News from Sophia Christi

Mass Schedule–February 2016

January 16th, 2016

Mass in Portland will be Saturday, February 13, at Northminster Presbyterian Church, 2823 N. Rosa Parks Way at 5:00pm. Please bring soups, salads, and veggie dishes for the simple Lenten potluck meal. Choir rehearsal begins at 4:00 and all interested singers and musicians are invited to come and participate.

Mass in Eugene will be Sunday, February 14, at First Congregational Church, UCC, 1050 E. 23rd, at 4:00pm. A potluck follows our celebration. Please bring soups, salads and veggie dishes to share for the simple Lenten meal. If you are interested in being part of the choir as a musician or singer, please come at 3:00 for rehearsal.

I Have Appointed You

January 16th, 2016

The people were filled with expectation. They could feel in their bones that something extraordinary was about to happen. They were going to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire, with the Divine Breath itself, and with a deep, fierce Love. With eager anticipation, one by one, they walked into the river to be baptized by John. When all were baptized, heaven opened and the Spirit rained on all those assembled, soaking them in Love. And each of them heard a voice from out of nowhere saying in a most intimate and tender way, “you are my Beloved, my chosen one; you are my joy and my delight.”

You might argue that only Jesus heard these words, that only Jesus experienced the descent of the Holy Spirit as he was praying. And, according to the Gospel we just read you would be right. But I believe the Gospel mirrors our life and invites us to see ourselves reflected in the story of Jesus. His story is our story; his concerns our concerns. How he handles his life rests on those two gifts made explicit at his baptism.  They are deep and abiding Wisdom and Love.

All of us have these gifts. They are embedded in our soul’s DNA. They can be, and often are, obscured by life’s residue of self-enhancing and self-protective choices that are unwise and unloving, but still active.Jesus’ Baptism experience washed away that residue of temptation to worldly power and status he faced in the desert, and it allowed him to close the door forever on any and all ego driven ambition. He never succumbed to such materialistic attractions, but his desert experience gives evidence of his humanity and tells us that he, too, faced temptations and overcame them.

He emerged from the waters of baptism cleansed of those drives and soaked in love. Then he heard what all of us are meant to hear: “you are my beloved, my joy and my delight.” Those words and that experience empowered him to live from that place of deep Wisdom and unconditional love in everything he did throughout his life. Baptism is meant to do the same for us. (more…)

Yearning to Delight Us

January 16th, 2016

A few days ago I came across a video of a mom and her two young teenage sons that brought tears to my eyes. They had recently moved to a town just outside of Kansas City, Kansas. It was their 13th move in the 15-year-old’s life as the family followed the dad from one job transfer to the next. But shortly after this particular move, the dad left the family to fend on its own. The 12-year-old found solace riding his bike through the nearby forest park.

The mom had an idea one day as she wandered through that forest looking for ways to handle her grief and the pain and anger of her sons. With their help, she would build a habitat in the forest for fairies and gnomes! The boys got into the project. They built miniature tables and chairs, cupboards, cups and saucers. They painstakingly painted and decorated tiny rustic household furnishings. In the hollows of trees, on stumps, under branches, in hidden nooks and crannies throughout the forest, tiny doors, complete with hinges and doorknobs, suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Opening the doors, children and adults would find tiny, furnished homes. A steaming miniature teapot and mug on the table in one suggested the occupants may have left in a hurry! The detail was extraordinary.

One day a sign appeared letting people know they were entering the “Firefly Forest.” Another day people were invited to write notes to the inhabitants and attach them to a string tied to the branch of a tree. So much curiosity was generated that the story found its way to the local news channel where a TV anchor raised the question on everyone’s mind: how were these tiny gnome houses erupting in the forest? Who was behind it—and why? (more…)