Last Blog Post

Hi all,
This is just a news blurb to let you know that we won't be updating the women's blog anymore.  Between parenting, volunteering 20+ hours a week at Westside and more, I cannot carve out the time to stay on top of these posts!  Keep trying - and keep getting behind :)  You know how it is...

Originally we started the blog in hopes that our dispersed congregation could be in touch a little better via a shared experience and ability to dialogue online.  While you all are great readers, the comments are few and far between, and it doesn't really seem to be fulfilling it's purpose.
All great reasons to call it a day and say thank you to all who contributed and read.

I hope you'll continue using the lectionary prayers and letting them enrich your life!

All the best,

Ellie

Prayer Challenge: Tuesday Morning, Week 2

       Welcome to week 2 of the prayer challenge!  If you missed the start, I'm challenging you to 14 weeks of using the lectionary's Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession.  There are lots of prayers scattered throughout the lectionary (apple/android), and all are wonderful for getting you out of a prayer rut.  The Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession have been particularly helpful for getting me out of my usual "I need, I need!" prayers.    

If you're just now joining us - welcome! Start where you are.  Each week we'll dissect one of the prayers to help us pray more intentionally.  Here goes...

 

Prayer Challenge: Monday Morning

Praying Commonly: Take the Challenge

lec·tion·ar·y

ˈlekSHəˌnerē/

noun

1. a list or book of portions of the Bible appointed to be read at a church service.

Westside Christian Fellowship began using the Presbyterian lectionary several years ago when PastorK wanted to get us all on the same page reading scripture together.  Are we Presbyterian?  Nope.  He admits he chose almost at random, probably because he had the Presbyterian Book of Common Prayer on his shelf.  Either way, it's been a few years.  We started out listing all the readings on our website and then the Presbyterians came out with this handy app (iOS/android) that thankfully ended that feat.  (Shout out to Bob Marshall who came into the office every week to type out those readings.)

If you aren't familiar with a lectionary (I wasn't), it's simply a Bible reading schedule including some repeated phrases to give it form and written prayers.  After using it for a few years, I have a confession...my prayer life has changed, and I love it.

Flash back to teen years:

As a kid I LOVED alone time, was uber passionate about EVERYTHING, and could daydream my way through the longest summer day with the best of them.  I'd sit on the carpet in my room looking out the window (Because then you couldn't see the other houses and therefore it was easier to imagine I was an innkeeper in the middle ages taking a break between another round of bread and ale for my guests.  Duh.) and fill notebooks with my prayers to God.  I'd ramble.  I'd dream.  In those black and white composition notebooks I'd pour out my heart.

Christ Easters In Us w/ Meredith Ainley

“Let him easter in us, be a dayspring to the dimness of us, be a crimson-cresseted east.” This is one of the closing lines to Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poem, “The Wreck of the Deutschland.” I was reminded of this poem last year in light of the tragedy in the Yellow Sea in South Korea. The Sewol ferry, heading to a popular holiday island, capsized while carrying 476 people around this time last year, killing 304 people. Most of the 172 survivors were rescued by local fishing boats and other commercial vessels that beat the South Korean coast guard to the scene by half an hour. Many of the passengers were students and teachers from a high school near Seoul on a field trip. Dozens of divers searched in vain in the frigid, murky waters, holding on to the hope that they might find someone still alive inside the sunken ferry.

Hopkins’ poem was written in 1918 in memory of another ship that sank.  That emigrant ship, the Deutschland, had set out from Germany for New York but ran aground on a shoal 25 miles off the coast of England in a snowstorm on December 6, 1875. Waves crushed the ship and no one answered the signals for help until much later. Ultimately, it was a lazy rescue effort, and some even descended upon the scene merely for personal gain, taking anything of value off the dead bodies.

Reckless Belief w/ Sowmya

As we continue making our way through Lent, keep in mind the 3 disciplines of the season: Prayer, Fasting and Giving.

Enjoy this guest post on prayer by Sowmya Gali.

“Catch me, Daddy!” When a child is about to jump off the table, he/she expects daddy to catch, a belief that every child has. A reckless belief with which they come into this world, engraved into their DNA. Is it possible to have such faith in our Lord, our Abba Father? In the One who created us?

Lent: Prodigal Son

Excited to have guest blogger Meredith Ainley share her thoughts on Lent with us!  Enjoy!

I have recently been thinking a lot about Luke 15:11-32, commonly known as “The Parable of the Prodigal Son.” This is because of class assignments and because our church community is reading short excerpts from Henri Nouwen’s writings throughout the season of Lent. The author is especially associated with this season because of his book, The Return of the Prodigal Son, and he talks about the profound effect Rembrandt's painting had on him, especially the embrace of the father and son.

What IF:Gathering Meant to Me w/ Sowmya Gali

If you missed the IF:Gathering, you missed big!  Don't worry, we plan to participate again next year.  Here Somwya Gali shares what the experience meant to her:

Growing up I attended children’s retreat at my church in Hyderabad, India every January. During animportant Hindu festival, schools were closed for three days. My dad’s aunt who used to stay with us used to accompany me and my sister to this retreat. We used to pack our lunch boxes and head out every morning. All our Sunday school teachers and close to 200 kids used to gather in the big sanctuary.

‘The Ten Commandments’ was the theme every year. All the teachers use to divvy up the Ten Commandments among themselves and a lesson was taught on each commandment. Kids who accepted the Lord as their personal savior would share their testimonies. We were taught new songs by older kids. Little skits were performed by teachers. Prizes were given for memorizing all the Ten Commandments. Sometimes quizzes, competitions and fun games were also conducted. This was what retreat meant for me. As I grew older, I was tired of the same old commandments repeated year after year. I felt I was too old for such childish things. Every attempt to skip the retreat in my 13th & 14th years drew the ire of my folks. However, in my 15th year, I skipped the retreat due to an important examination at school. Ever since, I never attended a retreat again. Until IF, that is.

IF Gifts: Part 3 - Got Skillz

Did you identify some skills?  Did you spend some time reflecting over how God developed them in your life?  Would love to hear about them in the comments!

Now - how to use them...

Bezalel and Oholiab were asked to use their skills for 3 reasons.  Let's examine those and see what that has to say about how we use ours.

What were they building?  A tabernacle.  Exodus 25:8 says:
"Let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them."

image source unknown

IF: Gifts Part 2

Last time I wrote that God cares more about his gifts than yours.  True dat.  At IF:Gathering we were encouraged to bravely use our gifts to serve God and those around us.  So, what if you DO have a "gift"?  (Gift in quotes for lots of reasons.  Briefly, so much work goes into honing a "gift" that it's often a building, not a blessing.  For example - I'm a great musician.  No, really!  But what started as a propensity to enjoy music over other forms of entertainment or expression required years of study to learn/hone/articulate.)

So, what if you DO have a gift/talent/passion that you sense God asking you to use?

IF: Gifts Part 1 - What Are Your Gifts?

We recently attended the IF:Gathering from here in sunny Santa Monica.  Gathered in our sanctuary, we worshipped, prayed, laughed, learned and more as we watched the broadcast from Austin along with thousands of other women worldwide.  The experience was rich; the speakers were great.

However.

Sometimes when emotions are high, or speakers are rushed, the whole story never gets stated or the truth doesn't get fully fleshed out.  So, I want to clarify something.

At IF:Gathering there was much talk of gifts and talents: How does God want to use your gifts and talents to do something amazing for Him? What are your talents and passions because those are the muscles you need to flex - that's how God will use you in a mighty way.  If you spend years not using your talents and gifts you're turning your back on the who God made you to be.

Hmm...

What Is...

Are you having the kind of morning I'm having?  My daughter was up screaming until about 1am.  Not crying, not sort of noisy, literally screaming.  She was fine, just overtired and wouldn't let herself go to sleep.  Finally, I just put on headphones and listened to an audiobook.

I woke up with the aftermath of a disagreement with my husband still churning in my head.  Because, you know, rehashing it a million times and coming up with zingy retorts so we can launch back into it at breakfast is a great way to use my brain power on 5 hours sleep.  

My Bible study routine was interrupted.  I've been heading down to the coffee shop early each morning to get some time alone with God away from the messykitchen/toychaos/laundrypile/billstack and everything else that competes for my attention in the wee hours of the morning.  It lets me take a few unhurried breaths and clothe myself with good intention for the day.  Of course, this morning I got down there to find that I had no money and my Peet's card (with $85 on it!) was nowhere to be found.  In a huff, I repacked my bag and headed back home.

IF: We were like Joshua

So excited about the IF event this February!  I hope you've registered.  If not, you can do so here.

Jennie Allen, visionary of IF, announced that this year's theme will be the faith of Joshua and Caleb.  Hear it from her:



Introduction to Joshua from IF : Equip on Vimeo.