Transformations in Worship
St. Andrews Presbyterian Church: Pastors Steve Gribble and Kristal Smith
Shippensburg Presbyterian Church: Pastor Denny Finnegan
I had the opportunity in recent weeks to worship at both our St. Andrews and Shippensburg Churches, and on reflection, it amazes me how these two churches reflect some of the creative energy that is happening in our worship today. The worship services in these congregations are very different, and in comparing them, we see some of the vital and sweeping changes that have been blowing through our Church.
St. Andrews had adopted a model of two very different worship experiences. It requires a very gifted pastor and preacher in Steve Gribble to pull this off every week. The St. Andrews early service is fully contemporary with a praise band, and a very informal kind of ethos. An excellent PowerPoint display helps guide the congregation for the whole service. Their large screen hangs prominently above the choir loft. The sermon is preached informally from the aisle of the sanctuary with a more relaxed and engaging presentation which Steve delivers with convincing power and warmth. This service also includes a drama team was presented a beautiful enacted-parable of the Bible text for the day. With their full praise band, and drama team St. Andrews does an excellent job of contemporary worship.
And then it all is transformed for their later service. The screen disappears, and a full, robed choir uses the choir loft, the organist leads the service, and the pastors wear their formal clerical robes. Steve preaches from the pulpit with a more serious but still very engaging style. This is classic, traditional worship and it is done very well.
The thinking behind all of this is, of course, to offer different options and styles of worship for different people. It is a common model but St Andrews does it particularly well since their two services are truly unique and different. The contemporary service is unabashedly contemporary in every detail; the traditional service is fully traditional without apology or hesitation. Both services are very well done, well planned, and carefully expressed. The worship services are very strong at St. Andrews.
Now the St. Andrews model came to mind when I worshiped at Shippensburg which has adopted a very different model for worship. Their one service is truly blended. There are many touches of a contemporary style blended into a traditional order of worship and ethos. There is a full choir in robes but their offering was a contemporary praise song accompanied by guitars. The sermon is traditional, from the pulpit, and very biblical. Denny’s preaching was biblical in a classic, traditional sense which is almost rare today. This was almost a verse by verse commentary on the Bible passage. I found this to be a refreshing and very spiritually fulfilling, deep encounter with the scriptures. I found myself during the sermon reaching for the pew Bible to check out this or that verse which was being preached. In my mind, the best preaching always pushes me back into the scripture for study and prayer. This was preaching as it should be in a classic sense; this deep engagement with the scriptures.
But after this traditional biblical sermon, the Shippensburg congregation moved together into one of most creative expressions of worship that I have experienced in any of our churches. This was an extended time of shared prayer. But this was very different. Members of the congregation shared their prayer concerns at great length, much more than simply shouting out a name and a disease. And Pastor Denny, instead of waiting until everyone was finished sharing, prayed after each person shared. Moreover, as he prayed for each prayer concern, he encouraged the congregation to physically and spiritually turn and reach out to the person being prayed for. This was one of the most powerful expressions of public prayer that I have ever shared. It was truly beautiful. Because each prayer concern was shared at length and then prayed for at length, this time of prayer went on for many minutes. But it was obvious to me that this was an expected and important expression of their worship. The Shippensburg Church is a praying church!
Given all the changes and transformations which are happening in our Church, and indeed within the whole culture of religion in modern America, I believe these transformations in worship are most vital. On one hand there are exciting new expressions of creativity and imagination in our worship services. On the other hand our services of worship are becoming incredibly diverse and different. The good old days when worship in one Presbyterian Church was pretty much like worship in every Presbyterian Church are gone. Worship is the heart and soul of the Church. We need to think, pray and ponder about these transformations. There are exciting things happening in our congregations.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Monday, March 12, 2007
Statistical Interpretation
Statistics are very interesting. It seems as if statistics prove facts. But actually statistics can be used selectively in different ways in support of many different kinds of conclusions. Statistics in some form or another can be brought to bear on whatever conviction we would like to argue. So what do we do with our denomination’s statistics? We are a church that keeps very precise statistics. These are published annually, or more easily are available online at the Office of Research Services of the General Assembly. I have studied and pondered the most recent statistical report, from the year 2005, which has recently been published. To confess my ignorance in this matter, I am not at all sure what all these numbers tell us. I see two very important statistical measurements that truly support opposite conclusions. So what do all these numbers mean? This question is a wonderful discussion starter.
Statistic 1, Total Membership: For the past forty consecutive years the total membership of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has decreased. Statistically, the year 2005 saw one of the largest membership decreases. In 2005 our total active membership decreased by 2.1%. Thus in 2005, we lost 48,474 active members bringing our total active membership as of December 31, 2005 down to 2,313,662. This means that in the ten year period from 1995 to 2005 the Presbyterian Church’s total active membership decreased from 2,665,276 to 2,313,662.
As is very common throughout our church, particularly in the Presbyterian Layman, this statistic is often used to argue that our Church is in wholesale decline. Moreover, this statistic is cited as evidence that there is something wrong with our church, that we headed in the wrong direction. This statistic is regularly cited as evidence for the conclusion that there is something theologically wrong with the church.
Statistic 2, Per Member Giving: For every one of the last forty consecutive years there has been an adjusted-for-inflation increase in per member giving. This is a remarkable statistic; giving per member has increased every year for the past forty years, even when the rate of inflation is factored in. In the year 2005 our statistics report giving per member of $900.37. This is a noteworthy 5.59% increase from 2004 when the giving per member was $852.72.
It seems to me that, particularly in America where money has enormous cultural power, this statistic may be used to argue for the health and vitality of our church. Certainly there are sweeping changes in the way this money is being used in the church. Much more of it is kept at home for work within the local congregation; and less of it is forwarded to the higher governing bodies of the church. This changing pattern of allocation is also evidenced in the statistics. But, it seems to me, the changing patterns allocating our money and the continuing increase in total giving are different issues all together. The annual increase in per member giving is remarkable good news which may indeed support an argument about the continuing health and vitality of our church, even as we get smaller. In our consumer, money dominated society is there not a significant theological interpretation possible here which is exactly the opposite of that which is often associated with our membership numbers? Increased per member giving indicates a deeper and growing commitment to the work of the church and, thus, a theological conviction that the church is healthy. If our members are moving into deeper levels of stewardship commitment, does it not follow that we must be doing something right for the Kingdom?
Finally, which statistic and which conclusion do you want to hold on to? I am not sure what the numbers tell us.
Statistic 1, Total Membership: For the past forty consecutive years the total membership of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has decreased. Statistically, the year 2005 saw one of the largest membership decreases. In 2005 our total active membership decreased by 2.1%. Thus in 2005, we lost 48,474 active members bringing our total active membership as of December 31, 2005 down to 2,313,662. This means that in the ten year period from 1995 to 2005 the Presbyterian Church’s total active membership decreased from 2,665,276 to 2,313,662.
As is very common throughout our church, particularly in the Presbyterian Layman, this statistic is often used to argue that our Church is in wholesale decline. Moreover, this statistic is cited as evidence that there is something wrong with our church, that we headed in the wrong direction. This statistic is regularly cited as evidence for the conclusion that there is something theologically wrong with the church.
Statistic 2, Per Member Giving: For every one of the last forty consecutive years there has been an adjusted-for-inflation increase in per member giving. This is a remarkable statistic; giving per member has increased every year for the past forty years, even when the rate of inflation is factored in. In the year 2005 our statistics report giving per member of $900.37. This is a noteworthy 5.59% increase from 2004 when the giving per member was $852.72.
It seems to me that, particularly in America where money has enormous cultural power, this statistic may be used to argue for the health and vitality of our church. Certainly there are sweeping changes in the way this money is being used in the church. Much more of it is kept at home for work within the local congregation; and less of it is forwarded to the higher governing bodies of the church. This changing pattern of allocation is also evidenced in the statistics. But, it seems to me, the changing patterns allocating our money and the continuing increase in total giving are different issues all together. The annual increase in per member giving is remarkable good news which may indeed support an argument about the continuing health and vitality of our church, even as we get smaller. In our consumer, money dominated society is there not a significant theological interpretation possible here which is exactly the opposite of that which is often associated with our membership numbers? Increased per member giving indicates a deeper and growing commitment to the work of the church and, thus, a theological conviction that the church is healthy. If our members are moving into deeper levels of stewardship commitment, does it not follow that we must be doing something right for the Kingdom?
Finally, which statistic and which conclusion do you want to hold on to? I am not sure what the numbers tell us.
Monday, March 5, 2007
Two Different Conversations
Within our Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) there are two different conversations happening simultaneously. But these conversations are not talking with each other. The reality of these two different conversations popped up in my mind as I read through the March 5, 2007 Presbyterian Outlook.
One may be called the orthodox conversation. This has a lot to do with the institutional disease of our Church. In the Presbyterian Outlook, this conversation was highlighted in the article, A time to act: NW vote begins movement toward EPC. The New Wineskins is a consortium of about 150 congregations working together for the renewal of the Church with a specific ideal of theological orthodoxy in view. Several of the New Wineskins congregations are negotiating with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. The E.P.C. is a small Presbyterian denomination – about 200 congregations and 70,000 members - which was formed in 1981 when a number of our congregations broke with the northern stream of our Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The New Wineskins folks are so disgruntled with our Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) that they are either (1) advocating for comprehensive reform within our church or (2) expecting to leave our denomination and possibly join the E.P.C. The Evangelical Presbyterian Church is recruiting our congregations for this potential switch by creating a non-geographic presbytery into which our congregations may transfer.
This orthodox conversation is part of a long history of theological controversy in American Presbyterianism and, indeed, in American Protestantism generally. The New Wineskins Initiative is a new expression of an old concern. This concern was expressed in the Confessing Church Movement in the 1990s, goes back to the Fundamentalist and Modernist controversy in the 1920s, and before that to the Old School and New School debates.
The orthodox conversation is about the authority of the Bible, the unique power of Jesus Christ, and the correct polity of the institutional Church, including, of course, the question of qualifications for ordination. There are wild differences of opinion on all of these vital theological issues.
I suggest that the heart of the matter for the orthodox conversation is the question of the central tenets of the Reformed Tradition. As mandated in our Book of Order, all officers ordained in our church must affirm this ordination question: Do you affirm the central tenets of the Reformed Tradition? This ordination vow, of course, begs the question: What are the central tenets of the Reformed Tradition? In the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) there is not a definitive answer. I believe that if anyone is going to find a home in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) one must understand why we do not, and will not, have a precise, defined answer listing our central tenets. Compare the long history of conversation around the question of central tenets in the P.C.(U.S.A.) with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. On the E.P.C. homepage you will find a precise list of their central tenets. To understand the difference between the P.C.(U.S.A.) and the E.P.C. on this point is to begin to grasp all the complexity of the orthodox conversation.
I believe most of the work in our church is part of the orthodox conversation. For example, this includes all of the work and discussion around the Peace, Unity and Purity report. Most of my work as an Executive Presbyter, most of the work of our Presbytery, and particularly the work of our Committee on Ministry, happens within the orthodox conversation. It is a rich, noble and continuing conversation that is filled with complexity and nuance.
But, alas, there is a very different conversation happening. I call this the emerging conversation. This was reflected in the Outlook article, Emergent church conference explores what movement is, isn’t. The emerging conversation blurs across all the stark battlelines of liberal versus conservative. The emerging conversation dismisses the orthodox conversation as irrelevant. There is a deep irony at work in the emerging conversation. On one hand this conversation is inspired by a deep anti-institutional, anti-structure, anti-bureaucracy ethos. But many of the conversation partners are immersed in established institutional positions. For example, I have been blessed by the emerging conversation which flows naturally when our Synod wide group of Executive Presbyters gathers.
I have also participated in this conversation through my involvement in the Gospel and Our Culture Network. The emerging conversation talks about missional theology which is pushing a new worldview for the church, a new way of thinking about the role of the church in our society. But this new way of talking is in reality a very old, biblical way of thinking. The church and the culture are now completely separated. Thus the church is called to bring the Good News of the Gospel into the strange and foreign culture that surrounds us. The church is missional. This means, in the emerging conversation, that mission is much more than a program, an emphasis or an activity. The missional church means that the church is God’s mission into the world. The church is the means by which God reaches out and into our world. Thinking and talking this was is part of the emerging conversation today.
Our Presbytery’s New Church Development committee is talking within the emerging conversation. We are creating a new position as Evangelist who will be responsible for planting a new faith community among the unchurched and dechurched. We must talk about a new faith community, not a new church, because the concept of church carries so much baggage for so many people; baggage that keeps them far away from ever sitting in our pews. A new faith community is about creating authentic spiritual relationships among and between people who are discerning a call to respond to Jesus Christ. It is a very different conversation, an emerging conversation. I have a nagging suspicion that the people we may attract into our new faith community are not interested in our orthodox conversation.
With which conversation are you involved? In which are you most interested? Which is more important for our Church? How may we possibly bring these two conversations together in service to Jesus Christ?
One may be called the orthodox conversation. This has a lot to do with the institutional disease of our Church. In the Presbyterian Outlook, this conversation was highlighted in the article, A time to act: NW vote begins movement toward EPC. The New Wineskins is a consortium of about 150 congregations working together for the renewal of the Church with a specific ideal of theological orthodoxy in view. Several of the New Wineskins congregations are negotiating with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. The E.P.C. is a small Presbyterian denomination – about 200 congregations and 70,000 members - which was formed in 1981 when a number of our congregations broke with the northern stream of our Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The New Wineskins folks are so disgruntled with our Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) that they are either (1) advocating for comprehensive reform within our church or (2) expecting to leave our denomination and possibly join the E.P.C. The Evangelical Presbyterian Church is recruiting our congregations for this potential switch by creating a non-geographic presbytery into which our congregations may transfer.
This orthodox conversation is part of a long history of theological controversy in American Presbyterianism and, indeed, in American Protestantism generally. The New Wineskins Initiative is a new expression of an old concern. This concern was expressed in the Confessing Church Movement in the 1990s, goes back to the Fundamentalist and Modernist controversy in the 1920s, and before that to the Old School and New School debates.
The orthodox conversation is about the authority of the Bible, the unique power of Jesus Christ, and the correct polity of the institutional Church, including, of course, the question of qualifications for ordination. There are wild differences of opinion on all of these vital theological issues.
I suggest that the heart of the matter for the orthodox conversation is the question of the central tenets of the Reformed Tradition. As mandated in our Book of Order, all officers ordained in our church must affirm this ordination question: Do you affirm the central tenets of the Reformed Tradition? This ordination vow, of course, begs the question: What are the central tenets of the Reformed Tradition? In the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) there is not a definitive answer. I believe that if anyone is going to find a home in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) one must understand why we do not, and will not, have a precise, defined answer listing our central tenets. Compare the long history of conversation around the question of central tenets in the P.C.(U.S.A.) with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. On the E.P.C. homepage you will find a precise list of their central tenets. To understand the difference between the P.C.(U.S.A.) and the E.P.C. on this point is to begin to grasp all the complexity of the orthodox conversation.
I believe most of the work in our church is part of the orthodox conversation. For example, this includes all of the work and discussion around the Peace, Unity and Purity report. Most of my work as an Executive Presbyter, most of the work of our Presbytery, and particularly the work of our Committee on Ministry, happens within the orthodox conversation. It is a rich, noble and continuing conversation that is filled with complexity and nuance.
But, alas, there is a very different conversation happening. I call this the emerging conversation. This was reflected in the Outlook article, Emergent church conference explores what movement is, isn’t. The emerging conversation blurs across all the stark battlelines of liberal versus conservative. The emerging conversation dismisses the orthodox conversation as irrelevant. There is a deep irony at work in the emerging conversation. On one hand this conversation is inspired by a deep anti-institutional, anti-structure, anti-bureaucracy ethos. But many of the conversation partners are immersed in established institutional positions. For example, I have been blessed by the emerging conversation which flows naturally when our Synod wide group of Executive Presbyters gathers.
I have also participated in this conversation through my involvement in the Gospel and Our Culture Network. The emerging conversation talks about missional theology which is pushing a new worldview for the church, a new way of thinking about the role of the church in our society. But this new way of talking is in reality a very old, biblical way of thinking. The church and the culture are now completely separated. Thus the church is called to bring the Good News of the Gospel into the strange and foreign culture that surrounds us. The church is missional. This means, in the emerging conversation, that mission is much more than a program, an emphasis or an activity. The missional church means that the church is God’s mission into the world. The church is the means by which God reaches out and into our world. Thinking and talking this was is part of the emerging conversation today.
Our Presbytery’s New Church Development committee is talking within the emerging conversation. We are creating a new position as Evangelist who will be responsible for planting a new faith community among the unchurched and dechurched. We must talk about a new faith community, not a new church, because the concept of church carries so much baggage for so many people; baggage that keeps them far away from ever sitting in our pews. A new faith community is about creating authentic spiritual relationships among and between people who are discerning a call to respond to Jesus Christ. It is a very different conversation, an emerging conversation. I have a nagging suspicion that the people we may attract into our new faith community are not interested in our orthodox conversation.
With which conversation are you involved? In which are you most interested? Which is more important for our Church? How may we possibly bring these two conversations together in service to Jesus Christ?
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Large Churches Pay Per Capita in 2006
I have been carefully studying our Presbytery’s financial data for 2006. I discovered a remarkable bit of financial good news which I would like to share. Our Presbytery has twelve churches with a Per Capita assessment greater that $10,000. These are, of course, the largest churches in our Presbytery. All of these congregations have contributed 100% of their Per Capita assessment in 2006. This is remarkable good news and a sure indication of the vitality of the Presbytery of Carlisle. May all glory and praise be to God in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Reflections on Ash Wednesday
Reflections on Ash Wednesday
Market Square Church
Pastors Jim Brown and Kelly Wiant-Thralls
Leaving our sons at home to do their homework, my wife Kris and I had a date of sorts as we went to Ash Wednesday worship service together at our Market Square Church. I was seeking a Taize Service, and Market Square does it beautifully. Their musical group was particularly eclectic and excellent: a dulcimer, harp, piano, flute and trombone. It seemed to me, at first thought, to be a strange combination of instruments, but together they created a fabulous foundation for my prayers and the quiet chanting of the Taize music. Market Square Church, in my experience, does everything with careful planning and a precise eye for detail in their worship. This matches my personality very well, with my penchant for making lists, checking details, and worrying about plans.
What is it about Taize that is so soothing and so calm? Taize is particularly suited, in my mind, for evening worship, when a long work day is coming to an end, and a quiet tiredness fills me. Since I am not musical and do not much enjoy singing; I am usually a quiet listener to the rhythms and simple lyrics of the Taize songs. But their simplicity and the repetition are always significant and meaningful for me. In the massive space of Market Square’s sanctuary it was very easy for me to settle into myself, not affected by others around me, to be simply still in my soul.
Then a very discordant note rang in my heart. The pastors introduced and invited everyone to share in the imposition on ashes. I remembered as I sat quietly in the pew that I have never done that before. I know and I appreciate the theological symbolism of Ash Wednesday. The deep, penitential themes of Psalm 51 are important to me. But in all my years of serving as a pastor I never actually expressed the ritual of the imposition of ashes. Growing up in a Presbyterian Church, I remember that we had special Lenten services and programs every Wednesday through the season of Lent, including Ash Wednesday. But I am sure the little Presbyterian congregation where I was raised never expressed the imposition of ashes. I have in all the churches I served created and led services of worship on Ash Wednesday. Often these services were very meaningful and important to the congregation. But I structured my Ash Wednesday services as Services of Evening Prayer; returning to the many biblical texts that call us to repentance. But never have I expressed the ritual of the imposition of ashes. Sitting very quiet and still in the Market Square sanctuary I realized deep within myself that I did not want to begin. It was very important for me to worship on Ash Wednesday; the meaning and symbolism of the season of Lent is very meaningful to me; I fully understand and appreciate the symbolism of the ashes. But I did not want to share in the ritual. I sat quietly in prayer while the congregation slowly, reverently processed forward for their ashes.
I felt odd leaving the worship service that evening. I was, as far as I could tell, the only one unmarked by the ashes. Who am I to reject such a deep and meaningful ritual? I have pondered this since that evening. There are lots of different themes weaving together as I come up with an answer. Theologically, one of my responses has to do with the sacraments. I believe the sacraments are vitally important in the church, and neglected. With our reluctance to celebrate the Lord’s Supper every week we neglect its importance and power in the life of the church. So on Ash Wednesday it is theologically frustrating to me that we reach for an ancient ritual of the church in the imposition of the ashes but we do not express our most powerful, common and ordinary sacrament in the Lord’s Supper. Spiritually, I know how I felt that evening sitting through that Taize worship. I was comfortable and quiet in myself, moved into a time of personal confession and prayer. I simply did not feel like getting up and walking forward for the ashes. That simple change would have spoiled my sense of prayer. And emotionally I know that the great Presbyterian response was pounding in my brain; the response that we hear over and over in our churches; the response that in any other context will annoy me. But there I was sitting quietly in Ash Wednesday worship but rejecting the imposition of the ashes because that is not the way I have always done it.
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.
Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.
You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. (Psalm 51: 1-6).
Market Square Church
Pastors Jim Brown and Kelly Wiant-Thralls
Leaving our sons at home to do their homework, my wife Kris and I had a date of sorts as we went to Ash Wednesday worship service together at our Market Square Church. I was seeking a Taize Service, and Market Square does it beautifully. Their musical group was particularly eclectic and excellent: a dulcimer, harp, piano, flute and trombone. It seemed to me, at first thought, to be a strange combination of instruments, but together they created a fabulous foundation for my prayers and the quiet chanting of the Taize music. Market Square Church, in my experience, does everything with careful planning and a precise eye for detail in their worship. This matches my personality very well, with my penchant for making lists, checking details, and worrying about plans.
What is it about Taize that is so soothing and so calm? Taize is particularly suited, in my mind, for evening worship, when a long work day is coming to an end, and a quiet tiredness fills me. Since I am not musical and do not much enjoy singing; I am usually a quiet listener to the rhythms and simple lyrics of the Taize songs. But their simplicity and the repetition are always significant and meaningful for me. In the massive space of Market Square’s sanctuary it was very easy for me to settle into myself, not affected by others around me, to be simply still in my soul.
Then a very discordant note rang in my heart. The pastors introduced and invited everyone to share in the imposition on ashes. I remembered as I sat quietly in the pew that I have never done that before. I know and I appreciate the theological symbolism of Ash Wednesday. The deep, penitential themes of Psalm 51 are important to me. But in all my years of serving as a pastor I never actually expressed the ritual of the imposition of ashes. Growing up in a Presbyterian Church, I remember that we had special Lenten services and programs every Wednesday through the season of Lent, including Ash Wednesday. But I am sure the little Presbyterian congregation where I was raised never expressed the imposition of ashes. I have in all the churches I served created and led services of worship on Ash Wednesday. Often these services were very meaningful and important to the congregation. But I structured my Ash Wednesday services as Services of Evening Prayer; returning to the many biblical texts that call us to repentance. But never have I expressed the ritual of the imposition of ashes. Sitting very quiet and still in the Market Square sanctuary I realized deep within myself that I did not want to begin. It was very important for me to worship on Ash Wednesday; the meaning and symbolism of the season of Lent is very meaningful to me; I fully understand and appreciate the symbolism of the ashes. But I did not want to share in the ritual. I sat quietly in prayer while the congregation slowly, reverently processed forward for their ashes.
I felt odd leaving the worship service that evening. I was, as far as I could tell, the only one unmarked by the ashes. Who am I to reject such a deep and meaningful ritual? I have pondered this since that evening. There are lots of different themes weaving together as I come up with an answer. Theologically, one of my responses has to do with the sacraments. I believe the sacraments are vitally important in the church, and neglected. With our reluctance to celebrate the Lord’s Supper every week we neglect its importance and power in the life of the church. So on Ash Wednesday it is theologically frustrating to me that we reach for an ancient ritual of the church in the imposition of the ashes but we do not express our most powerful, common and ordinary sacrament in the Lord’s Supper. Spiritually, I know how I felt that evening sitting through that Taize worship. I was comfortable and quiet in myself, moved into a time of personal confession and prayer. I simply did not feel like getting up and walking forward for the ashes. That simple change would have spoiled my sense of prayer. And emotionally I know that the great Presbyterian response was pounding in my brain; the response that we hear over and over in our churches; the response that in any other context will annoy me. But there I was sitting quietly in Ash Wednesday worship but rejecting the imposition of the ashes because that is not the way I have always done it.
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.
Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.
You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. (Psalm 51: 1-6).
Monday, February 26, 2007
Mercersburg
Mercersburg, officially known at the Presbyterian Church of the Upper West Conococheague.
Only a block south of the town square in Mercersburg you will find our Presbyterian Church. It is a classic, old, stone sanctuary with a heritage going back to the 1730s. The gorgeous sanctuary, with its exquisite oak woodwork, creates a holy place for worship. This is a family church, where everyone knows everyone and a deep sense of caring and friendship is always present when the congregation gathers. The numbers are small; less than 40 people gathered for worship this snowy, winter Sunday. Mercersburg is now a church in transition with a Pulpit Nominating Committee elected and beginning their work to call a new pastor. There is a stellar group of leaders who divide up the responsibilities of the session, the trustees, and the new PNC. I am motivated and encouraged by these strong, committed lay leaders who will persevere and continue the heritage of faithfulness which has been passed down to them. Heather Sigler and I were there for the first expression of our Committee on Ministry’s new Congregational Vision Day curriculum.
Our Committee on Ministry and our Strengthening Our Congregations Committee created together a special taskforce to look at the question of mission study curriculum and long range planning for congregations. The first step in our taskforce’s work was the creation of a new Congregational Vision Day curriculum which has the specific purpose of working with congregations to help them quickly gather the information and data necessary to write their Church Information Form. We are very grateful to the Presbytery of Washington for allowing us to adopt and adapt the one day, mission study curriculum they created and have used successfully. Our new Congregational Vision Day curriculum is a comprehensive, one day mission study process which will provide a wealth of data for a PNC to write the five narrative questions in the Church Information Form. This Vision Day is simply that: one day. With leadership provided by Heather and me, the congregation gathered at 9:00 a.m. this Sunday morning to begin the process. The morning session is spent working through several creative activities which together grasp the mission priorities of the congregation. We then moved into worship together. In Mercersburg, the 25 people who gathered for our Vision Day work made up most of the worshipping congregation. After worship, we moved immediately back into our Vision Day work around lunch. The session at Mercersburg had made arrangements for a marvelous catered lunch which helped get our afternoon session started. The Vision Day is scheduled to finish at 3:30 in the afternoon. Unfortunately, a snowstorm today forced us to cut our day short and finish after lunch. Despite our shortened day, I am gratified that a priority of being more actively committed in mission and outreach clearly emerged from the group’s conversation and will inform their Church Information Form.
I am very grateful to the Mercersburg congregation for their willingness to work with us as we continue to write, revise and polish our new Congregational Vision Day curriculum. The leaders at Mercersburg – session and PNC - were very helpful in both helping us prepare for our time together and evaluating and improving our process. With gratitude to the Mercersburg folks – who did it first – we now have a resource which will help Pulpit Nominating Committees quickly gather data and information to write their Church Information Form and begin their pastoral search. I believe this is an important step in our effort to support and encourage the ministry of our congregations.
Only a block south of the town square in Mercersburg you will find our Presbyterian Church. It is a classic, old, stone sanctuary with a heritage going back to the 1730s. The gorgeous sanctuary, with its exquisite oak woodwork, creates a holy place for worship. This is a family church, where everyone knows everyone and a deep sense of caring and friendship is always present when the congregation gathers. The numbers are small; less than 40 people gathered for worship this snowy, winter Sunday. Mercersburg is now a church in transition with a Pulpit Nominating Committee elected and beginning their work to call a new pastor. There is a stellar group of leaders who divide up the responsibilities of the session, the trustees, and the new PNC. I am motivated and encouraged by these strong, committed lay leaders who will persevere and continue the heritage of faithfulness which has been passed down to them. Heather Sigler and I were there for the first expression of our Committee on Ministry’s new Congregational Vision Day curriculum.
Our Committee on Ministry and our Strengthening Our Congregations Committee created together a special taskforce to look at the question of mission study curriculum and long range planning for congregations. The first step in our taskforce’s work was the creation of a new Congregational Vision Day curriculum which has the specific purpose of working with congregations to help them quickly gather the information and data necessary to write their Church Information Form. We are very grateful to the Presbytery of Washington for allowing us to adopt and adapt the one day, mission study curriculum they created and have used successfully. Our new Congregational Vision Day curriculum is a comprehensive, one day mission study process which will provide a wealth of data for a PNC to write the five narrative questions in the Church Information Form. This Vision Day is simply that: one day. With leadership provided by Heather and me, the congregation gathered at 9:00 a.m. this Sunday morning to begin the process. The morning session is spent working through several creative activities which together grasp the mission priorities of the congregation. We then moved into worship together. In Mercersburg, the 25 people who gathered for our Vision Day work made up most of the worshipping congregation. After worship, we moved immediately back into our Vision Day work around lunch. The session at Mercersburg had made arrangements for a marvelous catered lunch which helped get our afternoon session started. The Vision Day is scheduled to finish at 3:30 in the afternoon. Unfortunately, a snowstorm today forced us to cut our day short and finish after lunch. Despite our shortened day, I am gratified that a priority of being more actively committed in mission and outreach clearly emerged from the group’s conversation and will inform their Church Information Form.
I am very grateful to the Mercersburg congregation for their willingness to work with us as we continue to write, revise and polish our new Congregational Vision Day curriculum. The leaders at Mercersburg – session and PNC - were very helpful in both helping us prepare for our time together and evaluating and improving our process. With gratitude to the Mercersburg folks – who did it first – we now have a resource which will help Pulpit Nominating Committees quickly gather data and information to write their Church Information Form and begin their pastoral search. I believe this is an important step in our effort to support and encourage the ministry of our congregations.
Trinity Youth Conference
Trinity Youth Conference
Note: This essay was inspired by my visit to Trinity Youth Conference last summer.
Not far from the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s Bedford exit, a driveway drops down a very steep hill, comes around a sharp turn and a beautiful, little valley opens up. It is an exquisitely beautiful spot in the hills of Pennsylvania surrounded all the way around by our steep, tree-covered Laurel Highland Mountains. This gorgeous valley is Camp Living Waters, owned by the United Church of Christ, and for many years the site of our Trinity Youth Conference. TYC, as its names implies, is one of the programs of our Synod of the Trinity from back in the days when our Synod was in the program business, an era that has since passed.
Jason Best, an energetic cheerleader and organizer for TYC, invited me to visit. This was convenient for me since I simply dropped in at the camp for a Thursday evening when I was running the Turnpike to Pittsburgh to be home. I arrived in time for dinner and was delighted to join a dining hall full of teenagers for their meal. Between being very involved in youth groups as a kid and always being a pastor with a focus on youth ministry, I have eaten my fair share of camp dinners, in camp dining halls, with teenagers. I love it. I love teenagers and love to be around them. I love their energy and creativity, their unlimited enthusiasm and bold, outlandish convictions. I love every flavor of guitar music. I love to talk with teenagers about politics and religion, the Bible and American culture. I like to argue with them by saying crazy things like, "I think tattoos are stupid and should be forbidden. That there is never a need for anyone to see anyone else’s underwear in public, and that all the boys should pull up their pants up and buy belts." Since I was with a group of strangers at TYC none of those topics came up. Actually, around our dinner table we talked about the Church, and several at table with me were very interested in my new job. I was impressed.
During dinner I remember pausing, sitting back in my chair, and just listening to the room for a moment. It felt different. It felt very different. I have been with large groups of teenagers many, many times. There is always loud, boisterous commotion, typically a threatened (seldom real) food fight, always a high energy of intimacy, fighting, teasing, complaining, love, disrespect and a generally disgraceful level of etiquette. Teenagers! Everyone knows what that means. I love it. But at dinner at TYC it was different. In fact, this was like a dining hall full of adults. The conversations were hushed and polite. Now I was really paying attention. There was a much, much higher level of politeness, courtesy, and maturity in this place. Many of them came and introduced themselves to me and welcomed me BEFORE I was introduced, and my esteemed position as Executive Presbyter explained. Wait a minute! These are not your ordinary teenagers. I filed the thought away, finished dinner and was invited to stay for their evening worship service.
And everything became very clear to me during worship. Worship at TYC that evening was deeply authentic, genuine and meaningful. I was very touched. These teenagers wanted to worship God. They were all gathered, and politely waiting, long before the sound system was prepared. Their singing was glorious. Everyone was seriously engaged with the sermon. The sermon was excellent, biblical, long, full, complete and sophisticated. The touches of creativity in worship with a shared prayer time and an innovative statement of faith were brilliant. As a personal conviction of my own understanding of ministry, I never hug teenagers. But when I turned during this worship service to shake hands and pass the peace of Christ, I was gently told, "We hug here." Indeed, the Passing of the Peace was an extended, very devout time of hugging. I think I was hugged thirty times!
I chatted with Charlie Best after worship. I told him I perceived a remarkable spirit and a very rich, spiritual maturity here. I asked how that happens. He said, "I’m not sure. But over the years of this Conference, some how, the expectations of what we do here together have risen very, very high. That seems to be the way everyone acts." Trinity Youth Conference is an extraordinary event which attracts some of the most extraordinary, gifted, devout, and intelligent teenagers I have ever seen all together in one place. Thanks be to God!
P.S. Because of the significant restructuring of the Synod of the Trinity, funding will no longer be available for programs like Trinity Youth Conference. Its funding is being gradually cut back and will be eliminated in time. For this program to continue, it will be necessary for congregations to establish and maintain it as part of their congregation’s youth ministry.
Note: This essay was inspired by my visit to Trinity Youth Conference last summer.
Not far from the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s Bedford exit, a driveway drops down a very steep hill, comes around a sharp turn and a beautiful, little valley opens up. It is an exquisitely beautiful spot in the hills of Pennsylvania surrounded all the way around by our steep, tree-covered Laurel Highland Mountains. This gorgeous valley is Camp Living Waters, owned by the United Church of Christ, and for many years the site of our Trinity Youth Conference. TYC, as its names implies, is one of the programs of our Synod of the Trinity from back in the days when our Synod was in the program business, an era that has since passed.
Jason Best, an energetic cheerleader and organizer for TYC, invited me to visit. This was convenient for me since I simply dropped in at the camp for a Thursday evening when I was running the Turnpike to Pittsburgh to be home. I arrived in time for dinner and was delighted to join a dining hall full of teenagers for their meal. Between being very involved in youth groups as a kid and always being a pastor with a focus on youth ministry, I have eaten my fair share of camp dinners, in camp dining halls, with teenagers. I love it. I love teenagers and love to be around them. I love their energy and creativity, their unlimited enthusiasm and bold, outlandish convictions. I love every flavor of guitar music. I love to talk with teenagers about politics and religion, the Bible and American culture. I like to argue with them by saying crazy things like, "I think tattoos are stupid and should be forbidden. That there is never a need for anyone to see anyone else’s underwear in public, and that all the boys should pull up their pants up and buy belts." Since I was with a group of strangers at TYC none of those topics came up. Actually, around our dinner table we talked about the Church, and several at table with me were very interested in my new job. I was impressed.
During dinner I remember pausing, sitting back in my chair, and just listening to the room for a moment. It felt different. It felt very different. I have been with large groups of teenagers many, many times. There is always loud, boisterous commotion, typically a threatened (seldom real) food fight, always a high energy of intimacy, fighting, teasing, complaining, love, disrespect and a generally disgraceful level of etiquette. Teenagers! Everyone knows what that means. I love it. But at dinner at TYC it was different. In fact, this was like a dining hall full of adults. The conversations were hushed and polite. Now I was really paying attention. There was a much, much higher level of politeness, courtesy, and maturity in this place. Many of them came and introduced themselves to me and welcomed me BEFORE I was introduced, and my esteemed position as Executive Presbyter explained. Wait a minute! These are not your ordinary teenagers. I filed the thought away, finished dinner and was invited to stay for their evening worship service.
And everything became very clear to me during worship. Worship at TYC that evening was deeply authentic, genuine and meaningful. I was very touched. These teenagers wanted to worship God. They were all gathered, and politely waiting, long before the sound system was prepared. Their singing was glorious. Everyone was seriously engaged with the sermon. The sermon was excellent, biblical, long, full, complete and sophisticated. The touches of creativity in worship with a shared prayer time and an innovative statement of faith were brilliant. As a personal conviction of my own understanding of ministry, I never hug teenagers. But when I turned during this worship service to shake hands and pass the peace of Christ, I was gently told, "We hug here." Indeed, the Passing of the Peace was an extended, very devout time of hugging. I think I was hugged thirty times!
I chatted with Charlie Best after worship. I told him I perceived a remarkable spirit and a very rich, spiritual maturity here. I asked how that happens. He said, "I’m not sure. But over the years of this Conference, some how, the expectations of what we do here together have risen very, very high. That seems to be the way everyone acts." Trinity Youth Conference is an extraordinary event which attracts some of the most extraordinary, gifted, devout, and intelligent teenagers I have ever seen all together in one place. Thanks be to God!
P.S. Because of the significant restructuring of the Synod of the Trinity, funding will no longer be available for programs like Trinity Youth Conference. Its funding is being gradually cut back and will be eliminated in time. For this program to continue, it will be necessary for congregations to establish and maintain it as part of their congregation’s youth ministry.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)