THE PRACTICING CHURCH
  • Our Story
    • Parish
    • Beliefs
    • Values
    • Team
  • Welcome
    • Connect to Community
    • Current Happenings
  • Renewal
  • Media
    • Blog
    • Listen
  • Give
  • Contact

The Blog

The Practicing church

Indwelling Spirit

6/13/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Last Sunday was so rich as we joined our voices together to celebrate Pentecost and the Spirit now poured out on all flesh.

In the last days, God says, 
I will pour out my Spirit on all people. 
Your sons and daughters will prophesy, 
your young men will see visions, 
your old men will dream dreams. 
Even on my servants, both men and women, 
I will pour out my Spirit in those days, 
and they will prophesy. - Acts 2:17-18

We are the people our ancestors dreamed about. We are the church and a part of the grand sweeping story of God on the earth. All of us, every gender, young and old, privileged and oppressed, we have been given the Spirit.

And so now we dream dreams of renewal for our communities and our neighborhoods. We see visions of shalom in our places of work and school. And we prophesy. We speak the words of life, words of hope, words of divine purpose. Over ourselves. Over our neighbors. Over our community.

For out of our union with our triune God, as we are enfolded in love, immersed in God's presence with us and empowered by the Spirit, we become conduits of divine love and healing in the world around us.

For love is not theory. Transformation is not osmosis. The kingdom of God must root deeply in our lives and be tested and proven in the places that we live, work and play. For our bodies are temples. Our everyday lives are sacramental. Our places are holy. And our land is sacred. These earthen shrines in all of creation are the contexts  in which the Spirit dwells.


by Jessica Ketola
0 Comments

The Divine Spirit, The Embodied Experience

4/12/2018

2 Comments

 
Picture
We continue to celebrate the joy of Easter, new creation and life bursting into our lives and our community. For we truly believe that God has a big, beautiful Dream to bring shalom, justice and love to our neighborhoods, and that we are to be a part of it!

And as we talked about last Sunday, if our WHY as The Practicing Church is this Dream of God, the renewal of all things, then our HOW is the stunning work of the Holy Spirit present and active among us.

I'm very excited for this Sunday as Rose Swetman will be with us speaking about the very real and active presence of the Holy Spirit among us. For we want to be a people of God's presence, filled with the power of the Spirit. This same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. [For a deeper dive, check out these short videos from Vineyard USA about the Holy Spirit.]

And while we love the Spirit of God, the work and the empowerment of the Divine in our midst, we know we are to live this out in an embodied way. We see this model beautifully in the life of Jesus. We want to be a people grounded in the love of God and love of neighbor. And we will hold fiercely to the tension of being a people of God's presence and power while being rooted and grounded in love in an embodied way in our neighborhoods.

Here is a beautiful story of presence and place from some folks in our Vineyard family in Campbellsville, KY.
​
Coffee That Cultivates Community
Picture
For what happens when we combine the divine resolve and power with human, embodied agency? Walter Brueggemann would say, "The outcome is a human agent who can act and dream outside imperial reality. And dreaming outside imperial reality, that human agent can begin the daring extrication of this people from the imperial system."

Agency Plus Resolve, Walter Brueggemann, Journey to the Common Good

In other words, freedom, shalom, and renewal happens. Resurrection happens. And we see the movement of the gospel story, of Exodus, of a people leaving empire and slavery to step into human agency as people of God's presence. God's dream is realized when we join God's plan, purposes and presence with our human embodiment to be the hands and feet of Jesus here on the earth. Here in our homes, our neighborhoods, our schools and our work places.

My prayer for you this week is that you would be filled with the presence of the Spirit everywhere your feet walk this blessed earth and every time your hands touch the stranger, your neighbor and those you love. May you feel the life-giving, creative breath of God bringing you and your neighbor to life, awakening dreams and desires, and renewing and redeeming everything and everyone.

Be filled with the Divine Spirit and be embodied and present in your places!

by Jessica Ketola
2 Comments

    the practicing church

    We are a group of ordinary people with an extraordinary dream - to join God in the renewal of all things by engaging in practices that ground us in the love of God.

    Archives

    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    January 2022
    September 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2015
    September 2015
    May 2014

    Categories

    All
    Advent
    Angela Ferrara
    Beatitudes
    Black Lives Matter
    Carrie Cates
    Community
    Community Values
    Contemplative Spirituality
    Easter
    Epiphany
    Fire In My Bones
    Freedom In Constraint
    Good News
    Holy Spirit
    Hope
    Incarnation
    Inward Journey
    Jessica
    Jessica Ketola
    Justice
    Lament
    Lent
    Love
    Neighboring
    On Earth As It Is In Heaven
    Pentecost
    Radical Hospitality
    Reconciliation
    Rose Swetman
    Sabbath
    Sacred Ordinary
    Soul Force
    Soulful Living
    Story
    Summer In The Psalms
    The Dream
    The Practicing Church

    RSS Feed

Browse
Home
Our Story
Renewal
Media

Blog
Give
About
Our Story
Parish
​Beliefs
Values
Team
Connect
Welcome
Community
What's Poppin
Media
​
Blog
Podcast



Join the Conversation
Contact Us​
Picture
© 2015 The Practicing Church