Should be Writing a sermon

The kids are at friend's houses so I should be writing my sermon I did this instead...

Friday five

Friday 5- floods and droughts

Here in the UK we are struggling with floods, other parts of the world have similar problems without the infrastructure to cope with it, still others are badly affected by drought.... My son Jon is in Melbourne Australia where apparently it has been snowing ( yes it is winter but still!).... With crazy weather in mind I bring you this weeks Friday 5...

1. Have you experienced living through an extreme weather event- what was it and how did you cope? The only extreme weather situation that I have to live through are a couple of huge snow storms. We just wait it out inside the house and hope the power doesn't go out. If it does we put on lots and lots of layers

2. How important is it that we wake up to issues such as global warming? Extremely important. We only have one planet to live on. We have a strong impact on the future of this planet

3. The Christian message needs to include stewardship of the earths resources agree/ disagree? Agree without a doubt. If we destroy creation around us we will eventually destroy ourselves

And because it is summer- on a brighter note....

4. What is your favourite season and why? Summer and early fall. I love the weather and the sunshine, the food, swimming and all of the outside events that happen in the summer. I like early fall because of football and fieldhockey games before it gets to cold. Plus I enjoy being able to wear shorts and a sweatshirt. :-)

5. Describe your perfect vacation weather.... Hot hot hot! as long as their is water near by

My First Sunday

So my first Sunday serving my little country church is done. It went much better then I had expected. My original plan was to leave the service exactly as it was at least for the first couple of weeks I was there. Well that didn't quite happen. The service was about 90% the same as it had been in the past with a few minor changes. I put in a passing of the piece and my goodness it was like giving a bunch of little kids candy... they really seemed to enjoy it. The liturgist was nervous about how he would get their attention back, but it all worked out.

I received lots of positive feed back. even more then the usual that was very nice dear that I tend to hear. People seemed to really listen to the message, which was about being inclusive and welcoming toward theological and cultural diversity. During joys and concerns many joys were shared over upcoming mission projects with some of the immigrant families that are in the area. I was pleased to hear that. Right now the church has no mission budget but I am hoping to change that.

We had an administrative council meeting after church which also went well. They seem like a group that works well together. They were very open to the few ideas that i had.

I was very encouraged by a conversation that i had after church with a couple of members who said they were looking forward to fresh ideas. I keep hearing that and I am starting to believe that they really want them. I'm hoping sooo!

Sunday left me feeling really good for a variety of reasons.. one i survived my first service of the church were I'm the only pastor, two i actually enjoyed myself, the congregation seems sincerely happy to have me , and I'm excited to work with them!

Not that is was all peaches.. i left out a word in the unison prayer when i printed it in the bulletin and i knocked over my water while we were singing the third hymn right before I preached, and it was a union service with another church in the area so I have no idea if many of the people typically attend my church or the other church

Good things are to come! thanks be to God!

Friday FIve!!!.. and it's a good one!

Friday, July 20, 2007

Friday 5- looking back, looking forward

When I began work here at Downham Market a wise friend told me that after one year I would see a few changes and sense God at work- years two and three would cause me to question and to wonder why I had chosen to accept the post here and in year four I might see the beginnings of something new.And so with that in mind alongside yesterdays celebrations I bring you Friday 5 Looking back, looking forward..

1. Share a moment/ time of real encouragement in your journey of faith as scary and as acrazy as I think it is sometimes my call to ministry was that moment, because if God can Call me to do this work then he really does love me no matter how many times I've turned my back

2. Do you have a current vision / dream for your work/ family/ministry? work right now = school and my vision and dream for that is to not only survive it but enjoy it
family dream is to spend the rest of my life with the man I love and make each other as happy as possible
ministry- engergize people make them excited about their faith

3.Money is no object and so you will..... live in differnt countries for a couple years at a time then pick up and move to the next doing service projects

4. How do you see your way through the disappointments? What keeps you going? I try to
remind myself that other people face similar struggles or worse and knowing that they survived keeps me going

5. How important are your roots? they help me know everything I want adn don't want

6. Bonus= I am forever grateful for my friends whom many of I now consider family

Summer bloggin

Well my blogging this summer has been very minimal. I guess i just haven;t had a whole lot to say. I have been babysitting most of the summer and trying to wrap my mind around my first year of seminary. My first church service for the church I will serving as my internship is July 22 so I am trying to get that service prepared.

I went to a wedding and the movies this weekend. The pastor for the wedding that i was at was to say it nicely interesting. The homily was more of a sermon, much longer then it needed to be and made us all feel like it was 1950 again. And I sat through the movie (transformers) thinking about how it could be used for a children's sermon. Wow how my life has changed since I answered this call!

Best thing I've hear in this Class..

Two posts in one day what?!?!? what?!?!?!?

You need to go into church every Sunday expecting a Miracle not only in your building but out on the street everyday!- My Prof

Summer Class

So I have realized summer class is not for me! I love summer to much and even though it only meets twice a week and the reading isn't that bad it just isn't the same. Plus it's took me a good three weeks to understand how this calls was going to help me in ministry. I'm taking pastoral care and counseling, and I obviously know i need that, but this one has been very much a clinical psychology/psychiatry class. But the second half has been really good.

In other news, my new bf and I are taking a long weekend to the beach! :-)

Weekend

So I had an absolutely glorious weekend. It was Jazzfest weekend in my hometown. My parents a few of my aunts and one of my longtime friends and her parents have gone every year for the last few years and my boyfriend joined us this year.It is a wonderful weekend of eating drinking and enjoying Jazz.

I also worshiped with the congregation that I become a pastor of officially on Sunday. I met lots of wonderful people and I am I truly looking forward to becoming their pastor. Their current pastor had a wonderful liturgy all about change. He has been extremely helpful in this transition.


This is the last week of my summer class. YAY!!!

Worship

So this isn't going to be a long post it's more of a question and I know there aren't a lot of solutions but I'm asking it anyway.... What do all of you who are in ministry do about your own worship needs. My transition from simply being in worship and leading it is quickly approaching. And I know that I am really going to miss the experience of worship.. what do you all do to fill that need. when school is in session I will have chapel so that will help any other suggestions????

Friday Five!

Friday 5, books, books, books....

I've just returned from a meeting in Cambridge so I'm posting this late here in the UK (it is 3:45pm).. because I took the opportunity of a free afternoon in Cambridge's wonderful book shops... I only bought a few- and they were on sale- very restrained for me!!!

So with my head full of books I've seen and a long wish list in my mind, I bring you a Friday Five on books!!!

1. Fiction what kind, detective novels, historical stuff, thrillers, romance???? Hmm it really depends on my mood.. I like historical stuff and romance

2. When you get a really good book do you read it all in one chunk or savour it slowly? I read all in one chunk especially in the summer

3. Is there a book you keep returning to and why? I normally don't reread books but i keep returning to Gifts from the Sea. I'm not really sure what my draw is to it, but it is amazing, a great book about life.

4. Apart from the Bible which non-fiction book has influenced you the most? Nelson Mandela's autobiography it was the first autobiography that I read

5. Describe a perfect place to read. ( could be anywhere!!!) In the summer in a Park... my favorite is congresspark

Since when do we get to decide who God's people are

This is the e-mail that I got from one of my profs today if you are interested in writing a letter let me know in the comments section and I will get you the addresses. For those of you who have never heard Mark Miller he makes amazing Music that in doubt is insipred by God and made for the Golory of God

Dear class,Forgive me for interrupting your summer interlude, but I wanted to let you know of one more relevant issue to our course. My wonderful colleague and our music director, Mark Miller, is being attacked with a full press by UMAction and Institute for Religion and Democracy. According to them he is unacceptable to lead music at General Conference next year because he is a self proclaimed gay man. YOu may remember the stories he told us about General conference in the past where he has been a powerful prophetic voice. They are well funded and have mailed all the churches in the country to get a letter writing campaign going to protest the selection of Mark and his co director Marcia McFee (who will be teaching for us this summer. This makes me so sad and angry, to see someone with such a generous and loving spirit and dedication to God attacked this way. I have felt the presence of God so often in the midst of music lead by Mark. He is an incredible person and musician, and we have had to work hard at Drew to keep him from being lured away. This is what our class was about--the power of religion to destroy and do harm.IF you want to write letters of support to counteract this campaign, let me know and I'll provide the addresses. I just thought that since so many of you had been moved by Mark's presence in class that I needed to let you know.

Wow

SO this is such a new place for me to be in and it has lasted for about a month now so I'm quite pumped. I am feeling really good. My life just seems really well rounded and settled out. Maybe it has something to do with the new guy in my life, but I really think a lot of it has to do with me finally realizing that my path to the ordained ministry is well on it's way. Although having this great guy in my life doesn't hurt either. It was interesting in Bible Study on Sunday we had really great discussions and we really go into understanding the history of different texts and the different interpretations. It was awesome. People actually asked for more study. Let's hope that the church I will be serving starting this summer will want some of those same things. The discussions really affirmed how hard it is to really get clear understanding of scripture, how much unpacking there is to do. It's exacting and daunting to me. Especially because being in seminary right now it means that I do that all the time and I almost don't know how to read the text with trying to unpack it with out adding in all the context and history. Daunting because I know that in 20 minutes you just can't get it done. I am really afraid that I am bringing in all of this energy and won't have the time to use it all. Bigger fear is that it will be lost on the congregation. Right now I am going to go on living in the goodness and I'm thanking God for it the whole time.

editor's note: while writing this post the current pastor of the congregation I am serving called and I will be meeting and worshiping with the congregation this Sunday

Posting Dot Style

I thought I'd go this route since I don't have anything exciting to post about

• Summer class= not so much fun, not sure if it is the material or the fact that it is a summer class
• I am moved out of Drew Housing
• My love life is the best it has been in a long time maybe ever
  
• I am in a good place spiritually mentally
• I really need to pick up my exercise routine
• I am excited to have at least one more Saratoga Summer, but I am not looking forward to living with my parents
• I'm still dealing with the fact that soon i will not be worshiping but leading the worship and that makes me a little sad

Coming soon reflections on my first year of seminary

My first DCOM meeting

For all of you who aren't Methodist DCOM stands for District Committee of (on?) Ordained Ministry. They are the first group of people who will decided rather or not I can be ordained. So I met with them for the first time yesterday. It was just a getting to know you meeting, so I wasn't to nervous. They asked me my call story, which I managed to leave out a chunk of ( so I guess i was a little more nervous then I thought). Then they asked the typical where did you go to undergrad?, what did you major in?, etc. The last question was what do you want us to know about you? this stumped me a little and then I came up with this: That my calling really is figure out some way to help my generation create a relationship with God then hopefully with the church. I talked about loss of the feeling of community etc.

I was feeling OK about how it went. I didn't think it was spectacular or anything. Then the chair of the committee came into to my pastor's office (the meeting was held at the church I attend) to fill out some paper work and I was sitting there and she paid me a really nice complement which totally caught me off guard. However, it made me realize that I really can do this. I have been feeling pretty good lately about the whole going into ministry thing anyway, but for the first time I really understood that this really is in me. I had a conversation with one of my friends about it and I related it this way. It's like at a job interview you go out of your way to impressive to the point were you almost try so hard to be yourself that you aren't. I didn't feel that way. I really felt like just being me was enough. Gosh, I really hope that I am not sounding cocky here. The reason why I am sharing is because I have never really had this feeling before. I've always felt like my successes were someone else's. While now I have this understanding of being fully capable of fulfilling my call I know that I will always always always be indebted to and in of the people in my support system [especially my mentor cause she rocks! ;-) ] and that they are part of the reason that I am capable. Thanks y'all

Friday five

reverendmother says:
As many of you know, I have been experimenting with some severely curtailed Internet usage. I realized that I had gotten into some bad habits, which got me thinking about habits in general. I understand that a habits/random facts meme has already been going around. In the hopes that it hasn't hit too many of us yet, be as lighthearted or as serious as you'd like with the following:

1. Have you ever successfully quit a bad habit, or gotten a good habit established? Tell us about how you did it. I used to be a nail biter as a kid and I think I just grew out of it

2. "If only there were a 12-step program for _________________!" Buying music on itunes and procrastination

3. Share one of your healthy "obsessions" with us. The hallmark store, everyone loves getting snail mail!

4. Share the habit of a spouse, friend or loved one that drives you C-R-A-Z-Y. I have one friend who doesn't say good bye when she hangs up the phone.

5. "I'd love to get into the habit of ___________________." Running

Bonus: What is one small action you might take immediately to make #5 a reality? put on my sneakers and go do it

Bonus 2: Try it, and let us know how it goes in a future post!

It's official...

So I am officially going to start my first appointment as of July 1! Last week just as I was finishing up finals, i had my intake interview. I was way less nervous then I had anticipated being. I am really pumped for this. They (Staff parish relations committee) seemed really excited to have me and enthusiastic about bringing in some new energy. Of course saying it and actually being excited when I do something new are two different things, but I am going to remain hopeful. My plan is to kind of just let things settle the first few months I am there. The reason I say the first few months is because I only have to preach three times over the summer because they combine their worship with two other churches over the summer. So I'm open to prayers and advice....

Friday five

Friday, May 18, 2007

Friday Five: Big Event Edition

Did you know that the major purpose for forming a non-profit, RevGalBlogPals, Inc., was to be able to attract grant support for a large scale RevGalBlogPal meetup? My dream from the beginning has been attracting financial support that would allow as many of our bloggers to be together as possible.

RGBP, Inc. now has a planning committee, and we are in the early stages of planning the RevGalBlogPal Big Event. What, When, Where and Who are all on the table at the moment. In that spirit, I bring you the Big Event Friday Five.

1. What would the meeting be like? (Continuing Ed? Retreat? Outside Speakers? Interest Groups? Workshops? Hot Stone Massages? Pedicures? Glorified Slumber Party?)

2. When in 2008 might you be able to attend? January? Shortly after Easter? Summer? Fall? Some other time?

3. Where would your dream meeting location be? (Urban Hotel? Rural Retreat Center? New England Camp? Southwestern Fantasy Hotel? Far away from civilization? Nearby Outlets or Really Great Thrift Stores?)

4. Who would make a great keynote speaker? (That's if #1 leads us in that direction.)

5. Did I leave out something you want to suggest?

Dream big for the Big Event!!!

This is a tough one because there is so many possibilities

1. I think I would like to see half workshops half retreat so maybe 2 days of workshops 2 days of retreat

2. I'm a student so summer works best for me.

3. Well the question said Dream so I would say a tropical island, but more realistically i love be at Resort anywhere in the country. I think resort would provide workshop space and retreat space.

4. I think a female in leadership role with in the Church ie a Bishop would be great. I would love to hear Judith Craig

5. I think it would be great to have a panel discussion of women who are at different stages in their ministry.

Friday Five

Reverend Mother says:

Friday Five: Potato, Po-tah-to Edition

I am out all day Friday, so I beg your indulgence once again as I post an early Friday Five. Don't miss the absolutely marvelous Ask the Matriarch below--color coded, no less!


There are two types of people in the world, morning people and night owls. Or Red Sox fans and Yankees fans. Or boxers and briefs. Or people who divide the world into two types of people and those who don't. Let your preferences be known here. And if you're feeling verbose, defend your choices!

1. Mac? (woo-hoo!) or PC? (boo!)
Why yes, the Friday Five author reserves the right to editorialize!

2. Pizza: Chicago style luscious hearty goodness, or New York floppy and flaccid?

3. Brownies/fudge containing nuts:
a) Good. I like the variation in texture.
b) An abomination unto the Lord. The nuts take up valuable chocolate space.
[or a response of your choosing]

4. Do you hang your toilet paper so that the "tail" hangs flush with the wall, or over the top of the roll like normal people do?

5. Toothpaste: Do you squeeze the tube wantonly in the middle, or squeeze from the bottom and flatten as you go just like the tube instructs?

Bonus: Share your favorite either/or.

1 PC but i am seriously considering a switch
2. NEW YORK all the way that is the real way to eat pizza. And you must fold the slice to eat it!
editor's note: There seems to be a lot of NY pizza haters out there and y'all don't know what you are missing!
3. Bring on the Chocolate
4. I go back and forth on this one.. right now I am an over the top girl!
5. flatten you must flatten

Bonus... it's BBQ season hot dogs or hamburgers.... I'm a hamburger girl but I do like one good grilled hot

Annual Conference part 2

So the next big issue we had to deal with was of course the issue of sexuality.... because there is nothing else of importance going on in the world..... on Friday we dealt the petitions that we want to send to General Conference that removed all of the anti - homosexual language from the discipline. This is of course an issue that I care very deeply about. This is the issue that makes me question if I want to get ordained the most. It was kind of ironic to me that we had services of repentance and reconciliation the two previous days for discrimination in the past, but we are still participating in that discrimination, so much for learning from our mistakes. Well in order to discuss this hot button issue we used the circle process. We were assigned tables, so that we could hear from voices we wouldn't normally have heard from, and then each person sitting at the table was given time to talk. yet as a truncated circle process in that we were only allowed 3 minutes at a time to talk. at my table we made it around twice. There were diverse views on the subject. Overall I think the process helped to allow more people to be heard. It definitely didn't change any one's vote but there were no screaming matches. I am happy and proud to report that we passed all the petitions. They will most likely fail at general conference, but it is a start.

Again Of course we weren't done with the homosexuality legislation. There were some resolutions before us on Saturday. We did not use the circle process for these and the theatrics began. You know it just amazes me the venom church folks spew. Especially pastors. I don't care where you stand on the issue there is no reason to be hateful in your words. Especially a pastor. Do they not realize the damage that they are doing? Especially to young adults? Children are killing themselves because even their pastor does not care about them. That is very troubling to me. A pastor stood and said something to the effect that people need to enter marriage for the right reasons as if all heterosexuals enter marriage for the right reasons or all homosexual people enter for the wrong reasons. What really triggered me though was when he said if we allow gays to get married the next thing we know we will be allowing people to marry their dogs. I am not quite sure I understand that argument. Why is it every time we talk about homosexuality, people against homosexuals make the comparison to bestiality and pedophilia? If you have to stretch that far to make the argument maybe your argument isn't that good. The dog comment drew me to the microphone though. I was quite angry but we had respectful speaking rules given to us by the bishop and I am a new candidate for ministry so I was respectful and to the point. And simply said that the church should recognize any two people who wanted to confess their love and commitment to each other before God. I wanted to say more but I knew if I said anything else I would get very heated. So I chose not to. I did receive some thanks for what I said. Happily those petitions passed as well.

The one issue at conference that I got so upset about I had o leave the room was unexpected. We were dealing with giving churches media grants to put screens and power point into churches. I could not believe the number of people who argued against it. It was troubling to me because media helps bring in youth and young families. I have seen how much the PowerPoint because we are a dying denomination. It helps connect people to the service. Even something as simple as it lifts people's heads out of the hymnals and the singing is so much brighter. Anyway the media grants went down in defeat. It just makes me sad our churches had the opportunity to connect with a new generation and turned it down.

The best part of conference was the social aspect. I got to meet a lot of pastors and did some hanging out with people I would have never thought I would have spent time with. the fellowship was definitely the highlight of conference. I have even more respect and admiration for my mentor, who by the way was elected as one of our two clergy delegates to General conference. I made some connections that will be nice to have and a lot of pastors who have offered their support to me. That time spent away from legislation was invaluable for me.

So now I am in prayer for my conference and for those whose conferences are yet to come.

Annual Conference part 1

Well I just got back from my first full annual conference session. Yes we already had our annual conference, in Troy like to get 'em early I guess. I don't know why it was so early it has something to do with conference center scheduling i think.. So this was the first conference I have gone for the whole time. The past two years I have just shown up for a day or two. This year I was able to vote because I am not a certified candidate for ministry and no one else from my church wanted to go as the lay delegate so I got to go. Of course for the next two years i won't be able to vote because I'll be a lowly seminarian, but I 'll take that because I got to vote on the all important general conference stuff.

Let me just say going to conference this year was quite the interesting experience. I'll start with my hot button issue. So This was the annual conference where we repented and reconciled for the racism and discrimination of the central jurisdiction. Well what a joke that was. The intention I think was very good. The conference has taken steps to right it's wrong. We can't drag minorities into our pews, but we have had racial and cultural sensitivity training. We've done quite a bit. I do give the conference credit for that. But these two services were bad. The first service of repentance was a two hour service at the end of which we forgave ourselves. Honest to goodness, no lie we forgave ourselves. The bishop's sermon was more of a history lesson. She did have a few high moments of calls to action and the need to recognize our privilege, but I thought there should have been more. In fact one of my pastor friends came up with a great new term. Hermeneutical mutiny: when the congregation wants to storm the pulpit. Anyway back to the forgiving ourselves. So we wrote the service, had a few token members of our sister pan-African denominations at the service , then asked one of them to stand up and read a statement of forgiveness which we had written. It was sad. I was angry and ashamed. I was given hope that there were quite a few people who felt the same way about the service. Of course there were some that thought it was wonderful. SCARY!!!

So then the next morning we had a service of reconciliation. Again let's tote out the token minorities again. There were two speakers whose sermons were very touching , although they were given by two white women. At least what they had to say was relevant. Then we had all the minorities who felt called to do so come up on the stage. the great thing was there were inclusive of all minorities, not just blacks. So we had Koreans, Africans, African - Americans, Native Americans, and Multiracial people on stage it was nice to see. then without warning we were asked to introduce ourselves. Then we had to introduce ourselves (yes I went on stage) and say something. A little warning about that would have been nice. Anyway I spent the rest of the day at conference with people seemingly feeling awkward, but still asking me so what is your herbage. I was kind of interesting to see the reaction people had. But in particular i have really come into my own comfort level with my multi-racialness. It is not who, but it part of me. I can't help the fact that my skin is not as dark as others think it should be. My father is black. My mother is white, I look like i am white. I am not. I am not white. I am not black. I am mixed I am me and I am proud that I can say that and not care how much that may unsettle other people. I must say that I will not forget how much it meant to me when a retired pastor who knows my family very well came up and told me how proud of me he was for going up on stage. Anytime I struggle with my identity in ministry I will keep that with me.

Then came two hot button topics. Our statement about the withdrawal from Iraq and homosexuality. the Iraq discussion was a little unexpected seeing how at district conference we had no discussion about it. We passed the statement after about an hour of debate. Of course the man sitting next to me said how dumb we were because we would just create a christian genocide. As if there aren't Christians dying there already. But he is also the man that was convinced that the NY part of our conference should care less about VT because they seceded from us 200 years ago. Yes there are always a few.


That's all for now installment two will happen shortly