Macon Magazine

84 maconmagazine.com | OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2023 Cups and water Welcome to Macon Magazine's newest column, Cups and Water, curated by Rev. Dr. Erin Robinson Hall, a believer, preacher, podcaster, retreat leader, resource developer, and ministry consultant. She says: In our city of over 200 churches, it's common to hear, "Where do you go to church?" Your answer is supposed to offer up a clue about your Macon identity. Introductions that begin with assumptions can be wearying exchanges. How can we acknowledge the ways that faith impacts both our individual practices and our collective life as a community? Perhaps we begin with the idea from National Humanities Medal-winning journalist and On Being podcast host Krista Tippet. "Religion is as cup; spirituality is as water." Our cups can be beautiful, sturdy, or fragile. Some of us hold tightly, and are nourished only by our trusted cups. Some of us have set down the cups altogether. Water is something that nourishes all of us. We seek water; we need water. How can we honor the cups, and seek the stories of the water? Each installment of Cups and Water will explore these ideas. We begin with gratitude. At the Downtown Tapestry's 2022 Community Thanksgiving Service, congregants and faith leaders from Temple Beth Israel, First Baptist Church of Christ, Centenary Methodist, High Street UU and other congregations gathered at Mulberry Methodist Church. FRONT ROW Rev. Amanda Schuber (High Street), Rabbi Elizabeth Bahar (Temple Beth Israel) SECOND ROW Rev. Sara Pugh Montgomery (Centenary UMC), Rev. Lavornia Franklin (former pastor of Steward Chapel AME) THIRD ROW Rev. Dr Ted Goshorn (Mulberry Street UMC), Father John R. Johnson (St Joseph Catholic Church), Rev. Andrew Gordon (former pastor Christ Episcopal) FOURTH ROW Rev. Scott Dickinson (former pastor of First Baptist Church of Christ), Rev. James W Goolsby (First Baptist Church)

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