Creation Refuge: Credo

Hi all,

NEWS FLASH: I have heard from our planners re: our next events...and the "word" is that FUN IN THE SON 2 is well underway and planned for August 2 (exact times still TBD).. this time we will do a traditional "pool party/cook out" and the Haywoods have graciously agreed to host us all..(BTW they have a beautiful pool at their home with a great facility for a party) Tracee and I got to know them as part of the church dinners, and fellowship breakouts last year and they are really great folks. I hope you will mark your calendars and come if you can. I would encourage you all to think about inviting friends, or even kids' friends as we did with the Pocahontas trip. Lets show our hospitality to our neighbors and non-HRBC friends and try to reach outside the "open door". Take a risk, it might just pay off. Tracee and Vickie will coordinate the planning details but we will have plenty of food and fun.. guaranteed... if you need proof, check out pics from the first Fun in the Son.

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I don't know about you, but I have had a pretty tough week so far. I was reflecting on Psalm 104 from our lesson from last week, and perhaps I wasn't looking to God at the proper time, perhaps I didn't wait for him to open his hand.. and I probably haven't been satisfied with the things that surround me and have been given to me. My perspective is a bit skewed I think... maybe it always is..

Tracee and I are about to head off to the Lasker Summer Music Festival in NC where we will be performing tonight and then participating in the retreat and festival events through Sunday. Keep us in your prayers as I think this is the longest we have ever been away from the kids. It may be a challenge for all of the Prillamans but good for us all the same. The Christian artist fellowship at Lasker is very special and is something we are passionate about.. so it is worth it. There were other prayer requests on Sunday morning worthy of your attention as well.. Lift them up.. If you can't remember them in detail, simply pray..God does remember them..

See you soon..
Jeff


Seeking refuge in the midst of turmoil is the theme for this week's lesson which Barry will be leading. Please prepare and think about what you do in times of turmoil, fear, high stress.. Psalm 91 can help you with this.. I would encourage you to read it along with Psalm 90 as the two are coupled and 91 seems to be a response to the fear and trepidation of 90.

notes to reflect on...as you prepare.....

"As they're used psychologically, words like repression, denial, sublimation, and defense all refer to one form or another of the way human beings erect walls to hide behind, both from each other and from themselves. You repress the memory that is too painful to deal with, say. You deny your weight problem. You sublimate some of your sexual energy by channeling it into other forms of activity more socially acceptable. You conceal your sense of inadequacy behind a defensive bravado. And so on and so forth. The inner state you end up with is a castlelike affair of keep, inner wall, outer wall, and moat, which you erect originally to be a fortress to keep the enemy out, but which turns into a prison where you become the jailer and thus your own enemy. It is a wretched and lonely place. You can't be what you want to be there or do what you want to do. People can't see through all that masonry to who you truly are, and half the time you're not sure you can see who you truly are yourself, you've been walled up so long.

Fortunately there are two words that offer a way out, and they're simply these: 'Help me' It's not always easy to say them--you have your pride after all, and you're not sure there's anybody you trust enough to say them to--but they're always worth saying. To another human being--a friend, a stranger? To God? Maybe it comes to the same thing.

Help me. They open a door through the walls, that's all. At least hope is possible again. At least you're no longer alone."

--Frederick Buechner, Beyond Words (New York: HarperOne, 2004) 150-51.


"Courage is a crucial virtue, for once again the currents of history are churning into rapids, threatening to carry before them everything we have loved, trusted, looked to for pleasure and support. We are being called upon to live with enormous in security. The churches could become centers of creative and courageous thinking. They could also become sanctuaries for frightened Americans, recruiting grounds for authoritarian figures and movements, some of which already bear the earmarks of an emerging fascism.

Will we be scared to death or scared to life? It all depends on where we find our ultimate security. In Leipzig, Martin Luther was asked, 'Where will you be, Brother Martin, when church, state, princes, and people turn against you?' Answered Brother Martin, 'Why then as now, in the hands of Almighty God.'"

--William Sloane Coffin, Credo (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 2003) 150.