An argument has been made recently that the reason for the decline of the church in the last decades is not due to theology or practice but due to a lack of creativity. It is truly a fault of imagination. While the world changed, we stayed the same. The argument goes that the church is, quite frankly, boring. It is repetitive. We sing the same songs. We say the same words. We even sit in the same pews. We do all of this week after week in the same setting. And for many, exiting the church is the response.One of the conversations that has sparked a lot of interest on the Worship Committee is “How do we make worship more creative, better even?” The new Welcoming Time that will precede worship came out of a similar conversation. “What should we be doing that we are not?” We want worship to matter. We want worship to enliven the heart, to point to Jesus Christ in new and profound ways, to be something that people look forward to all week. To do this, our mindset and expectation has to change. To that end, you will notice small changes to the Order of Worship. (The Prelude and Announcements have already switched places.) You will also notice changes that are meant to deepen the experience of worship: 1) the baptismal font is more centered now, and 2) the Communion elements will process in during the new Communion Hymn starting on September 10. My hope is that you will also see new creative elements to worship beyond this.At a worship conference I attended a few years ago, they challenged us to think of the best worship service we ever attended. Some shared stories of particularly meaningful Easter or Christmas Eve services. Some recounted singing around a campfire. Some even spoke about a special service following a national or local tragedy. In almost all the stories, the best and most meaningful services were the ones that were out of the norm. The setting was different. The liturgy had changed. There was special music. The church was decorated differently. They did different things. They moved from their seats and gathered around the communion table, baptismal font, or prayer station. Church changed and because it changed it changed them.I want to challenge all of you as you read this: What was you favorite worship experience? Where did it happen? How did it happen? What made it so special? Why was it different? Help Southminster improve our worship by suggesting how we can make worship more meaningful and creative.
Almost Fall
I love the fall. I love it so much that any time I get within a horizon’s distance away from it I start talking about how much I love the fall. Weeks of 100+ degree days will send my mind there too!I love the fall because of the transition it marks. We go from the relative slowness of the summer months to the increased activity of the fall and then into Advent and Christmas. I love seeing the church come back to life after a few months break. I love seeing ministries take on new energy after a short pause. For the record, I also enjoy the transition from baseball to football, the leaves changing, the fall television schedule, and the promise of cooler weather.This newsletter will arrive in the midst of the August heat and fall will still be around the corner, but I wanted to get you prepared now for everything you will see coming up over the next few months. Here are some highlights:
-August 2 will be the first Young Adult Night Out, a monthly gathering of Southminster’s young adults and friends. They will meet at Bricktown Brewery at 6pm for a free meal with childcare provided at the church.-The Second Sunday Fellowship Meal on August 13 will be sports themed. Wear your favorite college gear to church and lunch that day. Following the meal, we will assemble the water and snack kits for our homeless ministry.-In the month of August, various roofing projects will take place across the building to repair hail damaged surfaces. The damaged portion of Cottrell Hall first floor will also be remodeled. Please pardon our mess.-Celebration Sunday is September 10. Celebrate the start of the Sunday School year by joining a class and bringing a friend to worship that day.-September 10 will also mark the beginning of a new Sunday Schedule. More information about this change is below.-October 5 marks the start of the Southminster Speaker Series. At 7:00PM that day, Rev. Carol Howard Merritt will visit with the congregation and community about her new book Healing Spiritual Wounds and her journey of faith.-On October 15, during the Sunday School time, Sherry Kenney with Presbyterian Foundation will present about Planned Giving, Memorial Funds, and the Church. Make plans now to attend this important informational session.-November 2 is the second speaker in the Southminster Speaker Series. Rev. Sharon Risher will join us and share her experience of tragedy and forgiveness following the loss of her mother, two cousins, and a childhood friend in the 2015 Charleston Church Shooting.
As you can see, it is going to be a busy time in the life of our church. These highlights only scratch the surface of the activities we will encounter. Beyond so much happening, I would encourage you to invite family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, and more to experience these events with you. We want to be the heart of activity in Brookside. Helps us reach out to show we are The Heart of Brookside.
Welcoming Diversity
If you ever set foot on the campus of Harvard University you will notice that the sidewalks are curiously arranged. At other public institutions, the sidewalks might run around the outer edge of green spaces and connect the buildings in straight lines. A few might cross the space, but direct connections between buildings are limited. This is a common landscaping scheme to create an orderly aesthetic. The sidewalks at Harvard are not constructed in this manner. Once you step out of the doorway of a building, sidewalks shoot off in every direction to every point you might travel. A virtual spider’s web of concrete allows direct access to your destination across campus. The walkways are random, but more efficient.This came about because for generations Harvard lacked sidewalks. Students and faculty simply maneuvered from building to building in the most direct routes they could through grass, mud, and snow. When Harvard finally got around to paving the pathways, they decide to not impose order to the multitude of routes. They paved them all. And that is how Harvard came to have such an eclectic network of sidewalks.I am reminded of that story when I think about the mixture of people we have in the church. For some, an orderly arrangement of sidewalks would make absolute sense. For others, the seemingly random but more direct way might seem better. Likewise with the church, I know people who love the rhythm and flow of a beautiful liturgical prayer. I know others that appreciate the freedom and directness of an extemporaneous prayer. In the same way that some people learn better sitting around a table discussing a passage of scripture, others might gain more hearing a lecture. One person might gain a world of spiritual insight from a well preached sermon. Another’s heart might be filled better by a service project beyond the church walls. All of that is to say that the church, the people in it, their spiritual needs, and more are truly diverse.Part of being a welcoming church, a church that is welcoming to the diversity of God’s creation, is honoring the multitude of ways that people experience God and grow in faith. When we vary the liturgy on Sunday morning, we are seeking to do that. When we offer a variety of Sunday Classes presented in a variety of ways we are doing that. My favorite thing might not be your favorite thing, but by lifting up the variety of human expression we create a more welcoming environment to friends and visitors alike.A few weeks ago, we read about the calling of the Twelve Apostles in Matthew. I am not sure that Jesus could have gathered a more diverse group of people in 1stCentury Israel. The church is just as diverse today with more diversity waiting beyond the church walls. Let’s live into the blessing and richness of God’s creation.
Spiritual Serendipity
A few years ago, Kati and I visited Europe. It was our first trip there and I planned every detail for almost a year. The itinerary was set early on. The cruise was selected and booked as soon as I could. The airline tickets were on sale four months before, so I snapped them up. Then came the detail work. I meticulously plotted and planned everything that I wanted to see. I scoured TripAdvisor.com for the best tour companies in each location I would be visiting. I researched the currency and outlet specifications for each destination. I made note of the average temperature and rain fall for the periods in which I would be visiting. I created a spreadsheet of the cost of every detail of the trip to accurately account and estimate all of my travel dollars. I made a special calendar to keep track of where I was supposed to be and when. I purchased all the big and small things I would need for the trip. A week before I left, I packed everything I could and noted what was left. Everything was planned down to the letter. Everything except the visit to Tuscany in Italy. Kati had heard from a friend of a friend about a new company that was giving fantastic tours from Florence into the wine making region of Tuscany. With all the work on the rest of the trip, I decided this leg was best left to others. And it was amazing. First, we drove for an hour into the rolling hills and endless fields of grapes where most of the Chianti wine in the world is made. Then we stopped at an excellent “medium” size winery that produced only about 350,000 bottles of wine a year. Later we saw a small, picturesque, family owned, winery producing lovely wines on a completely different scale. At both stops, the view of the countryside and wine was amazing. What was even more amazing was the stop for lunch in between the wineries. In Panzano, Italy, in the heart of Chianti country, lives the most famous butcher in the world. His name is Dario Cecchini and he runs Antica Macelleria Cecchini. Bill Buford’s tantalizing book about cooking, Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany, made Dario a world-wide star (if you like cooking) and subject of more than one trip from a Food Network Channel host. Dario’s food, from the salami to the bread and olive oil to the lardo to the white beans and potatoes to every single meat dish he put in front of us, was truly out of this world. It was an incredible experience in the middle of day of incredible experiences and in a place I never expected to be. What’s more is that it was completely unplanned by Kati or I. With all the months and long nights of planning, the vague “Noon-Lunch” stop on the touring company’s itinerary was the highlight of the trip. We did not know where we were going. We did not know who we would meet. We had no way of anticipating the antipasto, wine, meat, dish after dish of incredible food, and the grappa that followed. It was serendipity. We could use more serendipity in our spiritual lives as well, I think. Too often, it seems that we treat our practice of a faith formulaically. Church for an hour on Sunday. Prayer, daily or nightly. Sunday School once a week (except in summer). Scripture reading a couple times a week. The ardent believer among us might even read a daily lectionary or keep up another daily spiritual practice. In all those cases, though, spiritual development is the product of planning and repetition. But what about the serendipitous moments of faith? The moments where the Holy Spirit intervenes. Pentecost is around the corner and those Holy Spirit moments of faith, serendipitous moments of faith, matter too. The moments were God is remarkably present. The singular moments where Jesus’ words in scripture seem to be speaking to you. Yes, I think we need the spiritual serendipity too. Summer is not a liturgical season, but Ordinary Time is. It is that time between the busy time where our faith may just have the chance to serendipitously grow and change. Enjoy your summer. Enjoy your Ordinary Time. May you encounter God in a new way there. Perhaps the Holy Spirit is already at work at just that.
After Easter
I am not sure we know what to do with this time after Easter, but before Pentecost. All the patience, preparation, and waiting for Easter is behind us. The fine Easter clothes are packed away for another year. The Easter lilies are slowly wilting away. The cheer of Easter has been replaced with the exhaustion and relaxation that mark the weeks following this holy and busy time. It is almost like that days after that other high holiday, Christmas. Jesus Christ is here. Now what? Today, Jesus has died and been resurrected. Now what?This time after is Easter is known as Eastertide. It is the fifty day period from Easter to Pentecost. It is a continuation of the celebration of Easter. Beyond a one Sunday event, Eastertide is a season of the church that marks the resurrected Christ’s presence with us and his commissioning of us for ministry. In the same way that the gospels do not end at Easter (except Mark), neither does Christ’s ministry to and with us. In Matthew, we are sent to “make disciples and baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” In Luke, Jesus walks with some of his disciples on the road to Emmaus. In John, the resurrected Christ eats a breakfast of fish and bread with disciples. And Jesus appears to a variety of people in all three.This time after Easter is about remembering and living into the reality that Jesus' resurrection and ultimately his ascension do not mean that the gospel ministry is over. On the contrary, for us it is just beginning. And more than that, Jesus Christ will still be with us in the power of the Holy Spirit animating and inspiring us to do God’s work in the world. The resurrection and ascension mark the eternal continuing of Jesus’s work and presence with us.As Eastertide rolls on, let us continue to celebrate the risen Lord Jesus Christ and the continuing of his ministry in our hands.
New Life
I do not accept the narrative about the death of the church, in general, or the Presbyterian Church (USA), in particular. I have seen too much evidence to the contrary. New ministries are popping up across the country. New churches are being planted. Established churches are being renewed, reused, and repurposed. When I go and meet with Christians at conferences, meetings, and other gatherings, again and again, I encounter people filled with life and hope. I refuse to accept that we are surrounded by death and withering on the vine.I am also not blind to the reality of these days. I see the churches we have closed. I am aware of the number of churches that have been dismissed to other denominations. I agonize over the struggles of so many churches in the PCUSA dealing with declining membership and crumbling buildings. I know these things. With the places I serve in the larger church, I know them very well. I simply refuse to read these signs of the times as the indicators of the end of anything.This season of Lent is a time in the church calendar for self-reflection. What do we truly believe about Jesus Christ and his church? In what do we put our faith? What does the bible lead us to believe about this world? The self-reflection of Lent will give way to the reality of Holy Week and Easter soon. Death, resurrection, and new life will be our themes.I believe God is doing a new thing in us and through us for the life of the world. The church and the PCUSA are not dying. They are simply changing… perhaps in very big and challenging ways. Structures are falling. Institutions are coming down. Our life together is being recast. I am hopeful. Like Mary returning from the empty tomb, I am hopeful.Live into hope. Believe in what God is doing. Participate in the new life that God is breathing into the world. Change the narrative of the church from despair to joy and excitement over what God will do next. Happy Easter!
Observing Lent
I grew up in a non-religious family. My mother and father both had bad experiences in the church, so faith was almost always kept at arms length. I was baptized in the Roman Catholic Church and from time to time we attended, but the church was never really a part of my life. When I reached high school, I was more aware of the wall of separation. My friends attended youth nights at their churches, lock-ins, and mission trips. There were days I felt left out, but mostly it did not bother me.From time to time, my world and the world of the church would meet. I remember as a child going to Detroit and being in a glorious downtown Catholic church for a wedding. In my early teens, I spent the night at a friend’s house and went with him to church and then roller skating with the youth group the next day. My more religious relatives would occasionally give me a bible for a gift that I would thumb through and set aside. In my later teens, I attended Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Sapulpa with another friend sporadically. There was contact with faith and God, but never enough to get me through the door of the church on my own.I did pray though. When my great-grandmother was dying, I prayed for her. When any number of tornadoes came by our house, I prayed. I prayed on the difficult days and gave thanks on some better ones. The most consistent spiritual practice was giving something up for Lent. My mother made us do that. For the better part of fifteen years before I started to regularly attend church and was on course towards ministry, I observed Lent. I gave up chocolate, soda, or ice cream. One year, I pledged to play outside more or even to be nice to my two younger brothers (needless to say I did not make it all the way to Easter). For the relatively non-religious, this was as close as we got to holy practices.Looking back now, I see that as a beginning: prayer, observing Lent, an occasional visit to a church. Too often we look down upon the beginning stages of faith or the easy spiritual practices. “You should be doing more”, we say. We do a disservice to the entire life of faith and the entire journey of faith when we denigrate a part of it, particularly for those outside of the Christian faith or just starting. We are all in different places. Our faith is individual. Sometimes those spiritual practices lead to much more later on. Sometimes giving up chocolate for Lent leads to being a minister. I know it did for me.
New Year, New Look
If you have not yet, you will begin to notice soon the new logo above showing up across our print and digital media at the church. The new logo was developed alongside a new website that will appear in the next months. The logo and website will serve as a first impression and first encounter for many as they discover Southminster. The hope is that these two elements will reflect the flesh and blood and brick and mortar Southminster they will find. The logo incorporates a style of cross that is present throughout the church and on the east steeple particularly. The blued stained glass windows reflect our Presbyterian heritage and contains a map of the Brookside area. The Heart of Brookside motto is front and center under the church name and with a heart in the logo. This new logo and eventually the new website will serve as an attractive and updated welcome to visitors and lifelong members alike.This change is also symbolic of the work that has been going into developing a new mission plan for the church. Through the fall, we discussed the past, present, and future of Southminster and Brookside. We celebrated past ministry successes and looked forward to future ministries that would impact our church and community. We also acknowledge the challenges that our church faces. At the annual Officer Retreat, your Elders and Deacons began the process of distilling those conversations from the fall into an actionable mission plan. That process will continue through the spring as Session and then the committees discern future ministry needs. A fully developed plan should be coming into focus during the summer. The new logo helps to mark this transition and the hopeful future we are building for Southminster.Sometimes a church logo is just a church logo. It is something that appears across letterhead and on business cards. It does not have to be though. My hope is that we live into the message this new logo presents to the community who sees it. We are The Heart of Brookside. We can be guided by its call to care and be in the community we serve. As we discuss the future of this church and make plans for it, I see this vision is just below the surface of those conversations. We are The Heart of Brookside.
