A Rule for Advent

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By “rule” I don’t mean rules, as in strictures and limitations but as a practice – as in the Benedictine Rule. St. Benedict was a sixth Century monk who developed a practice for the lives of monks. In addition to the basic vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience it included a set of hours during the day for prayer, worship, working, study, silence, and rest. It was a very structured life, something we can hardly imagine. Pastor Paula went to stay at the Benedictine Monastery in the desert and got a taste of what it means to follow such a patterned daily life. In short, it was great for the four days she was there. It was calming and regenerative. Even the vow of silence (all meals are taken in silence) was refreshing for her. A few years ago, I went on a five day silent retreat that also had a very patterned daily routine. It is hard to adjust to, but the feelings of calm that come over one are healing. I wouldn’t for a minute want to BE a monk and live all my days that way. But once in a while, having such a retreat or to have a rule as a practice during a particular time in our lives can be beneficial.

Most of the time when we think of this sort of thing we think of Lent, but Advent, too, was traditionally understood as a time for preparation for the coming of the Christ Child. The lectionary readings are about watching and waiting, being awake to see the coming child. The irony here is that what actually happens to us during the Advent season is that we prepare for Christmas and in the process go in the exact opposite direction; we become less attentive and more discombobulated. To salvage a little of the spirit of Advent, I propose coming up with a Rule for Advent. It doesn’t have to be much – just some kind of practice that will encourage the sense of wakefulness and calm that has been associated with Advent.

Here are some suggestions:

• Pray three times a day.

• Meditate once or twice a day.

• Read an Advent devotional.

• Attend worship every Sunday in Advent.

• Limit checking email, cell phone or Facebook to twice a day.

• Schedule some time for silence – maybe even a day for silence.

• Limit TV/movie watching to three events per week (including football).

• Do not listen to music while driving.

• Fast from the Internet outside of what is required for work or school.

• Limit spending for Christmas.

• Drive the speed limit.

• Have a family Advent candle lighting ritual.

These are just suggestions. Choose one or more that you think would bring a watchful calm into your life. See you in worship. Pastor Jim

Mad Men

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This is the sermon that was meant to be…. As I said this past Sunday my plan was for this to be an AMC Advent: The Walking Dead, Breaking Good and then on the 22nd the sermon title was going to be Mad Men. Here’s a brief synopsis of what I was going to say. “How in the world did Joseph avoid getting angry? He should have been angry, conventionally – that is what would have been expected of him. It would have been the right thing to do and more importantly the manly thing to do. One has to imagine the guys hanging out at the equivalent of the pub shaking their heads – Come on man! – at Joseph for being so wimpy and caring. Be a Man, for God’s sake – as strange as that sounds, that was the thinking. He decided not to get angry and to resolve things quietly so as not to disgrace Mary – so that she might be able to avoid becoming a prostitute. That’s just not how men are, is it?

Some things never change and one is that indeed, there are a lot of mad men in the world. There were then, there are now and there were back in the 1960s the time period for another AMC show, Mad Men. The title is a play on words for Ad Men – the story is about the lives of people who run an advertising agency in New York in the early 60’s. The show is full of mad men (and women too, actually). The main character is Don Draper but that is not his real name. In the Korean War he took on the identity of a man who died in front of him so that he could get home sooner. Besides, he had no trouble leaving his family and past – his upbringing was horrid. Between his puffs on an ubiquitous cigarette and a gulp of whiskey one can see in his eyes an almost animal resentment, both fearful and angry. He has the model 1960s family on the outside but at work he is driven and competitive; he has affairs and his marriage ends (in season 3, I think).

As was true with The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad, the writers of Mad Men are uncovering something that is true about our world today. Sometimes it is exaggerated – it is entertainment – but this deep spirit of anger and resentment. Walter White had it too. One can almost hear the vulgarities emanating from their hearts. And I will tell you that there are many people today who feel this all the time – more men than women but by not means exclusively. It is a kind of madness that is more dangerous than most clinical mental illnesses. (If this was a sermon I would probably say more about the state of boys in our culture).

The angel Gabriel came to Joseph and said do not be afraid – fear is usually behind both anger and resentment. I think the angel could have also said, don’t be angry or resentful. Go ahead, against convention and take Mary: love her, care for her, rather than toss her out, even if the guys at the bar think you’re “mad.” When I imagine this I wonder when we need to hear these words? So often our first response is anger – even with our families. Advent is a time to search our hearts to see what is there. Are we living with this latent resentment? Do we feel anxious and ready to be angry? How can we calm our fears so that anger isn’t the ready response?

Another character in Mad Men is Peggy who starts out as a secretary at the Ad firm. At a party she has sex with one of the “mad men” and becomes pregnant. This is the 60s so abortion isn’t the option it has become. She retreats into seclusion to have the baby. When the baby is born she refuses to hold it; the same deep resentment that was in Don Draper’s eyes are now in Peggy’s. If only the angel Gabriel could have come to Peggy and said, “do not be afraid to hold the child.” P.Jim

Ouch!

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That’s what I’ve been feeling a lot of lately; that and some numbness and weakness. In October I went to the doctor and x-rays determined that I have arthritis in my neck, as well as my toes. O the joys of getting older! By the end of November the symptoms had progressed enough to get me back in the doctors office and this time it was an MRI that indicated my spinal cord is being obstructed and I have to have surgery. The technical name is anterior cervical distectomy with fusion. By the time this Crossings is published I will have already had the surgery (December 10).. I will be out of the pulpit for about a month. Doctors are very noncommittal about recovery; on-line I think it says 6-8 weeks. Of course I will do all I can to recover as soon as possible.

In my absence the SPRC Committee is in charge of both filling the pulpit and coordinating any response to our needs. Derek Wood is the chair of the SPR Committee and is the first person to contact.

I have two requests of everyone: The first is the obvious one – I ask for your prayers, for me and for my family. The second is that you all remain present, active and faithful while I am recuperating. Be even more vigilant in being the Church. Reach out to each other and care for each other. If there is a niche to fill, jump in and feel God’s blessings. I thank you all for being such a wonderful church. See you one of these Sundays. Pastor Jim

Beta Vitality Update

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The Beta Vitality Committee had its first meeting with our coach, Reverend John Haller this past month. We spent our time talking about our first “module,” which was Spiritual Disciplines. This module was chosen for us but from now on, we will be choosing our own.

Certainly one of the reasons this module was chosen for us, is the results from the survey we took in August, which indicated that we are not strong in this area. It’s hard to say what this means – it is a survey, after all – but I will say that I think it has something to do with our prayer life, what we share and don’t about our spiritual lives and whether we, individually and as a community practice spiritual disciplines. The Committee discussed many things, settling on a few immediate concrete suggestions: 1) In addition to sharing joys and prayer concerns in worship, is to also share how we have experienced God in the past week. This suggestion came from the youth on our committee, Jocelyn Matheny. In youth group they share what they call “pows, wows, and hows,” things that have been difficult, joys and how we have experienced God. 2) Make prayer cards available during worship. Personally, I would like for us to have a committee that responds to prayers and celebrations in an organized way. Our next meeting is this evening, Wednesday, November 13. Please keep us in your prayers.

Why do you do it like that?

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Over the last decade, I have enjoyed learning about soccer.  When I was young there really weren’t opportunities to play soccer – I wish there had been.  However, it is the one sport Kenneth loves and so I have been to a lot of soccer games.  Now corner kicks and off sides are second nature to me, but when Kenneth was first playing I had a lot of questions.  Why are there yellow and red “cards”?  And what’s with the clock and ‘extra time’?  I noticed at high school soccer games the clock winds down and there can be as many substitutions as needed.  Is this “Americanized soccer”?  Before I get into what I really want to say, my analysis of soccer, is that too much depends on the blindness and whims of the referee.  The whole concept of ‘diving’ (faking being fouled so one can get a free or penalty kick) is ludicrous.  Personally, I think soccer needs instant replay.  I still feel sorry for Ghana in the last World Cup when a player from Uruguay slapped the ball with his hands out of the goal after the ball had clearly passed the plane of the goal – it was a goal!  Not only that, but the player from Uruguay committed the gravest of sins, he touched the ball with his hands… both of them… intentionally!  What’s a red card for?!  All Ghana got was a penalty kick that was missed and they lost.  (According to Kenneth the Uruguayan player plays for Liverpool and is now famous for biting the ear of an opponent!).  The point is, after my rant, when one is new to something one can offer questions and perspective that can be useful.

And so it is with people who are new to the church… not only new to OUR Church but new to THE church.  People who have been a part of the church all of their lives and have been active in many churches have a lot of experience and we need to listen to their suggestions.  But I’m not thinking primarily of them, here;  they are more like people who played soccer in another league.  I’m talking about the unchurched.  There was a time when we could assume that most people knew what church is about.  But these days, especially in our region of the country, we can make no such an assumption.  There are people around us who do not know what communion is, or stewardship, or why we have flowers on the alter. (Why DO we have flowers on the alter?)  It can be challenging to receive questions that seem so basic but force us to reconsider why we do what we do.  For one semester during seminary, our worship professor assigned that we go to a different church each Sunday from a different tradition.  I learned a lot and I had a lot of questions!  He also asked us to try to step out of ourselves to imagine going to worship without knowing even the basics of tradition and liturgy.  What would that feel like?  What questions would we have?  Why do we have vestments?  (Remember yellow and red cards?)  I remember one Sunday recently someone asked me why I was wearing a black robe instead of a white one?  The answer was pretty simple, because I felt like it… but imagine what an unchurched person might think if he/she comes for three weeks and I’m wearing my white robe and suddenly it’s black?  Who died?  Then the danger is, when we change vestments for Advent, for example, this same unchurched person could accost me after church and wonder if I’m feeling a little blue?

One thing the demographics tell us about our “neighborhood” is that there are a lot of unchurched people living here.  Many who feel that they are spiritual, but don’t go to church.  We usually assume that they don’t go to church because they have made a researched and reasonable decision not to.  Far from it!  In many cases they haven’t a clue about what we do in worship and they are scared!  There are two things we need to do about this:  The first is to let people know more about who we are… I’m sure that one of our “modules” for Beta-Vitality will be marketing.  The other is this one – we need to imagine coming to church knowing nothing.  In essence, putting our feet in their shoes.  Considering everything to be strange, imagining how it must feel to not understand what is going on and even more, not to know a soul.  This is what radical hospitality is about.  It isn’t just being open, inclusive and accepting… it is being intentional and assertive – purposefully being prepared for the stranger who doesn’t know what a hymnal is, or what we mean when we say they are invited to coffee hour.

See you in worship.  Pastor Jim

Beta Vitality: The Results Are In

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For the Beta Vitality Project the Task Force has been asked to collect a good deal of information to provide us with a better understanding of our Church. We have compiled it all to pass on to the Annual Conference, but I think it is important for you all to know too.

Beta Vitality is a pilot project that Cedar Cross has been invited to participate in, sponsored by the Annual Conference and the Tuell Center to revitalize churches. It is a two year project in which we will focus on different aspects of ministry, chosen by us and guided by a coach.

The first thing we did was to take a survey on August 25. Provided by a group called Natural Church Development the survey provides us with a better understanding of what we believe we do well and vice versa. They structure the results into eight categories: Empowering Leadership, Gift-based Ministry, Passionate Spirituality, Effective Structures, Inspiring Worship, Holistic Small Groups, Need-oriented Evangelism and Loving Relationships. Our Church scored highest for Inspiring Worship and lowest for Passionate Spirituality. Our average was above average (which means that generally we think well of ourselves) and we also rated high for Leadership, Gift-based Ministry and Loving Relationships. Fortunately we have a coach to assist us in analyzing what this means. I suspect that our score for Passionate Spirituality has something to do with the practice of spiritual disciplines, or the lack thereof.

On September 8 after the second service over 40 of us gathered with our coach, Reverend John Haller to assess our strengths and assets. Some of the top strengths we identified were Music programs, Openness, and our Children’s and Adult programs. The two top assets were the pastor (woot woot!) and our grounds… that would mean the trees. Other assets were our volunteers, building, music leaders, children’s ministry, and Cedar Cross Cooperative Preschool. I am pleased to see that there was little hesitation to list strengths and assets – this again means that we have a good sense of self-worth.

We were also asked to compile statistics from the last 20 years: membership, attendance, budget, Sunday School, etc. (This required visits to other local UM Churches because we don’t have the Journals.) When I look at these statistics I see a pattern of growth that changed dramatically with the departure of the first pastor, Tom Eberly, followed by a plateau stage and then a precipitous decline. At one time the average attendance was over 250 and an associate pastor was appointed here. Our current average attendance is close to 150. I think our current situation would be described as rebuilding. The numbers are starting to go back up, for which we are thankful. Our budget reflects the changes in the size of our church, but far less dramatically. However, staff salaries actually increased as we were in decline.

The Annual Conference has contracted with a service that provides demographics for our area. Some of the things that stood out for me were: An expected increase in families with children in our area; the relative high education of people in our area; the relatively low participation in religious organizations. It did not indicate whether this low participation in religion is local or regional – the Pacific Northwest is known as the “None-zone” because when people are asked what religions organization they belong to the most common answer is, none. There was this interesting breakdown:

Conservative Evangelical Christian: 37

Consider Myself a Spiritual Person: 46.8

Enjoy Watching Religious TV Programs 17

Important to Attend Religious Services 19.7

My Faith is Really Important to me 17.2

Hmm….. I have a lot of questions about these statistics. I would say that this indicates that there are a lot of people in our area who feel religious but do not belong to a church. Why? Are they “spiritual but not religious” or have they not found a church they feel comfortable in?

What does this all tell us? I look at it as teasers for further inquiry and discussion. After my son, Aaron took statistics in high school he warned me never to trust them. I would caution against making judgments, but invite curiosity. The Task Force will be discussing all of this at length. I believe I share with the Task Force a desire for this process to be transparent – for everyone to know what we are doing and talking about. I would like the whole church to be involved in what we do. Please feel free to ask questions of any of us.

Pastor Jim

Beta-Vitality Update : Strengths and Assets

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This past Sunday we had the pleasure of meeting our coach, Reverend John Haller who will be leading us through the Beta-Vitality process for the next two years. Reverend Haller is a retired pastor from the Texas Southwest Annual Conference, significantly a graduate of the University of Texas. He and his spouse moved to Bellingham for her health reasons and they attend Garden Street UMC in Bellingham. We are blessed to have him working with us.

During the meeting after the second service, Reverend Haller led us in a process of discovering what we see as our strengths and assets. (Despite an attempt to distinguish strengths and assets it got a little muddled. Christy Herman, who is an accountant told me one way to think of assets is as a balance sheet – what we have that helps us accomplish our mission.) The task force is taking in all the sheets of paper that were filled out and putting them on an Excel spreadsheet – we will eventually be sharing them with everyone.

This information is only one part of what we have been asked to collect for the beginning assessment in t his process. On August 25 many of you took the survey – we are waiting for the results of that too – we must make assessments of our building, finances, provide 20 years of statistics and review the demographics of our area. From all of this information we will garner a better sense of who we are and what our potential is. On September 29 the task force will meet with Reverend Haller and undertake discussion of our first “module” (read, area of ministry). This first module will be chosen by Gail Grossman and Curtis Brown who are administering the project, based upon the information we provide them. After that we choose the modules.

That’s where we stand with Beta-vitality. It is our hope to keep everyone informed all through the process. If you have any questions please feel free to ask a member of the task force: Pastor Jim, Ellen Morehouse, Taryn Oestreich, Mark Glover, Mark Wilder, Miriam Molver, Janet Church and Jocelyn Matheny.

Heart of the Matter

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“This is the religion we long to see established in the world, religion of love and joy and peace, having its seat n the heart, in the inmost soul.” –John Wesley

John Wesley believed in a Religion of the Heart. He was a learned man, son of a clergyman, a graduate of Oxford, but all his learning didn’t sustain his faith. His learning was essential to his faith, but he still needed for his “heart to be strangely warmed.” Wesley lived in the time called the Age of Reason. Science was beginning its path toward becoming the primary means of understanding the world we live in. There were those who believed that religion ought to be like science – rational, factual and reducible. But for Wesley faith was always a matter of the heart.

We will be exploring the “heart” this fall in a couple of ways. First, in adult Sunday school we are reading Marcus Borg’s The Heart of Christianity. In his many books Borg asserts that as inheritors of the Age of Reason, we have forgotten that religion is something to be experienced – we don’t just believe things, we experience the presence of God. In his book about the Apostle Paul he focuses on Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus where he falls off his horse and has a vision of Jesus asking Paul why he was persecuting him? For the philosophers of the Age of Reason (and many academics today) this is all contrived nonsense. Since scientifically this is impossible, and any reasonable person knows that, we easily dismiss it. Therefore, when we talk about Paul we talk about what he wrote in his letters, his ideas but disassociated from this experience. Borg says that’s a mistake. Just as with John Wesley, this experience Paul had was real. Not only was it real it was foundational for everything Paul wrote. In The Heart of Christianity Borg addresses the basics of our faith but from a different angle – looking at how the Age of Reason and the Reformation have influenced how we see our faith, and opening our perspective. This book can be a transformative book for us all.

The second way we will be addressing the “heart” this fall is through our stewardship campaign. Extravagant Generosity: Giving from the Heart. With Stewardship too we have inherited a very rational way of viewing giving. Since it is about money we shuffle it over to the economic part of our lives – we think about it when perhaps our hearts need to be strangely warmed. In the Sundays of October, I will be preaching about seeing stewardship as grounded in our hearts. How will be see giving differently if it is a matter of the heart? I hope everyone will make a special effort to be present for these Sundays.

Pastor Jim

Let’s Meet the Coach

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We took an initial step in the Beta-Vitality Project on Sunday, August 25 when we took a survey that will be processed by a company called Natural Church Development. Thank you all who took the time to ex the boxes. The next step is to meet our coach.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about please read the article in the Pastor’s Blog.

Our coach is Reverend John Haller, a retired United Methodist pastor from the Southwest Texas Annual Conference who lives in Bellingham. Aside from his Texas twang and having way too much hair, I deem him to be, after an initial meeting, an amiable person and I’m looking forward to working with him.

So get ready and mark your calendars, Sunday, September 8 after the second service. Reverend Haller will be spending two hours with us to learn about our Church. We would like for as many people as possible to join us – to be involved. We do not want this process to simply be about the committee.

Since Reverend Haller will be leading this time I do not know what he will ask, but I suspect it will involve similar questions to those posed on the survey. How well do we see ourselves doing regarding particular aspects of ministry – worship, evangelism, small groups, organization and structure? There will also be questions about our feelings and commitments to our Church. It could be a very exciting and enriching discussion – and everyone is invited.

A light lunch will be provided as will childcare. Pastor Jim

Beta Vitality

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You’ve heard about it – the panic that has seized the Annual Conference and our whole denomination about losing members. Over the past decades we have slowly shrunk; we are still one of the largest denominations in America but we re losing ground. Leaders in particular are troubled by this (as they should be) and have been trying to respond to the situation. Our Annual Conference has come up with the Beta Vitality Project; but first, a little back story.

A few years ago the Conference entered into a capital funds drive originally billed to start new faith communities. We didn’t hear too much about it here at Cedar Cross and that was largely my doing – I didn’t feel I could ask you all to give money for new churches when we were unable to pay our apportionments. Meanwhile, a number of churches suggested that some of the money raised be used for revitalizing existing churches, in addition to starting new ones. The result has been the funding of the Tuell Center for Leadership Excellence (it’s a virtual center so don’t try to MapQuest it.) The Tuell Center has been in the process of developing the Beta Vitality Project. The next step in that process is to pilot the program and guess what…. our church has been chosen as one of twelve in the Annual Conference to be a part of the process.

It will be a two year program beginning this fall. Early in August a newly formed committee of volunteers attended a workshop in Kent. We will be assigned Vitality in Process (VIP) Coach, Rev. John Haller, who will meet with the committee on a regular basis over the two year period.

The task of the committee and the goals of the process is threefold: First to assess the strengths and assets of our church; to discern our spirit and identity. Second, to identify our ‘mission field.’ A mission field is not about missions in the conventional sense, but rather is those with who we would have affinity, who would be attracted to becoming a part of our faith community. For example, is our church a good place for families with children? (I like to think so.) Who are the people living in our neighborhood? Are we going to attract fundamentalists? (Probably not).

Thirdly, we hope to build a plan for ministry. We will be looking at all sorts of “modules for ministry:” Radical Hospitality, Spiritual Practices for Church Leaders, Passionate Worship, Risk-taking Mission and Service, Social Media Systems, Intentional Faith Development, Sharing our Faith, etc. (article continued on page 3)

It is somewhat ironic that we have been chosen for this project when, in my assessment, we are already in the process of revitalizing. I was told that originally churches that are not paying full apportionments would not qualify for the program, but perhaps someone sees enough promise in us to choose us anyway. In any case, it is an honor to be chosen and an opportunity to reflect on who we are and where we envision going as a Church. I am excited about this opportunity, and I invite you all to join me, and to participate too.

Prayers are welcome. Pastor Jim

* The explanation for naming the project “Beta Vitality” is as follows: “Beta implies taking a risk to stretch and experiment with church life in a new and intentional way. In the hiking and rock climbing community, ‘beta’ refers to sharing needed information to successfully complete a particular climb or trail. In the same way, the process is designed to equip your church with what it needs to successfully navigate your own way on your journey towards greater vitality.” Just in case you were curious.