On Sunday the church will vote on a new vision that our Vision Team has been working on for nealy seven months. We knew going into this one that it was going to be different from the last (2003). Maybe harder. You see, the last time, the church was in a kind of "jump start" mode. Their new co-pastor team was still fairly new (3 years, and there were lots of "systems" that needed to be repaired or created. Everything from the phone system to the outreach system...
That 2003 process was begun because about a two years prior a church consultant, called in to give us advice about a "Master Plan" that was in the works, had made this striking statement: "I hear you saying what you want to do. I don't hear you saying who you are." So that Vision began, as all visions must, with a commitment to define who we are, which we accomplished in a mission statment that truly spoke of this church: "Becoming disciples through worship and service." That statement guided the the remainder of that process, and has led us as a church ever since. And that vision also set us on a track of completing some bricks-and-morter systems that needed to be put in place. In December, 2007 we dedicated a new Community Center, which will always stand as a kind of symbol to the 2003 Vision.
But we knew when we started in March of this year there would be nothing as tangible as a building to come out of this process. So it would be harder. It was. It is. Harder to see... harder to explain... harder to grasp (especially if you've not been in seven months of meeetings!) But it has the same potential to guide this church, define this church, change this church, as "Commitment Made Real" did, in 2003.
I hope you have taken the time to read and reflect, ask questions and study "ReDreaming the Dream: Reaching Up... Reaching In... Reaching Out...," which we will vote on as a church this coming Sunday. The document can be found on the church website (www.parkroadbaptist.org). Please take a look. I wanted to share with you the presentation that LeDayne McLeese Polaski made to our Deacons on Sunday morning. Her words mean something to me because of how well she knows The Church, and because they capture the excitement that this vision should. Amy and I hope that if we move forward on Sunday, we'll do so with this much enthusiasm -- it will virtually be required to make "ReDreaming the Dream" the success it deserves to be.
Here are LeDayne's remarks:
"In my job, I work with churches throughout North America. And because of that, I think about churches – what they do and why and how – and how they work or not – pretty much all day and every day – so I want to start with a very brief professional assessment.
PRBC is a healthy, vibrant church with excellent clergy and lay leadership – This expansive vision plan is both proof of that and reason to believe that it will continue as such. That’s my professional opinion.
But I think that Crystal (Crystal Smyth, Chair of Diaconate) invited me today to offer my personal opinion -- so here’s my personal option – I’m so excited that I just cannot stand it!
I had no idea of what to expect from the Vision Team and wasn't, to tell the truth, all that invested one way or the other. I’ve been in churches that created vision plans – I’ve watched churches create plans – and usually, to be honest, it isn’t very interesting. BUT – when I attended the presentation of the Vision Team a few weeks ago -- well, I thought it was the most exciting thing I'd ever seen in my 42 years of going to church. I already LOVED PRBC – but I was blown away by how good, how exciting, how visionary, how comprehensive, and how energizing this plan is. And – oh, by the way – by how faithful it is to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
My Sunday School class has been reading Shane Claiborne’s Irresistible Revolution – a book that makes me wonder if its possible for me to live a truly Christian life. I’ve been fretting about it, actually – wondering how I might move myself closer to being what I want to be – a faithful disciple. And then I went to the vision presentation and found the answer. I don’t have to do this alone – I have a community to help me – to support me, to challenge me, to walk with me, to care for me all along the way. And this community has a vision as big and deep and hard as I want mine to be. It makes me feel that I am in the right place to help me live out the call to discipleship. It makes me grateful to be a part of The Church and this church. It even makes me ready to give more and be more – and I would have sworn that I was already doing as much and giving as much as I could.
I am excited – energized – grateful – and ready to get started."
Thanks, LeDayne, so am I!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
The Real Meaning of Church
It happens occasionally. maybe only occasionally. Even for those of us who spend nearly every waking hour within its doors. So when church really happens, it's worth remembering. It happend this week.
(I told this story with her permission on Wednesday night, but for the internet I won't disclose any names.)
She came by the office early one day last week. She seemed excited. For more than a year there have been health questions for her husband. Tests here. Anxious waiting. Tests there. More waiting. They've both been amazingly upbeat (he probably more than she -- not surprising for an anxious spouse!). Not unrealistically cheery, but healthily optimistic. Hopeful.
And they'd gotten a report from the doctor that once again sounded like good news. I'm not at all being skeptical, just saying what we all know, namely, that listening to a report from the doctor can be notoriously difficult. There's the polysyllabic medical lexicon (the big words!), the complicated, often contingent procedures (this one if this... that one if, well, something else...), and the doctor's understandable need to be positive, even if realistic, and yet somewhat hestitant (they do call it the practice of medicine -- since no one has absolute answers when it comes to our health). What she heard (along with the other four listening ears from their family -- always a good practice to take along several extra sets of ears for doctors' conferences!) sounded good. Very good. and she just had to share.
So, standing in the church office, she did just that. We could hear the excitement. The absense of tension in her voice, for the first time in a while. (That's how you spell relief.) We asked a few questions, though there was little we needed to know other than the smile on her face. And then she said, "And I need a little thanksgiving prayer."
So right there, we joined hands. Our whole ministerial staff. The office staff. The office volunteer. And Amy prayed. (She knew I wouldn't have made it through such a tender moment -- and she was right! I hardly made it through her prayer!) It was a beatiful prayer of thanks and grace and community. Just what she needed. And what a gift she had given to us. Sharing life's difficult moments. And life's joys. Together. Wrapped in a spirit of prayer.
I don't know when I've had a more meaningful experience of church.
But I trust there will be more.
Russ
(I told this story with her permission on Wednesday night, but for the internet I won't disclose any names.)
She came by the office early one day last week. She seemed excited. For more than a year there have been health questions for her husband. Tests here. Anxious waiting. Tests there. More waiting. They've both been amazingly upbeat (he probably more than she -- not surprising for an anxious spouse!). Not unrealistically cheery, but healthily optimistic. Hopeful.
And they'd gotten a report from the doctor that once again sounded like good news. I'm not at all being skeptical, just saying what we all know, namely, that listening to a report from the doctor can be notoriously difficult. There's the polysyllabic medical lexicon (the big words!), the complicated, often contingent procedures (this one if this... that one if, well, something else...), and the doctor's understandable need to be positive, even if realistic, and yet somewhat hestitant (they do call it the practice of medicine -- since no one has absolute answers when it comes to our health). What she heard (along with the other four listening ears from their family -- always a good practice to take along several extra sets of ears for doctors' conferences!) sounded good. Very good. and she just had to share.
So, standing in the church office, she did just that. We could hear the excitement. The absense of tension in her voice, for the first time in a while. (That's how you spell relief.) We asked a few questions, though there was little we needed to know other than the smile on her face. And then she said, "And I need a little thanksgiving prayer."
So right there, we joined hands. Our whole ministerial staff. The office staff. The office volunteer. And Amy prayed. (She knew I wouldn't have made it through such a tender moment -- and she was right! I hardly made it through her prayer!) It was a beatiful prayer of thanks and grace and community. Just what she needed. And what a gift she had given to us. Sharing life's difficult moments. And life's joys. Together. Wrapped in a spirit of prayer.
I don't know when I've had a more meaningful experience of church.
But I trust there will be more.
Russ
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
On "Celebrating" the End of a War
I missed the parade. You know, celebrating the end of the war. Cheering the victory. Honoring the dead. But it’s hardly the only thing I’ve thought missing about our war in Iraq.
Yesterday marked the official end to our “combat operations” in Iraq. I heard it on the news, a little lower in priority than the 5-year anniversary of Katrina and the obsession with the recession. There was no fanfare. According to the website, http://nationalpriorities.org, military and non-military spending in Iraq now exceeds $745 billion, this for “incremental… additional funds.” (Regular military pay is not included, for example, but combat pay is included. Future anticipated costs are also not included.) “icasualties.org” lists the much greater costs, in human lives, at 4416 American troops killed in action. According to Patrick Goodenough, the International Editor for CNSNews.com, this is one death for every 15 hours of war. In addition to these grave numbers are the disturbing reports of the high number of combat injuries, especially traumatic brain injury, that are leaving thousands of our soldiers wounded – many with injuries that are not identified as combat related (mental health injuries), nor treated with the care which they deserve.
Because of the way the current and previous administrations and our news networks have chosen to provide coverage for this war, these losses are mainly nameless, faceless young people. Of course they are not nameless, nor faceless – that’s the point – they are beloved sons and daughters, parents, children, siblings, and friends whose faces and names are well-known, but they are largely forgotten because our War on Terror is a non-war in the traditional sense. In other words, we have conducted this war as if it were not costing us the precious resources, and the beloved children which are being lost every single day. At one point the former President remarked that the best we could do for this war was to “go shopping” – this war against the terrorists was about economic recovery – about not letting “them” steal “our way of life” (which may very well be caricatured by “shopping,” sadly enough) – not about deadly combat. There have been no calls for national participation much less for the kind of collective sacrifice that has been required of other national wars. As a result, while we have conducted life as usual, our daughters and sons have been giving their lives away – and the disconnect between those two concurrent lifestyles has far more serious consequences than we are prepared to admit. Though far harder to document (it was difficult enough to find a website that simply provided the numbers), another cost with which people of faith should be concerned is the loss of Iraqi lives. www.iraqbodycount.org places the estimate of documented deaths at between 97,461 and 106,348. To be sure, neither do those numbers represent nameless, faceless individuals.
While we should celebrate the end of this war’s combat operations, it should not be out of bravado or a sense of nationalistic superiority. We won! (I have never had any idea what “victory in Iraq” would really look like.) We should celebrate out of deep gratitude that this sad chapter is finally over. That the insanity of 7 ½ years is coming to an end. The sooner we can put this endless war behind us, work on repairing the broken relationships, the wounds of the horror of war, the better for our common humanity.
I don’t know what we have “won” in Iraq, if anything. I know that the quiet passing of “the end of combat operations” indicates a great defeat. We have conducted this war in a way that makes it clear that we mostly do not care. About the troops, the civilians, the “opportunity costs” lost in this nearly trillion dollar campaign. The commentators, hawks and doves alike, agreed that our plan for war was lacking. Now that the combat is over, I’d like to think we could do better with a plan for peace. To that end, I’ll be praying with you…
Yesterday marked the official end to our “combat operations” in Iraq. I heard it on the news, a little lower in priority than the 5-year anniversary of Katrina and the obsession with the recession. There was no fanfare. According to the website, http://nationalpriorities.org, military and non-military spending in Iraq now exceeds $745 billion, this for “incremental… additional funds.” (Regular military pay is not included, for example, but combat pay is included. Future anticipated costs are also not included.) “icasualties.org” lists the much greater costs, in human lives, at 4416 American troops killed in action. According to Patrick Goodenough, the International Editor for CNSNews.com, this is one death for every 15 hours of war. In addition to these grave numbers are the disturbing reports of the high number of combat injuries, especially traumatic brain injury, that are leaving thousands of our soldiers wounded – many with injuries that are not identified as combat related (mental health injuries), nor treated with the care which they deserve.
Because of the way the current and previous administrations and our news networks have chosen to provide coverage for this war, these losses are mainly nameless, faceless young people. Of course they are not nameless, nor faceless – that’s the point – they are beloved sons and daughters, parents, children, siblings, and friends whose faces and names are well-known, but they are largely forgotten because our War on Terror is a non-war in the traditional sense. In other words, we have conducted this war as if it were not costing us the precious resources, and the beloved children which are being lost every single day. At one point the former President remarked that the best we could do for this war was to “go shopping” – this war against the terrorists was about economic recovery – about not letting “them” steal “our way of life” (which may very well be caricatured by “shopping,” sadly enough) – not about deadly combat. There have been no calls for national participation much less for the kind of collective sacrifice that has been required of other national wars. As a result, while we have conducted life as usual, our daughters and sons have been giving their lives away – and the disconnect between those two concurrent lifestyles has far more serious consequences than we are prepared to admit. Though far harder to document (it was difficult enough to find a website that simply provided the numbers), another cost with which people of faith should be concerned is the loss of Iraqi lives. www.iraqbodycount.org places the estimate of documented deaths at between 97,461 and 106,348. To be sure, neither do those numbers represent nameless, faceless individuals.
While we should celebrate the end of this war’s combat operations, it should not be out of bravado or a sense of nationalistic superiority. We won! (I have never had any idea what “victory in Iraq” would really look like.) We should celebrate out of deep gratitude that this sad chapter is finally over. That the insanity of 7 ½ years is coming to an end. The sooner we can put this endless war behind us, work on repairing the broken relationships, the wounds of the horror of war, the better for our common humanity.
I don’t know what we have “won” in Iraq, if anything. I know that the quiet passing of “the end of combat operations” indicates a great defeat. We have conducted this war in a way that makes it clear that we mostly do not care. About the troops, the civilians, the “opportunity costs” lost in this nearly trillion dollar campaign. The commentators, hawks and doves alike, agreed that our plan for war was lacking. Now that the combat is over, I’d like to think we could do better with a plan for peace. To that end, I’ll be praying with you…
Thursday, August 12, 2010
On Celebrating the Construction of New Mosques. A Baptist Response.
I watched with dismay and sadness a recent edition of Anderson Cooper's CNN news show as Rev. Flip Benham, of "Operation Save America," spoke out against the building of a mosque in New York's "ground zero" area. But the Right Rev. (better named, Rev. Wrong), hardly stopped there. His opinion is that no mosques should be built -- anywhere. "Islam is a lie born from the pit of hell." (I may not have that quotation exactly right, but this is close to his exact words.)
I am dismayed that this kind of biggotry exists, and though I support our freedom of speech, sad that such a misguided viewpoint is allowed a nation-wide viewing.
I happened to be listening to this with some family members, one of whom opined that Bentham's words seemed on target. Bentham had said that though not all Muslims are terrorists, all terrorists are Muslim. This family member couldn't separate the heinous acts of a handful of misguided fanatics from the religion which birthed their own prejudices and hatreds. And though it made for a slightly tense family moment, I could not not respond.
You simply cannot say this. It is NOT true that Islam is a religion of evil or violence. That some have perverted it as such is undeniable. So have some Jews and Hindus and Buddhists and Christians made their religion the basis for God's supposed sanction of their own violence. And I asked if this family member knew any Muslims. He did not. And I told him that he needed to meet the handful of active, participating, faithful Muslims that I work with on a regular basis, through Mecklenburg Ministries, and hear their stories... see their lives... They are living testimonies to the fact that of the world's 1 billion Muslims, the vast majority are God-fearing, peace-loving, justice-oriented members of a religion whose name, Islam, is derived from the Arabic word for "peace."
Fundamentalism is our enemy. Whether Islamic or Christian. And education -- and relationships -- are the keys to moving our world forward.
Skip Bentham is wrong. And we need to say it boldly.
I'm grateful to my Muslim friends whom I consider partners in faith, brothers and sisters on the journey of finding and knowing God. Through our distinctive understandings of our approach to God, there is, yet, more that draws us together than divides us.
To that common end, we should celebrate the construction of houses of worship around this great nation -- regardless their shape. (I understand that there are political issues at hand, with the proposed NY mosque. I am not addressing these issues, but the larger religious and philosophical framework of this conversation.) And Baptists should lead the way in this -- as historic supporters of the freedom of religion.
May it be so.
I am dismayed that this kind of biggotry exists, and though I support our freedom of speech, sad that such a misguided viewpoint is allowed a nation-wide viewing.
I happened to be listening to this with some family members, one of whom opined that Bentham's words seemed on target. Bentham had said that though not all Muslims are terrorists, all terrorists are Muslim. This family member couldn't separate the heinous acts of a handful of misguided fanatics from the religion which birthed their own prejudices and hatreds. And though it made for a slightly tense family moment, I could not not respond.
You simply cannot say this. It is NOT true that Islam is a religion of evil or violence. That some have perverted it as such is undeniable. So have some Jews and Hindus and Buddhists and Christians made their religion the basis for God's supposed sanction of their own violence. And I asked if this family member knew any Muslims. He did not. And I told him that he needed to meet the handful of active, participating, faithful Muslims that I work with on a regular basis, through Mecklenburg Ministries, and hear their stories... see their lives... They are living testimonies to the fact that of the world's 1 billion Muslims, the vast majority are God-fearing, peace-loving, justice-oriented members of a religion whose name, Islam, is derived from the Arabic word for "peace."
Fundamentalism is our enemy. Whether Islamic or Christian. And education -- and relationships -- are the keys to moving our world forward.
Skip Bentham is wrong. And we need to say it boldly.
I'm grateful to my Muslim friends whom I consider partners in faith, brothers and sisters on the journey of finding and knowing God. Through our distinctive understandings of our approach to God, there is, yet, more that draws us together than divides us.
To that common end, we should celebrate the construction of houses of worship around this great nation -- regardless their shape. (I understand that there are political issues at hand, with the proposed NY mosque. I am not addressing these issues, but the larger religious and philosophical framework of this conversation.) And Baptists should lead the way in this -- as historic supporters of the freedom of religion.
May it be so.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Just Home from "Preacher Camp"...
For seven years I've been meeting, annually, with five other pastors for a week of self-designed study leave. Being in similar kinds of Baptist churches, and all preaching from the lectionary, the format of our annual study/retreat is a preview of the coming year's lectionary texts. (If you're unfamiliar, the Revised Common Lectionary divides the Bible, for preaching/worship purposes, into a three-year cycle, presenting an Old Testament, Psalm, Gospel, and Epistle reading for each week.) We take the coming year, divide it into six seasons, and prepare a preview of that season's texts, along with theme ideas, suggestions for preaching, and brainstorms about other worship elements. It's been a wonderful way to prepare for a year -- and great just to be together for the fellowship. And, if you can imagine a minister's retreat that begins with "Margarita Monday," it might not sound quite so boring! (Don't worry, Mom... we're all still Baptists!)
At our last gathering someone suggested that we should bring our families next time. We've grown quite close, and share not only in these annual retreats, but through Facebook and email we stay in touch throughout the year. These are colleagues as colleagues should be. Our sessions usually begin by "checking in" -- providing a safe, understanding group of ears to hear our joys and sorrows, our trials and successes in ministry. Someone generally breaks out a box of Kleenex. There's lots of laughter as we walk through the liturgical year together. (You just can't imagine how funny preparing for Pentecost really can be!) And the food and fellowship are, generally speaking, spectacular. We are two women and four men, serving churches from Baltimore, MD to Waco, TX, and scattered all in between, and the only thing that could possibly have made the last six years any better... was bringing our families along for the ride.
So... thanks to the generosity of a PRBC family with a fabulous house on a nearby mountain lake, seventeen of us gathered for this edition of "homipalooza, family style." (Homiletics is the study of preaching, and a "lolipalooza" is a hum-dinger of any variety!) And you can see from the picture that in addition to coming home with a year's worth of preaching/worship ideas, we also had time for more than a little family fun. There were the evening dance parties (fantastic to see such esteemed Reverends "bustin' a move" with the teenagers and kids among the group!)... the campfire sing-along, complete with s'mores... the conversations in the hot tub... plenty of water time for swimming and floating... and even enough time for the Dean boys to work on their Cypress Gardens Act.
I'm grateful to Don and Dorisanne, John and Jim and Amy (not my Amy... she's not been privy to such wonderful company until this year), for their creativity, their passion, their scholarship, their deep Christian convictions, but most of all for their frienship, which I treasure. And what a special joy to know that my family now knows how wonderful you are, too.
Preacher Camp? You betcha... can't wait 'till next time!
Russ
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Church for Real Men
I've been promted to re-start my blogging by an email I just got -- someone forwarded a link to an Observer article about "Ultimate Man Sunday" at a local church. (Today was Father's Day, you know. In case you, or God, forgot.) What a great idea -- and why didn't we think of that!? Instead of a warm, friendly welcome in the narthex, and an invitation to spend a few quiet minutes preparing to worship God together, we could have offered cigars and turkey legs in the narthex, and put in a big screen TV above the mantel, showing sports clips to help the men really prepare to meet God -- in a sermon chock-full of sports illustrations and all male heroes, I'm sure -- and maybe a NASCAR-themed centerpiece on the communion table to boot.
Yes, I'm concerned about our worship numbers... our budget numbers... our growth numbers. (But more than the concern is the excitement I have about the church I'm honored to serve.) But if that's what it takes to get men to come to church, then I'll be worshiping with the girls, and the other wimpy guys who don't need a Monster Truck in the parking lot to attract them.
Call me a sissy, guys, but if this is what it takes to grow a church (and maybe it is... noticing the numbers in our sanctuary lately, compared to the reports of some of our competitors who are packing their pews)... I'll have to settle for being the pastor of "Pretty Woman's Church" instead.
I just don't get it. Really. What is it that people don't understand about the difference in worship... and unadulterated entertainment? You know, if it takes buying a church humidor and grilling turkey legs in the narthex fireplace to get guys to come, then maybe (just humor me a bit here, guys), maybe they're coming for the wrong reason! And if sports and cigars and big hunks of smoked meat is what brings you -- maybe it really isn't Church you will find when you get there. (Crazy theory, I know... but it just seems to me that God might actually appreciate it if we really came to church just FOR GOD'S SAKE... not for all the same freebies they hand out at local sports bar.)
You know, I might be able to make an argument that I'm a real man, too, if I tried really hard... There's my pickup truck... The Harley... The shop full of well-used power tools... T
he radio presets for Country and Classic Rock... Waterskiing on my hands at 36 mph... (sorry, you'll have to see the picture in Amy's office for proof!) But if thoughtful, well-crafted worship, minus the gimicks and all the smoke and mirrors, makes me a "girly man," then pass the pink paint for my Sporter. I'm sure the rest of the girls will love it.
I just don't get it. Really. What is it that people don't understand about the difference in worship... and unadulterated entertainment? You know, if it takes buying a church humidor and grilling turkey legs in the narthex fireplace to get guys to come, then maybe (just humor me a bit here, guys), maybe they're coming for the wrong reason! And if sports and cigars and big hunks of smoked meat is what brings you -- maybe it really isn't Church you will find when you get there. (Crazy theory, I know... but it just seems to me that God might actually appreciate it if we really came to church just FOR GOD'S SAKE... not for all the same freebies they hand out at local sports bar.)
You know, I might be able to make an argument that I'm a real man, too, if I tried really hard... There's my pickup truck... The Harley... The shop full of well-used power tools... T
he radio presets for Country and Classic Rock... Waterskiing on my hands at 36 mph... (sorry, you'll have to see the picture in Amy's office for proof!) But if thoughtful, well-crafted worship, minus the gimicks and all the smoke and mirrors, makes me a "girly man," then pass the pink paint for my Sporter. I'm sure the rest of the girls will love it.Yes, I'm concerned about our worship numbers... our budget numbers... our growth numbers. (But more than the concern is the excitement I have about the church I'm honored to serve.) But if that's what it takes to get men to come to church, then I'll be worshiping with the girls, and the other wimpy guys who don't need a Monster Truck in the parking lot to attract them.
Apparently I won't be the pastor of a mega-church anytime soon. And I'm obviously not a real man.
Suits me fine.
r
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