Let me set this up for you...
Yesterday (Sunday) was the first Sunday of Advent. Our liturgist had read the first scripture for the day, and about half of the second one. She closed her Bible and then said "oops, I didn't finish that one. Hold on while I get back to it." or something to that effect. Then she said that we could all enjoy that "pregnant pause" while pondering the first part of the scripture lesson.
I love that phrase "pregnant pause"... it's been rolling around in my head all day. I thought about it while my pastor and I, with other friends, talked about the season of Advent and what that means. I am up out of bed at nearly half past twelve because that phrase was chewing at my brain.
Pregnant Pause may be the tidiest summation of advent that we have. It's a little space of time in our lives where we anxiously await the coming of something... a something that is the Best Sort Of Surprise (I feel very A.A. Milne in typing that) because you know that it's coming, and you're excited about it anyway. There are lots of discussions right now, I'm sure, about Advent, and it's meaning. Whether this should be a time of spare, austere, Lenten-style preparation, or a frenetic Black Friday-style preparation. I feel like they're two very different sorts... but maybe neither one is really what Advent is about. When Christ came to us in the simplest, smallest form of hope that we could readily grasp and digest and understand, there was a gift that we didn't anticipate, maybe. A gift of knowing how to prepare for that type of hope. To me, Advent is a lot like waiting for a baby... any baby. It's a time to reflect on all the wonderful things you want the world to be for new little person. A time to take even just a few small steps towards realizing that dream... a little extra kindness. A tiny bit of charity. Some small change, an extra smile. As a mother, I think of the light of Advent the same way I remember the soft, warm light in the delivery room. It's dim, but it's enough to see by. It's not stark, or scary, or threatening. It isn't the blinding light of Easter morning at the tomb... it's the same gentle color as candleglow and rosy sunsets. It's winter firelight, and the welcoming light of home through the window. When a baby is coming, there's lots to do, but it's the kind of work most people seem to enjoy. Dreaming, planning, preparing, hoping. Giving, sharing, opening, making room for someone. You weed out things you don't need cluttering up your space anymore... things you don't use, things that wouldn't be safe or appropriate for a baby, things that are reminders of your life BEFORE you were preparing for a baby. You give it away, recycle it, throw it out. You start to take stock of what you have, and what you'll need, and what you don't want to carry around anymore. And it's a good thing.... because the funny thing about a baby... it's such a tiny package, but as most modern-day parents will tell you, it comes with so much STUFF! Pretty soon, if you let it (or sometimes, in spite of yourself) there's baby-stuff everywhere. And a very little person who isn't ready to take care of themselves not only comes with lots of STUFF... it comes with a whole new set of priorities and responsibilities that you couldn't have imagined in your wildest dreams. They say "a baby changes everything." They are not kidding. Fully grown, 'responsible' adults will allow their entire lives to be reordered by a baby.
Our Awesome God must have known something in offering the world that tiny baby so long ago... what in the world but a baby could embody hope so tidily, awaken our desire to nurture and protect so readily, and cause us to embrace a life-altering course so willingly? Nothing I can think of. A baby is the physical manifestation of every biological and spiritual urge to leave something of ourselves in the world. A baby, even a very important baby, needs to be held, nourished, nurtured and loved or it will not survive, or grow. A baby makes normally rational, orderly, organized people do very irrational, disorganized things. The God who created us and nurtured us; then came to us in the most humble and helpless form we could understand, had hope and faith in us, that we would take that baby into our lives. Every year at Advent, we prepare again to accept that gift. We make a place. In a world of fast-paced and furious events, we can take advantage of that pregnant pause. I believe that if we let it, (or maybe in spite of ourselves) that tiny baby could enter the place we've made, and maybe overtake our priorities and fill our lives with amazing, beautiful baby stuff. Yes, a baby changes everything.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Uh oh, peeps are stirring trouble.
Tracy over at The Best Parts is stirrin' up a heap 'o trouble with a couple of posts about the role of the Church. I pretty much agree with every word of it so I'm going to link to both posts here.
A New Model for Church
Non-Conforming Behavior is Welcome
One of my favorite lines that she quotes from Robert Capone's The Astonished Heart is:
"The model we're looking for should not have a tendency to steer in the direction of self-preservation rather than people-preservation...it must be able to love persons even at the price of hating itself."
Most of the time we steer in the direction of self-preservation. We choose not to start new programs because of financial concerns, we cut budgets, and we choose to stay inside and worship instead of leading out.
And we're able to hang on for another year. Yippie.
At the same time, families are forced to make a decision concerning their giving. Do they give to the church or do they give to another charitable organization? We know which decision they've made as church giving (and membership) has declined over the past thirty years. We also know that in 2006 there was a record set for charitable giving in this country. It's crystal clear that it's not the economy driving the decline in giving to our churches, it's our priorities. If one has $100 to give to an organization, I'm not sure I could come up with a convincing argument to give that money to our church rather than The People's City Mission or The Food Bank. We know that if the $100 goes to the City Mission or The Food Bank, it will put food in a mouth or help someone have a warm place to sleep at night. If it goes to the church, it will pay some utilities. Or administrative costs. Or buy some crafts. Or maybe pay for some insurance. It's easy to see what's uninspiring about giving $100 to the church. The only thing in that list that might speak to people is the craft supplies, but there's a good chance that utility costs or insurance premiums will win the battle for that $100 anyway.
Is that really why some people tithe? So they can pay utility costs? I don't know about you, but like my actions, I would hope that my giving would have an impact. Keeping the church open is not the impact that I'm hoping for. There's a whole bunch of stuff in the New Testament about compassion and love, and these are priorities that aren't met when our focus is administrative and operating costs. What little is left over might go to Christian Education, but it will be just enough for us to say we have a program and not enough for us to say that our program is a beacon that shines in the community.
People will go where they're inspired. Ho hum won't do it. Coffee hour won't do it. Contemporary services, rummage sales, church clean-ups, cantatas, Sunday school, and new church signs won't do it either. If the work of the church speaks to people, they'll go and give as they're inspired. If it doesn't...well, you know what happens.
A New Model for Church
Non-Conforming Behavior is Welcome
One of my favorite lines that she quotes from Robert Capone's The Astonished Heart is:
"The model we're looking for should not have a tendency to steer in the direction of self-preservation rather than people-preservation...it must be able to love persons even at the price of hating itself."
Most of the time we steer in the direction of self-preservation. We choose not to start new programs because of financial concerns, we cut budgets, and we choose to stay inside and worship instead of leading out.
And we're able to hang on for another year. Yippie.
At the same time, families are forced to make a decision concerning their giving. Do they give to the church or do they give to another charitable organization? We know which decision they've made as church giving (and membership) has declined over the past thirty years. We also know that in 2006 there was a record set for charitable giving in this country. It's crystal clear that it's not the economy driving the decline in giving to our churches, it's our priorities. If one has $100 to give to an organization, I'm not sure I could come up with a convincing argument to give that money to our church rather than The People's City Mission or The Food Bank. We know that if the $100 goes to the City Mission or The Food Bank, it will put food in a mouth or help someone have a warm place to sleep at night. If it goes to the church, it will pay some utilities. Or administrative costs. Or buy some crafts. Or maybe pay for some insurance. It's easy to see what's uninspiring about giving $100 to the church. The only thing in that list that might speak to people is the craft supplies, but there's a good chance that utility costs or insurance premiums will win the battle for that $100 anyway.
Is that really why some people tithe? So they can pay utility costs? I don't know about you, but like my actions, I would hope that my giving would have an impact. Keeping the church open is not the impact that I'm hoping for. There's a whole bunch of stuff in the New Testament about compassion and love, and these are priorities that aren't met when our focus is administrative and operating costs. What little is left over might go to Christian Education, but it will be just enough for us to say we have a program and not enough for us to say that our program is a beacon that shines in the community.
People will go where they're inspired. Ho hum won't do it. Coffee hour won't do it. Contemporary services, rummage sales, church clean-ups, cantatas, Sunday school, and new church signs won't do it either. If the work of the church speaks to people, they'll go and give as they're inspired. If it doesn't...well, you know what happens.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Financial message that will revolutionize things that have been ready to be revolutionized for a while now
Hi.
Me again.
Maybe you've heard that the church's finances aren't doing so hot this summer.
I've come up with a solution in the last four or five minutes that I think will solve everything. It's called "Metric Tithing" and will revolutionize church giving. It will also revolutionize your finances at home as well.
When people convert from Celsius to Fahrenheit, a way of calculating a rough comparison of the two temperatures is to double the Celsius number and add thirty degrees. Thus 10 degrees Celsius is about the same as 50 degrees Fahrenheit. I'd like to relate that practice to tithing.
Let's just say that 10% of your income is $300.00. Let's call that the Celsius or Canadian tithe. We don't use Celsius here in the U.S.; it's used by Canadians. We use Fahrenheit as the numbers are bigger. We don't drink Canadian beer so we shouldn't use Canadian tithing either. We need to double the tithe figure and add thirty. Now our original figure is a nice $630! That's American tithing!
You might be thinking that it's kind of a lot of money, and might be around two thirds or half of your mortgage. If you're in an apartment, it could be your entire rent payment*. That's basically the beauty of the new tithe; it takes money away from you (and you'll just blow it on doctor bills, groceries, and overpriced living arrangements) and puts it in the hands of the church who will blow it on keeping the air conditioning blowing 7 days a week during the summer. Let's face it, the church needs coffee and coffee beans aren't getting any cheaper if you haven't noticed.
We know times are tough for you in the congregation. It shows in your giving and we're not happy about it. Let's quit giving like Canadians and start giving like Americans, okay?
*If you live in the midwest. This does not include you people that choose to exist where housing is much more expensive like on the coast or in Minnesota.
Me again.
Maybe you've heard that the church's finances aren't doing so hot this summer.
I've come up with a solution in the last four or five minutes that I think will solve everything. It's called "Metric Tithing" and will revolutionize church giving. It will also revolutionize your finances at home as well.
When people convert from Celsius to Fahrenheit, a way of calculating a rough comparison of the two temperatures is to double the Celsius number and add thirty degrees. Thus 10 degrees Celsius is about the same as 50 degrees Fahrenheit. I'd like to relate that practice to tithing.
Let's just say that 10% of your income is $300.00. Let's call that the Celsius or Canadian tithe. We don't use Celsius here in the U.S.; it's used by Canadians. We use Fahrenheit as the numbers are bigger. We don't drink Canadian beer so we shouldn't use Canadian tithing either. We need to double the tithe figure and add thirty. Now our original figure is a nice $630! That's American tithing!
You might be thinking that it's kind of a lot of money, and might be around two thirds or half of your mortgage. If you're in an apartment, it could be your entire rent payment*. That's basically the beauty of the new tithe; it takes money away from you (and you'll just blow it on doctor bills, groceries, and overpriced living arrangements) and puts it in the hands of the church who will blow it on keeping the air conditioning blowing 7 days a week during the summer. Let's face it, the church needs coffee and coffee beans aren't getting any cheaper if you haven't noticed.
We know times are tough for you in the congregation. It shows in your giving and we're not happy about it. Let's quit giving like Canadians and start giving like Americans, okay?
*If you live in the midwest. This does not include you people that choose to exist where housing is much more expensive like on the coast or in Minnesota.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Follow/Worship
Per Merriam Webster:
Follow
1: to go, proceed, or come after2 a: to engage in as a calling or way of life : pursue b: to walk or proceed along 3 a: to be or act in accordance with b: to accept as authority : obey 4 a: to pursue in an effort to overtake b: to seek to attain 5: to come into existence or take place as a result or consequence of 6 a: to come or take place after in time, sequence, or order b: to cause to be followed 7: to copy after : imitate 8 a: to watch steadily b: to keep the mind on c: to attend closely to : keep abreast of d: to understand the sense or logic of (as a line of thought)
Worship
1 : to honor or reverence as a divine being or supernatural power 2 : to regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, or devotion (a celebrity worshipped by her fans) intransitive verb : to perform or take part in worship or an act of worship
Do we follow or do we worship?
Follow
1: to go, proceed, or come after
Worship
1 : to honor or reverence as a divine being or supernatural power 2 : to regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, or devotion (a celebrity worshipped by her fans) intransitive verb : to perform or take part in worship or an act of worship
Do we follow or do we worship?
Thursday, July 3, 2008
The Best Parts
Tracy over at The Best Parts has a cool post today about being people who "follow" instead of being people who "worship."
Which one are we? I think we are a worshipful congregation. Being a following congregation requires taking great risks. It requires bold action. In our current climate of defunding programs, it doesn't appear that following is our priority. Perhaps that will change.
Which one are we? I think we are a worshipful congregation. Being a following congregation requires taking great risks. It requires bold action. In our current climate of defunding programs, it doesn't appear that following is our priority. Perhaps that will change.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Are we serving others?
This website has a pretty good definition of what ministry is, at least in my opinion. It defines it as serving people's spiritual needs but also their "physical, emotional, mental, vocational, and financial needs."
Whoa. That's a lot of needs to serve.
Now, our pastor serves the church's spiritual needs (and some think that should be the extent of his or her job), but how and when are we going to minister to the other needs? I think for most people the question may be, "where do we start?" We could stand outside handing out $20 bills and chances are good that most people will use the money to fulfill a legitimate need. We give to the food bank and other organizations and that takes care of the physical and maybe even the financial needs of some.
Now we're supposed to serve people's emotional, mental, and vocational needs as well?
Yuck.
When we give to Foodnet or OCWM, the money goes to help those who are distant from us. We send the funds off in the mail and others do the dirty work. We stay in our sanctuary, sing the hymns, and listen to the message. It appears from the definition of ministry that we're to be out and about doing the dirty work as well. And when we look out the front door, we can see there's whole lot of dirty work to be done.
We even know there are people in the congregation that are willing to do this dirty work. They're those who go out of their way to connect with the youth and take them on mission trips. Those that sacrifice their Wednesday nights to lead the youth night. They champion causes and volunteer their time at hospitals and soup kitchens. These are the people who can lead these other ministries, and we know this. However, our church structure sometimes doesn't allow it.
We try to find the right position in the church for them, but our structure is geared towards meetings, reports, and budgets. I went to a staff and board retreat a couple of months ago where we determined our spiritual gifts. Around 70% of those that attended identified their strongest spiritual gift as Administration. Yikes. Administration is necessary, but the church leadership needs leaders and managers. We need people who can show us where those needs in the community are located and how they can be met.
They are the people who will brainstorm and use their creativity for exciting new ideas. We need more individuals who are creative, more individuals with wisdom, and more individuals who see the way we should go. I was reading The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and Stephen Covey says that managers will lead the team through the jungle very effectively, but it takes a leader to climb a tree and tell the others they're hacking through the wrong jungle. We need both of these aspects in order to grow.
For our church or any church to thrive, we can't hunker down in some pretend "survival mode" while we ignore our community at large. We must act with great boldness and we must act with great love.
It is the ministry we are called to do.
Whoa. That's a lot of needs to serve.
Now, our pastor serves the church's spiritual needs (and some think that should be the extent of his or her job), but how and when are we going to minister to the other needs? I think for most people the question may be, "where do we start?" We could stand outside handing out $20 bills and chances are good that most people will use the money to fulfill a legitimate need. We give to the food bank and other organizations and that takes care of the physical and maybe even the financial needs of some.
Now we're supposed to serve people's emotional, mental, and vocational needs as well?
Yuck.
When we give to Foodnet or OCWM, the money goes to help those who are distant from us. We send the funds off in the mail and others do the dirty work. We stay in our sanctuary, sing the hymns, and listen to the message. It appears from the definition of ministry that we're to be out and about doing the dirty work as well. And when we look out the front door, we can see there's whole lot of dirty work to be done.
We even know there are people in the congregation that are willing to do this dirty work. They're those who go out of their way to connect with the youth and take them on mission trips. Those that sacrifice their Wednesday nights to lead the youth night. They champion causes and volunteer their time at hospitals and soup kitchens. These are the people who can lead these other ministries, and we know this. However, our church structure sometimes doesn't allow it.
We try to find the right position in the church for them, but our structure is geared towards meetings, reports, and budgets. I went to a staff and board retreat a couple of months ago where we determined our spiritual gifts. Around 70% of those that attended identified their strongest spiritual gift as Administration. Yikes. Administration is necessary, but the church leadership needs leaders and managers. We need people who can show us where those needs in the community are located and how they can be met.
They are the people who will brainstorm and use their creativity for exciting new ideas. We need more individuals who are creative, more individuals with wisdom, and more individuals who see the way we should go. I was reading The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and Stephen Covey says that managers will lead the team through the jungle very effectively, but it takes a leader to climb a tree and tell the others they're hacking through the wrong jungle. We need both of these aspects in order to grow.
For our church or any church to thrive, we can't hunker down in some pretend "survival mode" while we ignore our community at large. We must act with great boldness and we must act with great love.
It is the ministry we are called to do.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
