Westminster Woods Missional Posts

WESTMINSTER WOODS WRAP-UP

Wednesday morning, June 27

My devotional time this morning was spent drawing only.  I put together a composite picture of the jobs we accomplished as well as a few natural momentos along the way: the western tanager, the mushrooms we found, the wildflowers, etc.  

Tree Greed

Tuesday afternoon, June 26

Luke 12:15 (The Message)

“Take care! Protect yourself against the least bit of greed.  Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot.” 

     We completed the last of our tasks this afternoon around 2pm in a pouring rain, and decided to take the time for Devotions then so Katy and Will could head back to Baker City.  The text from Luke was the basis for our discussion and the writing of the Benediction, our Sermon segments, and selection of the final hymn.

     This passage from Luke, a parable often not shared, reminds us that material “stuff” can overwhelm us.  When is enough too much?  When does caring for your family become hoarding and greed? In tying the morning to this afternoon, I thought that our possessions sometimes become so overwhelming that they crowd out God in our life.  The trees of our soul can’t thrive when they are squeezed out by secular ‘things’.  We need to manage our life like a forest, constantly trimming and thinning to keep the priorities straight, and to provide room for our spiritual self to thrive.  We must share our wealth, our gifts, our talents with those around us – in so doing, we shall continue to be richly blessed.  When we get greedy and begin to hoard, much could be taken from us.  What have I failed to share?  How can I better thin the forest of my heart?  What am I holding onto too tightly, and thereby preventing God from entering?  Much to consider when thinning trees! 

Pruning Creation

Tuesday morning, June 26, 2012

John 15: 1-4

“I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer.  He cuts off every branch of me that doesn’t bear grapes.  And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more.  You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken.”

Dale Wilkins presented an extended session this morning on the purpose and practice of thinning the forests for health and productivity.  Where the trees are thick and crowded, they eventually must self-prune or face destruction through fire, disease, etc.  The Woods are working hard to manage this forest in a healthy way, to allow the native plants and vegetation to thrive.  Fire loves an overcrowded forest which allows the crown fire to flourish. Due to the steady rainfall, we will not be able to complete the thinning and trimming of the fir trees that Dale had hoped to have us do.  However, we did completely clean the chapel and wash the windows.  Rick and I worked outside in the rain, weeding the front of the chapel around the ground cover.  Since we must have pulled up nearly a hundred 6” fir seedlings, we have thinned and pruned!! 

Creation Exploitation

Monday evening, June 25, 2012

Matthew 4:8-11

“The devil took Jesus to the peak of a high mountain.  He gestured expansively, pointing out all the earth’s kingdoms, how glorious they all were.  Then he said, ‘They’re all yours – lock, stock, and barrel.  Just go down on your knees and worship me, and they’re yours.”

     The Devil is offering Jesus everything – all the glory and riches of Creation.  With just one little catch – ‘Worship me, not God.’  And Jesus firmly balks.

     How often is our world tempted by the richness of creation, tempted to abuse and exploit the natural resources for personal gain? Creation is God’s gift to us, we are a part of it.  When we destroy, we are throwing the gift away, throwing it back in God’s face so to speak.  We are denying God.  But we are also denying our integral place within that Creation, and hence destroying ourselves.  Part of the mission of Westminster Woods is to protect and tend this 66 acres of God’s world, to develop and nurture the land in a sustainable manner and not exploit the richness of its history or resources.  Our work here, in a small way, helps the Woods continue that mission. 

     Monday night we wrote the Confession and Assurance of Pardon based on this text. 

Open to God

Monday morning, June 25, 2012

2 Corinthians 6:11-13  (The Message)

“I can’t tell you how much I long for you to enter the wide open, spacious life.  We didn’t fence you in.  The smallness you feel comes from within you.  Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way… Open up your lives.  Live openly and expansively!”

     You can’t help but feel wide open and expansive when you stand amidst God’s creation and behold the vast skies at night or the multi-layers of hill upon hill in the distance.  You can feel open to God in such a setting.  But we often close ourselves off to God, living in the narrow confines of our day to day routine.  Today I shall seek at least one way to “open up” to all God has to offer me as I work side by side with church family here at Westminster Woods. 

Creation Care

Sunday evening, June 24:

Genesis 1:26-31

“God blessed them: ‘Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge! Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of the Earth.” 

     The NRSV we used for the devotion reading says “subdue the earth” and we found that one term really bothered all the group as we considered Creation Care.  I MUCH prefer Peterson’s use of “Be responsible”.  God has blessed us with a world of incredible abundance and beauty.  It is our responsibility to take care of it: to tend and till, to prosper ourselves but also prosper creation.  We haven’t always done this well as a world.  As a group tonight we wrote Sunday’s Call to Worship and selected the opening hymn.