Now is the time to say, sing and dance a large "Thank You" to God and each other

The Giving USA Foundation has reported that last year charitable giving in the US increased 3.8% (2.1% when adjusted for inflation) over 2009 totals. That marked the first increase since 2007. Although only substantial increases would return us to our 2007 level, that is good news. In that same period, however, religious giving increased only 0.8% (a 0.8 decrease when adjusted for inflation). That continues a disturbing trend. Since 1970 giving to religious organizations has increased more slowly than the rate of inflation. Despite that trend, I want to share some very good news!

Around this time last year we were planning cottage meetings to share some disturbing trends in our congregational life. Several related to finances. We, the members and friends of this congregation, have responded to those conversations in inspiring ways. During our annual stewardship campaign, 49% of us increased our financial pledges. Those and other pledges allowed us to pass a budget that continued to support our ministries, gave raises to staff for the first time in three years, restored some staff benefits, and funded necessary repairs and improvements to our property. The very good news is that we have kept and exceeded those pledges. Even after we set aside some funds to complete the approved repairs and maintenance, we will end our fiscal year in the black and will roll money into our reserve fund for the first time in recent history.

Even more good news! Based on our current trends and modest projections, session approved a budget for July 2011 through June 2012 that funds all our present ministries, restores study leave to non-clergy staff, provides raises to all staff, helps to fund our February to November 2012 Centennial Celebrations, funds needed roof repairs and exterior painting, and sets aside money in a reserve account for the day when we need to improve or replace our HVAC system.

Even more good news! During this time we have contributed more than 900 items to our food pantry each month and increased our monetary gifts to hunger ministries. We set what we considered the ambitious goal of raising $100,000 for hunger related ministries by the end of our Centennial Celebration. We have already received $21,000 toward that goal, and the excitement about and commitment to this priority ministry continues to spread and deepen.

Thank you! Thank you, MWPC members and friends, for your commitment to the ministries of Jesus Christ and this congregation. As we draw closer to the new program year we will hold a few cottage meetings to share some of these details, look at where our leaders hear God calling us, and have conversations about the life we share. I could not wait until then to share this very good news. There are always financial challenges to face, but I give thanks to God for the ways we are responding to God and each other. The time will come to talk about a new organ, technological improvements, building repair and updates, "ideal" staffing, and more. That's always true. As we close this fiscal year, now is the time to say, sing, and dance a large "Thank You" to God and each other.

            Grace and Peace,

LP

Finding True Life in Healthy Relationships

My Trinity Sunday sermon included this quote from “Three Hands Clapping,” a sermon by Barbara Brown Taylor: “All I know for sure is that if human beings were created in the image of God, then a) God is wonderfully diverse and b) we are more alike than we think.” Many of you made substantive comments about the sermon and some requested a little additional reflection on these words, so …

The doctrine of the Trinity claims that God is and exists in relationship. Western theology’s dominant image for the Trinity has been God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That and other images have kept the focus on relationship. If God exists in relationship and if human beings were created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), “then God is wonderfully diverse.” Take a look around. Where two or three people are gathered, diversity abounds. When anyone quips, “All ___ look alike to me,” that person is astoundingly uninformed or sinfully blinded by prejudice. Even identical twins differ significantly. Creation teems with diversity.

What about Dr. Taylor’s claim that “we are more alike than we think.” Despite what makes us distinct, we come from the same cloth and share the same basic needs and desires. We all long for enough to eat and drink, for people to whom to belong, and for freedom of self-expression. Not everyone wants to become a nuclear physicist, but all have dreams. We all have the capacity for love and compassion. We also all sin. Theologians differ on how sin entered the mix, but Christian faith proclaims that God, who is and exists in relationship, does not withdraw when we sin. Rather God works in and with us to overcome sin. That challenges us to appreciate our diversity and to allow what we have in common to help us to overcome whatever drives us apart.

Our Greek heritage enlivens this discussion by using the term perichoresis to describe the Trinity. That word literally means “dancing around.” When I read this term I envision something akin to the dancing at a Greek wedding – male and female, youthful and mature, friend and stranger, agile and clumsy, on-the-beat and utterly clueless circling, laughing, and sharing life together. What a picture of God (and faith)! Yes, we face trials, disappointments, and defeats. Yes, sometimes evil gains the upper hand. Betrayal, desertion, abuse, and crucifixion find their way into Jesus’ story. Yet, the embrace of the dance and the call to relationship continue beneath, behind, and beyond it all. That does not deny trials and tribulations, but it affirms that we find true life in healthy relationship and that as our relationships broaden and deepen we more fully enter God’s embrace.

I’ll close by saying that it warmed this soon-to-be teaching elder’s heart to receive so many comments about a sermon on a theological concept. I think you meant it, but even if not, you added to my joy of our relationships. I think I’ll do it again!

Grace and Peace,

LP

PCUSA Approves a New Amendment

Recently a majority of the presbyteries in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) approved an amendment to our constitution that changed our standards of ordination. When the decisive vote occurred, major newspapers across the United States reported it. A few weeks later a majority of our presbyteries approved an amendment that significantly changes the shape and content of Part II of our constitution. That vote will affect what Presbyterians do and how we do it for decades. Yet, few of us know about it. In our congregation I accept responsibility for that. I supported this change, but could not make educating us on this issue a higher priority than other ministries. In the months ahead, I hope to help our session and all interested members understand and live into these significance changes.

            I’m far from an expert, but the primary difference I see is that our revised constitution gives greater freedom and flexibility to sessions and presbyteries by challenging them to define their mission and ministry in light of their unique contexts. On July 10, 2011, when our new Form of Government takes effect, our session will be called to shape our mission and ministries not by requirements written for all congregations but by the gifts of God we have received and needs in the community we serve. We started that process in the last two years. This change recognizes that our denomination is a “big tent,” i.e. we have varied theological perspectives but regularly unite in our mission in Jesus’ name. For example, few members of MWPC have as liberal an outlook as I do; yet, when we declared feeding the hungry our signature outreach ministry nearly everyone readily joined the effort. Focusing on mission will not make our theological differences disappear, but it directs our energies into service. As we serve together, who knows how the Spirit will deepen our unity.

            Our new Form of Government has fewer regulations. Our old Book of Order resembled an operations manual. By focusing on core principles rather than guidelines for everything, our revised constitution should enable us to respond more quickly. That may not result in fewer meetings, but perhaps our meetings will stress how to be faithful more than how to follow the rules.

Our new Form of Government calls each session to develop “manual of administrative operations that will specify the form and guide the work of [our] mission.” In other words, a single document will define the essentials of what we seek to do in Jesus’ name and how we seek to do it. I hope that becomes a living document that helps to orientate new leaders and reminds experienced leaders of what we value most.

            Our new Form of Government includes some changes in terminology. In July I will no longer be a Minister of Word and Sacrament. I will become a teaching elder and our other elders will become ruling elders. Those terms from our heritage emphasize that we share a basic ministry but have different functions within it. Personally, I appreciate the challenge to make certain that those with whom I serve derive some benefit from the excellent education I have received.

            Most of us will notice little change after July 10. The differences will come as sessions and presbyteries ask, “What does Jesus Christ most want us to do and be in this particular place and time?” If our new Form of Government helps us take that seriously, fresh winds of the Spirit will blow. That’s good news!

            Grace and Peace,

LP

More than one God?

            In last week’s Beacon Lite I quipped that we may not want to offer God sliced ham as a gift because “God is probably not solely Christian.” A few folks found that troublesome or confusing, and requested a response. I included those words as a humorous aside, but gladly will point to the conviction behind them.

            I believe in the God revealed in and through Jesus Christ, whom I deem the only God. As a child, everyone I knew worshipped that God except a Jewish merchant who owned an excellent clothing store. I now know that people of various faiths populate the earth. Many of them honor God as much or more than I do. No religion, including Christianity, can lay exclusive claim to the one God. We all lack complete insight into and understanding of the one God to whom we pray and whom we serve. That limitation stood behind my comment about ham. Scripture and tradition prohibit devout Jews and Muslims from eating pork and many Buddhists do not eat meat or fish. I do not think God gets her knickers knotted about what we eat (apart from cannibalism), but from the perspective of many religious traditions God would not consider a plate of ham an acceptable offering.

            If there is only one God, how should we respond to the faithful in other religious traditions? Our Book of Confessions advises: “The Christian finds parallels between other religions and his (sic) own and must approach all religions with openness and respect. Repeatedly God has used the insight of non-Christians to challenge the church to renewal” (“The Confession of 1967”; 9:42). Martin Buber and Abraham Joshua Heschel have shaped much of my theological perspective. The writings of Elie Wiesel point to where we find God in the midst of horrors such as the Holocaust. Gandhi used Christian principles to resist tyranny and injustice. I have received spiritual guidance from Hafiz, Thich Bhat Hahn, and the Dalai Lama. Although I am thoroughly Christian, guides from other faith traditions have shed light on my path. I do not embrace every tenet or principle of other religious, but I believe that non-Christians can point to the one God.

            Is God “solely Christian”? That question seems wrong. God defies definition. We worship a presence and reality beyond comprehension. Doing that faithfully means standing within our religious heritage. Doing that with humility means acknowledging the limits of our understanding and accepting any help that leads us closer to God.

Happy Easter!

LP

Giving God Something "Personal"

           Our youngest daughter really likes country ham, so we decided to prepare a ham for the brunch on the day following her wedding. We could have paid someone to do that, but I wanted to do it myself. I received a surprise in the process. As I sliced the ham, quite unintentionally I recalled her life. Memories of Elizabeth as an infant, a toddler, a little girl, a young woman, and the wonderful adult she has become all wafted through my mind. That did not make it easier to see the ham, but it certainly made preparing it a blessing.

            Truly personal gifts nearly always have such a profound impact. Even with their imperfections they convey depth of feeling. I have become somewhat hooked on a television series entitled Bones. In a Christmas episode, a team of researchers becomes exposed to a potential contagion and has to remain under quarantine on Christmas. They decide to draw names and make something for each other to exchange on Christmas Day. The most joyful part of their Christmas festivities comes as their family members visit them behind glass panels; but next in line is their exchange of simple, handmade gifts. Some might deem that maudlin, but it rang true for me.

            We have two Sundays remaining in our seven week celebration of Easter. During Easter and Christmas we celebrate “personal gifts” from God. During the twelve days of Christmas we celebrate the Incarnation, God taking flesh. During the fifty days of Easter we celebrate the Resurrection, God’s triumph over all human limitations by defeating death. In response to God’s gift of Easter, why not give God something “personal.”

            God probably is not solely Christian, so slicing ham may not make the right statement! We have other options. We’ve finally had the right weather to begin planting our church garden. An hour or two of work will help us provide food pantries with fresh produce. We still need helpers for Vacation Bible School and nearly always can use extra hands in children and youth ministries. Volunteered lately? Monthly we prepare meals for a spouse abuse center. If cooking is not your gift, buying paper goods or a bakery sweet will work. Those who travel to the Drop Inn Center would enjoy some company and the SEM Food Pantry often needs folks willing to pick up the items they distribute. It could be fun. Each week hands-on opportunities (possible “personal gifts”) abound. Financial gifts can be personal as well, especially when we reflect on how God has blessed us as we provide them. When we have that awareness, blessings often surprise us along the way.

            Truly personal gifts nearly always have a profound impact. For fifty days we are celebrating God’s personal gift we call Resurrection. Think about some ways to get personal in response. We always have room for more faith and love.

Happy Easter!

LP