Be Still And Go

"I bring you my pain, I give you my sorrow. I offer my shame, the threat of tomorrow."What are you bringing with you as you step into the season of Lent?//If we don’t learn how to weep over the broken parts of our lives and the brokenness of the world, we will further break our lives and the world. But another way is possible. Healing is possible. Wholeness is possible. Our wounds don’t disappear, but they can truly become a channel for the river of new life to flow. This holy river usually begins with tears.//Producer and songwriter: Aaron NiequistMixed by Phil Schawel Mastered by Ivan Talamantes Lament content and spoken word: Jenna Perrine Co-producer, vocalist, and guitars: David Gungor Co-producer, guitars, and sonic goodness: Israel Hermosillo Vocals on "Lament": Fatai Cello: Dave Cambell Violin: Kate Gungor Piano: Aaron Niequist 'LAMENT' by NINE BEATS COLLECTIVE ft. FATAI (words & music: Aaron Niequist © Aaronieq Music) Taken from the album NINE BEATS TO THE BAR This recording © 2017 Lifewords. Use

"Now is the time, now is the moment for a movement of liberation and reconciliation."How are you called to work as part of this movement for liberation and reconciliation?//2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says,“At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of liberation I have helped you.”See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of liberation! We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, k

"Lent is an invitation to recognize and embrace our humanity. And this invitation is not easy."Are you ready to lean in to the necessary and difficult work of this Lenten invitation?//Psalm 51:10-12Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.//This episode was written, recorded, and produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Background tracks include Button Mushrooms, Cedar Waxing, and Morels by Podington Bear and Nunc Dimittis, This is the Feast, and Create in Me from the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod order of worship.Visit www.trcnyc.org/BeStillAndGo to listen to more episodes from all three seasons of Be Still and Go.

"This is what the church is: a group of beautiful, beloved, flawed creatures who believe that love saves us and love can save the world."How would you describe the church?//Psalm 118:1O give thanks to the Lord, for she is good; her steadfast love endures forever!//This episode was written and recorded by Pastor Amy Butler. It was produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Background tracks include Button Mushrooms by Podington Bear, Seeking Clarity by Alex Fitch, and Love Can Change the World by Aaron Niequist (as performed by Amanda Meisenheimer and the Fifty6 Band).Visit www.trcnyc.org/BeStillAndGo to listen to more episodes from all three seasons of Be Still and Go.

"It's easy to stay where you are. It takes courages to take the steps and go to the places you are being called. The invitation is to enter the labyrinth, to follow Abram and go, to trust that the path will lead you where you need to be."What is the next step forward that God is inviting you to take? //Genesis 12:1-4Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”So Abram went...//This episode was written, recorded, and produced by Rev. Jim Keat. Samples include the official trailer of Labyrinth. Background tracks include Button Mushrooms by Podington Bear, The Whole World Loves Me by Mindon, and Opus 04 by Dexter Britain.Visit www.trcnyc.org/BeStillAndGo to listen to more episodes from al

Isaiah 52:7-8How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace,who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices, together they sing for joy;for in plain sight they see the return of the Lord to Zion.//Isaiah 52 talks about watchmen, people on lookout, who lift up their voices and bring good news to those who wait, news about all the good things that God longs for and calls us to pursue with one another, things like peace, wholeness, and most of all, love.That’s what we recall in the celebration of Christ’s birth on Christmas: that love, vulnerable, fragile, just like the tender life of a baby born to immigrant parents running for their lives, is more powerful than anything in all the world.We can point those around us to the real meaning of Christmas no matter what day of the year it is, in how we forgive and seek forgiveness, in how we spend our money, in how we risk for love, in how

John 1:1-14In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.And the Word became flesh and live

Luke 1:49-55What God has done for me will never be forgotten, the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others.Her mercy flows in wave after wave on those who are in awe before her.Her bared his arm and showed her strength, scattered the bluffing braggarts.She knocked tyrants off their high horses, pulled victims out of the mud.The starving poor sat down to a banquet; the callous rich were left out in the cold.She embraced his chosen child, Israel; she remembered and piled on the mercies, piled them high.It’s exactly what she promised, beginning with Abraham and right up to now.//In these moments when being a Christian is so grievously misrepresented in our culture, it would do us well to listen carefully to the song of Mary, the original resistor. She calls to us from the distance of thousands of years, to listen, and to believe her. She’s a prophet speaking truth to power, as any of us who claim to follow Jesus should be, and she calls us all to summon the courage to find our

Luke 3:15-18As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.//In Advent we get to sit still, to be still, and to meditate in quiet anticipation of the great celebration to come. Luke’s telling of the importance of John is just the kind of nourishment we need in a season like this. The world is so good at grabbing and holding our attention, demanding our engagement—unfortunately in so much that is trivial, mere distractions from what really matters, and if it isn’t the trivial then it

Philippians 4:4-7Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.//When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.-The Peace of the Wild Things, Wendell Berry//In Advent we, like the poet, name our fears, our anxieties, our heavy responsibilities. Advent is the uncert

Isaiah 12:2Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid,for the Lord God is my strength and my might; God has become my salvation.//The Good News of Jesus is that God entered the pit. God walks the valley. God is knowable. Emmanuel, God with us, is everywhere, waiting to be discovered. We can see God and hear God and taste God and touch God and smell God. The prophet Isaiah says that God is my Salvation. God is my strength. God is my song. When you are saved from circumstances, from troubles, from oppression, or even saved from yourself. Look around. You are seeing God. When you feel a ripple of energy and the strength to survive one more day, You are feeling God. When you sing a song in the shower and you reach for those high notes because you are alone and safe at last, you are hearing the voice of God.A New Testament writer gave us another clue in our quest to see God. The writer said “God is love.” When you experience love, this radical opposition to a world of fear and hate, wh

My soul magnifies the Lord,and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,who has looked with favor on the lowliness of God’s servant.Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;for the Mighty One has done great things for me,and holy is God’s name.whose mercy is for those who fear Godfrom generation to generation.Who has shown strength with God’s arm;and has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.who has brought down the powerful from their thrones,and lifted up the lowly;Who has filled the hungry with good things,and sent the rich away empty.God has helped God’s servant Israel,in remembrance of God’s mercy,according to the promise made to our ancestors,to Abraham and to his descendants forever.//Look up the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) and rewrite it in your own words. What words or phrases do you keep from the original? What new words and phrases do you add?//This episode was recorded by Amy Butler, Debra Northern, Christian Peele, and Ellen Robison. It was produced by Jim Keat. Background

Zephaniah 3:14, 20Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel!Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!At that time I will bring you home, at the time when I gather you;for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth,when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the Lord.//In the little book of Zephaniah, images of God’s power and love are extreme. They are a consuming fire and a crooning song. A fire that purifies rather than destroys. A fire that will not tolerate human evil. A fire that invites our singing because it originates from God’s sung delight in us.The bleak beginning ends with joy – the holy parent rejoicing over us with singing. We need not fear the dark. Not the dark of winter nor the dark of these tumultuous times. God is with us and like a loving mother, God will bring us home.-Rev. Adriene Thorne//What is one way that you remember that God is with you?What does “home” mean to you? In your own words, what does it mean for Go

Psalm 98: 4-6Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;     break forth into joyous song and sing praises. Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,     with the lyre and the sound of melody. With trumpets and the sound of the horn     make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord. //Joy to the world; the Lord is come; let earth receive her King:Let every heart prepare him room, and heaven and nature sing.-Isaac Watts//The subtle power of this song is that forces me to confront the reality that I am perfectly content singing joy to my world, or maybe even our world, so long as I like the people around me. But joy to the world? It’s easy to say that you want the best for everyone but then you celebrate and smile when your enemies find themselves under investigation from special council. It’s easy to say that God loves everyone without confronting the reality that we rarely do the same. It’s easy to sing a song you probably memorized as a child without stopping to think about what it is actually inviting you

Luke 1:47-50My spirit celebrates God, my Liberator! For though I’m God’s humble servant, God has noticed me. Now and forever, I will be considered blessed by all generations. For the Mighty One has done great things for me; holy is God’s name! From generation to generation, God’s lovingkindness endures.//Mary didn’t believe the lies of the cruel empire. Nor did she swallow the bitter shame of her gender. Nor did she trust the intolerance. For though people saw Mary as poor, she knew that she was highly favored by God. They saw a teenage slave. But God saw her as the most blessed among women. They saw a pregnant girl, someone who ought to be stoned. But she understood that she was bearing God.Even though it went against every fact that surrounded her, Mary could see a world where the hungry would be filled and promises would be kept. Mary could see God’s vision. She dreamt God’s dream. Mary had the eye of God.-Rev. Carol Howard Merritt//What does it mean to have the eye

Luke 3:3-6The word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:‘Prepare the way of the Lord,make his paths straight.Every valley shall be filled,and every mountain and hill shall be made low,and the crooked shall be made straight,and the rough ways made smooth;and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”//When God speaks and God’s word comes to John the Baptist in Luke 3, it compels him to go around proclaiming a message of good news to all people. If there’s brokenness, God will fix it. If there’s injustice, God will right it. If there’s oppression, God will oppose it. When the word of the Lord comes down, when God starts to speak, the broken, bruised, and burned out people, places, and things in our lives begin to heal. Because God is found wherever love is needed most. Whe

Philippians 1:3-6I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.//Paul writes these words to his close friends at Philippi, memories of their time together are what sustain him…their shared work of the gospel.This Advent, you and I are making different memories. Yes, the world seems a little colder and people are angry and confused and tired. Our lives have changed as well. We’ve lost some of our innocence, and our belief that justice and truth will prevail has taken a beating. Even our memories are tinged with sadness. We look back and remember the people who no longer gather with us around the tree at Christmas. We search for the certainty we once had about our purpose and place in the world. We long for a simpler, sweeter time. And that is what Advent r

Luke 1:46-55Mary responded, “Oh, how I praise the Lord. How I rejoice in God my Savior! For God took notice of his lowly servant girl, and now generation after generation forever shall call me blest of God. For God, the mighty Holy One, has done great things to me. God’s mercy goes on from generation to generation, to all who reverence God.“How powerful is God’s mighty arm! How God scatters the proud and haughty ones! God has torn princes from their thrones and exalted the lowly. God has satisfied the hungry hearts and sent the rich away with empty hands. And how God has helped his servant Israel! God has not forgotten his promise to be merciful. For God promised our fathers—Abraham and his children—to be merciful to them forever.”//The Magnificat is no gentle hymn, however often it’s been sung by choir boys at evensong. It’s a fiery manifesto, declaring not only the birth of a baby, but the birth of a whole new world order. And the one proclaiming it is not one meek and mild but a mighty prophet.-Rev. Daniel

Luke 1:76-79“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins.By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us,to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”//We are a people desperately in need of good news. In this land, life expectancies are more accurately predicted by one’s zip code than their genetic code. In this land, our justice system has criminalized poverty as thousands sit in jails, not because they’ve been convicted of a crime, but simply because they could not afford bail. In this land, many who work tirelessly to provide for their families are still denied a living wage. In this land, we too wait on good news!But we have a promise that a Redeemer is on the way. As God is already at work in us, let’s expect the impossible! Whenever the world seems l

Malachi 3:1-4See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.//I used to believe the refiner’s fire was meant to add suffering so we are purified by pain. But that paints a very masochistic view of God. If God is holy and just and loving, God’s fire illuminates so that we can draw together to relieve suffering of one another. Do not fear the refiner’s fire. It lights truth and justice and a path forward that includ