Author: katyandtheword

Pastor Katy has enjoyed ministry at New Covenant since 2010, where the church has solidified its community focus. She now works at Capital CFO plus as the Non Profit Director. All opinions expressed on this blog are her own and do not reflect those of Capital CFO plus. Prior to that she studied both Theology and Christian Formation at Princeton Theological Seminary. She also served as an Assistant Chaplain at Trenton Psychiatric Hospital and as the Christian Educational Coordinator at Bethany Presbyterian at Bloomfield, NJ. She is an writer and is published in Enfleshed, Sermonsuite, Presbyterian's today and Outlook. She writes prayers, liturgy, poems and public theology and is pursuing her doctorate in ministry in Creative Write and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. She enjoys working within and connecting to the community, is known to laugh a lot during service, and tells as many stories as possible. Pastor Katy loves reading Science Fiction and Fantasy, theater, arts and crafts, music, playing with children and sunshine, and continues to try to be as (w)holistically Christian as possible. "Publisher after publisher turned down A Wrinkle in Time," L'Engle wrote, "because it deals overtly with the problem of evil, and it was too difficult for children, and was it a children's or an adult's book, anyhow?" The next year it won the prestigious John Newbery Medal. Tolkien states in the foreword to The Lord of the Rings that he disliked allegories and that the story was not one.[66] Instead he preferred what he termed "applicability", the freedom of the reader to interpret the work in the light of his or her own life and times.

Kids & Church

I grew up in the church…as a pastor’s daughter….I go to church now as a pastor, but my siblings don’t ..but they might someday, who knows? I don’t think it was about whether they were in or out of church service, I think its about their beliefs and the problem of they aren’t sure how they feel and the church makes it out like “you shouldn’t go to church unless you believe/act/do exactly what we want”

I feel like that may be the answer for them, but for different people, the reasons are different.

Two blogs about children surfaced this week Sunday School is killing the church (which is really about the timing of Sunday School, altho the title makes our poor underpaid youth pastors even worse off)

and The Church Should Be the Thing that Backs Down

Both of these blogs actually are trying to address a larger issue

Which is Families are CRAZY busy!

 

I mean seriously, a parent used to stay at home with the children, one working person households used to be totally feasible, plus kids had more free time. Primary socialization for families (I mean the entire family , the parents and the children) used to happen at church.

Unless we change the economy (are you helping by justly paying your church workers? or asking them to only work the hrs they are paid for? If not your church is PART OF THE VERY PROBLEM YOUR COMPLAINING ABOUT) …….we need to look deeper.

Let me tell you something, almost every stay at home parent is one because they can’t get a job that will actually contribute to the family monetarily….i.e. childcare, work clothes, gas, etc. eats all their pay

Almost every person I know is being told to work harder (put in more hrs, be more available, don’t complain about anything ever) in their job (or risk losing it) with almost no prospects of moving up

Almost every person I know with children has more demands for homework and time than ever before…plus you are never supposed to let your child play out of your sight ever again (assuming you are a middle or upper class parent) because that is “bad parenting”

Want to know why parents put their kids in babysitting/Sunday School during church? They need a break

Some parents even send their children to Sunday School and don’t even bother going to church themselves (gee…what need is that signaling) More than once I’ve heard of a church with a “problem” with it being just used as a free babysitting service.

Why is it those activities that happen not on Sunday Morning are rarely attended by kids? Usually parents have some other activity they have to attend, like sports or family time or other things (I would say “How dare they” but I don’t think everyone would hear my sarcasm)

Its tough to be a family…

And the church offers very few family resources…almost nothing to parents about parenting, few things where the entire family will ENJOY the activity (note letting children come to something IS NOT the same thing as welcoming them)

Plus most church meetings are over bedtime, which makes it really hard for a parent to come unless they pay a babysitter…even onsite care won’t help to defeat bedtime. (as my colleague Ryan Timpte says)

Deeper issues

1. Families are busy

2. We treat children as a commodity

3. Families are rarely given truly family appropriate activities to join

4. Parents are tired

5. The Weekend doesn’t exist for most people (Saturday used to be a day off too, rarely is it)

Can we reclaim Sabbath? (do we know what that means to different people and how to build that?)

Can we work with families?

Can we support parents?

Can we help the economy and idea of overwork–even if its just in our own church environment?

Can we address these problems as opportunities….because until we do, we will continue to make claims of “such and such” killing the church. And as Katie Bombalurina Mulligan said

“1. We are a resurrection people, so death is not an existential crisis for us or our institutions (easier said than realized, but yeah)

2. No one thing is “killing” the church

3. The church isn’t actually something that can die. It’s an institution that might end, but the people inside are what is living.

4. The articles are written with lazy generalizations (this too is a lazy generalization. back atcha).

5. There are so many different forms and ways of doing church. if you feel yours is unfaithful, go try some more ways. and then some more.

6. If we’re going to animate the church as a living entity, then the church is supposed to die, because nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky (~Kansas. or Ecclesiastes. Take your pick. Also, that rhymed.)“

Something to SERIOUSLY consider when discussing “those cutesy beings who are the future of the church”

or as I prefer to think of them “These children of God who have so much to contribute”

#online #internet and #church Resources, a start…

So…you might be ready to venture into this whole online church thing

YAY! I probably don’t have to tell you, but not being online these days is akin to not being in the phonebook…and everyone wants to be in the phonebook.

But then the question is how to do it? How much? What are good resources? I plan to list here some of the resources I have gathered.

Websites

www.textweek.com resources on the lectionary also www.workingpreacher.org has regular and narrative lectionary resources

http://www.monkdevelopment.com/ website with tips and tricks for churches

http://www.churchmarketingsucks.com/2014/09/certification-lab-instructors-conversation/ offers workshops and trainings bc too often…church marketing sucks

http://churchtechtoday.com/about-2/ Free resources to help churches communicate better. No matter the medium, it’s time to be intentional about reaching your congregation and community.

ChurchTechToday was born out of the need to find a place to discuss how technology can truly impact the Church in positive ways, whether it be reducing administration with a church office, allowing para church organizations to connect with their members online, or simply to share the Gospel message through non-traditional channels.

http://pomomusings.com/ Adam Walker Cleveland’s blog about tech and ministry Social Media Sunday experiences

http://www.adamjcopeland.com/category/technology/ Adam Copeland’s blog about technological topics

http://textinchurch.com/  a marketing resource with some free and some pay content to learn about texting/email and media follow ups for visitors, etc.

 

Follow on Twitter

@cmsucks : idea sharing and marketing techniques

@NewMediaAtCTS : blogs and ideas

@pewresearch : pew research info to help to stay up to date

@dreampcusa offers twitter prayers on a regular basis

publishes his own unofficial daily Presbyterian News blog on twitter

@unvirtuousabbey monks who tongue and cheekily provide ministerial guides and twitter prayers (in my opinion the best in twitter ministry)

@chsocm Content & conversation about social media for church & faith. Lively ecumenical chat Tuesdays, 9PM (ET). Founded by , July 2011. Also on Facebook.

Experiencing the Word of God : Two nontraditional and GOOD experiences of the Gospel online that are possibilities for your church to take on are

http://faithandwonder.com/ Biblical Storytelling

http://www.90secondsermon.com/ Essential Sermon (created by a tech and a media person both of whom are now pastors, they are very saavy)

 

I tend to follow the Geek/Nerd world, issues in LBQT* and CisNormativity issues as well as feminism and theology

including

Suey Park @suey_park

MaryAnn McKibbean Dana

(those two tend to butt head so watch out)

Pastrix’s cool author Nadia Bolz-Weber @sarcasticluther

PCUSA Washington Justice advocate J. Herbert Nelson @jherbertnelson

A Queer Seminary student Alan @awhooker

as well as various Christian Magazines (CC Century, Christianity Today, Presbyterian’s Today, etc)

and my local Presbytery

My church has a website (which we are still figuring out, I hired someone to construct it, but do not like the results http://www.albanyncpc.com) three facebook pages 1 church, 1 farmer’s market and 1 nursery school all controlled through the church website, and a meetup group for our playgroup.

We JUST hired a 10hr a week media coordinator. Her job description reads as follows

10hr a week position, 5hrs onsite at New Covenant Presbyterian 916 Western Ave and 5hrs flexible
pay $8-$9 an hr

*Maintain website weekly
*Maintain facebook M-Fri
*Maintain Farmer’s Market Facebook
*Assist with Email Correspondances
*Design and Print Brochures, Flyer, Invites & Newsletters
*Assist with Advertising

Qualifications
Must be internet savvy, understand how to maintain and update FB, Twitter, and Basic Blog style Website
Self-Starter: Must be able to work alone and propose independent ideas
Organized: Must be able to routinely check on media without prompting or instruction
Team Player: Must interact and work well with pastor, secretary and staff

Preferences
Degree in Media, Publishing, Communications, or some related field
Experience in either attending or working at a church environment

The media person is to support all the online ads (local newspaper, craigslist) and free media resources that we could be using more, but I only maintain adhoc. This person is onsight for some coordination and to show the congregation that she is actually working (because many of them don’t get what a media person does).

 

If you have questions/comments about media or other resources, let me know!

 

What is #Church anyway?

Matthew 18:15-20

Romans 13:8-14

What is church? I asked the kids…They said “Where people come together to talk about God” “a place to pray” “where there are nummy snacks””yeah like communion” ….I feel like that’s it in a nutshell!

Church is a gathering… 

   think about that, it is people coming together in Christ’s name, we all know that church is going to look radically different in 20yrs from today–we can all feel the change on the horizon and

…(feel the fear tingle up and down your spine) No one yet knows what its changing to! Ask 20 people and they will give you 20 different answers about where “mainline” church is going…

However Lectionary clues us into some things today

1. Church is a gathering….any gather, anywhere, anytime, anyhow in Christ’s name. It is so NOT about the numbers. It is about getting together

2. Church is owing Love: AND NOTHING ELSE. So many people are worried about what church owes them and what people owe church “well they SHOULD be going to church” …”well if they come they should give money” “if they come they should be willing to work” so many debts are put mistakenly put on each other, when in truth that is another human way of reckoning, another way of keeping track of numbers, another way of keeping debts. We do NOT owe each other anything, except love!

3. Church is Listening: truly hearing and understanding each other is a direct act of the Holy Spirit. Note that what we need to do if someone does something wrong, is to get them to “hear” what they’ve done. (No apologies, payback are apparently necessary, altho they may follow). Just listening. And if they can’t hear what you have, gather some others to witness (I think in a loving way where multiple people state their worry, as opposed to a mob castigating someone for their crime) to help the message to be heard…

4. Witnessing: Then there are the witnesses to the Word–those talking together and starting to build that agreement–Presbyterians have a phrase “the Holy Spirit works through consensus”–this consensus is built by true listening….and when we hear each other and can build together.

That’s it, church, a gathering where we witness, listen and love one another without reckoning, numbering or indebtedness……….

Those are the elements that stay the same, even as the structure of church changes….

Happily Ever After #Job #fairytale #harrypotter #hallowsnothorcruxes

Job 42:10-17

10 And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11Then there came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house; they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him; and each of them gave him a piece of money* and a gold ring. 12The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys. 13He also had seven sons and three daughters. 14He named the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. 15In all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers. 16After this Job lived for one hundred and forty years, and saw his children, and his children’s children, four generations. 17And Job died, old and full of days.

So here we are Job (at least one of, if not the) first written fairy tale and it ends happily ever after…so this means that tempted as we are to write this off as a “happily ever after” if this is one of the first AND we make note that there is no such thing

He has more children than before (more boys always important)…is more wealthy and is even able to give his daughters an inheritance….(yay!)

But what makes this a happily ever after is not the kids and the money..its God’s presence...its the knowledge that (remember this is pre-Jesus) bad things can happen to anyone, and it isn’t about judgement.

Happily Ever After is experiencing the love of God!

Its knowing God is present in your life.

Job was GUARENTEED a happily ever after. He has experienced God, and because of that his life will be happy.

No matter what.

Those other details are mere illustrations of the truth of God’s love!

And it makes all the difference…….

That is why after experiencing Jesus Christ, “Happily Ever After” became viable…because we are living into God’s presence…before Jesus Christ there was NO SUCH THING. Now we know death isn’t the end.

We use this theology in fantasy/fairy tales today!

“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, p. 328.

  • Engraved on the headstone of James and Lily Potters. Taken from the Bible, (1 Corinthians 15:26)

“It doesn’t mean defeating death in the way the Death Eaters mean it, Harry,” said Hermione, her voice gentle. “It means… you know… living beyond death. Living after death.” p. 329 which of course is what Jesus Christ made possible……changing the world and the way we experience it as we know it

hallows

Here’s to living happily ever after

Handy Dandy Tips for Navigating #PCUSA call process for PNC from a pastor

PCUSApastor

Dear PNC,

     1. You are awesome, seriously this is a lot of work, much group prayer and more! Here are some things I’ve learned from “my” perspective as a candidate that might help you know the process

a. this is not a corporate job–its more like dating, the interest needs to be mutual. Although you (the church) do take the more “traditionally male” role in doing the asking, you get to indicate to the pastor when you want to first speak person-to-person.

b. There are three kinds of referrals on the clc.pcusa.org website. the NUMBERS only are SELF-REFERRALS straight from the pastor, indicating interest. The EP numbers are referrals made by an EP (probably yours altho possibly the pastor’s). The other numbers, cs or crs are computer generated matches (which are definitely valid but are without a human hand).

c. When you email/call or do any kind of contact kindly include your MIF #. Getting an Email from Springfield PNC and not knowing what state Springfield is in, makes it difficult for me to indicate my interest.

d. Pastors do NOT get updates (by email or otherwise) if they have been matched to a church. (Actually what you have to do is filter through ALL the churches that have ever matched you and try to find you). This means the pastor might have missed you on their “matches.” Its not that the pastor is uncaring, its just that the pastor gets many matches from churches who will never call or indicate interest, plus a working pastor is probably busy taking care of his/her own ministry, so again, include your MIF number and expect that the pastor will have to remind themselves who you are before he/she proceeds.

e. PNC defines the process. As you know you spend a lot of time deciding what the next step is in the process, try to keep the candidates informed as to where you are and what the next step is, and (approximately) when that step will be taken.  (also, unanimous decisions might be trickier than you think and we believe in consensus and embrace differences, so do the best you can and think twice about requiring unanimous decisions)

 

f. Different Churches have different technologies: The pastor only has 1 video sermon? Probably that was really hard to finagle. Do not assume that the church’s technological knowledge is the same as the pastor. Maybe the pastor wants taped sermons or video streams but the church just can’t get it together. Be open minded about how sermons come your way.

g. Similarly most churches don’t know their pastor is looking: It may be as simple as the pastor isn’t ready to tell them or some other complicated reason. Getting congregational references might not be possible if the pastor is doing a closed search (i.e. their current church doesn’t know). Professional, Peer and Educational references tend to be what you get. Usually you get SIX references while the church only gives two. These refs are prob enough to give you an idea of how the pastor works.

h. The Pastor is juggling a lot. You may be calling when a congregation member died, the pastor may be waiting to hear back from a neutral pulpit, or perhaps he/she has been out sick. Chances are if the pastor is asking for a little time its because they are taking care of their current call (yay! You want a pastor who is maintaining a good working relationship with their current call). Ask twice if you need to and remember that you and the pastor are working in different time-space-realities. i.e. its like you are in 2 different dimensions. Try not to feel blown off if the pastor gets bogged down, maybe that’s just a hint from God about how the process is going and it probably isn’t personal.

i. A good indicator as to whether the interview went well is if it goes beyond the paper MIF and PIF info exchanges and starts to examine theology (i.e. where is Jesus, God, Holy Spirit at work in the church and in the pastor and do those things match)

j. Be honest. Talk about those skeletons, the rough spots, the imperfections. I fully believe that God calls pastors to churches where they can help each other in their imperfections, there is no such thing as a perfect pastor or a perfect church. There is such a thing as a loving pastor and a loving church.

k. The first visit is a conversation, and part of that conversation is showing how you will be taking care of the pastor. These and other interactions will help to “set the tone” of your relationship with one another. Try to be thoughtful if family cannot come, weekends are hard to come by (pastors are usually using their vacations to come out and see you), or if the pastor has pets for the manse, is not planning on buying a house right away or some other life piece that actually has less to do with how they are as a minister and more to do with their personal life situation. Tip: Try to leave some down time for the pastor to get out on their own, and to process and pray about the visit. Its very kind to tell the candidate how many people have reached this point and when you hope to decide.  

 

Exceptional Ideas: Big Church with lots of energy? Consider hiring a young/fresh pastor who has lots of ideas? Fulltime Solo Pastorate? Consider hiring a woman (most women only get part time ministry jobs) Got a favorite ministry? Send the links to the candidate, Want young families? Consider a single pastor with more time or a more experienced, older pastor. Hiring an Associate Pastor? Consider hiring a competent Co–Pastor instead. God calls different people to extraordinary roles we don’t expect. Moses was shocked to be a leader, Samuel, Daniel and Joseph, all of these people were put into ministries that “weren’t usual” for the time.

 

Also, pray for each candidate, pray that they find God’s call wherever it is. We the pastors REALLY appreciate it!

 

 

Unity, Prayer, Sharing

Lord Hear Our Prayer

We are one in the Spirit, We are one in the Lord, We are one in the Spirit, We are one in the Lord

and we pray that all unity will one day be restored

#Job #wisdom #God #world #suffering #ministryofpresence

 

Job 38

Then God comes in a storm. Thundering his mightiness, showering his holiness, blowing his grace across Job’s Face.

“Who are you to question me?” God asks…..

and God shows who God is to Job

Job 42

Job repents, realizing who God is… Job says that he had “heard” God before, but this is the first time he “saw him”

 

So why does God show up in the storm?

•I do NOT think God was yelling at Job for complaining

•I do NOT think God was TRYing scare Job: although “fear of God” was probably a side effect”

 

Godly Encounter (warning, side effects may include “the fear of God”)
 
I think that when Job glimpsed God, when Job got an inkling of how/who/what God was…
I think when Job felt the MAGNITUDE of God’s LOVE
He realized that knowing the whys and wherefores, having all the answers….being “right” was not going to give him enough to UNDERSTAND the workings of the universe.
 
A better window, was to understand who God is and that God is present
When I was 5 I busted my lip open riding a bike, just before it was to be loaded on the moving truck. I was riding it around one last time, hit a rock and split my lip open. All the way there I cried.
When I got there, they had to put stitches in, and they surrounded me with a curtain. I was on painkillers.
I was crying for my mother
My mom said she was afraid that she was cutting off the circulation to my hand, she was squeezing it so hard, but even though she kept trying to tell me she was just behind the curtain and she was holding my hand–I couldn’t see her.
 
And when I finally did see her….it didn’t make everything better. The pain didn’t go away, I didn’t understand any better what exactly it was the doctors were doing to me.
But I felt better.
That is (I think) how Job felt….once he knew God was there, it didn’t fix things, but it did make things better.
 
And if we get back to what our call is as  Church, as the Body of Christ, as Christians, that is our call. We can’t fix everything (sadly), we can’t. But our call is to be present. Our call is to recognize the Holy Spirit is at work in every being. Our call is to make even those who suffer–a little bit better

Book Review: Written in Red by Anne Bishop

And for a fantasy take on suffering, I tend to turn back the “theology” of Anne Bishop (be warned: she deals a lot with the issue of abuse)

katyandtheword's avatarkatyandtheword

If you like stories about fragile females, who actually end up being not so fragile, with willing males to simulatenously take care of them even as they serve them, then Anne Bishop is your feminist.

The plotline is basically the same as her other 3 series (Black Jewels<–first and favorite, Belladonna and Bridge of Dreams<–not really a fan of this one).

Despite the plotline and characters getting to be (more than) predictable, Anne Bishop creates awesome worlds where magic is both feared and utilized in unexpected ways.

I like the plotline, so I don’t mind it being that repetitive, however I think that in her most developed world (Black Jewels) the books about side characters start to get away from the tired plotline, so its still my favorite. Plus this is not a common plotline elsewhere, so although its the same tune from Bishop over and over again I do…

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Job 23: #whereisGod #loneliness #depression #God

Job 23: Summary- If only I could find God and yell at him, then surely things would change….but where or where is God?

 

Job cries out,

 He cries out that the world is wrong

He cries out that God is righteous, so why is his world wrong?

“Let me Explain” Job says, “Just talk to me” Job is convinced he has done something wrong, so why do bad things happen.

 

Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do good people suffer, if Job “righteous” and God’s exemplar servant (literally) is not able to avoid wrong. Who can?

Who can?

This story is pre-Jesus, there is no savior taking on the troubles and heartaches in a way that we can see (not yet anyway)…so this story is about the reality that human life is hard and that bad things happen to everyone the good and the bad (the rain shall fall on the righteous and unrighteous alike).

It is a comfort, though,

It is a comfort to know that if Job can suffer, then we do not need to be ASHAMED of our suffering…those who suffer from mental illness, addiction or long term debilitating illness, those things are not shameful

Yelling at God when things go wrong…that’s ok too. After all, God can take that anger and turn it into praise (only God can turn anger into praise in Psalm after Psalm after Psalm)

Because God is Grace, God is the stooping God, the kneeling parent, the carrier in the sand. We are NEVER going to be perfect enough for God. But God will always be perfect enough to help us to get to him.

This why we have communion…to connect us to God even when we feel unconnected.

The earliest written communions have
sursum corda (“Lift Up Your Hearts”) which is still included today

Lift up Your Hearts

We Lift Our Hearts to the Lord

Let us Give Thanks to the Lord Our God

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

Lift our hearts…we are lifting our hearts…and we are also praying that God lifts our hearts with us, because we can’t lift them up high enough. God stoops. God helps us

When we celebrate communion we speak to God’s Godhood, how God was the beginning and the end, how God was, is and will be present with us.

Then we pray, we pray for the Holy Spirit to come to the elements, we ask for God to fulfill that promise of presence here and now. Giving a prayer of Great Thanksgiving just as Christ did before he broke the bread and passed the cup, and praying the prayer that Jesus himself taught with the Lord’s Prayer

….lifting our hearts to meet his…God meets us…in the bread and in the wine, Christ is present, promising particular and real presence in the elements.

“This IS my body broken for you…do this in remembrance of me” To remember who Christ is NOW, not just the past

“This is the cup of the new covenant sealed in my blood…whenever (whereever, however) you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim my death until I come again” in the future…this is a seal of my promise to you and your promise to me…proclaiming the death, til the end of time….

and we share in those elements, and we become the Body of Christ…so that Christ is no longer simply with us.  This broken ragged people, in different situations with imperfect bodies and hearts that are often in pieces….God lifts our hearts, moves us to celebrate his love, so that we too end up in giving thanks and praise….

We are the Body of Christ.