descent into silence -...
TRANSCRIPT
March 2017
Reaching out to the hungry: in body or spirit
Sherwood United Methodist Church
The United Methodist Church is called to be a community, diverse and united in God’s saving love,
sent out in vital life-giving ministry for and with Jesus Christ.
Descent Into Silence There’s a silence at the middle of things, but it takes practice to hear it over all the noise. The first step to descending into this silence is to stop talking. It might seem like an obvious thing to say, but we’re very often completely unaware how much noise we’re putting out into the world. A friend of mine went skydiving for the first time. As he plummeted through the sky in tandem with his instructor he heard everything his instructor said about assuming the proper body position, and counting down the seconds of the freefall. He heard the wind rushing in his ears. He heard the whistle of the cable being released and the billow of the silk filling up with air, and he relaxed into the hush that came after the freefall slowed to a gentle descent. It was only then he realized he had been screaming the entire time. Silencing ourselves doesn’t mean coming to a dead stop. You can hear the silence in the middle of a Los Angeles traffic jam as certainly as you can on top of a mountain in the Holy Land. In order to silence ourselves we only have to learn the art of being still in the middle of the chaos. On the third or fourth time my friend went skydiving he discovered that there is perfect silence in
the middle of freefall. Even with the wind howling in your ears and your hair whipping around your face, if you are relaxed, you can close your eyes and it is as quiet as being a mile under the earth. It is as still as a sensory deprivation tank. This dynamic “resting while in movement” posture is a difficult thing to teach. It can be discovered by accident, but it
is hard to replicate. Even if you’ve experienced it you might not be able to find your way back into it. Still, the knowledge the silence is there, omnipresent, is
something you can carry with you into the hurry of life, and you can always practice descending to that silence again, wherever you are, as often as you like. This Lent we are
practicing that descent. Noisy banners. Noisy bulletins. Noisy money. Noisy instruments. Noisy words. Bit by bit we peel back the layers of sound to get to that quiet core. The quiet of a desert. The quiet of a garden at night. The quiet of a lone man of sorrows whispering prayers after his friends are asleep. We descend ever deeper into the silence: past the noise of the crowd calling for blood, the crack of the whip, and the pounding of the hammer.
In the absolute
silence of the
grave we pause.
Here everything
is stopped.
Continued on Page 2
Resistance Seminars Schedule To participate in these discussions all that is required is a device that can watch YouTube videos. The best way to get involved is to join this group on Facebook and you’ll re-ceive invitations and updates about each week’s meeting:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ResistanceSeminars/
Be sure to purchase a copy of Rick’s book here: https://unco.us/faithfulresistance/ And then join us online!
3/1 "Resisting the Seduction of Silence" with Alex McNeill
3/8 "Learning Nonviolence in a Multifaith World" with Rick Ufford-Chase
3/15 "The Local Congregation As The Locus of Resistance" with Brian Merritt
3/22 "Theological Education As An Act Of Subversion" with the founders of Underground Seminary
3/29 "Mission As A Move To The Margins" with Linda Eastwood
4/5 "Institutional Church As An Expression of Solidarity" with Rick Ufford-Chase
4/12 "Dismantling The Corporate Church As a Step Toward Liberation" with a guest TBD
Beyond the sound of labored breathing. Beyond the hushed murmur of a dying heart. Beyond the sigh of a life spent. Beyond the wails of mourners. Beyond the heavy finality of a stone rolled into place. In the absolute silence of the grave we pause. Here everything is stopped. Light and sound go in, but none come out. Beyond the event horizon of the gravestone no information is available. This is where the silence comes from. This is what dwells at the heart of all things. This is what is in your
heart, which you can access even as the days and years fly by with ceaseless buzzing. Inside each of us there is a tomb. To touch it is to know that we are dust and to dust we will return. It is the only thing which is certain. So certain it puts everything else we experience into doubt. During Lent we descend into silence, toward that tomb, hoping, praying, that one morning we will find the stone rolled away, and the tomb will be empty.
—Rev. Aric Clark
Coming Up...
The Baptism of Andrew and
Allison Groves
Beautiful tags for the layette program
made by Nancy Ellingson
Community Meal
on Feb 10
Dedication of the Peace Pole:
Together with the Rotary Sunday March 19th at 1:00 pm
More Info... Sherwood Rotary is promoting peace
and understanding through their Peace Pole
project established in 2016. Sherwood will
display the pole in our Rose Garden. The words,
"May Peace Prevail On Earth," is displayed in four
different languages (English, Arabic, Hebrew and
Mandarin Chinese) on the six foot pole. Peace
Poles have been erected at the Sherwood YMCA,
St. Francis Catholic Church and School, Our Table
Cooperative with commitments for 6 more at sites
throughout town.
Photos by
Anne Poe
Community Meals: Every Thursday!
Each Thursday at 6:00PM please come
to break bread with members of our
community of all ages and backgrounds.
The meals will be prepared by a rotation of
volunteer teams, from spaghetti to tacos to chicken and rice. Join us!
UMW: March Luncheon The Sherwood United Methodist Women (UMW) will meet at 11 a.m. on
Wednesday, March 15, at the Sherwood Senior Center, for a short
meeting and devotions. Let's have a good attendance, as we need to
transact some business. We will all enjoy lunch following the meeting.
Address Change: Gerry Harrington Geraldine Wells Harrington will be changing apartments at Brookdale Senior Living on
Monday. She is moving from a studio apartment #218 to a one-bedroom apartment #109
on the ground floor. The concern for her is that Frontier Communications will not be able to
connect the new apartment with her land line until Friday, March 3rd. So, while her phone
number has not changed, she will not have her land line from sometime Monday afternoon
(2/27) until sometime Friday (3/3/17). Friends can contact keep in touch
at:
Geraldine Harrington
3802 Hayes Street #109
Newberg, OR 97132
503-537-9080
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Leadership Team Meetings
1st Sundays before worship
Meeting Date This Month:
Mar 5 at 8:30AM
Give a hand to
Helping Hands. Donate food, help with sorting, or
volunteer on box packing or distribution days
(3rd Sat. of the month), or join us on Mission Sundays!
Call Gerry or Dottie Edy for details: (503) 625-7975
March Birthdays 4 Kelly Price
11 Gail Dunn 25 Dorothy Olson
Easter Sunday Service:
Followed by Potluck Luncheon!
Sunday, April 16 at 10:00 a.m.
PO Box 127
22280 SW Washington Street
Sherwood, Oregon
97140
Tel: 503-625-7115
E-mail: [email protected]
Reaching out to the hungry: in body or spirit
At A Glance for March 2017
Wednesday, Mar 1 at 9:00AM—Online Resistance Seminar
Thursday, Mar 2 at 6:00PM—Community Meal
Sunday, Mar 5 at 8:30AM—Leadership Meeting
Sunday, Mar 5 at 10:00AM—Worship
Wednesday, Mar 8 at 9:00AM—Online Resistance Seminar
Thursday, Mar 9 at 6:00PM—Community Meal
Sunday, Mar 12 at 9:30AM—Worship (Daylight Savings!)
Wednesday, Mar 15 at 9:00AM—Online Resistance Seminar
Wednesday, Mar 15 at 11:00AM—UMW
Thursday, Mar 16 at 6:00PM—Community Meal
Saturday, Mar 18 at 9:30-10:30AM— Helping Hands
Sunday, Mar 19 at 9:30AM—Mission Sunday
Sunday, Mar 19 at 1:00PM—Peace Pole Dedication
Wednesday, Mar 22 at 9:00AM—Online Resistance Seminar
Thursday, Mar 23 at 6:00PM—Community Meal
Sunday, Mar 26 at 9:30AM—Worship
Church Staff Pastor Aric Clark [email protected] Pianist Cindy Souza [email protected] Song Leader Eden Francis [email protected] Administrative Assistant Holly Dhynes [email protected]
SHERWOOD UNITED
METHODIST CHURCH
Pastor Aric’s Office Hours Thursdays 9am-1pm