Tag: church

Are you ‘church’ alone, in ZOOM reality, a building & does it even matter?

What’s a “church” & does it even matter?

The minister of Trinity Covenant in Aptos, CA  typically discusses books which he has read  and today was no exception.

The book mentioned  today   is Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. A best seller  on Amazon — for $10.21 in paperback and $12.99 on electronic Kindle –  Into the Wild is  about a young man who gives  up everything he owns, lives a life of non-attachment and four months later he poisons himself and  then starves to death in Alaska. His body was found.  He had  kept a journal.   One of his last journal entries was  “Happiness is only real when shared.”   

Christopher McCandless, the young man who sought non-attachment and died on the slopes of Alaska,    realized  belatedly that sharing and happiness are intertwined.

So is a church about sharing? Yes.   Christians know that Communion / aka Mass  is sharing bread and wine as the body of Christ.  And there’s  other kinds of sharing –  the word of God, sharing prayers for others and sharing  lots of smiles and also   tears.

A   bit of what people heard in the sermon:    “Spirit is the word for wind…..”   “Fire comes down when God makes a new place of worship…. “  “God pours Himself in with baptism….”

Take away what a church is?    An  attempt:   A church is a  gathering of Christians in physical space  (not ZOOM virtual reality)  which is at the same time  both a  specific   and  a  catholic  gathering    Analogy:    Think of light — which is both a wave and a particle.   Likewise a church is both a  particular physical gathering  and not a not  particular world wide gathering.

So, what’s your attempt to define “church”?

What is shared in the picture taken at Trinity Covenant on Pentacost Sunday, May 31, 2020?    The minister,Troy Martin,  invites with the words “Come together to eat” 1 Corinthians 11:33.  Together in one place people share.

Interested?  Want to share?   The Trinity Covenant  service  is at 10:00 am on Sundays at physical location of  1040 Bonita Drive, Aptos, CA.    The building is  just off highway #1 near the Seascape exit.

You can also tune in on ZOOM.    Go for the real thing, I say.

There’s heaps of  well  behaved kids.  Amazing kids!  Just a little  popery!   

written by Cameron Jackson   drcameronjackson@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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What’s “church” all about at St. John the Baptist Episcopal in Aptos, CA ? It’changing …

 

‘Transform lives’ —  bit  the dust as part of  a proposed Mission Statement for St. John’s episcopal in Aptos, CA

So what’s “church” all about at St. John’s episcopal church  in Aptos, CA?  It’s changing.    What we do know:  ‘transform lives’ bit the dust and won’t  be included in the new Mission Statement.

Soon  — or very soon —   this small episcopal church  of typically  75-100 persons  attending   an average   Sunday  10:30 AM  service — will collectively  agree on a new Mission Statement.

Assuming that  Mission Statement words become  connected to   new church  behaviors — there will be a host of new objectives and goals monitored by the church vestry/ board.

Initially proposed as the  new Mission Statement:    ‘Love like Jesus, respect the dignity of all people and  and transform lives.’  This  was proposed by the new  Rector,  Mother Tracy.

One member  wrote in,   ‘What does it mean to respect the dignity of all people?’   That it appears  was a  hard one  to define.    At a general meeting concerning ‘transform  lives’ as part of  the Mission Statement one  member strongly objected,  “I don’t like it” without saying why.    That thought prevailed.

So,  where is  St. John the Baptist  Episcopal  Church going  concerning  finalizing a new Mission Statement?

What’s  most recently  proposed:   ‘to love God and love our neighbors by doing justice,  loving mercy and walking humbly with God – together.’

Anyone out there  recognize the biblical  basis for the above?   The Great Commandment  has been squished together with  the old testament  question,  ‘What doth God require of thee, O man?’

Anyone willing and able to write a basic Mission Statement for a small Christian church?  Here’s one try:

‘We,   as part of the Body of Christ, love God & neighbor, seek to forgive others and also ourselves,  pray as He teaches us to pray,   and  do  such acts  as Jesus’s life,    teachings, death and resurrection suggest.’

Go for it —   suggest a basic Mission Statement for a small, episcopal church.

written by Cameron Jackson

 

 

 

 

 

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many churches: how & why “church” with St. John’s Episcopal & others in Aptos CA?

Many churches: How & why “church” with St. John’s Episcopal & others in Aptos, CA?

Come & participate re future of St. John’s on  Sundays at 9:15.

Let’s have fun ….

Some reasons to “church””   1) so women do not wear hajib — which according to the Muslim “bible” prevents rape & sexual assault.  Well, you probably can wear hajib at St. John’s and other churches.  What think?    DrCameronjackson@gmail.com

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