Lives Landscaped by the Gardener

Daily Reading.......................Sunday Reading
Visitor or Manito Member
(please click one)

In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life. (James 1: 21. The Message)

There couldn't be a more appropriate scripture for describing the intent of having the Jerusalem Cross Garden in our church grounds.

God is the gardener of our souls. God landscapes our hearts and lives as we daily, weekly, engage the Word. And in this regular touching of, and being touched by, the living Word, we find ourselves changed by Gods' love, wanting our lives more and more to be the salvation-garden from which an abundance of Godly goodness is shared with others.

So acts of devotion and acts of worship spill over into acts of compassion and justice - the four Christian acts symbolized by the four little crosses in the Jerusalem Cross - and God's will is done in our lives causing the world to tremble.

_____________________________________

Learn more about the Way of Christ (methods of prayer and take a spiritual types test)

Risen to Re-establish Eden

Lectionary Reading.................Daily Reading

The Jerusalem Cross Gardening blog has been silent for months now. Winter has taken its' toll! The soil of the garden has long lain dormant. No green inspiration has been there to inspire fresh entries, even though the "gardens" of our souls were regularly tended in our small groups by the Master Gardener, who, John reminds us again this Easter, appears as risen Lord (John 21) to restore the souls of men and women, and the soil of a re-established Eden.

And so Easter has arrived once more. High holy day that it is, again
the Easter banners were hung in the place of honor in the sanctuary. "Alleluia," "He is Risen!" The Christ candle burns liturgically again, sign that the risen Lord lives within our hearts to shape "one, holy, catholic and apostolic church" (Nicene Creed).

With Easter has come Spring, in glorious synchronicity. The light and song of new life does a two-step across our surrounding landscape with the warmth and life of the risen Savior.

Now the planting begins! Soon Spring wheat, seeded in the Cross of Compassion, having experienced a Good Friday-type death, will reach for the sun, green shoots en route to yielding a rich harvest of amber grain. Over the Great 50 Days we will watch each of the 80 seeds - dropped in the offering plate during Lent as a sign of our commitment to die that we might blossom - grow, and measure in our lives Gods' gift of Easter in the resurrection-living it affects.

Are we selflessly and joyously reaching upwards for the Son, en route outwards to yield an abundant harvest for God? The promise of the Kingdom inspires. Eden awaits.

A Video Vision of Ministry at Leavenworth UMC

Lectionary Reading..................................Daily Reading

Late last year we had surprise visitors to our church. A filming crew from the Conference office arrived to capture on video what God might be doing amongst us United Methodists here in our beautiful valley.

Listen http://vimeo.com/pnwumc and guage for yourselves if the preacher got it right.

The Church Lived and Experienced

Lectionary Reading............................Daily Reading

After packing more school kits, praying the Pallet Prayer, and inventorying mailed in bed kits and various miscellaneous items, the day ended with a healthy salad dinner and much reflection on the trip. Truly, my own sense is that the Jerusalem Cross "gardening" we have done (doing acts of devotion and compassion) has resulted in the deepening of relationships - amongst Christian friends and with God - the quality of which I have not experienced in a long time. God's Spirit was felt amongst us, speaking to us through Scripture as we learned to listen through lectio divina, softening "hearts of stone" as we thought of the one child the kit we were packing would empower, and opening hearts to appreciate each others uniqueness as each of us strives toward God and fullness of living. This trip has been a blessing! My sense of church has seldom been greater and it has been a real gift to have been part of this trip.

Tomorrow I say goodbye to the Episcopal Church Center of Utah as I head to Dallas to perform a Saturday wedding. What an incredible facility (see photo of parking lot entrance). More importantly I say goodbye to some friends in Christ, whom I appreciate as never before, and who will finish out this "gardening" project that Christ has called each of us on.

I can't help but wonder what mission trip and interior journey God might call members of Community United Methodist Church on next year!

_____________________________________

Community United Methodist Sacred Space (prayers and journal entries can be offered here)

Learn more about the Way of Christ (methods of prayer and take a spiritual types test)

Walking the Labyrinth - A Different Form of Prayer

Lectionary Reading............................Daily Reading

There have been discoveries and rediscoveries on this mission trip to Utah. The Episcopal Church Center where we have been staying has a labyrinth (see photo) in its' grounds and for some this has been an opportunity to experience a new form of prayer, for others a time to rediscover it.

In the photo Jane Wray and Susan Wells walk the labyrinth, journeying inward into the heart of God where inspired insight often leads to change, then journeying back out into the world, there to live life as one better able to walk with God - loved, set free, called. -- by Roger

The labyrinth is a very special and individual experience, different for each of us. My experience walking the labyrinth has been rich and sacred...an invitation to be present with my Lord. It's a time to be in special dialog, a time of deep silence, and a time to listen for the whisper of God's Words and Love.The journey inward invites me to "let go" and simply "be" as the outer path offers a blessing and sense of renewal. -- by Sue Wells

Our days here have been filled, with many new shared experiences for the eight of us -- Roger and the seven of us women. As we spend our days assembling bags filled with school supplies for kids in far off places, we are truly becoming a very unique "small group," a concept Roger talks about frequently. Today, while at work stuffing bags, we decided this small group needed a special name. It was an easy call: "The Preacher and the Bag Ladies!"

Today our team of eight from CUMC, along with 15 from Memphis, Tenn., filled seven pallets with school supply kits. Each pallet holds 28 boxes, each box holds 12 kits. Combined with yesterday's effort, we have added 11 pallets of school kits to the shelves of the UMCOR West depot! These kits replace a portion of the 15,000 school kits shipped from the Depot this week to the children of Gaza. -- by Jane Wray

_____________________________________

Community United Methodist Sacred Space (prayers and journal entries can be offered here)

Learn more about the Way of Christ (methods of prayer and take a spiritual types test)

Burn't Offerings

Lectionary Reading............................Daily Reading

First it was pizza, a late night evening meal. Lori, cooking it in the lounge surrounded by a hungry team, almost set off the fire alarms. Only opening all the doors and windows prevented an unwanted visit by the screaming sirens of the fire engines.

Once there is always grace, twice....? It happened this morning during breakfast... Lori's encore performance. The photo says it all.

It wasn't one of the four Jerusalem Cross "gardening" acts - devotion, worship, compassion or justice - but it sure "fertilized" the trip with a healthy dose of laughter. Who says mission isn't fun?

_____________________________________

Community United Methodist Sacred Space (prayers and journal entries can be offered here)

Learn more about the Way of Christ (methods of prayer and take a spiritual types test)

Mission to Salt Lake City #2

Lectionary Reading........................Daily Reading

Jerusalem Cross "gardening" commenced today in earnest. We began the day with two of the Jerusalem Cross gardening acts: the practice of lectio divina (divine reading), an act of devotion, drawing nearer to God as we learned to listen rather than talk our praying, and the act of compassion, packing school kits for distribution to children of the impoverished West Bank in Palestine.
Assembly lines were formed and at the end of the day 1400 kits had been boxed and pallet-ed. Very movingly, as 28 boxes on a pallet had been saran wrapped, the helpers gathered around, laid hands on the boxes and prayed the Pallet Prayer:

Most Gracious and Loving God, we come together to do your work: One item at a time, One kit at a time, One box at a time, One pallet at a time, to serve One person at a time, who is, One from the multitude of your children in need across this world. Amen.

And together with a mission team of United Methodists from the Memphis Conference we prayed and were deeply touched at what UMCOR is doing through the generosity and time of countless volunteers.

_____________________________________

Community United Methodist Sacred Space (prayers and journal entries can be offered here)

Learn more about the Way of Christ (methods of prayer and take a spiritual types test)