- SATURDAY: Village Fair and 5K is next Saturday. The Fair begins at 9:30 with music, lunch, tables, raffles, and fun. The 5K race begins at 8:30. Please message Charlotte to register for the Race (you may also request a t-shirt, we may have extras, but only a very few).
- NEXT SUNDAY: INC Summer Worship on August 16th at 10am at South Athol Church (there will be no services at CCNOT that day, but please join us with INC). If it looks like rain, we will let everyone know on Wednesday to move to Starret Memorial (feel welcome to park at the Athol Library)
- Morning Walks are now on Thursdays at 10am (instead of Friday).
Visit our Calendar of Events to explore our upcoming dates and times
All are Welcome. If you are uncomfortable with the word God, please feel welcome to insert your own word for the divine or Mystery in your life (Universe/Grace/Spirit/Divine).
These Reflections are written to be read aloud, please forgive any writing errors. You can find the recording HERE (usually late Sunday morning).
SUNDAY REFLECTION:
Small acts can ripple into eternity when done with love.
A question I am often asked is: where are the women? There are women everywhere in the Bible and the church and they are doing amazing things!! There are women who are bold leaders. There are women finding reward in private, but deep and influential devotion. Women supporting the works and the missions of Faith. Women reorienting men and communities back in the right direction.
The next questions are: Why don’t we see the women if they are there? Why haven’t I heard these stories? One of the reasons is that in many denominations the readings are pre-chosen passages that follow a three year cycle and then repeat. These readings are a way of bringing us together, but without other explorations, we miss a whole lot of the Stories.
I thought we might explore some of these women, starting with some of the women of the early church. We’re going to start with a familiar name: Dorcas. AKA: Tabitha.
The passage of Dorcas comes from Acts 9: 36-43 (again, find the version, translation, and interpretation that resonates with you!). Scholars and theologians widely debate who Dorcas was. Was she a woman of wealth? Or was she poor? Was she a freed slave? Was she a widow?
While there is a quite a bit we can debate, other aspects are quite clear in the passage itself.
She did good work. It was very hard work. It was labor intensive work. It was also generous work. She was busy with Love. She clothed the…forgotten. How very Jesus-like.
Dorcas is, in fact, a disciple. She is the first named female disciple in the Bible. What does this mean? Disciple did not just mean believing in Jesus or the early church, but that they were devoted to it. Disciples have a teacher. They follow direction of a teacher, they follow the Way, and they emulate that lifestyle through the way they lived. They often teach others through their actions and words.
Dorcas was more than just a faithful woman. She was someone who would be an example to others. She was an example and a leader of the early church.
While Dorcas’s work was in a traditional female role of working with clothing and weaving, she was also a disciple, which would not have been a traditional female role in the society of the time. Through Dorcas we see the various roles that a woman were in the early church movement.
Notice, too, that she is mourned not just by the women, but by everyone. She had a role central enough that Peter was sent for. She was beloved and needed. And what happens when Peter comes? Peter raises her from the dead, so that Dorcas becomes a sign that causes others to come to believe and follow the Way.
She is a practical and hard worker, she is a disciple and leader, and she is a sign.
Her death and resurrection is a reminder that God lives and breathes in this world.
And her work ripples in an unbroken line to us.
She reminds us that even though our world may seem broken at times…there are also unbroken lines of goodness.
Those examples of linen work from early America are a part of the lineage of Dorcas (there are other previous Reflections on Dorcas that talk more about this). Dorcas Societies led the way toward independence, toward abolishing slavery, toward women’s suffrage, toward better education, toward worker’s rights, and these societies still work for good today…
We are a part of this. Yes, little us with our little sewing needles (real and metaphorical). Little us with our little talents that we can use for goodness and care in this world. Little us with our little ripples and echoes. Our work is to keep these good echoes and ripples going.
We are a way for God to work and breathe in this world. A world that is maybe not as broken as it sometimes seems.
Dorcas’s story tells us of unbroken goodness. Her story tells us that practical work is holy. That personal devotion is holy. That gently leading is holy. That simple kindnesses and courage are Good.
Her goodness echos and ripples and is emulated by others who then followed Dorcas’s teachings of good work, loving well, kindness, and giving. We are now the “others” that carry this on:
Her life and Story is an example for us. Still…to this day.
Her life and Story asks us what it means to act on our faith and in this world for good?
Her life and Story asks us what it mean to build a community of compassion, kindness, and practical good work?
Her life and Story asks us what each of us have been gifted and how might we use those gifts in this world?
We don’t have to shake up the world, but a generous life lived for others is never wasted.
We learn from Dorcas that we might not just believe in something bigger than ourselves, but that we can also live those beliefs. Perhaps we emulate a way of Jesus. Perhaps we emulate a work of Dorcas. Both are threads leading back to good works, Love, and Grace–Showing us that there is extraordinary power in the extraordinary ordinary.
Community Church of North Orange & Tully 