Hopegateway

We all need to be reminded that the world doesn't turn because we are busy. The practice of Sabbath, of rest, renews our spirits and reminds us that we need rest and we need God.

What does it feel like to be welcomed as an insider? What does it feel like to feel like an outsider?

Who is in your neighborhoodd, do you know? How can you get to know your neighbors? How can you reach out to your neighbors with compassion?

Sometimes the Holy Spirit comes dramatically and sometimes it comes quietly. Ghandi called the Spirit, Satyagraha, Truth Force. He and many others lived through this power and we can too.

What does it mean to find your STRIDE? It is to live like Maya Angelo--to take your life by the horns and live it.

Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. - Howard Thurmon

What does it mean to find your Stride? Learning about yourself, your God given gifts, your passions and energy is a blessing to yourself and more importantly to the world at large. You are invited to take this journey of discovery together as a community, that we might be a blessing in and beyond our walls.

Following Jesus isn’t easy, but it’s not something we accomplish through our own effort either. It’s a daily choice, but it’s not a to do list. It might just be in following Jesus that we scrap the to do list. Relationships with other Jesus followers help us immensely in our own path of following Jesus, through one-on-ones and intentional reading and gathered groups we get better at following Jesus. Breathing in Spirit and out selfishness all day long helps us do everything we do for the name and sake of Jesus.

When we open ourselves to the joy and pain of others, it helps us to understand our own joy and own pain. We can only let go of the power of seeing the world through own own limited view, when we recieve the joy and pain of another as our own. This is what Jesus meant when he said, "Love One Another."

Less consumption, more compassion. Richard Foster writes, "Fasting helps us keep our balance in life. How easily we begin to allow nonessentials to take precedence in our lives. How quickly we crave things we do not need until we are enslaved by them.” What non-essentials have taken precedence in your life? What things have crowded their way to the center, until you feel like you’re enslaved by them? How can you set these things aside through the practice of fasting? Where can you cut back on consumption so you make space for compassion?

What if we really had the wisdom to accept the things we cannot change and the courage to change the things we can. How would our lives be different? We might move into a whole new reality, or we might be able to accept the reality we have for what it is. Acceptance brings us peace. Jesus embodied acceptance even as he worked for change.