This quote from Tyler Edwards (lead pastor of Cornerstone Christian Church in Joplin, Missouri) expresses something of his desire “to be all about Jesus.” Oddly enough, it is my desire too. Like Tyler, I find many of the church’s practices, beliefs, requirements, and attitudes to be obstacles to genuine community.
When I stop and consider being all about Jesus here are some of the things that come to mind:
The first is, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God,
the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart, and with all your soul,
and with all your mind, and with all your strength.”
The second is this,
“You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”
There is no other commandment greater than these.
This is only a partial listing. Suffice it to say however, that for me Jesus is a vital, living, presence and energy transforming my life and that of many others.
I see this happening (it’s happening all around us and through us as a faith community) in our youth outreach and ministry. Thanks to Josh and Lindsay for their amazing leadership. I see it in the Malawi Water project. Thanks to Helen for her vision. I see it in prayer shawls, food pantries, prayers, music, advocacy, and in so many ways big and small.
I see it in people who are stronger, and who are living abundantly and generously. I see it in people who are courageous and compassionate.
Today, Jesus is still calling us to follow, calling us forward, healing us, raising us up, and blessing us. Yep, “Jesus loved first” and last – always. So, “What if we changed our approach?” Love first – try it and see!
]]>Navroz marks the first day of spring or Equinox and the beginning of the year in the Persian calendar. The word means “new day.” Mayor Nenshi was the keynote speaker. This particular celebration featured Persian art, music, and poetry. Art is an expression of creativity and new life that comes in many forms. Most of the artistic pieces on display and the artists who performed were living in Alberta. The program was totally inspiring. Mayor Nenshi’s talk was well worth the trip downtown. However, on the back cover of the program was a poem by the great Persian poet, Rumi. I read the poem and almost jumped up out of my seat in joyful exuberance.
Excitedly, I shoved the poem in the face of a Jewish friend and exclaimed, “I have to read this on Easter Sunday.” She was a bit taken back and surprised, looked at me and asked, “Why?” “Please read it,” I said. She did and nodded saying, “Oh, I get it; it is a beautiful poem and so fits your season of Easter.
Here it is. Enjoy.
The Music We Are
Did you hear that winter’s over?
The basil and carnations cannot control their laughter.
The nightingale, back from his winter wanderings, has been made
singing-master over all the birds.
The trees reach out their congratulations.
The soul goes dancing through the King’s doorway.
Anemones blush because they have seen the rose naked.
Spring, the only fair judge, walks in the courtroom, and several
December thieves steal away.
Last year’s miracles will soon be forgotten.
New creatures whirl in from nonexistence,
galaxies scattered around their feet.
Have you met them?
Do you hear the bud of Jesus crooning in the cradle?
A single narcissus flower has been appointed Inspector of Kingdoms.
A feast is set.
Listen.
The wind is pouring wine! Love used to be hidden in images.
No more! The orchard hangs out its lanterns.
The dead come stumbling by in shrouds.
Nothing can stay bound or be imprisoned.
You say, “End this poem and wait for what’s next.” I will.
Poems are rough notations for the music we are.
Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
]]>
Worship and Children`s programming on Sundays is going really well.
Seventeen youth and young adults along with their leaders had a wonderful confirmation retreat in Canmore. You don’t want to miss confirmation Sunday on May 10!
A celebration was held to mark our refugee’s first year in Canada. There we heard a moving story from a teenager who joined us for the occasion. The story was about how her father came to Canada as a refugee, and as soon as he was able he sponsored her and her mother.
Did you know that the United Church is asking congregations to help sponsor 700 refugees who are seeking asylum and new life in Canada? Does anyone want to take this on and move Deer Park toward heading up a drive to sponsor one more refugee? Just puttin’ it out there.
After a gathering for guided meditation, testimony came back about how power the experience was. There will be two more sessions on March 18 and 25.
A discussion was held around worship that included youth and young adults. We discussed things like music, language, being conversational and having deep conversations. We talked about being casual and inclusive and doing things differently that make us say, “That surprised me.” An idea was put forward that, for Easter season, we interview people on video and ask, “What would it be like if you encountered a loved one after their death?” or “What makes you come alive?” The video would then be aired on a Sunday during worship. Anyone want to take this on? It would be fun!
On Sunday March 8, a potluck lunch is being held. Friends of Deer Park will be engaged in a wonderful conversation about congregational needs and vision. Rev. Dr. Bob Fillier will lead us in discussing the Identity Mission Needs Analysis Survey. You will hear from the Visioning Committee. You will have the opportunity to give your two cents worth! (which is really priceless)
A small group of people are exploring a deeper relationship to the church. After School Programs through the City of Calgary are going full tilt – lots of energy around here on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons.
Days are filled with excitement, enthusiasm, joy and hope. Be a part of it anyway you can – there’s place for you!
]]>
I was at an event only a few days ago and came away from that time saying, “I am sick of hearing the laments.” Yet, here I am offering my own lament to the myriads of people who cry out. I so much want to be in a different place. But here I am. Here I stand. Here I live.
The “here” is church-world. The “it” referred to above is the constant requests and interactions with people who are in deep need and one footstep away from being homeless. They are hungry and alone. They have worn out many people by their constant pleas. They have learned to survive in whatever way they can. Some have mental, physical, and emotional problems. They aren’t able, for many reasons, to access the services and support that they need. Support agencies are unable to keep up. The church is unable to respond to all the requests.
The “it” is that sinking feeling when I have to say, “I’m sorry but at this time we are unable to help.” I think – what if I was the one reaching out, asking, hoping, and desperate? Yes, it hurts. And yes, there are other “its” – the pain of the world that surrounds us. Everything from personal crises to international and global tragedies.
I pause and gather my wits around me. I muster what spiritual strength I can. I breathe. My attention is caught by the upcoming weekend – Thanksgiving. To Thanksgiving I run. I embrace it like a young child embracing his mother after having been lost. I cry. I suddenly feel both empty and full. I feel comforted and sorrowful all at the same time. My heart pounds, and each pulse is felt throughout my body. The words come to mind – “This is my body broken for you.”
The Church is the broken body of Christ in the world. We are not whole. We limp along as best we can and take one step at a time. We do what we can to support our brothers and sisters – the hungry, the sick, the poor, the naked, the homeless, and the despairing for in them is the face of Christ.
I, we, the church can’t do everything. However, we are able to help and support many and for that I give thanks. And for the knowledge that we are capable of so much more, I give thanks. And for each time that a little more is given and care extended and love offered, I give thanks. And for every expression of kindness and compassion, I give thanks. For people of good will, I give thanks. That recently we helped a young mother with two children find housing, I give thanks. That we comfort those who mourn, I give thanks.
In all things, give thanks! In all things, give!
]]>
Yes, “for everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). It’s just now that we have a new season! Seasons change. Times come and go. Presently, I feel that the time for me is one of patient waiting and quiet reflection. My usual first response to change is to jump right in and act as if I can manage it better than anyone else! To slow down, breathe, and to stay open are practices that I choose now to embrace.
Deer Park United Church has seen much change. We started a journey with St. Andrew’s United in November of 2013. Changes in staff have occurred. Recently, Wilma Clark retired from pastoral care ministry at St. Andrew’s and at the end of this month the Rev. Rod Sykes will retire. Rev. Erin Klassen has chosen not to return to Deer Park. Rev. Catherine Elsdon will become the ordained supply minister at St. Andrew’s effective September 15. And, as I speak a few other changes are underway but being managed because I jumped in!
As you find your way back home to DPUC and as you arrive, you will notice these differences and changes. You will also notice that the Children’s Program for Sunday morning will operate under a different schedule. The children will come in and begin their program at 10:00. This is to allow for better use of time and space. The leaders will have time to run the program and bring the children into the sanctuary near the end to join the worshiping community at that time. What happens when they join the worshiping community will more likely vary over time. Baptism and communion will be moved to a later point in the service so that children can participate in these sacred communal acts of welcome, remembrance, feasting, and celebrating the presence of Christ.
As we move forward with this new plan, your comments, questions, and feedback are always welcomed. I do enjoy conversation about the life of our church as it often leads to greater understanding and a better delivery of programming. My door is open.
On our “Welcome Back” Sunday (September 21), the band from Naked Faith will provide special music. This is a presbytery/regional ministry group of youth and young adults. To them, their faith expression through music, and their lively energy we say, “Welcome!” Rev. Rod will also baptist a child from the St. Andrew’s community and this gives us an opportunity to welcome a child and to say welcome to all God’s children. Of course, there will be food, fun, and friendship!
Rev. Rod will also preach at his last service as minister of St. Andrew’s on Sept. 28. We will, with St. Andrew’s, celebrate his ministry and offer out thanks for all his contributions, insight, care, and vision.
And then, again with St. Andrew’s, we will look forward to welcoming and getting to know Rev. Catherine. I look forward to her leadership and to building a relationship in ministry that will enhance the lives of our worshiping communities.
So, I slow down, breathe, and stay open. I invite you to join me in this spiritual practice. I thank you for being the people who embrace change with your wisdom, acceptance (sometimes rejection which is ok too), questions, hope, and love.
“Churchtember” is here!
]]>
Having told you my to-do list, doesn’t mean this is all up to me for it is the work of the church and each one has a role to play, a life to touch, a community for belonging, forgiveness to offer and receive, and love to share in wild and wonderful ways with the world.
In another very real sense, I’ve learned that this is so not about me, but it is about the Spirit that moves and dances and prods and pokes. If it were up to me, well not much would happen.
There is more, but these have been on my mind and heart for some time.
Have a great summer!
]]>“All who believed were together and had all things in common.” This is one descriptor of the early church found in the Book of Acts. As Deer Park prepared for their annual garage sale, this short scriptural text continually kept popping into my mind.
Believers in garage sales had all come together! They had all things in common and there were lots of things! The lobby of the church, the sanctuary of the church, and the fellowship hall of the church filled up rather quickly.
And people were busy. They were focused on bringing in items from cars and trucks, opening boxes, and sorting treasures. Then they were pricing items and preparing for the time when people would come together for the big event.
A team of folks cooked pies which is a tradition for the garage sale. The pies alone fetched $1,100.00. The youth gathered to sell hotdogs and beverages, another tradition of those who believe in garage sales. At the end of the sale, the church had made over $8,700.00.
This short time of coming together as believers in garage sales and briefly holding all things in common was phenomenal. The Garage Sale was a win-win all around. Old things were re-purposed, reused, and saved from the landfill. Some items ended up being recycled. People cleared out their homes and garages. Others furnished their homes and filled their garages with tools, bikes, toys, and other items.
I was speaking with a teenager from the community as I watched the large amount of things that the family was purchasing – furniture, rugs, kitchen wares, and I asked, “What are you doing furnishing your home?” The reply was, “Yes, it’s about time.” This family are rather recent immigrants to Canada and live in low income housing. They were thrilled with what they were able to acquire.
Yes, Believers who had all things in common, and they are believers in more than garage sales. This is what I discovered again in a fresh and exciting way:
Many, many thanks to all who participated, who believe, and hope, and dream, and hold all things in common!
]]>
They happily left knowing that I had agreed to grant their request, but I started thinking about what I had agreed to do. A wedding on Easter! The Easter crowd and the wedding crowd and the logistics of making this first and foremost an Easter celebration kept racing through my mind. Also in my mind was the anticipated joint worship with St. Andrew’s United Church that had not yet been approved for going forward. How would I sell this to another congregation, especially a congregation who didn’t know this couple and their love for and involvement in the church?
All these questions only made me more eager to figure it out. The practise in some places and in the early church was helpful. Weddings often were celebrated when the community would gather for worship. They were not the stand alone event detached from the community that they have become today. Historical precedence was on my side. Also on my side was this – how in the world could I deny this request to young adults who have a vibrant faith and who love the church! That just would not make any sense at all to me; it’s not like we have young adults flocking to the church.
The service itself did not take form until a few months before the wedding on Easter. The theme was that we, people of faith in Jesus, are united with the Risen Christ. Christ is bridegroom and the church is the bride (this is New Testament language by the way which also is found in the Old Testament when writers would address the love of God for humanity). The processional of the Paschal or Christ Candle was first. The bridal processional followed reminding all worshippers that Christ is first and that in all of life we follow in the Way of Jesus. Then we all declared our intent to be in union with Christ and to follow the Way of Jesus. Worship continued as usual with singing, praying, passing of the peace, scripture lessons, and a sermon. After the sermon, the couple exchanged vows as a response to the Word. Prayers were offered and the offering was received and just as the bride and groom give rings as a token of their love and commitment, the congregations offered their gifts in the same spirit.
The message was based on the words that the angels and the Risen Christ spoke to those early believers – “Don’t Be Afraid.” Briefly, the community of followers should never be afraid to be vulnerable, caring, daring, loving, forgiving, and supportive. The spirit of the Risen One is with us. We are stronger together. We can face tough times. We are the Church – the resurrection community of new life!
It was a great Sunday with great energy and great love.
]]>This quote is from Andrew Solomon’s story about seeking tribal customs and practices to help treat and manage depression. He was treated by a shamanic woman in Senegal. It was a day long ceremony involving being naked, goat’s blood, drumming, community, and food. Not the kind of treatment I would prefer, but Andrew says that it was very effective.
The speaker in the quote above is a Rwandan that Andrew met up with some five years later. The Rwandan spoke of their ceremonies compared to their failed attempts with western treatments. Andrew shared his experience and the citation is the response from the one he had met in Rwanda. I certainly know that there are many different approaches to treatment of depression, but that’s not where I am going with this.
Here’s my spin on it. This is about worship at its best.
Wow! A paradigm for worship that is exciting and builds on what we already do. I read an article in the New York Times (Sunday, March 16) about a Jewish Rabbi in New York who promotes “performance” in worship. This is a performance of dynamic storytelling or as he likes to call it “storahtelling.” The Torah means the Law and/or the first five books of the Bible. These are some of the greatest stories and demand a powerful retelling. “Worship,” the Rabbi says, “needs to come alive with power to transform.”
Worship is to be dynamic, engaging of the whole person, highly communal (and more often than not should include a meal), musical and moving. You can help! Do have an interest in readers’ theatre, drama, meal planning/organizing, dance, or music? Other forms of visual and graphic arts that engage our senses? Don’t hold back. Share with me your wild and wacky ideas as we seek to make worship ever more engaging and transforming. [email protected]
]]>The Message translation of the Bible says that the circumstances such as these are opportunities “to practice the servant life.” With that wording, I thought about Robert K. Greenleaf who coined the phrase “servant-leader.” Here is one of his definitions:
The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.
When I was first out of Divinity School at Duke University, the Bishop for my area required that the ministers participate each and every year in a Covenant Renewal Service. John Wesley who founded the Methodist movement in the 1700’s wrote the service and here is the concluding prayer:
I am no longer my own, but yours.
Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will;
put me to doing, put me to suffering;
let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you,
exalted for you, or brought low for you;
let me be full,
let me be empty,
let me have all things,
let me have nothing:
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal.
And now, glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
you are mine and I am yours. So be it.
And the covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.
This prayer epitomizes the “servant-leader” as one who is totally open, trusting, and willing to serve first. I have always struggled with this prayer and continue to do so. It exposes my fears, hopes, dreams, insecurities, and a deep desire to be so totally committed. Some words roll off my tongue easily – “let me be employed for you.” Others hardly find expression at all – “laid aside for you.” “Put me to suffering?” Doing is ok as I would rather be kept busy in engaging ministry.
For me, this prayer pushes and pulls me in many directions in a struggle to serve, to step up or to step aside, to shine or to let others shine, to be my “own” or to be, in the hands of God, a servant and an instrument of God’s grace and love. I use the prayer often and oddly it seems to always be right there in the edges of my consciousness – pulling, pushing, and challenging between the extreme types of leaders and all the “shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.”
]]>