Who We Are

Who or What is Morning Blend? 

It is sometimes hard to put a finger on what defines a group. We chose the name "Morning Blend" because...well, we meet in the morning...and we are a diverse "blend" of women. We are a blend of single and married women, mothers and grandmothers, younger and older, from a variety family backgrounds, church affiliations, and life experiences. 

We meet together for a beautiful blend of fellowship, prayer, study...and some good treats! We are a group that enjoys digging into tough topics and meaty Bible studies, while building relationships with each other and building a community of care and support for our members. We work together to make the study productive, each of us bringing discussion, thoughts, and ideas to the table. What makes Morning Blend so unique and strong is the participation of everyone in the group. As a group we have always shared responsibility for everything from choosing studies and carrying the discussion, to making sure we have child care and a coffee pot.  

We welcome new members and look forward to what each person adds to the Blend!

September 2014

October 2015

 

 

Child care is provided, too! Yay!

September 2014

October 2015

This blog is another forum for us to continue the discussion, and to share links, resources, alternate perspectives, and opinions. It is a place to share information and is not THE endorsed perspective of any particular person or the church where we meet.

Preparing for Discussion - Church: An Imperfect Family

This week's video challenged us to think about why we go to church and what the church really is. Naturally then, the first question to ask ourselves is why do we go to church? Why do YOU go to church? Have you had periods of time in your life when you have chosen not to attend church? Why or why not? Where do your ideas of what church is and what it should or shouldn't be come from?

A 2007 gallup survey gives us some interesting information about church attendance in the United States. Check it out here: Just Why Do Americans Attend Church?

There is a strong relationship between age and church attendance, with older Americans much more likely to attend than younger Americans. There is a strong gender effect, with women of all ages more likely than men to attend. There are region-specific effects, with residents of Southern states and of Utah much more likely to attend than New England or West Coast residents. There is a race effect, with black Americans much more likely to attend church services on average than white Americans. And there is an effect within specific religious denominations, with members of evangelical non-Catholic Christian denominations and Mormons more likely to attend than those who identify with traditional mainline Protestant denominations.

Another interesting article on church attendance can be found here: Here is the Church, Here is the Steeple, Open the Doors and... This article is cited in the facilitator guide and references the nursery rhyme on p111 of the journal book.

Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups on a new survey of religious knowledge, outperforming evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics on questions about the core teachings, history and leading figures of major world religions.

How do you feel about Bruce Reyes-Chow's statement on page 105 of the journal book, " Whether new to the church, a longtime member, or even the pastor - there are times when not being part of a church seems like the best option for expressing and living one's faith." Does that ring true for you?

Pages 104 & 105 of the journal book ask us to write on both sides of a scale the pros and cons of attending church. Take some time to write those things down for yourself.

How does Hebrews 10:23-31 speak to our need to meet together in community? What is the role of church community, according to this passage? Why does the author encourage people to continue meeting together?

Further explore WHAT the church is intended to be using these passages:
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
1 Corinthians 14: 1-5, 26
Ephesians 4:11-16

How do church buildings contribute to how we view the church? Look at the drawings on pages 110-111 of the journal book of different types of church buildings? How does the building contribute to how we understand church? What does it communicate about who is welcome, who has authority, and what role the church plays in the community?  For extra credit, imagine how you would design a church building! :) What would be different and what would be the same as your current church building?

Bruce Reyes-Chow mentions a number of metaphors for the church: social club, classroom, sporting event, theater, hospital... Why are the pros and cons of each metaphor? Look up these scriptures for more metaphors (listed on p111of the journal):

1 Corinthians 12:12-27
John 15:5
Ephesians 5:25-27
Matthew 18:20
Ephesians 2:17-22

What metaphors appeal to you most? What about church as family? In what ways does the church resemble family for you? Has the church been a place of love and support? Of mess and dysfunction? Both? What would your ideal church family look like (see p112 of the journal book)?

It has been said that you can choose your friends but you can't choose your family? In what ways does this apply to church as family? Do you think it ought to apply more? We do have the ability to choose our church, but that seems to have led to a lot of division within the church. It is said that there are over 41,000 Christian denominations around the world (wikipedia). What if we treated church more like family? How would that change things?

Preparing for Discussion - Bible: A Book Like No Other

Bible: A Book Like No Other

·         Let’s take a look at what the Bible, itself, tells us about the Word of God. What adjectives are used to describe scripture in these passages?

o   Psalm 119:103-105

o   Isaiah 40:8-9

o   Hebrews 4:12

o   2 Timothy 3:16-17

·         What has been your experience of Scripture reading, both personally and in church? Lauren Winner describes the way that her church community reads the Bible ove rand over again, and she couldn’t figure out why. I’m not sure that this has actually been my experience of church? Has it been your experience that the church reads the Bible over and over again? Have you ever read the Bible all the way through? 

·         Page 94 in the journal book references Lauren’s experience of reading scripture in locations other than church or home. Have you ever done this? Did it change how you thought of that passage of scripture to read it in a new place?

·         If you have not ever had that experience of “dislocated” reading, where might you consider taking your Bible to read it? What passages might you choose for this new location?

·         Page 95 of the journal book pictures an egg, like the one Lauren Winner speaks of in the video. If you were to write a scripture passage on a egg, symbolically “injesting” that scripture, what passage or verse would you choose? What scriptures are that meaningful to you?

·         Have you had powerful experiences with scripture, experiences that seem to move it our of the realm of being just an ordinary book? On pages 96-97 of the journal book, we see the Thomas Merton quote from the video: “By reading the scriptures I am so renewed that all nature seems renewed around me and with me. The sky seems to be a pure, a cooler blue, the trees a deeper green. The whole world is charged with the glory of God and I feel fire and music under my feet. ” 

·         Lauren Winner asks, “So, is the sky bluer?” Do we have that experience of scripture? Why or why not?

·         Pages 92-93 of the journal book suggest some of the baggage that might come with scripture for people that might help answer the question above. Scriptures have been used “as a word of hope, a warning sign, a weapon, and a status symbol,”  both to “liberate and oppress.”  When have you seen scripture used in these ways? 

·         How might we go about our lives “singing” the scriptures, as suggested in the video? How do we make the words of God part of our daily lives and who we are? How might it change us to do that?