Life @ The Crossing: Glory, glory ... lay your burdens down in May

May is already full at The Crossing, and it's just the 8th. We took it down low last Thursday -- as in, worshiping in the basement, acoustic-style (Mary Oliver was upstairs doing a poetry reading to benefit anti-violence programs for youth - yes!). It was beautiful, warm, and we did a quick clean-up that flowed into our first "Go Deep" session. What's Go Deep? This time, it was 14 of us crammed into our NEW DIGS on the 3rd floor of the Cathedral to eat and talk and learn about the emerging church and what it's got to do with us and community and the gospel. Next one: two months. Topic: TBA.

THEN it was May 6, with five of us volunteering at the Walk for Hunger (okay, Ken Farmer was the only one to walk, but the rest of us handed out t-shirts, took forms and congratulated the insanely fabulous people willing to walk 20 miles to make a dent in hunger in Massachusetts).

Now May rolls on. Here's the word on what's unfolding at The Crossing this month ...
** Gospel Reflections in May: For the rest of the Easter season, the reflections will open the door to glorify God: how we do it in our lives, how Jesus did it in his, how the miracle of healing and compassion testifies to God's glory. Reflection leaders are Chris, Ben and Jason L. (you go, boys!). Scriptures down below ...

** The Practice for May: We'll explore the practice of journaling, a beautiful way to listen for God's voice and even do some talking back. I'll be leading, but if you love this practice like I do, I'd welcome a partner to co-lead. Write me at thecrossing@diomass.org!

** Celebrate Pentecost! On May 24, we'll have a pre-Pentecost celebration of ministry and graduations, including a big "hoorah!" for our awesome leaders who've spent the year interning with the Micah Project.

** Mondays @ The Crossing:
-- Every Monday: Volunteer to serve and love at the Monday Lunch Program here at St. Paul's. Show up at 11:30 am, done by 1 pm. Guaranteed the best 90 minutes of your day (and maybe even your week).
-- 2nd and 4th Mondays (5/14 and 5/28), 6:30 pm: Scripture Chat at Pizzeria Uno, Harvard Square
-- 3rd Monday (5/21): NO FAITH-SHARING GROUP. It's led by Kendra and Jason, who both graduate from Boston College that day. Groove on!

** And now, for the rest of the month's scriptures …
May 10: John 5:1-9
After Jesus healed the son of the official in Capernaum, there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids -- blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be made well?" The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me." Jesus said to him, "Stand up, take your mat and walk." At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk. Now that day was a sabbath.

May 17: John 17:20-26
Jesus prayed for his disciples, and then he said. "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
"Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."

May 24: John 14:15-17, 25-27
Jesus said to Philip, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you."
"I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid."

May 31: John 16:12-15
Jesus said to the disciples, "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you."