Luke 10: 25-37
I have many positive memories about neighbors as a child. The people who lived near my family were the source of friendships and a support network that provided both opportunities to give and receive help in times of need. I remember spontaneous gatherings for games, shared meals and outdoor excursions. Adults cared for neighbor children. Garrison Keillor affirms this sense of shared responsibility, if Mrs. Smith down the street told you as a kid to blow your nose, you blew it. Neighbor was not always a good term, there were always cranky people or people who didn't fit the neighborhood ethos, but there was still a sense of shared welfare--that person was still part of the neighborhood.
Not only was the meaning of neighbor taught through close proximity relationships, but through favorite television shows. The characters of Sesame Street sang a song about people in the neighborhood. The song lifted up the importance of each vocation to a good community life. Mister Rogers created a broader sense of valued vocation and helped children imagine how they might participate in neighborhood life as they matured. The songs matched with the actions in the neighborhood inspire me to this day. Mr. Rogers actions inspired his church--Fred Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister, ordained not because he showed a calling for congregational ministry, but his teaching of children the value of loving neighbor and neighborhood highlighted principles important to Christian faith.
Stories of strong neighbor relationships still exist in my anecdotal examination of neighbors, but the stories are fewer and far between. The hardest part about leaving Sioux Falls was leaving our next door neighbors. They were ex-Hutterites, communal-living Anabaptists who survived and thrived on shared welfare. They shared with us about everything they possibly could. It took me only 16 years of adult life to experience what I learned as a child in our 4 year relationship with our next door neighbors.
Is a discussion about neighbor relationships possible in an era where people connect less and less because of proximity and more on shared interests? Is a discussion about neighbor relationships possible after the events of September 11, 2001--a time when suspicion of neighbor became a response to fears of another terrorist attack on U.S. land? Is a discussion about neighbor relationships possible when U.S. immigration remains a controversial topic? These are not merely issues in the United States, but worldwide, though the world is getting smaller because of technology and urban population explosion, it doesn't mean that humanity is more adept at living in close proximity.
Today's Bible reading represents an exploration on the meaning of neighbor: the parable of the Good Samaritan.
The parable of the Good Samaritan is well-known in public discourse, not necessarily because people know the Bible story, but because the term "Good Samaritan" has come to mean someone who has extended their reach to offer someone an extraordinary level of help. Indeed, a legendary level of help is shared in this story from Jesus' teaching, but that is not the only important aspect of this story. The story is told because a scholar of God's law begins a discussion about the basic of God's law, also known as Torah.
This "lawyer" engages Jesus in a discussion about Torah. According to Richard Swanson, the lawyer is not antagonistic to Jesus, rather, someone who is attempting to understand the level of conversation. Neighbor was actually a challenging concept for faithful Jews in Jesus' day. In some cases, neighbor is understood as those in close proximity, but in others, the circle of neighbor is ever widening. Neighbor is challenging because Gentiles (non-believers) and enemies--those who would wish to do harm to Israel--are all around. Could they be considered neighbors, too? Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann notes that OT understandings of neighbor can be quite fluid.
The lawyer asks Jesus after establishing a baseline understanding of Torah that inspires the question, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus tells a story that places acts of mercy of what could considered an annoyance at best, mortal enemy at worst, in the hands of a Samaritan. The Samaritan person is not considered good by faithful Jews. This is not a parable addressing the moral failure of the people who passed by the person left for dead at the side of the road, and it's not a parable about the goodness of the Samaritan. Public discourse has assigned the story meaning by the good actions of the Samaritan. Remember, the question is "who is my neighbor?" The question is not related to goodness. I think this is important because the value Jesus places in the story and the lawyer recognizes is that the action correlated with being a neighbor is an act of mercy.
I believe that the teachings that many people received growing up about what it means to be a neighbor are good teachings. Looking out for one another. Sharing what you have. Enjoying fellowship. Mister Rogers and Sesame Street explicitly taught children and their parents about what it means to be a neighbor. But in some ways, the teaching is a little dated and can drift into nostalgia fusion, where a particular brand of serving the neighbor becomes stuck in remembering the good old days. The good of Mister Rogers and Sesame Street is their recognition that many gifts and talents are valued for the good of the community, and these television teachers provide an appreciation for gifts and talents shared, while giving children an opportunity to imagine how they might share their gifts and talents for the good of the community.
Jesus does not advocate for a particular cultural brand of being a neighbor. To be a neighbor is not specifically to have or yearn for a fluid connecting backyard exchange with my neighbors as I did when I was a child. That may happen. But if my yearning for a particular kind of neighborliness prevents me from showing mercy to someone, then I am missing the point of Jesus parable. Showing mercy is the call of a follower of Jesus. Living in any community--in Port Orchard and beyond, in every profession, whether paid or unpaid, in every exchange we have on a daily basis, is an opportunity to share mercy. That is why this Sunday we are blessing people who work in Port Orchard. At least it is an opportunity to pray for you local postal workers, grocers, police officers, volunteers, custodians, teachers, bankers, retirees, nurses, artists, or any other local worker whom you can remember. Being merciful is not time or culturally bound. Jesus goes to great lengths to show mercy, even to the point of his own death, so that we may be free to share mercy, to go and likewise show mercy.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Book Review: "Tribal Church: Minstering to the Missing Generation" by Carol Howard Merritt
I know I am late to the party reviewing this book (I have an excuse); Carol Howard Merritt (a Presbyterian Church-USA pastor) is about to publish another book--soon. Maybe people who are checking out her new book will want to know more about the older book.
Many reviewers of Tribal Church stated there are good ideas in Carol's book for inter generational ministry, but I'm not so sure this is an idea book as a conversation for leaders (and anyone else interested) about their congregational culture. If you're looking for specific ideas to replicate, you might find something, but you might look to another resource. Tribal Church likely fits better for small to mid-sized (up to 250 in worship) "Mainline [or what I call 20th Century-Brand] Protestants." Carol happens to name the plight of missing Gen Xers and Millennials and what it means for the life of the Church, but Carol's content and style inspires any congregation to better use the assets it already has to reach people in the margins of the community. I believe this is the book's greatest gift. The book's final chapter magnificently states in affirmation "The mainline denominational church has everything it needs to minister to younger generations." This is a powerful statement, I find that most of the congregations I serve in one capacity or another focus on what they do not have, rather than what they have.
When reviewing a ministry book, I answer the question, "how would I use this book in my congregation?" I have served in interim ministry for 9 years, covering 9 congregations. I believe the congregational transition between pastors is a great time to use this book. Here is why I would have used it in most (but not all) of my interim congregations:
1. Most small to mid-sized congregations, for a variety of reasons, will be calling a younger clergy person in their future. Carol names and broadly discusses the numerous challenging variables for young clergy (it should be noted that most variables could apply to early career clergy, but particularly young clergy). Some congregations may not be aware of the challenges and the lack of awareness could be the source of previous pastor-congregation discord. Awareness and action to address certain issues named in the book could produce a healthier relationship with the next pastor.
2. Pastoral transitions provide a great opportunity to evaluate congregational ministries. Howard Merritt astutely raises points around many contentious situations in the target congregational group:
I have a hard time not liking this book. Having recently exited the sub-group of "young clergy," I share a great deal of solidarity with Carol Howard Merritt and the advocacy she offers for Gen X and Millennial generations, as well as the small to mid-sized mainline Protestant congregations. I've served a majority of my ordination working with congregations in that classification, and shared in her advocacy work. The book could easily be shared in a coffee house or a church basement over a series covered dish/potluck/hotdish supper (depending on your area of the country), or in a church board room. You don't have to agree with every issue Carol Howard Merritt raises, but she will introduce you to an important evaluation of your congregational culture and practices worthy of a personal and graceful discussion, especially if you notice that Gen X and Millennial generations are missing from your congregational life.
Many reviewers of Tribal Church stated there are good ideas in Carol's book for inter generational ministry, but I'm not so sure this is an idea book as a conversation for leaders (and anyone else interested) about their congregational culture. If you're looking for specific ideas to replicate, you might find something, but you might look to another resource. Tribal Church likely fits better for small to mid-sized (up to 250 in worship) "Mainline [or what I call 20th Century-Brand] Protestants." Carol happens to name the plight of missing Gen Xers and Millennials and what it means for the life of the Church, but Carol's content and style inspires any congregation to better use the assets it already has to reach people in the margins of the community. I believe this is the book's greatest gift. The book's final chapter magnificently states in affirmation "The mainline denominational church has everything it needs to minister to younger generations." This is a powerful statement, I find that most of the congregations I serve in one capacity or another focus on what they do not have, rather than what they have.
When reviewing a ministry book, I answer the question, "how would I use this book in my congregation?" I have served in interim ministry for 9 years, covering 9 congregations. I believe the congregational transition between pastors is a great time to use this book. Here is why I would have used it in most (but not all) of my interim congregations:
1. Most small to mid-sized congregations, for a variety of reasons, will be calling a younger clergy person in their future. Carol names and broadly discusses the numerous challenging variables for young clergy (it should be noted that most variables could apply to early career clergy, but particularly young clergy). Some congregations may not be aware of the challenges and the lack of awareness could be the source of previous pastor-congregation discord. Awareness and action to address certain issues named in the book could produce a healthier relationship with the next pastor.
2. Pastoral transitions provide a great opportunity to evaluate congregational ministries. Howard Merritt astutely raises points around many contentious situations in the target congregational group:
- "The _____________ (fund-raiser, cultural event) supper [for Scandinavian Lutherans, insert lutefisk]."
- Committee service
- Leadership development
- Declining participation in a small group that appealed to people decades ago
- Demographic and sociological realities
- Generational divides
- Clergy critique
I have a hard time not liking this book. Having recently exited the sub-group of "young clergy," I share a great deal of solidarity with Carol Howard Merritt and the advocacy she offers for Gen X and Millennial generations, as well as the small to mid-sized mainline Protestant congregations. I've served a majority of my ordination working with congregations in that classification, and shared in her advocacy work. The book could easily be shared in a coffee house or a church basement over a series covered dish/potluck/hotdish supper (depending on your area of the country), or in a church board room. You don't have to agree with every issue Carol Howard Merritt raises, but she will introduce you to an important evaluation of your congregational culture and practices worthy of a personal and graceful discussion, especially if you notice that Gen X and Millennial generations are missing from your congregational life.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
What one congregation did for a child and family with an Autism Spectrum Disorder
How can a congregation minister to families affected by Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)?
By some counts 1 in 100 live births result in a child with an ASD. It is likely that some family or several have an ASD in their lives who are part of your congregation. I am not a social worker or an educator. I am a parent of a child with an ASD. We found a congregation that was gracious and helpful and willing to help us out. Each family with ASD will have different needs and experiences, but this story is shared so that your congregation my reflect on its current practices and see opportunities for sharing grace.
Last summer, my wife and I were in a precarious position. We had recently moved to the Seattle metro, and neither of us were serving in a congregation, yet we each had Sunday responsibilities. I had been preaching through pulpit supply, and my wife was preaching in the Southwestern Washington Synod in her new role, sometimes as far as 3 hours away. This was not an ideal situation for our daughter with an ASD. First sessions in any new program are challenging, but she integrates fairly quickly. We needed a place for her to go and continue in her Christian education outside the home in a community of faith, but our work was not conducive to her faith growth.
Our best prospect was a congregation near my parents' home, Messiah Lutheran Church in Auburn, WA. My parents care for our children on the weekends, and our daughter could attend Sunday School at Messiah. We met with the Christian Education Director (CED) on staff and told her about our daughter's needs and what could be helpful. The CED described the flow of Sunday School and matched our daughter with a leader who was comfortable working with special needs children. She wasn't sequestered in a class with all special needs children. At first, my father stayed close by during the Sunday school sessions. As our daughter became more comfortable with the surroundings and routine, she came to enjoy her time and Sunday School and was able to talk with us at home more each week about what she learned. Occasionally the leaders had concerns about behaviors, and we renegotiated a plan for her time at church.
During the Sunday School year, the CED facilitated a workshop for parents and her Sunday School teachers with a specialist in the field of working with ASD children. Unfortunately, my wife and I were not able to attend, but I heard that the mini-workshop was helpful--and it reflected Messiah Lutheran Church's desire to minister to ASD families and offer these children an opportunity to thrive in their faith growth through the intentional love and care of knowledgeable adults in the congregation.
Messiah Lutheran Church is one of the largest congregations in the SW Washington Synod and has many resources. Even though Messiah has a paid staff person to deal with different cases as with our family, any congregation can show love and care to families with ASD children. This kind of ministry doesn't have to be a big programmatic effort. Any size or resource congregation can do this ministry. It takes caring adults willing to learn about or share techniques, and parents who can be assertive about their child's needs. Our daughter had challenges at Sunday School last year, but with the ministry a shared responsibility, she was able to connect with God and others. That congregation was willing to meet us in our particular circumstance and give us some needed grace.
By some counts 1 in 100 live births result in a child with an ASD. It is likely that some family or several have an ASD in their lives who are part of your congregation. I am not a social worker or an educator. I am a parent of a child with an ASD. We found a congregation that was gracious and helpful and willing to help us out. Each family with ASD will have different needs and experiences, but this story is shared so that your congregation my reflect on its current practices and see opportunities for sharing grace.
Last summer, my wife and I were in a precarious position. We had recently moved to the Seattle metro, and neither of us were serving in a congregation, yet we each had Sunday responsibilities. I had been preaching through pulpit supply, and my wife was preaching in the Southwestern Washington Synod in her new role, sometimes as far as 3 hours away. This was not an ideal situation for our daughter with an ASD. First sessions in any new program are challenging, but she integrates fairly quickly. We needed a place for her to go and continue in her Christian education outside the home in a community of faith, but our work was not conducive to her faith growth.
Our best prospect was a congregation near my parents' home, Messiah Lutheran Church in Auburn, WA. My parents care for our children on the weekends, and our daughter could attend Sunday School at Messiah. We met with the Christian Education Director (CED) on staff and told her about our daughter's needs and what could be helpful. The CED described the flow of Sunday School and matched our daughter with a leader who was comfortable working with special needs children. She wasn't sequestered in a class with all special needs children. At first, my father stayed close by during the Sunday school sessions. As our daughter became more comfortable with the surroundings and routine, she came to enjoy her time and Sunday School and was able to talk with us at home more each week about what she learned. Occasionally the leaders had concerns about behaviors, and we renegotiated a plan for her time at church.
During the Sunday School year, the CED facilitated a workshop for parents and her Sunday School teachers with a specialist in the field of working with ASD children. Unfortunately, my wife and I were not able to attend, but I heard that the mini-workshop was helpful--and it reflected Messiah Lutheran Church's desire to minister to ASD families and offer these children an opportunity to thrive in their faith growth through the intentional love and care of knowledgeable adults in the congregation.
Messiah Lutheran Church is one of the largest congregations in the SW Washington Synod and has many resources. Even though Messiah has a paid staff person to deal with different cases as with our family, any congregation can show love and care to families with ASD children. This kind of ministry doesn't have to be a big programmatic effort. Any size or resource congregation can do this ministry. It takes caring adults willing to learn about or share techniques, and parents who can be assertive about their child's needs. Our daughter had challenges at Sunday School last year, but with the ministry a shared responsibility, she was able to connect with God and others. That congregation was willing to meet us in our particular circumstance and give us some needed grace.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Sermon for August 15, 2010: "A Word for the People (Guest Preacher Will Boyd)"
Today's post comes from Will Boyd at 3 Story Church. Will is a developer who works with congregations on their web and social media presence. This piece is a sermon preached at First Lutheran Community Church in Port Orchard, Washington on August 15, 2010. 3 Story Church will be working with FLCC on its website in the coming months. The sermon is a reflection on how people and communities of faith share their stories of God's activity in their lives.
A Word for the People
Acts 13: 13-23, 38-43
Will Boyd
I would like to take a moment to describe just what it is that I do. I own a business called 3 Story Church. The focus of that business is helping churches and faith communities re-connect with their past, present, and future stories and tell them to the world. Quite often this comes in the form of websites, videos, and social media. Also a big part of what I do is speak about the way that changes in communications and society affect churches.
We are living in an exciting time when it comes to communications and technology. Much like changes that occurred as a result of the invention of the printing press in the 15th century, the changes that we are experiencing as a society due to the rise of the internet and social media are revolutionary. Advances in technology are rewriting the rules of what is possible for individuals, companies, and even churches. Right now, you hear about things like Facebook and blogs everywhere you go. It seems that the phrase “social media” is on everyone’s lips. And, it is hard to deny that the internet has evolved to become the primary means of communication and media consumption for more than just one generation. Marketers and corporations are falling all over themselves to take advantage of what things like Twitter and their websites can now do for them. So, it is only natural that churches want to learn how to get in on all the excitement.
But what is all the excitement about anyway? Why are websites, Facebook, and so on becoming such powerful communication tools? Put simply, unlike other communications tools going back to the printing press, these new tools are all about allowing everyone to share with everyone else. Suddenly, a teenager in Spokane has the ability to share her thoughts about tennis shoes with just as many people as does Nike. Similarly, a small church in Port Orchard now has the ability to reach as many people with their message as does the largest church anywhere. This is much different from the world that has dominated our recent history. Most of us are still used to a world where, if a church wanted to communicate its message outside of its own walls, then it either had to spend a fortune to broadcast its services on television, or participate in marketing activities like purchasing ads in newspapers, billboards, or radio. Going from a world in which communications travel in one direction from a single broadcast source to a large audience to a world in which communications happen like a giant conversation where everyone is on a more-level playing field is a big shift in a short amount of time.
It is no wonder that people are often a bit shocked when I tell them that these “new” communications tools that marketers and corporations are scrambling to learn are nothing new at all to churches. They look at me like I’ve lost my mind when I assure them that we as churches already know precisely how to use these tools to reach the world. No, we don’t have to learn something new at all. In fact, we have to re-learn something as old as our faith. We have to re-learn how to be church outside of our walls.
In most of our lifetime, our options for communicating have been very limited. We’ve really had no options for being church in our communications. When, as was necessary, churches turned to marketing to reach potential visitors, our communications were just that…marketing. We did our very best to represent our churches in ways that would attract people to church. We also paid special attention to trying to create programs and offerings that we thought people would like. However, we never saw our communications as a real extension of our church. And, how could they be? A 2 inch advertisement in the local newspaper is certainly not church. Our goal had to be to get people to come to church so that the real work of being church could happen.
The most powerful thing that the social media and internet revolution has done for churches is to allow us to stop marketing ourselves to people and free us to start sharing church with them. We can now BE CHURCH on our church websites. We can now BE CHURCH through tools like Facebook. We can now take church to the people where the people are. While all of this might feel new to us, as we can see in our Scripture reading, taking our faith to the people where the people are is nothing new at all. In these verses from Acts, Paul and his companions travel to Antioch and enter a synagogue. This was not a synagogue full of people who were followers of Jesus. Paul and his companions, as we sports fans say, did not have home field advantage. Instead, they were meeting the people where they were. That is one of the greatest blessings of what I and others call the internet revolution…that it has never been easier for churches to meet people where they are.
I was leading a workshop on the internet and the church at the 2009 General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) when I had an interesting exchange that stuck with me. In the workshop, I covered in greater detail the way that technological changes are allowing churches to more fully be the church online. When I finished, a gentleman approached me. I could tell by the look on his face that what I said had confused him a bit. He looked a lot like I must look when my wife is mad at me for something I don’t even know I did. After thanking me for the presentation and assuring me he enjoyed it, he questioned just how a church can “be church” online. His main point of contention with this possibility was that churches would lose support because, as he put it, “people expect everything on the internet to be free.” This was not the first time I had heard or thought about his question, so I felt well prepared to address his concern. I pointed out that there are others who are not only surviving these phenomena, but thriving in it. I pointed out that NPR is a great example of how people will support things that they expect to be free.
While I may have been prepared for his question, I was certainly not prepared for his response. He said, in as close to a direct quote as I’m capable of, “That’s great for NPR, but NPR has a good brand.” I think the only response to that I could muster was something like, “Well, that’s our problem, isn’t it?” But, it stuck with me. The more I thought about it, the more I mourned the idea that NPR’s “brand” was better than that of the church. Don’t get me wrong, I love NPR. When I found out I would be preaching at a Lutheran church, I already felt comfortable because I’ve been listening to A Prairie Home Companion for years. But people’s attitude towards Garrison Keillor should not be more positive than their attitude towards the Body of Christ. I started asking myself, “where did we go wrong?”
I went through all of the normal explanations of how certain, vocal branches of our faith have cast a negative light on the rest of us. Or how societal changes have cast God and faith to the sidelines. But none of these explanations seemed to satisfy my questions. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that, in our efforts to market ourselves to potential visitors…in all our work to create and provide programs that people would like, we as Christians had forgotten just what it was that we have that people really want.
In our Scripture reading, Paul shows us just how simple it is to “be church” outside of our church walls. When the leader of the synagogue asked Paul if he had a word for the people, Paul didn’t describe to those gathered in the synagogue the great programs or preaching that he had at his church. He didn’t try to entice the people to become followers of Jesus by offering them a robust social environment or a wonderful choir. No, he simply recounted for them the things that God had done. His word for the people was the story of God’s activity. He gave them the only thing he had to give…he gave them the story of the love and forgiveness of God.
BEING CHURCH means giving people an experience of God… as simple and as complicated as that may be. It is simple because we already know how to do it. It is complicated because it is out of our control and not a result of or a product of our programs, our theology, or our belief. Paul gave people an experience of God by reminding them of their own story, a way that they had encountered God in the past. Our churches can give an experience of God by sharing people their story of faith. On a website, that means, putting our story of how God has been and is active in our community in the front and center.
Quite often, churches feel the most important thing a website can do for them is to give people all of the information about the church…program information, mission statements, governance structures and so on. While there is certainly nothing wrong with sharing information with people…and it is important, using the church website as simply a marketing tool is missing a great opportunity to BE CHURCH in that space. That information becomes so much more than information when it is shared in a way that shows the visitor how God has been and is active through it.
My favorite example of BEING CHURCH on a website comes from a client of mine whose website I built. This church is an open and affirming congregation and wanted very much to share their open and affirming declaration that they had carefully crafted as a result of their discernment process. As a part of that congregation’s contract with me, I was also conducting video interviews with people that would be used on the website. A lesbian woman who had been a part of the open and affirming discernment process shared her personal story of that process and how her faith shaped and was affected by that decision. We place the video of that interview on the webpage just beside the carefully crafted open and affirming statement. Together, they are a powerful testimony to the activity of God in the life of that congregation.
When I think about the way that things like websites and social media can be used by churches, I often think about these verses from Acts. It makes me really excited to think that these technologies are making it easier and easier to tell our stories of God’s activity to the world. It may seem overly simple to some, but I assure you, there is nothing that we have, no program that we could create or implement, that is more powerful and attractive than the activity of God. In our Scripture, when the people hear Paul tell God’s story, they want more of it. I can’t help but imagine that they throng around him begging for more. Isn’t that what we all want. Don’t we all want more of God? I certainly believe so.
I also believe that it is more of God that the people outside of these church walls are hungry for as well. When my wife and I moved to Seattle, we were told that the Pacific Northwest was an unreligious place. We were told that the people here didn’t want anything to do with church. However, what I’ve seen since I’ve been here is just the opposite. When I walk through my neighborhood, I see yoga studios on every block. When I run through the park, there are often people doing Tai Chi by the lake. It seems that the conversations of the people around me in the coffee houses often turn toward the spiritual. I see it everywhere I go. People are hungry for more of God and they will go out of their way to get it.
That conversation with the gentleman after my workshop did more than just stick with me. It has changed the way I approach my work. Now, in everything I do, I try to help churches do more than just communicate who they are. I try to help them communicate who they are in relation to God’s activity. I try to help churches learn to tell those stories of what God is doing in their congregations via their websites, social media, and every other way available. I try to help them truly “be church” on their websites and everywhere else they have a presence.
If we as churches can return to the art of sharing the story of what God is doing, these new technologies will seem like nothing new at all to us. After all, at their core, these new technologies are all about making it easy to share. Isn’t that really what is at the core of the church, as well? There is nothing we are better equipped to do than share. We see this in our Scripture as Paul goes out, meets the people where they are, and shares the story of God with them. We see this in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. We are called to take every opportunity to give our word of encouragement for the people. We are a people charged with giving away the most powerful thing in the world…the one thing that everyone thirsts for…the love of God.
A Word for the People
Acts 13: 13-23, 38-43
Will Boyd
I would like to take a moment to describe just what it is that I do. I own a business called 3 Story Church. The focus of that business is helping churches and faith communities re-connect with their past, present, and future stories and tell them to the world. Quite often this comes in the form of websites, videos, and social media. Also a big part of what I do is speak about the way that changes in communications and society affect churches.
We are living in an exciting time when it comes to communications and technology. Much like changes that occurred as a result of the invention of the printing press in the 15th century, the changes that we are experiencing as a society due to the rise of the internet and social media are revolutionary. Advances in technology are rewriting the rules of what is possible for individuals, companies, and even churches. Right now, you hear about things like Facebook and blogs everywhere you go. It seems that the phrase “social media” is on everyone’s lips. And, it is hard to deny that the internet has evolved to become the primary means of communication and media consumption for more than just one generation. Marketers and corporations are falling all over themselves to take advantage of what things like Twitter and their websites can now do for them. So, it is only natural that churches want to learn how to get in on all the excitement.
But what is all the excitement about anyway? Why are websites, Facebook, and so on becoming such powerful communication tools? Put simply, unlike other communications tools going back to the printing press, these new tools are all about allowing everyone to share with everyone else. Suddenly, a teenager in Spokane has the ability to share her thoughts about tennis shoes with just as many people as does Nike. Similarly, a small church in Port Orchard now has the ability to reach as many people with their message as does the largest church anywhere. This is much different from the world that has dominated our recent history. Most of us are still used to a world where, if a church wanted to communicate its message outside of its own walls, then it either had to spend a fortune to broadcast its services on television, or participate in marketing activities like purchasing ads in newspapers, billboards, or radio. Going from a world in which communications travel in one direction from a single broadcast source to a large audience to a world in which communications happen like a giant conversation where everyone is on a more-level playing field is a big shift in a short amount of time.
It is no wonder that people are often a bit shocked when I tell them that these “new” communications tools that marketers and corporations are scrambling to learn are nothing new at all to churches. They look at me like I’ve lost my mind when I assure them that we as churches already know precisely how to use these tools to reach the world. No, we don’t have to learn something new at all. In fact, we have to re-learn something as old as our faith. We have to re-learn how to be church outside of our walls.
In most of our lifetime, our options for communicating have been very limited. We’ve really had no options for being church in our communications. When, as was necessary, churches turned to marketing to reach potential visitors, our communications were just that…marketing. We did our very best to represent our churches in ways that would attract people to church. We also paid special attention to trying to create programs and offerings that we thought people would like. However, we never saw our communications as a real extension of our church. And, how could they be? A 2 inch advertisement in the local newspaper is certainly not church. Our goal had to be to get people to come to church so that the real work of being church could happen.
The most powerful thing that the social media and internet revolution has done for churches is to allow us to stop marketing ourselves to people and free us to start sharing church with them. We can now BE CHURCH on our church websites. We can now BE CHURCH through tools like Facebook. We can now take church to the people where the people are. While all of this might feel new to us, as we can see in our Scripture reading, taking our faith to the people where the people are is nothing new at all. In these verses from Acts, Paul and his companions travel to Antioch and enter a synagogue. This was not a synagogue full of people who were followers of Jesus. Paul and his companions, as we sports fans say, did not have home field advantage. Instead, they were meeting the people where they were. That is one of the greatest blessings of what I and others call the internet revolution…that it has never been easier for churches to meet people where they are.
I was leading a workshop on the internet and the church at the 2009 General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) when I had an interesting exchange that stuck with me. In the workshop, I covered in greater detail the way that technological changes are allowing churches to more fully be the church online. When I finished, a gentleman approached me. I could tell by the look on his face that what I said had confused him a bit. He looked a lot like I must look when my wife is mad at me for something I don’t even know I did. After thanking me for the presentation and assuring me he enjoyed it, he questioned just how a church can “be church” online. His main point of contention with this possibility was that churches would lose support because, as he put it, “people expect everything on the internet to be free.” This was not the first time I had heard or thought about his question, so I felt well prepared to address his concern. I pointed out that there are others who are not only surviving these phenomena, but thriving in it. I pointed out that NPR is a great example of how people will support things that they expect to be free.
While I may have been prepared for his question, I was certainly not prepared for his response. He said, in as close to a direct quote as I’m capable of, “That’s great for NPR, but NPR has a good brand.” I think the only response to that I could muster was something like, “Well, that’s our problem, isn’t it?” But, it stuck with me. The more I thought about it, the more I mourned the idea that NPR’s “brand” was better than that of the church. Don’t get me wrong, I love NPR. When I found out I would be preaching at a Lutheran church, I already felt comfortable because I’ve been listening to A Prairie Home Companion for years. But people’s attitude towards Garrison Keillor should not be more positive than their attitude towards the Body of Christ. I started asking myself, “where did we go wrong?”
I went through all of the normal explanations of how certain, vocal branches of our faith have cast a negative light on the rest of us. Or how societal changes have cast God and faith to the sidelines. But none of these explanations seemed to satisfy my questions. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that, in our efforts to market ourselves to potential visitors…in all our work to create and provide programs that people would like, we as Christians had forgotten just what it was that we have that people really want.
In our Scripture reading, Paul shows us just how simple it is to “be church” outside of our church walls. When the leader of the synagogue asked Paul if he had a word for the people, Paul didn’t describe to those gathered in the synagogue the great programs or preaching that he had at his church. He didn’t try to entice the people to become followers of Jesus by offering them a robust social environment or a wonderful choir. No, he simply recounted for them the things that God had done. His word for the people was the story of God’s activity. He gave them the only thing he had to give…he gave them the story of the love and forgiveness of God.
BEING CHURCH means giving people an experience of God… as simple and as complicated as that may be. It is simple because we already know how to do it. It is complicated because it is out of our control and not a result of or a product of our programs, our theology, or our belief. Paul gave people an experience of God by reminding them of their own story, a way that they had encountered God in the past. Our churches can give an experience of God by sharing people their story of faith. On a website, that means, putting our story of how God has been and is active in our community in the front and center.
Quite often, churches feel the most important thing a website can do for them is to give people all of the information about the church…program information, mission statements, governance structures and so on. While there is certainly nothing wrong with sharing information with people…and it is important, using the church website as simply a marketing tool is missing a great opportunity to BE CHURCH in that space. That information becomes so much more than information when it is shared in a way that shows the visitor how God has been and is active through it.
My favorite example of BEING CHURCH on a website comes from a client of mine whose website I built. This church is an open and affirming congregation and wanted very much to share their open and affirming declaration that they had carefully crafted as a result of their discernment process. As a part of that congregation’s contract with me, I was also conducting video interviews with people that would be used on the website. A lesbian woman who had been a part of the open and affirming discernment process shared her personal story of that process and how her faith shaped and was affected by that decision. We place the video of that interview on the webpage just beside the carefully crafted open and affirming statement. Together, they are a powerful testimony to the activity of God in the life of that congregation.
When I think about the way that things like websites and social media can be used by churches, I often think about these verses from Acts. It makes me really excited to think that these technologies are making it easier and easier to tell our stories of God’s activity to the world. It may seem overly simple to some, but I assure you, there is nothing that we have, no program that we could create or implement, that is more powerful and attractive than the activity of God. In our Scripture, when the people hear Paul tell God’s story, they want more of it. I can’t help but imagine that they throng around him begging for more. Isn’t that what we all want. Don’t we all want more of God? I certainly believe so.
I also believe that it is more of God that the people outside of these church walls are hungry for as well. When my wife and I moved to Seattle, we were told that the Pacific Northwest was an unreligious place. We were told that the people here didn’t want anything to do with church. However, what I’ve seen since I’ve been here is just the opposite. When I walk through my neighborhood, I see yoga studios on every block. When I run through the park, there are often people doing Tai Chi by the lake. It seems that the conversations of the people around me in the coffee houses often turn toward the spiritual. I see it everywhere I go. People are hungry for more of God and they will go out of their way to get it.
That conversation with the gentleman after my workshop did more than just stick with me. It has changed the way I approach my work. Now, in everything I do, I try to help churches do more than just communicate who they are. I try to help them communicate who they are in relation to God’s activity. I try to help churches learn to tell those stories of what God is doing in their congregations via their websites, social media, and every other way available. I try to help them truly “be church” on their websites and everywhere else they have a presence.
If we as churches can return to the art of sharing the story of what God is doing, these new technologies will seem like nothing new at all to us. After all, at their core, these new technologies are all about making it easy to share. Isn’t that really what is at the core of the church, as well? There is nothing we are better equipped to do than share. We see this in our Scripture as Paul goes out, meets the people where they are, and shares the story of God with them. We see this in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. We are called to take every opportunity to give our word of encouragement for the people. We are a people charged with giving away the most powerful thing in the world…the one thing that everyone thirsts for…the love of God.
Monday, August 16, 2010
My Reason for Joy in Interim Ministry
If asked six or seven years ago about my reasons for enjoying interim ministry, I probably would have said that I liked the opportunity to deliver analysis with fewer filters. In interim ministry I know my tenure is short, therefore I worry less about being removed for saying something I think is true, yet may put my call in jeopardy. That kind of leverage served me and the congregations I served well over nine years of interim ministry. That kind of leverage is not to be used recklessly, only as a means to dig toward questions buried from well-worn congregational discourse paths for years (sometimes decades). That joy in interim ministry shifted in recent months.
My family has come to a place where I need to serve a congregation in a different capacity. The commuting that often comes with interim ministry is crushing crucial time for my family. As I think about God's call for me in the future, I assess the experiences that shape my sense of call. For most interim pastors, interim ministry is something they do toward the tail end of their ministry careers. For me, I served for only three years in a "normal" capacity and nine in interim ministry. My vocation is shaped by these varied experiences. I have learned that each congregation possesses its own personality. Though congregations in a denomination or partnership link some aspects of their theological identity, each congregation shares a unique expression of the body of Christ. I have served in conservative, joyful, formal, informal, innovative, hospitable, introverted, musically varied, musically standard, pious, gregarious, liberal, generous, informal, angry, excellence-oriented, education focused, inclusivity-oriented, worship-focused, social grouping-oriented congregations, and every combination one could possibly imagine. Each of those congregation is shaped by their context as well. Add any other variable that comes to your mind. Though I have not always felt comfortable in every congregational culture served, I have appreciated that God is using them through their particular expression of church.
Much public discourse around church circles is directed toward how particular expressions are not authentic to faithful Christian witness. One recent writer in the Wall Street Journal discussed the perils of "hipster" Christianity. Regardless of what way the people of God choose to express Christian community, it will always be flawed. I think people know in their hearts there is no such thing as a perfect congregation, yet congregations strive for that and are quick to go negative when the church isn't the expression they imagined, and people are ready to quote the Bible to show the verity of their statements. Now many church people are ready to quote sociological data to legitimize their expression of church.
Hipster Christianity holds faults, as does any other combination of variables in Christian expression. My point is not that congregations should not stop striving for truth, or that everything is relative. I am saying that congregations should be more of who they are, and be transformed into God's preferred future for that community. I think sometimes the sin of congregations involves coveting and bearing false witness. Congregations want something that is often not theirs. Congregations also like to demean their sister congregations when the critic does not begin to know the complexity of the community they criticize. Then congregations often confuse truth with culture, further complicating what is already a challenging and fleeting enterprise. I wonder what would happen if congregations broke commandments 8-10 less often. God, have mercy.
My joy of interim ministry resides in the varied expressions of the body of Christ in the world. God did not create each of God's children the same, and my experience of the variety of God's creation is that congregational expression will not be conformist, either. Some expressions will endure more than others, and I think differing expression of Christian faith will only increase, not decrease. I will not lament the amount of varied expressions. I lament that I may be losing touch with these varied expressions--moving in and out of these congregation, I see something of the mind of God. My trust in God is put to the test. God, have mercy.
My family has come to a place where I need to serve a congregation in a different capacity. The commuting that often comes with interim ministry is crushing crucial time for my family. As I think about God's call for me in the future, I assess the experiences that shape my sense of call. For most interim pastors, interim ministry is something they do toward the tail end of their ministry careers. For me, I served for only three years in a "normal" capacity and nine in interim ministry. My vocation is shaped by these varied experiences. I have learned that each congregation possesses its own personality. Though congregations in a denomination or partnership link some aspects of their theological identity, each congregation shares a unique expression of the body of Christ. I have served in conservative, joyful, formal, informal, innovative, hospitable, introverted, musically varied, musically standard, pious, gregarious, liberal, generous, informal, angry, excellence-oriented, education focused, inclusivity-oriented, worship-focused, social grouping-oriented congregations, and every combination one could possibly imagine. Each of those congregation is shaped by their context as well. Add any other variable that comes to your mind. Though I have not always felt comfortable in every congregational culture served, I have appreciated that God is using them through their particular expression of church.
Much public discourse around church circles is directed toward how particular expressions are not authentic to faithful Christian witness. One recent writer in the Wall Street Journal discussed the perils of "hipster" Christianity. Regardless of what way the people of God choose to express Christian community, it will always be flawed. I think people know in their hearts there is no such thing as a perfect congregation, yet congregations strive for that and are quick to go negative when the church isn't the expression they imagined, and people are ready to quote the Bible to show the verity of their statements. Now many church people are ready to quote sociological data to legitimize their expression of church.
Hipster Christianity holds faults, as does any other combination of variables in Christian expression. My point is not that congregations should not stop striving for truth, or that everything is relative. I am saying that congregations should be more of who they are, and be transformed into God's preferred future for that community. I think sometimes the sin of congregations involves coveting and bearing false witness. Congregations want something that is often not theirs. Congregations also like to demean their sister congregations when the critic does not begin to know the complexity of the community they criticize. Then congregations often confuse truth with culture, further complicating what is already a challenging and fleeting enterprise. I wonder what would happen if congregations broke commandments 8-10 less often. God, have mercy.
My joy of interim ministry resides in the varied expressions of the body of Christ in the world. God did not create each of God's children the same, and my experience of the variety of God's creation is that congregational expression will not be conformist, either. Some expressions will endure more than others, and I think differing expression of Christian faith will only increase, not decrease. I will not lament the amount of varied expressions. I lament that I may be losing touch with these varied expressions--moving in and out of these congregation, I see something of the mind of God. My trust in God is put to the test. God, have mercy.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Giving Credit Where Credit is Due to my ELCA Sisters and Brothers
Yesterday I highlighted some missed opportunities and future possibilities for my ELCA friends and colleagues regarding connections, learning and conferences. Today I learned via Twitter about an ELCA-sponsored conference: Follow Me: Sharing The Gospel in a 2.0 World. It's time to give credit where credit is due. I am thankful that my colleagues are using the resources available to them for evangelism and relationship building.
The promotional page for Follow Me is laid out well, offering opportunities to connect with Twitter hash tags, a Facebook event page and an invitation to blog. I think the event is worthy of its own Twitter account--and probably its own web page (linked to the ELCA site, but not necessarily embedded in its own brand). As of 1130am Pacific Time August 12, I read about 30 tweets from participants. I added each tweeter whom I was not already following to my own follow list and look forward to further connections, even though I am not attending the conference. I did not know about the conference until I saw the tweets this morning. Having a separate Twitter account for a conference creates expanded opportunities to attract participants--using those who are excited about the conference to expand publicity. What the Follow Me conference has offered is more of what I hoped for when I attended the Rethinking Stewardship Conference through Luther Seminary in July.
The conference target audience "communicators, campus ministry chaplains/staff, and college/university students" leaves me a little puzzled. I can understand the energy generated for those involved in campus ministry and young adults involved in higher education. "Communicators" is the hook that opens up the conference to many more than the other targets. "Communicators" is a continual growing identity edge for ELCA congregations. I'm not sure that congregations see themselves as shared communicators of the Gospel--they often look to the pastor for this communication. All congregations have a story to tell and now have many tools at their disposal to tell that story. My current congregation, First Lutheran Community Church in Port Orchard, WA, is learning that they have a story to tell, and how we can tell that using the tools available. The scope of public congregational presence is a flattening enterprise, and I see my current season of interim ministry at FLCC to help the congregation embrace that they all have a role in sharing the God's story through FLCC to the public and that they desire connection.
I find the Follow Me Conference hopeful--I wish I could be attending--and I'm glad I can connect with the material later. I wonder how the folks attending will connect with ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson. I wonder how expanding ministry tools will be embraced. I usually wonder what God is up to, and I am glad that the Spirit has expanded my wondering.
The promotional page for Follow Me is laid out well, offering opportunities to connect with Twitter hash tags, a Facebook event page and an invitation to blog. I think the event is worthy of its own Twitter account--and probably its own web page (linked to the ELCA site, but not necessarily embedded in its own brand). As of 1130am Pacific Time August 12, I read about 30 tweets from participants. I added each tweeter whom I was not already following to my own follow list and look forward to further connections, even though I am not attending the conference. I did not know about the conference until I saw the tweets this morning. Having a separate Twitter account for a conference creates expanded opportunities to attract participants--using those who are excited about the conference to expand publicity. What the Follow Me conference has offered is more of what I hoped for when I attended the Rethinking Stewardship Conference through Luther Seminary in July.
The conference target audience "communicators, campus ministry chaplains/staff, and college/university students" leaves me a little puzzled. I can understand the energy generated for those involved in campus ministry and young adults involved in higher education. "Communicators" is the hook that opens up the conference to many more than the other targets. "Communicators" is a continual growing identity edge for ELCA congregations. I'm not sure that congregations see themselves as shared communicators of the Gospel--they often look to the pastor for this communication. All congregations have a story to tell and now have many tools at their disposal to tell that story. My current congregation, First Lutheran Community Church in Port Orchard, WA, is learning that they have a story to tell, and how we can tell that using the tools available. The scope of public congregational presence is a flattening enterprise, and I see my current season of interim ministry at FLCC to help the congregation embrace that they all have a role in sharing the God's story through FLCC to the public and that they desire connection.
I find the Follow Me Conference hopeful--I wish I could be attending--and I'm glad I can connect with the material later. I wonder how the folks attending will connect with ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson. I wonder how expanding ministry tools will be embraced. I usually wonder what God is up to, and I am glad that the Spirit has expanded my wondering.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
The Parchment on Ye Olde Participante Liste Turns To Dust: On Twitter and Ministry Conferences
In the days of yore attending church conferences, one of the most curious handouts I received in a packet included a participant list.
The participant list provided copious amounts of contact information: name, home address, church address, home phone, work phone, cell phone, home email, work email, and website (whew!). I remember thinking the compilation of these lists represented good networking theory. I have a list of new colleagues, and possibly friends. If I had a question of praxis, boom! I could write, call, email and I had a colleague with a shared language. We drank deeply from the well of shared experience with hope of transformation, a quiver of learning arrows ready to target the ministry ogres that we had jousted before and lost.
Attending an average of 2-3 conferences a year for 12 years, I think I used all of those participant lists a mere handful of times. The well of shared experience ran dry and the arrows lost their sharpness. Ongoing opportunities for connection are easily parched and difficult to preserve. The conferences are still valuable. The content is usually good, and the people are bright, insightful and wise. The value of the material quickly diminishes without collegial connections. Ye Olde Participante Liste is no longer effective, and it may never have been effective in the first place.
For some people who work in ministry, newer means of connecting are not news. The innovators and early adapters have found new ways to connect, catapulting over Ye Olde Participante Liste and moving into Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other means of connecting and sharing valuable information. Since I've been on Twitter for about one year, I regularly find Evangelical and Presbyterian colleagues using Twitter to reinforce their learning at conferences through relationships and shared learning in the months and years ahead. These connections occur at far greater speed than a phone call, an email, or snail mail. The shift is not so much about speed/effieciency (yet still important), but something educators and learners have known for years: follow up and reinforcement is necessary in order for the content to have lasting effect. I see the ELCA is living in the land of Ye Olde Participante Liste. Every gathering I attended over the past year--the connections are taken for granted. If the connections are being made--I am missing them. I hope I'm missing something and my comment box will be flooded with ELCA colleagues who are connecting and provide the path where others are gathering.
Last month I attended a fabulous stewardship conference in Eden Prairie, MN, hosted by Luther Seminary and other sister organizations. I feverishly sought connection while there. The conversation at tables during the conference were lively and insightful. However, the opportunities to connect after the conference were non-existent. I posted about 25 tweets, fishing for a connection. The only connections I made (good ones) was with a few staff people at The Lutheran magazine, one who was covering the conference. That connection provided me the opportunity to debrief about the conference while attending and a week later with Lutheran magazine intern Erin Ash. I see possibilities. Far more in one conference than the 24-36 I attended in my first 12 years of ministry. I think the content is actually getting better in many ways, but that content is lost without follow up connections.
Some of God's people have taken the opportunity to gather at a new Rounde Table for God's mission in the world. I hope more of my colleagues in the ELCA can show me where that table is, or come join me at the tables where I gather.
The participant list provided copious amounts of contact information: name, home address, church address, home phone, work phone, cell phone, home email, work email, and website (whew!). I remember thinking the compilation of these lists represented good networking theory. I have a list of new colleagues, and possibly friends. If I had a question of praxis, boom! I could write, call, email and I had a colleague with a shared language. We drank deeply from the well of shared experience with hope of transformation, a quiver of learning arrows ready to target the ministry ogres that we had jousted before and lost.
Attending an average of 2-3 conferences a year for 12 years, I think I used all of those participant lists a mere handful of times. The well of shared experience ran dry and the arrows lost their sharpness. Ongoing opportunities for connection are easily parched and difficult to preserve. The conferences are still valuable. The content is usually good, and the people are bright, insightful and wise. The value of the material quickly diminishes without collegial connections. Ye Olde Participante Liste is no longer effective, and it may never have been effective in the first place.
For some people who work in ministry, newer means of connecting are not news. The innovators and early adapters have found new ways to connect, catapulting over Ye Olde Participante Liste and moving into Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other means of connecting and sharing valuable information. Since I've been on Twitter for about one year, I regularly find Evangelical and Presbyterian colleagues using Twitter to reinforce their learning at conferences through relationships and shared learning in the months and years ahead. These connections occur at far greater speed than a phone call, an email, or snail mail. The shift is not so much about speed/effieciency (yet still important), but something educators and learners have known for years: follow up and reinforcement is necessary in order for the content to have lasting effect. I see the ELCA is living in the land of Ye Olde Participante Liste. Every gathering I attended over the past year--the connections are taken for granted. If the connections are being made--I am missing them. I hope I'm missing something and my comment box will be flooded with ELCA colleagues who are connecting and provide the path where others are gathering.
Last month I attended a fabulous stewardship conference in Eden Prairie, MN, hosted by Luther Seminary and other sister organizations. I feverishly sought connection while there. The conversation at tables during the conference were lively and insightful. However, the opportunities to connect after the conference were non-existent. I posted about 25 tweets, fishing for a connection. The only connections I made (good ones) was with a few staff people at The Lutheran magazine, one who was covering the conference. That connection provided me the opportunity to debrief about the conference while attending and a week later with Lutheran magazine intern Erin Ash. I see possibilities. Far more in one conference than the 24-36 I attended in my first 12 years of ministry. I think the content is actually getting better in many ways, but that content is lost without follow up connections.
Some of God's people have taken the opportunity to gather at a new Rounde Table for God's mission in the world. I hope more of my colleagues in the ELCA can show me where that table is, or come join me at the tables where I gather.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Living with a GPS in a world of assumptions
I am directionally challenged. In days of old when I received directions from another human being, it didn't matter whether I received a series of landmarks, turns, or a series of distances and points on a compass. Sooner or later, confusion sets in. Maybe the wiring in my brain resists directions. Pulling over to a gas station to ask for directions was a different kind of ego bruise for me than for many men who are the subject of scorn for resisting directional help.
I do not understand the directions I am given. I'm not sure whether the disconnect involves the person giving the directions or my ability to hear the directions, or a combination thereof. I loathe frustrating others with my incompetence. Occasionally I ask for clarification of directions, but usually I give up, try to remember some of what I was told, and hope for the best.
GPS technology changed my outlook in finding my destination. Granted, a GPS presents its own set of problems. They are not perfect computer devices. But I am completely responsible for my lack of understanding. Shame and frustration need not be transferred to another person. I embrace the concept of interdependence, but with directions, no thank you.
I got lost this morning going to a park off the beaten path. My GPS failed to reveal the destination; it wanted to send me either 90 miles to the east, or in someone's yard. I drove around for about an hour. I laughed about my folly and shared the foolishness with others after I finally found the place. Every person with whom I shared the odyssey proceeded to give me directions to a place I had already been, and I still didn't understand. This is why I do not ask people for directions.
I am reminded of how communities are guided by assumptions. About 8 years ago, I made the rounds to several Confirmation receptions linked to a congregation I was serving. In these days before GPS, I had to rely on directions from people. In the early years of Mapquest, that site failed to help: the houses almost never had numbers, and many times there were no street signs. One could often write down the name of the person (even the nickname) and the town on an envelope, and that person would receive that mailing. While receiving directions to get to the receptions, someone told me to "head north on the oil road and turn east at the house that used to be blue." It took me a few months to figure out what an oil road was, but the prospect of figuring out what house used to be blue was more than I could take.
Much of congregational life is governed by cultural idiosyncrasies and a set of local assumptions. These marks of uniqueness aren't necessarily bad, but they often have no theological underpinnings and can often create separation that is not intended, yet still present. Even in a GPS world and with people like me (are there?) who don't always understand direction, a little direction is needed, along with copious amounts of hospitality. I believe it's almost impossible to give either direction or gracious hospitality unless we are aware of our assumptions. What are your congregational assumptions? Are assumptions confused with theological truth? How can congregational assumptions be addressed in order to connect with our neighbors and people whom we encounter along the way? Jesus alerts his followers to consider the neighbor.
I do not understand the directions I am given. I'm not sure whether the disconnect involves the person giving the directions or my ability to hear the directions, or a combination thereof. I loathe frustrating others with my incompetence. Occasionally I ask for clarification of directions, but usually I give up, try to remember some of what I was told, and hope for the best.
GPS technology changed my outlook in finding my destination. Granted, a GPS presents its own set of problems. They are not perfect computer devices. But I am completely responsible for my lack of understanding. Shame and frustration need not be transferred to another person. I embrace the concept of interdependence, but with directions, no thank you.
I got lost this morning going to a park off the beaten path. My GPS failed to reveal the destination; it wanted to send me either 90 miles to the east, or in someone's yard. I drove around for about an hour. I laughed about my folly and shared the foolishness with others after I finally found the place. Every person with whom I shared the odyssey proceeded to give me directions to a place I had already been, and I still didn't understand. This is why I do not ask people for directions.
I am reminded of how communities are guided by assumptions. About 8 years ago, I made the rounds to several Confirmation receptions linked to a congregation I was serving. In these days before GPS, I had to rely on directions from people. In the early years of Mapquest, that site failed to help: the houses almost never had numbers, and many times there were no street signs. One could often write down the name of the person (even the nickname) and the town on an envelope, and that person would receive that mailing. While receiving directions to get to the receptions, someone told me to "head north on the oil road and turn east at the house that used to be blue." It took me a few months to figure out what an oil road was, but the prospect of figuring out what house used to be blue was more than I could take.
Much of congregational life is governed by cultural idiosyncrasies and a set of local assumptions. These marks of uniqueness aren't necessarily bad, but they often have no theological underpinnings and can often create separation that is not intended, yet still present. Even in a GPS world and with people like me (are there?) who don't always understand direction, a little direction is needed, along with copious amounts of hospitality. I believe it's almost impossible to give either direction or gracious hospitality unless we are aware of our assumptions. What are your congregational assumptions? Are assumptions confused with theological truth? How can congregational assumptions be addressed in order to connect with our neighbors and people whom we encounter along the way? Jesus alerts his followers to consider the neighbor.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Proclamations of Hope and Encouragement are Subtle Game-Changers
Today I entered a local restaurant for some lunch where a congregation member works. I like going into the work places of congregation members--most of the time they appreciate the surprise. The move is more natural when the workplace sells something I might need, but it's not a requirement for me to stop by.
During our conversation, the woman said to me that she was looking forward to our worship service on the Port Orchard Waterfront (August 29th, 10am). I told her I appreciated hearing that. Trying something new in a congregation often invites skepticism and questions. I don't mind that people ask questions. Questions provide an opportunity to build ownership of a new ministry in the congregation. Questions provide a strategy for a developed sense of purpose. Sometimes the questions and skepticism are all I hear or congregational leaders hear--and that can prevent people from trying new things, but I am thrilled when leaders persevere. A new ministry represents a new level of work. Habits don't necessarily work, new connections must be made, new trails must be blazed. To hear a word of encouragement like that is a subtle game-changer. I look at the game plan for that Sunday, and the tasks become not a source of fear, but opportunity.
As the conversation continued, the woman shared with me that her daughter was bringing her boat to dock for the service and that it might encourage her to be a part of the congregation. That bit of encouragement got me thinking broader: where am I going to get a boat and an adequate sound system so I can preach to the boaters? Proclamations of hope and encouragement are subtle game-changers.
During our conversation, the woman said to me that she was looking forward to our worship service on the Port Orchard Waterfront (August 29th, 10am). I told her I appreciated hearing that. Trying something new in a congregation often invites skepticism and questions. I don't mind that people ask questions. Questions provide an opportunity to build ownership of a new ministry in the congregation. Questions provide a strategy for a developed sense of purpose. Sometimes the questions and skepticism are all I hear or congregational leaders hear--and that can prevent people from trying new things, but I am thrilled when leaders persevere. A new ministry represents a new level of work. Habits don't necessarily work, new connections must be made, new trails must be blazed. To hear a word of encouragement like that is a subtle game-changer. I look at the game plan for that Sunday, and the tasks become not a source of fear, but opportunity.
As the conversation continued, the woman shared with me that her daughter was bringing her boat to dock for the service and that it might encourage her to be a part of the congregation. That bit of encouragement got me thinking broader: where am I going to get a boat and an adequate sound system so I can preach to the boaters? Proclamations of hope and encouragement are subtle game-changers.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Living Month-to-Month
I appreciate the thoughtfulness of the Council at First Lutheran Community Church of Port Orchard.
My contract for service at FLCC ends August 31, 2010. I alerted the leaders almost three months ago that my contract was ending in the near future and I desired preparation for the next chapter in our work together. Not having an interim pastor for over 20 years, they weren't aware of the end game of interim ministry. Though a call committee is formed, no candidates have been interviewed. We have a few months to go. The Council did not feel confident in bridging the gap without a consistent presence in preaching and worship from a lead pastor. I suggested that we go "month-to-month."
They looked at me as if to say, "Really??? You would do that?" One leader said, "Pastor Joe is being very gracious." I'm not gracious, only experienced.
Interim ministry is approximately 50 percent month-to-month. The first few months of interim ministry are tenuous. These can be like a middle-aged man going to the doctor--kicking and screaming the whole time. The congregation does not want to pore over the darkness of its X-rays, they only want to know who the next pastor will be and know when they start. I understand that impulse--therefore I know during the first few months, we could both say the relationship is cancerous and must end. Once that feeling has dissipated, the basic familiarity that comes from sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ together become a fine edge of respect, anxiety, knowledge, self-examination and vision. Interim pastor and congregation become willing partners, invested in each others well-being. That lasts about six months, give or take a few months. Once a pastoral search group is formed, thank you and good-bye can come about any time. Sometimes a candidate can move through the process rather quickly. Other times search teams and candidates labor and sputter. With each candidate and opportunity, both congregation and interim pastor realize the time is short. Back to month-to-month.
In my seventh interim, I know the month-to-month personality. My family and I have a month-to-month lease on our rental. Some people wonder if this pattern of living is good for my family. Maybe, maybe not. What are the standards for evaluating this life? Congregational economies are flailing. 20th Century Brand North American Protestantism is teetering in its corporate life. I don't look at the faces of congregation members and see economic confidence. Security and stability as we know it in our lives on this Earth is a bit of an illusion. If my job ends and Melanie's job ends, would it be a good thing to have a mortgage? If Melanie and I don't have work in a few months, we have very few debts to pay. We can make it and not panic. All I can do is the best I can to care for my family and neighbor, and share the Gospel. What remains, remains illusory. Our understanding of stability is entwined with multiple cultural, political and familial perceptions. I'm praying to God that I can be faithful and trustworthy in the resources and gifts God has given me. Maybe a day will come when we look more in a year-to-year or decade-to-decade vision. Now, we live month-to-month.
Technically, what month-to-month means is that the congregation-interim pastor relationship can end anytime with 30 days notice. This was always the case, but when leaders and I signed the original contract, we remained committed to work together for at least a year. No there is no illusion of a longer commitment. That is adequate and appropriate.
Month-to-month, the people of FLCC and I will wait for the new Lead Pastor. At this point in our lives, month-to-month we will look at the world anew, giving thanks for what we have and the opportunities before us. In month-to-month living, I am reminded that my security comes from God in Christ.
My contract for service at FLCC ends August 31, 2010. I alerted the leaders almost three months ago that my contract was ending in the near future and I desired preparation for the next chapter in our work together. Not having an interim pastor for over 20 years, they weren't aware of the end game of interim ministry. Though a call committee is formed, no candidates have been interviewed. We have a few months to go. The Council did not feel confident in bridging the gap without a consistent presence in preaching and worship from a lead pastor. I suggested that we go "month-to-month."
They looked at me as if to say, "Really??? You would do that?" One leader said, "Pastor Joe is being very gracious." I'm not gracious, only experienced.
Interim ministry is approximately 50 percent month-to-month. The first few months of interim ministry are tenuous. These can be like a middle-aged man going to the doctor--kicking and screaming the whole time. The congregation does not want to pore over the darkness of its X-rays, they only want to know who the next pastor will be and know when they start. I understand that impulse--therefore I know during the first few months, we could both say the relationship is cancerous and must end. Once that feeling has dissipated, the basic familiarity that comes from sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ together become a fine edge of respect, anxiety, knowledge, self-examination and vision. Interim pastor and congregation become willing partners, invested in each others well-being. That lasts about six months, give or take a few months. Once a pastoral search group is formed, thank you and good-bye can come about any time. Sometimes a candidate can move through the process rather quickly. Other times search teams and candidates labor and sputter. With each candidate and opportunity, both congregation and interim pastor realize the time is short. Back to month-to-month.
In my seventh interim, I know the month-to-month personality. My family and I have a month-to-month lease on our rental. Some people wonder if this pattern of living is good for my family. Maybe, maybe not. What are the standards for evaluating this life? Congregational economies are flailing. 20th Century Brand North American Protestantism is teetering in its corporate life. I don't look at the faces of congregation members and see economic confidence. Security and stability as we know it in our lives on this Earth is a bit of an illusion. If my job ends and Melanie's job ends, would it be a good thing to have a mortgage? If Melanie and I don't have work in a few months, we have very few debts to pay. We can make it and not panic. All I can do is the best I can to care for my family and neighbor, and share the Gospel. What remains, remains illusory. Our understanding of stability is entwined with multiple cultural, political and familial perceptions. I'm praying to God that I can be faithful and trustworthy in the resources and gifts God has given me. Maybe a day will come when we look more in a year-to-year or decade-to-decade vision. Now, we live month-to-month.
Technically, what month-to-month means is that the congregation-interim pastor relationship can end anytime with 30 days notice. This was always the case, but when leaders and I signed the original contract, we remained committed to work together for at least a year. No there is no illusion of a longer commitment. That is adequate and appropriate.
Month-to-month, the people of FLCC and I will wait for the new Lead Pastor. At this point in our lives, month-to-month we will look at the world anew, giving thanks for what we have and the opportunities before us. In month-to-month living, I am reminded that my security comes from God in Christ.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Book Review: "Generation A," by Douglas Coupland
Douglas Coupland is one of my favorite authors. I love how he works with language. However, that doesn't necessarily mean he writes great books. All of his books contain sentences that make me stop and read them again because they are compellingly crafted. Coupland shares ideas that deserve attention for their cultural critique. If you read any reviews about Coupland, it's likely the word "zeitgeist" is used. However, I complete many of his books and feel unsatisfied.
Generation A is the 7th book I've read written by Douglas Coupland. It wasn't the least satisfying novel I've read of his, but not the most, either. If I could rank the Coupland novels I've read, they would look like this:
JPod
Generation X
Life After God
Generation A
All Families Are Psychotic
Hey Nostradamus
The Gum Thief
Anything listed after Generation A won't be considered hated novels, but the last 3 on the list have been mostly unmemorable, though enjoyed because of language construction, not necessarily plot construction. Generation A makes itself somewhat memorable because it contains several beginnings and endings. Coupland explicitly labels the point of view given from what character. Point of view is not hidden, and provides better access to character development. Through character vignettes, Coupland provides critique of environmental apathy, connectivity vs. connection, and what produces drug culture and its consequences. These critiques come through in some characters, but not others. The series of events that brings 5 characters together from all over the world is the worldwide absence of bees. The result of the story is an examination of how today's humans have all kinds of connectivity, yet aren't connected in any profound way. Unlike some of Coupland's other novels, there is some glimmer of hope, as isolation and greed are defeated temporarily in a sort of old school Batman and Robin television drama way. The hope, however, is only a glimmer, not a lighthouse on a rough sea kind of hope.
What pushed me to post about this book on this blog was Coupland's writing about religion. Coupland is never afraid to write about religion themes (which I appreciate), but it is another (mostly) unsatisfying part of his work. Like so many other authors, whether fiction or non-fiction, Coupland relegates religious writing to reflections about cult-like religious groups, or Evangelical or Fundamentalist Christians. They become caricatures for what it means to be a person of faith, which is not so much about faith, but about mental illness and abuse. Maybe authors use Cult/Evangelical/Fundamentalist religious folks as subjects in their writing because they are infinitely more interesting than 20th Century Brand Protestants. Garrison Keillor is the only one who has come remotely close to making 20th Century Brand Protestants interesting, and I own all kinds of beefs with Keillor because in some ways he is part of the problem with Lutherans in particular who confuse Lutheranism with ethnicity. For all of his shortcomings in depicting Lutherans, at least Keillor is somewhat religiously literate.
Reading Coupland again reminded me that religious literacy is not where it should be in the North America. I know atheists would probably argue with me that Americans are overly literate about religion. Conflating religious fervor and knowledge leaves Americans in a place where they are driven by fear rather than understanding. Coupland reflects society's caricatures about religion, but I also hope that he keeps addressing religious themes. Toward the end of Generation A, the character Harj from Sri Lanka (apparently not a person of faith), prays that he could "make sense out of what's happening to us." Recognizing the complexity of meaning-making, faith and religion is some of the best religious writing Coupland has made to date. I wanted more.
Generation A is by no means a great novel, but it has just enough strong aspects to put it squarely in the middle of the Douglas Coupland's work.
Generation A is the 7th book I've read written by Douglas Coupland. It wasn't the least satisfying novel I've read of his, but not the most, either. If I could rank the Coupland novels I've read, they would look like this:
JPod
Generation X
Life After God
Generation A
All Families Are Psychotic
Hey Nostradamus
The Gum Thief
Anything listed after Generation A won't be considered hated novels, but the last 3 on the list have been mostly unmemorable, though enjoyed because of language construction, not necessarily plot construction. Generation A makes itself somewhat memorable because it contains several beginnings and endings. Coupland explicitly labels the point of view given from what character. Point of view is not hidden, and provides better access to character development. Through character vignettes, Coupland provides critique of environmental apathy, connectivity vs. connection, and what produces drug culture and its consequences. These critiques come through in some characters, but not others. The series of events that brings 5 characters together from all over the world is the worldwide absence of bees. The result of the story is an examination of how today's humans have all kinds of connectivity, yet aren't connected in any profound way. Unlike some of Coupland's other novels, there is some glimmer of hope, as isolation and greed are defeated temporarily in a sort of old school Batman and Robin television drama way. The hope, however, is only a glimmer, not a lighthouse on a rough sea kind of hope.
What pushed me to post about this book on this blog was Coupland's writing about religion. Coupland is never afraid to write about religion themes (which I appreciate), but it is another (mostly) unsatisfying part of his work. Like so many other authors, whether fiction or non-fiction, Coupland relegates religious writing to reflections about cult-like religious groups, or Evangelical or Fundamentalist Christians. They become caricatures for what it means to be a person of faith, which is not so much about faith, but about mental illness and abuse. Maybe authors use Cult/Evangelical/Fundamentalist religious folks as subjects in their writing because they are infinitely more interesting than 20th Century Brand Protestants. Garrison Keillor is the only one who has come remotely close to making 20th Century Brand Protestants interesting, and I own all kinds of beefs with Keillor because in some ways he is part of the problem with Lutherans in particular who confuse Lutheranism with ethnicity. For all of his shortcomings in depicting Lutherans, at least Keillor is somewhat religiously literate.
Reading Coupland again reminded me that religious literacy is not where it should be in the North America. I know atheists would probably argue with me that Americans are overly literate about religion. Conflating religious fervor and knowledge leaves Americans in a place where they are driven by fear rather than understanding. Coupland reflects society's caricatures about religion, but I also hope that he keeps addressing religious themes. Toward the end of Generation A, the character Harj from Sri Lanka (apparently not a person of faith), prays that he could "make sense out of what's happening to us." Recognizing the complexity of meaning-making, faith and religion is some of the best religious writing Coupland has made to date. I wanted more.
Generation A is by no means a great novel, but it has just enough strong aspects to put it squarely in the middle of the Douglas Coupland's work.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Zaccheus and the Faith-Work Connection
Zaccheus (Luke 19) reflects something the church appears to desire from a giver. "I will give half of my possessions to the poor." If Christians are looking for a non-deity example of a giver, Zaccheus makes a top ten list.
Is half of anyone's possessions truly desired? Even by the poor? A good friend of mine was serving in a congregation in Baton Rouge, Louisiana during the time of Hurricane Katrina. What blew his mind was how many people used Hurricane Katrina as an opportunity to unload the accumulated junk from their basements, garages and storage units. He was apoplectic at the lack of discretion in donation: "Stop sending us your s***! People devastated by Katrina don't need any of it." He told me that it took volunteers months before they could sort through everything, and a majority of the items were unfit on many levels: caked with mold, coated with cobwebs, rendered useless with cracks. A few months after Katrina, I saw it myself, churches and other service agencies with spray-painted plywood signs: "No Donations." "No Clothing Donations." "Please, no more donations." My friend told me that for weeks, used (not gently) items were left piled high by the church entrance each morning. His congregation eventually put up a sign turning away donations. There's more to giving to the poor than making the poor one's own personal dump.
Does Zaccheus have a lot of stuff, or merely money? Which half of his possessions would he give to the poor: the stuff he doesn't want, the best stuff, or somewhere in between? Luke 19 doesn't give the answers to these questions, so I'm not exactly certain this story is about Zaccheus' ability as a giver. What I came to notice was the response in observance of Jesus squatting at Zaccheus' house. Typical to the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus draws critique for hanging out with tax collectors and other kinds of sinners. Zaccheus appears to be an honest tax collector and takes pride in his work. If this is not the case, then Zaccheus will drive himself to poverty if he has to follow through with his proclamation: if he has been a fraudulent tax collector, then he will return the money and quadruple it. Zaccheus is either grandstanding or setting an ethical standard. I'm going with the latter.
Zaccheus reflects an opportunity that all human beings have through their work--to reflect grace given in Jesus Christ. Zaccheus receives grace in that Jesus breaks through a social stigma to show grace to Zaccheus, one who is reviled in the culture. I'm not certain that Zaccheus is generous (though it's possible). I am certain that Zaccheus' work is valued as an opportunity to bear the grace of God and that he sees his work as vocation--a calling. We don't know from the text about whom Jesus speaks in reference to the "lost (v.10)." Jesus doesn't ask Zaccheus to quit his job, but Jesus' grace has inspired Zaccheus to embrace his vocation by giving to the poor and striving for a higher level of vocational ethics. Maybe the "lost" in this story are the grumblers about Jesus' association with tax collectors--people who have a narrow view about what kind of work is holy. There have always been fraudulent tax collectors, but that does not mean that tax collection is inherently evil. An important teaching of the Jesus/Zaccheus story is that all work presents an opportunity for followers of Jesus to live out their faith through what they spend most of their waking hours doing.
Is half of anyone's possessions truly desired? Even by the poor? A good friend of mine was serving in a congregation in Baton Rouge, Louisiana during the time of Hurricane Katrina. What blew his mind was how many people used Hurricane Katrina as an opportunity to unload the accumulated junk from their basements, garages and storage units. He was apoplectic at the lack of discretion in donation: "Stop sending us your s***! People devastated by Katrina don't need any of it." He told me that it took volunteers months before they could sort through everything, and a majority of the items were unfit on many levels: caked with mold, coated with cobwebs, rendered useless with cracks. A few months after Katrina, I saw it myself, churches and other service agencies with spray-painted plywood signs: "No Donations." "No Clothing Donations." "Please, no more donations." My friend told me that for weeks, used (not gently) items were left piled high by the church entrance each morning. His congregation eventually put up a sign turning away donations. There's more to giving to the poor than making the poor one's own personal dump.
Does Zaccheus have a lot of stuff, or merely money? Which half of his possessions would he give to the poor: the stuff he doesn't want, the best stuff, or somewhere in between? Luke 19 doesn't give the answers to these questions, so I'm not exactly certain this story is about Zaccheus' ability as a giver. What I came to notice was the response in observance of Jesus squatting at Zaccheus' house. Typical to the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus draws critique for hanging out with tax collectors and other kinds of sinners. Zaccheus appears to be an honest tax collector and takes pride in his work. If this is not the case, then Zaccheus will drive himself to poverty if he has to follow through with his proclamation: if he has been a fraudulent tax collector, then he will return the money and quadruple it. Zaccheus is either grandstanding or setting an ethical standard. I'm going with the latter.
Zaccheus reflects an opportunity that all human beings have through their work--to reflect grace given in Jesus Christ. Zaccheus receives grace in that Jesus breaks through a social stigma to show grace to Zaccheus, one who is reviled in the culture. I'm not certain that Zaccheus is generous (though it's possible). I am certain that Zaccheus' work is valued as an opportunity to bear the grace of God and that he sees his work as vocation--a calling. We don't know from the text about whom Jesus speaks in reference to the "lost (v.10)." Jesus doesn't ask Zaccheus to quit his job, but Jesus' grace has inspired Zaccheus to embrace his vocation by giving to the poor and striving for a higher level of vocational ethics. Maybe the "lost" in this story are the grumblers about Jesus' association with tax collectors--people who have a narrow view about what kind of work is holy. There have always been fraudulent tax collectors, but that does not mean that tax collection is inherently evil. An important teaching of the Jesus/Zaccheus story is that all work presents an opportunity for followers of Jesus to live out their faith through what they spend most of their waking hours doing.
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