Holy Ground
In the book of Genesis the Patriarch Jacob is on the run for his life. He is a double-crosser who has deceived his father and his brother, and Jacob believes his brother is looking to take revenge. While on the run, Jacob finds himself high on a mountain ridge. He’s there alone, and while he sleeps he gets a vision from God. In the vision God makes promises to him, promises to never leave him, promises to bless him. When Jacob wakes he anoints the stone he was using as a pillow with oil, for it is not holy to Jacob. As he anoints the stone he proclaims, “God is here and I didn’t even know it.” He names the place Bethel, which means “The House of God.”
We probably all have our “Bethels.” Those places where God has come to us, spoken to us, and we forever look at them as holy. “Thin places” is the phrase that some use to describe them, the place where the veil that separates heaven from earth is so thin that you know God is with you.
For me, that place is Montreat, NC. Tucked into the mountains of western North Carolina, Montreat (short for mountain retreat) was settled at the end of the 19th century by Presbyterian missionaries. Many retired pastors and retired seminary professors make their home there, and it was home to Billy and Ruth Graham for most of their adult lives. It is a beautiful place, a peaceful place, and time and time again I have met God there.
My family normally has gone for a conference at the end of June, but because of the pandemic we have not attended for the past two years. So we decided to take a short “retreat” there over the Labor Day weekend. Anna met us there, and we have a great time together. We hiked, ate good meals together, played cards, did a little shopping, and even drove up to Hot Springs (NC) one evening for a soak in the geothermally heated mineral water that flows up from the ground alongside the Appalachian Trail.
It was simple, but it was certainly holy ground. In Colossians Paul tells those Christians to “abound in thanksgiving.” As I returned to the church building today, I am thankful for many things. Thankful for my calling to serve as a pastor, especially in Powhatan at May Memorial. But I am also thankful for holy places, thin places, where we are reminded of God’s presence.
Time Like an Ever-Rolling Stream - August 23
Time Like an Ever-Rolling Stream
Yesterday at the conclusion of worship Laura and I quickly left to meet the rest of our family to move Anna back in at Campbell University for her Sophomore year. It was a fast trip, and after a lot unpacking and a few tears we finally got home last night about 10:00. Early this morning Sophie and Laura, along with many other students in Powhatan, returned to school for the start of the 2021-2022 school year. Before going to school this morning Sophie made the comment that she has not had a “normal” school year since 9th grade. She started her senior year today. The pandemic started when Sophie was a Sophomore, Laura was still in elementary school, and Anna was a Senior. Since then, life has been a challenge.
For weeks and months we waited for life to return to “normal.” And when we did have glimpses of normalcy, I realized that nothing ever returns to normal. I would have chosen that when COVID ends that I could go back to a world where my children were the age they were when it started and have this time again without the pandemic. But when COVID is no longer a pressing threat there is no going back and “redoing.” The time is past. Like the hymn says, “Time (is) Like an Ever-Rolling Stream.”
Yesterday morning the Church Leadership Council (Pastoral Staff, Deacon Chair, President of the Board of Directors, Treasurer, Clerk, and two at-large members) met to discuss any needed changes because of the growing (again) pandemic. While this group is concerned with lowering the risk for spread at May Memorial activities, there is also the reality that we do not get this time back. So we want to be safe and careful. The Leadership Council encourages masks and I encourage you to get vaccinated. I will be in line to get the booster when I’m asked to do so. We need to do what we can, but what we cannot do is stop and live in a perpetual state of panic. We still have the work of being God’s people, and God’s people have a history of faithfully persisting in trying times. There are adjustments that may need to be made, but we move on, affirming the truth of Isaac Watt’s final stanza:
Our God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come,
Be thou our guard while troubles last, And our eternal home.
Poor Call to Worships and “My Truth”
Poor Call to Worships and “My Truth”
This past Thursday I went into the sanctuary to prepare Sunday’s Media Shout script for the sanctuary screens. While I was typing in the Congregational Call to Worship I quickly texted Diana in the office hoping that she had not printed the bulletins yet. Unfortunately, because I had given the final word to do so, she had already printed. The reason I hoped I still had a few minutes for one last change is that I did not like our Congregational Call to Worship.
I had chosen the call to worship early in the week and had put it in the bulletin, and when I read it a few days earlier I had read it differently than I did on Thursday. Our call to worship started with the lines:
“For us there is only One God and Father
from whom streams all creation
and for whom we exist.”
The two words that caused me problem on Thursday were “for us.”
When I read them earlier in the week I thought of the story from Joshua, with the famous lines “as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” I read those first two words as a testimony that “our culture, our world, or others may choose to have other gods,” but “for us there is only One God.”
But when I read the words on Thursday I heard them in a different way. I heard them sheepishly saying that “you may believe in something else, but we believe in One God and Father…”. “You have your belief, and we have ours, for us…”. I wanted to remove those first two words so the Call to Worship began:
“There is only One God and Father…”
If you have read this far into this article, you may be thinking that Michael is overthinking something that no one else probably noticed. And maybe you’re right.
But there is a phrase that I hear more and more these days from our culture that probably made me notice this. You will hear a person, when they are beginning to speak, say that they are going to tell “my truth.” Or, someone will thank someone for sharing “their truth.” This implies that I may have my truth, and John Smith may have his truth, and Mary Jones may have her truth. And “our truths” may differ but the most important thing (at least according to our culture) is never to imply there is any less validity in “any truths.”
Jesus proclaims that He is Truth, and we believe that the Truth is sent from God and is fully revealed in Jesus Christ.
Many Christians get this confused, and they begin thinking that their interpretation of Jesus is The Truth, when in fact it is just their interpretation. And, this does not mean that we each don’t contribute to a full and complete understanding of God’s Truth as we tell our stories of how experience and serve God together. But while we have different stories and different experiences, the One Truth remains. And for The Truth we live in community together that we may fully understand and embody for the sake of each other and the world.
Blessing of the Backpacks?
From the Pastor... Blessing of Backpacks?
On Sunday, August 22 we will have our annual “blessing of the backpacks” during worship. Don’t misunderstand, we will not be praying for backpacks. Rather, we will be praying for the students who carry those backpacks into our schools during this coming academic year. Our community is fortunate to have wonderful schools, but make no mistake about it, educating our students is no easy task. It takes skilled administrators, devoted and caring teachers, committed support staff including bus drivers, maintenance workers, lunchroom staff, etc. The list could go on and on. And we as Christians also believe the blessing of God is needed for our students to grow into the learners they were created to be. One of the glimpses we get into the child Jesus is a brief statement that Jesus “grew in wisdom, and in stature, and he in favor with God and man.” This statement comes at the end of the story labeled the “boy Jesus in the temple” in Luke’s Gospel, and it indicates that as Jesus grew physically, he also grew in the ways that would enable him to continue to be a valuable member of his community. This is our prayer for the students in our community. That they will have all they need to continue to be valued and contributing members of our community. Be sure to be in worship on August 22 that we as a church family may pray for all of God’s richest blessings upon this new school year.
Vacation Bible School
Vacation Bible School
When I was growing up Vacation Bible School was a part of my yearly schedule. I attended the morning VBS at the church where my family and I were members, but the more memorable VBS I attended was at a Baptist church which was closer to our home. Emmaus Baptist Church had their VBS in the evenings, and they had a reputation in that southern Wayne County community for a memorable VBS experience. There was nothing “over the top” in their VBS—no smoke and laser light shows, no live band, not even any inflatable slides—it was simply a consistent, well-planned program by a good group of adults who genuinely cared for children in their community.
The first reason I think VBS at that country church impacted me because it taught me that I could find ways to lead in church. I’ll never forget the excitement I had when I was told that I was going to be able to carry the Bible in the procession that started the closing service of VBS and then lead the congregation in saying the pledge to “God’s holy word.” We routinely have children lead in various ways in worship at May Memorial, but when I was a child it seemed that most churches were still in the “children are to be seen and not heard” mode. Being able to lead God’s people in that simple routine told me that I had something to offer the community and that the church would embrace me in that role. I felt like I mattered.
I also learned in those days from that church that missions mattered. To their credit, Emmaus Baptist followed the exact plan for VBS that the Sunday School Board produced which included a focus on a different missionary each night. I remember bringing my offering and learning about the Baptist men and women who were carrying good news throughout the world and how my offering was a part in making that possible. I remember learning about Lottie Moon at VBS, I heard about the Southern Baptist “Bold Mission Thrust” campaign that encouraged giving and cooperation so that the over-arching goals of God’s kingdom could be accomplished.
Last, and most important, I remember the crafts that I made at VBS. Growing up in church I’ve made a lot of crafts, but I remember these crafts as the best. One year a group of men decided they would do the crafts (or perhaps they were volunteered by their wives?) and each child was able to make a wooden sign that carried their last name. As a little boy I was ecstatic when I realized that I was going to be able to operate a router and engrave all seven letters of my last name into a 1x6 piece of lumber. The next night we took strong smelling oil-based black paint and colored in the letters. Before the week was over our signs were complete with a stained finish covered with shellac and ready to be hung on the outside of our houses. It was a great craft, but what is most memorable about it was the men who took the time to carefully guide us children in the making of it. Most of the time it seems that VBS is up to the ladies, and with only a few exceptions they staff the entire VBS week. But I remember those men who helped with VBS. They took us to see the goats in the field beside the church one night. They impressed us when they took our dares to touch the electric fence. And I remember them carefully and skillfully guiding our hands as we held the power router. I was blessed by seeing men lead in VBS, and their willingness to be the craft leaders demonstrated to me that gender-specific roles in the church are only barriers we have erroneously allowed to occur.
I learned much from VBS, and I pray as children flock into our church in a couple of weeks they are learning some of the same things. Our four days of VBS may seem like a small thing in light of an entire childhood, but God uses small things to shape lives.
"We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal."
From the Pastor...
“We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal.”
So begins the declaration that was issued on July 4, 1776 to create our independent nation. Each year, we celebrate this wonderful venture into freedom, and I must admit it has become one of my favorite holidays.
I love the Independence Day because it is a summertime holiday, and I have grown to love warm, even hot weather, more than the dark cold of winter. I love being outside, and swimming with my family, and barbecues. Quite often my family and I celebrate July 4th in Montreat, NC, and there is nothing better than the July 4th parade in Montreat. The Boy Scouts raise the American Flag. Brass quintets play from the back of vintage pick up trucks. Veterans march.
The Montreat Scottish Society leads the parade with dozens of bagpipers. And all children are invited to be a part of the parade. People place their chairs along the parade route the night before to get a seat for the event. The parade is followed by a huge barbecue, and later in the evening there is a square-dance in the “barn,” a large 100-year-old structure in the heart of that mountain community. Montreat’s Fourth of July celebration could be a Norman Rockwell painting.
I love the Fourth of July for all these reasons. But the main reason I love it is the statement, “we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal.” It is bold and revolutionary. It is a hope rooted in our hearts for which individuals have given their lives. It has always been and continues to be a work in progress, and it is a shining watchword representing what we will be when we are at our best. We are not there yet, but we are working to make it truer now than it ever has been.
This year we have the opportunity to spend the Fourth of July in worship together, and we will rightfully pause to thank God for all that is good about our nation and to pray that all of the broken places will be whole.
Spending some time in worship on Independence Day will give us time to pause and consider what this day is all about, especially for Christians. To consider freedom that is not simply “from” powers we seek to be independent from, but a freedom in Christ that is freedom to new life that God offers to each of us.
I look forward to seeing you Sunday in worship, invite a friend, and Happy Fourth of July!
God Will Take Care of You - 6-21-21
From the Pastor…God Will Take Care of You
When singing hymns, it is important to consider to whom we are speaking. Very often we speak to God as we sing. “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty!” “How great Thou art, how great Thou art.” “O God beyond all praising.” This could be a long list, to name the times we sing, speaking directly to God, in worship. But other times we speak to each other as we sing. I think of the gospel song “He touched me.” Or the testimony-giving gospel text “blessed assurance, Jesus is mine, oh what a foretaste of glory divine.” This could be a long list as well.
Last Sunday we sang the gospel song “God Will Take Care of You” as the final hymn in worship. It is certainly a song in which we were communicating with one another in our sanctuary. “Be not dismayed whate’er be tide, God will take care of you…”. The refrain repeats that affirmation to each other, “God will take care of you.”
As I looked around at the faces in our sanctuary singing that hymn, I knew what you (we) were saying (singing) to me and to each other is true. I knew that your words were genuine, because I know that your lives back it up. I know that many singing that hymn on June 13th had been through, or are currently going through, difficult and trying times. And yet you sang with confidence, “God will take care of you.”
There is much talk these days about online church, virtual congregations, and worship via computer. While these are great tools that we will use for evangelism and for those who cannot be in the sanctuary, to me they fall short of a fully authentic worship experience. If, for no other reason, if we are worshiping alone in our homes, we miss the opportunity to sing and proclaim our testimonies to one another in song. I could sing “God will Take Care of You” while alone, and I have been doing that since last Sunday, but singing it alone is not the same. It doesn’t have your voice, and your face, and your life affirming the deep truth that we proclaim together.
Remember, God will take care of you.Last Sunday I heard nearly 100 people proclaim it.And I trust them, I trust their testimony, and I trust the God who has taken care of them.
Nomadland and Koinonia - 6-7-21
Nomadland and Koinonia
Last night Beverley and I watched Nomadland, a film released on Hulu several months ago. Nomadland tells the story of Fern, played by Frances McDormand, who lost everything in the great recession. Her husband dies and the industry in hometown closes down. She is in her 60’s and wants to work, but during that tough financial time is unable to find a job. She makes a decision to join a community of nomads, van-dwellers, who live out of their vans and consider themselves “houseless.”
It is a unique community. There is a Vietnam Veteran who has PTSD and finds the quiet and solitude soothing. Charlene is an Indiana University and Ball State graduate who is a real-life van dwelling nomad who plays herself in the film. And then there’s Bob Mills, the “patriarch” of the modern nomadic van dwelling community, who also plays himself in the movie. He tells the story of a friend who worked his entire life in the corporate world, and a few days after his retirement lost his life to cancer. “His boat was left sitting in his driveway” Bob says, “he never used it.” Bob invites people to not be like a workhorse, who work every day of their lives and then simply be put out to pasture when our culture decides their usefulness is past.
There is one scene in which Fern is talking to Bob, she shares her grief, loneliness, and pain. He acknowledges the seriousness of her situation, but then he tells her, “I think for you connecting to nature and true community will make all the difference for you.” That statement lodged itself in my mind, especially the phrase “true community.”
There is a Sunday School class at May Memorial call the Koinonia class. They meet each Sunday morning (in our building) at 9:45. It is a great class with an important name. Koinonia is a word that appears in the New Testament, first appearing in Acts 2, that means fellowship, participation, sharing, or contribution. It involves the idea of a community that is committed to sharing a life together. Who build one another up. Weep with one another. Support one another. Hold each other accountable. And in Bob Mills words, koinonia is true community, that makes a difference.
This is May Memorial Church. A community of people who have given their lives to God and seek to serve Him together. We all come with different paths, but here we find true community. The invitation is for us to all offer ourselves to God and each other so that our community may truly be koinonia, that our community be true, and that it continues to make a difference.
Them - 5-2-21
From the Pastor…“Them” Several weeks ago in Sunday School one of the class members told the story about her encounter with a person she invited to church. If I remember correctly, she was at a garage sale, and while she was looking over the items for sale she struck up a conversation with the woman hosting the Saturday morning sale. After a few minutes the conversation turned to church, or religion, or spiritual things. The Sunday School Class Member took the opportunity to invite the woman to May Memorial. The woman replied that she had tried church before, but when she had gone she was not accepted or welcomed. She did not feel any sense of hospitality. She never explicitly said the reason for this, but somehow it was believed that it was connected to her many tattoos. “Well,” the Sunday School Class Member responded, “I just don’t think you would feel that way at May Memorial. They are a very welcoming people.” I’ve thought about this story since it was told in Sunday School, and it was on my mind yesterday during my sermon. Yesterday we focused on the story of the deacon Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch. The Ethiopian Eunuch, for many reasons, was one of “them” to Philip. And yet the Spirit led Philip to encounter and share God’s love with him. Even though he was one of “them.” In my sermon I never said who “them” is. That is because I don’t know who it may be for you. For each one of us it may be different, or, we may share the same perspective. We may have some “thems” as a church, not unanimously, but generally. But whoever your “them” is, the Spirit is continuously calling us to share God’s love with, well, them. I love the Baptist Will Campbell. He was a preacher, college chaplain at Ole Miss, and author. His novel Brother to a Dragonfly is a great read, and he was pastor to the likes of Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and Studs Terkel. Campbell carried the title “Bootleg Preacher,” and he did not fit in the “Baptist Preacher Box” in any normal sense of the image. But Campbell preached that Jesus calls us to love all people, not just those we agree with. Campbell marched for civil rights alongside Martin Luther King, Jr., and he was also a friend to many KKK leaders. He was criticized for his associations, and he would reply that “you have to love them all.” That is what we are called to do, to allow that line between “us” and “them” to fade so that we may share God’s love with all that the Spirit leads us to.
Baptist Baptist - 4-26-21
From the Pastor...Baptist Baptist
This past Saturday I saw a sign for a Baptist church in a community located a couple of counties over from Powhatan. The name of the church is “Baptist Union Baptist Church.” The sign caught my eye because it was the only time (to my knowledge) that I have ever seen a Church that worked the word “Baptist” into the name not just once, but twice. I don’t know anything about that church (other than their name and location), but I figure that they really wanted to get the point across that they are Baptist.
Last week I was having lunch with another Baptist pastor (and BGAV strategist) and as we were talking about church, he casually asked “so are you all going to keep the ‘Baptist’ in your name?” It was an interesting question, and I honestly would never consider changing our name to remove “Baptist.”
But I admit, at least half of the time I refer to us as simply “May Memorial Church.” Part of that is for convenience, and at times I am more intentional to use our full name, May Memorial Baptist Church. But being Baptist is important to me. I have always been Baptist, and the hallmarks of the Baptist tradition are important. I believe in “believer’s baptism” and “regenerate church membership.” I affirm the idea of “soul liberty” and the “priesthood of all believers.” I like the freedom that exists in Baptist life for individual churches to follow God’s Spirit and scripture to fulfill their individual calling. I believe and rejoice in those things, but I don’t know that I’m a “Baptist Baptist” either.
One of the things that I love about our church is our diverse denominational backgrounds. We have people join our church who were raised Methodist, Presbyterian, Disciples of Christ, Lutheran, Catholic, and Episcopalian. We even a few who were raised Baptist. And we all come together to worship God and serve our world in Christ’s name, and in so doing it reveals that God’s work is much bigger than any one denomination or Christian faith tradition.
Our May Memorial story starts with a gathering of Christians of different denominations meeting in the Courthouse, and after a few years of gathering a decision had to be made. The way I’ve heard the story is that it was a Methodist who made the motion that we be a Baptist Church, and so we were. But we have certainly kept that ecumenical flavor. It is in our DNA; it is a part of who we are. It is a unique quality, and it is another way that we can extend the welcoming hospitality that is a part of our church.
Because He Lives - 4/12/21
From the Pastor...
Because He Lives
Easter Sunday 2021, the day we celebrate the Resurrection of Christ, was two years in the making. Because of COVID we were not gathered in our sanctuary last year for that “high, holy day,” and this year we were filled with joy as we celebrated the gift and promise of new life. We heard the sound of brass instruments, the scent of lilies filled the sanctuary air, and our hearts were full as we worshiped at 9 and 11 on that beautiful morning. The presumed “high point” of worship for that day could have easily been the reading of the Resurrection story from Mark’s gospel. It also could have been when we gathered at the Lord’s Table. Both of those are central in our Easter worship.
But for me, the high point of worship was when we sang “Because He Lives” as a congregation. I have to admit it is not my favorite hymn or gospel song, I prefer the sturdier “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” or even “The Strife is O’er” for Easter Sunday. But when we sang “Because He Lives” on Easter Sunday this year, my heart was moved. As I looked across the sanctuary, I saw hands subtlety “lifted high,” I saw tears being wiped from eyes, and I saw eyes closed and faces uplifted as heart-felt singing was happening behind our masks. It was a holy moment, and for me it was the high point of worship that day.
I think of two reasons why we were moved in our singing. The first is that it had been a long time since we sang together, and worship that lacks congregational singing is not complete. It was simply fulfilling for us to finally have that added back to worship. But the second reason that moment was so moving was that our hearts cling to and believe in that truth so deeply. That “because Christ lives” our lives are changed, are filled with hope, and regardless of all of the deaths we have experienced we know the final word will ultimately be Alleluia! We believe it, and it came through in our singing.
Resurrection day was a wonderful day at May Memorial, and I rejoice that we were together, and hymns filled our hearts and our sanctuary. Alleluia!
Keep Christ in Easter
Keep Christ in Easter?
I really tried to do it this year but I was not very successful. Several months ago I decided that this year I was not going to call our Christian religious celebration of Resurrection “easter,” but I found it too difficult and on several occasions ended up using the “E” word. I failed for a couple of reasons, the first of which was the strange looks I would get when I referred to April 4 as “Resurrection Sunday.” Pragmatism was another reason that my resolution failed. “fill out this form to give a lily on ‘Resurrection Day’” is just not as clear of an announcement as “Easter Lilies for the Sanctuary.”
It was around the second century when Christians made the decision to join the celebration of Christ’s resurrection with the culture around them. Our word Easter comes from the Anglo-Saxon word Eostre, the name for the Germanic pagan goddess of springtime which was celebrated as winter passed and the earth warmed. I’m not sure if it was an evangelistic purpose or that the culture became so overwhelming that the Church decided to accept the name of a pagan deity for its resurrection festival, but it stuck. Today Easter is a cultural holiday which brings in the fertility symbols of eggs and bunnies and it seems that we fail to ask what these fun names and practices have to do with resurrection. Along with the springtime “birds and bees,” our culture is flooded by symbols of natural birth and reproduction, all of which are natural and joyful, but they have nothing to do with resurrection.
Eggs and fertility and flowers and rabbits (and people) reproducing are natural occurrences. The weather warms and sap rises in trees and everything seems to come to life. As wonderful and beautiful as it all is, it is all natural. All of these occurrences make sense. They can be explained by tried and proved methods and we understand. These things can be tested and measured and repeated. Resurrection, on the other hand, is totally unnatural. You can’t Google resurrection and get a scientific explanation. A body goes into a tomb and it is there to stay. Death is final, complete, the end.
And yet this Sunday people around the world will flock to the Church to celebrate an unnatural occurrence. Resurrection is not natural; it is not tested and provable. Resurrection is not Eostre.
With only a week left, I offer a last-minute invitation. This Sunday, celebrate Resurrection Day. Make a distinction between the fertility celebration happening all around us and be willing to point out that we are celebrating something different. I am always amazed at the number of protests and the amount of anger around the trend to leave “Merry Christmas” for the more acceptable “happy holidays.” Christian’s voices are so loud with the insistence to “keep Christ in Christmas,” and yet when we come to our Resurrection celebration we so easily take the cultures pagan term. To some it is just a word, but maybe a slight shift with this word would help us remember that what we celebrate is un-natural, incomprehensible, and life changing. What we celebrate is the last word, the final word, even in the face of death, and that word is resurrection.
Happy Resurrection Day!
PYAA Ponytails and Coaching Outside the Box
PYAA Ponytails and Coaching Outside the Box
My youngest daughter loves softball. She loves the practices, the uniforms, the friendships, and the games. She also loves winning, and since she has been on some good teams with good coaches, she has done a lot of winning. Laura has a drive to be better, and through this winter we have even hired an excellent hitting coach who has given her weekly lessons. Beverley and I also have loved watching her and her teams play, it is a wonderful way to spend an evening or a Saturday. We are not like some softball families who eat, sleep, and breath softball, but we really enjoy it.
Last weekend was the beginning of the PYAA Spring season, and we were overjoyed to be back out at the Turner Field Complex for try outs/evaluations. I was sitting beside the field with the other parents when Rudy, the PYAA commissioner came over to talk with us. “We have 20 12u girls (Ponytails), and we can just do one team. Or, we could have two ponytails teams, but we don’t have another coach.” If anyone would do this, let us know. As I sat there I felt like it was one of those old timey alter calls in a Baptist Church. “Will someone come forward?” I thought about it, and I decided to “walk the aisle” and “answer the call.”
I have a great assistant coach who has a daughter on our team who attends our VBS. Also, Matt and Alyssa O’Quinn are helping with our team. We’ve started practicing, and our games start in April. It is a great group of girls who work hard, and I already knew several of them from children’s events at May Memorial.
I know that I will enjoy coaching these girls this season. I’m glad I can do this with Laura, I enjoy being outside, and I love softball. But there is another reason, and the other reason is why I liken that commissioner’s speech to a Baptist Alter Call.
I am convinced that the most important call we experience as Christians is NOT to be inside our building, secluded and apart from our community. I love us being together, praying, reading scripture, singing hymns, etc. It is wonderful, a little slice of heaven. But I think the best image of the church is not of the church “gathered” inside of a building, but a church sent into the world. And for me this is a way I can be sent into our community.
Over the next few months, I will have the opportunity to build relationships with a team of middle school girls and their families that I pray God will use for something more than softball. I pray this is an opportunity to be a good example for Jesus and for May Memorial Church. Even though I haven’t said anything about it, they know that I’m the pastor at May Memorial, and I pray that God’s gentle Spirit will use this opportunity.
I must tell you that I am a little (a lot?) anxious about coaching softball. Matt O’Quinn is helping get things going and I’m learning a lot from him. For me this is really stepping outside of the box. But I believe that is what God calls me and you to do. Take a risk. Step outside of the box. Be the church sent, not just the church gathered. God did not create the community for the Church. God created the Church for the community. May we find new ways to open doors that we may follow where God leads us.
And may Laura continue to be on a winning team.
A "Missed Frustration" and Andrew Snead
A "Missed Frustration" and Andrew Snead
I will share with you a frustration, actually, a missed frustration. In our “normal world” of May Memorial Church, it is common for me to not be able to begin the sermon on some Sundays until forty, even forty-five minutes into the worship service. When this happened, I would be quickly thinking of how I could make spur of the moment edits so we would be hearing the benediction as few minutes after noon as possible. Over the past eleven months, this has not been the case.
When this late starting sermon happened in worship there may have been several contributing factors. Sometimes, it was because I took too much time for announcements. Sometimes the Children’s Sermon went a little long. Sometimes there was a testimony. But most often it was because of the music. The combination of three or four hymns, a choral anthem, a solo, a chorus before or after a prayer. It adds up. And we would be forty-five minutes into worship before the sermon would begin.
I had not thought about this since the pandemic began and worship has been so different for us. But as I thought about it, I confess that I miss that tension. And the reason late-starting sermons happened so often is clear: music is very important to us. Choral anthems, congregational singing, a sung prayer response, piano, guitar, organ.
To state the obvious, this has all changed because of a virus that is passed from person to person by our breath, the aerosol that comes from our mouth when we speak and especially when we sing.
I understand the reason for our adjustment, but I miss the music. And honestly, worship is not the same and it never will be the same, without singing, especially congregationally. Music made up a large portion of our worship service, and without it things just don’t “feel” the same.
Today is Andrew Snead’s first day as May Memorial’s Minister of Music. Andrew is a "life-long" church musician, and has served the Church as a Music Minister since he graduated from college. Actually, he has only served one church before coming to us today, a church where he is now greatly missed. I am grateful today that he is now with us, his former congregation’s loss is our gain. Because I believe as we are rounding the corner of this pandemic, and as we at May Memorial start putting the pieces back together of our “song,” Andrew is the person to lead us through this time. His leadership, his skill, his practiced talent, and his musical sensitivity is a gift from God to the May Memorial family for this particular time, and my prayer is that it is for years to come.
When church musicians gather, I have found that there are a few select hymns that they sing that aren’t always “accessible” to the average church congregation. These are big hymns, hymns with long phrases that soar with energy and motion, and church musicians, when worshiping together allow those hymns to raise the rafters. One of those is Fred Pratt Green’s text “When In our Music God is Glorified,” which is sung to the tune ENGELBERG. As Andrew comes on staff as our Minister of Music, I have been thinking of this hymn anew this morning. Three of the five stanzas proclaim:
When in our music God is glorified,
and adoration leaves no room for pride,
it is as though the whole creation cried:
Alleluia!
How oft, in making music, we have found
a new dimension in the world of sound,
as worship moved us to a more profound
Alleluia!
Let ev'ry instrument be tuned for praise;
let all rejoice who have a voice to raise;
and may God give us faith to sing always:
Alleluia!
I long for a worship service filled with music so that I’m starting sermons at 11:40 again. I’m ready to cut the sermon length that we may sing. I’m ready to grab a hand and sing Blest Be the Tie after communion. I’m ready to hear you all sing again. The day is coming, be hopeful. Be patient. God has brought Andrew and Peter to us so we will be ready to sing with joy when that day comes.
May we be tuning our instruments and preparing to raise our voice to always sing Alleluia!
A Different Re-Gathering Plan?
Several weeks ago, just before Christmas, I attended another church on a Sunday morning. This was during the time that the May Memorial regathering team temporarily paused worship in our sanctuary. While in that worship service, there was no congregational singing and there were no “unison spoken words,” like the Lord’s Prayer. But, there was communion, and for communion, the worshipers walked to the front of the sanctuary and were served the bread and the cup directly from the hand of the pastor. I really liked having communion this way. But I thought it strange that speaking the Lord’s Prayer was too risky but walking forward and receiving the Lord’s Supper was not. I don’t know the thought process behind that decision, but I’m sure it was not quick or easy.
There are some churches in our county and in our nation that have yet to regather in their sanctuaries. There are some who have regathered and in their worship service one would never know there is a global pandemic happening around us. No distancing, no face coverings, and full congregational singing. And then there’s churches like us, somewhere in the middle.
When I was in the sixth grade by best friend was Cliff. Cliff was in my class at school, and we started spending more time together away from school. I would frequently go home with Cliff on Friday afternoons and spend the night at his house, and sometimes Cliff would come to my house. Cliff was a good friend, but a problem started to surface.
I wouldn’t say that my parents were “strict,” but they would not allow me to do things that Cliff’s parents allowed him to do. I’m sure my parents grew tired of hearing, “but Cliff’s parents are letting him go!” I don’t know if my parents said it this clearly, but I began to understand my parent’s position: “God gave Cliff the parents he has for a reason, and God has given you your parents for a reason. And, we are responsible for you, and Cliff’s parents are responsible for him.” Cliff’s parents were good parents, and my parents were good parents. But each set made different decisions based on their child and what they thought was absolutely best.
So, why has May Memorial’s regathering team made the decisions they have when (insert name here) Baptist Church is doing something different? And my best answer is that God has uniquely formed us and given us our members and God has given other local churches their leaders and each must do the best they can for that church family. Cliff was an only child. Cliff also had leukemia. (I was first place in the Leukemia Society of America’s Bike-A-Thon when I was in the sixth grade) Cliff’s dad was retired military, and Cliff’s family were members of a church that was different than our church. Cliff’s parents were good parents, they were just different than mine. And they made the best decisions for Cliff as mine made the best decisions for me. I don’t know that either would look back now and say they did everything exactly right (I’m sure they wouldn’t), but each set simply made the best decisions for their family at the time. As do church regathering teams.
I don’t know how the regathering team at that other church (they actually call it a task force) could decide that not speaking the Lord’s prayer and communion by intiction is consistently safe. I don’t think our regathering team would exactly go along with that. But I know this, that task force (and our regathering team) is trying to make the best decision for each of their families.
Vivre Libre ou Mourir
Vivre Libre ou Mourir
When it appears on license plates, Vivre Libre ou Mourir does not appear in French, but in English. And I have to admit, I like it so much better than “First in Flight” from North Carolina or “Virginia is for Lovers.” I still don’t know if I understand that one. The English translation of Vivre Libre ou Mourir appears on New Hampshire license plates, it is the state motto, and in New Hampshire it goes back to a toast sent by mail from the states favorite Revolutionary War son, John Stark. “Live Free or Die,” is the English translation, and it is the most recognizable of any state motto. It is noble, it is daring, and it sounds brave, because freedom is something we all cherish, we all yearn for, it is an ideal for which many have given their lives.
American freedom means many things to many people, and I don’t presume to be able to give a thorough account of everything American freedom entails. But Christian freedom, I do know something about that. And one of the most important things I know about freedom for Christians comes from 1 Corinthians.
“Am I free to eat meat ‘offered to idols’?” That is the question those Corinthians believers posed to the Apostle Paul, and his answer, well, it is surprising.
In that day, if you were invited to a fine meal there is a good chance that the lambchop you would be served would have been from an animal that was ritually slaughtered as an offering to a pagan “god.” Some Corinthian Christians thought eating a piece of meat that had been an offering to a pagan “god” amounted to “backsliding” into paganism or idol worship. The more informed Christians knew that an idol “is nothing,” it is no different than a block of wood or a piece of stone. Nothing in the meat was changed because of this.
Thus the question, “are we free to eat this meat,” or, is there something more important than freedom?
This Sunday I’ll tell you how Paul answered that question, and based on his answer I don’t know that Paul would have loved those New Hampshire license plates.
I Dream a World
I Dream a World
Early this morning when I turned on the radio I heard the announcer interviewing a contributor who was asking for submissions from listeners. The submissions could be in the form of a list, an essay, or a poem. If the listeners chose to send a poem, it could rhyme but didn’t have to. The contribution should complete the prompt “I Dream a World...” Of course, this was offered today because it is the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday, a connection with the “I Have a Dream” speech. But all morning I have been thinking, and even praying about the world of which I dream.
I dream a world…
where swords are beat into ploughshares, and spears into pruning hooks…
where Jesus, the Prince of Peace, rules in the hearts and minds of all the world’s people…
where there is no need for abortion clinics or death row…
where we hear more news stories that are life-giving…
where we fully realize that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life…
where we finally see each other as God sees us…
where we understand that Jesus is as concerned with our life in this world as he is life in eternity…
where all children have a safe home, enough food, and parents who care for them…
where all the world’s citizens are free to worship as their conscience leads them, whether I agree with them or not…
where we are grateful for all that God has given us…
where we know that we cannot end violence with violence…
where teachers and social workers are paid more than professional athletes…
where our heroes are peacemakers and not fear-peddling warmongers…
where everyone realizes their God-given potential for good in the world…
where God is not blamed for evil that happens in the world, and people no longer do harmful things in God’s name…
where Christians understand that the “kingdom of God does not arrive on Air Force One, no matter who occupies it” (C. Colson)…
where we understand that we cannot make poor decisions as individuals and as a nation and always expect someone else to bail us out…
where we understand that God created the world in such a way that we reap what we sow, so we work to sow carefully…
where we know and live in the reality that God will have the final say in all things, and that God’s ways are not our ways.
These are a few of my “dreams” for the world, and as I think of these and others, I am grateful that while I look to the future for their fulfillment, I know that some of these are already being realized in God’s kingdom.
What are your dreams? The world you dream about, how do you see it? Maybe you can consider today that world, how God is bringing it to pass, and how God is calling you to make that world a reality in our small circle of influence.
Resolutions - January 4
From the Pastor…Resolutions
At one time I was a big fan of “New Year’s Resolutions.” Each year I, along with millions of other Americans, would make big plans for how my life was going to experience a major shift as the calendar rolled around to January 1. People do it every year. Resolve to lose weight, read more, quit smoking, quit drinking, go to church, meditate, save money, get out of debt. The list goes on and on, and these things are probably worthwhile. But it happens each year, the January 1 crowd at the health club is all but vanished well before Valentine’s Day.
Because for most of us, New Year’s Resolutions just don’t last. That is the first reason I no longer like them, but also, it seems that New Year’s Resolutions seem to cause us to imagine a new, different, totally “other” self that we want to become during the next year. We forget that we carry ourselves with us into the new year, and our current self is not somehow “less than” or not enough. Sure, there are things that I would like to change, but if I were able to make those changes, I would not somehow be more worthy or lovable to God.
With all of that said, Wendell Berry offers a “pleasingly unoriginal” formula for a good life, and as the new year approached last week, I considered these again:
Slow down.
Pay attention.
Do good work.
Love your neighbors.
Love your place.
Stay in your place.
Settle for less, enjoy it more.
Berry’s seven suggested practices don’t normally appear on the published lists of resolutions, and I don’t even think they would work as a resolution. They wouldn’t work well as a checklist. They actually remind me of Paul’s admonition in 1 Thessalonians, “aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands.” But Berry’s (and Paul’s) encourage practices that I would like to move into more deeply this year. Happy New Year!
Darkest Day - December 21, 2020
Darkest Day
We have no reason to believe that Jesus was born on December 25. And while the Church has been celebrating “Christ Mass” on December 25 since the fourth century, it is not done so because the Church believes it got the birth date right. Some have tied the date of Christmas to Mary’s Annunciation on March 25, and nine months later would be December 25. But most likely the Annunciation Day celebration on March 25 was derived from the already set Christmas Day celebration on December 25.
The more likely story of a late December celebration of Jesus’ birth is a much more complicated story, involving pagan festivals and the tilting of the earth at the winter solstice. This morning, just after four a.m., the Northern Hemisphere reach its farthest distance from the sun. Today is the darkest day of the year, the day with the least amount of time between sunrise and sunset. Today is the winter solstice. And the ancients knew that today is the day, even in its darkness, that the sun would start to “win the battle” over the darkness. Because starting today, each day little by little, the sun will begin to shine a little longer. This was cause for celebration. The ancients would take their beverages that had been fermenting since Autumn and drink them in celebration. They would slaughter the animals they didn’t want to have to feed and tend through the remaining months of winter. It was a celebration.
Early Christians, noticing these “heathen” celebrations, probably made the decision influenced by these existing customs. Some modern-day Christians are bothered by this story, that the celebration day of our Savior’s birth is tied to pagan or “heathen” customs. Some modern-day Christians even reject the celebration of Christmas with its carry-overs because they want nothing to do with a celebration that is a blending of pagan and Christian. But to me, especially this year, it makes perfect sense.
John tells us that “the light shines in the darkness,” and celebrating Christ’s birth on the darkest day (they didn’t get it exactly right, but December 25 is close enough) is a near-perfect picture of exactly what God does in Jesus Christ. Jesus comes to us when things are dark, and the light of Christ shines in the darkness.
We have lived through a dark year, and Christ has continually showed up to share light in the midst of the darkness. The light has not completely overcome the darkness, as John mentions, but the light has been shining all through it.
In the midst of today’s darkness, remember that Christ is born. The light is shining in today’s darkness, and the darkness cannot and will not overcome the light.
Merry Christmas, the thing for which we have been waiting is already come.
From the Pastor…Heaven Shall Not Wait
John Bell is a Scottish Presbyterian, a hymn writer and preacher. He is a member of the Iona Community, an ecumenical Christian Community that attracts pilgrims from around the world. John Bell was the preacher one summer when my family and I were at Montreat, and when he entered worship and stood to preach he always did so barefoot. When asked why, he told us that he knew that he was standing on holy ground.
John Bell wrote a hymn text and tune a few years ago titled “Heaven Shall Not Wait.” Each stanza begins with that phrase, “heaven shall not wait,” and then it goes on to describe the things that our hearts yearn for, that we normally imagine happening when God comes at the consummation of the age and sets everything “to rights.”
We love to think of a coming day when wrongs will be made right and all things set straight, but in his hymn, John Bell proclaims that “heaven shall not wait,” for Jesus is Lord now and has already ushered in His Kingdom. This reflects an “already/not yet” reality that is foundational to our faith.
A question was raised in Sunday School yesterday regarding Mary’s Magnificat in Luke 1. One person observed Zechariah’s song seem to reflect a future tense, but Mary speaks as if God’s works of justice and peace are present realities. She sings that “God has scattered the proud” and “brought down the powerful” and “filled the hungry with good things.” For the Prophet Mary, she reveals a present reality to God’s work of redemption. To her, “heaven shall not wait.”
This Sunday we will hear the story of Mary, the Annunciation, the Magnificat. It is a beautiful and moving story. But do not misunderstand, Mary is a Prophet who is proclaiming both how things will be at the end of the age, but also how things are now in God’s world. For Mary, “heaven shall not wait.”