Posting a Year-End Status Update

I often begin my mornings by “visiting” family members and friends who have written a “status update” or a newsy “note” on “facebook,” the popular computer application that allows us a window into the lives of some of the people we love and care about. This morning, my sister Lindsley, who is an executive leadership coach, posted a great question for December 28:

“28, 29, 30, 31...How will you use these last four days of 2010? Why not take time to reflect? What do you want to bring into 2011? What do you want to release and let go of? Take time out for yourself today and discover. Then share.”

My response reveals my priorities as well as my burdens – of what I struggle to let go. These last days are a time to tie up the loose ends that might “trip me up” as I try to go forward: the required reports and weekly writings that become a burden if left undone too long. These days are also a time to "unpack the boxes" of my new life: not only to take out my possessions from the cardboard boxes that protected them on their journey from Iowa to Missouri, but also to unpack my talents and my spiritual gifts, many of which have gone largely unused and unexpressed during the stressful months of seeking this new call and preparing for the move. Now I am here in a new place, and after tying up the ends and unpacking the real gifts, I am going to simply revel in the new creation I am becoming with God's help.

What are you doing in these “last days?” What do you need to release? What do you want to protect and cherish? What gifts and talents do you hope to share in 2011?

I would be interested to know any responses you wish to share with me. You may send postal mail to P O Box 301, Trenton, MO 64683. Email may go to PaulSFraser@hotmail.com. Facebook users can find me at: www.facebook.com/PaulSFraser. Or just post a comment below!

Or, you can find me every Sunday morning at First Christian Church in Trenton, Missouri, where I look forward to greeting you: at the church door, or in other places where we may share ministry together!

Grace and Peace! Paul

Speechless in Bethlehem

“15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ 16So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger.” —Luke 2:15-16 (NRSV)

This weekend, when Christmas comes to us, we, like the shepherds long ago, come to our journey’s end … and discover it’s just the beginning! However we come to the nativity, the birth of God – and God’s promised wholeness – into the midst of a fragmented world is a show stopper. There are no words for it, at least, not at first. “How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given,” the poet wrote. “So God imparts to human hearts the joys of highest heaven.”

"10When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh."

—Matthew 2:10-11 (NRSV)

The magi – astrologers and sages – who followed a star for a long journey across borders and through time, also found themselves without words. We do not know if they spoke any quiet words to Mary and Joseph, or to the baby, but we do know that God spoke to the depths of their beings, imploring them to return to “their own country by another way.” (Matthew 2:12b)

So when we get where we’re going, after the last package is wrapped, the final card is mailed, the final cookie baked, the Christmas dinner prepared, will there be time for silence? Will we be able to silence the voices of the noisy, fragmented world around us long enough to become aware of the magic and the mystery of God coming to us, and dwelling among us, as one who is vulnerable unless we act? Will we pause and let our selves be filled with awe and wonder?

If you are in Trenton on Friday evening, please plan to come to the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at First Christian Church at 6 PM: for a time of singing the favorite carols of Christmas when we will commune with Christ and light a candle in His honor. Wherever you are this Christmas, take time to pause, be silent and remember … that God has come for us and lived among us, in order to promise us…the wonders of eternal love.

I look forward to greeting you at the church door...or wherever we share ministry together!

Merry Christmas! Pastor Paul

A Time to Harvest and Move On

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted... —Ecclesiastes 3:1,2b

Across the farmland around Boone, and indeed, across most of Iowa, the soybean and corn crops have been harvested.

As the 19th Century hymn writer Henry Alford affirms: “All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin.”

Here in Boone, this is my sixth harvest season, and in the varied seasons of ministry, I have seen the “harvest of souls:” children brought for dedication, young people entering the waters of baptism, couples getting married, friends and family gathering to commemorate the passing of a loved one. And most especially, I have witnessed individuals coming into a closer relationship with Jesus Christ through prayer, Bible study and activities of service, mission and ministry. But unlike the annual crop harvests, the harvest of souls is ongoing, so discerning when to “move on” is made more difficult.

Such a time has come for me to retire from the ministry here in Boone. My decision to announce this retirement has been made for personal reasons: as I reach the age of sixty in mid-December, I will be able to annuitize my denominational pension, gathered over thirty-five years, in order to accomplish some important financial changes for myself and my family. Among the possible changes will be the opportunity to develop my ministry coaching practice, and expand the joint ministries of music and prayer partnerships with my wife Karen, while pastoring a congregation that is poised for transformation and rediscovered vitality. In order to prepare professionally for these changes, Karen and I attended a week-long training event last week, “The Art of Transitional Ministry.” This program trains both “settled” and “intentional interim” pastors to be sensitive to the issues congregations face in times of transition.

The final details of my departure from Central Christian and the directions of the new courses of my ministry are still being revealed even as I post this entry. I leave Central Christian with a deep spirit of thanksgiving in my heart for all the gifts of love, support and care which this amazing congregation has shared in the past sixty-five months, and for the many ways our lives have intersected: in times of joy and grief, physical endeavors and times of play, great celebrations, small group classes and retreats, and hour upon hour of spiritual conversations. I am even grateful for the lessons learned in the times of congregational conflict. I will be the preacher there for two more Sunday worship services. Appropriately, my final day of ministry service in Boone will be Sunday, November 21, which we call “Thanksgiving Sunday!” In the liturgy that morning, the congregation and I will release one another from this ministry covenant and I will move into a three-week period of vacation, personal renewal and much packing!

But for the next eleven days, I will continue to look forward to greeting the good people of Central Christian at the church door or in places where we have shared ministry together. And after that time, I will hold them all in a special place in my heart.

Pastor Paul

P. S. Stay tuned to this space for important developments in the coming weeks!

What About Love?

But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. —Luke 6:35a

Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven;
hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little. —Luke 7:47

He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all your strength,
and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” —Luke 10:27

Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides, and gravity,
we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then,
for a second time in the history of the world,
humankind will have discovered fire.
—Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

So much of the “noise” we hear on “Talk Radio,” and the commentaries on the television, encourage us to be suspicious of those who are different from us, or even to be outright hostile. The movement Jesus founded was about love, not violent confrontation. Jesus offered his hearers a challenge and a choice: because we have been forgiven, we may choose to be loving, even to our enemies.

How does Jesus find you not being loving: have you gossiped about a former friend or church member who annoys you? Have you spoken negatively of those in an opposing political party who vote differently than you do? Have you turned your back on someone who is poor and has a greater need?

Jesus invites us into mission and service, to bring all people to Him, by showing greater love.

No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. —John 15:13

How can we show greater love this month: as we invite seniors to our "friendship luncheon" or urge our neighbors to sit with us at the next church supper? Can we show greater love in our worship services as we greet visitors and welcome back people who are returning?

October included a denominational program, “Week of the Ministry,” sponsored by our Pension Fund, on October 17 to 24. It's still timely to ask, can we show love and support for those who perform ministry amongst us, our lay leaders, committee and group members and many faithful volunteers?

I look forward to greeting you at the church door or in places where we share ministry together,

Paul

Praying for Harmonious Work

The past few years have been a challenging time to be the church. Amid growing financial anxiety, we have endeavored to maintain the structures and staffing that worked for the church decades ago when resources were more plentiful.

In such a time as this, it is as imperative as ever that we put our lives, and the lives of our church leaders, in the hands of the one who calmed the sea, and who can calm our anxiety and move us to offer our praise. A great prayer to use to begin this would be the prayer for installed officers, taken and slightly adapted from “Installation of Officers,” in the resource book, Chalice Worship:
Almighty God, we rejoice that you have called us to be your people in this time and place. Help us to fulfill the mission to which you call us as we seek to know what faithfulness requires of us. Strengthen the resolves that have been made within our congregation. Uphold your leaders with hope and encouragement that they may endure every frustrating difficulty. Fill this congregation with your loving Spirit that each person may work together harmoniously so that all members may work together for the common good and to your glory. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.,

Imagine if fifty people, or even twenty, committed to pray this prayer daily. I wonder…if God will do something in each of us, and in all of us together, just because we have prayed this pray of intercession for our leaders. Actually, I know God is already doing it, even as we consider this request.

I look forward to greeting you at the church door or wherever we meet to share ministry together!

Pastor Paul

Doing It All in Jesus’ Name

¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. —Colossians 3:16-17

Today, June 1, I quietly mark the accomplishment of thirty-five years of ordained ministry. It is amazing to me as I look back upon the many ministry settings where I have been privileged to serve, and the significant number of people whose lives I have touched. I have been the pastor or on the staff of thirteen churches in four mainline denominations. I cannot begin to count the total baptisms and confirmations, weddings and, yes, funerals at which I have officiated. And being in ministry has brought me to homeless shelters and county jails, to college campuses and public school classrooms, to nursing homes and hospices and hospitals, all places where I have been challenged to express the gospel in words and actions that could be readily understood, even by those without any previous experience of Christianity or attending a church.

Indeed, my role as pastor has opened doors that have brought me to encounters with presidents and prisoners, street thugs and business leaders. I have held the hands of the dying and the grieving, prayed with the impoverished, the desperate and the abused, and plotted transformation and renewal with people of passion and privilege.

And the past five years have given me some unique opportunities in Boone, Iowa, where I am currently called to minister: among a group of people who love their community and have a tremendous loyalty to the men and women who have grown up beside them as their friends and neighbors.

But at Central Christian, as in other local church settings through the years, it has been clear that the ministry is not a privilege belonging to a few privileged pastors but a responsibility belonging to all the people who consider themselves to be living members of Christ’s living body, the Church!

If we follow Christ, we are one of Christ’s disciples. We may ask ourselves: what is my responsibility within the body of Christ? Who has God called me to care for, to empower or to support? With whom am I called to witness to my faith and live out what I believe?

Each of us has an amazing life story to tell about our own journey of faithful living and serving. I invite us -- through our writing, posting, tweeting, status updates, or most especially, through our face-to-face encounters with one another -- to share those stories and learn from one another what God is calling us to do and to be!

I look forward to greeting you at the church door or in places where we share ministry together!

Grace and Peace!

"Pastor Paul"