Pastor's Blog
Growing
On the door frame around the entrance to my office at home there are a series of pencil marks inching their way up toward the top. Each pencil mark has a name and a date next to it. Some include a note indicating whether the mark was made wearing shoes or not. You may have a similar set of marks somewhere in your home. These marks track the growth of our sons in terms of their height. It struck me recently that we don’t have marks tracking our sons’ growth in weight or other dimensions (like the size of their shirts, pants, or shoes). Somewhere in the house are boxes with photographs and others with old report cards. These too reflect our sons’ growth in other ways. In all these ways, we affirm the importance of growth for our lives.
Growth is important for a church as well. Over the past five years, we have welcomed many new members into the family of our church. We have also said goodbye to many members of longstanding, who have moved away from this area, or moved on to God’s eternal embrace. Overall, our membership may be about the same as five years ago, or maybe a little less. Either way, we can’t say that we are growing much, at least numerically. Of course there are other kinds of growth that are important. They may be even more important, but they are also more difficult, if not impossible, to measure. How are we growing in terms of our depth of faith, our understanding of Scripture, our experience of God, our devotion to Christ, our warmth of fellowship, and our service to the community? Though immeasurable, these are more important than our numbers; what would be the point of having a big church if these elements of our life together were in sad shape?
Nonetheless, growth in membership and attendance can greatly enhance all these other qualities of a church. There tends to be more energy, more programs, more variety of activities, more spirit when there are more people. God is able to challenge us, encourage us, and help us grow spiritually through the faith others who may be like us and unlike us. Something as simple and as central as our experience of worship is greatly affected by how full or how empty the pews are. Everyone feels the swell of sound and energy when the sanctuary is full at Christmas and Easter. When visitors come to worship with us, they get a sense of what’s happening, or not, from the attendance. How wonderful it would be if we grew with new people coming to our church, and with our current members coming more frequently!
Here’s an idea for you to consider for Lent. Many Christians make Lent a more intentional time for more attention to their spiritual lives. Traditionally that included some degree of fasting, prayer, and study. There has been an element of sacrifice through both giving up something(s) and taking on something(s). Last year, we promoted the idea of an effort at fasting from our excessive use of carbon. For Lent this year, I’d like us all to consider committing to attend worship every week. That may require giving up some other activities or commitments for six weeks straight. If traveling, it would mean finding a church where you are traveling in which to worship. Ideally you would be here with our congregation adding to the vitality of our worship experience. Nonetheless, the idea is to make worship a more intentional priority for this season of Lent, a season preparing us to remember the sacrificial events of Holy Week and leading up to the joyous celebration of Easter.
What do you think? Can you do it? Will you do it? Lent begins with Ash Wednesday on February 22nd. You might want to come to our service that evening to initiate your commitment. Then the Sundays of Lent are February 26, March 4, 11, 18, 25, and April 1. Let’s do it together!
A Season of Light
Isn't it odd that these cold dark weeks of winter coincide for us with the church season of Epiphany, a "Season of Light"? Depending on your religious background and experience, Epiphany may not be a familiar term. It means something like manifestation, unveiling, revelation. It follows Advent and the twelve days of Christmas. On the day of Epiphany, January 6th, Christendom commemorates and celebrates the presentation of gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh by the magi as they knelt before the Christ child. The magi are understood to have been counselors to kings in countries to the east of Palestine. They studied the heavens and the movement of celestial bodies in order to understand the operations of creation and to discern the signs of the times. Through the story of the magi, the church affirmed that in Jesus, the long promised messiah had come, and not just for one people, but for all people: east and west, high and low, rich and poor, shepherds and magi.
Epiphany as a season begins on January 6th and continues then for all the weeks leading up to Ash Wednesday. These are some of the coldest and darkest weeks of the year (at least for us in the northern hemisphere – it's a different story in New Zealand). When you stop to think about it, winter is perfect for the Season of Light, the antidote for our experience of the darkness.
I expect you are aware of a phenomenon called SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder. Perhaps you experience personally. It is a darkening of one's mood, ranging from the blues to major depression, linked to the darkening of the days. Treatment often includes exposure to bright, full-spectrum lights (and a trip to the Caribbean).
In a correlative sense, there is a darkness to our lives that needs to be irradiated with the light of God's grace. In the darkest days of my life, I know that I needed some medical attention and some therapy; but I also know I needed to experience God's loving presence with me and for me. I needed, and I know that I will always need, God's light in my life. Some days are full of sunshine; some days are dark and drear. Some days I can see that light for myself; some days I need others to see and be it for me.
At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus as Messiah, the Christ, Emmanu-El. Angels lit up the sky over the shepherds announcing his birth. A star rose in the East and guided the magi to Bethlehem to kneel before him. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke tell the birth narratives. The Gospel of John waxes poetic with the cosmic narrative. The Light came into the world in the person of the Christ child. That light shone in the darkness. The darkness did its best to extinguish the light. But not even the darkness of brutality and death could do it. The darkness could not overcome the light. The sun was eclipsed for three hours; the light blinked, but then returned more beautiful, more powerful, and brighter than before.
This is Epiphany, the Season of Light. Despite what the almanacs and newspapers may print for sunrise and sunset, we believe in a sunrise that is everlasting. With Job, who experienced plenty of darkness, we dare to sing, "I know that my redeemer liveth!" We turn our faces, our minds and hearts, to the light. We look with faith for the epiphanies, the intimations and manifestations of that One who IS the incomparable and unconquerable Light of the World.
Others
[Rob Williams is out of the country; this is his message from Christmas 2009.]
Thanksgiving is just behind us, Christmas just ahead. I don’t know why this never occurred to me before, but just moments ago, I was struck by the awareness that Thanksgiving focuses on what we have received (looking back), and Christmas on what we can give (looking forward). Receiving and giving, twin aspects of the life of faith, are both opportunities for gratitude and joy.
I confess that I have not yet done my Christmas shopping. I’ve always been one of those last minute shoppers you see out on December 24th, making my purchases before heading off to church for the Christmas Eve service. It’s a little bit nuts, but it’s also a lot of fun, finding gifts for others in those last hours as the fullness of Christmas fills the air.
Gifts for others. We give gifts to others at Christmas, perhaps in memory of the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh that were given to the Christ child; but more centrally, in gratitude for, and in imitation of, the gift God has given to us in Bethlehem’s babe. As we have received the gift of God’s love, so we give gifts of love to others.
One of my favorite stories told by Dr. Arthur Caliandro at the Marble Collegiate Church, was of a Christmas card he received from one of his dear friends, Amos Parrish. When he opened the envelope and drew out the card, there was only one word printed on it: “Others”. As Dr. Caliandro would say, that one word summed up the whole message and meaning of Christmas for him.
Who are these “others”? For me, they have been my family, near and far. They have been my dearest friends and trusted colleagues. They have been good neighbors, and people who provide caring services to my family. These are the “others” who people my gift list at Christmas. These are the regulars. Then of course there are those “others” who are the beneficiaries of various ministries and service agencies which I like to support with my year-end donations. For weeks, the appeals arrive by mail and I collect them in a basket, until at Christmas when I sit down to write them checks.
As the years have passed, my children have grown up, and we all have more stuff than we know what to do with. Our families and friends are generally in the same position. There’s nothing we really need that we don’t get for ourselves when the need arises; and we’ve all grown far more aware of the often desperate needs of others. With time, we have gradually moved away from expensive gifts for one another. We may exchange some small token of our affection, but we prefer to make donations in their honor to causes that would be meaningful to them. Matching the donation to the person in whose honor the gift is being given, is a big part of the fun, as is also the accomplishing of something good for those who truly need it.
Most recently, I have felt a need to give something for Christmas to someone in a more personal way. Though the donation to Habitat for Humanity, or Doctors without Borders, or the Heifer Project, accomplishes great good, it can feel a bit impersonal. I will continue to make gifts to them in honor of loved ones. But I also find myself keeping an eye out for some person or persons with particular needs for whom I can do something to help. Then the fun is working out a way to make it happen, and to ensure that it happens anonymously. Some call it “Secret Santa”, for me it is the Christ Spirit. It is the attempt to give with no thought of return, no expectation of reciprocation or a thank you. It is giving for giving’s sake. The focus is no longer on me. It is “Others”. I believe such giving gives God joy; I know it gives me joy. It is my Christmas gift to myself and perhaps also to God. Who are the “Others” for you?
