We are All One – A Reflection

This is a very powerful sermon – it should be re-read periodically as a reminder.

Pastor Michael Moore's Blog

Someone is reminding me that I need to blog and wrap up my sermon preparation before the football game!

In Luke 16:19-31, we read the story of another challenge Jesus offers the Pharisees and others who were listening to him speak. He tells them about the rich man and Lazarus. A rich man who was dressed in purple (a very expensive cloth dyed from the liquid obtained from a species of shellfish) is living a life that is large and self-absorbed. He feasted sumptuously every day while there was starvation literally at his front door. Using my imagination, I can see a home that is spacious and richly decorated with a staff who waited on him night and day. I am sure that he was a powerful and respected member of the community who never lacked for anything.

This is in direct contrast to Lazarus (whose name ironically means “God…

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Contentment – Thomas Merton

Blessings

Pastor Michael Moore's Blog

Stella is content to be up to mischief and being showered with love from her mommy and daddy 💖😻

Our sweet Stella teaches us a lot every day. She was starving and close to death when she found us. To this day we aren’t exactly sure who rescued whom. She teaches us daily to be thankful for the day the Lord has made 😻

When you accept what you have, you see all you have received is more than enough and you are overwhelmed. I desire other things because I fear to be content with what I have—I fear it is inglorious. In the last few days I have seen what matters is to be humble enough to admit I am content with just this. Leave the rest to God. (A Search for Solitude: Pursuing the Monk’s True Life: The Journals of Thomas Merton, Volume 3: 1952-1960) September…

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Living With Dementia (and Gratitude)

It is so important to keep this going.

A Bit of Brian's Brilliance

By Brian LeBlanc

In a world that can be so unfair, so dramatically cruel, so unforgiving, it’s hard to stay in a positive mindset. Even if that’s literally what you do every day – try to channel the happy, the humor, the spice of life. In the back of your mind, there’s always something … something that can, in whatever way, push you off center and make it hard to appreciate life’s true blessings.

I’m living with dementia. You know this. But I’m also trying something new these days. I’m living with and expressing gratitude – every day – even if it hurts to do it. You may have noticed on our Facebook accounts – particularly my page and the #WeAreDementiaStrong page – I’ve been sharing gratitude posts daily. (OK, not every day. I have Alzheimer’s, remember? Forgive me for, uhhmmm, not remembering or being too foggy from…

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You Can’t Take it with You – A Reflection

This is awesome 🙂

Pastor Michael Moore's Blog

Stella helping me study/prepare for the upcoming Transitional Ministry course

One of the readings for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost is Psalm 107:1-9, 43. The psalmist reminds us that there is one thing that endures forever and that is the steadfast love of the Lord. (107:1) I don’t know about you, dear reader, but I find great comfort in those words. When I have experienced times of uncertainty, this has been a source of strength and comfort for me. Of course, I don’t always realize that right away! However, God usually gets my attention and reminds me that God’s love is constant, even when I am not constant in following the law of love in my own life.

In the gospel reading for this Sunday (Luke 12:13-21) Jesus was asked by someone in the crowd to tell his brother divide the family inheritance between the two of them. Friend, who…

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Prayer – Thomas Merton

Beautifl – must share

Pastor Michael Moore's Blog

One of the hiking paths at Ignatius House in Atlanta where Denise and I attended a silent retreat this past weekend

In prayer we discover what we already have. You start where you are and you deepen what you already have, and you realize that you are already there. We already have everything, but we don’t know it and we don’t experience it. Everything has been given to us in Christ. All we need is to experience what we already possess. The trouble is, we aren’t taking time to do so.

If we really want prayer, we’ll have to give it time. We must slow down to a human tempo, and we’ll begin to have time to listen. And as soon as we listen to what’s going on, things will begin to take shape by themselves. But for this we have to experience time in a new way. – Thomas…

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Sabbath Rest: A Reflection

This is spectacular. Read. Enjoy. Slow down. Relax. Breathe.

Pastor Michael Moore's Blog

Our rescue kitten Stella looks out at the world from the safety of our home

This time of Sabbath rest has been unusual to say the least. Stepping away from active ministry has given our spirits time to recalibrate. It has also given us time to focus on completing a task/journey that began for Denise on October 4th, 2021. With the exception of Christmas, Thanksgiving, and downtime as we recovered from COVID (Merry Christmas 2021!) Denise was spending four days a week in Florence, Alabama sorting through her parent’s possessions and decades of paperwork from her dad’s professional life with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) as a research scientist.

This week the keys to the apartments were turned in and the cars were sold. But it was last week (Thursday March 24th to be exact) that a wonderful sabbath gift came into our lives. That morning, Denise heard meowing coming…

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Alaska

So beautiful. For views like this – I wish I still lived in Alaska.

To Taste Peace: A Reflection

This is so beautiful – it needs to be shared.

Blessings to all.

Pastor Michael Moore's Blog

Sister Moon’s first appearance in 2022 over our deck

What is it like to taste peace? I know it may sound like a weird question but Thomas Merton invited me to contemplate that question in his journal entry from January 3rd and 4th, 1968.

Evening—new moon—snow hard crackling and squealing under my rubber boots. The dark pines over the hermitage. The graceful black fans and branches of the tall oaks between my field and the monastery. I said Compline and looked at the cold valley and tasted its peace. Who is entitled to such peace? I don’t know. But I would be foolish to leave it for no reason. — January 3 and 4, 1968 (The Other Side of the Mountain: The End of the Journey)

Tonight I stepped out onto our deck on the first night that I was able to see Sister Moon this year. Merton’s…

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A New Year’s Reflection

Happy New Year everyone.

This is good ‘Food for Thought.’

Pastor Michael Moore's Blog

The last sunset of 2021

Yes, the calendar has turned over and I am getting used to writing 2022 instead of 2021. It is one day out of 365 days. While it is a significant marker in the Roman Calendar calendar, it is just another day. I keep telling myself that, especially as I review the previous year both personally and professionally. Testing positive for the Omicron variant of COVID on the morning of December 26th threw an immediate monkey wrench into our lives. From having to cancel worship on a few hours notice to postponing my father-in-law’s inurnment on the 27th; life once again turned upside down. I believe this had been the calling card for 2021 — hold my beer and watch this! Our lives had indeed been turned upside down from early January and it continued right up until New Years Eve!

This blog isn’t a personal…

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Mary’s Revolutionary Song of Hope and Joy

Blessings to All in the Advent Season.

Pastor Michael Moore's Blog

As we approach the last Sunday in the season of Advent, I am sure that many of you are up to your eyeballs in Christmas preparations. Hopefully during Advent, you have been able to take some time to be still amid the rush of this commercialized time of year. I would like to say that I have done that myself, but sadly, those moments have been fleeting and few. 

The reading from Luke for the fourth Sunday of Advent is the song of Mary otherwise known as the “Magnificat.” Mary’s song has been banned in some countries because of its revolutionary challenges (He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. — Luke 1:52-52). It was celebrated as an offering of hope to the poor by Saint Archbishop Oscar Romero…

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