WoodsEnd Church

03/12/2025

Memorial Service for Christine Hackett will be held at woodsEnd Church on March 27 at 1PM. Yes, you are invited and welcome.

02/18/2025

What more can we say? Please read and do what is necessary to protect your children and the freedoms of us all. Last post, I think.

Change your mind. Get others to change their minds. Stand up. Speak out.

02/06/2025

Hey woodsEnd fans and followers. This is my very last post on this page, and because I am the only one who uses it, I will shut it down, beginning February 20.

I am have a hard time letting go of my angst about the world, the church and my family, but when it is time, it is time. Prepare to read a shorth anthology if you desire.

I Christine Hackett am the last "founding member" of woodsEnd, so it is appropriate I think to publish a woodsEnd "life review" and hope that it helps others in the next few days to do their own and having done so, live ever better lives.

Mine as a Faith journey takes many turns, and so has our baby woodsEnd (formerly Edgewood Believers Fellowship/ AKA Fellow Laborers with Christ). Admittedly I am not who I once was nor is our congregation. I pray it continues to unfold in liberty and justice for all, or close its doors. Till we all come into the full image of Christ!

Having a sixties hippie epxerience and being a proselyte of the Jesus Movement of the same era, combined in me to create a constant questioner. My main quest? Why do we believe what we believe? and How did we get here?. I hope to end my mortal life with a heart of gold! In my seeking I have found that doctrines, practices and fundamentals must constantly be updated if we serve the One we claim. Heart wrestling has been and still is our hallmark.

Our path is difficult because our souls crave tribalism and belonging. Contantly refusing the comfort of the popular opinion puts us at odds with our selves. But there is no resting on our laurels, which is what the established religions are always pushing.

Thank God, wE have a little voice that is contantly nagging. Romans 8:14 led by the inner conviction.

I found one and only one 'rock' to guide me...the unfolding character and mercy of our benevolent Creator and the One he sent to elucidate that character if we call ourselves Christ Followers (Hebrews 1). I have found His words and actions most clearly define a path for us. AND Whatever/Whoever anyone wants to follow, if it or said path paints a meriful and expanding God, is my companion in such a time as this.

wE came by such a stand, by rejecting some sacred cows. And embracing more and more of the creator's children. The main cow began its topple with the 'innerancy of the Bible'. Somehow, by God's grace, wE are able to see that a magic book cannot be what we claim it to be. However, the principles spoken and lived (as we have record) by Christ, and followed (to their peril) by his early people can lighten our way. Though we have decades of study, memorization, and practice of Scripture, for which we are grateful, we have a more sure word...the Spirit within saying yea or nay.

I and wE have been tested! So many times. And I expect it will continue as noone is finished in this lifetime.

Every test challenges our bedrock and when tried the bedrock holds. Jesus said it was easy to figure out if a 'tree' was good or evil. The fruit- Not a printed or preached word of any man, church, ideology or trend.

Simply, the proof is in the pudding. No excuses. Is it LOVE or is it not? Then choose. Deuteronomy long ago urged the Hebrews to choose life. Choosing life and the fruits of love in every circumstance is HARD. But the choice is clear.

Now we are tested again. Will we stand with the popular "Christian" opinion or will we cling our Master? "Why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and not do what I say?"...has been a profound illumination for us.

Every heart must tremble and choose to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, house the stranger, and love enemies without discrimination, if it is to remain true. How we do that is through blood, sweat, and tears. Not by championing an idolatrous path and popular opinion, because it enriches us or gives us a voice in this nation or the world. Not, by following the money!

wE stands at the precipice as does every honest, thinking person and it is upon us to make a choice. wE welcome all who would join our quest as long as wE are here.

I will be on the outer limits, cheering with the great cloud of witnesses. And I pray when our work is tested by fire it won't be burned up.

wE pledge to be a shelter for the homeless, a table for the hungry, a guardian for the outcasts of our world. wE include all faiths, and non faiths that are striving for this love walk. May it be so or forever be shut down.

Weird diatribe, but I am on way out of this plane and it behooves me to listen and speak what I can while I can.

Official Tom Jones - Did Trouble Me music videoDid Trouble Me is taken from Tom Jones' Praise & Blame album - iTunes: http://bit.do/Praise-Blame-iTunesSpotif...

01/08/2025

What would or will you do with the New Year (new opportunity, new perspective)?

I am lazy about resolutions but actively excited about the idea of a new day, every day. Since we can control NOTHING, it is an opportunity to at least control our personal thoughts, space, and actions this new year.

That will take some intentional attention. Happy New Year 2025!

11/13/2024

No one will keep this up when I am gone...so I keep sharing impulsive wisdom just in case we need some.

We all continue the race whether we want to or not, whether our team wins or not, whether we are up to it or not. Dying only finalizes our expression on this plane and planet, and I think, is a liberation from the tedium. So say all of the prophets of all of the faiths.

So even if I am at the back of the line, puking, I keep walking.

10/27/2024

We can never sneer at the stars, mock the dawn, or scoff at the totality of being. Sublime grandeur evokess unhesitating, unflinching awe! Away from the immense, cloistered in our own concepts, we may scorn and revile everything.

But standing between earth and sky, we are silenced by the sight....
Abraham Joshua Heschel

10/12/2024

Ignorance is no excuse for evil. False information is evil. Let's check our sources and our hearts! Fact-checking is a Christian value/mandate. "Test all things (and inormation). Hold fast to what is good (and true)."

From the bishops of the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America):

We know that the power of truth is greater than the power of deceit.

We, the members of the Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, speak with one voice to condemn the hateful, deceptive, violent speech that has too readily found a place in our national discourse. We lament the ways this language has led to hate-fueled action.

We refuse to accept the ongoing normalization of lies and deceit.

Pledge to be vigilant guardians of truth, refusing to perpetuate lies or half-truths that further corrode the fabric of our society.

Commit to rigorous fact-checking, honoring God's command to "test everything; hold fast to what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

Reject the use of humor that normalizes falsehood, remembering that our speech should "always be gracious" (Colossians 4:6).

Boldly advocate for the marginalized and oppressed, emulating Christ's love for the least among us.

Courageously interrupt hate speech, standing firm in the knowledge that all are created in God's image.

Lean in with curiosity, engage with those who think differently and "put the best construction on our neighbor's action" (Luther's explanation of the Eighth Commandment).

Amplify voices of truth.

Emboldened by the Holy Spirit, may we resist deception and lift up the truth that all members of humanity are created in the image of God.

The Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

May all who seek to be transparent and embrace truth join in this commitment. (Christine)

09/26/2024

I long for a fact based understanding and a whisper of unity for all of us. As a "Christian" leader, and more than ever an inclusive, Universal, spiritual thinker, I am responsible to find truth and live it as a means of change for myself and our evolving world; Now that my life is almost over, even moreso. This interview is scholarly, and eye popping as well as nonpolarizing in viewpoint. Listen if you will The last 20 minutes are good questions and answers.

Join us for a conversation with Samuel L. Perry, one of the nation's leading experts on conservative Christianity in American politics, race, sexuality and f...

09/11/2024

Whenever my good friends and brothers in the faith say things like "I'm not a fan of Trump, but..."

I want to encourage them to look at their own statement and ask why am I NOT A FAN, but am still voting for him. It is usually one issue that has not been thoroughly investigated. (Mostly abortion).

The reasons for not being a 'fan' are not only valid but worth considering.

My greatest fear is that power grabbing (at the expense of everyone who is not a fan) is his MO.

A very long time ago, when I was a staunch conservative, I asked a wise older man (Gerald Simmons) why he would vote for a Democrat and his answer has more than once guided me. He said, "Well Christine, the Democrats are "for the people". I have never forgotten that statememt and have spent the rest of my life investigating whether that is true. It takes serious study and commitment, rather than a tribal mentality.

Our brains are hardwired to crave community and belonging — a tribal instinct that drives politics in the United States, says political strategist Sarah Long...

09/10/2024

I am so excited to keep seeing and hearing other "Christian" men and women talking about their journey outward to greater consciousness and understanding.

So, I am not afraid to share at this point, other voices.

Timmy Gibson was a Christian minister for three decades. He is a Christian no more. Check out his fascinating story.Podcast conversation from later that day:...