Week of November 18

Dear Friends,

I think many churches are antiquated and irrelevant. They are attached to old language, old rituals and unimaginative ways of being a person of faith.  In many conservative churches, doctrine takes precedence over practice.  But in many progressive churches, faith is no more embodied than in the conservative churches.  

Ideas are important.  Thinking is important.  I believe God expects us to use our minds.  But when faith is merely an idea, it is has NO impact.  It has no power.  Faith cries out to be a living entity.  Faith must have imagination.  Faith must have heart.  Faith must have commitment.  In other words, faith needs to be embodied.  

What does an embodied faith look like?  What does it look like in the church? I like what Douglas John Hall says, 

“People of faith believe deeply in the unmasking of talent and heart - both their own and that of others.  This is a message for parents, for spouses, for teachers, for preachers, for politicians and for friends.  Each of us must come to believe that the world needs our talent.  Each of us must also work to help others identify and gather confidence in theirs.  Imagine that kind of world - a place in which everyone worked diligently to bring out the best in others.”  

I imagine Talmadge Hill in this way.  It’s Rob finding and shepherding our singers. It’s the preachers in our midst like Katherine Silvan, Miles Wallace and Jon Morgan.  It’s Patrice leading the Board.  It’s Bill Durkin overseeing the finances.  It’s Jim Moltz managing the endowment.  It’s Jim, Chris, Barry, Peter, Mary, Tim, Regina, Kate, Bonnie, Lisa, Scott, Linda, Betsy, Russ, Paule, Pat, Noelle and so many more.  It’s all of you who sing, speak, organize, visit, and just plain show up when asked or needed.  

We've got talent.  We share it.  We look to unmask more of it.  In that way, our faith is embodied. Sunday is Commitment Sunday.  PLEASE COME, and make your commitment for another year!! Talmadge Hill needs you, and the world needs Talmadge Hill.  

Warmly,

Carter

Meditation

God creates out of nothing. Wonderful you say. 

Yes, to be sure, but he does what is still more wonderful: he makes saints out of sinners. 

--Soren Kierkegaard

What is a saint?  A saint is someone who has achieved a remote human possibility.  It is impossible to say what that possibility is.  I think it has something to do with the energy of love. 

--Leonard Cohen

Talmadge Hill Honors the Rev. Mich Zeman

Dear Friends of Talmadge Hill, 

On Saturday September 8th, we celebrated the life and ministry of the Reverend Mich Zeman.  It was an emotional, but ultimately joyful, occasion.  He had indeed touched many lives over the course of many years.  

Since then, a number of people have asked about monetary gifts to honor his legacy.  In response to those inquiries, this letter is intended to outline explicitly the opportunities for giving with instructions. 

If you would like to make a gift, you have 2 options from which to choose:

-  Option one reflects Mich’s great love for the Talmadge Hill Church.  In his last days, he communicated his desire to do more work on our Memorial Garden as well as a desire to support several initiatives with the THCC music ministry.  To support this option, you would write a check to The Talmadge Hill Church and mark the gift “Mich Zeman Legacy Fund”.  

-  Option two reflects Mich and Mary’s great love for Kenya and the power of education.  As you may or may not remember, Mich and Mary began their married lives in Kenya.  To honor this chapter in their lives, a primary school will be built in 2019 and dedicated in their names.  To support this option, you would write a check to Crossing Thresholds Inc. and mark the gift “Mich and Mary Zeman School”.  

Collectively, these giving opportunities reflect two of his deepest loves -- for church and for mission.  

All gifts can be mailed directly to the church, and all gifts (both to the Talmadge Hill Church and to Crossing Thresholds) are tax deductible.

In gratitude, 

Carter     

Meditation

There is a great difference between knowledge and wisdom.  You can know many things, you can know a lot of facts about things, even facts about yourself, but it is the truths that you realize yourself that move deeply into you.  Wisdom, then, is a deeper way of knowing.  Wisdom is the art of living in rhythm with your soul, your life, and the divine.  from Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom by John O'Donohue

Meditation

For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of our tasks; the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation.

--Rainer Rilke