The Neighbors

What kind of relationship do you have with your neighbors?

Then think about what kind of relationship you have with the neighbors of your church or work.

I got to thinking about it a little more today. We had outside worship, at a strange hour, with lots of animals, dogs, cats, a bunny and a horned toad. You see today was World Communion Sunday, and for the life of St. Andrew UMC, we also celebrated the Feast of St. Francis with a Campout last night at the church, followed by a Blessing of the Animals during worship today.

We don't really know the names of our neighbors. We prayed for them all last year about this time as we walked the neighborhood. But we didn't meet them at the door to say hi. (There were a few chance encounters of folks out to check things). We have since hosted a wedding reception for our most immediate next door neighbor, but don't have much we have done to engage all of our over-the-fence neighbors, or even those within two blocks of the church.

Part of the communication plan for this coming year probably ought to involve something to engage those neighbors, so we can communicate with them, about special events, and how to manage those things (including perhaps the HS and College Football games held at the HS across the Street), as well as concerns and issues as some have noted in the past - like sprinkler (or lack thereof) issues, and trees that may be fall hazards.

Have you engaged your neighbors at work or church? Do you have a plan of action for this? What has worked, and been most effective in talking with these the most immediate of you neighbors?

Peace,

Worship Thoughts

Pastor’s Corner June 2011

A brief review of our worship service will be our topic this month. I want to take a moment to explain some of the theology that goes into our service as it is, and some of the personal choices I have made in how to transact those theological moments.

830AM Service Welcome Announcements Songs of Praise Children’s Moment Offertory Opening Prayer Scripture Reading Sermon The Lord’s Supper Benediction

1020AM Service Order of Worship GATHERING PRELUDE OPENING HYMN PRAISE and PRAYERS CALL TO WORSHIP INFORMAL MOMENTS GREETING ONE ANOTHER CHILDREN’S TIME PRAYER HYMN CONCERNS FOR PRAYER SILENT PRAYER PASTORAL PRAYER CHORAL ANTHEM PROCLAMATION PRAYER OF GRACE AND ILLUMINATION THE SCRIPTURE GLORIA PATRI SERMON RESPONSE INVITATION CONFESSION AND PARDON RESPONSE HYMN OFFERTORY DOXOLOGY PRAYER OF DEDICATION HOLY COMMUNION THE GREAT THANKSGIVING THE LORD’S PRAYER (in unison) TAKING BREAD AND CUP SENDING FORTH CLOSING HYMN BENEDICTION POSTLUDE

EXPLANATION The preparatory time for worship in both services is a little varied. During first service, we begin with the announcements, clearly placing these outside of worship. This is more confused in the 1020 service with announcements, which are not worship, and the time of greeting one another firmly placed in the allocation for praise and prayers. The Call to Worship is effected through the responsive reading in the 1020 service, and the music of praise and worship in the 830 service. In the traditional order of service for a church service the greeting would come at the end of the service, as an addition to the benediction, with those who have gathered unsure of where they might be next, as they may have been interlopers present for a psingle service, or under some scrutiny for their faith, and thus subject to persecution which would prevent them from participating during the next service. This time obviously breaks the flow of a worship service, and can make it difficult to bring the people back together, which we know to be the case in both of our services, using music and the children’s message to drag people back to their seats to continue to participate. This brings me to the question of a children’s message. What I find interesting about this time, is that it is used in churches to do a variety of things. Some churches use it as a “dumbed down” version of the sermon, because the “kids” won’t understand what the pastor has to say. In some churches, like ours, it is used as a prelude to dismissal, where we tell the children that they are to be different and separated from the rest of the church body. The children’s message is a new advent in the church, implemented during the 1900s. Prior to that children were in the entire service with the entire congregation, to learn how to be Christians, to be a reminder to the entire congregation that we are all children in the eyes of God, and as a social trainer to help children learn how to act in the rest of society. The old adage from Africa, “it takes a village to raise a child” was the premise of the children in service. Kids were cared for by the entire congregation during the service. The other alternative, which was what some churches turned to was that the children were not in church at all, set apart for Sunday School during the worship service, or just allowed to be elsewhere to play games or be with other kids. The location of the offering is always a question. As ultimately, the offering is to God, with the church as the means by which it gets conveyed. In true worship, our offering is given not in response to what the church is or is not doing according to our desires, but given to God as a means of sharing our adoration and praise for the God who has already given us everything, and freely so, including our salvation with the gift of His only Son Jesus Christ. The placement before the sermon signifies this more clearly, and after the sermon it is seen as a means of responding, in action, to the very message of the Gospel communicated in the Sermon. The Scriptures we use for worship are also a little contrived, as we have not been following the Lectionary of late. The Lectionary is designed to help tell the story in thematic ways, with an Old Testament lesson, a Psalm, an Epistle (letter) and a Gospel Lesson (from Matthew, Mark, Luke or John), and intended to help teach the scriptures, though it does leave many passages out, and rarely deals with the troublesome or difficult passages of scripture. Our current method of selecting scriptures for worship comes from the scriptures you asked to hear more about, either because you felt you knew them well, and wanted a chance to share that wonder of Scripture with the rest of the congregation, or because it was a passage or segment of scripture that was pretty fuzzy and unclear to you, and you wanted to learn more. I have also thrown in a few other pieces to help stay with the Seasons of the church (Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Pentecost) and affirm the traditions of the church by these means, as well as a few passages that have been “Pastor’s Discretion” with the idea that for the good of the congregational life of St. Andrew UMC we might need to review or learn more about a particular topic or passage of scripture. In the Order of Service I have chosen to explain our service and the meanings thereof, I also picked a service that has Communion. Insomuch as the Sermon is designed to communicate God’s message in words of the Gospel, and the good news of Jesus Christ, Communion is a “Tangible Sign of an Inward and Spiritual Grace” which was freely offered in Jesus Christ. John Wesley called this a “Converting Ordinance”. If the purpose of a sermon is to encourage change in the life of the congregation member, through the hearing of the message, then Communion effects real change in the Spirit of the individual. The “Converting Ordinance” then is to say that if someone is being pulled to come to Communion and participate God has already effected a change in the person, and in the moment of participating in Communion, the individual affects the mantle of Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, and is made a Christian, and begins to live the life God has called us to live out the Great Commandment, “To love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind; and to love your neighbor as yourself”. We follow the effected and affected changes of the worship, transmitted through the Call to Worship, Prayers, Sermon and Communion, with the Benediction to send us out in ministry to the world. At this point, our worship must really begin - with purpose and practice, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ, in thought, word and action, according to the grace given us by the Holy Spirit, in the name of God.

I realize that I may sound overly harsh in my assessment of the way in which we do worship. The reality is that this is the form of worship we have learned and decided to participate. I want to acknowledge that I am very open to doing worship in the way of St. Andrew UMC, and many other forms as well. I have a hard time with High Church worship, with stalwart traditions, as most of us are, because it is not a particularly participatory worship, nor was it intended to be. Worship in the traditional forms, especially under the traditional Latin Mass, was for the priest to direct the attentions of the people to God, and the understanding of the language used was not as important as the fact that God was being worshiped properly.
It is from some of this background that I dissected the worship styles we use at St. Andrew. We tend toward the “Isaiah model” of worship which concludes with the sermon, and the idea that the sermon should be driving people out to action, and is the culmination of the work of the Spirit in the acts of worship preceding it.
I realize that there are a variety of theological and practical understandings for the way in which we do ministry, and practice worship. God is faithful in all of them. The various forms we use are tools for helping direct us, and are derived from the initial forms of worship established in Jewish Synagogues and the Temple many years ago, sustained through the ages since by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, as well as the various denominations we have formed since. It is in the amalgam of people we have worshiping with us, that the things that are familiar are utilized and developed to create our current Order of Service here at St. Andrew.
I also want to acknowledge that I do not know it all. If you have insights or knowledge to share with me about the forms we use in our worship, please do so. I will do my best to learn and understand even more deeply from the richness of backgrounds we bring to this time together as we offer ourselves back to God for the many wonderful things God has already given to us.

Changes?

The Past is the New Future

Introductory Notes by Doug Pagitt

DougPagitt.com

Change, it's our norm

It's only a slight exaggeration to say that everything in our lives, everything we depend on for our basic survival, was created in the last 200 years.Think about your typical day. You wake up in a bed made of materials-internal springs, polymers, anti-microbial fabrics, that didn't exist 200 years ago. You are awakened by an alarm clock that was invented in 1876 (or maybe to an iPod that was invented in 2001). You take a shower (indoor plumbing arrived in the mid-19th century), eat eggs shipped by trucks from a different part of the country, purchased at a grocery store with a credit card, and cooked over an electric stove. You drive a car to work and maybe make a few calls on your cell phone on the way.

You might live in a state that was open frontier in 1860 or in a town that was nothing but grassland in 1922. You might send your kids to a school where they read digitally printed books and use computers and watch DVDs. You might go to church on Sunday morning at 11:00 where you speak into a micro-phone and sing along with words projected on a screen.

For most of human history, changes in broad social structures came occasionally and were limited in geographic scope. But in the last two centuries, cultural change has become far-reaching, constant, and increasingly rapid.

Doug Pagitt

DougPagitt.com

To the Church at St. Andrew UMC, Santa Maria, CA

I noticed the other day just how often we come full circle in the church.

I was amazed to find several living will documents in the church files, along with an Advance Directive for Health Care. I wondered how these people 30 years ago knew that getting information out about Living Will, Trusts, Lifetime Giving, and Advanced Directives for Health Care are all on the agenda for several of our committees, including worship, finance, trustees, and church council. We have talked about how we haven’t done much with the Giving Tree (which is a Trustees item), about how helpful it was to have a file on a member with the particular wishes for how a funeral was to be carried out (Worship team), and with the many hospital visits to congregation members, and my own surgery this past year, I was reminded that everyone ought to have an Advance Directive for Health Care. We revisit many of the same themes in cycles in the church.

Another conversation led to the discussion about how we might grow the church, and what that means. This too has seen the history of the church take turns in each of several different modes - wandering people, temporary meeting places, permanent meeting places, transitional people (neither tied to a home, nor without one) and back through the cycle. I was asked how we might get people “out of the church” and “into the world”, which sounds an awful lot like the transitional phase, recognizing very clearly that St. Andrew UMC has been very permanent for nearly 45 years, as we come upon our 50 year celebration, and that for almost 100 years the motto has been “if you build it, they will come”, after simply setting up a tent where the people were prior to that. The movement of the church takes us around again.

I was talking with a friend the other day about all the stuff the pastor wears. You know the items, robe, collar, stole. We got to talking some about how those things have come and gone, depending on the times, and the denominations. These days robes are meant to signify something or someone different. They are a throwback to the role of the priest in the Old Testament. Only it wasn’t so much the robes then, but the colors, and the different armor the priests put on, from that of a common warrior. The breastplate had semi-precious stones embedded, and the 12 tribes of Israel inscribed on onyx shoulder pads, and a giant helmet. This was a very strong departure from Moses and his predecessor priests who led by example, rather than ornamentation. Since that time the church has seen the ebb and flow of each of these types of ornamentation, that which meets the people as they are, and that which shows the display to draw attention. The cycle is ever-changing, and the rationale always fluctuating between the need to be seen as “human, like them” and “a special one from God”.

And so it is with life cycles. Some lives run longer than others, like that of the church (institutions seem to have lifespans of about 200-250 years), versus that of a human being (current average age in the US is about 76), or the fruit fly (in optimal conditions about 30 days). As we consider where in the stages of the lifecycle we find ourselves, we have the opportunity to remember why we decided to act as we did in gathering for this activity or that one, and for the mission of the church at the outset. In doing so we have a great opportunity to re-envision how we can help the next generation meet those same questions of “why” in their lives, knowing full well, that the what will change, as well as the rationale that will get them to the why.

You see, for all the cycles and rhythms of life, the why of the church never changes, to worship God, and show God’s love into the world today. In a world with growing diversity, and increasing differences between people, economically, educationally, spiritually, ethnically, and beyond, the lines are also becoming more blurred, and open to question. Ours then, as the church, and its people, continues to be a deep need to share the Amazing God we know with the world, in such a way that God is made clear.

Peace,

New York Homelessness and Christian Response

There is nothing so unsettling to my sense of Christian responsibility and response as the homeless of New York. The homeless in other places stir it as well, but New York seems to hold a special place for my Christian sense of right and wrong.

I recall that we are called to serve by feeding the hungry, visiting the imprisoned, casting out the demons, clothing the naked and healing the sick, as well as “teaching them to obey all that I have taught you.”

Even taking seriously the thought posed to me that not all of us are so gifted by the Holy Spirit as to be able to do the healing of sick, or especially the casting out of demons, then somewhere I have also failed to do my job as a pastor, who is charged with equipping the saints for the ministry of Christ in the world. One would assume that even if I did not have the calling to do such ministry, that some do, as there is just too much issue without the help of Christians taking their jobs seriously.

Therefore I can only assume that too many Christians are abdicating their responsibility, which in turn leads me back to introspection and the look at myself in examination of my spiritual gifts and whether or not I am, in fact, being called to such a ministry of casting out demons and healing the sick, and how I might go about building up those spiritual muscles working with the Holy Spirit.

How do you understand the Christian Response, in light of Christ's commandments, and the realities of our world today? Can you help me from feeling a deep sense of despair and failure, as a pastor and as a Christian?

Sermon Notes 9/27

I spoke yesterday on the passage in Mark 9:38-50. In many ways it is the most challenging passage in scripture for me. The great millstone to be hung around my neck should I lead any of the "little ones" astray. I spoke about how when I took things literally, it was very obvious just to give folks a cup of water. I told them by giving them water I had assured my reward in heaven (or been additionally blessed depending on your reading) - cause that's what it says. I then got to talking about how people really weren't taking the whole scripture literally, they were merely taking it literally as they chose. The evidence was a plain as the hand before my face. No one I knew was walking around maimed from having cut off hand, arm or eye or some other body part because it caused them to sin. I reminded them that the scriptures also tell us something deeper. The surface may be easy, but it does get harder. In that way I spoke about the passage where Jesus tells the Disciples it isn't what goes into the mouth that causes us to be unclean, but what comes out for it comes from the heart. And so it is with all sin, that it comes from our hearts and our minds. Our body parts don't cause us to sin. But, if I carry the logic out then I must cut my heart and mind out. Paul even tells us to have our hearts circumcised. We are given several commandments - the Great Commandment, and the others: to baptize, to teach them to obey, to cast out demons, to heal the sick, to care for those in prison. Water was a sign of hospitality, as are the commandments, they bring us back to community. We are not to run off those that do not do things our way, even if they are sinners to us (and yes I included adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, liars and the like by name, as well as running a denominational list before them), because Christ has called them to do things in his name as well. As long as they are doing so, they are not against us, but for us. So, if you want to take things literally, begin by giving some water.

Guaranteed Appointment

I have a friend on the United Methodist denomination wide study committee on ministry. As we continue into the 21st century, [they] are evaluating certain practices. [They] hope [I] would be able to answer a couple of questions, as [they] deeply value [my] opinion:

The two questions are:

1. What is your opinion of the guaranteed appointment as the United Methodist now practices with the itinerant clergy (the clergy agree to go where the bishop sends us, the bishop guarantees the clergy a job). Would you favor keeping it or not? As much detail and perspective that you can give would be most helpful.

2. If the guaranteed appointment is eliminated, and if non-seminary trained local pastors are ordained, what would be the motivation for a candidate for ministry to pursue a seminary education (and accumulate a large amount of debt)? Recent statistics suggest that almost half of new candidates for ministry are on the local pastor track (which currently means they are not ordained).

My response:

1. My opinion of the guaranteed appointment as the United Methodist Church now practices with itinerant clergy is that we are not doing any favors to our churches, our pastors, or the Gospel. By limiting risk, and rewarding complacency (don't rock the boat) we are not creating enough discomfort in our congregations and for our clergy to effectively risk and challenge and change. I am reminded of several passages in the epistles where the Apostles have gone out and appropriated what was before, in the culture, or in the historical record of Israel and made it work differently for the immediate context they live. Jesus does this as well, accepting the discomfort internally, while creating discomfort for the people. [Luke 4:14-30] I am in favor of guaranteed appointments, with a broader understanding of the purpose of the appointment, to train leaders, to administer the Sacraments, and to serve more churches (in the style of our Circuit Riders - entire regions of several states, etc, not our Current Circuits that encompass no more than 7 churches [that was the largest circuit I heard anyone serving]) I also believe that we do not do enough oversight of our clergy as provided for in the Discipline for evaluation and removal from ministry. If we were to do the work required for oversight as presented in the Discipline I think we would not have the same issues. Paragraphs 331.5-6 (deacons) and 334.4 (elders)

2. I know the expected debt load of incoming clergy is beyond what the expected income is. This should be better rectified, with a more strenuous examination prior to entering seminary, including service in the local church. It might be that the Board of Ordained Ministry would spend time culling from the ranks of the enhanced leadership of the Local Pastors those who would be a good fit for seminary. I applaud the efforts of our local pastors, and know them to do outstanding work. I think that setting seminary trained persons as guides and trainers for service would only serve to enhance that model, as well as allow for greater lay empowerment through the entire process.

I apologize if I have been anywhere unclear in my thoughts, and I would be happy to follow up as best I can.

Question of the Day

What does it mean to you to "welcome children in the name of Jesus"?

Mark 9:30-37

Reading

Today while around the table with a bunch of other clergy from UMCs in the area one of the pastors asked what we were reading of interest these days.

I answered two-fold:

Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover" and Terry Goodkind's "Law of Nines"

As I listened to the others around the table I heard non-fiction after non-fiction and theology book after theology book.

I began to wonder if I was the only pastor who reads fiction and Sci-Fi at that. I am excited about the continuation of The Wheel of Time series originated by Robert Jordan and being completed by Brandon Sanderson. I read through all of the works by Terry Goodkind and Terry Brooks. I enjoyed the Eragon series and several others.

I was struck if this kind of reading of Sci-Fi was the same kind of dirty little secret that reading Comics is. In particular I love those Apocalyptic literature pieces. I love the debate of theology that comes in reading folks like Terry Goodkind. I am engaged in the learning of other religious traditions that comes in reading and talking about Robert Jordan's works. Terry Brooks writes such inspiring works, and challenges my assumptions here and there, as well as suffering simple lessons in broad strokes.

All the best to you in your reading.

Peace,

Call to Ministry

Dear Friends,

I am writing on behalf of my passion for young clergy in the UMC. The call went out for bloggers to post about their Call to ministry. Twitter has been a great way to find other #UMYC, and those with a passion for the future of the church.

To that end, I think it valuable to tell the story of my call to ministry:

I have talents to think critically and to build up the body of Christ. Ministry is the use of those talents and gifts sharing God with others by the very life I live, and seeking God more clearly individually.

God’s call to be in ministry, acting as the body of Christ to the world today, was established at my birth and carries me through today. This means that the actions of Christ, the delivery of the Sacraments, the teaching, the healing, the spiritual awareness, and understanding of the Scriptures are to be realized in me each day. Christ is the context and I am the hands, feet and body of Christ for the people.

Before I was even born I was given to God. Much as Hannah gave Samuel to God before he was born, in covenant with God, my own parents dedicated me to God’s service. I began to serve the church from an early age, as the youngest acolyte in our church in Bishop, but even before that. I grew up going to camps and learning about God through the world around me. I lived the joy of life God gave to me. But I also helped in the kitchens, cleaning tables and running errands from camp tables while just a wee 5 or 6 years old. I later taught Children’s Church and Sunday School as a Junior High and High School student. In college I served in leadership as a small group Bible Study Leader at Emory University and on the Executive Council of the University of Alabama Wesley Foundation.

I took up the call to ministry as a Junior in college and began the work of preparing for seminary. I went back to Emory and Candler School of Theology and got my M. Div. During that time I worked as a youth leader in the North Georgia Conference in a church with 300 plus youth and a membership of over 3000 people.

I felt the pull of God and family to return to California where I had grown up in Bishop and Southern California, and after seminary came back. I took a job at FUMC Santa Barbara, and was later commissioned for ministry to serve that church as the associate pastor.

In 2004 our Conference bestowed three great blessings upon me. I met my now wife in 2003 at Annual Conference. We were married May 22, 2004. I was brought through the ordination process and Ordained by Bishop Mary Ann Swenson June 20^th, 2004, and was given the opportunity to come and serve as the pastor at Del Rosa.

Since that time I have enjoyed appointments at Ojai United Methodist Church, and now at St. Andrew United Methodist Church, in Santa Maria, California.

My calling to ministry has enabled me to act on my faith and the gifts I am given through service in the local church, and especially in camp ministry. I continue to push forward in both of these arenas, serving in the local church, and gaining strength in my abilities there, as well as earning a Certificate in Camp and Retreat Ministry, and Christian Education, as well as serving as a dean and counselor for District Camping. I have been called to bring the local church and camps closer together in their shared ministry to the people of God, helping realize God's glory in all of creation.

The Unforgivable Sin

Growing up I heard, and had, many discussions about the unforgivable sin of scripture.

Mark 3:22-30; Matthew 12:31-32

My friends and I went round and round about what it meant to blaspheme the Holy Spirit.

First, we have "Blaspheme"
(bls-fm, blsfm)

v. blas·phemed, blas·phem·ing, blas·phemes

v.tr.

1. To speak of (God or a sacred entity) in an irreverent, impious manner.

2. To revile; execrate.

[Of Course, now I have to look up
execrate (ks-krt)

tr.v. ex·e·crat·ed, ex·e·crat·ing, ex·e·crates

1. To declare to be hateful or abhorrent; denounce.

2. To feel loathing for; abhor.

3. Archaic To invoke a curse on.]

Second, we have "Holy Spirit"
In Christianity the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is the spirit of God. The term Christ (literally, Anointed), is also used to refer to this presence. That is, the Spirit is considered to act in concert with and share an essential nature with God the Father and God the Son (Jesus Christ). The Christian theology of the Holy Spirit, or pneumatolog , was the last piece of Trinitarian theology to be fully explored and developed.

So what we are saying is that if you put a curse on the Holy Spirit, this is the unpardonable sin. What I find interesting is that this has often been interpreted to mean "suicide".

I found it refreshing to hear from one of the bastions of Conservative Orange County Theology - a minister at the Crystal Cathedral remind us that suicide does not fall into this category.

This was extremely powerful in that we are told elsewhere that to blaspheme wo/man (which is what Suicide would seem to be doing - blaspheming self as human) is forgivable. To blaspheme Jesus or God is also forgivable, but the Holy Spirit is something else.

It reminds us that the Holy Spirit is still other than Jesus and God, and yet still the same. Let I look the fool and try to explain the Trinity,

[John Wesley offers this -" I do not mean that it is of importance to believe this or that explication of these words. I know not that any well judging man would attempt to explain them at all. One of the best tracts which that great man, Dean Swift, ever wrote, was his Sermon upon the Trinity. Herein he shows, that all who endeavored to explain it at all, have utterly lost their way; have, above all other persons hurt the cause which they intended to promote; having only, as Job speaks, "darkened counsel by words without knowledge."]

I will still wrestle with the dogma of the unpardonable sin, but freer in knowing that the myth of "suicide" as the unpardonable sin is waning.