Organic Faith

Upcoming Organic Events

Organic Faith has moved the Late Service gathering from Sunday Nights to Saturday Nights at 5pm.  We will still be meeting at Parkside Lutheran Church and our gathering will still be one of contemplation, conversation, and community. 

Additionally, Pub Church will continue to meet on Wednesday   nights at 7:30pm at Sterling Tavern on Hertel Ave.  Each week we choose a theme, grab a drink, and discuss together the ways that we personally think about any number of issues relating to our spiritual life.  New comers are always welcome!

Finally, 

 Mark your Calendars! One of the best ways to build community is to eat together, so that’s exactly what we are going to do.  Invite a friend, invite a stranger and join Organic Faith in two weeks on Saturday evening (2/26) at 5pm for a shared meal together.  The food will be provided, but you are invited to bring any drinks or desserts to share, if you wish.  The only reason we are not having a celebration meal this Saturday is so you’ll have a full week to plan ahead, and to tell your friends.  We hope you can make it! 

 

If you have any questions about any of these gatherings, don't hesitate to email Nate <nate.preisinger@gmail.com> 

 

Organic Faith Spring Retreat

Organic Faith Friends!

I want to announce to one and all the Organic Faith Spring Retreat at LCLC from Friday night March 26th until March 28th (ending around noon).  

Retreats are a great way for a community to spend time together, to grow together and to delve into bigger, deeper conversations than what we might talk about at one of our weekly gatherings.  They also are a heck of a lot of fun. 

So, mark your calendars and start inviting your friends (retreats are a great place to invite new people in!) for the Organic Faith Spring Retreat at LCLC. 

Stay tuned for more information about the retreat schedule and theme!

A Season of Transformation

At the Organic Faith Bible Study this past Sunday night we read through the transfiguration story and mused about its placement as the text you read every year the Sunday before Ash Wednesday.

In a way, we came to an agreement as a group.  We were thinking that the Church hears of Jesus’ transfiguration before moving into the season of Lent so that we might see Lent as a time of transformation for ourselves.  All in all, I think we had some pretty good ideas at this particular Bible Study. And then, on Tuesday night I came across a blog post with the following words in it: 

“But Lent isn’t about denial, it is about transformation. It is the season in which we prepare to encounter Christ’s sacrifice by endeavoring to become more Christ like ourselves. Transformation is about letting ourselves be filled with God’s presence so that we can be shaped by God’s grace. Our acts of kenosis – denying ourselves in order to empty ourselves enough to allow God to fill us – are means to an end. They are disciplines that prepare us to be transformed. We deny ourselves so that we can be reborn as new creations – to live more fully as the Kingdom citizens God desires us to be.” – (taken from julieclawson.com)

This Lent, on Wednesday nights, Organic Faith will be leading the Lenten worship gatherings at Zion Lutheran Church.  Our hope is to share with the people of Zion a little piece of who we are, and how we understand and practice our faith.

But not only that.

Organic Faith also hopes that these gatherings can be a time of transformation for all who gather.  In the worship, in the songs, the prayers, the music, the silence, and in the discipline of Lent, we all are slowly learning to allow the transforming power of God into the emptiness of our lives once again.

Enduring Ideas from Bible Study

This past Sunday, a group from Organic Faith met for our monthly Bible Study.  But on this night, rather then focus all of our attention on the academic and figuring out exactly what the scriptures might be saying we instead turned to focus our emotions.  

In our world, emotions are so often seen as bad. We are taught to control our emotions and respond with logic and reason.  And granted, emotions can often get out of control and lead us to poor decision making.  However, the wisdom of scripture teaches us to pray with our emotions.

As we read through Psalm 13 and discussed the terse, angry words of David we began to consider the implications of these honest words of scripture. 

God wants an honest relationship with us; a real, open, brutally honest relationship.  Our emotions are a part of who we are and are meant to be respected and considered.  God can handle our anger, our pain, our joy, and our sorrow.  God is with us on our journeys and God wants us to "look life in the eye"(Psalm 13:5) and share this life with Him.