We Have a Real Mission

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I am so excited about what is happening at our Church. I feel the presence of the Spirit every time we gather for worship. There is a growing sense of purpose; an increased understanding of who we are and what our mission is. Our Adult Sunday school class is well attended, where we are discussing the book Living the Questions: the Wisdom of Progressive Christianity. In the first chapter of the book the authors, David Felten and Jeff Proctor-Murphy state that faith is not an arriving, but a journey. Our task as Christians isn’t to find answers that are absolutes, but to raise questions, seek conversation, and grow in grace. Traditionally in Methodism “as one practices faith, the evolutionary work of ‘sanctification’ begins and one works toward becoming more whole as life goes on.” (Instead of ‘whole’ Wesley used the word ‘perfection.’) This ‘evolutionary’ perspective on faith is not a common one – it is a part of who we are and a part of what we have to share with the world. The image most unchurched people have of Christianity in America is all the things we are not. Because most churches focus on what is necessary to believe in order to be saved, rather than on growing spiritually, the image of the church is rigid, judgmental, and ironically uncaring. When people who are not familiar with churches hear that I am a pastor they assume I am judgmental of gays and lesbians, think that I think I have all the answers, that I am ready to tell them that if they don’t believe as I do they will go to hell, and that I don’t believe climate change is influenced by human activity. So many people in my experience have said that they did not know a church like ours exists. We have a real mission here. We have the opportunity to share God’s grace and love to people who don’t know that is what Jesus was all about. We have the potential to transform peoples lives. I sincerely believe this and I believe this mission is well worth investing in.

It’s Stewardship season again – time to talk about money, right? The process of raising funds to support the ministries of the Church is something we cannot avoid – so yes, we will talk about money. But before we do, or at least in the same context, let’s talk about this mission we have to transform people’s lives, our community and in doing so, in some small way, the world. Think of all the young people we touch – in the Preschool, through our Children’s Programs, in the Youth Program. I can tell you for sure that I’ve seen young people experience God and feel moved to be disciples. Consider how transformative it is when we worship together. Our worship isn’t about getting it right, it’s about the presence of the Spirit in our lives. Think of the music we are blessed with – music has the power to heal the soul. Since we became a Reconciling Church by being Reconciling we have attracted numerous people – again, to a church that many don’t know exists. We lift up our missions – Teen Feed and our support of the VOA Food Bank. This is a giving church. And we are a growing church. Do you see all the new people? Yes, it’s Stewardship season again – so let’s celebrate! Let’s celebrate who we are and embrace the mission we have – to touch lives with God’s love and grace, to be about the task of growing spiritually, and reaching out into the world with care.
P. Jim

Thoughts on my Retreat at Mount Angel Abbey

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During my Renewal Leave I spent a number of days on retreat at the Mount Angel Abbey in Oregon.  The Abbey sits on the top of a hill that overlooks the Willamette Valley.  It is a Benedictine monastery; they follow the Rule of St, Benedict which includes following and living the Hours.  That is, worshiping eight times a day, but some monasteries fudge on it a little.  My wife, Paula.
has told me that at the Monastery in the Desert in New Mexico they do them all, including Matins, in the middle of the night.  At Mount Angel Abbey, they practice Lauds at 5:20 am., Prime at 6:30, Mass at 8:00, Sext at noon, Vespers at 5:20 and Compline at 7:30.  The majority of their worship is chanting the Psalms – to the point where after a number of years they have them memorized.  They also stand for nearly the whole service.  Please understand this; they follow this “Rule” everyday for the rest of their lives.  And usually they live the whole of their lives at one monastery, living in the same community.  Apparently they do take vacations; I wonder what they do on their vacations?  Do they go to Disneyland?  But aside from vacations, whatever that means for them, they do the same thing day after day.  I was there for less than a week and in that short time I could feel a change in my heart.

There is little noise on the hilltop:  the bells are the loudest sound heard.  The chanting starts to stay in one’s head after a while.  There are many birds on the hilltop and there is no background music like we have in the grocery store.  Also, the monks and visitors move more slowly – a monk in a hurry is an oxymoron.  Following the Rule, as restricting as it feels, lends a steady gate and gentle pace.  These days it hurts when I walk, but when I’m in my normal life, I still find myself trying to hurry.  How stupid is that?  Up on the hilltop, I naturally slowed down.  Paralleling the slower walking pace my thinking waned as well.  Our hurried pace walking, even more driving, is mirrored in our minds.  We think constantly and relentlessly.  We ruminate, analyzing our days, projecting out into the future:  I need to get the car lubed; who does she think she is talking to me like that; he left his clothes on the floor again – and apparently if one works at Amazon its worse!  When I came down off the hilltop it wasn’t long before Paula called me to fill me in on our lives and it all came back.  Suddenly I was driving over the speed limit again.

It reminds me of the story of Elijah going to Mt. Horeb fleeing Jezebel and fearing for his life, he meets God on the mountain.  He waits for God, but God wasn’t in the wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire, but in the sheer silence (used to be a still small voice).  It is as if Elijah is slowly letting go of the pressure, the steam, the loud cacophony of life and rests in the calm, and God is there.  Is this a paradigm of an experience we all need?

I believe in our world less noise and a slower pace will allow us to hear God as a still small voice.  Coming down off the hilltop driving to my mother’s, I reflexively turned on the radio (that’s all I have in my car, aren’t you surprised?), but it sounded tinny and I felt annoyed, especially by the incessant commercials on NPR!  I turned it off.  What do we need to turn off?  How can we go to the hilltop/mountain in our lives?  I have a hard time imagining living the life of a monk, but a little of it once in a while is a blessing.

This is a while in the future, I know we are all thinking of the fall, but in January I will be offering a class about Slow Church.  We will read a book by that name by C Christopher Smith and John Pattison.  They talk about the “McDonaldization” of the church:  “The process by which the principles of the fast food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world.”  The values of this McDonaldization are:  efficiency, predictability, calculability (quantifiable results) and control.  Does that sound like the workings of the church today?  Does that sound like the values that run other institutions in our lives?  Did we all read the New York Times article about the working environment at Amazon?  I believe it is these values that starve us spiritually, and I want to do something about it.  The class will last from Epiphany through Lent (it will be our Lenten study too).  Easter is early next year so the class will be from January through March.  I’m really looking forward to it.  P.Jim

Adult Sunday School: Living the Questions

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This fall in Adult Sunday School, we will be reading and discussing a book entitled, Living the Questions: The Wisdom of Progressive Christianity by David Felten and Jeff Proctor-Murphy. Originally Living the Questions was a DVD series (which I own) which was very popular amongst clergy. The authors realized (correctly, I think) that the “wisdom” in the DVD needed to reach a broader audience and therefore created the book. Chapter titles include, Taking the Bible Seriously but not Literally, Thinking Theologically, Evil, Suffering and the God of Love, Practicing Resurrection, The Myth of Redemptive Violence and Honoring Creation. I have no doubt that this book will generate good discussion amongst the wonderful people who have attended our class.

Parenthetically, the book generated controversy in the Phoenix area where David Felten in the pastor of Fountain Hills UMC. Eight neighboring churches organized a six part series challenging the book – the title of the series was “Progressive Christianity: Fact or Fiction,” and the six sessions were: Why Does it Matter that God Doesn’t Change, Why Does it Matter that the Bible is Reliable (inerrant), Why Does it Matter that Jesus is God, Why Does it Matter that Jesus was Born of a Virgin, Why Does it Matter that Jesus was Resurrected, Why Does it Matter that Jesus is the Only Way? One can well imagine what was preached at those sessions – all the more reason for us to become both clear and open about our faith. My hope is that this book will assist us in becoming articulate about how we believe – and what we don’t believe. It will help us in forming our identity, crystallizing our message (as relative as it may be) and giving us the means to be in dialogue with the folks like those in the eight churches in Phoenix.

We meet every Sunday morning beginning September 13 at 10:00 am. I have ordered 17 books – if you would like me to reserve one for you please let me know. Or, you may buy one yourself – for your Kindle. I’m looking forward to sharing with everyone again. P.Jim

P.S. If you would like to read about the controversy in Phoenix go to Patheos.com.