News from Sophia Christi

Mass Schedule–August 2016

August 6th, 2016

Mass in Portland will be Saturday, August 13, at Northminster Presbyterian Church, 2823 N. Rosa Parks Way at 5:00pm. Please bring an entree, salad, veggie dish or dessert for our 9th Anniversary 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, August 14, at First Congregational Church, UCC, 1050 E. 23rd, at 4:00pm. A potluck follows our 9th Anniversary celebration. Please bring an entree, salad, veggie dish or dessert to share. If you are interested in being part of the choir as a musician or singer, please come at 3:00 for rehearsal.

Neighbors: Coming Near…Being Moved

August 6th, 2016

Barbara Brown Taylor is an Episcopal priest, author and professor of theology at Piedmont College in Georgia. In her book, The Preaching Life, she tells of a time she was preparing a sermon on the Good Samaritan. As she was driving to work she saw a car on the side of the road. The hood was up and a tall black man stepped into the roadway as her car got closer. He held up a pair of jumper cables and looked directly at her. Her mind leapt from one thought to another in a matter of seconds, returning again and again to the idea that the man needed help. But as a woman alone in a car she made the hurried decision to pass him by, hoping the next person would stop to help. So she left the man standing in the road and continued driving to her office to, ironically, finish her sermon on the Good Samaritan.

Taylor talks about God not caring much what we ‘think’ or even what we ‘believe,’ but caring a lot about what we ‘do’ and ‘don’t do.’ If our good thoughts and positive beliefs don’t translate into merciful actions they have little value in this very physical world. Changing the world isn’t only about changing opinions and attitudes; it’s about what we actually ‘do’ based on what we know in our heart. (more…)