Bowling Luck

We had a youth event this evening, of an interesting variety. The congregation's Family & Youth Ministry Team decided to make it a combined middle school and high school event, but didn't realize tonight was also the opening night of the high school's musical, and several of our youth are in it. As a result, we had the youth group equivalent of a bowling split: a handful of 6th graders, a handful of seniors, and a lone 8th grader in between. The bowling was quite fun: 4 youth and 1 adult on each lane, cheering each other on, with some friendly competition. (I bowled surprising well, considering it's been 5+ years since I picked up a bowling ball, I think. In two games I bowled 253!)
After bowling we returned to the congregation's building for some dinner, albeit a late one. The games that followed revealed the age differential and the seniors excused themselves (pesky kids with driver's licenses...) Can't say that I blamed them, really.
Overall, I think a good time was had by all. I'm pooped, but glad I participated. I relish opportunities to hang out with the youth outside of more structured learning times. They're hilarious, and most of them have no idea how great they are.

One of THOSE days

Some days it is very clear to me how much they DON'T teach you in seminary. Today was one of those days.
No major crises, nothing overly urgent, just an accumulation of issues I haven't had to deal with before and am quite confident are not on any MDiv syllabus (or at least weren't on my syllabi between 1997 and 2001).
Fortunately, I was inspired to call my Dad (of all people!) and he could actually help with one practical congregational detail. Gotta love it when that happens.

Mutual Ministry and Preparing for Advent

We've got a Mutual Ministry Committee, and more often than not, it's a pretty good thing. I've heard the occasional horror story (though it seems most are second or third hand) about such committees that are constitutionally required in many congregations, but which end up having whining/complaining/fix-the-pastor meetings, more than anything else.
I really like all the parishioners on the committee, and value the time we get with them, though sometimes I wish we had an excuse to have the kinds of conversations we do with other small groups in the congregation, too. Tonight I asked them what they need from their community of faith during the seasons of Advent and Christmas. I want to make what we do as a community meaningful and faith-forming, not just one more thing people feel stressed out about when they commit to participating, or feel guilty about when they don't participate. I think sometimes less can be more, but only if we slow down enough to recognize the more - and I want to help people notice what's going on around them, and within them.
What do YOU need during Advent this year? Who could help you find/have it?

Economic Thoughts on a Sunday

Today was "Commitment Sunday" for a capital campaign in the congregation we serve. The leadership team set an incredibly hopeful goal back in September: $600,000. The rationale behind this huge (given the smallish size of the congregation) number was that over the three-year duration of the campaign, enough funds would be received to give away 10% to other ministries and organizations, use 10% for ministry enhancing projects in the facility, and use 80% to completely pay off the congregation's mortgage.
After today's service, the initial gathering of commitments totalled less than a third of the goal. There are still opportunities for folks who were not in worship today to make commitments, and there are additional request letters - to friends of the congregation and folks who've moved out of town - yet to be sent.
I think it would be easy for me - and for the congregation - to feel like we have failed somehow (I'd hoped to hit the 1/3 mark today) - but it's not a failure. A group of people have made a commitment, not just with words, but with finances, to continue in mission and ministry together. The leadership team worked hard and well and has renewed a conversation about what faithful stewardship looks like in real, regular lives. A couple of the members of that team have been so inspired and motivated that they want to keep meeting. (!!)
Over the last several weeks, and again this morning, several people mentioned to me that the timing of the campaign feels difficult to them - good jobs remain scarce, the stock market is volatile enough to inspire fear, coming into winter the ancient fear of scarcity rears its head, and the economic anxiety around the world certainly trickles down, even if economic prosperity rarely seems to.
As people of faith, I believe we are called to recognize the abundance that surrounds us, and to live in faith, not fear. Yes, we may not have enough cash for all of the things we WANT, but it seems like a lot of the time getting the things we want doesn't bring real satisfaction or fulfillment anyway. When we live with the community in mind, and are as discerning as possible when it comes to how we spend, I believe there is reason for hope, and fulfillment to be found outside the shopping mall.
One of the things that has made me crazy for a few years now is the constant reference to Americans as "consumers" instead of as citizens. Here's a great artcile from Abundant Community (I came across the website after reading the book by the same name). Hope it inspires some good thinking and conversation at your house!

(Maybe) Read. (Probably Not) Reply.

A member of my congregation likes to forward me lots of stuff. Lots.of.stuff. Seriously. For awhile I felt compelled to open it all and then try to read it all, and then think of some decent response to email back to him. I couldn't keep up. Finally, I told him I'd subscribed myself to the Henri Nouwen Society's daily email, and also let him know that I wouldn't always be able to reply to all of the First Things articles, youtube videos and assorted other things he sends. He seemed surprised that I'd thought he expected me to in the first place. Let me tell you - after the fall out we took at our house for taking some parental leave, G and I were starting to feel a little paranoid. Unnamed, unspoken expectations can be dangerous things. Especially if you're the one of whom a couple hundred people have unspoken expectations.
Fortunately, after some hard work, lots of listening, and near-constant reminders not to get defensive, things are getting better. At some point I'll be able to write a half-way intelligible and thoughtful paragraph about how the whole thing went down.

In the meantime, you might also enjoy the meditation the Henri Nouwen Society sent on Easter. It must have made an impact on me. I remembered the "maybe" - perfect for this month's nablopomo - and perhaps a fitting description of the growing edge of my life, too.

Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. We joyfully announce it. [And yet] I realize that my faith and unbelief are never far from each other. Maybe it is exactly at the place where they touch each other that the growing edge of my life is.

Another Round of NaBloPoMo

News Flash: I am WAY better at getting things done when I have a deadline that needs meeting. Case in point: I did actually manage to write a blog post EVERY SINGLE DAY in December. Even Christmas Eve. Even New Year's Eve. I mean really... was January THAT much more complicated? Not at all - but since I hadn't made the commitment to post something (anything!) every day, very clearly I didn't. Well, enough of that. I'm going for another round of a blog post a day for a month (and yes, I am a little thankful it's a 28 day month). I figure I'm walking proof that if you want something done, you should ask a busy person to do it. I picked up a second job last week (my hours at church have been cut - officially, following yesterday's annual meeting of the congregation - back to half time). I'm an administrative helper, of sorts. Lots of filing, cleaning out files, putting new files together, playing with labels, etc. It's a temporary part-time gig, but at this point any help at all is, well, HELP, when it comes to our household finances. More on that another day. I do have a fun thing to share. We had a congregational sledding night on Saturday night, from 7:30-9pm, by the light of a full moon. There were about 30 participants ranging in age from 4 - 75 years old sledding, and enjoying hot chocolate and tasty treats. Here's a video of Grant coming down the hill (taken with my Christmas present FlipShare video recorder). By the end of the night he was covered in snow, cold, and incredibly happy. Not bad. Happy February!

So, it's been a while...

I know, I've been absent from the blogosphere for an uncharacteristically long time. Somehow life has managed to fill in all the gaps of time I would normally have used to write... I picked up a second job this week, as the congregational spending plan the church council will be recommending at this Sunday's annual meeting includes a reduction in my hours - back to half-time from three-quarter time. Of course this means a reduction in pay as well, though I haven't quite figured out how to reduce the amount of work that needs to get done. I'm not sure there's a way for me to win here, without first looking like I'm not doing my job. I remain hopeful that members of the congregation will step into leadership and team-member roles (since it's not all MY job in the first place) for the sake of the ministries to which we've been called as a community. I may need to acquire some pom-poms for my expanded job as cheerleader: "You can do it! You can do it!" All that said, I have been blogging at least occasionally on our congregational blog. So feel free to jump over there when you miss me.

Yuletide Greetings

Merry Christmas! We had a lovely day in Bozeman - a few snowflakes fell as the sun came up and while we opened our packages - it was a little like being in a snowglobe. Worship this morning was considerably more intimate than last night, which was to be expected. I always think it's amazing how few congregations even have a service on Christmas Day, and am glad we do, even though it is fairly small. We began with "Carols By Request" - letting folks choose their favorite carols to sing. It's one way to get more music in, since we don't sing too many Christmas carols during Advent. After returning home we had lunch, talked to our parents and then took naps before getting ready for Christmas dinner. We'd invited a member of our congregation to join us - she's an international graduate student at MSU and is a lot of fun. Her tales of Christmas in Zimbabwe were interesting - definitely not like Christmas in Bozeman! Hope you enjoyed the first of the twelve days of Christmas. Merry merry!

Children's Sermon Fire and Fun

It should be easier for me than it is to come up with a Christmas Eve Children's Sermon. I mean really, they know the story, there will be lots of kids present, and everyone is waiting for something cute or sentimental to happen. Out of the mouths of babes, right?

Alas, it proved a dauting enough challenge this year. I've done candy canes and birthday candles, the tradition in my first call was for an actual birthday cake with lots of frosting (which we all got to sink a finger into) and the singing of happy birthday to Jesus. I had hoped for new and interesting inspiration to strike. Oh well...

I've been enjoying candlelight this year, and instead of doing regular old birthday candles this year (though there's a very good chance I'll break them out again next year) for kids to take home and stick in their breakfasts to sing happy birthday to Jesus tomorrow morning, I'm giving out tea lights, to be lit on each of the 12 days of Christmas, to help us remember that Jesus is the light of the world. We'll talk a little about the names and titles we use for Jesus (a theme which figures heavily in the "grown-up" sermon as well) and thank God for the light.

I even made a new Wordle, and printed out postcard sized versions of it to attach to the candles. Happy Christmas!!

Another "First Annual"

This afternoon found us back at the hospital - to go Christmas caroling with folks from the congregation. I found out after our singing slot was scheduled that a significant number of folks from church would be at another member's Christmas Open House this afternoon (we weren't invited, which is fine; I'll just have to remember to find out ahead of time when it is next year...) and was nervous that there'd be only 4 or 5 of us to sing. I shouldn't have worried: a group of 12 of us gathered, including 5 children, to sing carols and songs in each of the wings of the hospital. Fortunately there were some amazing voices, so we managed four parts on a few of the old favorites. Not bad. And again it was fun to offer a simple surprise to staff - and patients, too. As we waited for the elevator to take us back to the first floor after our singing was done, one of the participants said how much she enjoyed the hour of carols, remarking on how appreciative everyone was. "First annual," she said. And a tradition was born. Pictures from last night's adventure are on our congregational blog, Rooted. Pretty fun!

Midnight Cookies

It's late. After midnight, actually, though blogger thinks I'm on the west coast, so I still have a few minutes to make my deadline. It's still Friday night in my world... We're just back after "Midnight Cookies" - a high school youth event I brought from the congregation I served in Kalispell. Four youth, two moms and I met in the church kitchen at 9pm and baked and decorated cookies til nearly 11pm. We put them on festive plates, along with some Hershey's kisses and peppermint candies, wrapped them up with homemade cards and postcard sized invitations to the congregation's Christmas services, then loaded the cars and hit the road. We delivered plates of goodies to the local fire station, 911 dispatch center, police station, sherriff's office, and each nurses' station at the hospital (Grant came as our escort, since he's on staff at the hospital and knows his way around). Everyone was delighted to see us, and more than a little surprised. I'm hoping this will become a great youth tradition at CtK - and that next year those receiving cookies will remember us. Too often I forget to be thankful for the folks who work the night shift to help keep our community safe and healthy. It's fun to remember them and try to do something nice, and to do so on their turf, and their time. How often do they get freshly baked cookies at midnight? Probably not often enough.

Hopeful about Mutuality

We had our first Mutual Ministry Committee meeting tonight. My first MMC meeting EVER, even though a Mutual Ministry Committee is the ONE committee required in every ELCA congregation. I'm 17 months into my third call and this is the first time I've had a committee like this, and it wasn't all that easy to put together. Along the way, when I asked colleagues about their own experiences with such groups, I received a wide range of responses, from "I'll never do that again," to "total life saver." I'm not sure yet what accounts for the differences in experience. Was it the pastor? The parishioners on the committee? Poorly (or brilliantly) articulated reasons for the committee to exist? Ability to maintain confidentiality? Process breakdown? We were careful in selecting folks for the committee. More than half of those we asked declined, so now there are four: two women, two men, plus the two of us. I am hopeful. I don't expect that this group will instantly make my work and life easier, and I pray that our meetings don't turn into reciprocal complaining sessions. But it feels good to know that there's a friendly group paying attention to our ministry and the ministry of the congregation with the goals of learning, growing in faith, and being the people of God in ministry TOGETHER. We meet again in a month. We'll see...