I can't believe it's October already. The car I bought 2 months ago has to be registered by Monday... as do any unregistered voters out there, at least in Colorado! :)
It's Friday, which means time to write a sermon, which means I'm procrastinating - but won't let myself do anything else intentionally productive because I'm supposed to be working on the sermon. So working out, taking my car for an emissions test and then going to DMV with the title papers, cleaning the kitchen, getting dressed... these are all on hold while I ponder World Communion Sunday.
I do a lot of my sermon research and preparation online. This week I've been very pleased to find lovely backgrounds for this and the 2 church blogs I manage. I have to check my email every 5 minutes in case a new, earth-shaking message has come in. You never know what crazy stuff someone might have sent me on Facebook, so I monitor that regularly as well. Has anyone else out there reflected on what a colossal waste of time this whole internet thing is? What? They have? Oh, okay.
The thing about preaching every week is that you really come face-to-face with how unoriginal you are, and how everything interesting, insightful, or inspiring has already been said. My saving grace is believing that the Holy Spirit can still work through a limited and unoriginal preacher to bring good news to people in ways that make it both GOOD and NEW. May it be so.
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
Coming Soon: The Open House
Thanks to all who checked out the list and commented either here or on facebook! Our leadership team met last week and decided on The Open House, with some kind of tag line to indicate this is an ongoing worship service/community rather than a one-time drop-in event - "a different kind of worship experience" or "a new community of faith," something along those lines.
There is already a church (UCC) in Portland, Maine, with this name, but they're far enough away that I think we can avoid confusion... the downside is that they already have the domain name and a great logo that we can't steal!
Next steps include plans for publicity (we'll need some kind of logo... the leadership team decided on a 12-issue advertising contract with a neighborhood paper, a big investment but it is distributed to the exact geographic area we're focused on), getting the music team and technology together, and rounding up a few more people to be part of our weekly welcomers and other helpers. Anyone in the Denver area looking to get involved in "a different kind of worship experience," Sundays at 5pm starting September 14, please let me know!
There is already a church (UCC) in Portland, Maine, with this name, but they're far enough away that I think we can avoid confusion... the downside is that they already have the domain name and a great logo that we can't steal!
Next steps include plans for publicity (we'll need some kind of logo... the leadership team decided on a 12-issue advertising contract with a neighborhood paper, a big investment but it is distributed to the exact geographic area we're focused on), getting the music team and technology together, and rounding up a few more people to be part of our weekly welcomers and other helpers. Anyone in the Denver area looking to get involved in "a different kind of worship experience," Sundays at 5pm starting September 14, please let me know!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
The name game
So hey, it's that time again... time for any of you who are still checking in here to vote on possible names for another of my (impossible?) professional ventures. This time a new worship service, to be Sundays at 5pm with an alternative/eclectic style of music and prayer and conversation and such. Emphasis on all are welcome (doubts and questions included) and faith is more than an hour on Sundays (do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with God). We're particularly looking to reach young adults and families; the immediate neighborhood is mostly Anglo upper-middle-class but other nearby neighborhoods include lower-income families, African-American and Hispanic/Latino communities. The current congregation is mostly older and most of them have moved out of the neighborhood, so we're starting outreach more or less from scratch.
With that in mind, here's the current list of top contenders from my brainstorming sessions... What do you like? What else would you suggest?
the commons - a gathering place, also a sense of togetherness created by recognizing the common good, resources that are available to all, the world we have in common (*note: this one was added late*)
all in - all people are welcome, each person gives their all
work in progress - church is a work in progress; we all are works in progress; God is at work, we are at work, we are making progress
midcity God - reading Psalm 46 recently I came across this:
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. / God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns.
living room - a place for living, for life in abundance, not stuffy but casual, a place for play and talk
pigs and madmen - Matthew's gospel tells of two men possessed by demons, and Jesus cast the demons out into a herd of swine; Peterson's The Message has the swineherds telling "everyone back in town what had happened to the madmen and the pigs." I liked it. Maybe for the name of our band?
allsacred - no distinction between sacred and secular; all people are of sacred worth
open house - God's house is always open to all
kin'dom - the reign of God without the hierarchy and patriarchy of kingdom, replaced by relationships among the family of God
koinonia - meaning community, communion
sheltering tree - the tree of life in the garden of Eden and in the City of God
deep life - life abundant, going out to deep water, heart & soul life
living word - the Word became flesh and lived among us; we are the Word of God living in the world
pilgrim band - think I heard this in a song? fellowship of those on the journey together
2nd-tier options:
vintage love
beloved fools
unholy rabble
come as you are
good earth
grace encounter
unexpected treasure
love in action
With that in mind, here's the current list of top contenders from my brainstorming sessions... What do you like? What else would you suggest?
the commons - a gathering place, also a sense of togetherness created by recognizing the common good, resources that are available to all, the world we have in common (*note: this one was added late*)
all in - all people are welcome, each person gives their all
work in progress - church is a work in progress; we all are works in progress; God is at work, we are at work, we are making progress
midcity God - reading Psalm 46 recently I came across this:
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. / God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns.
living room - a place for living, for life in abundance, not stuffy but casual, a place for play and talk
pigs and madmen - Matthew's gospel tells of two men possessed by demons, and Jesus cast the demons out into a herd of swine; Peterson's The Message has the swineherds telling "everyone back in town what had happened to the madmen and the pigs." I liked it. Maybe for the name of our band?
allsacred - no distinction between sacred and secular; all people are of sacred worth
open house - God's house is always open to all
kin'dom - the reign of God without the hierarchy and patriarchy of kingdom, replaced by relationships among the family of God
koinonia - meaning community, communion
sheltering tree - the tree of life in the garden of Eden and in the City of God
deep life - life abundant, going out to deep water, heart & soul life
living word - the Word became flesh and lived among us; we are the Word of God living in the world
pilgrim band - think I heard this in a song? fellowship of those on the journey together
2nd-tier options:
vintage love
beloved fools
unholy rabble
come as you are
good earth
grace encounter
unexpected treasure
love in action
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Summer is upon us
So I've been absent from here for a while... again. Lots happening IRL (in real life, I just learned that one recently :) ). Birthdays, ordination, Mother's and Father's Day, banquets, workshops, meetings, preaching, conferences, weddings, movies, and travel. That pretty much sums up my life since May 4.
More soon.. but now, it's time for lunch!
More soon.. but now, it's time for lunch!
Sunday, May 04, 2008
United Methodist General Conference
Over the past week and a half, somewhere near 1,000 delegates plus hundreds of staff and volunteers from United Methodist Churches, boards, and agencies around the world gathered in Fort Worth, Texas for the quadrennial (every 4 years) legislative meeting known as General Conference. This is the only body that can officially speak for The United Methodist Church, and delegates spend 10 days in "holy conferencing": prayer, discussion, reflection, debate, worship, and witness regarding legislation affecting the denomination's social teachings, organizational structure, finances, policies and procedures, and other matters of church law.
There was much that was disappointing this year, as there has been for many years now, regarding the UMC's official stance on homosexuality. Many groups organized powerful acts of witness to the need for change, and the way in which our refusal to embrace God's love for all people is hurtful to God's children. Small signs of hope (a petition that would have acknowledged that as a denomination, we are in a place of division and disagreement, urging all to practice humility rather than judgment, passed in committee but was defeated on the floor) suggest to me that we are, perhaps, little by little, turning the church in the right direction. Institutions move at glacial speed, and meanwhile those of us among the loyal opposition will continue to work and fight and love and protest and pray.
There was some change in other areas I was interested in: the ordination process and the ministry of deacons. When I started "the process," as those who go through it call it, you had to be a "certified candidate" for two years and a "probationary member/commissioned minister" for three years - with at least one year of work before that, and three or more years of a master's degree in the midst, it typically took people 7-8 years total to be ordained from their first exploration of a call in a local church setting. In 2004, one year was cut from the "certified" stage, and last week, another year was cut from the "probationary" stage (during which we will now be known as "provisional members" of our orders). Provisions were also included for those who discern a call to a different order (deacon vs. elder) during the process, so that boards of ordained ministry can't force candidates to start over from the beginning.
And finally, the order of permanent ordained deacon was created in our denomination in 1996, and in the 12 years since then, deacons have struggled for recognition as equal clergy with elders at many levels. Understanding that we are called to specialized, non-itinerant ministries, sometimes in local churches but often in settings beyond the local church, we have sought authorization to administer the sacraments (baptism and Communion) when our ministry in the absence of an elder would naturally call for these means of grace. Although General Conference did not grant across-the-board recognition of deacons being called to ministries of Sacrament, a petition passed that allows the bishop, at the request of a pastor-in-charge or district superintendent, to grant an individual deacon sacramental authority in his or her primary appointment setting. This means that deacons serving as chaplains, campus ministers, social workers, nurses, counselors, and many other roles can - when appropriate - offer Communion to those with whom they are in ministry, without having to arrange for an elder to either be present or "bless the elements," a practice which is not really in keeping with our theology.
Anyway, this has been a very churchy post, but I just learned of these developments today and wanted to put them up before I forget. We will keep working to see the Body of Christ truly reach out to all with God's limitless love and desire for justice.
There was much that was disappointing this year, as there has been for many years now, regarding the UMC's official stance on homosexuality. Many groups organized powerful acts of witness to the need for change, and the way in which our refusal to embrace God's love for all people is hurtful to God's children. Small signs of hope (a petition that would have acknowledged that as a denomination, we are in a place of division and disagreement, urging all to practice humility rather than judgment, passed in committee but was defeated on the floor) suggest to me that we are, perhaps, little by little, turning the church in the right direction. Institutions move at glacial speed, and meanwhile those of us among the loyal opposition will continue to work and fight and love and protest and pray.
There was some change in other areas I was interested in: the ordination process and the ministry of deacons. When I started "the process," as those who go through it call it, you had to be a "certified candidate" for two years and a "probationary member/commissioned minister" for three years - with at least one year of work before that, and three or more years of a master's degree in the midst, it typically took people 7-8 years total to be ordained from their first exploration of a call in a local church setting. In 2004, one year was cut from the "certified" stage, and last week, another year was cut from the "probationary" stage (during which we will now be known as "provisional members" of our orders). Provisions were also included for those who discern a call to a different order (deacon vs. elder) during the process, so that boards of ordained ministry can't force candidates to start over from the beginning.
And finally, the order of permanent ordained deacon was created in our denomination in 1996, and in the 12 years since then, deacons have struggled for recognition as equal clergy with elders at many levels. Understanding that we are called to specialized, non-itinerant ministries, sometimes in local churches but often in settings beyond the local church, we have sought authorization to administer the sacraments (baptism and Communion) when our ministry in the absence of an elder would naturally call for these means of grace. Although General Conference did not grant across-the-board recognition of deacons being called to ministries of Sacrament, a petition passed that allows the bishop, at the request of a pastor-in-charge or district superintendent, to grant an individual deacon sacramental authority in his or her primary appointment setting. This means that deacons serving as chaplains, campus ministers, social workers, nurses, counselors, and many other roles can - when appropriate - offer Communion to those with whom they are in ministry, without having to arrange for an elder to either be present or "bless the elements," a practice which is not really in keeping with our theology.
Anyway, this has been a very churchy post, but I just learned of these developments today and wanted to put them up before I forget. We will keep working to see the Body of Christ truly reach out to all with God's limitless love and desire for justice.
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