Meadow Creek Chapel - Issaquah, WA - March 20th, 2011

     Hey all. It's been a while since I've done a post. Given it's Lent I wish I would've caught at least a few visits last week, sadly it did not pan out.

    First off, how would I describe Meadow Creek Chapel? From the outside it's a quaint Chapel in the middle of Old Issaquah. The congregation is pretty small, and the style of music is christian rock. There is an element of closeness in the community, but at the time separation. Most people left as I did when the final song was playing. Meadow Creek also does Coffee Hour after worship music at the beginning so that people have a greater opportunity to socialize. After the sermon, the guest preacher asked how people had integrated the Word into their life. It reminded of the Quakers, the congregation was learning from the preacher, and vise versa. I really appreciated this dialogue. The visit was wonderful, the one con was though, the community seems to involved helping itself...all the ways to get involved were socializing...can't socializing be done while serving the community?

   The sermon was about, "Change your Thinking. Change your life." There was a women who was the guest preacher and she talked about how God and the Word of God was there to help find peace when she found out her son had cancer. They were able to treat it and she tied it to the verse of "The children who are good to their parents shall live long." I could think of a few exceptions to this rule (natural disasters, ect.) But it was what she needed from God at that point to know peace.

   She talked about the distractions like facebook, television and all the things that keep us from living life by the Gospel. She brought up how money, and outside attachments can't really bring peace (medication as a form of trying to find peace). That only God can bring true peace. Her sermon had a lot of Buddhist undertones which I don't believe were purposeful. For example, finding peace by focusing on the Good (the 8 fold path vs God's Word, outside world attachments not way to inner peace.) The congregation was pretty evangelical Christian, so I don't think this was purposeful.

    Regardless, this sermon touched me deeply. I've succeeded at giving up coffee this Lent, and mostly suceeded in other fasts...but still mostly. I think the reason why, is the reason that this sermon hit upon. I'm not giving myself the right information. I haven't read or thought enough upon what living virtue means, and what the great teachers have said on it. The teacher doesn't matter, the message does. Whenever I feel distracted, lonely, anxious or isolated (lonely has been the big one). I need to turn to that goodness, and from it do more good acts. I haven't researched ways to get involved in the community to serve, when I said I would this Lent. I did not meet the mark, and  think with giving more time to truly meditating on what virtue means and what others have said it is, will help me better live it.  It will become a more integrated part of my being, because of the work put into the study and action of it.

    May Easter bring transformation to greater good within and in my actions towards others always. Easter, the celebration of The Resurrection, the ultimate rebirth.