A Lenten Invitation: 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

This Sunday, March 3, I will step up into the pulpit to begin my service as the Intentional Interim Minister of the First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of Quincy, Illinois.  I will strive with all my energy and faithfulness to become the congregation's "pastor" for this season of our lives, as well.  I will invite folks to share in five developmental areas of focus for this period that is sometimes referred to as an “in-between time.”  We will speak often about these five focal points: coming to terms with history, discovering a new identity, managing leadership shifts, strengthening denominational and ecumenical connections and becoming committed to a new future.

I have been blessed to live out thirty-eight 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 fifteen churches in four mainline denominations in the Northeast and the Midwest.  First Christian will be the sixteenth!  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 people 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 in every setting, I have discovered people who love their community and have a tremendous loyalty to the men and women, youth and children who have grown up beside them as their friends and neighbors.

But in spite of my joy of service in ministry, I am clear that Christian ministry is not a privilege belonging to a few “set-apart” pastors.  Rather, it is a responsibility belonging to all the people who consider themselves to be members of Christ’s living body, the Church!

If we follow Christ, we are one of Christ’s disciples.  Ask yourself today: 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 eagerly anticipate coming to know where your joy lies.

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

Grace and Peace!

"Pastor Paul"

Building Up Our Neighbors

Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another. … Each of us must please our neighbor for the good purpose of building up the neighbor.  — Romans 14:13, 15:2

The philosopher Aristotle taught that there are three kinds of friendships.  The first is pleasure friendship, in which two friends find delight and encouragement in one another’s presence and attention.  Friends may share a common passion such as watching auto races or making a quilt. A second kind of friendship was described as the advantage friendship, where one or both parties to the relationship seek some sort of material or personal gain from the time spent together.  Business relationships often fit here, as one seeks a promotion, a business loan or an advantage in the social arena from the other.  But a third type of friendship was paramount to the first two, and it was called the friendship of character.  In this type of friendship, the very best in you loves the very best in the other person.  Often one or both people in the friendship are willing to sacrifice for the well-being of their friend.

This is the kind of relationship that Jesus taught about, saying, “Love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12)   Jesus came to give his life that others might have abundant life, and as he gave his life away, over and over again, a woman caught in adultery, a man born blind, a paralyzed person, a person with a rare skin disease, a sickly child, a powerful leader struggling with the emptiness of mere power over others – each one was given what they needed to live in newness of life.

When Paul wrote to the early church gathered in Rome, he desired for the new group to be a community of virtue.  We can summarize his message in words like these: Don’t judge one another or get in one another’s way to try to trip them up or knock them down. And do not become overly focused on your own search for perfection.  Instead, look for ways to be friends of character, building each other up in love.

I look forward to greeting you at the church door and in all the places where we are building one another up into the Body of Christ,

Pastor Paul

Our Summer of Manifesting Christ (Acts 2:42-47)

In the summer and fall months of our church year we celebrate the longest season of the church year. Some call it “Kingdomtide,” while others simply count the Sunday after “Pentecost,” but either way it is the time when we look for signs of the reign of Christ in our world, and we make those signs larger and more visible.  We manifest in our own lives what Christ is doing in His church and in the world around us.

That’s what is so special about the projects we undertake in the summer!  To start things off, we participated in the Relay for Life last Saturday.  Where was Christ in a fundraiser?, you might ask.  Well, you have to have eyes to see, but many of us saw Christ in the teamwork that helped build the team booths from which walkers ventured out to walk the track in honor of survivors of cancer and in memory of those who have gone to be with God.  And many saw the Holy Spirit in the lighting of hundreds of “luminaria” – paper bags filled with sand and a candle that by nightfall surrounded the drive and walking path. The space was transformed into a circle of common prayer where, as all the flames rose skyward, we all were drawn closer to the ones we love and closer to our God.  And many of us saw God in the hands that were held tight as cancer survivors and their caregivers bore silent witness to the love they share with each other as they walked the “Caregivers Lap.”  We weren’t in church, but for all of us ”Daring Disciples” and for so many others that night, Christ was alive in us.

This is what we brought to other events of our “Summer of Manifesting Christ.”  Volunteers prepared snacks, helped with crafts and games and taught Bible lessons to young children at our ecumenical Vacation Bible School on July 9 through 13, and other volunteers brought laughter, encouragement and greater faith to campers at our summer church camps at Crowder State Park!  We invited friends and neighbors to our Ice Cream Social on July 15 and to a special meal with a missionary, Dr. Anil Henry, on August 15.  And yesterday morning, August 19, we once again blessed the backpacks of our children and youth, and blessed the briefcases and shoulder bags of those who work with our younger generation.

You see: it’s all about reframing the conversation, to reveal that Jesus Christ is present through His Holy Spirit, in everything we do.  I look forward to meeting you in all the places where we share this ministry together,

Pastor Paul

Are You an Outie or an Innie?

¹⁶So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away,

our inner nature is being renewed day by day.   — 2 Corinthians 4:16

I celebrated the 37^th anniversary of my ordination to the ministry this past June 1^st.  I was only a young twenty-four-year-old, and fresh out of seminary, when I knelt in the sanctuary of the First Church of Christ in Woodbridge, Connecticut for the laying on of hands and for prayer.  I was full of a sense of God’s Call but I had much to learn.  For nearly four decades, beginning while I was still in school, I have had a connection to a particular congregation with whom I worshiped and for whom I preached, prayed, planned and practiced ministry.  The faithful people of those congregations have taught me so much about life and ministry, about service and witness, and about getting up every day and giving God your very best, no matter what.

I have seen many people struggle daily with chronic pain who nevertheless came to church and participated in the life of the congregation.  One woman, well into her nineties, still drove herself to church to attend Bible study.  Another, with chronic leg pain, still served in the kitchen preparing meals for the church and the community.  Others, while in fragile health themselves, would visit shut-in members and bring good cheer in the form of flowers, cards or cookies.  Their outer nature may have been wasting away, but it was clear that their inner nature was being renewed every day.

It calls to mind a question my kids used to ask each other and sometimes their Dad: “Are you an innie or an outie?”  I soon caught on to the joke: it had to do with whether your belly button was recessed or protruding.  The kids would lift their shirts, laughing, to prove the veracity of their status as an “innie” or an “outie.”

Pastor Lillian Daniels, of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, recently posed this children’s question in a spiritual devotional blog, suggesting that those who are “outies” in a spiritual sense are concerned most about their bodies: how they look and what others think.  “Innies,” on the other hand, were people who drew upon that inner nature and followed pathways of service, having little regard for appearances.

I still strive, after all these years, to be an “innie!”  How about you: “outie” or “innie”?

I look forward to greeting you at the church door or in the places where we renew our inner natures in service to our King,

Pastor Paul

Praying for Harmonious Work

²²One day Jesus got into a boat with His disciples, and He said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they put out, ²³and while they were sailing He fell asleep. A windstorm swept down on the lake, and the boat was filling with water, and they were in danger. ²⁴They went to Him and woke Him up, shouting, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And He woke up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they ceased, and there was a calm. ²⁵He said to them, “Where is your faith?” They were afraid and amazed, and said to one another, “Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?” —Luke 8:22-25 (NRSV)

The past few years have been a challenging time to be the Church of Jesus Christ.  Amid growing financial anxiety, church leaders everywhere have endeavored to maintain the structures, programs and staffing levels that worked for the church decades ago when resources were more plentiful.

This past week, the Official Board accepted the excellent report of our Nominating Committee, chaired by Dr. Cross, which nominated officers, Ministry Team Chairs and other leaders for the new program year, beginning July 1.  These leaders await election by the congregation on June 3 at the Congregational Meeting.  I urge you, whether you are a leader or a follower (or sometimes one and sometimes the other!) to use this time to pray for all our leaders.  In such a time as this, it is as imperative that we put our lives, and the lives of our 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 in this process is this prayer for installed officers, 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 twenty, thirty or even fifty people 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 prayer 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 gather to engage in ministry together,

Pastor Paul

The Ways Faith Comes to Us

Faith comes first by sight.  We believe in what we see and in what we come to understand about what we have seen.  We connect what we’ve seen to what we are taught.  God is real because, as a children’s song goes, “God made the sun and God made the tree, God made the mountains and God made me.”  We believe in God because of the rainbows which remind us of God’s promises.

The first believers at Easter (they became the first Christians, but weren’t called that until later) believed that Jesus was alive because they SAW him: as he stood before Mary, as he pointed out his wounds to Thomas, as he ate a piece of broiled fish before the Eleven and several other disciples.  Seeing was believing.  Their eyes were opened and they recognized him (in the breaking of the bread.)

When we were young, we learned the faith from what we saw the people we loved doing.  Our grandparents delivered meals on wheels to those who were ill and “shut-in.”  Our mother baked pies for the church bake sale.  Our father got up early to shovel the walks so people could get to church.  We saw people making sacrifices for others – offering the gifts of their time, talent and treasure to others so that the other would “see the Lord” as well.  And people do see the Lord today.  Only now, people “see the Lord” in the acts of service of their neighbor.

That is where we are today.  “Easter People” volunteer in the food pantries, thrift shops and soup kitchens.  Disciples of Christ serve meals to the bereaved after funerals.  Today’s believers in Jesus visit the sick and the lonely.  God’s chosen teach the children who are come to hear the stories of Jesus and his love in Vacation Bible School and church camp.

Every Sunday in May during worship at First Christian Church of Trenton (MO) we will celebrate some of the people we admire for what they have accomplished.  We will recognize our graduating seniors on May 6^th, honor our mothers, and those who have been like a mother to us, on May 13^th and remember our servicemen and women and our veterans on May 20^th, the Sunday after “Armed Forces Day.”  And then, on May 27^th, we will remember and celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised would come to believers, as we mark “Pentecost!”

Come and see what the Lord has done for us!  I look forward to greeting you at the church door or in the many places where we see the risen Christ at work in us!

Shepherds, Why This Jubilee? Why Your Joyous Strains Prolong?

Riley is a fourth-grader who was cast as a “Shepherd” for Sunday’s Christmas program in church. He also had a solo. He had been practicing “Angels We Have Heard On High,” and he needed someone to accompany him on guitar, so I offered to play. On a chilly afternoon earlier this week, Riley sang for me while I played the chords of the familiar carol. His clear boy-soprano tones filled the rehearsal space, but he was struggling with the words to the second verse. Suddenly, it dawned on me to teach what my drama coach had taught me back in seminary: to read the words with exaggerated meaning and to sustain them from the muscles in the gut rather than the throat. Besides, I thought, if Riley really understood the words, he would remember them and sing them with more feeling. So I shouted to Riley, “Repeat after me! Shepherds, why this jubilee?” He said back, “Shepherds…why…this jubilee?” It became like a game. “Why your joyous strains prolong?” We asked each question of the carol back and forth, as if the shepherds were across the room dancing a jig and jumping for joy: “Say what gladsome tidings be…” We were almost shouting now. “…which inspire your heavenly song?”

The shepherds were dancing and shouting that the Messiah – the child God was going to send to reign over all the world – was about to be born! And there we were: if Riley sang clear enough, and I played well enough, we imagined ourselves joining the jubilant shepherd band as they literally skipped and spun, danced and dashed, toward a birthplace still unseen.

Riley sang it through one more time. Every word was clear and his notes were sharp and true. I smiled knowing this "shepherd boy" had experienced the story for himself. On this Third Sunday in Advent, Sunday, December 11, our worship service will begin at 10:30 as usual, but soon “the usual" will end and “The Christmas Story,” will be told by our children and youth, in word and song! Be there, and watch as the story comes alive for us. You may just return to your life “glorifying and praising God for all you have heard and seen!” (Luke 2:19)

I look forward to lighting candles and singing carols and sharing the world’s greatest story with you in church and in the places where we share ministry together!

"Pastor Paul"