Monday, June 15, 2009

Worms and Whipped Cream

This is absolutely HYSTERICAL. Consuelo Walker could not get the worm, but she seemed to enjoy the whipped cream. What a great sport! NOTE: the names on the chairs. Helen Medina is a member of WPC; longtime member of Jicarita Cluster. Elsie Miranda is a member of Chimayo Church, Buen Pastor, and a living memory of Jicarita Cluster.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Successful WPC hike? Not yet

But still, this was a good one. We went just about a mile or so up to the Carson National Forest. what an enthusiastic bunch.

Yall Ready For This..Dance performance

The girls stayed up past their bedtimes working on this routine. The results are right here...ya ready? Awesome stuff! WPC IDOLS

Loma Verde Church Family Camp '09

Bruce gets slimmed by the girls. This went beyond a facial!
Bruce, how does your skin feel?

Friday, June 12, 2009

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Ruby Rolls

Way to go girl!!! Second time ever

"I saw some really cool salt today"


Jesus said: ‘You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

Upon hearing this, my new friend who definitely has a unique take on life said: "I saw some really cool salt today." And he proceeded to describe unusual shapes and ways in which salt reflected light, and had different tastes. Tibetan Black Salt was one example I can recall..all sodium chloride.
"It's all edible?" I asked.
"I suppose, but at those prices you wouldn't really want to grind it up," he said matter of factly.

As Jesus challenges Christians to be salt, have we ever thought about being some cool salt? That might make others say in the company of friends, "I saw some really cool salt today."

Sunday, June 7, 2009

The Trinity Explained

The Trinity.. Explained – Isaiah 6:1-8; John 3:1-10
Second Presbyterian Church, Albuquerque, NM June 7, 2009


Today is Trinity Sunday—So “now I guess is a good time to explain the Trinity doctrine…”[1]
“We in the Christian church affirm as an essential part of our faith belief in a Triune God…The Trinity doctrine basically says that there is one God. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. Hence God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Three, but they make up one God. Each is co-equal and co-eternal.” [2] Blessed Trinity!

Does that make sense? Maybe some of you would like to add to this a bit….
Oh right, that’s my job. Well, Rob and I both agreed that we have tried for such a long time with our respective congregations to explain the Trinity, and you still didn’t get it… that we just had to exchange churches this Sunday, so that we could try to explain the Trinity to each other’s congregations. So now I guess is a good time to explain the Trinity doctrine…

In April of this year, I was put to the test. I visited a Muslim country, Morocco, on an interfaith trip with other religious leaders, and our leader was the Imam at the Mosque in Santa Fe, who also happened to be a native of Morocco. There I found myself in a very lively; non-threatening discussion about faith with a committed Muslim. He, very graciously, pointed out that there were so many similarities between Christianity and Islam: Belief in the virgin birth (another difficult thing to explain); belief in the crucifixion of Jesus, and even in his ascension into heaven and that he will return. I did not know these things about Islam before.
And then he squinted his eyes a bit, shifted in his seat, and closed his mouth before he said, You know what a big difference is between your religion and ours: The Trinity. How can you believe in three Gods Or one God that is Three? This just doesn’t make sense.
Had I had adequate time at that moment, it would have been a good time to have explained the doctrine of the trinity. But I guess now is a good time to explain the Trinity doctrine…

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

What do you believe?

With a fair amount of talk about belief statements recently shared at WPC, I had an idea for a fun summer project. How bout a WPC collage, displayed in the hallway, with the belief statements of all who choose to participate. Imagine about 80-100 statements juxtaposed with one another against the wall, with the statement, "We are the body of Christ," or something like that. It would really challenge our faith, individually and collectively, illustrate our theological diversity, and show our unity in Christ. For examples or help on the statement you could talk to someone who has recently gone through confirmation class, seminary, or check out: thisibelieve.org

Go Conquerors, beat the guest

This morning I was inspired to get up at 6 am and go for a jog: maybe because I didn't get to soccer last night, or maybe because I needed to clear my mind. As the sun rose over the sangre de cristo mountains, I thought, "Why don't I do this more often." I feel good now; we'll see how I feel at 2 pm.

I jogged up to a track at a local middle school, De Vargas. For the entire jog, my back was to the scoreboard until I left the track. And there I saw the board which read: Conquerors vs Guest. Is that a welcoming scoreboard or what? "Welcome to our field dear guest. Now we the conquerors will conqueror you (followed by a sinister laugh)."

Of course, Santa Fe is the city that once (and still does) celebrated Maria virgen la conquistadora. After the Spanish conquered the Native Americans they gave credit to Mary.

The real question: How many times have the conquerors have been conquerored by their guest on their own field?