Open Doors, Open Windows, Open Walls - It's All About the Possibilities

Good morning, 

 Sorry I've been so long to get back to this blog but for a summer, it's been a little busy.  Scott and I and both boys and wonderful friend went on vacation to Washington State.  We gathered with my father's family for a reunion, can you hear the cards shuffling, and then traveled on to Seattle.  What a beautiful part of our country!  

Back at home at Northwood UMC, it has been a time of learning.  Learning the people, learning God's way for this community.   Good people and wonderful possibilities!  

"Open doors, open hearts, open minds!"  That's our Methodist identity.  "Open doors, open windows, open walls!"   That's the observation of a clergy colleague when I described our present situation.  

The bad news is we've had a devastating fire!  The good news is we are still a community of Christ and the rebuilding process is underway.  We are working through insurance issues, interviewing architects and contractors.   

Dan, our youngest son, came by the church yesterday and took some photos of the slab. There are more to come later, but this is my favorite of what he's produced so far.   This is the door from the sanctuary opening to the north side of the property.   "Open doors, open windows, open walls," fits pretty well.  

I love this picture.   It's all about the possibilities of rebuilding;  of using the rich resource of our eleven acres; of thinking, dreaming, outside the box; of reopening the doors of worship space.    

Rebuilding is a great challenge for us.  It will be a lot of hard work, a lot of listening, but a spiritual journey for a congregation full of blessings.  It's all about the possibilities!  

What I've Learned in Two Weeks

Psalm 4:6-7, The Message 

Why is everyone hungry for more?  "More, more," they say. 

"More, more."  

I have God's more-than-enough, 

More joy in one ordinary day."

Well, these first two weeks have been a whirlwind of learning names, finding things, and beginning the work of our building committee.  I've learned a lot.  Here is what I've learned"

1.  The fire and many transitions, worship space and pastor have unsettled the life of this congregation.   A fire as a single event is a great trauma to a congregation.   The loss of sacred space, the loss of routine, the loss of records are all a hardship.   The questions about where, how and who stress everyone.   Add to that a pastoral change and some other changes in personnel,  we're just unsettled.  

2.  But you LOVE to sing.   I've never heard such great sound out of a congregation this size - John Wesley would be proud!    When you sing these if courage and determination and the since of unsettledness seems to slide away.  "When through fiery trials your pathway may lie, My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply:"  We need to sing that often. 

3.  You are an eclectic church.  This congregation is made of an incredible diversity of people, backgrounds, vocations, ages and stages of life.  Many of you live in the immediate neighborhood and others from across Lafayette and surrounding communities.  You are a regional church with a neighborhood feel.

4.  This is a church that knows how to work.  People step up, engage needs, and work hard.  Vacation Bible School was tremendous and the perfect example of the commitment of this church.  We all need to hear, practice, and live the VBS theme, "Fear NOT!"

5.  I love being the pastor here.   I still have much to learn.  I'm going to need your prayers and forgiveness along the way.  There are still people to meet and stories to hear.  There are many things that we need to get in place after the fire.  We are still short a permanent secretary.  We are still discovering things that aren't there from the fire.  

But the life of this church, the joy of this church goes on and that's what I love.   There is joy in making do, finding ways of loving, forgiving, and sharing our lives together.   Actually these are the normal things of any church.   There is joy for Northwood for God is with us!   I'm glad to be a part of this!! 

What a Welcome!

What a grand welcome! 

Thanks so much to our new Northwood UMC family.   You have welcomed us so very well, Scott and I already feel like part of the family.   You are lively singers, even the 8:30 crowd.  Not many 8:30 gatherings actually sing.  I look forward to this "getting to know you" process.   To those of you who I've met through other church connections, you made it seem like coming home.  To those of you for whom this is our first introduction, thank you for your hospitality. 

 For all of us as we get to know each other, there are three rules which I am going to strive to live by among you.  This is a new start for me, sort of like a New Year's resolution, how about a new church resolution.  These three rules are really three old rules that John Wesley practiced.  

• Do no harm 
• Do good
• Stay in love with God 

First, I am going to pay attention to everything I say and do lest I cause harm.   I rarely get up in the morning out to do harm, but on occasion I do get up on the wrong side of the bed.   Most of the harm I cause is a result of charging ahead to do what I believe to be good with out considering how it will affect others or how to accomplish it without running over others.    I count of you as my church family help me in this way of living.    One of realities of living and working together as a community even if that community desires to live as Christ, we will step on each others toes and we will bump into each other.   The whole building process is going to be full of opportunities to disagree, miscommunicate, and stay ruffled OR if we all agree to do NO harm we will be willing to listen, to speak with kindness, and work to consensus.   It is doubtful that we will all agree on everything, but we are people who believe in miracles and forgiveness.    I believe it is God's will for this church to be healthy, lively, and joyful.  We begin to live into that reality as we practice these three rules.  Let's start with the first rule and agree to do no harm.  

The Grass is Always Greener

"The grass is never greener on the other side of the fence, it's just different grass."  This was the wisdom a pastor friend shared with me as she congratulated me on my new appointment to Northwood UMC.    What she says in the context of appointments is true, we pastors can get obsessed or unduly hopeful to find the perfect appointment and the perfect congregation.  Every appointment change carries a bucketful of unrealistic expectations.   (Congregations do the the same, expecting the perfect pastor.)  After the honeymoon we all discover we're just people who have to work at loving each other and who all need a lot of forgiveness.   

But back to the grass, little did my friend know that the grass is greener at Northwood, 15 acres of it! Fifteen acres of green, growing, it's-your-turn-to-mow, acres of potential ministry.  What's even better is the small but diligent congregation committed to the ministry and mission of Northwood UMC.    The church suffered a fire back in April.  The congregation lost it's sanctuary and office/classroom spaces.   Church records, hymnals, educational materials and the sense of order and space that a building provide were lost.  Over the last eight weeks the congregation has gone to heroic efforts to recover, salvage, and reestablish the life of the church.  The burned structure has been demolished leaving only the red iron of the original building.  Right now we are camping out in the two remaining rooms, we are worshipping in a nearby rental hall. the  Life and ministry of the church is going on!  

I am very privileged to join this congregation at this time, to see their gritty, sooty faith, to

join them in the building the congregation and rebuilding the church.  We have hard work to do, we also have many blessings to give and receive.  We're are gonna work hard and have so much fun.    Whose turn it it to mow this week?  

Sending Off

What a wonderful send off from my Asbury family.    Thank you for music and hugs and gifts filled with so much affection and confidence.   You have all been a part of the assurance that God is calling me to this new work and you confidence has been much greater than mine that God will work through me and with me in this task.   Thank you!  

There are not enough "thank you's" to offer for the kindness and gifts you have given.  I leave having been wonderfully blessed.  

All through Sunday in the process of saying good bye, I was sustained by the words of an old song: 

Twenty-four hours can go so fast,

You look around, the day has passed.

When you're in love,

Time is precious stuff;

Even a lifetime isn't enough.

Where has the time all gone to?

Haven't done half the things we want to.

Oh, well, we'll catch up

Some other time

This day was just a token,

Too many words are still unspoken.

Oh, well, we'll catch up

Some other time.

Just when the fun is starting,

Comes the time for parting,

But let's be glad for what we've had

And what's to come.

There's so much more embracing

Still to be done, but time is racing.

Oh, well, we'll catch up

Some other time.

I leave with this confidence, that those who follow Jesus - well, we'll catch up some other time.  

Preparing to Begin

I am preparing to love and lead a new congregation.   This verse sounds like a very good place to start.  

A Scripture to Begin   I Corinthians 2:1-5 

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3 And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 4 My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God. 

A Favorite Quote:

Maybe the best thing that could happen to the church would be for some great tidal wave of history to wash it all away – the church buildings tumbling, the church money all lost, the church bulletins blowing through the air like dead leaves, the differences between preachers and congregations all lost too.  Then all we would have left would be each other and Christ, which was all there was in the first place.

Frederick Buechner, The Clown in the Belfry, San Francisco: Harper, 1992. 

Monday Morning

The sun is up and so am I - which is unusual.   I am less and less a morning person but when I am up  - well it's kind of nice.  Quiet, calm, in South Louisiana a little moist.  a place to settle my soul before the day begins and this day will have a lot in it.  I am between places.  One place I love deeply and another I am preparing to love.  Things to finish and things to begin. 

Help me to stand in the middle today - one foot each in a new place and time - and even in the middle help me to be faithful. 

Amen