transformation – Page 8

Feb 11 2020

Our Spiritual Transformation: Exploring the Enneagram

Every day we brush up against people with blind spots, hot spots, and sweet spots; and we have them too! Sweet spots are places of connection, transparency, giftedness, and love; blind and hot spots reveal our false self ego. How can we get a clear view of ourselves? How can we change?

In Colossians 3 Paul says, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, … rid yourselves of anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. As God’s chosen people, . . . put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. . . . Forgive as the Lord forgave you. . . . Put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

The Enneagram is a tool for transformation because it helps us recognize our heart motivations and provides us with ways of being intentional in our journey to love God and neighbor. The $55 cost covers food and materials.

Doug & Adele Calhoun are the presenters with two decades experience working with and teaching the Enneagram. They are co-authors of Spiritual Rhythms for the Enneagram; A Handbook for Harmony and Transformation. Annaliese Calhoun–also trained in the Enneagram and a spiritual director–will also present. Email Doug Calhoun at calhounministries@gmail.com to register. Register by Feb 26; after that cost is $65.

Dec 28 2019

When Heaven Rejoices

United, diverse worship in the Boston Common at the UB Celebration of Worship this past summer. Photo Credit: Benji Wagner

With the new year 2020 fast approaching, many experience a call to “start anew,” whether it be through resolutions, habits, or even lifestyles. In the spirit of thoughtful reflection and great change taking place during this time, we’re excited to share an inside look into singer Jen Aldana’s original music video: “Heaven Rejoices.” Jen is a Boston based singer-songwriter and worship leader at Impact Church in Medford, MA. She was also a singer in UniteBoston’s 3rd annual Celebration of Worship and in the blog below, she also shares about how her experience in the band shaped her understanding of different denominations within the Church.

Released on November 1st, “Heaven Rejoices” captures the stories of those who may be struggling or feel disconnected, but ultimately find their way back to a state of grace through facing their fears and reconnecting with God. These stories are shown from the perspectives of three primary characters:

The “Happy” Couple, played by Jen’s Impact Church friends Saskia and Jalen, focuses on a woman who feels tied in an unhealthy relationship with her significant other, but finds the strength to walk away after realizing “she deserves better than this” because she is “beautifully, wonderfully made and loved by God.”
The Dreamer, played by Jen’s song producer Danny Godwin, touches on struggles with anxiety, prescription drug addiction, and emotional disconnection from friends–culminating in a “moment of relief” when the character lets go of his addiction in order to “give it up to God.”
The Runaway, played by Jen’s Impact Church friend Brittany, serves as the most abstract character “running away” from an unseen fear in the woods, but eventually “brings the whole video together” through her “rejoicing” and “dancing.”

According to Jen, the video’s anecdotes are adapted versions of her own experiences building her relationship with God through challenging circumstances, but are told in a broader “fill in the blank” framework so viewers can relate them to their own lives. “With the video concept, I didn’t want it to be like ‘let’s show a bunch of people in a group and suddenly they get saved,’” Jen said. “It’s beautiful when that happens, but I also wanted to show imagery of struggles that relate to my story as well. Man and women alike can relate to the stories displayed in the video, and how easy it is to get tangled in these situations.”

Tying it all together, the chorus of Jen’s song “Heaven rejoices when the lost are found” acts as a thread woven throughout that inadvertently communicates the ever-cited hopeful perspective that ‘that it’s never too late to start anew.’ That said, Jen is quick to point out that the characters’ illustrated scenarios are complex, that their transitions are based on individual decisions rather than A-to-B transformations, and that the struggles represented may still continue even while walking with God. “I wanted to show for the people who already believe that this walk is not easy,” Jen said. “You’re still going to struggle, and tough things are going to happen, but God is always present”.

Jen’s motivation to share such individual experiences stems from her drive to communicate topics “that are not openly spoken about or shown in art or music you would put under a ‘Christian’ category. “I’ve always been a person to tackle a heavy topic, and I wanted to express myself the same way I would artistically if the music wasn’t faith-based,” Jen said. “So I just want to show, this is what real life looks like, but God is still there. He can still be there for you, and present in your life if you want him to be there.”

Inspired by Luke 15:10, Jen sees her own music work in close alignment with UniteBoston’s mission for “Christian unity” because the underlying themes of ‘rejoicing’ and ‘starting anew’ ring “true regardless of denomination.” Reflecting this back to experience at this year’s UniteBoston Celebration of Worship, Jen said her “awesome conversations about Jesus” with fellow singer Lucia Maria were “very unifying” because they had the “same heart rooted in Jesus, originating from different denominations (Protestant and Catholic).” “Heaven still rejoices when you choose God, when you accept Him into your life,” Jen said. “Every church home offers a different thing, but Jesus is all the same, the same God that we serve. And I think that pretty much embodies what UniteBoston is about: breaking barriers and bringing people from different denominations and church homes together. It was just such a beautiful moment for me.”

Jen Aldana with the vocalists at the UB Celebration of Worship (PC: Benji Wagner)

Jun 22 2019

Making Peace Visible: UB’s Summer Worship Night

The Lord’s Day Alliance’s latest e-Sunday magazine has the theme of “Sabbath, Sunday and Worship in transition,” where they are featuring various stories and reflections throughout the country, including UniteBoston! Check out the article below, that was written by UniteBoston’s Team Leader Kelly Fassett. You can also click here to read the entire eSunday Magazine.

Save the Date! UniteBoston is planning on having another summer worship gathering on Saturday August 17th, from 7:00 to 9:00pm at the Parkman Bandstand in the Boston Common.

Making Peace Visible: UniteBoston’s Summer Worship Night

Over the past eight years, UniteBoston has been building bridges across historic divides in the Christian faith, and we are seeing greater momentum than ever before, especially in our united worship events. These gatherings started in 2017, when Chloe Gaydos was serving as a summer intern with our organization. As she began her internship, I asked her to describe her dreams for Boston, and she expressed a desire to have a summer worship night in the Boston Common. The Boston Common has been a noteworthy location for famous preachers, such as George Whitfield in 1740, who drew a crowd of more than 23,000, and Pope John Paul II in 1979. Knowing that the spiritual roots of proclaiming Jesus in the Boston Common go deep, when Chloe described to me her dream of having a variety of Christians worship together in that place, I responded, “Let’s do it!”

In the next few weeks, as she began to reach out to find people to help lead worship, a number of Christians expressed interest, from all different denominational and ethnic backgrounds. These young, talented individuals, came together to form our worship team. We named our first worship night “Peace for the City” in light of the recent events taking place in Charlottesville and in Boston that highlighted the extent of racial division. However, the story doesn’t end there: In public worship, together Christians proclaim the gospel of reconciliation: that Jesus’ incarnation, death, and resurrection has reconciled us to God and to one another, forming an inseverable and eternal peace (Eph. 2:14).

This past year, we decided to host another summer worship night, and interest continued to grow. We were excited to receive endorsements for the event by the Highrock Church Network and the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. After months of rehearsals, pizza dinners, phone calls and marketing emails, the evening finally came. It was attended by over 1,000 people, triple the size from the previous year. The worship team included gospel singers, a Catholic songwriter, a Messianic Jewish musician, a Pentecostal Indonesian jazz pianist, a Christian rapper, and a Latino worship leader. It was incredible to look across the crowd and see a wide variety of different races, cultures, languages, denominations and traditions, all united in their worship of and devotion to Jesus. There were also thirteen sponsored tables by local churches and organizations, a local artist painting a large canvas with our theme on it, and even a spontaneous dance party! You can watch a highlight video here.

Our team of amazing volunteers. Photo Credit: Koo Chung

UniteBoston worship night, with over 1,000 people in attendance. Photo Credit: Elijah Mickelson

The goal for the event was not simply to have a nice Christian concert in the Boston Common. Jesus’ prayer in John 17:23 points to the fact that our unity is to be a sign of God’s self-giving, reconciling love. Our biggest prayer was that others would see and experience the love and peace of Christ through the music and lyrics. We saw many people passing by who stopped by to listen to the music, who would perhaps not normally find themselves at church. Some people came up and asked for prayer or names of churches in the area, including one Muslim woman who expressed that she felt something different here.

While much of the world today might seem to be fraught with division, polarization, and hostility, in Boston, we believe there is another way. Unfortunately, Christians are often known for what we are against. Yet, public worship is an opportunity to witness to what we are for: for reaching across barriers, for love that welcomes and embraces all, and for a peace that is deeper and truer than words can convey. In public worship, as we all look to God together, bringing forth a unity that is a foretaste of heaven and shalomic peace. Dr. Vito Nicastro from the Office of Ecumenical Affairs in the Archdiocese of Boston described, “Our response to being created by God is to love Him and to share that with the city. As the lights came one in the buildings and the moon came up in the dark blue velvet sky, we planted God’s love in the heart of Boston.”

About the Author:

Kelly Fassett is the Executive Director of UniteBoston, a 501c3 non-profit organization that she co-founded in 2010. Kelly has a graduate certificate from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a Masters of Divinity in Global and Community Engagement at Boston University with certificates in International Mission and Ecumenism and Religion and Conflict Transformation. She is seeking to be ordained in the American Baptist tradition. Kelly and her husband Andrew live in an intentional Christian community home in the Longwood area, and you can find them frequently biking around the city, swimming in the ocean, and climbing mountains.

The Lord’s Day Alliance seeks to encourage all people to receive God’s great gift of Sabbath rest and to encourage all Christians to worship the risen Lord Jesus Christ, on the Lord’s Day–Sunday–that they may be renewed in spirit and empowered to live lives worthy of the Gospel.

Jun 07 2019

The Transforming Work of the Spirit at Pentecost

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” – Acts 1:8

This week, Christians throughout the world are celebrating Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was released with fire and wind. It was the fulfillment of the prophet’s promise of a new covenant where God would write the law on hearts and resulted in the reuniting of nations.

In light of this, we are featuring a blog written this week by Father Peter Gyves from A Faith That Does Justice. A Faith That Does Justice is an “interfaith organization based in Boston that raises consciousness about social issues affecting the most vulnerable among us and offers opportunities for people to walk in solidarity with those who our society marginalizes.” You can sign up to directly receive updates from them by completing the simple form at the bottom of the home page of their website.

“Peace be with you … Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:22)

The Church celebrates Pentecost fifty days after Easter to commemorate the empowerment of Jesus’ disciples with the Spirit. It led to their spiritual transformation from a fragile faith in the risen Jesus to peace, joy and the wisdom to proclaim God’s message of forgiveness and salvation to the ends of the earth. Their witness resulted in the birth of the Church.

In the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1-11), Luke describes the descent of the Spirit as a strong driving wind and tongues of fire, an adaptation of Israel’s own Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks, that commemorates both the wheat harvest and Yahweh’s giving of the Torah to Moses on Mt. Sinai. It also bears witness to Israel’s own birth as a covenant people. In John’s gospel (Jn 20:19-23), the disciples encounter the crucified and risen Jesus in fear and behind closed doors. He offers them his peace and shows them his wounds so they might believe he is truly risen. He then empowers them with the Spirit and sends them in mission to be to the world what he has been to them. While they needed time to assimilate what they had experienced and the demand it placed upon them, eventually they offered their lives in Jesus’ name.

Today, the Spirit of Pentecost’s gifts of wisdom and courage remain available to all people of good will so they might witness to God’s offer of forgiveness and salvation to our fractured world. For Christians, that same Spirit calls us to live as Jesus did, incarnating God’s love, compassion and justice on behalf of all God’s people. Let us pray that the Spirit will transform our own fragile faith into one that, like the disciples, engages society by actively witnessing to God’s enduring love for all of creation and deep desire for a reign of peace that is based in justice and extends from the depths of the oceans to the outer reaches of space.

A Pentecost Prayer for Christians in Greater Boston

by Kelly Fassett, UniteBoston’s Team Leader

God, as Christians in Greater Boston, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Renew our hearts which have grown cold with flames of fire that we might be the church that you desire.

Spirit of life: Fill our emptiness with your fullness.

Spirit of unity: Reunite our hearts and heal our divisions.

Spirit of power: Stir our ministries afresh.

Spirit of love: Touch us, and through us, our neighbor.

Spirit of creativity: Enable and empower the gifts you have given.

Spirit of eternity: Draw us ever deeper to bring your Kingdom wherever we go. Through our lives and by our prayers : may your kingdom come! May your kingdom come, in and through us!

Jun 01 2019

Being Part of Something Greater – Sage’s Story of Finding Faith in Jesus

“It all changed when I felt God. It wasn’t anymore just to be at church to be at church. It was be at church because you wanted to be there, to be around people who talk about and love God… I want to be baptized because it’s being part of a greater thing than just life. It’s filling yourself with love and hope and faith. It’s just wonderful.”
-Sage Kerstetter

Rebekah Kerstetter is one of our UniteBoston Neighborhood Dinner Coordinators in the Medford area. At our neighborhood dinner this past week, she shared about her daughter Sage choosing to be baptized at Highrock Covenant Church this past Easter. Watch the video below to hear about the transformation that happened in Sage’s life as she committed to follow God. Let’s continue to pray for the next generation of youth in our churches and communities to have life-changing encounters with Jesus!

See more stories from HighRock Arlington here.

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