Tag: Turn

This is the weekly bulletin insert from Sermons That Work.

Traveling the Way of Love: Turn

“Traveling the Way of Love” Season 2 offers video stories of the ways people across The Episcopal Church participate in the seven Way of Love practices. Produced by the Office of Communication in partnership with Evangelism colleagues, it includes study guides to help congregations or small groups engage the stories and strengthen one another’s discipleship. Each week, we’ll share information about an episode, along with study questions suitable for congregational, small group, or personal reflection. You can find each episode and its discussion guide at iam.ec/TWOL2.

Episode 3: Turn

As Jesus was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.

Mark 2:14

Like the disciples, we are called by Jesus to follow the Way of Love. With God’s help, we can turn from the powers of sin, hatred, fear, injustice, and oppression toward the way of truth, love, hope, justice, and freedom. In turning, we reorient our lives to Jesus Christ, falling in love again and again.

1. In this episode, host Chris Sikkema visits the Rev. Rita Powell and Alden Fossett at Harvard University. Together, they discuss what it means to practice “pausing” in a society that often demands exhaustion as a mark of worthiness. Where in your life could you press pause as part of a spiritual practice of “turn”?

2. When we choose to turn and pause, we have the opportunity to listen to people and places that often are overlooked or exploited. Rita and Alden shared stories of leading their communities to pause and listen to both the natural world and the stories of enslaved people. Whose stories and experiences are overlooked in your context? What would it take to practice listening deeply to those stories and experiences?

3. As the host says, when we can make something right, we are called to do so. The Episcopal Chaplaincy at Harvard hosts a series of meals out on the sidewalk as a way of making right previous church practices that excluded people from entering our doors as full members of our communities. By hosting a meal on the street, The Episcopal Chaplaincy community is turning from a tradition of oppression and gatekeeping toward a way of being that is open, just, and free for all.  As you think about your community of faith and personal practice of turning, what action steps can you take to make something right? What outward and visible sign can you signal that reflects a commitment to turning toward Jesus and his way of love?

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Weekly bulletin inserts

This weekly bulletin insert provides information about the history, music, liturgy, mission, and ministry of The Episcopal Church. For more information, please contact us at stw@episcopalchurch.org.

Sermons That Work

For more than 20 years, Sermons That Work, a ministry of The Episcopal Church’s Office of Communication, has provided free sermons, Bible studies, bulletin inserts, and other resources that speak to congregations across the Church. Our writers and readers come from numerous and varied backgrounds. Small house churches, sprawling cathedrals, and everything between use the resources that Sermons That Work provides.

Church of the Redeemer

Church of the Redeemer: Worshiping God, living in community, and reaching out to the world around us. We are an Episcopal Church serving north King County and south Snohomish County, Washington. As you travel your road, go with friends walking the way of Jesus at Redeemer.

Church of the Redeemer is at 6220 Northeast 181st Street in Kenmore, Washington. The campus is a short distance north of Bothell Way, near the Burke-Gilman Trail. The entrance looks like a gravel driveway. The campus is larger on the inside than it is on the outside. And we managed to hide a large building on the side of a hill that is not easily seen from the street.

The Episcopal Church welcomes you.

This is the weekly bulletin insert from Sermons That Work.

Explore the Way of Love – Turn

There are so many voices in the world, telling us who we are, what we should do, and how we will be fulfilled. They tell us to focus on our desires, on our cravings, on being the best individual we can be. The world, we are told, revolves around each of us.

For many, these pursuits of self-fulfillment can leave us feeling drained, empty, and alone. They can lead us away from our divine calling. Away from the creator in whose image we were made. But if we listen closely, there is a spirit calling us to come back to ourselves, back to our purpose, back to something more meaningful.

When we look to the example of Jesus, we see the way that he followed. This is the Way of Love.

One aspect of this Way and making it a practice in our own lives is remembering to simply to turn toward the voice that calls us. Intentionally choosing our direction, choosing to turn and face the light, is the fundamental shift that puts the Way of Love into action. As Jesus tells us in the Book of John: “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.”

Turning doesn’t have to change who you are—you are loved as you were created. But it can change where you are going. It can shift you from selfishness to loving the other. It can shift you from hoarding to generosity. It can lead you from sin and distance from God into closer alignment with the One who made and loves you so much.

Obeying this call means recognizing the things we put first in our lives, the things we allow to have the most space in our minds, our fears and hopes and desires. And turning instead toward love.

It can be as freeing as the early followers putting down their fishing nets. It can be as missional as Jesus asking us to pick up our cross and follow him. It can be as simple as paying attention to which direction our feet are facing on our journey.

Turning is not just a one time event, but an ongoing discipline, re-directing our steps as often as we think to, always turning toward the light. And turning toward the light can also illuminate how many there are on the journey with you, emerging from the shadows to walk the same path.

The Way of Love can lead you to discover a community of fellow travelers with whom you share the journey. The Way of Love shows us who we are, it lights the path to where we should go, and it gives purpose to our desires for fulfillment. And it shows us that we are not alone. That like us, there are many who choosing to turn toward the Way of Love. Are you ready to commit to turning and following Jesus?

Learn more about the Way of Love at episcopalchurch.org/wayoflove. You can find suggestions on getting started and going deeper with Turning at iam.ec/ewol.

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Weekly bulletin inserts

This weekly bulletin insert provides information about the history, music, liturgy, mission, and ministry of The Episcopal Church. For more information, please contact us at stw@episcopalchurch.org.

Sermons That Work

For more than 20 years, Sermons That Work, a ministry of The Episcopal Church’s Office of Communication, has provided free sermons, Bible studies, bulletin inserts, and other resources that speak to congregations across the Church. Our writers and readers come from numerous and varied backgrounds, and the resources we provide are used in small house churches, sprawling cathedrals, and everything between.

Church of the Redeemer

Church of the Redeemer: Worshiping God, living in community, and reaching out to the world around us. We are an Episcopal Church serving north King County and south Snohomish County, Washington. As you travel your road, go with friends walking the way of Jesus at Redeemer.

Church of the Redeemer is at 6220 Northeast 181st Street in Kenmore, Washington. The campus is a short distance north of Bothell Way, near the Burke-Gilman Trail. The entrance looks like a gravel driveway. The campus is larger on the inside than it is on the outside. And we managed to hide a large building on the side of a hill that is not easily seen from the street.

The Episcopal Church welcomes you.

This is the weekly bulletin insert from Sermons That Work.

Explore the Way of Love: Turn

There are so many voices in the world, telling us who we are, what we should do, and how we will be fulfilled. They tell us to focus on our desires, on our cravings, on being the best individual we can be. The world, we are told, revolves around each of us.

For many, these pursuits of self-fulfillment can leave us feeling drained, empty, and alone. They can lead us away from our divine calling. Away from the creator in whose image we were made. But if we listen closely, there is a spirit calling us to come back to ourselves, back to our purpose, back to something more meaningful.

When we look to the example of Jesus, we see the way that he followed. This is the Way of Love.

One aspect of this Way and making it a practice in our own lives is remembering to simply to turn toward the voice that calls us. Intentionally choosing our direction, choosing to turn and face the light, is the fundamental shift that puts the Way of Love into action. As Jesus tells us in the Book of John: “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.”

Turning doesn’t have to change who you are—you are loved as you were created. But it can change where you are going. It can shift you from selfishness to loving the other. It can shift you from hoarding to generosity. It can lead you from sin and distance from God into closer alignment with the One who made and loves you so much.

Obeying this call means recognizing the things we put first in our lives, the things we allow to have the most space in our minds, our fears and hopes and desires. And turning instead toward love.

It can be as freeing as the early followers putting down their fishing nets. It can be as missional as Jesus asking us to pick up our cross and follow him. It can be as simple as paying attention to which direction our feet are facing on our journey.

Turning is not just a one time event, but an ongoing discipline, re-directing our steps as often as we think to, always turning toward the light. And turning toward the light can also illuminate how many there are on the journey with you, emerging from the shadows to walk the same path.

The Way of Love can lead you to discover a community of fellow travelers with whom you share the journey. The Way of Love shows us who we are, it lights the path to where we should go, and it gives purpose to our desires for fulfillment. And it shows us that we are not alone. That like us, there are many who choosing to turn toward the Way of Love. Are you ready to commit to turning and following Jesus?

Learn more about the Way of Love

Learn more about the Way of Love at The Way of Love. You can find suggestions on getting started and going deeper with Turning at Explore the Way of Love.

Weekly bulletin inserts

This weekly bulletin insert provides information about the history, music, liturgy, mission, and ministry of The Episcopal Church. For more information, please contact us at stw@episcopalchurch.org.

Sermons That Work

For more than 20 years, Sermons That Work, a ministry of The Episcopal Church’s Office of Communication, has provided free sermons, Bible studies, bulletin inserts, and other resources that speak to congregations across the Church. Our writers and readers come from numerous and varied backgrounds, and the resources we provide are used in small house churches, sprawling cathedrals, and everything between.

Church of the Redeemer

Church of the Redeemer: Worshiping God, living in community, and reaching out to the world around us. We are an Episcopal Church serving north King County and south Snohomish County, Washington. As you travel your road, go with friends walking the way of Jesus at Redeemer.

Church of the Redeemer is at 6220 Northeast 181st Street in Kenmore, Washington. The campus is a short distance north of Bothell Way, near the Burke-Gilman Trail. The entrance looks like a gravel driveway. The campus is larger on the inside than it is on the outside. And we managed to hide a large building on the side of a hill that is not easily seen from the street.

The Episcopal Church welcomes you.