North Side Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

“A Church Without Walls”

“An Oasis for the Spiritually Thirsty”

“NEW LOCATION “

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 Creator are welcome, celebrated, shared and included.

MAY 12, 2019

John 5: 1-16

Homily – “Lame Man at Pool of Bethesda”

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OUTREACH OPPORTUNITIES

MOVING VETS FORWARD –

So far, 158 VETS have been moved this year, and 1115 moved in the last 7 years.

We are a big part of this project… and here is a list of items they are completely out of:

Cooking Utensils (can opener, spatulas, mashers, etc Pots and Pans Oven Mitts Dish Rags Tea Towels Paper Towels Toilet Paper Cleaning Wipes Shower Curtains/liners/rings Queen Mattress Pad

NSCC will begin going to the Moving Vets Forward Warehouse and organizing the donated goods. This will allow the Vets an organized display of items from which to chose, that they need to set up their apartments.

This will be an ongoing project but we will meet alternating Fridays and Saturdays. This allows for more of us to be able to help.

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The Weight Of a Snowflake
A Spiritual Archives Story from All-Creatures.org

The Weight Of a Snowflake

By Joseph Jaworski

“Tell me the weight of a snowflake”, said the robin to the dove.

“Why, it weighs nothing at all,” replied the dove.

“In that case,” the robin went on, “I must tell you a marvelous story. I was sitting on a branch of a fir tree, close to its trunk,” the robin began, “when snow began to fall…not heavily, not in a raging blizzard, no just like a dream without any violence. Since I did not have anything better to do, I counted the snowflakes settling on the needles and twigs of my branch. I reached the number 3,741,952. Then when the 3,741,953 snowflake dropped onto the branch weighing nothing as you say, the branch suddenly broke off.”

With that the robin flew away.

The dove thought about the story and said to herself, “I sometimes think that all my efforts and the little I can do make no difference. We might think they are nothing at all, but if we put all our efforts together, great things are possible.”

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

Provides help to those in suicidal crisis or emotional distress.

Call 1-800-273-8255

Available 24 hours everyday

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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:

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

Jim Burklo is the Associate Dean of Religious Life at the University of Southern California. He is a cofounder of Mindful.USC.edu – a campus-wide initiative that trains over 800 students and staff annually in mindfulness practice. An ordained United Church of Christ pastor, he is the author of five books and writes for ProgressiveChristianity,org, Progressive Christians Uniting, Huffington Post, and many other websites. His weekly blog, Musings, is read by progressive Christians globally.

**“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

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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

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.