Growing Together at Trinity

day 3 in dc

2009-08-05T21:16:00.000-07:00

Its after 12am so this will be brief. I delivered food for food and friends, an agency that provides 3 meals a day to over 1700 clients a year who are dealing with life threatening illnesses like AIDS and cancer. Others prepared meals and packaged them there, and others went to a womens transitional shelter and program and did some work there.

In the afternoon, I went to a smithsonian museum and visited with eric, our host, about his future ministry. The rest of our group experienced the holocaust museum. We capped off the night with a Nationals baseball game in their beautiful new stadium.

A good day of service and lesiure. Time for bed!

live from DC (briefly)

2009-08-04T19:33:00.000-07:00

while I was hoping for several posts a day from our mission and education trip in washington dc, my hopes came crashing down as I am unable to connect my laptop to the church's internet. So...this is coming to you through my phone, which means I will be brief.

I will try to post more frequent tweet-like posts from here out.

Today 7 of us went to food and friends to prepare and deliver meals to people who are dying. The other 5 of us spent some of the morning selling newspapers. Street sense is a newspaper that has articles written by the homeless and addresses city issues. A homeless person buys the papers for 35 cents each and sells them for a dollar, pocketing the rest as income. There's more to be said about this program, as we had a powerful yet challenging experience.

We also talked religious liberty with the BJC and had a beautiful visit to the national cathedral. Currently most in our group are playing dominos in the church library.

Wednesday a group is going back to food and friends and the other group is going to N street village, a womens shelter and transition center. In the afternoon we will visit the holocaust museum and some will take in a Nationals baseball game. You knew I'd find a way to make that happen.

Pray for endurance of energy and grace as we continue this journey of being a part of God's mission here in DC. It is a humbling and moving place to be.

Running? Did you say running?!?!

2009-07-22T06:52:00.000-07:00

Yes...I'm preaching Sunday, and yes...my sermon title includes the word "running." We're going to talk about running. Stop snickering as you imagine me in a headband, running shorts, and tennis shoes.

The scripture is from the first few verses of the gospel of John, and I'm going to talk about the opportunity we have as a church in the next year to really "stretch our legs" and move out into new territory. I will try not to beat the metaphor to death, but no promises there.

And yes...I promise I will try to update this more often. Apparently the one person that reads this blog was getting impatient!

Come to church Sunday. It could be a good thing.

2009-03-05T11:22:00.000-08:00

Ok, I admit it. I'm a Garrison Keillor fan. That fact probably bugs my wife more than anything else about me. His voice drives her nuts...but I'm always better after I hear from him or read something written by him. Had to share this beautiful story of grief and hope:

March 4, 2009 | My brother Philip died in Wisconsin on Friday while I was in Rome, and after I got my ticket changed to fly back for the memorial service, I went into a church off the Piazza Navona and lit candles for his aching family and stood in the piazza beside a fine fountain, with lots of splashing and nudity, the Fountain of the Four Rivers, which made me think of the Mississippi, where he and I used to skate in winter and once when the wind was whistling down the valley he opened his jacket and held the corners taut and the wind blew him away beyond the island and he didn't come back until after dark.

He died while skating. He fell backward and hit his head and died 12 days later. A heroic thing for a man of 71, dying in action at sport, though I believe he would rather have been in Rome, looking at Bernini churches. He and I almost died together once, canoeing on Lake Superior. We paddled into a deep cave under one of the Apostle Islands, possibly Judas, and explored it, ducking our heads under the low ceiling, and emerged a half-minute before the wake of a distant ore boat came crashing into the cave, which would have busted our heads but good, no need for the EMTs.

He was an engineer, having grown up at a time when boys were still romantic about machinery. Our dad and uncles loved cars and knew how to fix them and also do basic plumbing and wiring and carpentry, so he grew up admiring competence. The incompetent stood and cursed the problem and kicked it and caused more problems. The engineer studied the problem, devised a solution, and when it failed he made intelligent revisions. I never heard my brother curse anything or anybody.

Of all things mechanical, he loved sailboats the most, planing into the wind with a sheet of canvas, a centerboard and a tiller, which he picked up from perusing the Horatio Hornblower novels. When he was a kid, he rigged one of dad's dropcloths to a toboggan and sailed it at tremendous speed down the ice of the Mississippi, a death-defying feat. He switched careers from mechanical to coastal engineering so as to get himself out on boats on Lake Superior and Lake Michigan, purportedly to study thermal runoff from nuclear plants and shore erosion, and he owned a swift sailboat named the Dora Powell after our grandmother.

My brother was her first grandchild and so he was well loved and extensively photographed, a curly-haired boy with dimples and a modest smile, taken against many backdrops since our family moved often in the decade after he was born (1937), renting here and there, squatting with relatives, moving on, which maybe stimulates a keen love of family in a kid, as you keep waving goodbye to your friends, and Philip practiced the delicate art of brotherly love. He always knew what you were doing and he kept his critical opinions to himself. He called me once to ask how I was doing and I knew without his saying so that he knew about some nonsense I was up to and wanted me to stop it and I did stop it without his ever mentioning it. That's how he worked, no motor, just angles. His ties to family went back to his ancestor Elder John Crandall, who preached religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence with the Indians in colonial Rhode Island, and it included his hockey-playing granddaughters and fundamentalist cousins and his lawyer brother and his Chinese granddaughter who was skating with him when he fell.

When your brother dies, your childhood fades, there being one less person to remember it with, and you are left disinherited, unarmed, semi-literate, an exile. It's like losing your computer and there's no backup. (What it's like for the decedent, I can't imagine, though I try to be hopeful.) If I had died (say, by slipping on an emollient spill and whacking my head on a family heirloom anvil), I believe Philip, after decent mourning, would've gone about locating a replacement. If your brother dies, improvise. Someone you run into who maybe doesn't fit the friendship profile but his voice is reedy like your brother's, the gait is similar, he takes his coffee black and his laugh is husky, he starts his sentences with "You know," and the first words out of his mouth are about boats. I didn't run into him in Rome but I'm sure he's out there someplace.

I think we learn something very real about our need for community in these words. I hope you enjoyed.

Wow--what a slacker

2009-02-03T08:41:00.000-08:00

Yea, so I'd like to say I've been busy...I'd like to say I have lots of good reasons for not keeping this blog up. But I don't. I'm gonna have to pray about this--to see if this is something I want to keep up. It is well-intentioned!

It isn't like I haven't had stuff to talk about! The DC trip was phenomenal--words cannot express how wonderfully our group worked together, how exciting the work and learning was, and how powerful it was to be in that city at the start of the new year.

It is looking like we are going to try another trip, doing the same things in DC with a different group from Trinity, possibly in July or August.

So where am I today? I'm excited about the next few weeks. I'm preaching at a sister church this Sunday (my first experience preaching in an African-American congregation), starting an evening study on the life of St. Francis of Assisi this Sunday night, going to a USC basketball game Saturday, and getting ready for a great Christian Educators conference in Orlando. Funny how this works out--the conference ends right as Spring Training baseball is beginning: God is good!

Ok, I promise to make a strong effort to do better. We'll see how that plays out.

What should church be like?

2008-11-11T04:49:00.000-08:00

Occasionally I hear something that gets me excited about what the church should and can be like. I heard a new song by my friend Kyle Matthews (gratuitous plug: Kyle will be in concert at Trinity Wed. December 10th, and proceeds from the sale of some of his cds will go to support an upcoming Mission Trip to Washington DC). Now, this isn't to say that it hasn't been like this for me. I've always felt welcome at church, and its always such a good feeling to walk into a place that knows me by name, loves me, and accepts me.

But I grew up a preacher's kid. Everybody knew my name, and wanted to see what I was up to...good or bad. Now I'm on staff at at church, and people see me in my various roles at church and know me and often show their love to me, for which I am grateful. However,I recognize that it isn't like that for everybody. I hope it isn't intentional, but it happens: people go unnoticed, people are shunned, and (whether real or perceived) some folks aren't welcomed as openly as others.

So a reminder like this song can serve to challenge us to be the church--as my church's vision statement says: "where all may be saved, healed, strengthened, and equipped to go into the world on active mission for our Lord Jesus Christ."

"You belong here" by Kyle Matthews
This is a dream I have, that there might be a place
Where before I cross the threshhold they recognize my face.
They've been expecting me, the table has been set,
My bed's already made, and they speak to me this way:

(chorus)
You are welcome in this family, you are wanted in this place
You have value to your maker that your past cannot erase.
There is room for all your searching, there is music for your soul.
There are shoulders you can cry on, and the strength to carry on.
You belong here, welcome home

What am I striving for, when this is in my reach?
Could I become the refuge some weary traveler seeks,
And as I let them in, will my life not be changed?
To give the love I long for, to be unafraid to say:

(repeat chorus)

I will throw the door wide open, run to meet you at the gate,
There will be a glad reunion, we have much to celebrate!
You belong here, welcome home.

Thanks be to God for God's grace that always runs to us and longs to give us a big welcome home. Pray that our church does the same for everyone.

2008 Marriage Retreat

2008-10-07T06:14:00.000-07:00

I've been married for 15 months and have already experienced my 2nd Marriage Retreat. I'm not sure what that says about our marriage, but I do know that it says a lot about our church. That's a good thing!

I've come to realize quickly that a marriage can't be "fixed" by focusing on it just one weekend a year. Instead, marriage is a continuing journey that requires constant attention and care. The retreats that I have experienced through Trinity have reinforced our marriage in a very powerful way by offering special, safe time where new ideas and openness can lead to a more intimate, Christ-centered home.

On the first night as we concluded, we prayed that the hotel meeting room would become a sacred, holy space for our couples to really address our marriages secure in the grace of Christ. For me, I experienced a new way of understanding my responsibility to myself and to my marriage, which was a "God moment" for me.

There was a lot of fun and relaxation that went along with this weekend, but I thank God for the moments where I was challenged, and where I grew closer to God, recognized the impact of my thoughts, emotions, and actions on my marriage, and shared in some great personal time with my wife.

...and I got to see the Gamecocks win! What a great weekend! :-)

Pray that those who attended are challenged in the days ahead by what we learned together, and that out of this retreat comes a renewed daily desire for healthy relationships.

Sermon musings...

2008-09-22T07:53:00.000-07:00

Ryan's sermon yesterday on "forgetting and remembering" got me thinking. The Exodus story of the Hebrews' grumbling tummies and God, once again, doing a wonderful thing to provide for them must have rang true in the day of Christ. Surely, the folks who were most drawn to follow Christ had some grumbling tummies as well. As Ray Stevens, the comic singer determined, Jesus, if he were alive today, would NOT be wearing a rolex on his television show!

Jesus would be found among those who are suffering, who are neglected, and who are grumbling because of their needs. Quite often our sinful human (I'd say more inhuman) response to those who are needy is "quit your grumbling and looking for a handout and get up and do something." Thank God that wasn't God's response to the Hebrews, and it wasn't Jesus' response to those who yearned for bread in his day. It shouldn't be our response today.

If Jesus would be found among the poor, the invisible folks that we really only see from time to time on the side of the road...where should we be? What in the world are we waiting for? Remember what God did...remember what Jesus did...remember what we're called to do.

Where two or more are gathered....

2008-09-09T07:08:00.000-07:00

...then the God is present. These words have spoken to me powerfully over the past several months. You may know that I started a Tuesday morning men's devotional and breakfast this year; we meet every Tuesday morning at 7am at the church. I've had about 10 men who have joined at different times--some faithfully, others for a time or two.

This morning was like a few others I've had, where just me and one other friend showed up to pray. Realizing that this time is less about numbers and more about growth and fellowship, me and my friend read scripture, talked and shared our thoughts on the scripture, and prayed. Oh yea, we ate too! What a blessing it is to share in times like these with brothers and sisters in Christ.

Some have asked me "why are you doing this when at times just one or two folks show up?" Truthfully, I have gotten more out of this time than I have ever put into it. I have come to value those one-on-one (Jesus would tell me that it's a triad!) times just as much, if not more, as when we have a good sized group.

So I am thanking God for the way me and my friend laughed and shared in God's good grace today. What a fellowship, what a joy divine!

Rain!

2008-08-25T06:04:00.000-07:00

We've all watched the flooding in Florida with an odd sense of frustration over their over-saturation in comparison to our dearth of precipitation. Thankfully I heard the soft patter of rain outside my window last night, and it is continuing through today. I felt like going out in my pajamas and dancing in the driveway!

While much of our farm crop is a total loss this year, but we do pray that grass and grain for animals is enriched this week with the rain, and that our water levels start on the road toward replenishment.

As the rain falls, be reminded that God cares deeply for us and knows each of our dry spots well. May we feel God replenishing us in a special way this week.

Sunday

2008-08-13T08:03:00.000-07:00

I've been leading a group of our young adults on Sunday Mornings during the Sunday School hour as we have gone through Rob Bell's Nooma video series. This past Sunday we watched a video called "Sunday," where Rob challenges us to not view our faith as empty ritual, but instead to find the meaning and purpose in what we do.

His ending challenge to us was that our church should be a group of people "whose hearts are beating more and more like God's." God doesn't want the ritual without the relationship, or our presence without our true worship.

What would that look like? Well, this week at Trinity we lost a saint who exemplified just that, a person whose heart continued to beat more and more like God's, right up until her death. Montez was a retired teacher, and a saint of Trinity. She was indeed a lifelong learner, one who would often bring newspaper or magazine articles to my desk asking me my opinions on different theological issues or incidents in our world. I was always amazed by her interest in my opinion, and I was equally blessed and challenged by her understandings of Biblical insights and their impact on daily life. She was a person who came to church each and every day to grow, to be challenged, and to worship her God with and through her whole being. There are many stories that could be shared of her faithfulness, I encourage you to seek them out and share them in the coming days.

Trinity has known much grief this summer, and this is another time where we will bring our sadness with us as we return to gather as the church. However, mixed in with our grief is a hope and peace that comes through a relationship with Christ, and that peace is strengthened when we stand and worship God alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ. May we be challenged to not be roadblocks to God's kingdom, but instead to be a guide and a companion as we journey together with Christ, as our hearts continue to beat more and more like God's. We grieve the loss of friends like Montez, but we thank God for their testimony of faithfulness and vision.

I Am Yours....

2008-07-29T05:07:00.000-07:00

I've enjoyed being able to travel with our Youth Choir for the last few years while they have gone on their tours. We have had some wonderful, special times together as we have shared music and God's love, and each year I come away impressed with the energy and commitment of our young people, and also secure in the knowledge that the future church is in good hands.

This song is one of my favorites that the Trinity Youth Choir has sung in the past, and the visual imagery is quite powerful. I've not seen a presentation like this before! Take a moment to watch the video attached and be blessed by this powerful reminder that despite our struggles and shortcomings, we belong to God, and that is all that matters!

Turn up your volume!

In my studies for July 6th,

2008-06-26T13:08:00.000-07:00

I've been researching differing viewpoints on what it means to be a Christian and an American. Wow...there a lot of wildly different ideas about what Jesus meant when he said "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s."

So I will be studying and praying and attempting to discern what God would have me share with you on the 6th about how our faith in God interacts with our lives as American citizens. Pray for me as we walk that journey together. I have a feeling that this sermon might be a bit different than what you've heard before. Who knows....maybe not!

...did I mention I'm also connecting it to gathering around the table for Communion? Ought to be interesting, if nothing else!

I'll leave you with a quote from a song by Christian musician Derek Webb (formerly of the group Caedmon's Call)

A King and a Kingdom
My first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man.
My first allegiance is not to democracy or blood.
It's to a king & a kingdom.

Back in the saddle again...

2008-06-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

Well folks, after a week of vacation with the family, a short two days back in Seneca, and then a conference in Memphis, Tennessee, I'm finally back in the office for a few days. It feels good to be home. After my trip to Orlando and back with the Youth Choir I'll be mostly done with my summertime trips.

I will try to update this more regularly with information now that most of my time away from the office is over. I'm really looking forward to what this blog entails.

Keep in mind that much of what this becomes is dependent on you...how you respond and join in the discussion.

I think for now I will try to post information a few times a week, and maybe do some type of devotional or discussion topic once a week. We'll see what happens. Be on the lookout for that in the next day or so. Until then, read something from this website: www.ethicsdaily.com

Bad way to start a blog!

2008-06-06T07:34:00.001-07:00

Just when I've gotten everything set up on here, it is time for our family's bi-annual vacation. I look forward to sharing with you more when I return.

I am thankful for the opportunity that Trinity gives me to get away and relax with my family. I will pray for you while I am gone and look forward to being back with you. But not too soon... :-)

Here goes something...

2008-06-03T19:20:00.000-07:00

...although I'm not sure what! When we decided to update our Trinity website and make it more user-friendly and informative, I jokingly said to Jessica and Ryan, "hey, I can write a blog!"

So here we are. My hopes for this blog are somewhat tempered by the fact that I really don't know what this will become. I imagine that I will use this medium to share some important information with those within our church family who are internet junkies like myself. You'll find links to other blogs and websites that discuss issues relevant to who we are and where we are going as a fellowship of faithful friends.

You may read something you really agree with. You may read something that you don't care about or need to care about (ask Kristen, I am the King of useless knowledge!) Sometimes, you may read something I write or link to that you disagree with. We'll discuss the holy and the mundane, the controversial and the boring, the serious and the silly. Whatever your response and opinion, I hope that what you find on this page will encourage you in your daily walk with God, and challenge you to new growth, thinking, and interaction with others.

One of my favorite theologians, Fred Rogers (of Mister Roger's Neighborhood) said that the most important ingredients of education are: knowing that we're valued, and being with people who want to share with us something of this world that they love. So, I'll be sharing a bit of my passions with you, the people of Trinity, and beyond. I encourage you to respond, bounce ideas and thoughts back at me. I hope this becomes a conversation, not a monologue.

Oh yea, don't hold me accountable for my grammar and spelling. I'm still figuring out spell check and editing on this! Bear with me!