people of Peace

As I'm updating the website with info from newsletter and other sources, there's a lot of references to members of Peace. We talked about this in worship design yesterday. Does using the phrase member of Peace imply an ABC(attendance, building & cash) style of doing church? I think it might. So I'm substituting people of Peace wherever I see members of Peace and see how that sounds.

daring to set people free

This week's theme is "Reforming the Church" with insights drawn from chapter 5 & 6 of Kelly Fryer's book Reclaiming the "C" Word. One of the songs that Ken has chosen for worship is an African American Spiritual, Mary, don't you weep. As I was working on slides for this weekend, I wanted to find out more about this song's history. What I found were 2 sermons preached about freedom relative to slavery. While our circumstances are much different, aren't we also struggling to find our voice in this strange land, to transform ourselves, our church, our country and our world?

The sermon, "Without A Song," is based on the 137th Psalm, where the Israelites, in Babylonian captivity, are asked to sing for their captors' amusement. In a lament that echoes down even into our own time—in Verdi’s opera, Nabucco, as in songs by the Medallions and Steel Pulse—the Israelites respond: "How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?" Franklin's response was direct, even blunt: The Israelites should have sung, he told his congregation, because "Some things you can’t say you can sing." In contrast with the Israelites, who had yet to reach their Promised Land, African Americans were in what many countrymen considered their Promised Land—but it remained "a strange land" for black citizens nonetheless. If that "strangeness" of segregation and prejudice were to be transformed, black Americans would need to find their individual and their collective voice. It was that voice that could transform themselves, and the nation, with its powerful reminder that, even for an unknown, individual slave surviving in a harsh, horrific system, "a change is goin' come". As C. L. reminded his congregation of an old hymn that described how God gave Moses the power to part the Red Sea and save the Israelites, a current of anticipation and hope snaked through his audience, particularly when Franklin sang out in his strong baritone of a slave named Mary: "Oh Mary, don't weep. Don't mourn; / Pharaoh's army got drownded; / Mary, don't weep, and then don't mourn." - source

By the mid-nineteenth century there were some four million black slaves in America. Some of the most immoral and unjust practices in the human community have been defended by appeal to the Scripture. In the South, when churches did pay attention to the institution of Slavery, it was more often than not to defend it by appealing to the Bible. Slaves who had become Christian knew better. They found in the Bible the promise of freedom. And in their songs they sang of their hope. - source

join mychurch.org/plc

Some of us are trying out a myspace-like site for church members @ mychurch.org/plc. Try it out and share your ideas on how we might use this online communication vehicle.

discipleship matters - part I

We've been hearing a lot about discipleship at Peace, but it's not just happening in here. This week during the Beth Moore study, she talked about a magazine article she was reading that had the dire predictions of the church in America dying, but she countered with what she has seen going on in the church communities she visits in her travels. She is seeing a discipleship movement where God is raising up disciples within congregations and connecting those disciples across denominations.

Technorati, a service that tracks blogs, reports that there are over 44,000 blog entries about discpleship within the past month. Here are some samples:

• Wineskins for Discipleship - they have some really good ideas about growing disciples


• Don't make outreach the primary goal? - do you agree?


• Discipleship 101


• Putt Putt Christians

prayer

This weekend's theme will be prayer. I've been thinking about prayer lately, especially how we often use prayer as our fallback position in a crisis. I think we (all people, everywhere) are probably in crisis most of time, we just don't often realize it. Certainly it is easier to recognize in third world countries, where just trying to survive is an everyday reality. During our times of crisis, when danger has clearly crossed the boundaries of our comfort zone and after we've exercised our options of trying to keep things under control then finally, maybe, we'll turn it over to God. This can be a giant leap on our faith journey. Recognizing we're in crisis and that we're not going to be able to "fix" it, is the first step. But the crucial step is not simply crying "uncle" at all the crap the world can throw at us. It's not just giving up, but giving it up to God. To pray is to hope. To pray is to have faith that God is going to save the world.

Even though prayer has been around me all my life, I feel like a prayer newbie. It did take a crisis I could recognize to propel me along my faith journey and I find that more and more I want to be in prayer, but I still have difficulty finding the time and getting focused. I've found some online resources that I think will help me:

pray-as-you-go - daily audio-guided prayers
sacred space - daily web-guided prayers

show mercy

I think mercy is a difficult concept to grasp. In some bible translations instead of the word mercy you will see pity. For me, the word pity has the connotation of feeling sorry for someone in a looking down your nose kind of way. I don't think that's what God had in mind.

Others like lists that specify seven acts of mercy that will help you to keep the two great commandments (love God and love one another):

• corporal acts of mercy


• spiritual acts of mercy

The problem with lists is that you either think you can check everything off and you're done or you think the list is so long and involved that you don't even know where to begin.

So I'd like to propose a definition inspired by a song written by Sting. Showing mercy is sending your love into the future. It's an attitude in synch with the way you live your life everyday. It's putting your love out there and not expecting anything in return.

memories of Honduras

One of the readings John identified for us to read this week reminded me of Honduras.

We don't want anyone to find fault with our work, and so we try hard not to cause problems. But in everything and in every way we show that we truly are God's servants. We have always been patient, though we have had a lot of trouble, suffering, and hard times. We have been beaten, put in jail, and hurt in riots. We have worked hard and have gone without sleep or food. But we have kept ourselves pure and have been understanding, patient, and kind. The Holy Spirit has been with us, and our love has been real. We have spoken the truth, and God's power has worked in us. In all our struggles we have said and done only what is right.

Whether we were honored or dishonored or praised or cursed, we always told the truth about ourselves. But some people said we did not. We are unknown to others, but well known to you. We seem to be dying, and yet we are still alive. We have been punished, but never killed, and we are always happy, even in times of suffering. Although we are poor, we have made many people rich. And though we own nothing, everything is ours.

Friends in Corinth, we are telling the truth when we say that there is room in our hearts for you. We are not holding back on our love for you, but you are holding back on your love for us. I speak to you as I would speak to my own children. Please make room in your hearts for us. - 2 Corinthians 6:3-13 (CEV)

The question - By what standards do you gauge success?

According to these words, Gerizim in Honduras is the successful community. Daily they experience hardships and suffering with immense patience. The Holy Spirit is with them and their love is real. They tell the truth. They can be happy in times of suffering. They are poor and have made many rich because of it. They have room in their hearts for us.

I think we are Corinth. We, who are so easily distracted and put off track by hardships and suffering. We, who have the luxury of time and resources to heal our wounds. While we are tending to ourselves, do we still have room in our hearts for others, for Gerizim, for Togo, for those in need locally?

Solomon's Porch experience

I got to experience a worship service at Solomon's Porch in Minneapolis, MN this past Sunday night. This is one of the more well-known "emerging" churches. It's pastor, Doug Pagitt, is the author of Church Re-Imagined and is a leader in the emergent movement.

I wanted to tell you a little about my time there:

the setting
- they currently meet in an old church (I believe this is the 3rd location in 7 years) and already they are bursting at the seams
- there are sofas and comfy chairs spread out throughout the sanctuary, all oriented toward the middle of the space
- there is a lot of original artwork (by church members) everywhere
- there are small tables throughout with a loaf of bread & bottles with grape juice
- two projection screens are on opposite walls
- all the songs they sing are original compositions by the band (apparently they started with 2 songs that they sang a lot)
- there were lots of kids crawling over couches & zooming here & there (apparently the single folks like to grab seats in the balcony to have a more quiet time)


the experience (as I can recall)
- 5:00pm start was really something like 5:20pm
- no introduction, the band just starts playing and the lyrics appear and folks settle down
- corporate prayer
- passing of peace (encouraged to move around and meet others)
- commitment to faith journey (for any new members that join with kids, they have a sort of re-commitment to baptismal promise ceremony to reaffirm that this community will continue to nurture child in faith)
- kids dismissed to breakout sessions
- member sharing their faith story (this evening was a member and her Jewish friend, talking about their friendship and faith journeys)
- preaching (Doug just had a few words this time - he sits in the middle of the room on a stool and circles around as he talks, apparently there is discussion during this time, also anyone can participate in worship planning session during a Bible discussion group on Tuesday evening)
- small group breakout (this team we broke into small groups with other emergent leaders sitting near us)
- communion (is emphasized as more of a meal with community, it is self-administered and there is time to share with others)
- the songs were amazing, especially considering they are all original

I also attended the Summer Institute at Solomon's Porch last week. Read about my experience there @ my blog.