North Side Christian Church                                             (Disciples of Christ)                                          

                      “An Oasis for the Spiritually Thirsty”

chalice ONA

                               275 N 115th Street                                        

Join us at 10:00 AM

                     ALL are WELCOME – no matter where                                       you are on  your spiritual journey —                                    

North Side Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a safe place to question, examine, and study ones spiritual journey. All paths to the Source of Creation are welcome, celebrated, shared and included.  
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 “God is not a Christian, 
God is not a Jew, or a Muslim, or a Hindu,              or a Buddhist. All of those are human systems which human beings have created to try to help us walk into the mystery of God. I honor my tradition, I walk through          my tradition, but I don’t think my tradition defines God, I think it only points me                  to God.”

                                                                       Bishop John Shelby Spong

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                 Recommended Reading:

1/28/2020

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Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality

 

In this book Matthew Fox lays out a whole new direction for Christianity—a direction that is in fact very ancient and very grounded in Jewish thinking (the fact that Jesus was a Jew is often neglected by Christian theology). Fox believes that the teaching of original sin—which Jesus never heard of (no Jew has) has served empire-builders very well but that original blessing—the awareness of the goodness of creation—must take precedence.  The implications are profound for psychological as well as sociological and ecological transformation.  Oppressed people everywhere will recognize the difference.  Fox lays out the ancient but often neglected (and sometimes condemned) creation spiritual tradition in Original Blessing.  The sacredness of creation and of our role in it is a starting point—what the mystical tradition calls the Via Positiva, the path of joy and delight, awe and gratitude.  The Via Negativa is the past of darkness and silence and also of suffering and of letting go and letting be.  The Via Creativa is the path of creativity.  And the Via Transformativa is the path of justice and compassion.  All four paths constitute an adult spiritual journey.  Each feeds the others.  Fox also lays out 27 themes that interweave among the Four Paths.  For Fox, all of us are mystics and all are prophets, and he shows the journey of both in this groundbreaking and revolutionary book that deliberately rejects the 3 paths of purgation, illumination and union that fail to put justice or creativity at the heart of the spiritual journey.  In this revolutionary work, Fox shows how Christianity once celebrated beauty, compassion, justice, and creativity and provided a path of ecstatic connection with all creation.

God Can't: How to Believe in God and Love after Tragedy, Abuse, and Other Evils by [Oord, Thomas]

3/17/19
“God Can’t”  Thomas Jay Oord
We ask heart-felt questions about God and suffering. Some “answers” they receive appeal to mystery: “God’s ways are not our ways”. Some answers say God allows evil for a greater purpose. Some say evil is God’s punishment.

 

Not only do the usual answers fail, they don’t support the truth God loves everyone all the time. God Can’t gives a believable answer to why a good and powerful God doesn’t prevent evil.

Author Thomas Jay Oord says God’s love is inherently uncontrolling. God loves everyone and everything, so God can’t control anyone or anything. This means God cannot prevent evil singlehandedly. God can’t stop evildoers, whether human, animal, organism, or inanimate objects and forces.

In God Can’t, Oord gives a plausible reason why some are healed but many others are not.

 
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Mindful Christianity revels how mindfulness has manifested among Christians from the days of Jesus until now. It allures the reader to integrate it into every aspect of Christian living: prayer, worship, study, and service. And it shows how mindful Christian practice can lead to a humbler, kinder, livelier, more inclusive and common-sense form of the faith. It is structured for use as a program resource for churches, retreats, campus ministries, and other groups. Additional information can be found at MindfulChristianity.org

About the Author

“Saving Jesus From the Church”                                                                                     by Robin R. Meyers

  

The marriage of bad theology and hypocritical behavior by the church has eroded our spiritual lives.

Taking the best of biblical scholarship, Meyers recasts core Christian concepts in an effort to save Christianity from its obsession with personal salvation.

Not a plea to try something brand new, but rather the recovery of something very old, Saving Jesus from the Church shows us what it means to follow Jesus’s teachings today. He eloquently points out that many of today’s Christians are silent on matters about which Jesus spoke, whereas on matters about which he was silent, they condemn (p.177).

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“No Ordinary Time: the Rise of Spiritual Intelligence and Evolutionary Creativity”                                                                             by Jan Phillips

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Jan Phillips’ Book of Hours is a tapestry of threads from the arts, science, sacred texts and her own mystical poetry. It is the story of one woman s journey from Catholicism to a new cosmology of global communion and co-creation. It is Rumi-meets-Teilhard, Catherine of Siena meets Dorothy Day a compelling illustration of how spiritual practice leads to heightened creativity leads to inspired evolutionary action. It s like being picked up by the shirtsleeves and carried to the mountaintop. It doesn t hurt but the view most certainly changes. A book to help you: * evolve yourself forward as a spiritual and creative agent of change * find out why you believe what you believe and update your mental software * expand your intuitive and creative bandwidth * discover meaningful ways to express your commitments * clarify the distinctions between spirituality and religion

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“Eternal Life: a New Vision”                                                                                  by John Shelby Spong

Drawing on a lifetime of wisdom, New York Times bestselling author and controversial religious leader John Shelby Spong continues to challenge traditional Christian theology in Eternal Life: A New Vision. In this remarkable spiritual autobiography about his lifelong struggle with the questions of God and death, he reveals how he ultimately came to believe in eternal life.

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“Understanding Your  Grief: Ten Essential Touchstones for Finding Hope and Healing  Your Heart.                                            by Dr. Alan Wolfelt                                                                                      Image result for understanding your grief

Explaining the important difference between grief and mourning, this book explores every mourner’s need to acknowledge death and embrace the pain of loss. Also explored are the many factors that make each person’s grief unique and the many normal thoughts and feelings mourners might have. Questions of spirituality and religion are addressed as well. The rights of mourners to be compassionate with themselves, to lean on others for help, and to trust in their ability to heal are upheld. Journaling sections encourage mourners to articulate their unique thoughts and feelings

COMMUNITY MINISTRY

 —Prescription Medicine Bottles

The Nebraska Humane Society needs used prescription medicine bottles for animal prescription medicines.

NSCC is collecting these bottles and Jeff said he would remove the labels. If we want to remove the labels ourselves, just immerse the bottles in hot/warm water for thirty minutes and peel the printed portion of the label away.                                                                                                                                                                         The paper/adhesive remaining will be covered with a new label at the Humane Society.

Minister – Rev.  E. Susan Ellis, M.Div.

Contact us at 402-451-1933 or
email us at revsusanellis555@gmail.com  

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