Category: Ministry

Christmas: What if we just owned it?!?

The elves are starting. Many parents do the elf on the shelf thing (Not me, Advent is busy, and we find them creepy although lots of parents do a good job) or even the kindness elves. Christmas flyers are being sent out, and of course retail has been talking Christmas forever

Tumblr is starting to look snowy

And us pastors are DEFINITELY starting to think about Christmas-Auditions for our Xmas play have started this week. (which we put on for children as food drive…YAY)
twas

Technically, in my family, we aren’t supposed to listen to Xmas music til thanksgiving

(but I give myself a pass to sneak it in the car, when I’m alone)

And you have to watch Love Actually 6 weeks before Christmas, because that’s when the

movie starts……and that may be before Thanksgiving.

Then on thanksgiving we toast with Egg Nog and watch our first official Christmas movie–which is tricky to decide…. (My brother wants “Its a Wonderful Life” I like “Miracle on 34th” My one sister likes “Holiday Inn” My other sister likes “The Santa Clause” the kids prefer “The Grinch who Stole Christmas” the cartoon)

1020 × 765 – orthocuban.com

And we do celebrate St. Nick’s day on Dec. 6th where St. Nick leaves Candy in everyone’s shoes and a family game/movie in the holiday spirit……

Ok, lets be honest, we celebrate ALL MONTH LONG

I am all for surprises and delayed gratification, I love waiting for good things, and I like advent, but since I (and everyone else) is already planning Christmas…….I wonder if some year WE ought to just OWN Christmas at church the way retail does.

You know go all out

Start celebrating as soon as humanly possible

Tell the Christmas story five weeks in a row. Because there is always Way, way too much story to get through on Christmas Eve (and I always feel sad for the parts I miss)–Angels and Shepherds and Wise Men and Mary and Joseph (not to mention all those animals hanging around)….so many scriptural narratives to cover!!!

And there are so many good ways to tell the Christmas story, Velveteen Rabbit, The Littlest Angel, the Gift of the Magi, Miracle on 34th St, all the puppy and kitten present stories, the shepherds perspective, the drummer boy, the (three) wise men, the unexpected Christmas youtube video, the googlemaps version of Mary and Joseph’s journey, Charlie Brown & the Grinch, the advent conspiracy, the feeding of people on thankgiving, etc. etc. etc.

As someone in the Nextchurch Twitter discussion pointed out, we are celebrating Christ’s birth ALL THE TIME anyway.

Besides, not everyone may even know the Christmas Carols anymore (tears) maybe we should sing them on Sunday–I know the ambiant music never covers as many true hymns and carols as I want (Holly Jolly Christmas is fun, but First Noel speaks to me)

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Maybe Advent is during the week and Christmas is every Sunday. (Hey, it works for Lent right?)

How would you take ownership if you starting celebrating Christmas after thanksgiving? How would it change how your church did mission that month? Could you tell the gospel in different ways? Are there lead-in activities that might make it more possible to engage and connect to the community? How about your stewardship campaign, if you directly tied it to Xmas could you do so in a good/GREAT way?

Seems to me that if we are to party people into the kingdom, great mission/storytelling and singing of Christmas is a great way to start….after all, who doesn’t love the candlelit service? Who doesn’t wish that this is how church feels all the time?

One of these years, I’m going all IN!

Bigger on the Inside: The #Tardis #Church

My church works hard to be community oriented and to be out in the neighborhood.

1 that runs a Neighborhood Farmer’s Market in our parking lot from May-Oct, completely thru volunteers

1 that arranges for free exercise classes (with babysitting) during the farmer’s market

A Market that book-ended by 2 Chicken BBQ fundraisers (the company cooks, we serve)

p.s. we put up great signs for these events. GREAT signs!

1 that puts on a health fair, plays, concerts, art shows.

1 that has done a clothing exchange, electronic recycling,

1 that has a weekly free playgroup and runs a 2, 3, and 4yr old Nursery School

1 that hosts over a dozen AA’s, 3 other congregations, 2 community choirs, an immigrant ministry  & the neighborhood association

When I talk to people about my church, the reach is far.

Our location is good, most people have stepped into our building at some point for various things

Our Farmer’s Market is well known, we are possibly the best small farmer’s market in the city

And everyone is shocked, I mean shocked by how small we are….they think we have 150 people at least

keep-calm-its-bigger-on-the-inside-1

Why is that?

Because we are bigger on the inside

That’s what happens when a church holds God and the Community in their hearts..

bigger

we end up growing in ways that we can’t even comprehend….

And God increases our efforts twofold/fourfold/tenfold

yoda

Its time to STOP thinking of ourselves as a small church, and to start thinking of ourselves as bigger on the inside

#LBQT Happy Coming Out Week, friendly note: don’t preach hate as gospel

Notes from my trans sister….

Important note about the evangelists on campus:
A reminder that that is NOT what Christianity usually means. Christianity is about love and grace, about finding and defining yourself and the world in relation to God and their love. Christianity does not have to mean hatred, exclusivity, or fear of retribution. In fact, the people for whom that is what Christianity means are generally the fringe minority.
Please do not judge this religion on its extremists.

Loneliness & Church

Churches feel like lonely places. It is clear to me that one of the reasons that big churches do so well is because they don’t feel lonely, at least not immediately

•I have no doubt there are many reasons to explore about why churches are having trouble…therefore I am only tackling this one

But walking into an empty-ish church of mostly older age feels…lonely….

The loneliness is everywhere; and worse its palpable.

Here is the thing, pastors talk about this a lot…pastors tend to be lonely but little is talked about the layperson’s loneliness. The feeling that “we aren’t in this religion thing together” any more–we are in it alone.

Perhaps that is why the Spiritual but not religious label hits so hard….What do you mean you can do your religious thing by yourself? Where does that leave us…and me?

Religion can be a lonely place to be right now

I just watched Breuggeman’s Prophetic Preaching on the Old Testament which is wonderful

And he talks about how Prophetic Preaching is the breaking of the totalism (or hegemony), which is a SILENCE that leads to VIOLENCE with an outside voice

Good News is so important

Hope is so important

God is not a God who wants us to have to live and die and do everything alone.

Don’t let the emptiness of the church trick you.

Aren’t we the people of the empty tomb?

Aren’t we the people of the empty cross?

Didn’t God make the world out of the emptiness?

Didn’t God create space within God’s very self to give birth to us?

Didn’t God empty out her very self in the personhood of Jesus Christ to give us new and better life?
Churches don’t have to be lonely…don’t buy into it. The lie of death, the lie of not changing, the lie of security and worries about looks and judgements…..don’t believe these lies

God creates…we are called to create and be CREATIVE with God

To me that work is fulfilling, not lonely at all…

Behold I make all things new!

Extrovert

Look, there are lots of posts about extroverts and introverts, and they are (mostly) true, and I find the (noncondenscending) ones very informative/helpful. (extroverts don’t mean to interrupt/be rude and introverts aren’t really being standoffish/antisocial, etc).

In my profession, pastoring, I have met a lot of introverts-(wait don’t you have to preach on a regular basis? you ask)

The answer is, its because of introverts super-cool-awesome listing super-powers…which are very pastoral and help a lot.

Note: this is also why pastors take Monday off, they are recovering from the preaching/being large groups/expended lots of energy thing

Usually I take Friday off, after a week of only interacting with small one-on-ones or just small groups of people, I’m drained.

Church has time for both of these types: That passing of the peace time? thats for the extroverts, that silent prayer time? That’s for the introverts…(per usual, you prob should only like about 3/4 of the service, because you want people who aren’t like you to find meaning in the worship too)

Here is, what I find, to be a helpful metaphor for introverts and extraverts

When introverts interact, they are like a balloon that is slowly deflating….and in order to regain energy, they need to go and have some down time to re-inflate…..

When extroverts DON’T interact: its like a balloon that is being filled with more and more air…and if they don’t get a change to deflate (by interacting) they will “pop”

I tend to refer to this phenomena in my own life as “emotionally throwing up” where suddenly I burst out with all of my feelings in one long-winded moment, and I don’t have the energy to pare down or be quiet (help! I’m talking and I can’t shut up)

Respect the balloon…and whatever you need to do to keep your balloon at a manageable level…do so…

and go in peace!!

Love

We like to limit God

to say God only believes in one kind of love

two kinds of genders

and sexuality is easy to define–

placing all those who don’t fit into these “normal” parameters into a category of…

“sorry God just messed up when God was making you”

“God only believes that these aspects are valid in a human being”

“You are an invalid human being”

Don’t even get me started on ethnicity and differently abled folk

Seriously…what kind of mediocre God are you preaching about…

My God has way more flexibility, creativity and love

My God is so good that I fall to my knees before the Trinity–overwhelmed with a need to love & accept people for who they are in the way that God’s Wild Love can….

and if you say your God is very different from mine…I’m inclined to agree with you….Your God is a lot tamer than mine!

Christianity<–straight up!

“Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight,
At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,
When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death,
And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.”

You see, Aslan is not just a lion, but he’s a great Lion. He’s the King of the Beasts, and the real ruler of Narnia. Now, Susan asks the beavers, “Is he safe?”

Mrs. Beaver says, “If there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”

Lucy asks, “Then he isn’t safe?”

And Mr. Beaver says this famous line about Aslan: “’Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”  The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe

Why do we want to limit love anyway?

#Forgiveness and #Debt

Matthew 18:21-35

Genesis 50: 15-21

It would happen that the week I’m preaching on forgiveness (thank you God & lectionary), a bully from Jr. High would ask to friend me. (He used to tell me to shut up whenever I spoke…for like a whole entire year)

Any other week I’d say yes or no and move on

But am I a holy person or not (the answer is no, no holier than anyone else…in fact when someone comes to tell me I’m a holy person, usually its to complain about me, so I def. do not lay claim to that title)

When I posted about it on FB, the discussion turned into a “Should I friend them” discussion..harkening on the very Jr. High School Experiences I didn’t like to begin with…and were actually off point.

Here’s the deal, I’m generally not bitter about Jr. High (anymore) I went to my pastoral psych eval and realized that even though I was “over it” I was still bitter so I worked hard to reframe my bitterness (Didn’t I marry someone I met in Jr. High, so it wasn’t all bad, besides my experiences laid the groundwork for my empathy and ministry that I do today). Is that my moment to say: “Do not fear. Am I not in the place of God”

But…I wanted–something more…

Debts…I feel like this person…owed me something. The listening that is last week’s lectionary…or acknowledgement of who I am, or best yet a real and sincere apology.

What happened to the whole “all we owe each other is love” thing that I so felt and preached on last week..

Debts…

Forgiveness is about feeling a debt, which really I DON’T want to be a debtholder….I owe so many debts to so many people which I have no clue whether  I will ever pay them off…and ….I hate them…(the debts that is, not the people)

I love that my children will never starve, but I never want people to feel the horrible crushing thing that is debt in my life…I don’t want people to feel like they are less of a person because they have to think about what they owe on a regular basis…

the forgiveness of debts…the debts part of forgiveness is clearer now than ever

so…forgiveness it is….

#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!