In October of 2022, the Street Psalms community gathered to ask and reflection on the theme of Synodality. As we reflected on the week’s gospel lectionary text, listened to reflections, and conversed with one another, we asked the Beautiful Question:
How do we walk together across difference for the sake of the most vulnerable?
To learn more about Synodality, you can read our monthly letter See.Do.Be.Free. here where our Executive Director, Kris Rocke, wrote a monthly reflection on the theme.
19:1 He entered Jericho and was passing through it. 19:2 A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. 19:3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 19:4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 19:5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today." 19:6 So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 19:7 All who saw it began to grumble and said, "He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner." 19:8 Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much." 19:9 Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost."
“So when I think about, what does it mean for us to imagine a world where everybody belongs…I think it means that we have to imagine a world that actually is big enough to include those that we disagree with the most. Those who at the time we might not actually have eyes to see in the middle of the crowd. I think that's really what's at the heart of Jesus message. It's a call to expand our understanding of who's in the crowd.”
-Guest Speaker: Ben McBride, Empower Initiative (Listen to the full reflection)
Small Groups
What are you seeing in your context that affirms and/or challenges your capacity to walk together across difference? How is a mindset of abundance freeing you up to walk with others?
Small Group Reflections
“And in our world today, which grasps for positions of power on the high ground of privilege and esteem, it's Jesus's display of an inverted hospitality that is the liberating invitation to embrace Biblical Shalom. An invitation that the upward gaze of Jesus extends both to the crowd and to all those hiding in the trees.”
-Guest Speaker: Joel Van Dyke, Lee Street CRC & Street Psalms (Listen to the full reflection)
Small Groups
What are the practices that allow you to walk together across difference? Where do you see “Love with skin” showing up in your context?
Small Group Reflections
Ordination Service
Ordination Service
“Gracious God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of Life, have mercy on us. Reveal yourself in all things, to all things, and through all things. Grant us the gift of becoming a community of the Incarnation—mystery of Word made flesh—who sees and celebrates Good News in hard places. Give us the tongue of a teacher to sustain the weary with a word, and mobilize leaders from all walks of life to love their city and seek its peace with the Gospel of Jesus.”
From the Street Psalms Prayer of Vocation
Congratulations to the new ordinands:
- Lina Thompson, Seattle, WA
- Kristy Humphreys, Tacoma, WA
- Preston Adams, Denver, CO
- Josh Erickson, Salem, OR
“What was his motivation? Was it the crowd and caught up in the celebrity of Jesus? Or was there also something more? Was it known to Zacchaeus that Jesus had already engaged other tax collectors? In fact, had brought a tax collector into his most intimate group?And so I wondered if Zacchaeus, in his own cracking open of his curiosity, was beginning to experience what it felt like to be on the outside of community, and also beginning to imagine that there might be a possibility of re-engaging the rejoining community in a different way.”
-Guest Speaker: Dan Cardinali, Independent Sector (Listen to the full reflection)
Small Groups
How is walking together across difference helping create a city of peace for all people in your context? How is that transforming you and calling you forth?
Small Group Reflections
Commissioning
So, as we walk together into the lowest places on earth, creating cities of peace for all people where everyone belongs, may we go with assurance. May we go knowing that grace really is like water; it flows downhill and pools up in the lowest places. May this give us the courage to cross over to the other side of the road and come near those in need. May we see the half dead for who they are. And having seen ourselves, may we discover ourselves being given back our humanity by the ones whom we despised, who have no concern whatsoever for their own reputation – who are utterly free to love us. This is how God comes to us. I know this tender mercy first hand. I am persuaded that it not only has the power to heal the half-dead, but also fix the unjust roads that continue to produce them. And by “them” of course, I mean “us.”
Benediction
The Spirit of the Lord is upon us because she has anointed us to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
We pray all of this in the name of the Father who is for us, the Son who is with us, and the Spirit who unites us all in the never-ending dance of Love.
Amen.
