Previous Service Themes adapted from Soul Matters …
From our friends at Soul Matters:
What if we could listen
like the great salmon
who goes about its ordinary life
when suddenly something shifts.
It does not come as a thunderous
revelation, but a quiet knowing
you have been preparing all
your life to trust.
The path lived until now no longer
satisfies but … read more.
From our friends at Soul Matters:
“Imagination’s great gift is improvement. At least that is what we’re taught. Its deep magic lies in the way it can reshape our reality. We are urged to imagine the world we dream of. A world with more justice. More … read more.
From our friends at Soul Matters:
“It’s easy to get tricked,
taken for a ride,
convinced that joy
is a possession.
Something to be caught, contained and controlled
just by us.
As if it’s a birthday present,
waiting for us to unwrap it
and keep forever and ever.
And who can blame us,
with pain seeming … read more.
From our friends at Soul Matters:
In religious circles, talk of trust most often revolves around having faith that life will look after us. For instance, our Christian friends sing hymns about God “watching over us” and keeping “an eye on the sparrow.” Our Jewish friends … read more.
From our friends at Soul Matters:
You hardly knew
how hungry you were
to be gathered in,
to receive the welcome
that invited you to enter
entirely…
You began to breathe again…
You learned to sing.
… read more.
From our friends at Soul Matters:
It’s dangerous to tell yourself stories are tame. To treat them as something that lives only between the covers of a book. As something that can be easily kept on a shelf, taken down and put back up as we … read more.
From our friends at Soul Matters:
The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself. – Henry Miller
Spiritually, presence can mean two quite different things. On the one hand, contemplatives talk of … read more.
From our friends at Soul Matters:
This is your chance to listen carefully.
Your whole life might depend on what you hear.
– Joyce Sutphen
Listening helps us find our way. The listening of therapists allows us to navigate our way through life. We turn to … read more.
From our friends at Soul Matters:
Do not try to save the whole world
or do anything grandiose.
Instead, create a clearing
in the dense forest of your life
and wait there patiently,
until … read more.
From our friends at Soul Matters:
We are renewed by so many things: nature, each other, memory, music, play, solitude, silence, and – of course – our faith. Through small groups, calls to justice work, worship, caring for one another, covenant and accountability, our faith breathes … read more.
