Response to W.'s question...

I teach a Bible lesson most Tuesday mornings.  It is typically about the text for the sermon the coming week.

This week I am looking Jeremiah 1, which begins in part like this:  "Now the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah..."  And so we began our discussion of the text with a conversatino about what it meant when the "word of the Lord" comes to a person.   Who could we remember, biblically speaking, some of the people to whom the "word of the Lord" came?

Abraham.

Sarah.

Mary.

Joseph.

And the other Joseph.

And Jonah.

And Miriam.

I asked a good question:  is it an easy thing when the "word of the Lord" comes to a person? 

Why did I ask this?  Because typically, though with exception, once the "word of the Lord" comes to a person that person's life becomes much more complicated.  There is nothing easy about the "word of the Lord" - just read Jeremiah's 52 chapters, or his book of Lamentations, or follow the trajectory of Abraham from chapter 12 of Genesis until chapter 22.  The "word of the Lord" while a blessing and a gift is also a gift and a call that comes with a huge obligation and a lot of risk.  The prophetic life is not an easy life.  My colleague in Charlotte, Pen Peery, preached from Jeremiah last week and said, "no one really wants to be a prophet."  And he was right.  It is hard.  It is tough.  It is a one-way ticket, the prophetic call, to unpopularity and discomfort.  The "word of the Lord" might be good news, but it is rarely easy news.

Tuesday morning was a good and rich theological conversation.

Then W, a good friend and faithful attedee at the breakfast study raised his hand:  "That is like you pastor's, you get the word of the Lord. Right?"

"Not exactly," I said.  And then I told him, "W, I am going to dodge your question today.  But I will answer it sometime."

Like a lot of questions I get asked, it has stayed with me all week.

So W, here is what I think I would like to say:

Most pastor's do not get the "word of the Lord" in the way Jeremiah or one of the other prophets did.  What I think we possess is the ability to interpret the poetry of theology (a phrase I first heard from my ethics professor, Doug Ottati).  What I think we have is a heart for deep study.  What I think we possess is a great trust in God and a heart for scripture which causes in us a childlike-wonder and deep devotion to the Bible and its wisdom and revelation.  What I think we do is listen to the "word of the Lord" as it comes in scripture and then we listen for echoes, or variations on its themes, in the church and world around us.  And then I think a passion to share what we have discovered possesses us, and we share it in sermons and Bible studies and in conversations we have throughout the week.  I think our calling is to study, and interpret, and preach about the "word of the Lord" as we best can articulate it and share it.

Craig Barnes wrote a book a little while back where he describes the pastor as a minor poet.  On page 75 Barnes writes, "As a minor poet, the pastor first has the calling to honor the major poets of the Bible.  Only then can the Word of God be found for the unique people the pastor serves.  This is what we mean when we say that the Holy Spirit inspired the Bible.  It is the Word of God because it draws us to Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.  Any text can do that, revealing the Word to people as diverse as an Indonesian farmer and a New York attorney -- if it is being rightly handled by a skilled minor poet who knows how to find a particular congregation just beneath the surface of the ancient text.  What pastors are always searching for is kerygma.  That means we are looking for the point of contact between the text and the congregation."

I think this is how I would have answered:  I don't possess the "word of the Lord" so much so as it possesses me. 

Then, Holy Spirit driven and Lord willing, I share my understanding of kerygma  for that given week at that given moment.  I am an interpreter of the "word of the Lord" and my interpretation, I pray, directs people back into the source of grace and life.  Back to God as we best understand God through what we see and know in the Christ.  It is not that we pastors and preachers don't have anything to say.  We do.  It is that whatever we do say is colored, tempered, and framed by what Jeremiah, or Jesus, or Isaiah, or Mary said -- it is always in relation to and in reference of what they said or what they did.

So, W., I am only a little sorry I dodged the question.  But I needed to study your question.  I needed to listen to it a few days.  I needed to listen for echoes, look at some books on the shelf and find the poetry of the Spirit in both your question and in my answer.

Anniversaries...bitter and sweet...

Except as a television witness from North Carolina, I played no part in 9/11.  In the days that followed I learned of friends and neighbors who were in New York or Washington.  I have since learned of close-ish connections we have to a few folk on flight 93.  But I had little to offer that day but tears and prayers.

My dear friends Inez and Stephen lost nearly everything, but through fate and grace and the mysterious divine economy of faith and life they live and love and play and pray and work even until today.  It is one of the sacred treasures of my ministry to have baptized their children, and I think of them and pray for them often.  Inez is one of the most poignant writers I know, last year she wrote this:  http://inezsays.com/how-do-you-say-goodbye.htm .

Anniversaries - bitter, like the 11 years since everything came tumbling down -- and sweet - today is my one year anniversary at White Memorial, the official 1st year has come to its close -- mark time, shape memory, and cast impressions into our faith and souls.  There is very little so powerful as memory. 

Memory defines us.

What do you remember?  About this date?  About a friend lost in NYC, or DC, or Pennsylvania?  About the college classmate who died in Afghanistan (Joshua Harris, Davidson College Class of 1994) or in one of the conflicts since?

This has been a great age of conflict, my prayer is that peace will prevail.  Always has been.  With God's help, always it always will be my prayer.

11 years ago my wife was carrying our first child.  We held hands and prayed for friends and family near and far.  Then I stayed up just about all night and wrote a sermon for Wednesday, September 12.  From Isaiah 40, verse 8, I concluded it like this:

And it is by that Spirit we shall walk, for the Word of our Lord endures forever.  The endurance of the word is the promise of God that long after terror at the hands of others has reigned, long after the evil-doers have gone, long after the grass has withered, the flowers have faded, long after we have walked through the valley of the shadow of death, long after we have been to the mountaintops, long after we have each fought our good fights and finished our races, long after the walls have tumbled down, yes, long after all of those things our God and His word and our duty as the people of the word will endure.  In fact, they will endure forever.  And they will do so because they have despite the forces of evil that have sought to squash them for 2,000 years.  They will endure because behind them is a truth and hope that is so beautiful the words to depict it escape most who try to capture them, but not all.

In July I witnessed the capture of these beautiful words when I received an E-mail from a woman in our congregation:  a woman whose husband struggles with cancer.  After I had read the new testament lesson, from Matthew’s 28^th chapter, that concludes with the words, “And remember, I am with you always, even to the end of the ages,” her young son asked her, “What does to the end of the ages mean?”  She responded to him like this, “I whispered to him that it meant forever and ever.  He thought for a minute and then asked me if God ever dies.  I said that no, God doesn’t, and that’s the most wonderful thing about God.  He thought about it for a moment and his eyes teared up.  He looked at me and said, ‘I don’t even know why I am crying, but I think it’s because I’m happy.’”

Friends, when the walls come down, know that the Word of our Lord endures forever.  Indeed, now is the time to mourn the dead, to say goodbye to innocence, and to want and desire justice for what has occurred.

But it is also the time for something else – a something else characterized in the words of my second hero.  He is a farmer named Wendell Berry, who also happens to be a poet.  In one of his most read and famous poems he writes this two-word imperative mood sentence:  “Practice resurrection.”

Let us, our nation, our city, our communities, our churches, and our families be the people who practice resurrection.  For now is the time to do nothing less.  And may that resurrection be rooted in the word of God that endures forever.  A word that is stronger than death.  A word that raised our Christ.  A word that sent pilgrims across oceans and into continents.  A word that throughout the modern era has sought to build and raise, rather than to tear down and destroy.  A word that professes that love is stronger than hate, pain weaker than recovery, anger secondary to neighborliness, and death a pale afterthought when compared to the beauty of life. 

We have seen evil.  No one can deny this.

But we have also seen hope and providence because we possess the promise of the enduring word.  And even though walls built strong do fall, we have a great God with a great word who is able to be the balm for our wounds, the healer of our hearts, the restorer of our courage, and the builder of new walls.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our Lord endures forever.

An Open Letter to Youth and Their Families - White Memorial Presbyterian Church

Dear Youth and Parents of White Memorial:

                Peace be with you!  When I arrived in Raleigh one year ago, it was apparent to me that we had a tremendous opportunity for youth ministry and we also faced some significant challenges.  Years ago I read a book called Sustainable Youth Ministry, by Mark DeVries.  It was about helping youth build authentic relationships with God, helping them encounter the ministry of Jesus Christ, making space for the youth to feel integrated into the life of the church, and building a program that maximized the gifts of staff and volunteers in a manner which was sustainable.  It contained ideas and strategies for building a youth program where youth, adults, and staff thrive as they experience ministry together.   When I arrived in Raleigh it was apparent to me that no matter how many staff we hired, what configuration we hired them in, or whom we might bring in for the future, the youth ministry program we were running was not long-term sustainable.  We needed to make changes. 

                As the fall approaches, I believe that we are on a good path.  We have brought in consultants from Youth Ministry Architects who have helped us devise a strategic plan for renovation.  We are operating with a Renovation Team, a team of lay leaders who work side-by-side with staff on planning activities, recruiting volunteers, and cultivating the future of the program.  We have reconstructed our Sunday nights and Sunday mornings in a way that we believe will allow for greater impact and energy.  We have undergone a months-long evaluation of our Confirmation program and have developed a transition plan which will take effect over the coming year.  And we have asked, and will be asking, many more of you to partner with us by way of volunteering and assisting.   The call is direct:  if everyone does their part, whether that is hosting one meal a quarter or serving as a weekly advisor (or any other number of ways to serve our church and our youth), then we can share a sustainable ministry which connects to our youth, engages them in the ministry of church, and supports them as they grow in faith. 

                I pray you’ll come and join me as I lead a discussion about our Youth Ministry at our Fall Kickoff Event on September 9.  I pray you’ll read the attachments in this letter.  There is still work to do, and staff, Renovation Team, Youth Committee, advisors, and currently engaged volunteers are dedicated to seeing this plan through.  I pray you’ll help us live into this new vision for sustainable youth ministry, a vision which I believe God is calling us to share as we love one another, grow in devotion, and serve our Lord with creative joy.

 

May Grace Abound,

 

 

 

 

Christopher H. Edmonston

Strategy, Promotion, and Keynote

 

 

            This is a big week at White Memorial.  A week I have praying about and been planning for quite some time.  Let me tell you about it.

            First of all, on Wednesday night, September 5, we will be convening two new opportunities for study and leadership.  Early in the evening the Committee of Chairs will meet.  This is a group of people, who each serve as Committee chairs in our church, who are tasked with strategic planning at White Memorial.  For the last year we have been talking to you, listening to you, reading your work done in 2007 and 2008, studying the best practices of sister churches, and reading pertinent literature.  This group will develop a strategic planning process, a process which will seek to answer four core questions, questions which shall define and shaper our future as a Presbyterian congregation in Raleigh:  What is our vision?  What space will we need?  How will we worship?  Will we be equipped to tell the story of our faith and our congregation?

            Later on that same Wednesday night we’ll begin our Feasting on the Word Bible study.  Each week, on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings, those of you who are not involved in a Bible Study or a regular Church School class are invited to join sets of rotating teachers as we explore the lectionary texts for the week.  Studying the scriptures before we worship – either in personal study or in a group study – helps prepare our hearts and minds to hear the height, and depth, and breadth of God’s revelation in scripture to us.

            Then on Sunday, September 9, we hope you’ll join us in prayer about a most important and critical day.  On Sunday morning, we’ll celebrate promotion Sunday.  Sunday morning is a rally, a rally for education and the beginning of our fall program at White Memorial.

            Sunday night I will join our Youth staff and our Youth volunteers as we host our Fall Youth Kickoff .  This is a very important meeting, and I hope you’ll help us get the word out to our Youth and their families.  We’ll share our new vision statement and give our church family opportunities to learn about our new scheduling.  I will lead a keynote conversation with Youth, parents, and volunteers about our hopes and dreams for Youth Ministry – sustainable Youth ministry – at White Memorial.      

            I hope and pray that this week, a week of strategy, promotion, and keynote – an exciting and vital week in the life of our church – is a week we can build on.  I hope and pray it is a week we can look to as an opportunity to grow in the directions where God is calling us to grow.  In coming months we’ll be praying and working on initiatives for pastoral care, community service, and adult ministries.  I invite you to pray for our staff, our Session, and our strategic planning committee in the weeks to come.    

If indeed the past is prologue, then the future will be bright:  bright with the light of grace; bright with the hope of forgiveness; bright with the call to faithfulness.

 

 

           

First fruits or leftovers?

Hymns have a way of saying things well.  Take for example the hymn, As Saints of Old Their First Fruits brought, penned by Frank Von Christierson in the 1960’s.

As saints of old their firstfruits brought
of orchard, flock, and field
to God, the giver of all good,
the source of bounteous yield;
so we today firstfruits would bring:
the wealth of this good land,
of farm and market, shop and home,
of mind and heart and hand.

In a handful of lines this poetry, sung poetry, sums up so much of what our scriptures, our confessions, and our Lord teach us about being generous.

                This week we continue our 2012 Summer Forum.  As many of you know, we are focusing our worship and our forum discussions around Robert Schnase’s Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations.  The practice we narrow our gaze upon Sunday is extravagant generosity.

                Generosity is, of course, the practice of giving to and of sharing with others.  Hopefully, we do this all the time.  Extravagant is a modifier.  It is a marker of degree.  Is our attitude, “I gave at the office,” or something else?  Something like, “giving is joyful for me, a spiritual practice of mine, a response to God’s goodness in my life?”  As Schnase writes, extravagant generosity “describes lavish sharing, sacrifice, and giving in service to God and neighbor.”

                The truth is that we are always giving something:  time, advice, money, or energy.  But there is also an even greater truth at play in our lives:  we receive so very much more than we might ever give.

                The Biblical example is resolute.  From Abraham in the very beginning, to Jesus and Paul in the New Testament, generous living and generous giving abound.  Generosity is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) and it is God who is calling us to give.  When we ignore this calling, we are always left unsatisfied and wanting.  The hymn above though begs a tough question:  are we giving to others and giving to God with our first fruits or our leftovers?  Let us not forget God gave the best that God had to offer:  in the gift of creation and the gift of salvation. 

                The final stanza of the hymn says it well:

In gratitude and humble trust
we bring our best today
to serve your cause and share your love
with all along life's way.
O God, who gave yourself to us
in Jesus Christ, your Son,
teach us to give ourselves each day
until life's work is done.

Why I am registering for NEXT church in Durham...

sparking imaginations, connecting congregations, and offering a distinctively Presbyterian witness to Jesus Christ

Today, I want to invite anyone who follows my posts or blogs to consider joining the regional NEXT event in Durham next month.  August 18, to be precise.  To learn more or to register go to the Westminster Presbyterian Church, Durham website:  Register for Next Church Durham

I am going because I want to be part of interesting, missional, and vital conversations with colleagues in this region who have compelling ideas, expertise to share, and a witness which inspires.

I am going to hear Franklin and Amanda tell the story of Durham Presbyterian Church.

I am going to listen to Howard Dudley share his love of music.

I am going to hear Erin Mills talk about Youth Ministry.

I am going to hear Mary Katherine Robinson and Katherine Cooke Kerr speak about pastoral care across the generations in our churches.

 

 

I am going to hear John Cleghorn tell the story of Caldwell Presbyterian in Charlotte.

 

 

I am going to learn about centering prayer from Katie Crowe.

I am going to listen, pray, and seek God's will for my church and our church.

I am going and I hope you will join me.

Some of you may not be sure if you will be welcome there; at least not yet.  Let me tell you that I belong to no affinity group.  I belong to no special interests groups in our church.  I have been to both national Next events and have yet to hear one stump speech supporting any special interest group or any one party at the expense of another in our church.  I don't subscribe to binary conversations about good Christians and bad Christians, liberal Presbyterians and conservative Presbyterians, or us Presbyterians and them Presbyterians.

The deep truth is there is no us and them.  There is really only us.  Disciples of one Lord.  Stewards of one church.  Proclaimers of God's infinite grace.  I truly think that the Spirit of unity, God's Holy Spirit, is calling us in the mid-Atlantic to draw close in prayer and really listen to discern God's future.

My best guess is that we have a better chance of hearing the still small voice, catching a glimpse of whatever new things God might reveal, if there are lots of ears in the room and lots of eyes joined in looking.  Another guess I have is that our ears are tuned for different melodies:  some of us long to hear orthodoxy, some long for service, some for evangelism, some for altruism, some for unity, and some for church growth.  If all those ears with their specific and relative tunings will all join in worship and learning together, well then I suspect we just might hear or see what it is that God is likely to do.

Will it be a perfect conference?  Nope (at least I don't think so - I have directed too many conferences to think it will be seamless).

Will there be moments of uncertainty?  Probably (at least I think so - I have directed too many conferences to think it will be seamless).

Will there be a faithful call longing for a faithful response?  Surely (because that is the promise of Jesus -- 'wherever you go, I go.'  And wherever Jesus might go, we are called to follow.).

I do hope you will join me.  There are no votes taken.  There are no debates held.  You will not hear once more about what makes us different.  But instead, we will learn once more about how we can, through our practices and shared knowledge, be a more inspiring church together.

Fruitful practice: Passionate Worship

Passion is a word that gets a lot of use.

It can, for Christians, allude to the crucifixion:  as in “passion play.”

It can have romantic overtones and under notes:  as in “passionate love story.”

Passion can refer to purpose, vocation, or deep meaning:  as in telling a group of people that the purpose of life is to “find your passion.”

Or, it can refer to commitment, deep commitment:  as in passionately investing and participating in an activity or an event.

When we talk about passionate worship, we are referring to this final usage.  Being invested in worship of God.  Not focused on what is happening around us, but focused upon our activity of devotion.  The words we say.  The prayers we pray.  The songs we sing.  The sacraments we share.  Are we waking up, getting dressed, and thinking -- “Another Sunday, I guess I have to go to church today?”  Or, are we thinking, “I cannot believe I have been given the gift of the opportunity to worship the God who made me, preserves my life, and offers me the means of grace.”  Not simply motioning our way through the experience, but fully, passionately participating in the liturgy and activity of worship as if it were the most important thing in the world to us, right then, right there?  Why do I ask this question?

Well, because worship really is the most important thing we do in any given week.  It is time devoted and dedicated to God for saying “thank you,” “we love you,” and “we honor you.”   And shouldn’t our worship to God be invested, passionate worship?  Robert Schnase writes, “Without passion, worship becomes dry, routine, boring, and predictable, keeping form while lacking the spirit.  Passionate describes an intense desire, an ardent spirit, strong feelings, and the sense of heightened importance.  Passionate speaks of an emotional connection that goes beyond intellectual consent.  It connotes eagerness, anticipation, expectancy, deep commitment and belief.  What each person brings to worship shapes the experience for everyone as much as what he or she finds there.  Passionate worship begins with each worshipping individual.”

Worship is something that we all do.  Each of us prays the prayers of worship.  Each of us sings the hymns.  Each of us hears the words of faith and the music of the choir.  And, we hear it as individuals who participate as one body.  Which is a way of reminding us that when we each invest ourselves in worship, our entire church benefits.