Piloting Faith: Looking at what we value...

A Word for the Day...

As a culture, we have moved from valuing wisdom to seeking knowledge to chasing information. We are now overwhelmed by information without the wisdom to know how to use it.

Many years ago ancient Polynesian sailors could travel hundreds of miles in their wooden canoes without the aid of sextants or compasses and never lose their way. They understood the currents, the stars, the winds, and the clouds. They approached the open ocean with respect. They, in time, developed intuitions that served as a guide for them as they traversed the oceans.

Today we face the challenge of learning to traverse the vast ocean of the digital age. We are forever lost if we rely only on our information. Our technology will not save us or carry us to a promised paradise. We must develop our intuition, ancient and dormant within us, to guide us to a sustainable future.

Jesus tried to teach us about this. In Luke 17: 20-21 he said, "The kingdom of God doesn’t come by counting the days on the calendar. Nor when someone says, ‘Look here!’ or, ‘There it is!’ And why? Because God’s kingdom is already among you." Look inside, he says. The Way is already within you. You need only slow down enough to intuit it.

- Rev. Cameron Trimble, author of Piloting Church: Helping Your Congregation Take Flight

Prayer for the Week

The New Lord’s Prayer

Our Mothering, Guiding Moral Force, Gracious and Loving, Creator,
Who is our strength and shield and promises never to leave or forsake us,
who enfolds us and is all around us, in heaven and earth.
Blessed and cherished, divine and wondrous, and powerful are you.

May your purpose and everlasting presence,
your dream and vision of a world of peace, come to be.
And may your hope for us be realized on earth as it is in heaven.

Give each one of us enough to sustain all of us.
In our imperfections, we ask for forgiveness
for ourselves and from one another.

Save us from ourselves, from the bondage of selfishness,
from the distraction of prideful pursuits.

Help us to find the best of our human selves and to love that which others reject.
For all that you have created, the beauty and grace and the glory is yours forever.

Amen. (So be it.)

- (Rendered by and for Friendship Presbyterian Church)