples GLAD Alliance, have put forth a Resolution that says, in part, that when we say, as Disciple congregations, that we welcome all people into our communities, we mean ALL. (See the Resolution- “GA-1327, BECOMING A PEOPLE OF GRACE AND WELCOME TO ALL” – here, and some info. we had previously posted about it here)
We have proposed that we will be an international Christian body truly associated with Jesus’ Peace, as we welcome all people, with no qualifiers about who they are or what they do. The language of the Resolution is as follows:
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the General Assembly meeting in Orlando, Florida, July 13-17, 2013, calls upon
the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to recognize itself as striving to become a people of grace and welcome
to all God’s children though differing in race, gender, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, nationality,
ethnicity, marital status, physical or mental ability, political stance or theological perspective; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the General Assembly calls upon the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to affirm
the faith, baptism and spiritual gifts of all Christians regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity,
and that neither is grounds for exclusion from fellowship or service within the church, but we celebrate that all
are part of God’s good creation; and
FINALLY, BE IT RESOLVED that the General Assembly calls upon all expressions of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ),
as a people of grace and welcome, to acknowledge their support for the welcome of and hospitality to all.
So we can finally say, as a Body of Christ, that sexual orientation, gender identity, and anything else that has to do with the gift of sexuality that God has given to all of us, will not be requirements or disqualifiers for any level of Christian membership, service, or status. I think it’s a big step for us as a community, because we are saying as a body that discrimination against any of these qualifiers is unjust, un-Christlike, and no longer tolerable.
I do Love that it will go into the books here for our denomination that OHG was there at the forefront of this issue, as a sponsoring community for this Resolution. I do Love that our denomination will take up this Resolution in such a formal way this summer, and be on record for the Love of Jesus that we all know, or not….So if you pray, please start prayin’ now- that God will move the hearts of all voting members of the Assembly, to accept this Resolution, as representative of where we are as an international community committed to the Love of Jesus, as a Body of Christ committed to living and proclaiming God’s Love throughout the universe. Be proud! And thanks for your prayers!
Pax,
Rev. -DTF
Hey friends! Yes, it’s that time of year again….when we make time for our annual discernment, of who we are as a community, where we’ve been, and where we’re headed next into The Future with this (g)Go(0)d(s) that is madly in Love with us! Such questions will be discussed:
What have we done so far- that you’ve enjoyed? that you haven’t? that you want to continue doing? that you don’t?
Where do we go from here? What should OHG do, and be about, into our future together?
What will/could/should OHG look like next year? 5 years from now? 10 years from now?
What else have you been pondering, thinking, meditating upon these past several months that we’ve been together?
So please think, pray, and meditate upon these questions, and bring your own thoughts and contributions on the 4th- Star Wars Day! Get it, May the Fourth be with you?….
RSVP at our Facebook event page, and contact me if you need any other information. Thanks, friends, I look forward to seeing you there!
-Rev. DTF
We will gather once again on Saturday, April 20, 6:30 PM, for our continuing exploration of this new, fascinating, and fast growing category of people in our society- None!
What does it mean when people identify as No Religion? Are they Atheist? Agnostic? Something else entirely? Just not interested?….
Come help us continue to prayer-fully examine this new religious reality for millions of our neighbors. RSVP at our Facebook Event page, and contact me if you need directions to Karen’s house, where we’ll be meeting on the 20th. Thanks! I Love you all!
Pax,
-Rev. -DTF
I thought we could begin to explore this new religious category that is growing exponentially in our country- None! See some of the best, most recent research on this topic here, here, and here, and join us as we begin- April 6, 6:30 PM, at Steve’s house- and probably carry over into our 4/20 Gathering!
RSVP at our Facebook event page when you get a chance. If you need directions, and anything else, please feel free to contact me (info. at the “About” tab). Thanks, see ya there!
-Rev. DTF
Please join us if you can on March 16, as we do some prayer-full meditations with Saint Patrick’s Breastplate, as well as any other productive Spirit-chew-all exercises we can dream up around all things Celtic, Irish, Lenten, et. al.! Saturday, March 16, starting at 6:30 PM, over at Steve’s house. Please contact me if you need directions, or any other information. Thanks! We look forward to seeing you there!
Pax,
-Rev. DTF
Minister shuffle!
Hey friends, I just wanted to make sure that everyone took note of the “Minister shuffle” we’ve made this year at OHG. Since I’ve moved to Asheville, I’ve wanted to reflect how our community has changed with me not at the center of everything anymore. Steve and Jeremy have stepped up to help guide our community in some substantial ways, so we needed to make a change to how we identified ourselves.
We thought “The Triumvirate” would be a bit much! And it really didn’t work out that well for Julius Caesar, Octavian et. al., anyway….so we’ve decided that we three will be the Leading Ministers for OHG at this point. This shouldn’t take away from the reality that EVERYONE at OHG is a Minister, called by God to be an essential part of this community. But it does reflect the Journey that Steve and Jeremy and I are all taking- into formal Ministry status with The Disciples of Christ.
So look for all three of us at the forefront of OHG goings-on, and contact us as needed. Thanks!
-Rev. DTF
God’s Vastness
The whole “On Being” radio show from a couple weeks ago, “On Exoplanets and Love”, is a wonderful and fascinating use of your time to read/listen (transcript and/or podcast ). It features Natalie Batalha from NASA’s Kepler Mission and their research to discover other habitable planets in the universe. The whole discussion rocks, but one of the last short comments has really stuck with me:
NASA has extended the Kepler Mission to 2016. In its first four
years, the mission confirmed over 100 new planets — but the
search for one just right for life continues. Early
interpretations of Kepler data point to as many as 17 billion
Earth-sized planets in the Milky Way galaxy.
This means two very important things to me:
-if we’ve only discovered 100 planets so far, and the estimate is that we could find 17 billion more just in the Milky Way, wow, how little of the universe we’ve actually observed. How so much we have yet to discover….
-this vastness of God’s kosmos leaves me breathless. We are so much just a speck of dust on a speck of dust on a speck of dust, and yet there is also just so much meaning and value to beginning to understand everything about this Vastness. Only beginning, as what we’ve been able to observe so far is the equivalent of beginning to understand planet Earth by catching about one square inch of it. Which would most likely be from the surface of an ocean. Imagine what else you’d have yet to see….
Thank you, God of, within, and about This Vastness, for what we’ve seen so far, for what is yet to come….
OHG tonight, and March 2
So, we’re sittin’ here at tonight’s OHG, with all the snow outside, missing most of you….so we’re just gonna move everything we planned to do tonight, on Lent and Letting Go, to our next meeting day & time- Saturday, March 2, 6:30-7:30 PM. See all the details at our Facebook event page, and RSVP there when you can. Contact me in the meantime as needed. Thanks!, I Love you all!
-Pastor -D
Hey friends! There won’t be an Open Hearts Gathering tonight, as we’re preparing for a Super Bowl party tomorrow. Make sure to check out the Facebook event post, and RSVP as needed. I can’t be there, but maybe you can….? If you can’t see the FB post, please make your way to the OHG FB page, and get in touch with us there. Thanks, we hope to see you there!
-Pastor -D
