Will you now serve Christ in this place...

We have some folks planning to join our church this Sunday, so I've spent a lot of my visiting time this week checking in with them, to see if there are any questions, or in some cases, to learn more about the family or person. Receiving new members is always an encouraging time for a congregation. If someone wants to join with you in a purpose, it obviously includes an affirmation to you of who you are and what you are about. We tend to like the folks who make choices similar to our own, don't we?

I probably shouldn't confess this, but I am amazed that anyone actually "joins" the church anymore. We have an open door policy where you can come and fully participate in the life and worship of the church without ever joining. At Trinity you can be on a committee or task group without being a church member. The only thing forbidden is leadership as a chairperson of a ministry area, or serving on an administrative committee.

With everyone so consumer-minded today, I'm surprised a lot more people don't say, "Why join, I don't get any more benefits for joining than I do for not joining?" Add to this the factors of a) individualism over community, b) suspicion of institutions, c) minimal loyalty to groups and "brands," and d) simply the frantic, often chaotic pace of life! Still, through the gauntlet come those desiring to say, "Yes, I will serve Christ in this local church with my prayers, my presence, my gifts, and my service."

Maybe the act of people joining isn't an affirmation of the congregation after all - but an affirmation of the deep longing placed in each of us to be a part of God's family. Those who join may not even think of it in these terms, but perhaps they are responding to the divine call to live out what they believe, to "come, follow Jesus," to make their faith real in daily life with, through, and sometimes in spite of, the local congregation. May their commitments open us all to hear that call anew.

Trips and Journeys

When I go on a trip, I basically know where I'm going, how I'll get there and what I'll do. That's generally true whether the trip is to a neighboring city for a meeting, or to another country for personal enjoyment or mission work. There may be changes in the itinerary, or surprises along the way, but usually when I start out I pretty well know where I'll end up.

But a journey is different. With a journey, I kinda know where I hope to end up, but even that is unsure. And I'm even less sure the route I'll be following. About all I know is that it's time to move forward and that a certain path seems right for the present. There will be new pathways and choices in the path that no one can predict as the journey develops. And the outcome? Who knows. That's the reason you go on a journey in the first place, isn't it? - to discover the outcome.

Life is full of trips and journeys. Trips get us to places and back. Journeys take us to new places altogether. Journeys tend to show up at career time, in relationships, and in faith. Some people tend to prefer one over the other, so if you start out on a journey, don't pick a trip junkie for a roomie.

It's difficult when you have someone who wants trip information for a journey experience. And it's scary when someone confidently gives you trip information for a journey experience!

What's even more confusing is that you can be on many journeys at one time. For instance, we've started a journey with Mosaic worship - don't know where that will take us. The whole Aldersgate Special Needs Ministry is a journey. At our Council on Ministries meeting last night we discussed a general proposal for the future of Trinity that emphasizes children's ministries. We approved the initiative originating from the Capital Campaign Study Committee, but basically have no idea where the journey will take us. And interwoven in these journeys are the personal ones of discovery, trust and love.

One quality that enables all such journeys is simply an openness to the future. Maybe there are better words, but "openness" works for me. Step forward, risk self and investment, walk in faith - open to what will unfold in the journey. Don't shut off the journey just because you can't see the resources needed. Don't postpone the first step because the journey appears too daunting. Who knows what God will do? If the Bible has anything to say to us about this, it is that God will provide the 'manna' for each day. And just that experience can make the journey worthwhile.

Blogging Friends

No thoughts this morning. Just took a few minutes to add several links to the Fav Blogs list, friends who have been, or who have recently started blogging. Am finding this a wonderful way to keep up with folks, and be more a part of their lives. The other day I ran into one blogger at a meeting we attended, and we had more to immediately talk about. I like that.

God's Perfect Ones

I came across the following quote from Morris West's novel, The Clowns of God. And read it frequently, as another reminder of the importance of the work of our Aldersgate ministry. In the story, the pope is deposed because he reveals that he actually talks to Jesus, not just in prayer, but Jesus who has returned as Mr. Atha, to warn him again about the coming apocalypse. If I remember correctly, Pope Gregory XVII is basically exiled to a mountain-top retreat, where there is a camp for children with developmental disorders. Jesus visits him there for more conversation. He points out a young girl with mental retardation and says to him:


You need a sign. What better one could I give than to make this little one whole and new? I could do it, but I will not. I am the Lord and not a conjuror.

I gave this mite a gift I denied to all of you - eternal innocence. To you she looks imperfect - but to Me she is flawless, like the bud that dies unopened or the fledgling that falls from the nest to be devoured by the ants. She will never offend Me, as all of you have done. She will never pervert or destroy the work of My Father's hands.

She is necessary to you. She will evoke the kindness that will keep you human. Her infirmity will prompt you to gratitude for your own good fortune... More!

She will remind you every day that I am who I am, that My ways are not yours, and that the smallest dust mite whirled in darkest space does not fall out of My hand...I have chosen you. You have not chosen Me. This little one is My sign to you. Treasure her.

Aldersgate construction

The latest picture of our Aldersgate Special Needs Home (for adults with developmental disabilities) being built at The Oaks in Orangeburg.

MOSAIC Begins

Last night we began Mosaic worship. I really didn't know what to expect, and was worried we had not planned in enough detail. I rushed back to the church after a Gen Conf Delegation meeting in Columbia, to find the chapel set up for worship, looking great. Some folks were enjoying the coffee, water, and cookies set up in the narthex, and the youth praise band was waiting for me to join them in a prayer time.

But worship began and the different ones did their parts. I had to breathe deeply several times to settle my urges to step in and move things along, but actually it flowed well. I estimated about 60 present, the majority youth.

Our theme was Pilate's question to Jesus "What is truth?" After some singing and a "get to know you" ice-breaker, we watched a video clip with the kind of "person on the street interviews." Nearly everyone on the video expressed the postmodern view that truth is what each person believes is true, that there is no absolute standard of truth. Then everyone broke up into small groups for discussion on this. We had prayer time, then I wrapped up the discussion with a short talk on encountering truth, not just as knowledge, but as relationship, an encounter with the reality of Jesus Christ. We celebrated Holy Communion and closed with a time of thanksgiving and singing.

I confess I have mixed feelings this morning about the service. The big positive is that those who were present gave thanks that we had begun Mosaic. I have some disappointment about the absence of some parents and young adults who'd expressed interest in the service. Part of me wants to push toward a more "polished" look and feel to the service. But I also realize I'm the only one I know of with that issue. The participants seemed to be OK with the very casual nature of the liturgy. Well, we've begun, and we'll learn, and we'll see what picture of worship emerges for us.

I Hope It's Joy

Cleaning off my desk before leaving for the day, I came across this prayer that a colleague sent to me. It was written by a battered child, who now is in a safe home. (Shared with permission, and with original spelling, etc.)
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

My heart is broken. not one bit of love.
my soul is taken from heven and above
what is next for this little girl.
she prays at night and ask god
what is next in my life
is thear death or is thear light
or my prays full of light or is it joy
or do i fight untull day light
oh my god what is next
i hope its joy.

Ongoing Preparedness

Yesterday, while just doing some reading, I found a story I'd lost. It is by, and about Henri Nouwen. I've used it as an illustration in the Residency program, but couldn't remember where I'd seen it. But there it was, right where I'd left it, years ago, in the Upper Room Guide to Prayer for Ministers, page 124.

The opening line grabbed me again: "We're often not as pressed for time as much as we feel we are pressed for time." Then he tells about being so pressured with his demands of teaching, that he took a prayer retreat at a Trappist monastery. While there some students on retreat asked him for five meditations or teachings on prayer. Nouwen wrote that since he was at the monastery, the decision wasn't his. So he went to the Abbott saying he came on retreat to get away from having to teach for a period.

The Abbott told him to do it. And Nouwen protested, saying he didn't want to spend his retreat time preparing meditations. And the Abbott replied, "Prepare? You've been a Christian for forty years and a priest for twenty, and a few high school students want...to be a part of your life in God for a few days. If you pray half an hour in the morning, sing in our choir for an hour, and do your spiritual reading, you will have so much to say you could give ten retreats."

Nouwen writes: The question, you see, is not to prepare but to live in a state of ongoing preparedness so that, when someone who is drowning in the world comes into our world, you are ready to reach out and help. It may be a four o'clock, six o'clock, or nine o'clock. One time you call it preaching, the next time teaching, then counseling, or later administration. But let them be part of your life in God - that's ministering. (Originally in Leadership magazine, Spring, 1982)

For a preacher, finding a good old illustration is like finding an old friend. And this one speaks to me at several points. Nouwen, like a lot of other spiritual giants, knew that when he had a lot to get done, he needed to take more time in prayer. When I've got so much to do, I want to cheat on my prayer time.

It gets me that Nouwen lived under orders. He didn't make the call himself about teaching, but went to the Abbott. Wonder how our ministry would change if we quit being such "Lone Rangers" in ministry, and when to trusted friends, spiritual advisors, or coaches for decisions in ministry.

And finally, the whole idea of living in a state of ongoing preparedness. My perfectionism tells me I've got to get the research done, cover all the bases, and come up with my best effort, which then is re-worked. One of the good things about blogging regularly is that it pushes me out of that mode. Give yourself with what you already know. Live in the state of incompleteness, always in preparation, always in expression. But do so grounded in prayer.

The Lighter Side

OK, I agree with Joseph's comment on the last post. Time for something lighter, and especially since it's my day off. So here's a couple I like from ChurchCartoon.com.

The Pastoral Role

I am a pastor. That sentence seems so simple. But it is quite a journey to get to an appreciation of that what statement means. To find my identity as a person and as a professional in that statement is to set out some boundaries. It is to bring focus to what I am and what I am not, to what behaviors ensue and what do not.

There are needs impinging upon the role of pastor that push us into specialization. Are you an evangelist? Are you a church administrator? Are you a church growth specialist? Are you a mission motivator, a teaching pastor, a counselor, a political activist, a Bible scholar, a theologian? These are but a few of the many ways a minister begins to identify herself or himself. And with all these variations, what has become of the identity of pastor?

Is the term just a catch-all, an umbrella title that includes something of all the specialties? Is it a foundation from which one moves on (with experience or additional training) to particularity in ministry? Is it simply an ecclesiastical term for a category of ministry? Looking at a parallel in medicine, is a “pastor” to be equated with generalist, (and thus relagated to a lower professional status, similar to a General Practitioner versus a Specialist)?

Or is the Pastoral role an identity in and of itself? The long journey of identity in ministry brings me to assert that it is indeed a ministerial identity that can be clarified, claimed and lived out. It is highly useful for providing a sense of purpose and fulfillment in living out one’s call.

To be a pastor is to be one whose prime concern is the spiritual care and formation of the people. It is to “tend the sheep.” It focuses on the person and the relationships. To say spiritual care and formation does not mean that the pastor is not concerned with the physical needs or other needs of the person. It is to say instead that all issues and needs find their connection to the spiritual journey of the individual or group. Theology, praxis, visioning, and development all play a subservient role to the spiritual journey of the people.

The image of the shepherd may prove helpful. One who knows the weather, the terrain, the physical attributes of the sheep employs all the variety of knowledge to one end, the tending of the herd.

The pastor dabbles in the specialties, but sublimates them to the pastoral need. What is the point of church growth? Is it to report numbers and receive approval from supervision, local or connectional? Or is it to both lead new persons to an engaged journey of faith, and re-energize the community with the necessary adaptation to new persons? Similarly, the pastor does not establish a counseling practice, but counsels regularly with her people in the midst of their daily lives.

The message of the incarnation, that God has chosen to “pitch God’s tent” in our midst, that is, to dwell with us, is a powerful Biblical revelation. God has chosen to be with us in all circumstances, good or bad. Of all the callings in ministry, is it the pastor’s particular call to make this theological truth tangible in the lives of people among whom he or she serves. It is a calling not to be the way, or even to make a way for others, but to point to The Way.