I loved this night.
Last night was one of those spontaneous amazingly wonderful soak-it-all-up nights and I wanted to make sure to document it for review on one of the less stellar nights ::
The weather was perfect: fresh, awakening breezes; light rain on and off; cool, but still plenty warm. We were hoping to sow some ground cover or at least prepare the ground, but decided to enjoy the weather instead of fight the rain.
Read More»HTTSS:F – 8.17.15
- At September 18, 2015
- By Morgan Reid
- In Reflections
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hear: autumn’s talk and musings
taste: the steeping room’s christmas tea. cinnamon, nutmeg, rosehips, and so much more more dancing delightfully on my tongue.
touch: autumn’s sweet soft pudgy skin. the hard chair beneath me. warm mug, almost too hot.
smell: the tea mostly.
sight: the tea’s french press. dishes needing to be done. a beautiful tree outside our kitchen window. colors bouncing green and yellow. mellow grey day.
how it makes me FEEL: like life is good and rich and worth treasuring. like taking the time to relish these things creates a sacred pause – time almost freezes for just a second. the tea makes me reminds me of Sally Clarkson and her family and makes me wonder and hope that I’m becoming more like her and realize that I am at the same time.
Rediscovering Jesus :: Part 3 – What I love about Anglicanism
Two things before I get into this post:
- I’m still at an elementary level in my learning and have only been to one church and completed one catechism, so I’m asking for grace. Please correct me if you notice something “off” but for the most part, read this as what resonates with *me* not necessarily an exhaustive, well-explained guide.
- My heart yearns for the people of my generation to rediscover 1st century Jesus in the 21st century and His unfailing Good News. Anglicanism is how I feel lead to continue in that — but it is in NO way the only way to do that! For me passion and excitement translate into a *lot* of talking and sharing. I have a lot of joy in my heart concerning this new Way, but as Thomas McKenzie points out in The Anglican Way (such a good book, all the quotes in this post are from it, unless otherwise mentioned):
“It’s best to put wine into the right kind of cup, but the cup isn’t the most important thing. The wine is what matters. The Anglican Way is a cup. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the wine. The Anglican Way is a good cup into which to pour this most magnificent of wines, but it isn’t nearly as important as the wine itself. It isn’t the only kind of glass you could use, but it is a good one, and one that does a nice job of allowing the wine to be experienced as it was meant to be.”
So what I love:
Liturgy :: I feel like I won’t be able to come up with a way to express this properly, so I’ll say this: beautiful language, saturated in Scripture, time-honored, prayed among christians all over the world. It’s rhythmic in that there’s prayers for morning, noon, evening, and before bed – which can help to reorient me back to God throughout the day and weave Him into our home.
Beauty :: Anglicans embrace how beauty can act as a “window into heaven” that points our souls back to God. An incredible painting, a good cup of coffee, a fall afternoon. It really resonated with me in a One Thousand Gifts, Ann Voskamp way and has helped me to embrace what makes me feel alive, instead of putting it down as impractical and expensive.
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Rediscovering Jesus :: Part 2 – Finding Anglicanism
- At September 10, 2015
- By Morgan Reid
- In Changes, Ordinary Radical, Reflections
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In Part 1, I wrote about how Nathan and I had come to love Jesus and hate what the American Church had become.
I ended by sharing that God used the Liturgy to guide Nathan and I into a new Way:
It was a couple months after we moved into our new house: money was tight, I was still getting used to our 3rd move in 18 months, we were experiencing record rains, the city of Austin actually flooded, and boxes and scorpions abounded.
Scrolling through facebook I saw an eye-catching photo for an event at a church about the Liturgy. My interest was sparked because Nathan and I had purchased The Book of Common Prayer in January to create rhythms and weave God into our home. We loved its beautiful language and knowing that Christians all over the world were saying nearly the same prayers – it seemed like it would be a great fit. May came and we still didn’t fully know about all of its history or how to fully use it to enrich our spiritual lives.
Read More»Rediscovering Jesus :: Part 1 – “Well, we love Jesus, we’re just sick of ‘christianity’.”
By the spring of 2011, Nathan and I had become completely disillusioned with “church.” We were tired of “ok-yeah-we-already-know” sermons and being a part of churches that looked nothing like Jesus or the movement of His early followers.
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