From David's Desk
February 2012
Wasn’t it just last week that we were putting away Christmas decorations? I can scarcely believe that in just a few weeks, we will be launching into our next major season of preparation: Lent.
This year, our theme for Lent will be “Home Is Where the Heart Is”. I’m moved by this theme for a couple of reasons. First, the fall and winter were tough months for Bethel, and for the wider communities to which we belong. Our economy continued to languish. Members and friends of Bethel felt the effects through unemployment, threat of foreclosure, inadequate health care, and expanding work loads for those still in the workplace. Beyond economic woes, our congregation experienced the loss of three “pillars”, Virginia Klein, George Russell, and Maxine Barnes. Recent months have been “heavy” for many of us. There has been what seems like an inordinate amount of illness and loss affecting our congregation.
Second, the memorial services for these pillars caused a return of many folk who formerly had been active members at Bethel. It was great to have them present. An emphasis on “coming home” seemed like a good opportunity to focus on a balm for our souls and to extend a warm welcome to those who have been absent in recent years.
“Home is where the heart is” will give us the opportunity to give special energy and attention to the gifts of belonging to a Christian community. Our worship during Lent will lift
up the various dimensions of this theme. I’ve developed a five week sermon series to explore how our church community serves as a home – and why it’s important to come home for Lent. Being an active member of a congregation provides these five essential spiritual blessings: affirmation, healing, purpose, accountability and transformation. I’ll address each of these blessings in succession beginning February 26, the first Sunday of
Lent.
If you’d like to deepen your Lenten journey, especially as it relates to worship, Chuck McGinley will be convening a Bible study Sunday mornings during Lent at 9:00am in the Chapel. Each week the group will look at the scripture, theme, sermon title, and “teaser” questions as a way of preparing for the worship to follow. For those of you who prefer to center yourselves with quiet prior to worship, there will be a component for that at the conclusion of each Chapel session, too.
As an implementation step to the Strategic Plan that has been articulated and endorsed by our congregation, Lenten worship this year will include some innovations and experiments. Lent will begin with an Ash Wednesday service at 7:30pm February 22 in the sanctuary. Along with the opportunity to receive ashes, our worship will be shaped by a form of worship that is ancient yet contemporary. We’ll worship with spiritual tools made famous by the Taizé community in France. Taizé services incorporate song, visual images, and scripture in a calming manner that creates room for Divine encounter. They are contemplative but not dreary. They appeal to the creative side of our brain, not the analytical. They seek to evoke the mystery of God – and open us to ways of experiencing God that are enjoying a renaissance. Taizé services are offered in a wide array of Christian churches – Protestant, Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic. To learn more about Taizé worship, I invite you to visit the Taizé Community’s website: www.taizé.fr
Please join me in preparing for the great Easter proclamation: Christ IS risen! Christ IS risen, indeed.
Grace abounds…
Rev. David
November
November is a month rich in symbol and celebration. We are surrounded by the symbols
of seasonal change – leaves change color and drop, nights grow chiller, signs of frost appear on our rooftops and lawns – fall moves toward winter. With the drawing to a close of fall comes the great celebration of Thanksgiving – the high holy day of family feast traditions. Tables are set with china used only for special occasions. The variety and amount of dishes and desserts far exceeds the “normal” daily fare. And, of course, there is the celebration of the genesis of the feast day – giving thanks for blessings received over the past year.
I’ve noticed in my own life, and in the lives of many others, that the celebration of
Thanksgiving changes from year to year. When the year has been smooth and full of positive experiences, Thanksgiving is easy. When the year has been filled with more challenges and “school of hard knocks” Thanksgiving becomes more difficult. There are some years when expressing thanks may seem like grasping at straws.
It is precisely at those times when giving thanks is essential. Looking for blessings in the midst of tough times has the power to move us through the rough patches. Remaining open to the ways we have received “grace upon grace” gives us bread for the journey – it is a form of spiritual growth that builds hope. Hope out of despair, life out of death, love over hatred, comfort out of suffering, this is our story because it is God’s story in Jesus Christ.
There is no doubt that we live in times of great social and cultural turmoil. The Occupy Wall
Street movement, for better or worse, has lifted up the issue of income and wealth inequality that is real in our country (and in our world). Huge, complex, systemic problems often leave us feeling helpless and powerless to do anything to change them. Jesus, I am sure, felt this way about the religious tradition and the world in which he lived. Rather than giving up, he relied on a profound faith in “Abba”, Father God. Jesus believed that “Abba” had not given up on justice and peace for all people. And he held fast to that faith in order to work for the kin-dom of God on earth for all the people.
This Thanksgiving, I will give thanks for the blessings God has poured out on me, my family,
my church and my community. And I will pledge to work for justice and peace for those
who do not have what I take for granted: a safe home and neighborhood, steady employment, healthy food, health care, good schools for my kids, and more privilege than I’m aware of most of the time.
Happy Thanksgiving
Grace and peace,
Rev. David
July-August 2011
I subscribe to a weekly electronic newsletter that is sent from the Duke University Divinity School. The newsletter contains articles and links to a variety of resources designed to build skills for 21st century congregational leaders. I was intrigued by one article from the Harvard Business School. The article outlined the importance of organizational leaders to stay connected with and take time for a “passion” other than their work. At the top of the list was what I considered a “no brainer” - devote time and energy to the people you enjoy and love the most. Don’t underestimate the importance of quality time with your family and friends.
Moments after I read this article, I received an unexpected email from a clergy colleague and friend who is now serving in of all places—Juneau, Alaska! Imagine that, I had just read of the importance of staying connected to friends, and an old friend reached out to me! The last I knew, Phil Campbell had been serving on the faculty at Iliff Seminary, Denver, Colorado. Phil’s email, though didn’t come from Juneau—it came from a wi-fi equipped café in the Midwest. He was traveling from Alaska to Alabama. You see, my friend Phil Campbell was the guy who organized all the men named Phil Campbell from around the globe to visit a small town in labama called, well, Phil Campbell, AL. Maybe you read about my friend in the Oregonian June 19, 2011. That tiny community had been devastated by the tornadoes that ripped through the mid section of our country several weeks ago. The Rev. Phil Campbell I knew wasn’t from Alabama, or from the town bearing his name. Rev. Phil was from Oklahoma. But because Oklahoma is also a place riddled with tornado tragedies, Phil understood how painful and
difficult recovery could be.He decided to do something about it—in a most creative way. Eighteen other men named Phil Campbell (one as far away as Scotland) decided to descend on a little town in Alabama –to make a difference, bound only by a shared name.
In many ways that’s what we do as a church—bound by the shared name, Christian, we seek to make positive contributions in our communities, locally and globally.
For many of us, summer becomes a time of scattering. We scatter off to take vacations, visit
family and friends, go camping, enroll in Elderhostels, or just relax. One of the benefits of getting out of our normal haunts and routines, is that we get to explore other communities. For example, I have “borrowed” a number of good ministry ideas from visiting churches in the summer. You’d be amazed how much we can learn from each other just by looking at bulletin boards and reading newsletters and bulletins.
The second benefit of “time away” in the summer is that we re-enter “home-sweet-home” with fresh eyes. We gain appreciation for gifts we take for granted, and we see what might need attention. All the gospels agree about this one thing: Jesus was always on the move. He didn’t stay put in any one place very long. He was a master of sizing up communities and naming what was good, and challenging what needed healing. May our summer outings bring greater clarity of Christian vocation— the joy and cost of being followers of Jesus.
Rev. David
May 2011
The Easter proclamation - Christ Has Risen, Christ has Risen Indeed continues to propel us with new life into the month of May. As you read this edition of the newsletter, you will discover a multitude of opportunities to sustain and celebrate the power of Resurrection!
May is filled with special worship opportunities: Mother's Day - May 8 (which also celebrates the blessings of having a place to call home); Youth Sunday - May 15 (graduating high school seniors will be recognized); May 20-21 the Central Pacific Conference of the United Church of Christ will hold its annual spring assembly.
This year's assembly will be especially significant as the President and General Minister of the United Church of Christ, Rev. Geoffrey Black, will be the keynote speaker. Highland
United Church of Christ, 7600 NE Glisan Street, Portland will host the assembly. Even if you are not a delegate to the assembly, I encourage you to register as a visitor and attend the Friday afternoon key note address from 4:30pm-6:00pm; and worship Saturday morning from 9:00am - 10:30am. The theme for the assembly: "Imagine What's Possible."
The Strategic and Spiritual Planning (SSP) efforts will continue to be sustained by Christ's resurrected Spirit. Several of our small groups will meet early this month. The SSP planning committee will collate and summarize your thoughts and aspirations for Bethel's future ministry. An all church gathering, will take place sometime on a weekend day yet to be determined in June which will give us the opportunity to learn about some of the findings from the small group meetings. The majority of our time, however, will be spent celebrating
Bethel's history. The planning strategy we have implemented builds on those strengths which have been at the core of our history as a church. This will be your chance to reminisce and give thanks for the rich legacy of Bethel. Our afternoon of historical reflection and celebration will serve as the spring board for our future ministry.
Plans are underway also to provide pastoral leadership during the second installment of my sabbatical. This summer from July 1 - August 30, I will be taking the second of two 6 week sabbatical leaves in conjunction with 2 weeks vacation.
Next month, I'll share with you the plan I have for rest, renewal and re-tooling of pastoral skills this summer.
After the extended period of April "showers" (41 days in March and April with no sunshine) I am sure that I am not alone in reveling in the May "flowers" and the hope of summertime they portend.
Springtime blessings to you all,
Grace abounds,
Rev. David
April 2011
As we move through the season of Lent, I have been wondering what "new life" Easter might bring this year. We all have our Easter family traditions that involve food, Easter eggs and maybe even new Easter clothes. These traditions make Easter unique, memorable, and exciting.
In the first church I served in rural Virginia, I was immersed in a culture that celebrated Easter traditions very different from those I knew. One that came as a complete surprise was the tradition of gift-giving to the pastor and his family. The history and identity of the Shenandoah Valley was agricultural. For generations, pastors were compensated with farm products from members' fields and livestock. Even though I served the congregation in the 1990's, long after the barter system was necessary for pastors' subsistence, folks would drop by the parsonage with "gifts".
One Easter, a key leader in the congregation stopped by and presented us with a quart of shucked oysters. Little did I know at the time that oysters were a Shenandoah Valley Easter delicacy - and an Easter "staple" for wealthy farm owners. Now, as a good Maine boy, I loved many kinds of seafood. But, oysters were not one of them.
I still remember vividly standing at the parsonage door awkwardly refusing the oyster gift. The kind-hearted and thoughtful member was simply stunned that his gift was not accepted with the thrill he expected. He was crest-fallen. His effort to treat the pastor and his family had failed.
I thought I was doing the right and responsible thing. "Surely", I thought to myself, "if oysters are a delicacy someone who really loves them should enjoy them." Wrong. I've learned from that experience, and others, that there is tremendous power and love shared when a gift is graciously accepted.
Easter is God's gift to us. The gift is this mysterious offering of grace and love in the midst of life as we know it. One of the reasons I am fed by the whole of Holy Week is that it encapsulates the human experience. Everything is found in Holy Week - the euphoria of expected victory, the gathering of friends for a holiday meal, the practice of loving friendship, the manipulation of political power. There are examples of envy, jealousy, betrayal, cruelty. And there are examples of compassion, surrender, loyalty, wisdom and steadfast love. Transformation happens despite tremendous obstacles. God's love has the final word and it is: LIFE.
Parker Palmer has written about the "tragic gap". The tragic gap is the place between life as we know it can be (the peaks) and the place where it seems most desolate (the valleys). Jesus acknowledged the tragic gap in the Lord's Prayer: "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven". We have been in the presence of the Spirit so powerfully that it has felt like heaven. And we have walked in those times that seemed like hell. Precisely because life has both ends of the spectrum, we need a place to stand in the middle of the gap. That's where we find ourselves most of the time. Holy Week and Easter bless the gap - and give us a foundation of love and hope on which to stand.
Standing in the tragic gap requires a community. Receiving God's gifts is easier when journeying along with fellow travelers. I hope you will seek out the diversity of worship opportunities we have planned for you during the whole of Holy Week. God's gift is awaiting your gracious acceptance.
Grace abounds...
Rev. David
March 2011
The three synoptic (from the Greek, synopsis, that is "simultaneous view" gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, all describe a period of forty days when Jesus took a solo spiritual quest. His journey was filled with wilderness wanderings, encounters with temptation, fasting and prayer. This was an intense time of soul searching. It was a time of testing. Through the physical, spiritual and emotional challenge, Jesus' faith was strengthened and his sense of mission was solidified. By taking the time to "know thyself", Jesus was equipped (by his own resolve and by the presence of the Spirit) to "go public" with his dream to bring God's kingdom into the world.
Over the centuries, Christians have adopted a variety of spiritual practices to identify with, or simulate Jesus' intense time of preparation for his public ministry. The liturgical "purpose" of the season of Lent is to till the soil of ones soul to receive the great gift of resurrection on Easter morning.
Our church is offering a variety of ways to enrich your experience of Lent. You'll see later in the newsletter a description of four small group ministry programs. Each is unique and I commend them to you. Rev. Jean Doane is also challenging us to continue the clean water initiative in Haiti which we began last Lent. Susan Smith from 1st Congregational – Salem brought to our attention her work with the Central Pacific Conference. Patti Matson and Jean Doane traveled to Haiti last summer. Jean will give some specific recommendations about what we might "give up" this Lent to give a basic necessity - clean water - to a community in Haiti.
Beyond these Lenten initiatives, there is one spiritual discipline that you can support by prayer and participation. As you know from our annual meeting in January, a special committee of the Church Board called the Strategic and Spiritual Planning Committee has been hard at work laying the foundation for a church-wide effort to discern our church's future. At the heart of the approach we are using is the desire to discern God's will for our future, not just an amalgamation of our individual wants and needs. Discernment of God's will is not easy, nor can it be rushed. It requires trust, courage, faith and a willingness to hold in loving tension the dreams and desires that all of us have. I believe that through the process of listening to each other, with a third ear for the Spirit, we will reach a point of clarity. Such clarity of mission can inspire us to do what it takes to implement the mission.
How can you participate? In two ways: pray and attend a small group meeting. Here's a simple prayer you can offer daily: "God give me and my fellow travelers at Bethel an open mind and an open heart to understand your will and live it." Second, you can attend one of the strategic planning small groups. The purpose of the small groups will be to reflect on and discuss our congregation's strengths and challenges. As Loren Mead, founding president of the Alban Institute has said, "coming to terms with who we have been and who we are as a congregation now is a critical developmental step." It is only when we come to terms with our true identity that we can move freely into the future. These small groups will give opportunity for your perceptions of our past, present and future. They will not be gripe sessions or assessments of our ministry that dwell on "what's wrong that needs to be fixed". Rather they will focus on a compassionate and honest assessment of our strengths and liabilities. Then, and only then, can we gain clarity on what God is calling us to be and do in the future.
We've enjoyed great success and spiritual development with honest and compassionate sharing in recent years. The two "classes" of Unwrapping Our Gifts revealed to us that we do have gifts to share, and we can listen carefully to each other and to the voice of God's spirit. I am very excited by these opportunities to vitalize our ministry and deepen our efforts to bring the Kingdom of God into the world.
Feb 2011
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Jan 2011
As followers of the Jesus' way, we often find ourselves living in two worlds. Most of the culture in which we live these days is filled with the message: "Happy New Year". The message focuses on the flipping over of the December 2010 calendar page to the brand new January 2011 one. Our American culture's preoccupation this time of year looks in two directions: 1) backwards, with review of the year just past; 2) and forwards, with new resolutions for the year ahead.
Our faith tradition, on the other hand, invites us to plumb the depths of the birth of the Messiah with the season of Epiphany. Epiphany means literally, "manifestation". It was inaugurated by the Magi's visit to the birthplace of Jesus. By bearing gifts to Mary's infant, the "wise men" made manifest Jesus' identity as the Christ. They "got it". They believed that this human child would be the earthen vessel whose life would reveal the will and way of God. Epiphany moments are "ah-ha" moments, when what had seemed confusing becomes clear. Epiphany is the season to celebrate those moments when the face of God, the presence of God, and the power of God become real to us.
I see an opportunity in 2011 that will bridge both the secular emphasis on "new years' resolutions" and the Christian season of "ah-ha". This bridge builder is the strategic and spiritual planning process that has been initiated in 2010 by a dedicated group of Bethel members.
Here's how. The process will continue this year with a retreat for members of the Strategic and Spiritual Planning Committee (SSPC) and the Church Board. The purpose of the retreat will be to build strong working relationships, to connect our efforts with our faith, to work through an assessment of the various components of our church's ministry, and to prepare to offer small group sessions for YOU the members and friends of Bethel.
The SSPC is employing an approach which is very much a grassroots effort. You will be invited to join in the effort of assessing the strengths and weaknesses of our ministry together. The purpose is two fold: to gather "data" about your current wishes; and to create a healthy and safe place to discuss what you value about church.
UCC churches which have enjoyed vibrant and energized ministries have had the courage and compassion to hold in tension the variety of perspectives of what makes church important. These "holy conversations" allow discernment to happen. None of us will get exactly what we want, nor will we all agree about what Bethel needs to do to appeal to a wider audience. How we discuss and more importantly, how we listen to one another will enable God's spirit to guide us into the next chapter of ministry.
In addition to small group discussions, you will be invited to participate in some all church gatherings that will celebrate Bethel's past ministry and explore the "norms" that govern our community. There will also be a meeting for the entire congregation which will pull together the findings of our "holy conversations" and move us toward greater clarity of mission and purpose. Finally, the SSPC will serve the congregation by articulating an implementation plan. Implementation steps will prevent our planning efforts from being filed in a folder somewhere and forgotten.
Why do I think this is such an essential step for Bethel? I believe that churches, like people, gain vitality from first knowing who they are. With clarity of identity comes energy for sharing ones gifts. The work of exploring who we are and how God is calling us to share our gifts in the world is not easy. But it is the most important and best work we can do. Together as a community of faith, and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we can accept this great opportunity and make 2011 a vital one for Bethel.
Happy "Ah-Ha" and New Year!