Dear Friends in Christ,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I read in the newspaper that there is an unprecedented bloom of wildflowers in Death Valley. In the San Joaquin Valley, it is a delight to experience the natural world take a deep breath and grow as the sun warms our still damp soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Michael Kleber-Diggs suggests in his poem Lupines in a Yard in San Antonio, Texas<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The flowers speak to us. They say\u2014 Our religious traditions remind us that Lent means spring. As we move through Lent we, prepare, once again, to experience springtime in our souls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kieran Bohan, the director of the Open Table Network <\/em>says we are asking the wrong question in our churches:<\/p>\n\n\n\n We must move from the question, \u2018Who is worthy?\u2019 to the question, \u2018Who is missing?\u2019.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n With God\u2019s help, may we<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Set an extra place at the table<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Stay in a difficult conversation<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pray for someone whose theology differs from our own<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ask, \u2018What has my faith cost me?<\/em><\/strong>\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n For at Christ\u2019s table, we do not guard the feast \u2013 we receive it. And having received mercy, we learn to practice it together.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When we ask these questions and act on these invitations we will see what new life will look like in our church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Faithfully yours,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rebecca<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dear Friends in Christ, I read in the newspaper that there is an unprecedented bloom of wildflowers in Death Valley. In the San Joaquin Valley, it is a delight to experience the natural world take a deep breath and grow as the sun warms our still damp soil. Michael Kleber-Diggs suggests in his poem Lupines in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stannestocktonchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stannestocktonchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stannestocktonchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stannestocktonchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stannestocktonchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2931"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stannestocktonchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2932,"href":"https:\/\/stannestocktonchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2931\/revisions\/2932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stannestocktonchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stannestocktonchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stannestocktonchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
existence and persistence are the same thing.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n