Shalom!
Here is a column from today's WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL. Bill Wineke writes really good stuff (IMO), and here he has found one answer for our cultural war situation: Santa (for a price, of course, will support Jesus as the reason for this season. What can one say?
Shalom!
dave
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/column/index.php?ntid=263339&ntpid=1
DEC 21, 2007 Jesus has a new spokesman by BILL WINEKE Wisconsin State Journal
You can stop worrying about Jesus being lost in all the Christmas hoopla.
Santa is now defending the Christ child.
Of course, Santa charges for the endorsement.
Here 's how it goes: A St. Louis-based Web site, ChristmasGram.com, has developed a video from Santa explaining the "real reason for Christmas -- Christ. "
For $19.95, the company will send your child, via e-mail or DVD, a video of Santa talking about the birth of Christ.
"From the delightful setting of Santa 's Toy Workshop and from his quiet living room, Santa speaks to each child by name, reminding them of the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of Christ. "
And why is ChristmasGram.com doing this? This is the best part. ... wait for it:
"We as Christians should not allow others to strip the holiday of its religious experience, " explains volunteer Jan Godfrey. "Who better than Santa to help put Christ back into
Christmas? "
That 's right. These good people are hawking $19.95 ChristmasGrams because they, in the words of their press release, "believe the true meaning of Christmas is being hijacked by political correctness, commercialism and apathy. "
So, there you have it. In order to rescue Christmas from commercialism, these guys are employing the very symbol of commercialism, a made-up character whose visage is used to sell everything from Coca-Cola to pornographic underwear.
If you can get your church or religious group to sell the ChristmasGrams -- to be honest, it 's probably too late to do this now -- they 'll even give you a 25 percent kickback.
All in the name of making Christmas less commercial.
Now, Santa may be a Christian, but that doesn't mean he's a fool. If you go to www.ChistmasGram.com, you will receive a warning that Santa doesn't offer "any liability or warranty of any kind, expressed or implied. " You will also be reminded that "Santa does not condone regifting."
The "Santa " on the video is a guy "also known as Ricky Baldwin, " who has been featured as "Santa in commercials, plays and films. " No doubt, the "commercials" are good commercials and not the bad commercials Baldwin is trying to discourage. He is, at any rate, a "committed Christian who believes that the real reason for the season is not in conflict with Santa's own mission."
Of course not. Santa's own mission has always been to sell the "real reason for the season. " Just ask any merchant.
Contact Bill Wineke at bwineke@madison.com
Friday, December 21, 2007
Mystery worshippers: help or bother?
Shalom!
http://wwrn.org/article.php?idd=27278
It's not a new idea, but it's still intriguing. I note that a couple of English churches got 100% ratings from experienced but not Christian mystery worshippers.
Shalom!
dave
http://wwrn.org/article.php?idd=27278
It's not a new idea, but it's still intriguing. I note that a couple of English churches got 100% ratings from experienced but not Christian mystery worshippers.
Shalom!
dave
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Fantasy for Christmas
Christmas doings in The Little Village (with many, many apologies to Garrison Keillor and others)
Enough fluffy snow has fallen to put folks nicely into the Christmas mood. Wesley’s Quad is bright white with the new snow, and the variety of lights gives a festive look to the whole business area. That wonderful central structure that becomes what is needed when it is needed is featuring the winter setup complete with a roaring fireplace and cheerful seasonal decorations.
Friday night concerts are a highlight of the Advent season. In the warmth and bright light of the park structure local youth and adults take turns sharing their music. The Chamber of Commerce supplies warm cider and cookies, and families gather at about 7 each Friday in Advent to hear violin solos and guitar choirs and forensic declamations and male quartets and the quite well-known Women’s Double Quartet and, of course, the high school band. There’s often some newer music, and there is no rule that says the music has to be churchy. (You can imagine what the high school drum line does for “Little Drummer Boy.”) But at the end of each concert, around 8 or 8:15, folks just seem to expect to sing a few familiar carols together.
We used to have mimeographed sheets with all the words, but now the High School Service Club provides projection equipment and a couple of young people who know computers, and all the words are projected on the wall next to the fireplace. So you kind of have to sit where you can see best in terms of distance and having an unobstructed view and all, but because everyone has their faces up and not pressed down on their chests to read the words, well, the sound is better.
In light of legal issues, the Village Board accepted the offer from the Trustees at First and Foremost United Methodist Church, and the rather attractive nativity set that for years had appeared on the Quad near the central area now makes its home on the front lawn of the church. The Village provides storage space (same as for all the holiday decorations that grow quickly and almost magically annually on the light poles), but a group of volunteers from the churches and the Optimists puts up the display, and the United Methodists pay for the juice to run the spotlights and the boombox that cranks out the carols.
At the coffeeshop, the Grounds for Justification, the regulars enjoy a couple of extra drink specials for the holiday season. There’s a kind of warm eggnog and a peppermint coffee. It’s an internet café, so there are the usual town people who come in regularly to check their email. Maybe after Christmas, there will be fewer as the computers make their appearance under the trees around town.
Pastor at First and Foremost UMC is the Reverend Arnold Geddon, who prefers to be called Pastor Arnie Geddon. There seems to be a lot of conflict wherever he serves. He thinks of himself as a plain man and tries to help the congregations he serves look to the future.
There is a Catholic Church in town. It’s over on Tradition Way, near the village library. Father Favor is the priest at Blessed Beautiful Savior, and he’s been there a long time. The old-timers have a line that goes “We’ve found Favor with God forever.”
The big news around town this year is that Pastor Arnie and Father Favor have convinced the pastors and congregations to do some things together for Christmas. And here I must stop for now. What do you suppose The Little Village churches are going to do for Christmas?
Enough fluffy snow has fallen to put folks nicely into the Christmas mood. Wesley’s Quad is bright white with the new snow, and the variety of lights gives a festive look to the whole business area. That wonderful central structure that becomes what is needed when it is needed is featuring the winter setup complete with a roaring fireplace and cheerful seasonal decorations.
Friday night concerts are a highlight of the Advent season. In the warmth and bright light of the park structure local youth and adults take turns sharing their music. The Chamber of Commerce supplies warm cider and cookies, and families gather at about 7 each Friday in Advent to hear violin solos and guitar choirs and forensic declamations and male quartets and the quite well-known Women’s Double Quartet and, of course, the high school band. There’s often some newer music, and there is no rule that says the music has to be churchy. (You can imagine what the high school drum line does for “Little Drummer Boy.”) But at the end of each concert, around 8 or 8:15, folks just seem to expect to sing a few familiar carols together.
We used to have mimeographed sheets with all the words, but now the High School Service Club provides projection equipment and a couple of young people who know computers, and all the words are projected on the wall next to the fireplace. So you kind of have to sit where you can see best in terms of distance and having an unobstructed view and all, but because everyone has their faces up and not pressed down on their chests to read the words, well, the sound is better.
In light of legal issues, the Village Board accepted the offer from the Trustees at First and Foremost United Methodist Church, and the rather attractive nativity set that for years had appeared on the Quad near the central area now makes its home on the front lawn of the church. The Village provides storage space (same as for all the holiday decorations that grow quickly and almost magically annually on the light poles), but a group of volunteers from the churches and the Optimists puts up the display, and the United Methodists pay for the juice to run the spotlights and the boombox that cranks out the carols.
At the coffeeshop, the Grounds for Justification, the regulars enjoy a couple of extra drink specials for the holiday season. There’s a kind of warm eggnog and a peppermint coffee. It’s an internet café, so there are the usual town people who come in regularly to check their email. Maybe after Christmas, there will be fewer as the computers make their appearance under the trees around town.
Pastor at First and Foremost UMC is the Reverend Arnold Geddon, who prefers to be called Pastor Arnie Geddon. There seems to be a lot of conflict wherever he serves. He thinks of himself as a plain man and tries to help the congregations he serves look to the future.
There is a Catholic Church in town. It’s over on Tradition Way, near the village library. Father Favor is the priest at Blessed Beautiful Savior, and he’s been there a long time. The old-timers have a line that goes “We’ve found Favor with God forever.”
The big news around town this year is that Pastor Arnie and Father Favor have convinced the pastors and congregations to do some things together for Christmas. And here I must stop for now. What do you suppose The Little Village churches are going to do for Christmas?
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Two resources to share
Shalom!
Two things to share. The first is a site that should get you to some options to listen to a podcast with Paul Webster. The long version I listened to was about 14 & 1/2 minutes. Wisconsin United Methodists will recognize Paul's name. He has been an agricultural missionary in Africa since 1992 and is doing really good work.
http://new.gbgm-umc.org/work/missionaries/podcasts/index.cfm?i=15726
The second item is an article by George Bullard. He offers some possible trends for the near future. Click on his site and look for the Nov 28th article.
George Bullard, congregational and denominational leadership coach
http://www.bullardjournal.org/
November 28, 2007
Ten Global Trends Impacting the Future of Congregations
Shalom!
dave
Two things to share. The first is a site that should get you to some options to listen to a podcast with Paul Webster. The long version I listened to was about 14 & 1/2 minutes. Wisconsin United Methodists will recognize Paul's name. He has been an agricultural missionary in Africa since 1992 and is doing really good work.
http://new.gbgm-umc.org/work/missionaries/podcasts/index.cfm?i=15726
The second item is an article by George Bullard. He offers some possible trends for the near future. Click on his site and look for the Nov 28th article.
George Bullard, congregational and denominational leadership coach
http://www.bullardjournal.org/
November 28, 2007
Ten Global Trends Impacting the Future of Congregations
Shalom!
dave
Saturday, December 1, 2007
A Christmas Letter
Shalom!
Received this today via email from a friend in Florida. Perhaps you've seen it. Maybe you wrote it! I found it helpfully provocative. I don't have any other attribution for it.
Shalom!
dave
Dear Children,
It has come to my attention that many of you are upset that folks are taking My name out of the Christmas season. Maybe you've forgotten that I wasn't actually born during this time of the year, and that it was some of your predecessors who decided to celebrate My birthday on what was actually a time of pagan festival, although I do appreciate being remembered anytime.
How I personally feel about this celebration can probably be most easily understood by those of you who have been blessed with children of your own. I don't care what you call the day. If you want to celebrate My birth, just GET ALONG AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
Now, having said that, let Me go on. If it bothers you that the town in which you live doesn't allow a scene depicting My birth, then just get rid of a couple of Santas and snowmen and put in a small Nativity scene on your own front lawn. If all My followers did that there wouldn't be any need for such a scene on the town square, because there would be many of them all around town.
Stop worrying about the fact that people are calling the tree a holiday tree, instead of a Christmas tree. It was I who made all trees. You can remember Me anytime you see any tree. Decorate a grape vine if you wish: I actually spoke of that one in a teaching, explaining who I am in relation to you, and what each of our tasks were. If you have forgotten that one, look up John 15: 1-8.
If you want to give Me a present in remembrance of My birth, here is my wish list. Choose something from it:
1. Instead of writing protest letters objecting to the way My birthday is being celebrated, write letters of love and hope to soldiers away from home. They are terribly afraid and lonely this time of year. I know, they tell Me all the time.
2. Visit someone in a nursing home. You don't have to know them personally. They just need to know that someone cares about them.
3. Instead of writing George complaining about the wording on the cards his staff sent out this year, why don't you write and tell him that you'll be praying for him and his family this year. Then follow up. It will be nice hearing from you again.
4. Instead of giving your children a lot of gifts you can't afford and they don't need, spend time with them. Tell them the story of My birth, and why I came to live with you down here. Hold them in your arms and remind them that I love them.
5. Pick someone that has hurt you in the past and forgive him or her. Really forgive them.
6. Did you know that someone in your town will attempt to take their own life this season because they feel so alone and hopeless? Since you don't know who that person is, try giving everyone you meet a warm smile; it could make the difference.
7. Instead of nit picking about what the retailer in your town calls the holiday, be patient with the people who work there. Give them a warm smile and a kind word. Even if they aren't allowed to wish you a "Merry Christmas", that doesn't keep you from wishing them one. Then stop shopping there on Sundays. If the store didn't make so much money on that day they'd close and let their employees spend the day at home with their families
8. If you really want to make a difference, support a missionary-- especially one who takes My love and Good News to those who have never heard My name.
9. Here's a good one. There are individuals and whole families in your town who not only will have no "Christmas" tree, but neither will they have any presents to give or receive. If you don't know them, buy some food and a few gifts and give them to the Salvation Army, or some other charity which believes in Me, and they will make the delivery for you.
10. Finally, if you want to make a statement about your belief in and loyalty to Me, then behave like a Christian. Don't do things in secret that you wouldn't do in My presence. Let people know by your actions that you are one of mine.
Don't forget; I am God and can take care of Myself. Just love Me and do what I have told you to do. I'll take care of all the rest. Check out the list above and get to work; time is short. I'll help you, but the ball is now in your court. And do have a most blessed Christmas with all those whom you love, and remember: I LOVE YOU.
JESUS
Received this today via email from a friend in Florida. Perhaps you've seen it. Maybe you wrote it! I found it helpfully provocative. I don't have any other attribution for it.
Shalom!
dave
Dear Children,
It has come to my attention that many of you are upset that folks are taking My name out of the Christmas season. Maybe you've forgotten that I wasn't actually born during this time of the year, and that it was some of your predecessors who decided to celebrate My birthday on what was actually a time of pagan festival, although I do appreciate being remembered anytime.
How I personally feel about this celebration can probably be most easily understood by those of you who have been blessed with children of your own. I don't care what you call the day. If you want to celebrate My birth, just GET ALONG AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
Now, having said that, let Me go on. If it bothers you that the town in which you live doesn't allow a scene depicting My birth, then just get rid of a couple of Santas and snowmen and put in a small Nativity scene on your own front lawn. If all My followers did that there wouldn't be any need for such a scene on the town square, because there would be many of them all around town.
Stop worrying about the fact that people are calling the tree a holiday tree, instead of a Christmas tree. It was I who made all trees. You can remember Me anytime you see any tree. Decorate a grape vine if you wish: I actually spoke of that one in a teaching, explaining who I am in relation to you, and what each of our tasks were. If you have forgotten that one, look up John 15: 1-8.
If you want to give Me a present in remembrance of My birth, here is my wish list. Choose something from it:
1. Instead of writing protest letters objecting to the way My birthday is being celebrated, write letters of love and hope to soldiers away from home. They are terribly afraid and lonely this time of year. I know, they tell Me all the time.
2. Visit someone in a nursing home. You don't have to know them personally. They just need to know that someone cares about them.
3. Instead of writing George complaining about the wording on the cards his staff sent out this year, why don't you write and tell him that you'll be praying for him and his family this year. Then follow up. It will be nice hearing from you again.
4. Instead of giving your children a lot of gifts you can't afford and they don't need, spend time with them. Tell them the story of My birth, and why I came to live with you down here. Hold them in your arms and remind them that I love them.
5. Pick someone that has hurt you in the past and forgive him or her. Really forgive them.
6. Did you know that someone in your town will attempt to take their own life this season because they feel so alone and hopeless? Since you don't know who that person is, try giving everyone you meet a warm smile; it could make the difference.
7. Instead of nit picking about what the retailer in your town calls the holiday, be patient with the people who work there. Give them a warm smile and a kind word. Even if they aren't allowed to wish you a "Merry Christmas", that doesn't keep you from wishing them one. Then stop shopping there on Sundays. If the store didn't make so much money on that day they'd close and let their employees spend the day at home with their families
8. If you really want to make a difference, support a missionary-- especially one who takes My love and Good News to those who have never heard My name.
9. Here's a good one. There are individuals and whole families in your town who not only will have no "Christmas" tree, but neither will they have any presents to give or receive. If you don't know them, buy some food and a few gifts and give them to the Salvation Army, or some other charity which believes in Me, and they will make the delivery for you.
10. Finally, if you want to make a statement about your belief in and loyalty to Me, then behave like a Christian. Don't do things in secret that you wouldn't do in My presence. Let people know by your actions that you are one of mine.
Don't forget; I am God and can take care of Myself. Just love Me and do what I have told you to do. I'll take care of all the rest. Check out the list above and get to work; time is short. I'll help you, but the ball is now in your court. And do have a most blessed Christmas with all those whom you love, and remember: I LOVE YOU.
JESUS
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Advent Celebration
Shalom!
Gentle Reader and Prompt Planner, I realize I am terribly late for most folks for this Advent, but maybe for another year . . . or this year if you are the sort of procrastinator I am all too much aware of myself . . . .
Pastor David Sprang, Christ the King Lutheran Church, Gladwin, Michigan, suggests a way to mark the Sundays of Advent on e-talk, an email listserve administered through Wood Lake Books. (To subscribe, e-mail: e-talk-subscribe@joinhands.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: e-talk-unsubscribe@joinhands.com )
“I will wrap a box and put it somewhere up front for the kids to find. Inside the box will be something to express the theme for the day.
Advent I - Hope- I will fill the box with blue stuff which might symbolize hope
Advent II - Generosity - I will fill the box with food that goes to the local food pantry and talk about Jesus "filling the hungry with good things"
Advent III - Anticipation - The box will be filled with Mary and Joseph from the nativity crèche and we will talk about not being able to wait
Advent IV - Patience - (I am still working on this one) Either I will place another wrapped box inside the box, or a branch and talk about the gifts of God that come to us every day or the gifts that we will not see till the end of time.”
Building on David’s idea, Thom M. Shuman, Greenhills Community Church, Presbyterian, Cincinnati, Ohio, writes:
“I will begin Advent 1 with an empty box - to symbolize both the hopes the kids have about what they will find on Christmas morning - but also to symbolize God's heart, where we can place all our hopes - even those we don't want anyone else to know about.
Advent II - Generosity - Same as you are doing
Advent III - Anticipation - I will use Joseph and Mary as well, but will talk about the anticipation they had of finding a place to stay with and how they dealt with that anticipation not coming true (and remind the kids they may not get everything they anticipate for Christmas.
Advent IV - Patience - That's a tough one, isn't it? 2 days before Christmas and patience has flown out the window. I might go with the empty box again, just to talk about the fact that Advent is all about being patient enough to let God surprise us with a gift we didn't expect.
Then, on Christmas Eve, I will put the bread and the cup in the box, to symbolize the full meaning of Christ's birth."
Personally, I really like this sort of idea. I always struggled with the Advent wreath--creating it, finding folks to light it, preparing or finding fitting words for it, moving around it during worship, etc. This kind of idea could start the service off, or come in at the children's time, and really get the attention of everyone.
Shalom!
dave
Gentle Reader and Prompt Planner, I realize I am terribly late for most folks for this Advent, but maybe for another year . . . or this year if you are the sort of procrastinator I am all too much aware of myself . . . .
Pastor David Sprang, Christ the King Lutheran Church, Gladwin, Michigan, suggests a way to mark the Sundays of Advent on e-talk, an email listserve administered through Wood Lake Books. (To subscribe, e-mail: e-talk-subscribe@joinhands.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: e-talk-unsubscribe@joinhands.com )
“I will wrap a box and put it somewhere up front for the kids to find. Inside the box will be something to express the theme for the day.
Advent I - Hope- I will fill the box with blue stuff which might symbolize hope
Advent II - Generosity - I will fill the box with food that goes to the local food pantry and talk about Jesus "filling the hungry with good things"
Advent III - Anticipation - The box will be filled with Mary and Joseph from the nativity crèche and we will talk about not being able to wait
Advent IV - Patience - (I am still working on this one) Either I will place another wrapped box inside the box, or a branch and talk about the gifts of God that come to us every day or the gifts that we will not see till the end of time.”
Building on David’s idea, Thom M. Shuman, Greenhills Community Church, Presbyterian, Cincinnati, Ohio, writes:
“I will begin Advent 1 with an empty box - to symbolize both the hopes the kids have about what they will find on Christmas morning - but also to symbolize God's heart, where we can place all our hopes - even those we don't want anyone else to know about.
Advent II - Generosity - Same as you are doing
Advent III - Anticipation - I will use Joseph and Mary as well, but will talk about the anticipation they had of finding a place to stay with and how they dealt with that anticipation not coming true (and remind the kids they may not get everything they anticipate for Christmas.
Advent IV - Patience - That's a tough one, isn't it? 2 days before Christmas and patience has flown out the window. I might go with the empty box again, just to talk about the fact that Advent is all about being patient enough to let God surprise us with a gift we didn't expect.
Then, on Christmas Eve, I will put the bread and the cup in the box, to symbolize the full meaning of Christ's birth."
Personally, I really like this sort of idea. I always struggled with the Advent wreath--creating it, finding folks to light it, preparing or finding fitting words for it, moving around it during worship, etc. This kind of idea could start the service off, or come in at the children's time, and really get the attention of everyone.
Shalom!
dave
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Excuse me?
Shalom!
Here's a thought:
http://rev.org/article.asp?ID=2815
Many of us either don't think we would ever have such a problem, I suppose, or we would be unwilling to invite folks to try another church. But of course, this makes sense.
IF THE VISION IS CLEAR and if it is good, then putting it into real practice will go better with persons who agree with it. Those who don't might mutter or may even go along, but do they put out the necessary energy and enthusiasm for a vision they don't support?
Maybe this could be part of the new ecumenism, in which we all work to get persons "on board" in ways that fit their particular situation. I'm NOT suggesting here that we stifle or eliminate opposition or avoid conflict or "purify" the group. I am suggesting a marshalling of our resources in an effective way. The whole Christian church needs more than any one congregation can provide.
Shalom!
dave
Here's a thought:
http://rev.org/article.asp?ID=2815
Many of us either don't think we would ever have such a problem, I suppose, or we would be unwilling to invite folks to try another church. But of course, this makes sense.
IF THE VISION IS CLEAR and if it is good, then putting it into real practice will go better with persons who agree with it. Those who don't might mutter or may even go along, but do they put out the necessary energy and enthusiasm for a vision they don't support?
Maybe this could be part of the new ecumenism, in which we all work to get persons "on board" in ways that fit their particular situation. I'm NOT suggesting here that we stifle or eliminate opposition or avoid conflict or "purify" the group. I am suggesting a marshalling of our resources in an effective way. The whole Christian church needs more than any one congregation can provide.
Shalom!
dave
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Rethinking church efforts
Shalom!
In the Jim Wallis (Sojourners) blog
http://blog.beliefnet.com/godspolitics/2007/10/willow-creek-repents-by-diana.html
Diana Butler Bass (The Practicing Congregation, 2004) writes of what the Willow Creek staff is saying about program and discipleship disciplines. In part, she quotes Bill Hybels:
"We made a mistake," says Hybels: "What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become 'self-feeders.' We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between service, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own."
Notice what Hybels says is missing: intentionality, practice, and vitality. Or, as the Leadership blog put it, "Spiritual growth doesn't happen best by becoming dependent on elaborate church programs but through the age old spiritual practices of prayer, bible reading, and relationships. These basic disciplines do not require multi-million dollar facilities and hundreds of staff to manage."
This would seem to offer all sorts of sunbeams (rays of hope) for less-than-mega-churches! Perhaps it helps explain how small and medium congregations hang on. Of course, ALL congregations need to be intentional about providing help with the spiritual practices, but if we focus on that instead of worrying about size and viability (funding), then we'll all be the better for it!
Shalom!
dave
In the Jim Wallis (Sojourners) blog
http://blog.beliefnet.com/godspolitics/2007/10/willow-creek-repents-by-diana.html
Diana Butler Bass (The Practicing Congregation, 2004) writes of what the Willow Creek staff is saying about program and discipleship disciplines. In part, she quotes Bill Hybels:
"We made a mistake," says Hybels: "What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become 'self-feeders.' We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between service, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own."
Notice what Hybels says is missing: intentionality, practice, and vitality. Or, as the Leadership blog put it, "Spiritual growth doesn't happen best by becoming dependent on elaborate church programs but through the age old spiritual practices of prayer, bible reading, and relationships. These basic disciplines do not require multi-million dollar facilities and hundreds of staff to manage."
This would seem to offer all sorts of sunbeams (rays of hope) for less-than-mega-churches! Perhaps it helps explain how small and medium congregations hang on. Of course, ALL congregations need to be intentional about providing help with the spiritual practices, but if we focus on that instead of worrying about size and viability (funding), then we'll all be the better for it!
Shalom!
dave
General Conference preparations
Shalom!
For United Methodists, here is a site from which you may learn more about the proposal to change the organizational structure of the UMC. It would allow the Church to form the United States into a central, or regional, conference.
http://www.worldwideumc.org/
Shalom!
dave
For United Methodists, here is a site from which you may learn more about the proposal to change the organizational structure of the UMC. It would allow the Church to form the United States into a central, or regional, conference.
http://www.worldwideumc.org/
Shalom!
dave
Monday, October 29, 2007
Book Review! (Well, a few ideas anyway....)
Shalom!
The following ideas are taken from another book by Lloyd Rediger, a pastoral counselor who is perhaps best known in clergy circles for his book of a number of years ago about "clergy killers" or persons who abuse pastors in a variety of ways and tend to keep congregations in turmoil. This book on toxic congregations is about three kinds of congregations--the healthy, functioning congregations, the ones who could go either way, and the toxic or dysfunctional congregations. I don't claim to accurately convey Lloyd's ideas! You may want to check out the book yourself.
“Agendas for Human Behavior” from G. Lloyd Rediger’s THE TOXIC CONGREGATION: HOW TO HEAL THE SOUL OF YOUR CHURCH (Abingdon Press, 2007) Lloyd Rediger discusses “Why People Act Like They Do” in his book and makes use of a helpful chart, which I cannot reproduce here but will try to describe with words.
We have three agendas as human beings. An agenda is a “primary, overriding motivation pattern.” The first agenda is survival; the question is “Am I safe here?” Lloyd says this is the most powerful agenda because “it is governed by the two most potent human emotions—fear and pleasure seeking.” Feelings are dominant in this agenda. As one feels safe, one can move to the second agenda.
The second agenda is identity; the question is “Who am I, and what difference do I make?” Rediger says thinking is more dominant here, and the issues are competition or jealousy. On the chart, he shows anger and love (self and others) as the emotions felt.
The third agenda is relationship; the question is “What’s in this (whatever the issue the group is considering) for each of us and all of us together?” There is an integration of thinking and feeling, and sadness and joy are the emotions felt.
Lloyd suggests that the movement from survival through identity to relationship is a growth in awareness, self-management skills, and caring, but all the time there is a strong, maybe stronger, downward pressure of events and feelings that try to move us from relationship to identity to survival.
All of the above describes how we deal with what is facing us. Rediger suggests that while we all have various principles or rules to guide our behavior, "But the real determiners for behaviors, often despite the principles, are consequences." (p. 78) In other words, many times we act because of rules or principles, which we may think are rules that everyone accepts, when in fact, everyone does not. Why not? Because while some people want to regulate their behavior with the principles, others find their behavior regulated by the consequences of their decisions.
"And so today, ethics and morality are again dominated by consequences as the ultimate reference point. Though there are sharp divisions between the absolutist (‘my ethics are universal’) and consequential (‘we all have to live with each other’s consequences’) believers, it is difficult to sustain either view as ultimate for every situation. For beliefs can be wrong or ambiguous, and consequences can be unintended, unknown, or connected to other consequences." (p. 80)
Rediger adds an appendix to compare these two approaches to ethics:
“Appendix C” from G. Lloyd Rediger’s THE TOXIC CONGREGATION: HOW TO HEAL THE SOUL OF YOUR CHURCH (Abingdon Press, 2007)
Comparison of Absolutist and Consequential Ethics
Absolutist Ethics
Truth is absolute.
Truth can be known.
Truth is universally applicable.
Behavior that violates truth is unethical.
Ethical behavior benefits all.
Consequential Ethics
There are no absolutes, only consequences.
Behavior has shared, cumulative consequences.
The mind is the reference point.
Decision making is the ultimate behavior.
Negotiation is the primary skill.
Fairness is morality.
Learning is experiential.
Research on consequences is key to the future.
We know God and one another through consequences.
Beliefs and values emerge from consequences.
This is helpful to me. Everyone is working on the three agendas, which, while described in a vertical fashion with relationship at the top, really describe, ISTM, a process of maturation. Like Maslow's chart, we move from basic survival needs to more complex situations or challenges. We all have principles and we all agree with some common rules. And we all have consequences in our lives for decisions good or bad. We want to move to integration of thought and feeling and a sense of community, but there is a great pressure to revert back to matters of basic survival. Many of you will find this pretty ho-hum, but it moves me down the road a bit!
Shalom!
dave
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Hmmm.... October is Clergy Appreciation Month!
Shalom!
I have discovered that October is Clergy Appreciation Month. Hallmark likes that, of course, and I think Focus on the Family promotes it, but in any case . . . "We love you guys and gals!" as the line goes.
How to appreciate clergy . . . hmmmmm.
+ compensation in line with others of like education and experience in the community
+ an email or note of appreciation
+ a renewed commitment to give the pastor/parsonage family privacy and time alone, especially on days off
+ a special treat of some sort for pastoral spouses and children
+ paying apportionments on time
+ gift to mission in honor of pastor and family
+ ?????
I have discovered that October is Clergy Appreciation Month. Hallmark likes that, of course, and I think Focus on the Family promotes it, but in any case . . . "We love you guys and gals!" as the line goes.
How to appreciate clergy . . . hmmmmm.
+ compensation in line with others of like education and experience in the community
+ an email or note of appreciation
+ a renewed commitment to give the pastor/parsonage family privacy and time alone, especially on days off
+ a special treat of some sort for pastoral spouses and children
+ paying apportionments on time
+ gift to mission in honor of pastor and family
+ ?????
In appreciation for the working pastor from a retired one,
Shalom!
dave
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Situational preaching
Shalom!
So many Wisconsin UMC colleagues traveling today to the Clergy Day in Stevens Point! I trust there will be good, safe travel and good, supportive conversations while carpooling!
Here's a funny from Mikey:
today'sFUNNY
The preacher's 5-year-old daughter noticed that her father always paused and bowed his head, for a moment, before starting his sermon. One day, she asked him why. "Well, honey," he began, proud that his daughter was so observant of his messages, "I'm asking the Lord to help me preach a good sermon." "How come He doesn't do it?" she asked.
[forwarded by Steve Sanderson]
today'sTHOT: //////__ __ __ __ __ ... The domino effect at work.
PASS IT ON! Yeah, you can send this Funny to anybody you want. And, if you're REAL nice, you'll tell them where you got it! www.mikeysFunnies.com
So many Wisconsin UMC colleagues traveling today to the Clergy Day in Stevens Point! I trust there will be good, safe travel and good, supportive conversations while carpooling!
Here's a funny from Mikey:
today'sFUNNY
The preacher's 5-year-old daughter noticed that her father always paused and bowed his head, for a moment, before starting his sermon. One day, she asked him why. "Well, honey," he began, proud that his daughter was so observant of his messages, "I'm asking the Lord to help me preach a good sermon." "How come He doesn't do it?" she asked.
[forwarded by Steve Sanderson]
today'sTHOT: //////__ __ __ __ __ ... The domino effect at work.
PASS IT ON! Yeah, you can send this Funny to anybody you want. And, if you're REAL nice, you'll tell them where you got it! www.mikeysFunnies.com
For reasons a bit beyond me, I'm still stuck on preaching. Feedback on my thoughts is pretty much invisible, but I'll just keep babbling on, hoping to say something helpful! Note in the joke above that the observant child is a girl, and the preacher is a man. This is not all the current reality. Note too that the child (among and within us) has an expectation that God He can help us preach a good sermon. Well, surely the Spirit helps, and all that and more, but a good sermon also has something to do with the exchange or lack thereof between speaker and hearer.
Hence, my tiny essay on situational preaching, by which I mean the on-going process of interpreting Scripture for a local congregation given a specific community situation and a specific speaker and a generally regular congregation. I presume the speaker prepares and the congregation comes more or less to engage the Scripture in a community setting. [I find as a person now in the chairs/pews, I do in fact come with the hope that the service in general and the sermon in particular will provide help for me in interpreting the movement of God in the present day.]
A good sermon, in my opinion, will engage the mind and heart of the listener, offering encouragement for applying love to life and insight into how I might better connect with God. My sermons had a point (admittedly, often well hidden), but they were also offered as a starting place. That is, I really didn't care if the listener "tuned out" for a while to go where the Spirit led. In fact, I encouraged that. I also hoped that my preaching would "get inside" the hearer--not stop at ears or brain, but rather get right into the gut. [That's another reason why I prefer spontaneous prayers.] At some point, perhaps the speaker and the listener came together again in the course of the sermon and found empowerment or, at least, encouragement to keep on keeping on.
In preparing, then, I tried to figure out a theme for the entire worship service. It wasn't always a conscious thing, but I tried to tie together music, Scripture, children's time, and sermon. If I hit upon that theme early enough, I could "open up" my mind to the kinds of things that work well in sermons: illustrations from daily life, tidbits from reading, etc. Later, I could connect the dots and place a vision before the congregation. The vision thing is where the children's time was good. If I had a visual aid or a brief experiential thing, so much the better, but I do see real value in making the message easy enough for children to grasp. Yes, because the adults might listen more attentively to that than to the sermon . . . .
The delivery probably generally had a rough, unpolished, unfinished feel to it. For sure, my sermons were unfinished--because the world isn't finished! I used notes to help keep me on track as I would try to involve the hearers in the process of drawing present-day meaning from the ancient text-that-continues-to-live-and-grow. I guess I've generally thought of sermons as ephemeral things--here now for this moment and then pretty much gone. My Father typed his sermons in manuscript form, and many colleagues do too. [That helped when Dad's eyesight would act up--or down, actually, and someone could then literally step up and read his sermon.] But I've never been one to read collections of sermons, and I was usually more comfortable working from notes.
Lastly, at this point, what I would say in one community on a given text might be much different from what I would say from the same text but in another town. That might have to do with the level of education in the area, or it might have to do with what I perceived was the kind of worship experience the congregation expected. Over the years and the situations, I discovered that, really, there can be more in common across congregations than different. Receptivity to the sermon has a lot to do with getting to know one another as pastor and people, and that seems to be a factor of our common humanity.
Anything to add or discuss, Gentle Reader?
Shalom!
dave
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Hospitality in our congregations
Shalom!
Remember, now, that I'm simply trying to be helpful. I'm no expert.
A couple of summers ago I took a three month leave. I called it a sabbatical leave, but I guess it was more correctly called something else--study or renewal or ????? Anyway, Barb and I took the opportunity to visit a number of congregations in the Milwaukee area for Sunday morning worship. This summer, newly retired and looking for a place to call (church) home, we again have been visiting in several Madison area churches.
What have we learned?
+ A congregation needs to expect guests in worship. Some do; many don't, or at least, it looks and feels that way. I think someone greeted us at each place we visited, but often that was the person assigned the task for that day. Even for us introverts, it helps if a human being/becoming smiles and says "Hi" and helps us find the sanctuary. This is really important when the main way in gets you to an odd spot--like the door just off the front of the sanctuary. Good clear signs can help.
+ Please don't ask me to stand and identify myself. It's pretty obvious I'm a newbie anyway. Don't give me a name tag unless, maybe, everybody else is wearing the same kind.
+ Do invite me to sign the attendance pad if there is one. I think it helps if everyone present is encouraged to sign the darned thing. I think it might be helpful if I could be told why I'm giving this information. Will I get a note or letter in response? Will I be put on the newsletter list? Will my address be sold for a profit to some off-the-wall charity?
+ It helps this introvert if when guests are welcomed and asked to sign the attendance pad, they are also informed about anything unusual in the service that day. Communion? The UMC offers the elements to all. Pledge Central? No problem; you don't need to fake anything. This is the point where I say that printing the Lord's Prayer and the doxology and such in the bulletin/program is a good idea.
+ I don't need a little welcome gift--especially at the very beginning of the service, but some might like that. And I don't feel slighted if no one shows up at my home that afternoon. This practice would depend a lot on the local situation, it seems to me.
+ It's been helpful for us to have someone invite us to whatever coffee hour there might be (some are hidden away in the Secret Place) or to introduce us to the pastor.
+ Joys and concerns, announcements, and prayer requests pose interesting dilemmas in my view. How can we incorporate these things into worship without causing the casual or seeking guest to wonder who these folks are and why should I care?
+ In new church preparation, we had been taught/it had been suggested that at the time of the offering, guests be assured that they are not expected to put money in the plate. I picked up on that and used it the rest of my career. Why? Well, it's not their church to support yet! And maybe they didn't come prepared. And also, the whole offering time gives us a chance to tell a story about what happens with the money and to emphasize that the offering needs to collect more than checks and dollars and coins!
+ Recently at the church I served we tried to give first-time guests a gift--notecards--when they came in, or, if we missed at that point, before they left. This was a start at the hospitality that, I think, needs to extend itself after worship. Say goodbye! Invite the guest to return. Check out the experience with them. While the building is familiar to regulars, some guests will have trouble even getting out the door they came in!
All these things and more. But nothing too extraordinary. Think of it like how you might welcome guests in your home.
I've been working off the balding top of my head. Use these ideas if you wish. Feel free to respond with your own ideas or reactions to these!
Shalom!
dave
Remember, now, that I'm simply trying to be helpful. I'm no expert.
A couple of summers ago I took a three month leave. I called it a sabbatical leave, but I guess it was more correctly called something else--study or renewal or ????? Anyway, Barb and I took the opportunity to visit a number of congregations in the Milwaukee area for Sunday morning worship. This summer, newly retired and looking for a place to call (church) home, we again have been visiting in several Madison area churches.
What have we learned?
+ A congregation needs to expect guests in worship. Some do; many don't, or at least, it looks and feels that way. I think someone greeted us at each place we visited, but often that was the person assigned the task for that day. Even for us introverts, it helps if a human being/becoming smiles and says "Hi" and helps us find the sanctuary. This is really important when the main way in gets you to an odd spot--like the door just off the front of the sanctuary. Good clear signs can help.
+ Please don't ask me to stand and identify myself. It's pretty obvious I'm a newbie anyway. Don't give me a name tag unless, maybe, everybody else is wearing the same kind.
+ Do invite me to sign the attendance pad if there is one. I think it helps if everyone present is encouraged to sign the darned thing. I think it might be helpful if I could be told why I'm giving this information. Will I get a note or letter in response? Will I be put on the newsletter list? Will my address be sold for a profit to some off-the-wall charity?
+ It helps this introvert if when guests are welcomed and asked to sign the attendance pad, they are also informed about anything unusual in the service that day. Communion? The UMC offers the elements to all. Pledge Central? No problem; you don't need to fake anything. This is the point where I say that printing the Lord's Prayer and the doxology and such in the bulletin/program is a good idea.
+ I don't need a little welcome gift--especially at the very beginning of the service, but some might like that. And I don't feel slighted if no one shows up at my home that afternoon. This practice would depend a lot on the local situation, it seems to me.
+ It's been helpful for us to have someone invite us to whatever coffee hour there might be (some are hidden away in the Secret Place) or to introduce us to the pastor.
+ Joys and concerns, announcements, and prayer requests pose interesting dilemmas in my view. How can we incorporate these things into worship without causing the casual or seeking guest to wonder who these folks are and why should I care?
+ In new church preparation, we had been taught/it had been suggested that at the time of the offering, guests be assured that they are not expected to put money in the plate. I picked up on that and used it the rest of my career. Why? Well, it's not their church to support yet! And maybe they didn't come prepared. And also, the whole offering time gives us a chance to tell a story about what happens with the money and to emphasize that the offering needs to collect more than checks and dollars and coins!
+ Recently at the church I served we tried to give first-time guests a gift--notecards--when they came in, or, if we missed at that point, before they left. This was a start at the hospitality that, I think, needs to extend itself after worship. Say goodbye! Invite the guest to return. Check out the experience with them. While the building is familiar to regulars, some guests will have trouble even getting out the door they came in!
All these things and more. But nothing too extraordinary. Think of it like how you might welcome guests in your home.
I've been working off the balding top of my head. Use these ideas if you wish. Feel free to respond with your own ideas or reactions to these!
Shalom!
dave
Monday, October 15, 2007
Call your Representative on October 16th!
Shalom!
The Coalition on Human Needs folks at http://www.chn.org/ invite us to call our federal House of Representatives representative tomorrow, Tuesday, October 16th, to encourage them to vote to override the presidential veto of the SCHIP legislation. That's my position too, but if you want to call to support the veto, well, it's a free country . . . .
Here's some info from the Coalition on Human Needs:
On October 18, the U.S. House will vote on overriding that veto so these millions of children can get care. Rejecting the veto takes a two-thirds vote. It will be close. That's why your call is so important. Please call your Representative on Tuesday, October 16
Toll-free number: 1-800-965-4701
Ask for your Representative's office* - Urge him/her to vote to provide health coverage to millions of uninsured children by overriding the veto of the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (H.R. 976).
*If you don't know your Rep's name: http://www.house.gov/ (enter your zip code, upper left side)
See how your Rep. voted on final passage of the children's health bill: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll906.xml
If your Rep. voted no, or didn't vote, your call is especially important - some of the no votes or absences must be turned around in order to get to two-thirds. We can get there - if you and your neighbors call!
Why you should call even if you're sure your Representative will vote in favor of the bill--
We need a huge volume of calls - enough to convince everyone that people are watching and want children to have health care. That tells proponents their constituents want them to keep fighting.
Blackwolf again: . . . or call to encourage the legislators to keep LOVING. They don't seem to have much trouble fighting.
Shalom!
dave
The Coalition on Human Needs folks at http://www.chn.org/ invite us to call our federal House of Representatives representative tomorrow, Tuesday, October 16th, to encourage them to vote to override the presidential veto of the SCHIP legislation. That's my position too, but if you want to call to support the veto, well, it's a free country . . . .
Here's some info from the Coalition on Human Needs:
On October 18, the U.S. House will vote on overriding that veto so these millions of children can get care. Rejecting the veto takes a two-thirds vote. It will be close. That's why your call is so important. Please call your Representative on Tuesday, October 16
Toll-free number: 1-800-965-4701
Ask for your Representative's office* - Urge him/her to vote to provide health coverage to millions of uninsured children by overriding the veto of the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (H.R. 976).
*If you don't know your Rep's name: http://www.house.gov/ (enter your zip code, upper left side)
See how your Rep. voted on final passage of the children's health bill: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll906.xml
If your Rep. voted no, or didn't vote, your call is especially important - some of the no votes or absences must be turned around in order to get to two-thirds. We can get there - if you and your neighbors call!
Why you should call even if you're sure your Representative will vote in favor of the bill--
We need a huge volume of calls - enough to convince everyone that people are watching and want children to have health care. That tells proponents their constituents want them to keep fighting.
Blackwolf again: . . . or call to encourage the legislators to keep LOVING. They don't seem to have much trouble fighting.
Shalom!
dave
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Healthy pastoral care (care for pastors by pastors)
Shalom!
Here's a press release from the UMC. I'm struck by this emphasis on health: life, not death. It reminds me of the lifting up of abundance vs. scarcity in stewardship.
Shalom!
dave
Healthy churches need healthy leaders, speakers say
Oct. 12, 2007
NOTE: Photographs are available at http://umns.umc.org.
By Deborah White*
WICHITA, Kan. (UMNS) - "If you're really serious about serving the Lord, you'd better start taking care of yourself," Bishop Scott Jones told health ministry leaders at a national conference.
"Empowering Ministries of Health: Starting, Implementing and Advancing" was the theme of the third annual National Congregational Health Ministries Conference, held Sept. 23-26 at the Spiritual Life Center in Wichita. The event was sponsored by the United Methodist Board of Pension and Health Benefits and the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.
The conference continued a growing emphasis on health ministries in The United Methodist Church. It attracted 165 United Methodists from 54 annual (regional) conferences, more than double the attendance at the 2006 National Congregational Health Ministries Conference in Memphis, Tenn. A fourth annual conference is planned for Sept. 21-24, 2008, at Lake Junaluska, N.C.
"We have got to figure out how our churches become centers of healing - spiritual and physical," said Jones, who leads the denomination's Kansas Area. His opening keynote address laid a holistic foundation for the conference.
After reaching a point of exhaustion, Jones said he started paying more attention to his health. Now he wears a pedometer to count his steps, brings carrots to cabinet meetings and limits his caffeine intake.
Building healthy churches
Weaving scriptures and personal experiences, several other speakers joined Jones in emphasizing that self-care for leaders is an important step in building healthy congregations. Participants also toured two health ministries in Wichita and broke into four workshop tracks to study aspects of health ministries including planning, evaluation, teamwork, communications, coping with stress and making self-care covenants.
"The challenge is to get healthy ourselves, to pull back from the table," said the Rev. Embra Jackson, assistant to Bishop Hope Morgan Ward of Mississippi. Jackson, Ward and 600 clergy members in Mississippi wear pedometers and walk several miles a day as part of the Amazing Pace health ministry.
In the 1950s, pastors were at the top of the health charts, Jackson pointed out. "Now we're at the bottom," he said. "We need to get well. If leaders get healthy and well, the church gets healthy and well."
Kim Moore, president of the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund in Hutchinson, Kan., shared his personal struggles to stay in shape - such as lifting weights before a physically demanding mission trip and walking at 6 a.m. instead of sleeping while out of town on business.
"We increasingly know the behaviors that matter, but we struggle to incorporate them into our lives," Moore said.
The literature of health ministries says "get a team," Moore said. "Too many people believe they are essential. I thought I was essential. I took a sabbatical and found that my colleagues could run the Health Ministry Fund without me.
"We've got to get this attitude into the church: I am valuable but not essential."
Time for fitness
During his presentation, Moore used an exercise DVD to lead 10 minutes of simple exercises. The DVD, "Fuel Up and Lift Off LA," was produced by the California Department of Health Services to demonstrate how to fit fitness into meetings.
Bishop Mary Ann Swenson of the church's Los Angeles Area remarked about the growing participation in the health ministries conference. "To see how it has grown over the last three years is truly amazing," she said.
She told stories about long-distance tandem bicycle riding adventures with her husband to illustrate the principles of good teamwork: trusting each other, handling conflict in a healthy manner, building commitment, offering accountability and prioritizing results.
"Jesus sends disciples two by two," Swenson said. "It models the partnership God offers us through Christ. We are not alone. ... The one next to you is ready to go with you into the land of health, wholeness and holiness."
Bishop Ward said the health conference is an invitation to go forward with a rule of life. "Our rule of life is what we practically do," she explained.
For example, Ward exercises early in the morning. But it took her quite a while to put this practice into place in 1995. After exercising - somewhat reluctantly - for two months with her husband, she finally woke up and wanted to go. Her headaches disappeared. "I don't feel well if I don't exercise," she said.
"As we move forward in health ministries, we will engage with people who want to be well. It's important that we be rooted and grounded - and with strength that comes with humility," Ward said.
'Causes of life'
"This room is filled with people who embody faith and health," said Gary Gunderson, senior vice president for Health and Welfare Ministries at Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare in Memphis.
Gunderson, internationally known for his work in faith and health, outlined the "leading causes of life." He stressed that this "language of life" is a better way to communicate about congregational health ministries than the language of death.
"Public health looks for unexpected pathology. We are looking for unexpected vitality and how you get more of it," he explained.
He defined the "leading causes of life" as:
In this network, a "navigator" representing each hospital and a liaison with each church work together to help church members when they need hospital care. The goal is to have 400 congregations in the network.
"The whole structure is to make sure a person is held in a web of intentional compassion," Gunderson said.
Setting priorities
At the closing worship, the Rev. Fred Douglas Smith Jr. of Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington D.C. said Jesus came to "trouble the water," referring to the story of Christ healing the man who waited years by a pool to be healed.
"Jesus asked, 'Do you want to be healed?' The question is really why do you want to be well?" Smith said. "Do you have a reason to live? Why do you want to be healed? What is it that gives your life meaning? What is the hope you have welling up inside of you?"
Smith said people served by health ministries often do not comply with guidelines for taking care of themselves. "They have no reason to comply," he suggested. "You need to ask the question, 'Is there something more important to you - than fried chicken or drugs?' ... Jesus entered the scene full of life and full of grace, saying, 'I have a reason.'
"Life is contagious. It spreads from smile to smile, from tender touch to tender touch. If you want to live, you need to be around folks who are alive."
*White is associate editor of Interpreter magazine and served on the leadership team for the National Congregational Health Ministries Conference. Both Interpreter and United Methodist News Service are ministries of United Methodist Communications.
News media contact: Deborah White, Nashville, Tn., (615) 742-5102 or newsdesk@umcom.org
********************
United Methodist News Service Photos and stories also available at: http://umns.umc.org
Here's a press release from the UMC. I'm struck by this emphasis on health: life, not death. It reminds me of the lifting up of abundance vs. scarcity in stewardship.
Shalom!
dave
Healthy churches need healthy leaders, speakers say
Oct. 12, 2007
NOTE: Photographs are available at http://umns.umc.org.
By Deborah White*
WICHITA, Kan. (UMNS) - "If you're really serious about serving the Lord, you'd better start taking care of yourself," Bishop Scott Jones told health ministry leaders at a national conference.
"Empowering Ministries of Health: Starting, Implementing and Advancing" was the theme of the third annual National Congregational Health Ministries Conference, held Sept. 23-26 at the Spiritual Life Center in Wichita. The event was sponsored by the United Methodist Board of Pension and Health Benefits and the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.
The conference continued a growing emphasis on health ministries in The United Methodist Church. It attracted 165 United Methodists from 54 annual (regional) conferences, more than double the attendance at the 2006 National Congregational Health Ministries Conference in Memphis, Tenn. A fourth annual conference is planned for Sept. 21-24, 2008, at Lake Junaluska, N.C.
"We have got to figure out how our churches become centers of healing - spiritual and physical," said Jones, who leads the denomination's Kansas Area. His opening keynote address laid a holistic foundation for the conference.
After reaching a point of exhaustion, Jones said he started paying more attention to his health. Now he wears a pedometer to count his steps, brings carrots to cabinet meetings and limits his caffeine intake.
Building healthy churches
Weaving scriptures and personal experiences, several other speakers joined Jones in emphasizing that self-care for leaders is an important step in building healthy congregations. Participants also toured two health ministries in Wichita and broke into four workshop tracks to study aspects of health ministries including planning, evaluation, teamwork, communications, coping with stress and making self-care covenants.
"The challenge is to get healthy ourselves, to pull back from the table," said the Rev. Embra Jackson, assistant to Bishop Hope Morgan Ward of Mississippi. Jackson, Ward and 600 clergy members in Mississippi wear pedometers and walk several miles a day as part of the Amazing Pace health ministry.
In the 1950s, pastors were at the top of the health charts, Jackson pointed out. "Now we're at the bottom," he said. "We need to get well. If leaders get healthy and well, the church gets healthy and well."
Kim Moore, president of the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund in Hutchinson, Kan., shared his personal struggles to stay in shape - such as lifting weights before a physically demanding mission trip and walking at 6 a.m. instead of sleeping while out of town on business.
"We increasingly know the behaviors that matter, but we struggle to incorporate them into our lives," Moore said.
The literature of health ministries says "get a team," Moore said. "Too many people believe they are essential. I thought I was essential. I took a sabbatical and found that my colleagues could run the Health Ministry Fund without me.
"We've got to get this attitude into the church: I am valuable but not essential."
Time for fitness
During his presentation, Moore used an exercise DVD to lead 10 minutes of simple exercises. The DVD, "Fuel Up and Lift Off LA," was produced by the California Department of Health Services to demonstrate how to fit fitness into meetings.
Bishop Mary Ann Swenson of the church's Los Angeles Area remarked about the growing participation in the health ministries conference. "To see how it has grown over the last three years is truly amazing," she said.
She told stories about long-distance tandem bicycle riding adventures with her husband to illustrate the principles of good teamwork: trusting each other, handling conflict in a healthy manner, building commitment, offering accountability and prioritizing results.
"Jesus sends disciples two by two," Swenson said. "It models the partnership God offers us through Christ. We are not alone. ... The one next to you is ready to go with you into the land of health, wholeness and holiness."
Bishop Ward said the health conference is an invitation to go forward with a rule of life. "Our rule of life is what we practically do," she explained.
For example, Ward exercises early in the morning. But it took her quite a while to put this practice into place in 1995. After exercising - somewhat reluctantly - for two months with her husband, she finally woke up and wanted to go. Her headaches disappeared. "I don't feel well if I don't exercise," she said.
"As we move forward in health ministries, we will engage with people who want to be well. It's important that we be rooted and grounded - and with strength that comes with humility," Ward said.
'Causes of life'
"This room is filled with people who embody faith and health," said Gary Gunderson, senior vice president for Health and Welfare Ministries at Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare in Memphis.
Gunderson, internationally known for his work in faith and health, outlined the "leading causes of life." He stressed that this "language of life" is a better way to communicate about congregational health ministries than the language of death.
"Public health looks for unexpected pathology. We are looking for unexpected vitality and how you get more of it," he explained.
He defined the "leading causes of life" as:
- Connection. "A small congregation is the size of the connection that causes life."
- Coherence. "Congregations can't help but make coherent the love of God by showing up. That's the health power that is in congregations. It makes life coherent when you are falling apart."
- Agency - the capacity "to do"; making choices that matter for those who matter.
- Blessing - a sense of connection that ties one generation to the next.
- Hope. "Hope chains us together toward life. We live out of our expectations, our hopes."
In this network, a "navigator" representing each hospital and a liaison with each church work together to help church members when they need hospital care. The goal is to have 400 congregations in the network.
"The whole structure is to make sure a person is held in a web of intentional compassion," Gunderson said.
Setting priorities
At the closing worship, the Rev. Fred Douglas Smith Jr. of Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington D.C. said Jesus came to "trouble the water," referring to the story of Christ healing the man who waited years by a pool to be healed.
"Jesus asked, 'Do you want to be healed?' The question is really why do you want to be well?" Smith said. "Do you have a reason to live? Why do you want to be healed? What is it that gives your life meaning? What is the hope you have welling up inside of you?"
Smith said people served by health ministries often do not comply with guidelines for taking care of themselves. "They have no reason to comply," he suggested. "You need to ask the question, 'Is there something more important to you - than fried chicken or drugs?' ... Jesus entered the scene full of life and full of grace, saying, 'I have a reason.'
"Life is contagious. It spreads from smile to smile, from tender touch to tender touch. If you want to live, you need to be around folks who are alive."
*White is associate editor of Interpreter magazine and served on the leadership team for the National Congregational Health Ministries Conference. Both Interpreter and United Methodist News Service are ministries of United Methodist Communications.
News media contact: Deborah White, Nashville, Tn., (615) 742-5102 or newsdesk@umcom.org
********************
United Methodist News Service Photos and stories also available at: http://umns.umc.org
Sunday, October 7, 2007
How are you today, Pastor?
Shalom!
I'm more than a little slow on two things at least! One is the reporting out of the Connectional Table State of the Church material, and the other is this concern about the health of clergy. It's dated Nov. 1, 2006.
http://www.umc.org/site/c.gjJTJbMUIuE/b.2221635/k.EC98/Connectional_Table_affirms_four_provocative_proposals.htm
Partial quote from the article:
"During the meeting, the health task force presented information to the group that health care claims by United Methodist clergy in the United States are 16 percent higher than those of other employers with more than 500 employees across the nation. Barbara Boigegrain, chief executive of the United Methodist Board of Pension and Health Benefits, explained that the surveys showed United Methodist clergy are also obese in greater numbers than the national average.
"Boigegrain said the data lead the group to question: 'What is going on in the lives of the clergy that is causing them to be heavier, to have higher stress, and to be measurably less healthy than the rest of the population? …We need to look at the systems of the church.' The task force suggested that annual conferences and agencies provide comparative data and best practices to focus on the systemic issues and prepare recommendations for General Conference."
Retirement has quickly taught me that in spite of my self-perceived self-image, I'm about as fat as the kids said I was! Grandchildren would ask when the twins were due. My dear, health-conscious wife has invited me to walk most every evening in the neighborhood, and that has been wonderful. So far it hasn't done much for the total weight, but I think the pounds have been rearranged a bit. We've been trying to eat less. So I think there is progress on the physical front, literally.
There's also progress on the stress level. Retirement will do that for you, if you have decent health and a plan for living in retirement--a plan that needs to include more than how to pay for it. Frankly, I had no idea how high my stress level was until suddenly, I didn't have a job. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy my work--I did!--but the normal stress, let alone the extra stress, was wearing on me.
So, cool, retirement settles a couple of scores. But in my quest to be helpful and supportive for active pastors, what are some ways active pastors can deal with weight and stress matters?
I'd love to get answers to that question, but in the meantime, how about these:
I'm more than a little slow on two things at least! One is the reporting out of the Connectional Table State of the Church material, and the other is this concern about the health of clergy. It's dated Nov. 1, 2006.
http://www.umc.org/site/c.gjJTJbMUIuE/b.2221635/k.EC98/Connectional_Table_affirms_four_provocative_proposals.htm
Partial quote from the article:
"During the meeting, the health task force presented information to the group that health care claims by United Methodist clergy in the United States are 16 percent higher than those of other employers with more than 500 employees across the nation. Barbara Boigegrain, chief executive of the United Methodist Board of Pension and Health Benefits, explained that the surveys showed United Methodist clergy are also obese in greater numbers than the national average.
"Boigegrain said the data lead the group to question: 'What is going on in the lives of the clergy that is causing them to be heavier, to have higher stress, and to be measurably less healthy than the rest of the population? …We need to look at the systems of the church.' The task force suggested that annual conferences and agencies provide comparative data and best practices to focus on the systemic issues and prepare recommendations for General Conference."
Retirement has quickly taught me that in spite of my self-perceived self-image, I'm about as fat as the kids said I was! Grandchildren would ask when the twins were due. My dear, health-conscious wife has invited me to walk most every evening in the neighborhood, and that has been wonderful. So far it hasn't done much for the total weight, but I think the pounds have been rearranged a bit. We've been trying to eat less. So I think there is progress on the physical front, literally.
There's also progress on the stress level. Retirement will do that for you, if you have decent health and a plan for living in retirement--a plan that needs to include more than how to pay for it. Frankly, I had no idea how high my stress level was until suddenly, I didn't have a job. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy my work--I did!--but the normal stress, let alone the extra stress, was wearing on me.
So, cool, retirement settles a couple of scores. But in my quest to be helpful and supportive for active pastors, what are some ways active pastors can deal with weight and stress matters?
I'd love to get answers to that question, but in the meantime, how about these:
- figure out a time and a way to get some regular exercise each day. A walk in the neighborhood, time at a gym, games with the children....
- park away from the hospital or store entrances and walk more. And take steps in the hospital instead of the elevator. There were times when that was the extent of my exercise program. That might explain the looks I got from nurses as I stepped out on the 4th floor or the 6th floor of area hospitals.
- meditation or prayer or a scheduled time for reflective or fun reading....
- delegate, delegate, and delegate some more. Sometimes it's easier to change the light bulb yourself, but if everybody in the building assumes that Pastor can do that each and every time, it gets to be a stressor....
- know your way. Some of us may actually "work best under pressure" but we may need to make sure those around us know that . . . or change the pattern because if it starts to be destructive for us or for our congregation.
- make friends with somebody! Dare I suggest the circuits in the Wisconsin Conference of the UMC? Keep in touch with one or several colleagues.
That's my short list for tonight. What works for you? How do you take care of your body and your spirit?
Shalom!
dave
Friday, October 5, 2007
Just a thought . . .
Shalom!
The NY TIMES feature offers something to ponder today:
- ON THIS DAY -
On October 5, 1947, in the first televised White House address, President Truman asked Americans to refrain from eating meat on Tuesdays and poultry on Thursdays to help stockpile grain for starving people in Europe.
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20071005.html
Here's a thought: what's wrong with this approach to international relations? Why can't we a) talk with people we don't like who happen to be the leaders of other nations, b) consider helping other nations with basic needs, c) model what it means to love the neighbor?
Shalom!
dave
The NY TIMES feature offers something to ponder today:
- ON THIS DAY -
On October 5, 1947, in the first televised White House address, President Truman asked Americans to refrain from eating meat on Tuesdays and poultry on Thursdays to help stockpile grain for starving people in Europe.
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20071005.html
Here's a thought: what's wrong with this approach to international relations? Why can't we a) talk with people we don't like who happen to be the leaders of other nations, b) consider helping other nations with basic needs, c) model what it means to love the neighbor?
Shalom!
dave
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Energy tip for early October
Shalom!
Got this from a friend and thought I'd pass it on. It's a good and simple way to save energy and money too at home or in the church building!
99 cents for an energy efficient light bulb sound good?
You can buy CFLs now for good prices like this. The first two weeks in October is the best time to buy energy efficient CFLs. Most hardware stores in the area participate in "instant rebate" promotions, and have much better selections than at other times of the year. Many stores offer CFLs to replace 60w, 75w or 100w incandescents. 99 cents a bulb for any of these three sizes. Get 'em while they're hot.
More on the promotion, including a full list of Wisconsin's participating stores: http://www.focusonenergy.com/page.jsp?pageId=1766
Shalom!
dave
Got this from a friend and thought I'd pass it on. It's a good and simple way to save energy and money too at home or in the church building!
99 cents for an energy efficient light bulb sound good?
You can buy CFLs now for good prices like this. The first two weeks in October is the best time to buy energy efficient CFLs. Most hardware stores in the area participate in "instant rebate" promotions, and have much better selections than at other times of the year. Many stores offer CFLs to replace 60w, 75w or 100w incandescents. 99 cents a bulb for any of these three sizes. Get 'em while they're hot.
More on the promotion, including a full list of Wisconsin's participating stores: http://www.focusonenergy.com/page.jsp?pageId=1766
Shalom!
dave
Friday, September 28, 2007
Mental Health
Shalom!
I enjoy reading this column from our Mennonite friends on a regular basis and want to copy the current issue below. The website Melodie mentions toward the end is a website by a United Methodist pastor.
http://www.mentalhealthministries.net/index.html
Website by UM pastor Susan Gregg-Schroeder
This is a subject we don't often touch on too much, at least in my church experience.
Shalom!
dave
Holding On: Depression Screeningby Melodie Davis
It was early summer by the calendar, but there on my path in the woods where I often walk lay some leaves already fallen to the ground. The leaves were riddled and weakened by some pest that had devoured the life out of them. Weakened, the leaves could no longer hold on to the tree.I thought immediately of a professional colleague who had taken his life about six weeks earlier. He was not a close personal friend of mine but I respected his work profoundly, and he was very close to a number of my friends. His death impacted them and all of us in ways that none of us could have ever figured ahead of time.
He had struggled with bipolar illness, which many people knew, but no one knew just how deeply he was struggling at the time. I knew him well enough to feel that he would have not have taken his life if he had been feeling better. As insights from close friends and colleagues and family came out, it become clear that he had gotten to the place where mentally his mind was so devastated that he could no longer hold on.
As I held the leaf I thought of Lee, and said a prayer for his family. I happened to share the leaf story with a professional counselor, who said she thought it was a very useful metaphor for what happens with mental illness and suggested I write about it.
With the U.S. National Depression Screening Day coming up October 11, I would like to take this opportunity to encourage anyone and everyone who struggles with ongoing depression or even suicidal thoughts to seek screening and treatment. When stress piles up, it is easy to become overwhelmed. It takes time and effort to seek treatment. Who wants to take time out of a busy schedule to go to the doctor or the hospital?
This summer our staff helped facilitate workshops at our national church convention on mental illness rising out of the award-winning documentary we produced, Shadow Voices: Finding Hope in Mental Illness. I mention the award from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) not because of our work but because of the ten heroes (my word) who shared their stories of dealing with mental illness in the program, which I have written about before in this column. (See <http://www.shadowvoices.com/> www.shadowvoices.com or write to me for a series of columns on the topic). As persons are open about their illnesses, they help others find the courage to seek help even amid the stigma that still surrounds mental illness.
At one workshop, I was moved by the comment of one middle-aged man who shared his pain of practically raising his children by himself because of the illness of his wife. He was a member of a congregation, yet because her illness was a mental one, he did not receive the kind of support that he likely would have received had her illness been cancer or heart disease.
This is not to condemn churches in general because as a society we do not know how to relate to persons with this kind of illness.
However, this must and will change. Earlier in the spring, I conducted a 13-week Sunday school class using the Shadow Voices DVD at my own congregation and was pleasantly surprised at one of the younger members of the class expressing a "what's the big deal" attitude about the topic of mental illness. She was very open about sharing her own depression and treatment. "Everyone I know is on some kind of med," she said with a slight bit of exaggeration.
National Depression Screening Day (NDSD) will be held on October 11. NDSD screening sites are sponsored by hospitals, mental health centers, government agencies, social service agencies, advocacy organizations, colleges, primary care clinics, workplaces, healthcare companies and some faith communities. For more information or to find screening sites in your area, visit <http://www.mentalhealthscreening.org/> Mental Health Screening. Tell others about the screenings. In addition, Susan Gregg-Schroeder, a United Methodist minister who has experienced deep depression, heads a ministry called <http://www.MentalHealthMinistries.net> Mental Health Ministries and has many additional resources available at her website.
** ** ** ** ** **Another Way column by Melodie Davis. Send your comments to melodie@MennoMedia.org or dialogue with others on this topic or previous topics at Another Way Conversation - http://www.thirdway.com/talk/?Topic=AW
I enjoy reading this column from our Mennonite friends on a regular basis and want to copy the current issue below. The website Melodie mentions toward the end is a website by a United Methodist pastor.
http://www.mentalhealthministries.net/index.html
Website by UM pastor Susan Gregg-Schroeder
This is a subject we don't often touch on too much, at least in my church experience.
Shalom!
dave
Holding On: Depression Screeningby Melodie Davis
It was early summer by the calendar, but there on my path in the woods where I often walk lay some leaves already fallen to the ground. The leaves were riddled and weakened by some pest that had devoured the life out of them. Weakened, the leaves could no longer hold on to the tree.I thought immediately of a professional colleague who had taken his life about six weeks earlier. He was not a close personal friend of mine but I respected his work profoundly, and he was very close to a number of my friends. His death impacted them and all of us in ways that none of us could have ever figured ahead of time.
He had struggled with bipolar illness, which many people knew, but no one knew just how deeply he was struggling at the time. I knew him well enough to feel that he would have not have taken his life if he had been feeling better. As insights from close friends and colleagues and family came out, it become clear that he had gotten to the place where mentally his mind was so devastated that he could no longer hold on.
As I held the leaf I thought of Lee, and said a prayer for his family. I happened to share the leaf story with a professional counselor, who said she thought it was a very useful metaphor for what happens with mental illness and suggested I write about it.
With the U.S. National Depression Screening Day coming up October 11, I would like to take this opportunity to encourage anyone and everyone who struggles with ongoing depression or even suicidal thoughts to seek screening and treatment. When stress piles up, it is easy to become overwhelmed. It takes time and effort to seek treatment. Who wants to take time out of a busy schedule to go to the doctor or the hospital?
This summer our staff helped facilitate workshops at our national church convention on mental illness rising out of the award-winning documentary we produced, Shadow Voices: Finding Hope in Mental Illness. I mention the award from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) not because of our work but because of the ten heroes (my word) who shared their stories of dealing with mental illness in the program, which I have written about before in this column. (See <http://www.shadowvoices.com/> www.shadowvoices.com or write to me for a series of columns on the topic). As persons are open about their illnesses, they help others find the courage to seek help even amid the stigma that still surrounds mental illness.
At one workshop, I was moved by the comment of one middle-aged man who shared his pain of practically raising his children by himself because of the illness of his wife. He was a member of a congregation, yet because her illness was a mental one, he did not receive the kind of support that he likely would have received had her illness been cancer or heart disease.
This is not to condemn churches in general because as a society we do not know how to relate to persons with this kind of illness.
However, this must and will change. Earlier in the spring, I conducted a 13-week Sunday school class using the Shadow Voices DVD at my own congregation and was pleasantly surprised at one of the younger members of the class expressing a "what's the big deal" attitude about the topic of mental illness. She was very open about sharing her own depression and treatment. "Everyone I know is on some kind of med," she said with a slight bit of exaggeration.
National Depression Screening Day (NDSD) will be held on October 11. NDSD screening sites are sponsored by hospitals, mental health centers, government agencies, social service agencies, advocacy organizations, colleges, primary care clinics, workplaces, healthcare companies and some faith communities. For more information or to find screening sites in your area, visit <http://www.mentalhealthscreening.org/> Mental Health Screening. Tell others about the screenings. In addition, Susan Gregg-Schroeder, a United Methodist minister who has experienced deep depression, heads a ministry called <http://www.MentalHealthMinistries.net> Mental Health Ministries and has many additional resources available at her website.
** ** ** ** ** **Another Way column by Melodie Davis. Send your comments to melodie@MennoMedia.org or dialogue with others on this topic or previous topics at Another Way Conversation - http://www.thirdway.com/talk/?Topic=AW
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
"Christianity in today’s society no longer looks like Jesus." -- Barna study
Shalom!
Here's a site to find info on the Barna Group's recent study about how young Americans perceive Christianity.
http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdateNarrow&BarnaUpdateID=280
Among a number of interesting tidbits is this line that was used by many to describe how Christianity is perceived now: "Christianity in today’s society no longer looks like Jesus."
What does Jesus look like? (I don't mean the physical description.) Many discussions in the Village have gotten pretty detailed about a number of things (I know this because I've been a contributor of some of the fine-pointing.) Maybe we have managed to look over or past the stories of Jesus interacting with the world around him. He didn't use big words. He didn't run for office. He didn't work any particular business plan that I know of. He did spend time with children and women and poor people. He did tell stories. He did get himself into big trouble with powerful governments and religious leaders. He was killed, but we live as if he is alive.
He's known for accepting people, speaking plainly if a bit enigmatically (but folks seemed to get the point), valuing his relationship with the Divine, and standing up for what he may have called the Kingdom of God.
Jesus summarizes all the law and prophets with three things: loving God, loving neighbor, and loving self. When he offers a story of judgment (Matthew 25), he determines the up or down vote by how his followers cared for "the least" who were hungry, thirsty, naked, alone, sick, or in prison.
Do you suppose if we Christians today looked like that, we could attract more young adults to our churches and ministries? I'm thinking, Yes!
Shalom!
dave
Here's a site to find info on the Barna Group's recent study about how young Americans perceive Christianity.
http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdateNarrow&BarnaUpdateID=280
Among a number of interesting tidbits is this line that was used by many to describe how Christianity is perceived now: "Christianity in today’s society no longer looks like Jesus."
What does Jesus look like? (I don't mean the physical description.) Many discussions in the Village have gotten pretty detailed about a number of things (I know this because I've been a contributor of some of the fine-pointing.) Maybe we have managed to look over or past the stories of Jesus interacting with the world around him. He didn't use big words. He didn't run for office. He didn't work any particular business plan that I know of. He did spend time with children and women and poor people. He did tell stories. He did get himself into big trouble with powerful governments and religious leaders. He was killed, but we live as if he is alive.
He's known for accepting people, speaking plainly if a bit enigmatically (but folks seemed to get the point), valuing his relationship with the Divine, and standing up for what he may have called the Kingdom of God.
Jesus summarizes all the law and prophets with three things: loving God, loving neighbor, and loving self. When he offers a story of judgment (Matthew 25), he determines the up or down vote by how his followers cared for "the least" who were hungry, thirsty, naked, alone, sick, or in prison.
Do you suppose if we Christians today looked like that, we could attract more young adults to our churches and ministries? I'm thinking, Yes!
Shalom!
dave
Monday, September 24, 2007
Quilts and Chocolate chip cookies
Shalom!
As far as I know, my grandmothers never fashioned quilts, but a character in Philip Gulley’s JUST SHY OF HARMONY (HarperSanFrancisco, 2002) valued her grandmother’s quilt highly. It was Jessie Peacock’s grandmother’s wedding ring quilt made by Jessie’s great-grandmother. As the story unfolds, and the quilt comes back to Jessie and her husband Asa, Gulley points out the value of such a day—a day “like Thanksgiving and Christmas and the day you got your grandma’s quilt back.” Quaint, to be sure, but understandable in my mind! My Mother's Mother lived with us for a few years when I was younger, oh so much younger, and she baked chocolate chip cookies. I think they must have been for me. Grandma was a very nervous person, and she sometimes did strange things. I think the cookies were for me because I was the only child, my father was diabetic, and my mother worked most days. Now that I think about it, though, Mother liked chocolate chip cookies too. Anyway, Grandma would bake them and then hide them. I would find them. And devour them. Like Thanksgiving and Christmas and the day you found your grandma's chocolate chip cookies . . . .
Gulley’s fictional story of Harmony and the Quakers there seems to be a lot like of Jan Karon’s Mitford series. Yet it all rings true for me! Mitford or Harmony, Episcopalians or Quakers, sophisticates like Fr. Tim and Cynthia or down-home folks like Sam and Barbara—the stories about life in church and parsonage have the ring of authenticity.
The church member writing the church column for the local paper commented on the pastor’s faith crisis:
That Pastor Sam with the faith crisis? He kept going to the Meetinghouse for service. And in time he preached again. I imagine it was a day like Thanksgiving and Christmas and the day you got your grandma's quilt back. Here's my question: did some of those Coffee Cup men go to church, and did they see what is happening in our worship?
Shalom!
dave
As far as I know, my grandmothers never fashioned quilts, but a character in Philip Gulley’s JUST SHY OF HARMONY (HarperSanFrancisco, 2002) valued her grandmother’s quilt highly. It was Jessie Peacock’s grandmother’s wedding ring quilt made by Jessie’s great-grandmother. As the story unfolds, and the quilt comes back to Jessie and her husband Asa, Gulley points out the value of such a day—a day “like Thanksgiving and Christmas and the day you got your grandma’s quilt back.” Quaint, to be sure, but understandable in my mind! My Mother's Mother lived with us for a few years when I was younger, oh so much younger, and she baked chocolate chip cookies. I think they must have been for me. Grandma was a very nervous person, and she sometimes did strange things. I think the cookies were for me because I was the only child, my father was diabetic, and my mother worked most days. Now that I think about it, though, Mother liked chocolate chip cookies too. Anyway, Grandma would bake them and then hide them. I would find them. And devour them. Like Thanksgiving and Christmas and the day you found your grandma's chocolate chip cookies . . . .
Gulley’s fictional story of Harmony and the Quakers there seems to be a lot like of Jan Karon’s Mitford series. Yet it all rings true for me! Mitford or Harmony, Episcopalians or Quakers, sophisticates like Fr. Tim and Cynthia or down-home folks like Sam and Barbara—the stories about life in church and parsonage have the ring of authenticity.
The church member writing the church column for the local paper commented on the pastor’s faith crisis:
The elders at Harmony Friends Meeting will be preaching until Sam GardnerJust to see what happens. I think that's a marvelous reason to gather for worship week in and week out: just to be there when something happens by the grace of God, and by the grace of God, something does! That holy something isn't always in the order of worship or the sermon or the choir anthem or the pastoral prayer or the hymns--certainly not in the ones I hate!--or in the passing of the peace. It's likely to happen during the time for children. It may happen in a conversation before worship or during the coffee hour. Watch for it! It will happen!
believes in God again.
All over town, folks have been talking about it. The old men down at the Coffee Cup ruminate about it over their bacon and eggs. An atheist pastor. Some of them are thinking of going to church just to see what happens.
That Pastor Sam with the faith crisis? He kept going to the Meetinghouse for service. And in time he preached again. I imagine it was a day like Thanksgiving and Christmas and the day you got your grandma's quilt back. Here's my question: did some of those Coffee Cup men go to church, and did they see what is happening in our worship?
Shalom!
dave
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Survey summary and a new survey!
Shalom!
On two blogs I received a total of four responses. Hmmmmm..... Here's the summary for the survey from recently. I'll post my reaction later. After the summary, I'm asking a few more questions.
Shalom!
dave
The survey (from Sept. 6, 2007):
1. Are you a lay person or an ordained person?
a. 4 responses (hardly a healthy sample!)
i. 1 ordained United Methodist elder (anonymous)
ii. 2 lay (women)
iii. 1 lay man currently in process toward Local Licensed Pastor
b. i thank these four persons for responding so thoughtfully!
2. In your opinion, what are the top three or four issues facing local congregations? (I have mixed up responses in this general listing.)
a. Lack of vision for promoting growth in membership
b. Local congregations getting older and trying to attract and keep those in 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s
c. Congregations who do not feel a need to change
d. Starting “from scratch” with searching people because we missed a generation in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
e. Individuals or small groups who confront the pastor instead of offering cooperation
f. Commitment—looking more for entertainment than spiritual growth
g. Apathy among members
h. Members are often opposing one another instead of working together
i. Clergy itineracy and compensation
j. System discourages churches and pastors from doing long-term work needed for continuing maturing growth
k. Only a few members active; many are pewsitters
l. Lack of growth/declining membership
m. Lack of Biblical and Wesleyan knowledge/understanding
3. In your opinion, what are the top three or four issues facing clergy in congregations? (I have mixed up responses in this general listing.)
a. Lack of vision to promote growth in membership
b. Burnout due to heavy expectations
c. Mismatch in appointments (between pastor and congregation)
d. Declining enrollment (i think this means fewer pastors.)
e. Too much to do in too little time
f. Trying to make needed changes without upsetting power people
g. Length of ordination process
h. Numbers game at Conference level
i. Competing interests/conflict of interests for members—have to choose between worship and soccer
j. Worship services that are not meaningful for attending persons
4. In your opinion, what are the top tools a pastor ought to have in the pastoral skill kit? (I have mixed up responses in this general listing.)
a. Energy!
b. Better communication—more heartfelt preaching, better listening skills, more teaching/practicing of Wesley’s covenant groups
c. Communication skills of all kinds
d. A supportive spouse
e. Support system of family and friends outside the congregation
f. Two colleague support groups—one of UMC pastors and one ecumenical group
g. A good understanding of counseling theory and why people act the way they do
h. A calling to whatever type of ministry they are in
i. Being sure to take time away for family and self and fun
j. Retreats for spiritual growing
k. People to talk with
l. A visitation program within the parish and persons willing to do some visitation to help the pastor have time for other tasks
m. D.Min.
Second Survey
1. Are you a lay person or pastor/licensed local pastor/deacon?
2. In your opinion, what are the three or four strengths of The United Methodist Church?
3. In your opinion, what does a United Methodist presence (church) bring to a community?
Please respond!
Shalom!
dave
On two blogs I received a total of four responses. Hmmmmm..... Here's the summary for the survey from recently. I'll post my reaction later. After the summary, I'm asking a few more questions.
Shalom!
dave
The survey (from Sept. 6, 2007):
1. Are you a lay person or an ordained person?
a. 4 responses (hardly a healthy sample!)
i. 1 ordained United Methodist elder (anonymous)
ii. 2 lay (women)
iii. 1 lay man currently in process toward Local Licensed Pastor
b. i thank these four persons for responding so thoughtfully!
2. In your opinion, what are the top three or four issues facing local congregations? (I have mixed up responses in this general listing.)
a. Lack of vision for promoting growth in membership
b. Local congregations getting older and trying to attract and keep those in 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s
c. Congregations who do not feel a need to change
d. Starting “from scratch” with searching people because we missed a generation in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
e. Individuals or small groups who confront the pastor instead of offering cooperation
f. Commitment—looking more for entertainment than spiritual growth
g. Apathy among members
h. Members are often opposing one another instead of working together
i. Clergy itineracy and compensation
j. System discourages churches and pastors from doing long-term work needed for continuing maturing growth
k. Only a few members active; many are pewsitters
l. Lack of growth/declining membership
m. Lack of Biblical and Wesleyan knowledge/understanding
3. In your opinion, what are the top three or four issues facing clergy in congregations? (I have mixed up responses in this general listing.)
a. Lack of vision to promote growth in membership
b. Burnout due to heavy expectations
c. Mismatch in appointments (between pastor and congregation)
d. Declining enrollment (i think this means fewer pastors.)
e. Too much to do in too little time
f. Trying to make needed changes without upsetting power people
g. Length of ordination process
h. Numbers game at Conference level
i. Competing interests/conflict of interests for members—have to choose between worship and soccer
j. Worship services that are not meaningful for attending persons
4. In your opinion, what are the top tools a pastor ought to have in the pastoral skill kit? (I have mixed up responses in this general listing.)
a. Energy!
b. Better communication—more heartfelt preaching, better listening skills, more teaching/practicing of Wesley’s covenant groups
c. Communication skills of all kinds
d. A supportive spouse
e. Support system of family and friends outside the congregation
f. Two colleague support groups—one of UMC pastors and one ecumenical group
g. A good understanding of counseling theory and why people act the way they do
h. A calling to whatever type of ministry they are in
i. Being sure to take time away for family and self and fun
j. Retreats for spiritual growing
k. People to talk with
l. A visitation program within the parish and persons willing to do some visitation to help the pastor have time for other tasks
m. D.Min.
Second Survey
1. Are you a lay person or pastor/licensed local pastor/deacon?
2. In your opinion, what are the three or four strengths of The United Methodist Church?
3. In your opinion, what does a United Methodist presence (church) bring to a community?
Please respond!
Shalom!
dave
Monday, September 17, 2007
An issue for United Methodist clergy
Shalom!
Today's UMCom news service carried an article about younger clergy. A quote follows:
“There was a sense among many (although not all) that the church has not created space for young adults to be faithful disciples as they understand it. Instead, like a round peg in a square hole, they feel jammed into ministries that do not fit their gifts, into churches where they feel sucked dry and futile, into ministries that others define for them, without any room to explore what it means to be both Christian and postmodern at the same time. There was a sense that for many, The United Methodist Church is not looking for gifted Christian ministers; rather they are looking for by-the-book, work-within-the-system professionals who would pay their dues, innovate only within the system and not rock the boat.”
--Benjamin Yosua-Davis
http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=2072519&ct=4434793
Of course, i had a similar "sense" back in my seminary days (in another denomination) in the early 1970's. i think the stress is greater now, though, because of the way society has been changing in recent decades. Another concern of seminarians today seems to be an on-going seminary thing too: that seminaries and their teaching staff do not seem to be in touch with what is happening in local congregations. We know now that college educations are more or less outdated within several years because of the pace and scope of technological change, sociological understanding, etc. i think we just need to learn to live with rapid change!
i'm still going to compile the several responses to my survey upstream, but it seems to me that this quote enters into the discussion about the stress of expectations and the tools for pastors today. What is the role of leadership in local congregations, and how do we meet the ever-unfolding drama of daily living and spiritual growing?
Shalom!
dave
Today's UMCom news service carried an article about younger clergy. A quote follows:
“There was a sense among many (although not all) that the church has not created space for young adults to be faithful disciples as they understand it. Instead, like a round peg in a square hole, they feel jammed into ministries that do not fit their gifts, into churches where they feel sucked dry and futile, into ministries that others define for them, without any room to explore what it means to be both Christian and postmodern at the same time. There was a sense that for many, The United Methodist Church is not looking for gifted Christian ministers; rather they are looking for by-the-book, work-within-the-system professionals who would pay their dues, innovate only within the system and not rock the boat.”
--Benjamin Yosua-Davis
http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=2072519&ct=4434793
Of course, i had a similar "sense" back in my seminary days (in another denomination) in the early 1970's. i think the stress is greater now, though, because of the way society has been changing in recent decades. Another concern of seminarians today seems to be an on-going seminary thing too: that seminaries and their teaching staff do not seem to be in touch with what is happening in local congregations. We know now that college educations are more or less outdated within several years because of the pace and scope of technological change, sociological understanding, etc. i think we just need to learn to live with rapid change!
i'm still going to compile the several responses to my survey upstream, but it seems to me that this quote enters into the discussion about the stress of expectations and the tools for pastors today. What is the role of leadership in local congregations, and how do we meet the ever-unfolding drama of daily living and spiritual growing?
Shalom!
dave
How do you preach?
Shalom!
NOTE the survey here! Gentle Readers, you can help me shape this blog into something more helpful that a blob.
How do you preach? This does not anticipate answers like "Marvelously" or "So-so" or "I haven't taken a survey lately". I'm looking for responses around the following questions and others. Feel free to tick through the questions in your own mind, or respond here on the blog.
Do you think of the sermon as a central element of worship or one of several equal worship elements?
How do you see your preaching as "performance"?
Is it important to have a record of what you said? (Do you prefer to use a manuscript, and if so, why?) Or, is the sermon a "working through" the text with the congregation in a more informal fashion? How successful is that?
Do you have a way to measure the impact of a given sermon, and would you care to share that?
What else needs to be asked and considered?
Shalom!
dave
NOTE the survey here! Gentle Readers, you can help me shape this blog into something more helpful that a blob.
How do you preach? This does not anticipate answers like "Marvelously" or "So-so" or "I haven't taken a survey lately". I'm looking for responses around the following questions and others. Feel free to tick through the questions in your own mind, or respond here on the blog.
Do you think of the sermon as a central element of worship or one of several equal worship elements?
How do you see your preaching as "performance"?
Is it important to have a record of what you said? (Do you prefer to use a manuscript, and if so, why?) Or, is the sermon a "working through" the text with the congregation in a more informal fashion? How successful is that?
Do you have a way to measure the impact of a given sermon, and would you care to share that?
What else needs to be asked and considered?
Shalom!
dave
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Musing on living into the future
Shalom!
"Fear not for the future, weep not for the past." --Percy Bysshe Shelley
i'm a timid fellow. i am an introvert, per the MBTI. i was a cautious--probably too cautious--pastor. i tried to replace worrying with brooding but can't say how successful that was. i claimed it was all a part of my gift of creativity . . . .
So now i wonder if i lived too much in the past and how i might practice living in the present, not fearing the future. It helps that retirement has come as a gracious gift, and i live with a loving wife, and the sky outside our new home is bright blue with accents of puffy white clouds most of the time (so far). Storms will come, i suspect.
i have this nagging fear about what might happen to me and to the world. Yet increasingly my thinking leads me to an understanding of an open-ended future--which could give one great pause--and an ever-present Love. Reading Spong and others has helped clarify my uneasiness over recent years about the neatness of my faith. i used to think that God was drawing creation to a fulfillment, but now i'm not so sure about that. If God and i are co-creators, then how can either of us know the outcome? And if all of this that we call Creation is constantly evolving--or maybe a better word is changing, then what provides any sense of security?
i find the security in that ever-present Love, which is right now the closest i come to describing what i used to call God. The ever-present Love is large and compassionate and aware and many other things. This understanding provides me with meaning for my life. i can worship with other believers/trusters and sing the old hymns (though sometimes needing to edit the words as i sing) and share in the corporate experience. i still use the word God and i still need to be in conversation with persons with other thinking patterns. i am excited that the ever-present Love leads me/goes with me into a future that promises growth and increased awareness and a greater sense of feeling a part of all creation.
But i still have fear! i think it's a bit like John Wesley's Aldersgate experience. It is said that he continued to have lingering doubts that God loved him after that evening of the Hot Heart. There might be some Mother Teresa in there too: keeping to her compassionate caring even in the midst of a sense of being lost or alone.
i think i was afraid of the future as a pastor to the extent that i did not suggest or work for things in the life of the congregations that i served--things that would have changed the way things were! You know what i mean! But it was in part a survival issue. If i went past a certain line, sometimes more clearly visible than other times, then maybe people would leave the church or stop giving money or stop leading a program or a class or a project and then maybe i would a) not be liked or b) not be paid or c) get a call from my Superintendent or d) something else.
"Fear not" is one of the big themes in the Bible. Being excited about the future is one of our challenges these days. i wonder if anyone can help me support pastors nowadays who i think may experience fear themselves or be fearful of moving congregations in new directions? What are ways in which, together, we can "fear not for the future"?
Shalom!
dave
"Fear not for the future, weep not for the past." --Percy Bysshe Shelley
i'm a timid fellow. i am an introvert, per the MBTI. i was a cautious--probably too cautious--pastor. i tried to replace worrying with brooding but can't say how successful that was. i claimed it was all a part of my gift of creativity . . . .
So now i wonder if i lived too much in the past and how i might practice living in the present, not fearing the future. It helps that retirement has come as a gracious gift, and i live with a loving wife, and the sky outside our new home is bright blue with accents of puffy white clouds most of the time (so far). Storms will come, i suspect.
i have this nagging fear about what might happen to me and to the world. Yet increasingly my thinking leads me to an understanding of an open-ended future--which could give one great pause--and an ever-present Love. Reading Spong and others has helped clarify my uneasiness over recent years about the neatness of my faith. i used to think that God was drawing creation to a fulfillment, but now i'm not so sure about that. If God and i are co-creators, then how can either of us know the outcome? And if all of this that we call Creation is constantly evolving--or maybe a better word is changing, then what provides any sense of security?
i find the security in that ever-present Love, which is right now the closest i come to describing what i used to call God. The ever-present Love is large and compassionate and aware and many other things. This understanding provides me with meaning for my life. i can worship with other believers/trusters and sing the old hymns (though sometimes needing to edit the words as i sing) and share in the corporate experience. i still use the word God and i still need to be in conversation with persons with other thinking patterns. i am excited that the ever-present Love leads me/goes with me into a future that promises growth and increased awareness and a greater sense of feeling a part of all creation.
But i still have fear! i think it's a bit like John Wesley's Aldersgate experience. It is said that he continued to have lingering doubts that God loved him after that evening of the Hot Heart. There might be some Mother Teresa in there too: keeping to her compassionate caring even in the midst of a sense of being lost or alone.
i think i was afraid of the future as a pastor to the extent that i did not suggest or work for things in the life of the congregations that i served--things that would have changed the way things were! You know what i mean! But it was in part a survival issue. If i went past a certain line, sometimes more clearly visible than other times, then maybe people would leave the church or stop giving money or stop leading a program or a class or a project and then maybe i would a) not be liked or b) not be paid or c) get a call from my Superintendent or d) something else.
"Fear not" is one of the big themes in the Bible. Being excited about the future is one of our challenges these days. i wonder if anyone can help me support pastors nowadays who i think may experience fear themselves or be fearful of moving congregations in new directions? What are ways in which, together, we can "fear not for the future"?
Shalom!
dave
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
One reflection on 9/11
Shalom!
Bill Moyers interviewed (PBS, Friday, Sept. 7) Jack Goldsmith, author of THE TERROR PRESIDENCY and a recent lawyer in the administration. Goldsmith says of Vice President Cheney's longtime legal counsel and current Chief of Staff:
“David Addington once said to me, he was the Vice President's counsel, when I advised that I didn't think something they wanted to do was lawful, he once said to me, ‘If you rule that way, then you will have the blood of 100,000 people who die in the next attack on your hands.’”
One point Goldsmith was making, it seemed to me, was that the present Bush administration reacted to the terrorist act of 9/11/2001 with fear. It feared more deaths in the United States, and that fear pushed forward what many of us regard as unwarranted and counter-productive measures leading to the war in Iraq and numerous infringements on constitutional rights in our own nation.
Was/Is that fear justified? I don’t think so. Even as we mark today the terrible event that seems to us so invasive and irresponsible, we recognize that innocent persons die each month in many places around the globe. Our government is responsible for many of those deaths.
It seems to me that we need to be about the task of grieving death and despair wherever it arises in our world. We need to be acting out of hope and compassion, not fear and anger. If I understand Goldsmith’s point correctly—and if he is right, then our supposedly Christian nation and born-again President have been acting in most un-Christian-like ways characterized by fear, force, and faithlessness. We need to lift up the premises of religious expressions: that the Divine is “pure, unbounded love” inviting us to mature, to grow in grace, and to grow into the likeness of Christ.
Shalom!
dave
Bill Moyers interviewed (PBS, Friday, Sept. 7) Jack Goldsmith, author of THE TERROR PRESIDENCY and a recent lawyer in the administration. Goldsmith says of Vice President Cheney's longtime legal counsel and current Chief of Staff:
“David Addington once said to me, he was the Vice President's counsel, when I advised that I didn't think something they wanted to do was lawful, he once said to me, ‘If you rule that way, then you will have the blood of 100,000 people who die in the next attack on your hands.’”
One point Goldsmith was making, it seemed to me, was that the present Bush administration reacted to the terrorist act of 9/11/2001 with fear. It feared more deaths in the United States, and that fear pushed forward what many of us regard as unwarranted and counter-productive measures leading to the war in Iraq and numerous infringements on constitutional rights in our own nation.
Was/Is that fear justified? I don’t think so. Even as we mark today the terrible event that seems to us so invasive and irresponsible, we recognize that innocent persons die each month in many places around the globe. Our government is responsible for many of those deaths.
It seems to me that we need to be about the task of grieving death and despair wherever it arises in our world. We need to be acting out of hope and compassion, not fear and anger. If I understand Goldsmith’s point correctly—and if he is right, then our supposedly Christian nation and born-again President have been acting in most un-Christian-like ways characterized by fear, force, and faithlessness. We need to lift up the premises of religious expressions: that the Divine is “pure, unbounded love” inviting us to mature, to grow in grace, and to grow into the likeness of Christ.
Shalom!
dave
Friday, September 7, 2007
Resource for the Practicing Pastor
“Religion In Campaign ‘08”
http://people-press.org/reports/pdf/353.pdf
.... a report from the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan “fact tank” that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world ....
http://people-press.org/reports/pdf/353.pdf
.... a report from the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan “fact tank” that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world ....
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Practical Suggestions for the Practicing Pastor
For those who ask for joys and concerns before prayer in worship:
The other Sunday we worshipped in a church in which the worship leader—Ken Pennings—asked the congregation for joys and concerns. In my mind, this works best in smaller groups, but it seems to be a common practice in the places we have visited here. [Does it seem like an “in-house” kind of thing to you? It does to me, though perhaps it can draw in the guests too.] Anyway, one way to help the process is to repeat the joy or concern so that all can hear (or use a handheld microphone). Another thing—and this is what Ken did—is to ask the congregation to “covenant to remember _______ in prayer this week” with the congregational response, “We will.” Works for me.
However, I found myself this week unable to remember what I had agreed to pray for last week! Hence, this idea: have someone prepare a slide to project at points in the rest of the service to help folks recall the persons and situations, or, maybe better, have someone prepare a half-sheet of paper with the prayer requests which could be available as you leave the sanctuary. Again, I could note the requests in my bulletin, but it would be easier for me to have someone else prepare and distribute that list! [The usher counts the crowd so all we curious folks don’t have to. Same principle for noting prayer needs.]
The other Sunday we worshipped in a church in which the worship leader—Ken Pennings—asked the congregation for joys and concerns. In my mind, this works best in smaller groups, but it seems to be a common practice in the places we have visited here. [Does it seem like an “in-house” kind of thing to you? It does to me, though perhaps it can draw in the guests too.] Anyway, one way to help the process is to repeat the joy or concern so that all can hear (or use a handheld microphone). Another thing—and this is what Ken did—is to ask the congregation to “covenant to remember _______ in prayer this week” with the congregational response, “We will.” Works for me.
However, I found myself this week unable to remember what I had agreed to pray for last week! Hence, this idea: have someone prepare a slide to project at points in the rest of the service to help folks recall the persons and situations, or, maybe better, have someone prepare a half-sheet of paper with the prayer requests which could be available as you leave the sanctuary. Again, I could note the requests in my bulletin, but it would be easier for me to have someone else prepare and distribute that list! [The usher counts the crowd so all we curious folks don’t have to. Same principle for noting prayer needs.]
Tilt-a-World
Shalom!
I think Diana Butler Bass writing for Sojourners (see link)
http://blog.beliefnet.com/godspolitics/2007/09/american-christendom-rip-by-di.html
is on target: as some of these leaders of a more Right Wing faith expression pass from the scene, it will be easier to see what's coming. Maybe. [A couple of weeks ago Carmen Porco preached at Madison's First Baptist Church and lifted up an image that has stuck with me. We need each other. A bird flies with a right wing and a left wing; with only one, not so much. He suggested that God is the body that flies with both wings, and if we want the flight to be true and effective, we need both wings. How do we manage this today in the Body of Christ?]
I suspect that many of the congregations in our nation(s) worship in a traditional or some sort of blended style. Is this because such a style (and somewhat consequent theology) is correct? Is it because that's what we pastors know and are comfortable with? Is it because many of the main supporters (read: "givers") of our congregations are older and more comfortable with what they have gotten used to?
This is not an issue for me if the bottom line of congregations is outward-focused: how does the body of Christ constituted as the XYZ Church in Anytown, World serve those in need in the larger community? If any congregation engages only in navel-gazing and lint-picking, then there is a problem! A caring congregation can worship in a variety of ways.
But I wonder: how do we (congregations) and we (pastors) set a vision that keeps pace with much of what is going on around us in politics, economics, life style, etc.? I think the fall of Christendom is a good thing, but how are we shaping what will become "church" in the next few years?
And, working pastors, dear friends, how may the rest of us help you?
Shalom!
dave
I think Diana Butler Bass writing for Sojourners (see link)
http://blog.beliefnet.com/godspolitics/2007/09/american-christendom-rip-by-di.html
is on target: as some of these leaders of a more Right Wing faith expression pass from the scene, it will be easier to see what's coming. Maybe. [A couple of weeks ago Carmen Porco preached at Madison's First Baptist Church and lifted up an image that has stuck with me. We need each other. A bird flies with a right wing and a left wing; with only one, not so much. He suggested that God is the body that flies with both wings, and if we want the flight to be true and effective, we need both wings. How do we manage this today in the Body of Christ?]
I suspect that many of the congregations in our nation(s) worship in a traditional or some sort of blended style. Is this because such a style (and somewhat consequent theology) is correct? Is it because that's what we pastors know and are comfortable with? Is it because many of the main supporters (read: "givers") of our congregations are older and more comfortable with what they have gotten used to?
This is not an issue for me if the bottom line of congregations is outward-focused: how does the body of Christ constituted as the XYZ Church in Anytown, World serve those in need in the larger community? If any congregation engages only in navel-gazing and lint-picking, then there is a problem! A caring congregation can worship in a variety of ways.
But I wonder: how do we (congregations) and we (pastors) set a vision that keeps pace with much of what is going on around us in politics, economics, life style, etc.? I think the fall of Christendom is a good thing, but how are we shaping what will become "church" in the next few years?
And, working pastors, dear friends, how may the rest of us help you?
Shalom!
dave
Quick survey
Shalom!
For those who a) find this, and b) care to respond,
1. Are you a lay person or an ordained person?
2. In your opinion, what are the top three or four issues facing local congregations?
3. In your opinion, what are the top three or four issues facing clergy in congregations?
4. In your opinion, what are the top tools a pastor ought to have in the pastoral skill kit?
I think you can click on the comment box below and respond. You may respond anonymously.
Shalom!
dave
For those who a) find this, and b) care to respond,
1. Are you a lay person or an ordained person?
2. In your opinion, what are the top three or four issues facing local congregations?
3. In your opinion, what are the top three or four issues facing clergy in congregations?
4. In your opinion, what are the top tools a pastor ought to have in the pastoral skill kit?
I think you can click on the comment box below and respond. You may respond anonymously.
Shalom!
dave
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
What are we learning in schooling today?
Shalom!
The NY TIMES points out that
- ON THIS DAY -On Sept. 4, 1957, Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus called out the National Guard to prevent nine black students from entering Central High School in Little Rock.
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20070904.html
I was ten then. Can't say I remember the event, but I am aware that I grew up knowing OF the event. It was one of the civil rights moments that played a large role in shaping my growing up years. Today, the struggle continues as we contend with racism, and today I continue to grow up!
Pastor, what events of this day are shaping our youth? How is the Potter of our Present Clay shaping us in this world? How are we assisting or resisting in this process of change?
In worship last Sunday I became aware of the importance of this human activity (all over again for the first time some more). People choose to gather together to share in an "order of worship" in which there is attention to the Divine and caring for those around us. For some, the spoken word--Scripture or sermon, for example--is paramount; for others, the opportunity to weave melody and harmonies in group singing. For some, the touch and voice of friends; for others, the opportunity to be alone with Divine in the midst of others. Some have been brought to worship; others have come willingly and gladly. Some leave empty; others, filled to the brim with Spirit and spirit to face the days ahead.
How can congregations, which have a good thing going, improve in this area of connecting the events of the world with the story of God's love for all creation? I remember that some persons spoke favorably of the pastor who always preached on the headlines in the Sunday paper. Does this mean that s/he began sermon preparation a couple of hours before worship? Or is there an on-going conversation in which the headlines of the moment--the crawl on the screen of daily living--interact with the sweep of reflection on the gift and purpose of life?
Enough. Today let us hold in the energy-focusing of our praying the students and teachers and school personnel and families caught up in the enthusiasm and anxiety of this traditional first day of school. Ask anyone this evening, "What did you learn today?" and see if our education is making a difference in our daily living!
Shalom!
dave
The NY TIMES points out that
- ON THIS DAY -On Sept. 4, 1957, Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus called out the National Guard to prevent nine black students from entering Central High School in Little Rock.
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20070904.html
I was ten then. Can't say I remember the event, but I am aware that I grew up knowing OF the event. It was one of the civil rights moments that played a large role in shaping my growing up years. Today, the struggle continues as we contend with racism, and today I continue to grow up!
Pastor, what events of this day are shaping our youth? How is the Potter of our Present Clay shaping us in this world? How are we assisting or resisting in this process of change?
In worship last Sunday I became aware of the importance of this human activity (all over again for the first time some more). People choose to gather together to share in an "order of worship" in which there is attention to the Divine and caring for those around us. For some, the spoken word--Scripture or sermon, for example--is paramount; for others, the opportunity to weave melody and harmonies in group singing. For some, the touch and voice of friends; for others, the opportunity to be alone with Divine in the midst of others. Some have been brought to worship; others have come willingly and gladly. Some leave empty; others, filled to the brim with Spirit and spirit to face the days ahead.
How can congregations, which have a good thing going, improve in this area of connecting the events of the world with the story of God's love for all creation? I remember that some persons spoke favorably of the pastor who always preached on the headlines in the Sunday paper. Does this mean that s/he began sermon preparation a couple of hours before worship? Or is there an on-going conversation in which the headlines of the moment--the crawl on the screen of daily living--interact with the sweep of reflection on the gift and purpose of life?
Enough. Today let us hold in the energy-focusing of our praying the students and teachers and school personnel and families caught up in the enthusiasm and anxiety of this traditional first day of school. Ask anyone this evening, "What did you learn today?" and see if our education is making a difference in our daily living!
Shalom!
dave
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Labor Day
Shalom!
Monday is Labor Day. I'm hoping no pastor reads this on Monday! It's a Holyday!
Monday was one of my days to really dig in to the work of the week. So when Monday was a holyday/holiday, I just assumed that meant more opportunity to get a jump on the week. Not so! It's a holyday.
Bill Moyers interviewed poet Robert Bly on his recent PBS JOURNAL. Bly was encouraging all of us to rest and seek a calming balance in our lives. He recited these lines from his own translation of Rainer Maria Rilke:
"I am circling around God, around the ancient tower,
and I have been circling for a thousand years,
and I still don't know if I am a falcon,
or a storm,
or a great song ..."
Holydays help us remember, it seems to me, that we are great songs.
Shalom!
dave
Monday is Labor Day. I'm hoping no pastor reads this on Monday! It's a Holyday!
Monday was one of my days to really dig in to the work of the week. So when Monday was a holyday/holiday, I just assumed that meant more opportunity to get a jump on the week. Not so! It's a holyday.
Bill Moyers interviewed poet Robert Bly on his recent PBS JOURNAL. Bly was encouraging all of us to rest and seek a calming balance in our lives. He recited these lines from his own translation of Rainer Maria Rilke:
"I am circling around God, around the ancient tower,
and I have been circling for a thousand years,
and I still don't know if I am a falcon,
or a storm,
or a great song ..."
Holydays help us remember, it seems to me, that we are great songs.
Shalom!
dave
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Welcome!
Shalom!
This recently retired pastor wants to offer support to the pastors still serving. My friends and some others also recognize my inability at the moment to step away from sharing news and ideas and wonderings. Oddly enough, I miss worship leadership more than preaching, but perhaps that's because I've been working on this resource & support thing!
The current plan is to offer a variety of things here and let you, Gentle Reader, pick and choose and cut and paste.
For now, a quotation:
"I believe that to meet the challenges of our times, human beings will have to develop a greater sense of universal responsibility. Each of us must learn to work not just for oneself, one's own family or nation, but for the benefit of all humankind. Universal responsibility is the key to human survival. It is the best foundation for world peace."
--His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Shalom!
dave
This recently retired pastor wants to offer support to the pastors still serving. My friends and some others also recognize my inability at the moment to step away from sharing news and ideas and wonderings. Oddly enough, I miss worship leadership more than preaching, but perhaps that's because I've been working on this resource & support thing!
The current plan is to offer a variety of things here and let you, Gentle Reader, pick and choose and cut and paste.
For now, a quotation:
"I believe that to meet the challenges of our times, human beings will have to develop a greater sense of universal responsibility. Each of us must learn to work not just for oneself, one's own family or nation, but for the benefit of all humankind. Universal responsibility is the key to human survival. It is the best foundation for world peace."
--His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Shalom!
dave
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
