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| Starved Rock State Park, IL |
Following dinner by Jane, Susan led us in reading Psalm 11 and coming on board with experiences of God in the Thanksgiving week just past.
We all found resonance in our own experiences for Howard Thurman's first chapters of Jesus and the Disinherited. We admitted failing to understand fully "fear" in the experience of our own nation's "disinherited." Thurman told how fear can pervade the life of someone who has never specifically been touched by the dominant group.
Thurman's clear delineation of Jews' few choices under Rome also gave us a clearer understanding of why Jesus' own people would want him silenced: His preaching of a kingdom here, now, within, was a form of resistance that threatened both the authority and self-respect of compliant Herod and isolationist Pharisees.
Thurman's distinction between a religion about Jesus and of Jesus also struck us, and related to Paul in Acts, and even more in his letters.
Our TR was a fresh look at the familiar poem by Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken. By the time we'd finished our reflection, we'd seen that samples from our culture are full of regret for chances missed and what might have been, while the examples we saw in our tradition suggested that any choice can be redeemed, whether or not it's an easy path.
Collect for Travellers
O God, Lord of travellers from Abraham to Paul, you give us the power of choice in our own journeys. Grant us wisdom and imagination so that, as we live into our choices, whatever path we take may lead to You. Amen.
Next week.
We read the rest of Thurman and also the essay for Week 17 in our Reading and Reflection Guide.
Jeff volunteered to bring food; Bill will prepare worship and a question. Our TR will be a "provocative word" reflection on the word "disinherited."
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