Not One Stone
/Not One Stone - Starting Over with God, Faith & Church. Seismic changes are going on in the religious world; the walls are tumbling down and it’s about time. Whether you’re a happy church-goer, giving or given up on it all, or are new to the whole God-thing, this is about you. The task of tearing down to discover what is real isn’t just for skeptics but for all who care to grow. It’s a way of life, and one that we can do better together than alone.
1/5/2020 (Week 1) It was never meant to be that way. Everything about God, faith & church is changing and it isn’t because we have gotten so smart and progressive. This skin we are shedding is another layer long overdue to be shed. Whether you are embracing the transition reluctantly, painfully, happily or don’t really care, this isn’t academic navel-gazing, it is the next step of the journey of understanding what life is all about. Let’s do it!
Sunday Paper Not One Stone Discussion Guide Podcast (Jan 5)
1/12/2020 (Week 2) If it doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t make sense. A basic message of the Bible is to be of one mind yet we often rely on a double mind to deal with the Bible. One mind calling on a supernatural deity to break the laws of physics to intervene on our behalf. The other solves problems and pays the bills according to the laws of math and physics. Do you find yourself playing the double-minded thing? Or maybe turned off by it? It’s time to move on. Whoever said God shouldn’t make sense?
Sunday Paper Not One Stone Discussion Guide Podcast (Jan 12)
1/19/2020 (Week 3) Wrestle with God...until you lose. Ever had the easy victory? Beat your little brother in cribbage? It wasn’t a real contest, and you didn’t prove anything. Consider that you do the same thing everyday with friends, family, coworkers, and yes, God. You create a version of them that isn’t the real thing, challenge and triumph over your straw man and declare empty victory. Who really lost? See you next week. You’ll walk away limping. It’s okay.
Sunday Paper Not One Stone Discussion Guide Podcast (Jan 19)
1/26/2020 (Week 4) Knocking over the behavior stone One wall that needs to be knocked over until no two stones are left upon each other is the “God loves you, as long as” wall. There are no conditions to the unconditional. People have created walls forever to make others comply with outward expressions of what can only truly be found in the heart. Sure, what you do matters but it is time for some of the harmful stones to get a swift kick. Join us!
Sunday Paper Not One Stone Discussion Guide Podcast (Jan 26)
2/2/2020 (Week 5) What’s left when the last stone falls? Answer: Piles of stones you didn’t notice before. Here’s the deal, this is not just a theological, churchy conversation. This is life. If what we are talking about in relation to God, faith and church isn’t true in all the other parts of life we’ve been wasting our breath. On this last week of Not One Stone we will take what we’ve learned and scan the rest of life and discover where else this wall-less life leads us.
Sunday Paper Not One Stone Discussion Guide Podcast (Feb 2)
Photos and reflections by Jeanette Mayo
The turn of the calendar tempts us with promises of newness—fresh starts, better habits, upgraded versions of ourselves. But what if, instead of charging ahead with self-improvement schemes, we took a cue from winter’s stillness? What if we let go of the relentless hustle and embraced the radical idea that we are already enough?
Fabric’s January series, “Give Up,” has invited us into this counterintuitive wisdom—the grace of resting, receiving, and recognizing our inherent worth. Nature doesn’t demand that a hibernating bear emerge as a “better” bear. Spring’s renewal is not about striving but about unfolding what has been there all along.
In Wintering, Katherine May reminds us that transformation often happens in the quiet, unseen spaces. And in Belonging, Toko-pa Turner challenges us to strengthen our “receiving muscle,” to accept the support woven into our interconnected lives. “You are the receiver of too many generosities to count,” she writes. “Count them anyway.”
So, what if we stopped trying to earn our existence? What if we acknowledged the trees, the friendships, the small kindnesses that hold us? What if, instead of striving, we surrendered to belonging?
You are the gift. That’s enough. May it be so.
-Ian