And we're missing New Year's too?

Yup, no official gathering of the sol cafe on Sunday, December 31, although many unofficial New Year's Eve gatherings sound to be in the works. For those of you continuing to study along, our verses from the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) for this week are:

Dec. 31 - 1st Sunday after Christmas
1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26
Psalm 148
Colossians 3:12-17
Luke 2:41-52

The next official gathering for the sol cafe will be on Sunday, January 7, around 5ish at Cafe Dabar. The RCL verses are:

Jan. 7 - Epiphany
Isaiah 60:1-6
Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14
Ephesians 3:1-12
Matthew 2:1-12

See you then!

What? No church for Christmas?

Well, strictly speaking, no. There was no "official"-type gathering of the sol cafe crew on Sunday, December 24, or on Christmas Day. The coffee shop where we usually gather was closed for the holidays, plus many of the sol cafe regulars have other plans with family and friends.

But in a way, we're having a lot more church since our attitude is that wherever two or three gather in his name, there God is among them. We like to call it "distributed churching"...

Wherever you were for Christmas, here are the readings from the Revised Common Lectionary for the two days:

Dec. 24 - Advent 4
Micah 5:2-5a
Luke 1:47-55 or Psalm 80:1-7
Hebrews 10:5-10
Luke 1:39-45 (46-55)

Dec. 25 - Christmas Day
Isaiah 52:7-10
Psalm 98
Hebrews 1:1-4 (5-12)
John 1:1-14

The third Sunday of Advent

On Sunday December 17th, the sol cafe met at Cafe Dabar for the second annual sol cafe Christmas Pagent, "Mary Remembers," plus crafts, goodies, and a last hurrah before the holiday season.

Our Revised Common Lectionary verses for this week were:
Zephaniah 3:14-20
Isaiah 12:2-6
Philippians 4:4-7
Luke 3:7-8

Love for the Advent Season

On Sunday, December 10, the sol cafe had Christmas carols and crafts, as well as this week's verses according to the Revised Common Lectionary, for celebrating the second Sunday of Advent. The theme was tentatively "love" but nothing is ever written in stone at the sol cafe! (And since I, the webguy, missed church this week, hopefully someone will post some comments on how the gathering went!)...

The verses for this week were:

Baruch 5:1-9
Luke 1:68-79
Philippians 1:3-11
Luke 3:1-6

P.S. Yes, we know the Book of Baruch is not generally considered part of the protestant Bible, but that's a topic for another Sunday!

We're starting the new year with hope in December

On Sunday, December 3, 2006, the sol cafe welcomed the new year for the Revised Common Lectionary, a calendar of Bible readings shared among many of the major Christian denominations. There's more information in our food-for-thought section on the RCL, but the beginning readings are as follows:

Jeremiah 33:14-16
Psalm 25:1-10
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
Luke 21:25-36

We approached these verses using the theme of hope, and a most interesting discussion ensued. We'll try to post some follow-up comments, if we can!