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Wikipedia is asking. Save the Children is asking. The political party of your choice is asking. Still, as the season of giving winds down, we're hoping you will set aside a gift for The Crossing.
DONATE: Link here to donate any amount through this secure site.
PLEDGE: Click here to download a pledge card and commit to share your resources with The Crossing throughout 2011.
Why give to The Crossing? What does your giving make possible?
- Though we meet in a Cathedral, we're actually serving God on a shoestring. In 2011, it will take just under $100,000 to fund our entire ministry -- half-time compensation for Rev. Steph and Isaac, stipends for interns, Music Team, program and outreach budgets. That's less than many churches spend on a full-time pastor's salary and benefits.
- Much of our budget is covered by wider church grants. But our community needs to raise $30,000 in 2011, nearly twice what we raised in 2010. If we foster a culture of sharing and mutual responsibility for this church that is our home -- and pray for generous hearts! -- we can do it.
- As we give, we are sustaining this ministry for ourselves AND for others: for people who need to see a progressive and passionate Christian witness in our city, for our growing circle of partners in justice work, for others across the country dreaming of birthing new ministries, for new leaders testing out vocations, for homeless and forgotten people who need sanctuary and to discover they're beloved and powerful ... and so many more.
- Our community overflows with students and young adults, people who are unemployed and underemployed. So when the time comes to give, we struggle. If you have more, please share more. And if you have a little, look at it and offer a portion. Sometimes, the amount matters less than the fact that we all reach out to create something bigger for God together.
I could say more, but in this season of the Incarnation, a season when we greet the small Christ who grew to change the course of human history, I'm learning that less is often more.
If you'd like to talk about giving -- one time or on an ongoing basis -- please contact Lura Steele at lura@thecrossingboston.org.
God be with us in our loving, our hoping and our sharing ...
Rev. Steph
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this week @
the crossing
more details? check
the crossing calendar! | | |
TONIGHT
No worship at the Cathedral
Instead, pray together using the "Common Prayers for Christmas" at the close of this email.
Coming up:
Thurs., 1/6 @ 6pm
We return to worship on January 6 and celebrate the Epiphany.
1st Thursdays @ 7:30
Community Dinner
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| contact us | | |
To learn more, share more or engage in worship, community or action, please contact the conveners for each of our ministry areas:
WORSHIP:
CONTACT US BY PHONE: 617.482.4826, x318
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| our mission | | |
The Crossing is a community that seeks to walk in the life-changing, world-changing Way of Jesus, sharing the love, hope, beauty and justice of God in the city of Boston.
Everybody is welcome to join as we gather for transformative worship, spiritual practice and
authentic community; as we fuse the wisdom and mystery of ancient traditions with that of urban mystics, artists and activists; and as we move out to join God in healing, freeing and blessing all people, communities and the earth.
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one big community | | |
Thursday, December 30: NO CROSSING WORSHIP
 The Cathedral will be closed, so we'll be praying in diaspora. Read on for common prayers for tonight.
Thursday, January 6 @ 6pm
Come back together for worship, when we'll celebrate the Epiphany (the season to notice signs of Jesus' life and life everywhere).
Pray for the GOEs!
Every year, the Episcopal Church administers the General Ordination Exams, a four-day test for people seeking to be ordained to the Episcopal priesthood. Three members of our community are taking them next week (Mon., Tue., Wed. and Fri.) -- please pray for them:
- Julia Sierra Wilkinson, former intern and HDS student, sponsored out of Georgia
- Lynn Campbell, Crossing leader in our founding years, sponsored by us and The Cathedral
- Hal Carter, former Micah intern, sponsored out of Seattle and studying in Tennessee
Small Groups Feedback and Ideas Survey
Please take a few minutes to answer this 7-question, mostly multiple-choice survey. Let us know your thoughts on fall small groups, and what you imagine for winter/spring.
CONTACT Keith / keith@thecrossingboston.org OR
Rev. Steph / revsteph@thecrossingboston.org |
| common prayer for the christmas season | | We won't be together as usual tonight, but that doesn't mean we can't share prayers in common. At 6pm tonight -- or anytime -- feel free to join in this brief prayer and meditation for the season of Christmas (which lasts 12 days!).
Opening Chant:
Love is raining down on the world tonight
There's a presence here, I can tell
God is in us, God is for us
God is with us, Emmanuel
He's the savior we've been praying for
In our humble hearts he will dwell
God is in us, God is for us
God is with us, Emmanuel
(listen here for the whole song, beautifully sung by Casting Crowns)
Opening Prayer:
O God, you wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of our human nature. Now, we ask you to enable us to share the divine life of Jesus, who humbled himself to share our humanity. We pray in the name of God, who creates us, dwells with us and stirs us to new life. Amen.
Gospel: Matthew 2:1-12
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage." When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:
- `And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
- are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
- for from you shall come a ruler
- who is to shepherd my people Israel.'"
Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage." When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
Prayers of the People
Share prayers for ourselves, our communities and our world
Closing Prayer:
Not under a Christmas tree nor in a neatly wrapped packages, but in a bare barn visited by farmers, you came once, Holy One, and where the need is greatest, you come now. Guide us, gracious God, to seek you and serve you there and so to simplify our lives so that you will come also to us. Amen.
(prayer by Christopher Webber) |
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