Sense and Sensuality

Many people say that in the end, MCC's great gift to the world will be our reconciliation of and celebration of Christianity and sexuality. I agree. But I also think we will return an equally important gift to the church--the gift of sensuality. Now, many people will say they are the same, and certainly, that's a defensible position. But it's a little like saying Ghirardelli and Keebler are the same....Let me explain.

My sermon for this week is "Sense and Sensuality," and I promised you a full-bodied experience. That you shall have! But it might not be exactly what you think, especially after you read the scripture passage from the Song of Songs. You see, over time, we have lost the "full-bodied" nature of sensuality and reduced what actually pertains to the whole body, and all five senses, to a single set of sensations and very limited body parts. Even the dictionaries participate in the conspiracy. As soon as you get beyond the first definition, or sometimes in the first definition itself, you find these narrow definitions of sensuality: suggesting sexuality; voluptuous; physical rather than spiritual or intellectual; lacking in moral or spiritual interests; worldly.

Oh, my. There is so much about sensuality that is not sexual, not limited to the physical rather than the spiritual or intellectual realms, and not lacking in morality. I can offer you my personal experience here. I've often had my senses ignited by someone or something smart and challenging--no need to separate sensuality from the intellectual, for sure. For most of my teenage years, the feel and smell of a leather Wilson basketball, the saltiness of sweat, and the exhaustion of effort were the heights of my sensual experience--no immorality there. And even now, the intimacy of communion, the re-membering of Jesus' body broken for me, the sharing of food and drink and whispered blessings offer me a tangible sensual experience that is nothing other than spiritual.

My days are made more beautiful by unexpected sensual pleasures--the pleasure of touch when a nineteen year old daughter plops down in my lap while we're watching TV, or an eight-year-old who is "too big" forgets and slips his hand in mine when we cross the street, or the connection made when fingers momentarily touch in an action as simple as the passing of a spoon. Smells can take me back to my grandmother's kitchen, warm and safe as a womb, or to my grandfather's garage, full of tools and fishing poles and wood-shavings and every kind of potential adventure. The gift of loving words spoken and heard or written and read can offer not only pleasure, but hope and comfort and even renewal and healing.

As you go through the rest of your week, I invite you to turn your sense receptors up to high. Allow your whole life to be a full-bodied experience! When you eat, taste! When you touch, feel! When you breathe, smell! Then this weekend, come and worship the One who has created and continues to re-create us as sensual, spiritual, sexual, intellectual, physical, emotional, beloved beings.

Love and Blessings,

Hi-lites vs. Highlights

For those of you who weren't able to worship with us last weekend, I want to share with you some highlights and hi-lites from the sermon, and offer encouragement as you consider how you can incorporate the highlights rather than the hi-lites into your spiritual journey.

First, some clarification on hi-lites vs. highlights. Last weekend I shared this invitation from the Lite Church:

Welcome to the Lite Church

We ask for 24% fewer commitments

Home of the 7.5% tithe

10 minute sermons

35 minute worship services

We only follow 8 commandments--your choice

We teach 3 of the 4 Gospels

We're everything you've ever wanted in a church ... and less!

That's a hi-lite, and oh, it sure can be tempting to look for just such a church!

Now here is a highlight from Thomas Bandy, author of Moving Off the Map, the primary resource that guided Team Vision as they led us through discerning our core values, bedrock beliefs, mission, and vision statements:

"Congregations ... fail to make intentional connections between faith sharing and beneficial action. They believe that 'actions will speak louder than words.' Yet in [our] world in which do-gooders are regarded with remarkable suspicion, congregations have to share the motivation that lies behind the action. Beneficial action, without intentional spiritual growth, never achieves long-term societal solutions."

I expanded on this quote by saying that beneficial action without intentional spiritual growth will never achieve long-term personal transformation, either. Faith without works is dead. And works without faith is dead, or if not dead, certainly not life giving or life transforming.

My desire is that our faith community will take seriously our commitment to individual spiritual growth. Through spiritual practices of prayer, study, meditation, service, silence, song, worship, and so many more, we continue to draw close to God, to abide in God's presence, and to renew our spirits.

This week we are adding two new spiritual growth opportunities to the over 25 that are ongoing here at MCC Austin. Tonight we begin a new season of the Word on Wednesday. This season's theme is Talk the Walk: How To Talk about Your Faith and Your Church. On Sunday evening at 5:30, we will hold our first ever Sunday evening prayer service at Faith Presbyterian, 1314 E. Oltorf. I hope you will consider making one of these experiences a part of your weekly walk. If neither fits your schedule or piques your interest, give Alycia a call at 512-291-8601 and visit with her about the many, many other opportunities available.

Finally, I leave you with this story. Two friends were talking together. One said, "I'm thinking about leaving my church." The other asked, "Why's that?" The first replied, "Oh, my church just doesn't feed me anymore." With genuine concern, her friend asked, "When's the last time you picked up a spoon?"

Come and be fed; the tables are ready.

Always in Hope,

Called Out

You offered lots of feedback on last week's sermon (which I always appreciate), and you were largely united in your comments. In fact, this one comment pretty much sums up your combined sentiments: "Oh, my God! You called us out!"

Un-huh. Sure did. Haven't you heard that the first obligation of the preacher is to comfort the afflicted...and afflict the comfortable?

But a couple of you took a different tack. A couple of you wanted to know, "Pastor, if there are so many people and projects in need of our money and time, then why are we going to spend so much money to build a new building?"

I'm glad you asked! It's a good question, and one that I know is motivated by wanting to discern God's will rather than planning our own agenda.

Let me offer you three reasons for why I think building a larger sanctuary is exactly the right thing to do now.

First, never does a week go by that someone does not tell me that finding MCC Austin has saved his life, restored her hope, or lifted her spirits. We want to have room for all of those who want to come and connect with us, but we don't. Studies suggest that when facilities (sanctuaries, parking lots, etc.) are 80% full, people entering experience a strong feeling that there is not enough room for them. During the winter and spring, we were over 80% capacity at 11:00 over 80% of the time, and even during the summer, when attendance is always lower, we're averaging 75% capacity at 11:00. Those of you who attend only on Saturday night or Sunday morning at 9:00 might not see it, but that's our reality. We also welcome 80% of our first time visitors at 11: 00. We do not want them, or anyone else, to get the message from lack of seats or lack of parking that we don't have room for them. (One thing to keep in mind for those of you who feel like the sanctuary is less full than it used to be: we've used all kinds of innovations and have added 50 additional chairs to the sanctuary over the past year.)

Second, until we provide more worship space, we will have to keep hiding our light under a bushel--or at least keep it dimmed a bit. We have stopped publicizing MCC Austin in any ways beyond our web site and your personal invitations. Why? For the reasons I laid out above. We would love to promote through the Chronical and other venues some of the truly amazing series and services that we offer, but we can't do that faithfully because we don't have room. We must rectify that. Part of our commitment to being a church without walls is breaking down barriers that would prevent anyone from coming into our fellowship; radical hospitality demands that we make sure we have room for all those who would like to join us!

And third, we need more room in our sanctuary so that all those who would like to fish can learn to fish. Have you heard the saying, "Give people fish and they eat for a day; teach them to fish and they eat for a lifetime"? Well, worship offers us the greatest opportunity to teach people to fish--it's not the only way, not always even the best way, but it certainly has the greatest impact. Worship is the best way for us to provide education and understanding through sharing the Word, reminders of God's grace through the sacraments, and opportunities for community through fellowship. Additionally, we make sure that your gifts of time, talent, and treasure are not just one time charity, but are rather ongoing acts of social justice...compassionate acts motivated by love for God and sustained through the continuing nourishment of the Holy Spirit.

So it turned out to be a week of calling each other out, and I know it made some of you anxious. But don't be! One of the greatest gifts I ever received was when a dear friend called me out--out of my comfort zone and into ministry in MCC. That's what people in community with each other do: call each other out, draw each other in, and build each other up!

Always in Hope,

Shelter in God/Shelter-ing God

Since the beginning of August, we have used portions of “Eagle’s Wings” by Michael Joncas in our Sunday worship services. It is a beautiful work of art that soars just as its name suggests. Listen:

You who dwell in the shelter of our Lord,
who abide in God’s shadow for life,
say to the Lord: "My refuge, my rock in whom I trust!"

Refrain:
And God will raise you up on eagles’ wings,
bear you on the breath of dawn,
make you to shine like the sun,
and hold you in the palm of God’s hand.

This weekend my sermon will be “Shelter in God vs. Shelter-ing God.” Reading that title, you might think that the “sheltering God” part is a description of God, that it refers to God’s act of sheltering those who seek shelter. But I’m thinking of something different. I’m thinking of the many ways and means by which we humans attempt to shelter God. I’m thinking of how often we slip from seeking the shelter of God’s providence, protection, and grace into seeking to shelter God…to protect God.

There are many ways we do this. Sometimes we, like the people of Israel, seek to place God in a box—a small one like the Ark of the Covenant, or a larger one like the temple Solomon built in Jerusalem. Our motivation may be to keep God near and be assured of God’s presence, but this effort is often less than a half-step away from an attempt to exert our own control over God. “Let’s keep God right here, in this denomination, in this sanctuary, at this altar so we know at all times where God is and what God’s doing!” Next thing you know, we’ve gone beyond keeping God in a box and are suddenly permitting or denying the requests of those who would dare to request access. You see, now that we’re sheltering God, we must protect God from all kinds of imagined affronts and intrusions.

Then we become small and our faith becomes small…

I invite you to think about these things as you read the scripture passage for this week. (Actually, I encourage you to read all of I Kings 8 if you can.) Ask yourself some questions: What are my tendencies to shelter God? Do I try to protect God from my shortcomings? From what I perceive as other’s failings or impurities? My desires? From what do I seek God’s shelter? From circumstances? Pain? To whom should I offer shelter?

And finally, I want you to keep this in mind. We at MCC Austin have declared that we discern God calling us to be a church without walls. Do you hear the hope in that? Do you hear a desire NOT to be a box in which we keep God? I think it’s a clear sign of hope and a very good start…

See you in church!

Come, Holy Spirit

Like many people who write regularly as part of their vocation or avocation, I am blessed to have a muse. My muse and I have a complex relationship. I don’t own her and can’t predict her arrival. She won’t schedule appointments in advance. She shows up unbidden, always sure I’ll be happy to see her, and I always am.

But there is one thing I’ve learned to count on over time--the more I prepare myself for her arrival, the more likely she is to come around. By that I mean that my muse likes to weave words from a variety of fabrics. If I’ve collected threads of stories and strips of ideas from books and movies and a heart and ear tuned to life, she shows up happy and gets right to work, helping me spin off sermons and series, and I delight in her presence.

But if I’ve cut myself off from the warp and weft of life, too busy to pick up a book, not paying attention to the vignettes unfolding around me, she shies away, dancing, I’m sure, on more inviting playgrounds.

Seems to me that this relationship is analogous to my relationship with the Holy Spirit. As we’re reminded in the Fourth Gospel, the Spirit, like the wind, blows where it will. Surely the Spirit delights to settle into a space that’s made warm and welcoming by a willing heart, an open mind, and a compassionate soul. Conversely, I can imagine the Spirit choosing to move on, to keep looking for a kinder resting place, when confronted by a no-vacancy sign on a heart or a mind whose Day Planner section has even the margins filled with “stuff.”

Over the last week I was fortunate to have the opportunity to prepare myself for both muse and Spirit. For the muse, the stirring beauty of the Pacific Ocean, the energy and romance of the streets of San Francisco, the wonder of the Museum of Modern Art, and the tastes and smells of all the world stretched out like an endless banquet. For the Spirit, the inspiration and encouragement of shared ministry, the renewal of morning devotionals and reflection, and the soul-deep impact of Taize and candlelight.

When the Spirit moves near you, will she want to come in? Will she see an invitation to dwell in spaces made warm and welcoming by prayer, rest, devotion, creativity, and passion? Or will she find doors closed and areas sealed off by obstacles such as over-work, worry, negativity, and self-doubt?

Take a moment…

Turn everything off…

Light a candle…

Breathe deeply…

Sing to the Spirit…

She will come. She will come.

Peace,

BIG Things are Happening!

As you read this, I’m in San Francisco attending the MCC Large Church Pastors Conference. Yes, as you might imagine, there is plenty of “size matters” double entendre being bandied about. The fact that we’re meeting in MCC San Francisco’s sanctuary in the Castro seems to encourage the jokes, probably because “size matters” is one of the prevalent themes of window displays and advertisements.

Now, you might think I digress in beginning with this description of the conference, but actually, I’m right on task. The point is, size really does matter, especially in churches. Some of you will remember that in the two years before leaving to serve as Elder, Rev. Ken Martin began to work with the Board and other church leaders in the area of church size dynamics. One of the themes of my candidacy week with you included numerous conversations about the congregation’s willingness and my ability to lead us into our “big church” years.

“Big church” is variously defined, but for our purposes, the label means an average weekly worship attendance of 350 or more. Reaching that kind of size has many implications for a church. One of the greatest impacts, as we often talk about, is the changing role of Sr. Pastor. Most noticeably, perhaps, has been our shift from a congregation in which the Sr. Pastor provides the majority of pastoral care to a model in which our 25 Deacons are now trained and supported in providing a great deal of pastoral care for the congregation at large and the Sr. Pastor provides pastoral care for the Deacons. The Sr. Pastor or another member of the pastoral staff also provide care in any situations beyond our Deacons’ training or confidence level.

Last year, I attended the LCP conference a mere 3 weeks after being installed as your pastor. The experience was invaluable in two ways: First, we received excellent training from a member of the Alban Institute staff pertaining to large churches and multi-staff management. Second, the introduction to new colleagues and friends from the denomination’s other large churches opened up a collegial support and information sharing network that I relied on over and over throughout the year.

This time, I’m not quite so green, feel much more comfortable participating in the give and take of ideas and resource sharing, and am (if possible) even more excited about getting back to you and beginning to implement some of the ideas that have been shared or inspired through our sessions.

Size dynamics is such an important area that a great deal of our Elders’ new structural model takes into account the size of churches. Rev. Elder Darlene Garner will still serve MCC Austin as our “care” Elder and will still work with us in areas of connection, communication, and care as well as moderate our Region VI conferences. But beginning in August, Rev. Elder Ken Martin and Rev. Elder Lillie Brock will be working more directly with MCC Austin as they take on the responsibility of providing leadership and resources to the MCC churches that already are or are moving toward the “large church” category.

All jokes aside, I know talk of “big church” and “size dynamics” is not a comfortable or exciting topic for many of you. Some of you have loved MCC Austin for years and your greatest desire is for it to keep that smaller, “we’re a family” feeling. Some of you still aren’t sure that it sits well with you for your pastor not to be the one you count on for all your care concerns. Some of you wonder how much time we have left before being part of MCC Austin starts to feel institutional or impersonal.

Friends, we (I say “we” because we share responsibility for how we grow.) are not going to let that happen. If we do what we’ve dreamed about, talked about, and sung about since Advent and draw the circle wide, we’re going to have a BIG circle with ever more souls on the inside. Whether we continue to feel “at home” and “part of the family” at MCC Austin is up to us. The staff and I will work diligently to provide worship and connection points through ministries and other opportunities. The board will continue to work hard to ensure that we have the financial health and resources to keep improving and adding to our programming and other connection points. And you will keep making sure that MCC Austin feels like home to our faith family as you continue embracing our mission to affirm everyone’s gifts and journeys, connect people with God and each other, and create hope and healing.

I’ll be coming home next week after I enjoy some vacation time with my family, and I promise you I won’t leave my heart in San Francisco. How could I? I left it with you in Austin.

BIG Love and BIG Blessings,

The Bible on Broadway: Seasons of Love

We bring down the curtain on our Broadway series “Redefining Family” this weekend with the music from Rent. I know some of you can’t quite bring yourself to “appreciate” this series and won’t be sad when it’s over, but I for one will miss it when it’s gone. For one thing, I think using the music from Broadway allows us truly to celebrate worship. I love to look out and see you smiling, singing along, tapping your feet, even occasionally shouting out as you did last week. And I love seeing the way the music moves you, not just the rousing anthems, but the ballads, too.

I especially appreciate the way that connecting scripture and our faith stories to the music and stories of Broadway keep us connected not only to each other within our individual faith community, but with a much larger community. Theologian Karl Barth once said, “The Pastor and the Faithful should not deceive themselves into thinking that they are a religious society, which has to do with certain themes; they live in the world. We still need - according to my old formulation - the Bible and the Newspaper."

Now, I know Barth specifically named the newspaper as the source that connects our faith with the “here and the now.” But I think the arts do the same. Great books, plays, poems, paintings, and musical compositions can be vehicles that open us up to spirit, truth, and light. And they don’t have to be OLD to do it. We know in our gut when something is destined to be a classic, when it speaks truth to us in new language. If you think the standard for sacred text is that it be at least 1500 years old and written in a language other than English, try rereading “The Gettysburg Address.” Try listening to the theme from Rent, “Seasons of Love.”

525,600 minutes!
525,000 journeys to plan.
525,600 minutes –
How can you measure The life of a woman or man?In truths that she learned,
Or in times that he cried.
In bridges he burned, or The way that she died.It’s time now to sing out,
Though the story never ends
Remember the love!
…Measure in love.

Call me sacrilegious, but I’m telling you, if Jesus had had an iPod, this song would have been on his Favorites playlist.

And you can bet he’ll be in church this weekend…and he hopes to see you there.
Love,

The Healing of Racism

Last Saturday, a group of 45 ministry leaders, staff, and board members gathered for a six-hour workshop with facilitators from the Houston-based Center for the Healing of Racism. The workshop was made possible by One Love Ministries, MCC Austin's diversity ministry.

CFHR is unique among such organizations in that its emphasis is on healing. The CFHR trainers first educate about racism, then facilitate the process by which people can begin to counter the effects of racism on their lives and become empowered to interrupt the cycle of racist attitudes. We are all hurt by "isms," the trainers stress, whether we are the recipients of oppression or whether we perpetrate oppression on others OR ourselves.

It's not possible, nor is it permissible, for me to delve too deeply into the contents of our day together because the CFHR believes in creating a "relational space" in their workshops in which people can allow themselves to become vulnerable to sharing all the hurt oppression has brought them. Only then, after that personal and communal acknowledgment, can healing begin. But I can share a story from outside the workshop that might help bring into focus for you just how prevalent a hurt and a challenge racism in the U.S. still is.

Staceyann Chin grew up, as the title of her new memoir tells us, on The Other Side of Paradise. She grew up on the impoverished side of Jamaica opposite the beaches and resorts and paradise enjoyed by tourists. That in itself was enough to give Chin a difficult childhood, but to compound that, she was never claimed by her father and was neglected by her mother. And she was gay. To be gay in Jamaica is literally to be in fear for your life-to be verbally and physically abused relentlessly, even to face death at the hands of vigilante groups unhindered by police. Chin made the decision that she would live as an out lesbian, and the only way to guarantee that she would stay alive to do it, was to come to the U.S.

You might assume that with all our anti-LGBT laws and discriminatory practices, the U.S. still offered a much better life for Chin. You would be right. But here is the part of her story that issues a stinging wake-up call. In her own words, Chin found it "almost as problematic to be black in America as to be gay in Jamaica." Call her over- reactive. Divide her assessment by two. Remind me that we now have a black president. It's still appalling.

In closing, I want to answer a question I've been asked several times: "Why address racism in a church setting? There are plenty of other topics more suited to pursuing at church." I think it makes perfect sense that efforts at healing any kind of "ism" begin in the faith community. By beginning in the faith community, we begin with an absolutely necessary ingredient: the desire to love each other as Christ first loved us. Efforts at healing "isms" may find a start and even achieve some momentum within the realm of politics or society at large. But by placing this work in the church, we ground our human efforts in prayer, allow ourselves to be inspired by the Holy Spirit, and give our goals over to God who "is still doing great things"!

Always in Hope,

The Bible on Broadway: Tenderness and Tenacity

This week we'll be exploring "Tenderness and Tenacity," and once again there appears to be a contradiction in the two terms. If you're not sure what I mean, try this. First, call forth images of tenderness... Now, images of tenacity. How many of them were the same?

My guess is not many. The two qualities seem to be at odds with each other. But let's look a little more deeply. Consider the tender love of a father for his child. Then consider the tenacity with which that father will protect the child. Imagine a woman's tender, compassionate love for her aging father. Then imagine the tenacity with which she will combat insurance companies and health care facilities for her father's right to life with dignity.

Often we find ourselves in instances where our path is not a clear and direct one. Often a single, specific approach is not enough to lead us to our destination.

I can think of many examples from our MCC Austin faith story in which we approached things from seemingly contradictory directions. Several of our members, committed to compassionate and supportive community for HIV positive friends and family, pushed hard and long for an HIV support group. Finally, out of this two-pronged approach of sensitivity and stick-to-it-iveness, Positive Perspectives was born.

Another example of the results born of the partnership of tender love and tenacious drive is our Saturday @ 6:24 worship service. Over 5 years ago, a small group of MCC Austin members told Rev. Elder Ken Martin of their desires for an additional worship service. They hoped to offer a different expression of worship that included praise music and personal testimony and prayer time. Their dream grew from a tender place in their hearts, but it became reality through the tenacity of their will and lots of hard work.

This weekend, as we mark the 5th anniversary of our Saturday service, we offer special thanks to those who began it. We are grateful for your faithfulness, for your vision, for your tenderness, and for your tenacity. May God bless you and keep you!

Always in Hope,

The Bible on Broadway: Redefining Family

It feels like I’ve been working harder than usual this week. I’ve been poring over lyrics, listening to choruses, and watching film adaptations of musicals. Now, for those of you who are wondering if I’ve picked up a second job, the answer is “No.” I’ve been right here, in my office, preparing for our upcoming sermon series, The Bible on Broadway: Redefining Family.

Some of you might be thinking that it sounds like I haven’t been working at all! You’re wondering how you can find a gig that’ll pay you for immersing yourself in the best that Broadway has to offer. Others of you (and I do know who you are) are thinking there’s not enough money in the world to make Broadway appealing to you.

Without divulging the truth about where along that spectrum I lie, let me tell you what I think is important about this observation—that those of you from each extreme and every point in between will come to MCC Austin this month expecting to worship God in a way that offers renewal, rest, joy, forgiveness, and meaning to your life. Whether you can sing every word of Dreamgirls’ ballad “And I Am Telling You,” or you think Rent is only something due on the first of each month, you will come expecting that God will meet you here.

Take me at my word: God will.

And even though most of us would say that that’s enough, the truth is, most of us want more. We want God to meet us here in the manner in which we’re most comfortable, or in the manner we find most appealing. Some of us want God to meet us in jeans and t-shirt, smelling like Grandma’s kitchen, gathering us up in loving arms and assuring us everything is gonna be alright. Some of us prefer that our worship service be like an audience with royalty: we like to see our God as Christ the Victor, wearing robes and crown and ushering in God’s dominion. Some prefer to greet Jesus on a colt, entering triumphantly amidst our shouts of praise and waving arms. Some of us wouldn’t recognize God in any of these forms but can always find God in the swirl of baptismal water or the glow of a candle’s flame or the nuanced rhythm of silence…

As we worship together these next few weeks, I invite you to open yourself fully to the possibilities for meeting God in the words and music and messages of the musical stage. Remember, Broadway may not be your cup of tea, but to others, it’s music to their ears.

Always in Hope,

God's Healing Hope and Peace

Whenever I invite people to worship with us, I always make sure they know they have three opportunities each weekend. My invitation goes something like this: “We have three worship services each weekend, and we’d love to have you join us for one or all of them! On Saturday night at 6:24, we have “comfortable church” with music from our 6:24 Band. On Sunday morning at 9:00 and at 11:00 we have…” Right about here in the invitation my mouth and mind go their separate ways. My mouth says something like “a more traditional service with a choir and worship leaders wearing vestments.” My mind, on the other hand, is still hung up on my invitation to “comfortable church” and the vague worry that some people might assume that Sunday morning is “uncomfortable church.”

I mean, if you make a point of using a particular label or description like “comfortable” for certain services, then it’s reasonable for people to assume that other services are not that certain thing, right?

Is anyone still reading?

If you are, and you’re not totally confused, you’ll find this next part simple to follow…

This Sunday our worship services will be slightly different in their order and emphasis. Now, many of you won’t notice any real change at all, but others of you will realize that our emphasis is on “healing” and that we’re offering time and space and intention for the Spirit to move in healing ways. Ordinarily, I’d describe it to you as a “healing service” and move on. But this week, I want to make sure that I don’t leave room for any misunderstanding: Even though the Worship Team has created a “healing service” for this week, it is NOT unlike every other worship service we share together. Whether we acknowledge and lift up God’s healing presence every time we gather or not, we definitely receive it.

Often, we don’t even know the healing that others have experienced while praying, singing, worshiping…. And of course, it doesn’t stop with worship. We’re often unaware of the healing that God has worked in people’s lives, but we can be sure it is happening constantly. God knits broken hearts together, and they’re not “as good as new.” They’re better than ever! They are bigger—at least 2 sizes!—and more ready to give and receive and nurture love. God soothes exhausted spirits and offers everyone the invitation to “Come unto me and rest.” God offers hope in the face of impossibility and peace in the midst of chaos.

Come and worship with us this weekend. I don’t promise you anything new, different, or exciting. Just the same ol’ same ol’: healing, wholeness, peace, hope, joy, acceptance, affirmation….

Ahhhhhh. Thank God.

Love and Blessings,

I.O.U.

So many of you have asked about the poem that I shared last Sunday that I have included it for you here. It was written by Dr. Bertha Munro, academic dean at Eastern Nazarene College from 1923 to 1957.

I.O.U.

I owe you respect for your personality. You too are that climax of God's creation, made in His likeness. I owe you a right to your opinion. You may differ with me without fear that I shall raise a barrier between us if we do not see eye to eye. We can disagree and still be friends.

I owe you belief in your integrity. Since I do, I shall put the best possible construction on your actions. I shall trust your words and deeds, even those I am unable to understand.

I owe you honest treatment; I shall not steal people's good opinion of you. I shall voice the sort of comment on you and your actions that I should wish made on me.

I owe you a "taking off place." Though I value your friendship, I shall not enslave your spirit nor bind you so closely to me that you will lose the wealth of other friendships, or even fail to develop your own best potentialities.

I owe you thoughtful consideration. I will not steal your time when you are evidently busy, just because I have free time to "kill."

I owe you honest wages if I chance to be employer, honest work if I chance to be employed, honest measure and just weight in any case.

I owe you special help in time of special need: my hand, my ear, my voice. I owe you patience with what seems to me your stupidity or slowness. I owe you the identification of Golden Rule imagination. I owe you "love unfeigned."

I owe it to you not to push you down in order to lift myself. Rather, I owe it to you to see you forge ahead of me without any reaction of envy or jealousy- even to give you a push. I owe you a good example, a Christian testimony. I owe you the gospel of Christ to the limit I possess it. I owe it to you to prove its power to the full, that God may challenge and encourage you by the sight of what He has done for someone else.

All this I owe you, and much more. I owe it to you not to fall behind with my payments. I shall always owe the abounding love that will meet those unforeseen and unexpected demands of the emergency and will save me from "Thou shalt" and "I must."

Owe no one anything, but to love."

May your life be filled with true friends and with the constant assurance that Jesus has called you friend.

Love and Blessings,

Friendship Sunday

This weekend we're celebrating our friendships at MCC Austin. On Saturday night, you can invite your friends to enjoy live music by our special guest, world class guitarist Vicki Genfan. On Sunday, we'll share music that lifts up friendships, give thanks for our friends, and explore what the Gospels might teach us about friendship. I encourage you to bring one or two or even five or six of your good friends with you!

Many of us find it difficult to invite friends or acquaintances to church. With our friends, we may know that they already attend another church, and so we might hesitate to invite them to our church because it may seem like illegal recruiting. Or perhaps we know that our friends embrace a spirituality that is not necessarily in full lock-step with what they will find at our progressive Christian church. With acquaintances, we sometimes feel that we don't know people well enough to know what they might like. I think there can also be a fear that if we invite someone to church, they might misconstrue our meaning, message, or motivation. We're used to wearing our Ls, Gs, Bs, and Ts with PRIDE--especially after last week--but truly, who wants to be a P for proselytizer?

For this week, I ask you to come at this invitation thing from a different angle. This week I ask you to think about what being a part of MCC Austin means to you. Are you inspired by worship? Do you love the music? Do you feel at home here, welcomed by your faith family? Do you like the values your children are learning here? Do you find that MCC Austin offers you sacred space in which you can encounter the Holy? When you leave here, are you inspired by the Spirit to share peace, hope, love, joy, and compassion with others?

If any of these things are true for you, if MCC Austin is a gift to you, then give it away! We so often will tell a friend about a new product we like, recommend a doctor or therapist, or tell them they must see a certain movie or read our latest favorite book. Well, it can be just that simple and unencumbered to invite people to church.

This week, I hope we fill the sanctuary at all three services with our friends. The friends we bring this week may never return or they may become members themselves, but don't worry about that. Just think about how glorious it will be to worship the God you love, surrounded by a community you love, with your best friends thrown in for good measure.

Blessings,

Pride 2009

Happy PRIDE! I hope you're planning to join MCC Austin as we participate in the week's activities. Specifically, I hope you'll worship with us at the PRIDE Multifaith service on Thursday, June 4, at 7:00 at University Baptist. Our own Jeff Lutes, Executive Director of Soulforce, will be the featured speaker. A combined MCC Austin choir will sing and several of our members and staff have helped plan and will help lead the service. On Saturday afternoon, from 4:00 to 8:00, we will be hosting a booth at the PRIDE festival. We'd love to see you there. (Please note there will be NO Saturday @ 6:24 service this Saturday.)

Shortly after the festival booths close, we will be walking in the PRIDE parade. You're welcome to cheer from the sidelines of the parade route as the 6:24 Band "floats" by or put on your walking shoes and come walk along with us. Wouldn't it be wonderful if a couple hundred of us invited parade goers to visit our Church Without Walls?

And finally, we will celebrate PRIDE together on Sunday at worship. Now, I don't want to give it all away, but I will tell you that we're going to have a wonderful time sharing our stories with each other. As I told you last Sunday, I finally did myself the huge favor of reading Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees. Here's what Kidd tells us about stories through the words of Lily, the book's narrator:

One thing I was starting to understand was that August loved to tell a good story.

"Really, it's good for all of us to hear it again," she said. "Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can't remember who we are or why we're here."

Come and worship with us this weekend as we remember who we are and why we're here!

Love, Peace, and PRIDE,

Dare to Believe (Pentecost)

How fitting that we celebrate Pentecost this Sunday. This week, barely three days old, has already confronted us with a hurricane of historic headlines. Why, on Tuesday alone we had two major announcements. Early Tuesday morning we had the opportunity to celebrate a first for Latinos and Latinas, the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Regardless of your politics and regardless of the outcome, I hope you can enjoy the significance of another barrier coming down, of another "first" for a community of often marginalized people. Second, we heard the crushing news from California, that the state Supreme Court had affirmed 6 to 1 that a simple majority vote can deny rights to a group of people based on...anything? Distaste, misinformation, religious beliefs, tradition, fear, better fundraising?

If it weren't so close to Pentecost, I might become a cynic.

But Pentecost won't allow it. Think back through the history of Pentecost. The Jews celebrate Shavu'ot 50 days after Passover, as both the early spring harvest and the giving of The Law, Torah, on Mt. Sinai. Christians know Pentecost as the day 50 days after Easter on which Jesus' disciples offered the Gospel message of Jesus Christ to the Jews gathered for the Jewish Pentecost. On that day two miracles occurred: one, the Spirit descended upon the people with power, as tongues of flame, and each person gathered for the festival heard the Gospel proclaimed as if in her own language. The new Christians were united as one community through the power of the Holy Spirit. There were no barriers. You might describe it as "church without walls."

Even through subsequent exile and persecution, Jews have continued to understand Shavu'ot as a day of extravagant hope. Passover freed the Jews from physical bondage in Egypt, but the giving of the Torah freed the Jews from spiritual bondage to idolatry and immorality.We Christians celebrate a similar hope in Pentecost. We celebrate the knowledge and hope that God is at work in and among God's people through the Holy Spirit. Just as our Easter enthusiasm begins to wane, just as the new begins to wear off the renewal we find in the Resurrection, Pentecost comes along to revive us in mission and purpose.

That's why I can't become a cynic. Even though most days half the news or more is bad, I keep reminding myself of what Dr. King said, "Social change cannot come overnight, but we must persevere, and work as if it were a possibility the next morning." That's the promise of Pentecost: at any given time the headlines can change because the Spirit is alive in God's people.

Please come worship with us this weekend as we Dare To Believe. Oh, and wear red-this weekend it's totally appropriate to be flaming.

Always in Hope,

Dare to Pray!

Oh, my! If we haven't strettttcccchhhhed you yet during the Dare Ya series, we certainly will this weekend. This Saturday and Sunday, we'll dare you to pray dangerous prayers, and we'll give each one of you a personal copy of Regina Sara Ryan's poem "Dangerous Prayers."

I want to take the opportunity today to look both forward and backward a bit. First, I want us to look back to Easter and the beginning of the Dare Ya series. In our daring to dance, to cry, to fly, to dream, and to pray, we are daring to claim that we are Easter people. We are daring to announce that the entire course of history changed through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Not only that, but we are affirming that we have been and will continue to be personally changed by our relationship with God through the person of Jesus Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Who knows better than we do what a risk we take when we dare to be changed, dare to be different!

Looking forward, we end the Dare Ya series next week with "Dare To Believe." Next week is Pentecost, the "birthday" of the church, if you will. It is the day, fifty days after Easter, when we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit, arriving like tongues of flame and "firing up" the baby Christians to come out of their closets-or their safe spaces-and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world.

Of particular relevance to us as we celebrate this Pentecost is the multicultural, radically inclusive nature of Pentecost. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, every person present that first Pentecost could comprehend each other's words even though they were speaking in a variety of different languages. We've been trying to recreate that experience in worship. Have you noticed over the past several weeks that we have been blending a variety of languages into our Sunday worship services? I have enjoyed hearing the surprised whispers of recognition all around me as the congregation realizes that an unexpected language is being spoken. "It's German!" someone will whisper excitedly. "Is that Hebrew?" someone wonders. The Sunday that Daniel sang the consecration in Spanish, I couldn't hear your words, but I could see the tears in many of your eyes.

Is there anything more amazing than feeling like the Word of God is being spoken directly to us? In the way we most want to hear? In the words that cut through all our filters and our "stuff" and our defenses and break our hearts wide open?

I dare you to let your heart be broken wide open by the vastness and reality of God's presence. And I dare you not to rush to patch your broken heart back together, but to leave it open...leave it open to life, laughter, tears, learning, joy, dancing, dreaming, love and always, more love.

Liebe, Karlek, Amore,

Daring to Dream

This weekend we will Dare To Dream, and that’s not all. We’ll also be commissioning our Building Team and praying for God to bless them with creativity, energy, and endless hope as they work to shape the dreams we bring to them into a new home for our worship and work.
I thought that when we actually reached this point, I would be nothing but happy. For one thing, we’re building for the best of reasons: our family is growing! We need more seats for worship. We need more childcare and classroom space for our children. We need more meeting space for our growing number of WoW U. offerings and ministries and community gatherings. God is great and it’s all good!

But…every time I step into our sanctuary, walk across the golden-brown floors, feel the sunlight filter down around me, and look at those rising, rounded walls that nurture us like a mother’s womb, I wonder how much of my heart I can truly give to a new building. This place, this unconventional, built by loving hands, hauled in on a truck place is a home like I have never known. I’m certain those words “We are standing on holy ground/And I know that there are angels all around” were never true until the people of MCC Austin sang them for the first time at Freedom Oaks.

I think what I’m doing today is inviting you to enter into this new building journey with us in any way that is authentic for you. Some of you will be like me, riding high on waves of excitement and then slipping below the swells of nostalgia. Some of you will be facing only forward, ready for every bit of challenge and change a capital campaign and building program can bring. Some of you will be looking back, wondering if the best has already been or is happening right now and longing to keep everything just the way it is.

I encourage you to be patient and loving with yourself, allowing yourself to feel whatever you feel. When enthusiasm is running high, call a Board member or email the Building Team and share your thoughts and dreams. When every sign of new construction heightens your sorrow over the coming changes, call your deacons or your pastors and share old stories and prayers for peace of mind.

I am going to keep reminding myself over and over that God has called MCC Austin to be a Church Without Walls, and we can be faithful to that calling in a cathedral of stained glass and stone, in the most unconventional of church buildings, in a rented gymnasium, a converted office building, or standing beneath the oaks with dirt under our feet. Wherever we gather in God’s name, God is most assuredly with us, and we are on holy ground.

Love and Blessings...

Flying Forward, Looking Back

Oh, you must worship with us this weekend as we Dare To Fly! Once again, you might be hard pressed to find the connections between our theme and scripture, but trust me, they are there and we will be blessed as we explore them together. Additionally, we will celebrate Mother's Day, and I encourage you to bring not only your moms to church, but also bring all of the special people who have nurtured and inspired and been "like a mother" to you. And of course, I offer a special invitation to all of you who are mothers, who show through your words and actions the amazing love of Mother God.

We have all that to look forward to, but I'd like to change directions and invite you to look backward with me for just a moment.

Last month, our MCC Board of Elders met in what we were led to expect would be a landmark meeting in respect to the challenges that our denomination is facing and the changes that might need to be made. We were asked to pray specifically for our Elders to have the courage and wisdom to let themselves be inspired--filled with and moved by the Spirit.

I think all of us who heard Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson's sermon on the Sunday immediately following and then read her pastoral letter on that Monday believed that indeed, the Sprit had moved among our leaders and they were renewed and refocused and ready to lead us into a new day.

Since then, Rev. Elder Wilson has released another pastoral letter, this one with more detailed information about what our new provisional structure will look like and how our elected leaders will work with other denominational staff and with churches to enact some of the changes they have envisioned.

I remind you of all this for several reasons. First, I want you to know that this is not about "they" or "them" but about "we" and even "I." If you give of your time, talent, and treasure to an MCC church, you are not only part of but an important part of MCC. MCC Churches are first and foremost a fellowship in which all of us are welcome to bring our gifts and voices to the communion (common) table. If you don't know in your heart that you are vital and included in our dream of "Tearing Down Walls, Building Up Hope," then you just haven't "gotten" it yet. But don't worry, we'll stick with you till you do!

Second, I remind you of all these significant events so that you will continue praying. Many of us are more "acute" pray-ers than we are "chronic" pray-ers. In other words, something comes up that freaks us out or demands our attention and we start to pray. However, when the immediate crisis is eased, we often turn our prayers to other needs or even drop them altogether. This time, let us be chronic pray-ers, and let's pray for our fellowship and our leaders without ceasing.

Finally, I raise these thoughts because I want you to know that the health, mission, and vision of MCC Churches is very important to your local MCC Austin leaders. What happens at the denominational level matters to us greatly, and we are committed to offering input on, responding thoughtfully to, and supporting prayerfully and practically our denomination and our leaders. This does not mean that we accept all decisions and directions without questions or even, when appropriate, challenges. Rather, it means that we constantly affirm that we share the same goals for our united ministry and that we encourage and demand the best that can be offered from our leaders and ourselves.

I leave you with these three questions today: First, will MCC Churches succeed in Tearing Down Walls and Building Up Hope because MCC Austin is helping lead the way by becoming a Church Without Walls? Or will MCC Austin succeed in becoming a Church Without Walls because MCC Churches are helping lead the way by Tearing Down Walls and Building Up Hope? And finally, does it matter?

I can only answer the third question. It doesn't matter at all how these things are accomplished as long as they are. May we continue as individuals and as a body to be led and inspired and graced by God.

Dios Te Bendiga,

We Dare to Cry

As we embrace the challenge to become a radically inclusive community, we want to take every opportunity to recognize and lift up our God given diversity whether that diversity is in our culture and language, our physical bodies, our faith traditions, our gender identities, our sexual orientation, spirituality, or any of dozens of other divine diversities.

This week we Dare To Cry with each other in worship as we continue with a theme inspired by Regina Sara Ryan's poem "Dangerous Prayers." But that's only one piece of our worship; this weekend we'll also celebrate Cinco de Mayo, the Fifth of May, when we gather together. Cinco de Mayo commemorates Mexico's victory over the larger and better equipped French forces at the Battle of Puebla in 1862.

As I've thought about our opportunity to celebrate with our Mexican brothers and sisters this weekend, I've become aware of many opportunities to grow in our relationships with our expanding multicultural families--opportunities that can be informed by our Christian experience.

First is an opportunity to grow and expand our language. Too often we congratulate ourselves over our daring use of gender inclusive language for our God and then stop right there. Every once in awhile we allow ourselves the rare Alpha, Omega, or Jehovah. But what beauty rests in "Vaya con Dios" and "La paz de Cristo." For centuries Christians denied ourselves the beauty and diversity of our own languages and approached God only in Latin, through priest translators. Martin Luther (I'm making up for criticizing him last week :-) ) wrested God language away from the institutional Church and offered it to the people.

May we honor that gift not only by using the breadth of human languages in our God talk, but also by allowing ourselves the inspiration of new translations and new voices. We can rest in the New Revised Standard Version or even the King James Version of the Bible if we like, but we can also dance in the modernity of The Message and allow ourselves the familiarity of the New Living Bible. We can read Bonhoeffer and Buechner, but we should also converse with Isasi-Diaz and Gutierrez.

I love the UCC's promise that "God is still speaking." Who am I to say whether God speaks with a lilt or a drawl or a 'het or a tilde or...

Dios Te Bendiga...

Dare to Dance!

This week in worship we will dare you to dance. Now, I know there might be some of you who will choose to stay home rather than submit yourselves to the possibility of being asked to dance in church. To those who might be so inclined (and I am definitely one), please don't worry. Other than the people who have already volunteered to dance, none of you will be expected to--well, none of you will be expected to literally. All of you will be invited to let your spirits dance, your faith dance, and your imagination dance. And you're welcome to do that in the privacy of your own home or discreetly in your extra-ecclesial life. If, however, the Spirit says move and you gotta move, you will find yourself much supported and encouraged.

That leads me--albeit a little awkwardly--to other opportunities we have to dance, to move in and with the Spirit. The music of change has been our theme song for over two years now. We've quick-stepped through times, moving so fast that everything became a kind of blur. We've waltzed through the beauty and tradition of different liturgical seasons; and we've slow danced a time or two, holding on to each other rather than really moving anywhere. But now, we're ready to dance with the stars-or at least reach for them.

We're creating a challenging, exciting program for our next steps. This new program will include strategic moves in the areas of radical inclusivity and Christian hospitality; connecting people to God and each other throughout the MCC Austin community of faith; and providing for sustainable and meaningful growth not just in numbers, but in discipleship and spiritual maturity.

I encourage each one of you to take an active role in choreographing our next 1-10 years. Help us to know who you are, what your passions are, what you desire from your church home, and what you discern God is calling MCC Austin to be and do. The first and easiest way to do that is by participating in a survey that our Mission Possible Team (formerly Focus 8 Team) is launching today. The survey has many purposes, among which are the following:

--To provide MCC Austin members with an opportunity to reflect on the current state of the church and assist church leaders in planning for the future
--To help direct strategic planning efforts (radical inclusivity, connecting new and current members to congregational life, and meaningful growth (including plans for building a permanent sanctuary)
--To help evaluate members' level of church involvement, church attendance, perceptions of congregational identity, demographics, and hopes for the future of MCCA

The survey is targeted toward new members and long-term members and can be accessed via Survey Monkey beginning today, April 22, and ending on May 3, 2009. The survey is completely confidential, and the data collected will be collated and analyzed by members of the Mission Possible Team. Results will be available to the congregation at the end of May 2009 and will be used to make recommendations and to assess how well we are addressing our priorities.

I know answering surveys is probably not at the top of your priority lists and probably not anywhere at all on your "bucket lists," but please do take the time to fill this one out. You heard Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson assure us last Sunday that God is using MCC Churches to bring hope and healing and the Gospel of God's love to all the world. Such an ambitious agenda must be owned not just by a few MCC leaders or churches, but by all of us--especially by those of us, as Rev. Bill Young reminded us, to whom much has been given.

The music is playing; shall we dance?

Blessings and Love...

A Worship Experience

Each week I look forward with great anticipation to our worship together, and this weekend especially so. On Saturday @ 6:24, our Congregational Life Director, Alycia Erickson, will preach at MCC Austin for the first time. On Sunday, the Moderator of MCC Churches, Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson, will bring us the message in both services. In addition, our sanctuary choir will sing at both services on Sunday as will our good, good friends Out4Joy: Ken, Kim, Kay, and Doug.

So I've been thinking about what a wonderful thing it is to practically wish the weekdays by so that I can get to Saturday and Sunday worship. I mean, that's a really good way for a pastor to feel, right? I hope a good number of you feel that way too...

But on the other hand, last night I had an experience that reminded me that worship can happen in all kinds of ways and in all kinds of places.

I shouldn't have been surprised by my worshipful experience last night; after all, I was at church! But I wasn't in the Easter adorned sanctuary. I was in the social hall, sitting at a yellow plastic covered table, drinking watered down iced tea, eating stale pretzels, and making my way through an ambitiously full agenda with the rest of our Board of Directors.

Low and behold, worship happened.

As we entered the portion of our agenda titled "Grow as Spiritual Leaders," we read several times through Philippians 4:4-9. I asked the Board to share how those verses spoke to their personal lives or their service as Board members. What many of our reflections included was an acknowledgment of how we begin to lose our fear and find peace and accomplish more when we give our decisions and actions over to God. After our sharing time, we offered a prayer thanking God for direction and for the peace that passes understanding and headed into the action items on our agenda. We ended up working for another 2 hours, and we took up some challenging topics, but our spirits were calm, our hearts and wills were united in purpose, and we managed to laugh many times before we finally blew out the Christ candle and went home.

Here's what I took from this experience: Worship is ceremonies, prayers, or other forms by which we express our love for God. Many times this happens within a stated worship service, but many times it happens outside of those services. We worship together at Seders and socials, when we collect our history and welcome diversity, when we tend the grounds and decorate the sanctuary, when we teach the children and host IHN families and write checks for MCC Cares and pray for our Board of Elders. Whenever we express our love for God, we are worshipping.

Don't get me wrong-this is not an invitation to skip Saturday and Sunday worship services. Rather, it's an invitation to add to them in whatever ways speak to your spirit. Attend a class; join a ministry; participate in church meetings, go to cluster conference. God doesn't wait for the weekends to bless us; we need not wait to worship.

Grace and Peace...

Dancing With Conflict

This week we have many opportunities to fellowship and worship together. As we prepare to enter these holy experiences together, I want to share with you sort of a Paul Harvey "The Rest of the Story" story. You see, the events that led up to bringing you this week's worship offerings have been as much of a gift as I anticipate the services themselves will be. Here's the rest of the story:

The week before Holy Week, the MCC Austin Sunday Worship Team met for our weekly meeting. About a dozen of us squeezed around tables in a local deli, indulged in soup or sandwiches or decadent desserts, tried to filter out the clink and clatter from the counter, and tried to turn down the volume of nearby guests, some of whom practice their Spanish lessons with great volume and gusto each Monday evening.

The Sunday Worship Team is made up of roughly 15 people, and it represents a pretty wide swath of the congregation. We have members whose creativity and imagination skip merrily off the charts, members whose knack for analysis and deductive skills would shame Sherlock Holmes, and members who fill in nicely the whole spectrum in between. Each member of the team is passionate, amazingly articulate even if not especially verbal, and almost all fill leadership roles in their families, work places, or at our church. Considering our strength and diversity, we never should have been surprised by what happened next, but we were.

On that Monday before Holy Week, we had a rather unexpected visitor show up at our meeting: Conflict.

What on earth was Conflict doing there? We hadn't invited him. She isn't a member or regular attender of our church as far as any of us know. And besides, isn't Church the last place that Conflict would feel welcome, or wanted, or fed???

I'm embarrassed to say we politely ignored Conflict for a while, kind of like we would an elephant in the room. But then we threw caution to the wind and invited him to dance on the table! Right there in the midst of us! Right there in public!

Oh, and she kept dancing...even when the rest of us went home.

I couldn't sleep. I kept thinking about her dancing there.... In one way, she was pitiful and all alone, just dancing there with no one wanting to join her. And yet, in another way, she danced with us all...wouldn't stop beckoning and cajoling and insisting we be her partner...would not be, and never will be, ignored.

I don't know how each member of the team interpreted this dance, but I know that for me the interpretation continued to be one of great sadness. From my perception, our imaginations were stymied. Our appreciation for each other and free flow of ideas and actions were all gunked up. We were broken. I couldn't fix us. I felt small and useless.

I did the only thing I felt like doing. I cried. Then I did the only thing I thought could help. I prayed. Sometimes I used words; sometimes I didn't. Many of my prayers were like great big fill in the blank tests-with most of the blanks empty.

And then, finally, another visitor appeared. This one longed for and very much welcomed: The Lord of the Dance. The Lord of the Dance who danced at Bethlehem, at Cana, on the mountaintops, on the water. The one who dares us to remember:

They cut me down and I leapt up high
I am the life that will never, never die
I'll live in you if you'll live in me
I am the Lord of the dance, said he.

I don't know if any of this matters to you, but for me, I have had the blessing of an early Easter. For several days I had felt confined to a dark tomb, and then the Light of the World burst in and my hope and my heart were resurrected again. The Lord of the Dance wanted to dance with me! And not just with me, of course, but with all of us who had been hurting all week.

A week after Conflict surprised us all, our team met again. This time, we had a chair waiting for Conflict, and of course, he was there, but looking a little smaller and less sure of himself than he had been the week before. I think she was taken aback to find that not only had each of us found during the course of the week a certain comfort with having her present, but we were expecting her. We saved a chair for her. Yes, Conflict took his place right there along with Kindness, Compassion, Tension, "Stuff," Certainty, Doubt, Love, Pain, Grace, and all the rest of us. It was a blessed time.

So there you have it-the rest of the story. But only the rest of this one story. The Living Word has many, many more stories to create with us all.

I hope you find the services this week beautiful. They were created through the grace of God by beautiful people who love you, each other, and our God very much. Thanks be to God!

Always in Hope,