I attended the church where I have been doing pulpit supply to hear their lay leader speak. This was the first time I attended a regular worship service at this church. The lay leader I believe also holds the title of Sessions Chair.
The message was a very good one based on Colossians. The sermon began talking about how, now that it is the end of January, most of our resolutions for changed behavior have been broken already. He talked about the things that we need to do that are biblical. He had three points (I did not take notes, so just know there were three of them) that the Bible in Colossians calls for us to adhere to. He did a very nice job tying scripture to scripture to support his points. I was not surprised to see that this church uses a biblical based model for their sermon/teachings.
After the service, the speaker said to me, "way to put the pressure on, having a pastor in the pews". I took this moment to say, "do you might if I offer a suggestion?" He said, "sure." I then proceeded to tell him that I thoroughly enjoyed his sermon, that he had all the points, and that it flowed from topic to topic. The suggestion I made was to be sure to write to speak. I noted that we do not normally speak in the same way that we speak and that the places he stumbled were very good sentences to write, but they did not flow off the tongue. In the future, after he writes what he wants to say, go back and read it for speaking. He may need to actually read out loud the sermon, or just read it slowly (rather than a quick reread before entering the pulpit) in order to find those awkward to say sentences.
I hope he understood this as a help, not a critique.
His mother would love for him to take courses to become certified in their tradition to carry credentials as a pastor (like a CLM or LP in The UMC) and embrace what she sees as his call. He himself is dedicated to seeing this local church survive and even thrive, but does not want to take on the role of pastor.
I will continue to pray for this congregation as they struggle with determining their long term future.
Monday, January 27, 2020
Thursday, January 23, 2020
Another Message
This week I was scheduled to bring the message to the Presbyterian Church again. I knew what I wanted to say and, again, I found someone else had already said it. Rather than paraphrase or pick and choose lines, I managed to mash three writings into one coherent thought with my own reflections thrown in. I enjoy that this congregation seems to get a more intellectual train of thought and is open to an exhortation to do more as Christians than the average church goer.
I knew the elder who coordinates the speakers and normally leads worship was not in attendance this week as he needed to drive his daughter back to college for the spring semester. What I didn't expect was that the two women who were tasked with doing the opening portion of the service and reading the scripture would ask me to do the entire service.
I was not opposed to doing this as I have done this for fourteen years. However, I did let them know that one of the things I was realizing during this sabbath year is the need to have lay involvement. I shared that I usually lead the entire worship service though I appreciate the need for and help of lay leadership. I also shared that one of the church's I attended had fourteen people helping with the service between announcement and lectors and ushers and acolytes. I think it also included special music, etc. I let them know that although I was willing to do the entire service, I had goals for my next appointment to involve the laity in worship.
After worship the coffee hour included what I thought was a nut filled dessert. I didn't take one, but the hostess insisted that it was a layered pumpkin dump cake and the nuts were whole and only on top so she removed them for me! It was actually very good, although it was sweet in spots. I ended up sitting and talking to her for over half an hour about this, that, and the other.
I also realized that I had never actually attended a Sunday morning worship service in this church. The coordinating elder is bringing the message next week. I will be attending in order to hear what message he is given for this congregation.
Sunday, January 12, 2020
Baptism of the Lord Sunday in an Anabaptist Church
I hadn't really planned ahead to which church I would be attending this week. I had though I might attend a nearby UMC congregation, but then decided I didn't want to drive 1/2 hour each way to attend a congregation of 14. At ten o'clock, I started googling congregations in the other direction to find out who was meeting at 11:00 or at a time I would still be able to make. Imagine my surprise when I couldn't find times for those congregations on either find-a-church or facebook. Some had no details listed at all on find-a-church; others had some information but no worship times listed. On facebook, if there was access to the "about" they didn't have a worship time listed. Oh, there were nice paragraph long invitations to join this very welcoming congregation for worship (if you can guess what time we meet!).
Finally, I decided to see if I could find information on the Mennonite Church that my neighbor attends. I found them on facebook and immediately saw posts, the second of which, told me they meet at 10:45. As they were less than ten minutes away and it was now 10:35, I made my decision, grabbed my coat and put on my shoes.
When I arrived I was greeted by two greeters and an usher who handed me a bulletin. I did not make it in without having to share my name and where I was from. Worship did not start on time. There seemed to be a discussion regarding a church meeting that week and if it was going to happen. The greeter was able to leave his post and he came to gather more information from me.
Worship started nine minutes late with announcements and a call to worship. We then sang a medley of three worship songs accompanied by the piano and a husband and wife team on accoustic guitar and bass.
We then heard some information on the mission focus beginning next week and the upcoming denomination wide gathering for mission. It was interesting to note the picture showing the larger gathering showed all the women on the stage wearing long dresses and hair coverings. In this congregation, there was only one woman wearing a "mesh basket" and I didn't notice if anyone was wearing dresses. There were a lot of jeans. This wasn't surprising as this is a community church attended by a lot of farmers and other rural people.
I knew the church did not have a regular pastor and had a rotation of speakers who had been with them for a very long time. Today the message was brought by a Catholic nun.
Since this was Baptism of the Lord Sunday, she spoke on baptism. She began her message by sharing her own story. She had been baptized as an infant as is the norm in the Catholic Church. She was a practicing Catholic, if not a Christian. When she was twenty, she had a tangible, visible encounter with God. She had a conversion experience that lead her to acquiring a Bible for the first time. Up until this point, Bibles were those giant coffee table books with pictures. She started reading the Bible for the first time in her life. She was particularly drawn to the verses on baptism.
She then began a quest to be baptized by immersion. She shared a very detailed and humorous story, culminating in her being baptized at a Pentecostal church.
She then informed the congregation that as Mennonites (the name on the door), they were Anabaptists. She asked the congregation if they knew this. Some didn't. She then went on to explain in detail the differing beliefs in baptism from the early church and into Augustine and Luther and the development of the anabaptists and their persecution. She shared from the Anabaptist rites of baptism and shared from scripture three or four verses on baptism. She also did a side bar on the eunich and Philip.
I thoroughly enjoyed the message today. The geek in me was thoroughly geeking out!!
It is worth mentioning that in this congregation, all visitors are introduced. The information I shared with the greeter was then relayed to the congregation during this time. There was no greeting time, for which I am thankful. However, several people made sure to talk to me as I tried to maneuver my way out after worship.
I am sure that this experience will not be repeated as I would not know ahead of time who the speaker would be or what the message might be. I am thankful that God saw fit to lead me to this congregation on this Sunday, but I will not be returning.
Finally, I decided to see if I could find information on the Mennonite Church that my neighbor attends. I found them on facebook and immediately saw posts, the second of which, told me they meet at 10:45. As they were less than ten minutes away and it was now 10:35, I made my decision, grabbed my coat and put on my shoes.
When I arrived I was greeted by two greeters and an usher who handed me a bulletin. I did not make it in without having to share my name and where I was from. Worship did not start on time. There seemed to be a discussion regarding a church meeting that week and if it was going to happen. The greeter was able to leave his post and he came to gather more information from me.
Worship started nine minutes late with announcements and a call to worship. We then sang a medley of three worship songs accompanied by the piano and a husband and wife team on accoustic guitar and bass.
We then heard some information on the mission focus beginning next week and the upcoming denomination wide gathering for mission. It was interesting to note the picture showing the larger gathering showed all the women on the stage wearing long dresses and hair coverings. In this congregation, there was only one woman wearing a "mesh basket" and I didn't notice if anyone was wearing dresses. There were a lot of jeans. This wasn't surprising as this is a community church attended by a lot of farmers and other rural people.
I knew the church did not have a regular pastor and had a rotation of speakers who had been with them for a very long time. Today the message was brought by a Catholic nun.
Since this was Baptism of the Lord Sunday, she spoke on baptism. She began her message by sharing her own story. She had been baptized as an infant as is the norm in the Catholic Church. She was a practicing Catholic, if not a Christian. When she was twenty, she had a tangible, visible encounter with God. She had a conversion experience that lead her to acquiring a Bible for the first time. Up until this point, Bibles were those giant coffee table books with pictures. She started reading the Bible for the first time in her life. She was particularly drawn to the verses on baptism.
She then began a quest to be baptized by immersion. She shared a very detailed and humorous story, culminating in her being baptized at a Pentecostal church.
She then informed the congregation that as Mennonites (the name on the door), they were Anabaptists. She asked the congregation if they knew this. Some didn't. She then went on to explain in detail the differing beliefs in baptism from the early church and into Augustine and Luther and the development of the anabaptists and their persecution. She shared from the Anabaptist rites of baptism and shared from scripture three or four verses on baptism. She also did a side bar on the eunich and Philip.
I thoroughly enjoyed the message today. The geek in me was thoroughly geeking out!!
It is worth mentioning that in this congregation, all visitors are introduced. The information I shared with the greeter was then relayed to the congregation during this time. There was no greeting time, for which I am thankful. However, several people made sure to talk to me as I tried to maneuver my way out after worship.
I am sure that this experience will not be repeated as I would not know ahead of time who the speaker would be or what the message might be. I am thankful that God saw fit to lead me to this congregation on this Sunday, but I will not be returning.
Friday, January 10, 2020
Christmas Eve
Actually convinced my mother to attend Christmas Eve worship at her church. She hasn't attended in over a year and was resistant at first. This church was also my church when I was a child and is in my hometown. I've been gone for over forty years, but there are still some people I remember who remember me.
Walking in, the greeter was a woman who was ahead of me in high school but we were in marching band together. She greeted me by name and I actually immediately recalled her name, a bonus for me!
The acolytes came in to light the candles. There were the altar candles and the chancel candelabra that were fine. The extra candelabra at the front of the rail must not have been checked. Both inside candles did not light and another candle on the left did not light. The head usher came forward to try to get them to light but couldn't. In that moment, I truly appreciated my last altar guild member.
The special Christmas music vocalist was running late so that piece was dropped from the early service that we attended. Two young people provided other special music, but it was not particularly Christmas music. We heard "Hallelujah" on trumpet. "Hallelujah" other than the chorus is not appropriate for Christmas. The second piece was a very nice piano piece that was not Christmas at all.
The service was formulated as a regular service. We sang a hymn, we had special music, there was a pastoral prayer and an offering. There was a children's message and a sermon. The sermon wasn't so much about Christmas and the birth of Christ. In fact, at the writing of this post, I couldn't tell you what the message was about.
During greeting time (yep, that was a thing), I said hello to a classmate who I only had one class (gym) so we didn't really know one another. I didn't recognize anyone else in the congregation. Later, as we were leaving one of the choir members who I know but was never really friends with came up to make sure she had talked to my mother. She didn't even offer a hello to me and stood at a distance from where I was standing so that it felt awkward to butt into the conversation. I was a little upset that she didn't even offer a hello.
The service did end with communion and candle lit "Silent Night". It was a little awkward which the pastor attributed to this being his first Christmas in this congregational setting.
All and all, it was a nice Christmas Eve service to attend after participating in/leading as pastor the last fourteen Christmas. My mother even said she might attend church again at some point. She liked this pastor. She did not like the previous pastor and wasn't really taken with the one before that. Hopefully, she will attend again.
Walking in, the greeter was a woman who was ahead of me in high school but we were in marching band together. She greeted me by name and I actually immediately recalled her name, a bonus for me!
The acolytes came in to light the candles. There were the altar candles and the chancel candelabra that were fine. The extra candelabra at the front of the rail must not have been checked. Both inside candles did not light and another candle on the left did not light. The head usher came forward to try to get them to light but couldn't. In that moment, I truly appreciated my last altar guild member.
The special Christmas music vocalist was running late so that piece was dropped from the early service that we attended. Two young people provided other special music, but it was not particularly Christmas music. We heard "Hallelujah" on trumpet. "Hallelujah" other than the chorus is not appropriate for Christmas. The second piece was a very nice piano piece that was not Christmas at all.
The service was formulated as a regular service. We sang a hymn, we had special music, there was a pastoral prayer and an offering. There was a children's message and a sermon. The sermon wasn't so much about Christmas and the birth of Christ. In fact, at the writing of this post, I couldn't tell you what the message was about.
During greeting time (yep, that was a thing), I said hello to a classmate who I only had one class (gym) so we didn't really know one another. I didn't recognize anyone else in the congregation. Later, as we were leaving one of the choir members who I know but was never really friends with came up to make sure she had talked to my mother. She didn't even offer a hello to me and stood at a distance from where I was standing so that it felt awkward to butt into the conversation. I was a little upset that she didn't even offer a hello.
The service did end with communion and candle lit "Silent Night". It was a little awkward which the pastor attributed to this being his first Christmas in this congregational setting.
All and all, it was a nice Christmas Eve service to attend after participating in/leading as pastor the last fourteen Christmas. My mother even said she might attend church again at some point. She liked this pastor. She did not like the previous pastor and wasn't really taken with the one before that. Hopefully, she will attend again.
Back to the familiar
I didn't have real plans for worship this weekend. So I went back to the congregation that I feel could be a church home if I were looking for one.
The first reason for attending was a feeling of tiredness after a semi disappointing Christmas break. I had been so excited to have almost two weeks off...two Sundays with no worship to plan and attend and no Christmas Eve service to stay home for. The original plan had been to go to my daughter's the weekend before Christmas, spend Christmas Eve and Day with family and head out on a trip the week after. My daughter, who owns her own business, asked that we come after Christmas because they would not be in the shop on Thursday and Friday. They were doing a practice run with the store staff for when they would be on their vacation and wanted to be in town in case there were issues.
The first weekend, we just stayed home. We left on Monday for my mom's. Jack and I went to see the latest Star Wars movie and got groceries. Tuesday we hung with my mom and convinced her to attend worship at her church with us. Christmas Day we went to the regular holiday gathering and stayed an extra two hours in order to force my mother to do something other than sit home and focus on her mouth (a story for another time). Thursday we headed out to Erie. We were to pick my daughter up at the car dealership where her car was getting looked at. We had to pick her husband up at the shop where he had stopped in to monitor the opening schedule that the staff was in charge of for the first time. My bank happens to be next door to the shop, so while the others went there, I finally got my mailing address changed on my account (a three person, twenty minute ordeal).
We didn't have real plans for our time together which was a good thing. The kids found out that their car could not be repaired or couldn't be repaired economically. The balance of our time together revolved around the kids researching and test driving new vehicles. They did make a decision to lease a vehicle in the shop's name. We did eat meals together and the kids got to go ice skating together. It wasn't a total loss.
But again, no trip, no vacation feeling, we returned home to a nothing schedule and I had a sub assignment on Thursday. I wasn't up for making a trip to a new and different worship experience.
Also, the pastor at this church had just made public the news that after six years of trying to adopt a child as a single somewhere around fifty year old man, he finally had some good news to share. He was fostering an almost seven year old boy who was available for adoption. This boy had four siblings younger than himself in different foster homes. The pastor is going to be able to foster to adopt all five siblings! It is going to take a village, but this former kindergarten teacher/pastor/lifelong student feels that God's timing is perfect and his lifelong dream of being a father will finally come to fruition. I wanted to share my joy in his situation in person.
Worship itself was as wonderful as I expected it to be. The only thing I would point out was that two of the hymns did not include all the verses. It was printed in the bulletin along with the page number, but only the hymn name was announced and the congregation ended up starting to sing the wrong verses. What was worse on one hymn, the choir was singing the wrong verse!
I wonder where I'll be going this week.
The first reason for attending was a feeling of tiredness after a semi disappointing Christmas break. I had been so excited to have almost two weeks off...two Sundays with no worship to plan and attend and no Christmas Eve service to stay home for. The original plan had been to go to my daughter's the weekend before Christmas, spend Christmas Eve and Day with family and head out on a trip the week after. My daughter, who owns her own business, asked that we come after Christmas because they would not be in the shop on Thursday and Friday. They were doing a practice run with the store staff for when they would be on their vacation and wanted to be in town in case there were issues.
The first weekend, we just stayed home. We left on Monday for my mom's. Jack and I went to see the latest Star Wars movie and got groceries. Tuesday we hung with my mom and convinced her to attend worship at her church with us. Christmas Day we went to the regular holiday gathering and stayed an extra two hours in order to force my mother to do something other than sit home and focus on her mouth (a story for another time). Thursday we headed out to Erie. We were to pick my daughter up at the car dealership where her car was getting looked at. We had to pick her husband up at the shop where he had stopped in to monitor the opening schedule that the staff was in charge of for the first time. My bank happens to be next door to the shop, so while the others went there, I finally got my mailing address changed on my account (a three person, twenty minute ordeal).
We didn't have real plans for our time together which was a good thing. The kids found out that their car could not be repaired or couldn't be repaired economically. The balance of our time together revolved around the kids researching and test driving new vehicles. They did make a decision to lease a vehicle in the shop's name. We did eat meals together and the kids got to go ice skating together. It wasn't a total loss.
But again, no trip, no vacation feeling, we returned home to a nothing schedule and I had a sub assignment on Thursday. I wasn't up for making a trip to a new and different worship experience.
Also, the pastor at this church had just made public the news that after six years of trying to adopt a child as a single somewhere around fifty year old man, he finally had some good news to share. He was fostering an almost seven year old boy who was available for adoption. This boy had four siblings younger than himself in different foster homes. The pastor is going to be able to foster to adopt all five siblings! It is going to take a village, but this former kindergarten teacher/pastor/lifelong student feels that God's timing is perfect and his lifelong dream of being a father will finally come to fruition. I wanted to share my joy in his situation in person.
Worship itself was as wonderful as I expected it to be. The only thing I would point out was that two of the hymns did not include all the verses. It was printed in the bulletin along with the page number, but only the hymn name was announced and the congregation ended up starting to sing the wrong verses. What was worse on one hymn, the choir was singing the wrong verse!
I wonder where I'll be going this week.
Visiting my Father
I hesitated to write this post. It's not exactly about my journey through worship during my sabbatical year. Sunday turned into a travel day as we spent two full days at my daughter's and then did laundry and slept at my mom's before heading back home.
I couldn't drive by my dad's and not stop. So we called him from the gas station to let him know we were on our way.
It was a normal visit in some ways, but completely different in other ways. Visits with my dad over the last several years have involved his theories on climate change in which he lets us know that he knows what is happening and he wants to find a billionaire or get a million dollar grant to back him in his research. He also talks of wanting to go to the north and south poles to see for himself the effects of his theories. He also continues to talk about ancient aliens, a lifelong interest of his. He also has problems with names. As he talks about current family things, I am usually referred to by my aunt's name of Virginia.
This visit he barely touched on the topic of climate change. He was deep into reminiscing about his early years. He told detailed stories about old girlfriends. There was a story about a woman who came to visit him soon after he moved into his new house. He didn't recognize her and he remembered how she had once stolen his car keys and refused to return them. He hotwired his own car to get home and never did get those keys back! He had no interest in resuming a relationship with her. He talked about another neighbor who he thought would have been his ideal mate, but he never did pursue a relationship with her. He told a story about driving his mother to visit relatives and being picked up for driving in New York State on a PA permit or without a license (I don't quite remember the detail of this) and how his dad had to drive his car, which was not road legal, to pick them up at the police station.
It was interesting to hear these stories, since he usually tells us he doesn't remember anything from his childhood or even our childhoods.
However, the most disturbing part wasn't that he would refer to me as Virginia in his stories...I often call my kids by my brother's name. My brain just makes the family connection to a name without processing the actual person I am talking to/about. This time my dad was truly confused. He would be talking and he would say Virginia then he would stop and look at me. He'd point at me and say, you're not Virginia, who are you again? I'd remind him I was his daughter and he had the story correct. He'd continue the story. Another time, he was telling me a story about my mother when they were married and again, he stopped, looked at me, and asked Do you know Donna? I said, yes, she's my mother, I'm Jackie. He took a moment to process that and then continued the story.
It was slightly upsetting to think that my dad, who we had been worrying about his mental state for years and had been so glad when he finally fully retired from driving cross country at age 80, was continuing to decline.
So instead of going to worship on this morning, I spent time with my earthly father hopefully making those synaptic connections that will maintain until the next time we get to visit.
I couldn't drive by my dad's and not stop. So we called him from the gas station to let him know we were on our way.
It was a normal visit in some ways, but completely different in other ways. Visits with my dad over the last several years have involved his theories on climate change in which he lets us know that he knows what is happening and he wants to find a billionaire or get a million dollar grant to back him in his research. He also talks of wanting to go to the north and south poles to see for himself the effects of his theories. He also continues to talk about ancient aliens, a lifelong interest of his. He also has problems with names. As he talks about current family things, I am usually referred to by my aunt's name of Virginia.
This visit he barely touched on the topic of climate change. He was deep into reminiscing about his early years. He told detailed stories about old girlfriends. There was a story about a woman who came to visit him soon after he moved into his new house. He didn't recognize her and he remembered how she had once stolen his car keys and refused to return them. He hotwired his own car to get home and never did get those keys back! He had no interest in resuming a relationship with her. He talked about another neighbor who he thought would have been his ideal mate, but he never did pursue a relationship with her. He told a story about driving his mother to visit relatives and being picked up for driving in New York State on a PA permit or without a license (I don't quite remember the detail of this) and how his dad had to drive his car, which was not road legal, to pick them up at the police station.
It was interesting to hear these stories, since he usually tells us he doesn't remember anything from his childhood or even our childhoods.
However, the most disturbing part wasn't that he would refer to me as Virginia in his stories...I often call my kids by my brother's name. My brain just makes the family connection to a name without processing the actual person I am talking to/about. This time my dad was truly confused. He would be talking and he would say Virginia then he would stop and look at me. He'd point at me and say, you're not Virginia, who are you again? I'd remind him I was his daughter and he had the story correct. He'd continue the story. Another time, he was telling me a story about my mother when they were married and again, he stopped, looked at me, and asked Do you know Donna? I said, yes, she's my mother, I'm Jackie. He took a moment to process that and then continued the story.
It was slightly upsetting to think that my dad, who we had been worrying about his mental state for years and had been so glad when he finally fully retired from driving cross country at age 80, was continuing to decline.
So instead of going to worship on this morning, I spent time with my earthly father hopefully making those synaptic connections that will maintain until the next time we get to visit.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)