A reminder or perhaps a revelation…

So last Sunday I attended worship at Grace Community Church.  To be truthful I anticipated going in, critiquing the worship service and finding all kinds of flaws with the message.  It is sort of what we preachers do when we listen to other preachers.  Sure on the outside we might say we want to hear a powerful message but on the inside we are saying, “Really?”  I imagine that my congregation does it as well when I speak but I think we preachers can be more critical.  The night before, I had a conversation with my brother and I shared my reservations about how I anticipated my approach worship  the next day and in jest (“some things said in jest are true,” a proverb from my mother in law.) asked my brother to pray and I can have an experience of worship.  Perhaps he did just that.

I wanted to be wowed and in some ways I was.   Ok, there wasn’t a greeter at the door but there were greeters all over the parking lot!  They need it cause its hard finding a parking place on Sunday morning at 9:15 (yeah, I cut it pretty close and perhaps just a little late for arriving for the 9:15 worship service.)  I got a hello from the usher as he handed me a bulletin, no order of worship displayed but there was an entire empty page for note taking, along with announcements of upcoming events and celebrations.   You walk into a full auditorium that seats 1300 people and the majority of the congregation has brown hair (by that comment I’m implying that my gray hair was less abundant among the worshippers!)  Their opening music was awesome, and then a youngish woman stood center stage and welcomed  “Grace” and mention to the guests who came that day to stop by their welcome center.  The offering was received and then there was a special selection of music played while seven or eight participants in various mission trips sponsored by Grace that summer shared testimonials between the stanzas of music (very well done and effective!) 
 Dominican Republic, Belgium, Africa, New Orleans, Appalachian area, Baltimore, were among the list of those that I can remember.  Each testimony spoke, like the do at Mount Zion, of the powerful impact of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ (my words not theirs necessarily) on those who participated in some cases more than those they served  (most probably the appropriate humble response that is a common theme that the missionaries have than what we get more from giving using their gifts to help others. )   I was really impressed at the youth and vitality of those who spoke and the sincerity of each message, it was a powerful witness that also encouraged the general body of the church who gathered.

The preacher of the day spoke on the closing verses of the book of Colossians.  Throwing a picture on the screen of a baseball team where all but one of the players had blanked out ovals over their faces, we were asked, “Who was on our Team?”  It is a great question, who in our life do we turn, day to day, week to week, as those who will be with us on a spiritual faith journey.  Using the names listed in the text of the day, the preacher labeled the characteristic of those people that Paul had on his team.  The team was made up of practiced theologians, new people to the faith, a slave on the run, people who served and support, male and female and the obviously point was that Paul was better off having these people on his team and in service to God.  The point made is that we benefit and others also benefit when “our” team  is diverse  It was a long message (I understand that most messages are about this length) and I am sure that I’m not doing justice to the preacher but the point that I wanted to make is mentioned here.  Grace is big on small groups.  By doing so they ensures that people don’t get lost in the crowd if they meet regularly with a small group of people.  They are also preparing their “fall launch” into small groups.

Some other cool aspects.  No pressure.  They welcome guests, encourage them to stop by their welcome center to get more information .  They don’t pressure membership but they provide opportunities for people to join.  They don’t focus on numbers or statistics or how many are joining.  In fact, they don’t pressure baptism and if people feel like they would like to be baptized they can go to a website and fill out a form and register to be baptized (interesting and something very different from my denominational practice.)   Along with the then of the day, everyone, member and  non member are treated equally and all are encouraged to join a small group. 

The only person that spoke to me was the person next to me cause the preacher asked us to discuss a question.  For all my friends at Mount Zion, I know some of you don’t like it when I do this but I got to tell you that if the preacher didn’t do that then nobody, outside of the usher and a “car park waver”, would have addressed me.  Did I enjoy being put on the spot to answer the question with this person next to me?  Well, not really, most mostly because I didn’t have a good answer to give so I commiserate with you … (PS.  I do believe we do a better job of intentionally greeting folks) … but just in case the possibility exists that someone might comes to worship and not be greeted until I have you all talk together over some inane question, I’m going to keep doing it occasionally.

Other than affirming what God is doing in another church in our community, you are probably wondering where I am going with all this???  

Well, I’m reading another book.  It is by George Hunter III, The Celtic Way of Evangelism, How Christianity can reach the West … AGAIN. (Interested in reading the book?)  I’m reading the book cause Jacki bought it for me and it seems to fit into both our trip to Ireland and also to my overall theme of the church beyond the walls.   I am about over a third through the book and here are some observations that I’m making.  According to Hunter, Celtic Christianity thrived in the fourth to six centuries before it was force to conform to the Roman Catholic model of Christianity.  It started with the evangelization of St Patrick to Ireland (from Briton) and then it continues with the story of St Columba’s evangelic mission from Ireland into Scotland and northern England.  Hunter asserts that Celtic Christianity is more of a movement of the spirit contrasting to the institutionalizing (model) of the Roman church (I’m not doing him justice here…read the book.).   Hunter does a great job of explaining how the enculturation of Christianity was uniquely influenced by the Celtic tribal culture of Ireland, Scotland and in many ways early Briton cultures.   My understanding of Celtic Christianity (and it is a sort of layman’s understanding) is that there is a holistic attitude to the Christian faith being more like a journey, praying without ceasing (over the start of a fire in the morning, to the moments before going to bed), an appreciation for the creation and God’s ever presented-ness in relation to human beings and that creation.)  Celtic Christianity has a strong focus on the Trinity, Hunter points out that Celtic Christianity has a stronger focus on the Second and third person of the Trinity while Roman Christianity is on the first person.  According to Hunter, This is not just a Roman Catholic thing, it is for the most part any religious institution that has its roots in Europe.  He contrasts that in our modern day, Christian organization that are rooted in the United States and Africa are have more focus on movements of God opposed to supporting institutions of God. 

Hunter contrasts Celtic and Roman Christianity evangelistic techniques.  Celtic Christianity meets people where they are and provides an opportunity for people to experience the religious life before committing whereas Roman Christianity focus on making someone a member of their civil society before they can join and become a member of the church.  Further, Hunter states that there isn’t a strong focus for Roman Christianity models for evangelization, they got theirs so there is no need to worry about the others.  Celtic Christianity meets barbarians face to face by becoming present in their community and as they (the barbarians) become curious they are welcomed in, as they ask questions they are invited to explore more and to practice the faith, then they make a decision to join the faith community they are baptized into it.  Hunter quotes a study by the United Bible Societies in Great Britian led and written by a John Finney.  He concludes the observations from Finney on pg 45, “Belonging comes before believing,” then evangelism is now about “helping people to belong so that they can believe.”   Finney believes that, as we adapt to a changing Western postmodern culture, we will observe a widespread shift from the entrenched Roman model to the rediscovered Celtic model. 

While probably not intentionally doing the Celtic model, Grace seems to have stepped into this reality.  All this leaves me asking questions about our own denomination which for many years has experienced a drop in membership and aging of our membership.   I’m not saying we should become like Grace, we do what we do exceptionally well; I do believe that we can consider new paradigms and models for ministry.  Get our focus off of the institution and on the movement of God.   I know that we at Mount Zion are really being intentional about reaching others, the mode of doing this is through our mission and outreach ministry.  I think there is more to this conversation and we need to intentionally look at this in the coming years.  This is not a new subject to us at Mount Zion.  If we are not living our life in community, as an alternative to the world’s model ,and if it is not a desirable model then we stand the fate of our mainline denomination.  Our service and mission can be a magnet for people as long as we remember that our goal is to draw people closer in a relationship with to God, the Christ and God’s Spirit...not the church.  This is the revelation  (go figure!)  But it is also a reminder cause for some time I have become a player in the church institution.  Where I excel and much of my service in ministry to the church over the years is “movement oriented" with a broad focus on serving our community and when this has been our focus, in the congregations that I’ve served, the Kingdom thrived...  

What revelations and reminders come to you as you consider some of these meanderings.  I’m trying to give voice to the thoughts that have wandered around in my head these last couple of weeks but more so in the last week.  I’m afraid that I’m not really doing justice to it all.

But tell me, does this resonate with you?      

What is in a namesake?

Many years ago, Mum cross-stitched two pictures for Jacki and I.  Each of the pictures had our given names and then a description of what our names meant along with a biblical quote.  Apparently my name means “peacemaker” – with the quote from Jesus’ sermon on the mount, Blessed are the peacemakers …”

I also know of for a fact that the name “Malcolm” is a Latinized spelling of the Gaelic name “Maolcholm” which means “disciple of St Columba”   St. Columba is one of three patron saints of Ireland  (St Patrick and St Brigid being the other two.)  Columba’s name in Gaelic is spelled “Cholm Cille” which means dove.  So I guess that the connection between the visual image of a dove bearing an olive branch is where the connection between my name being a “peacemaker.”

St Columba wasn’t much of a peacemaker. In fact as the story goes he grew up in what today we call Northern Ireland in the Garten Lake area.  He lived in the sixth century and entered into monastic living.  The story is told that Columba  had a disagreement with one of his higher up when he completed a transcription of a biblical book which he understood he could keep but his higher-up decided that he couldn’t.  A battle ensued involving the deaths of many Christians all over a manuscript.  When the battle was done, Columba was sentenced to bansishment from Ireland and as his penance, he agreed to go to Scotland and there he would strive for the conversion of at least as many to replace those who died in the battle.  As it turns out, Columba accomplished that an more.  He is considered a great evangelist of Celtic Christianity in the West Coast of Scotland and northern England. 

The area of Northern Ireland and Scotland are full of stories of the life of St Columba.  He is revered by both countries and today there are holy shrines in honor of his service in the name of Jesus Christ.  You know, I don’t think that when my parents chose my name to be Malcolm they had the intention of naming me after St. Columba (truer the story be that I was name in sucession of a number of other boys whose names begin with “M.”)  But I do have to say that I am intrigued about this man who served faithfully and in whose name I bear. So as Jacki and I were considering opportunities to visit Ireland, I discovered a great opportunity to take a pilgrimage in the footsteps of St Columba.  Our trip will begin in early September as we fly into Dublin and start our trip visiting the sites of St Columba in Northern Ireland.  We will visit also County Down which is the ancestral land of my father’s family “Stranaghan” and seek to find some missing holes in our genealogy records.  From Ireland we will fly to Scotland and there visit Iona, St Columba visited and established the first monastery on the island.  After that we hope to head down to England and visit friends and my mother’s family.   Here is a brief plan on our trip...
     02-Sep, Sun          Fly to Ireland, Dublin
     03-Sep, Mon         Arrive Ireland … Head to Gleann Cholm Cille Donegal Town
     04-Sep, Tue         Tory and Tullaghobegley
     05-Sep, Wed         Gartan
     06-Sep, Thurs       Giants Causeway. Derry
     07-Sep, Fri           Derry (St Columba is the Patron Saint of Derry)
     08-Sep, Sat          County Downs Area/Belfast
     09-Sep, Sun          Flight from Dublin to Glasgow Prestwick and then to Oban
     10-12 Sep, M-W    Iona
     12-14 Sep, W-Th   Harrogate
     14-17 Sep,Th-M   Family in England
     17-Sep, Mon         Luton Airport to Dublin
     18-Sep, Tue         Dublin to Home
That is our trip in a nutshell, I’m not sure what sort of internet connectivity I will have while traveling abroad, need to talk to T-mobile about that.  We are looking at staying in some of the hostels in Northern Ireland and also on Iona.  Got to firm that up this coming week.

It isn’t often that we have the opportunity to “head back to the motherland” and learn more about where our family comes from.  I’m looking forward to seeing the lay of the land of County Downs and I am really excited about walking in the footsteps of my namesake – I’ve heard great and wonderful things about Iona, and it will be good to reconnect with friends and my mother’s family. I think it will be a major highlight of this Sabbath leave. 

On another note, I’ve not had too many opportunities to really get in touch with the church beyond the walls.  I am reading the book, “Beyond the Church” It is a good read and the author’s writing style is quite funny with a serious message.  Much of his focus is getting church communities to see themselves and other churches as “the church” and not to see things as much as a competition. 

Jacki and I participated in Backpack Sunday at Catonsville UMC.  Backpack Sunday, is an opportunity for members of the church to fill a backpack for a child in the local school system.  They have been doing this for several years but this year they were thrown a curve ball when Baltimore County Schools wouldn’t provide a list of children with needs.  So they improvised by calling the local schools in their community and asked them if they would like to receive backpacks filled with supplies for children who might not have the ability to purchase them…. Oh, and they did this with three days to spare before the Sunday of handing out the backpacks.  On that Sunday, we receive a backpack and a list of supplies needed.  Oh my it has been a while since Jacki and I bought supplies for a kindergartener.  It was fun. 



Finally, for those who have been following news about my father.  Dad had surgery on Tuesday morning to reconstruct his ankle and foot which has been deformed from a failed surgery from three years ago.  There was a lot of prep work and visiting doctors and labs for which I was the logical son to take Dad about as I was on leave during this time.  Dad surgery was over five hours long and I spent the day waiting and then overnight to make sure Dad was okay.  Dad’s surgery went marvelously well his foot is realigned and now under his leg.  Unfortunately he has had a bit of a set back by getting an infection (not in his foot) that has lead to a lot of confusion, not uncommon in elderly folks.  I’ve spent every day, except today,  at hospital this past week while my brothers had taken over the overnight with Dad.  Dad is now at Kernan’s-a wonderful rehab unit—that will really work him over hard until he has the strength to return home, that is once the confused state is over.  Prayers always appreciated, for Dad and also for me feeling guilty about not getting more done with my secondary focus of studying the church beyond the walls...

A personal note, my exercise is going well for the most part, I made a new time today  at 38:12, which I won't complain about... 

Take a Deep Breath and Exhale

Have I told you that I’m trying to work out each day of my Sabbath leave?  I’m hoping that I can build in a new pattern of healthier living and major part of this is exercising.   I started to run, okay so I can’t run really but I am running and walking, actually it is more like walking with spurts of running but for the sake of this blog, I’m going to say that I’m running because that is my end goal.  So, I’m nearly 51 years old and truthfully have never really been much of a runner, I’ve often compared my body to more like a sprinter, I got great stocky leg muscles great for short bursts of speed, which results in me then lying down on the ground gasping for air as I try to shove my lungs back into my chest…

Aiyanna and her parents
Chris and Sarah

I’m tolerating running with the understanding that this is a new endeavor for me and once my body warms up to it I might enjoy it.  At least from what I read, people who become runners absolutely love it.  I know people who like to run.  My “older” brother runs and seems to enjoy it.  Brittany started running earlier this year and she loves it.  I have nieces and nephews that post exciting news about some such 5K, 10K or full or half marathons they are running.  My great neice Aiyanna, who is five years old, just ran her first 5K. (see photo of her in her running tutu!)  People at church have “the running bug,” Jen F who is our preschool director would encourage me when I would dabble at this in prior years and Fred Towner is sort of my hero and inspiration to become a runner; Fred started running a few years ago and he and now his daughter are running marathons like two times a month… 

So far I have endured shin splints various muscle aches and pains.  Brittany gives me pointers on how to do things like running up and down hills, how to pace, and most importantly how to stretch.  Did you know that when it is better to run on the ball and toes of your foot first rather than heel first, who would have thought.  All these ideas have alleviated some of the pain of running but I still get a new ache after running and it isn’t always in my legs.  There is no delicate way to say this but when I start to run there is a lot of mass bouncing… chest, stomach, love handles, yep all bouncing about … and that can be a little uncomfortable (I am almost up for a body girdle,) suffice it to say I stay well covered up and am doing weight training to help tighten things up a bit. 

Chris has this on his Facebook page
My best time for a 5K run is 42 mins
that equals a 14 minute mile. 

One area I particularly struggle with is breathing.  Who would have thought that the involuntary action of breathing would become such a struggle while running.  Understandably, it is a very important action and we all do it some more or less... easily enough, without thought, but suddenly when I start to run I find that I can’t catch my breath.  I start to count strides as I breath in.  Breathing in “One, two, three, four” strides, and then I start blow out, “One, Two, Three, Four” strides.  I get fixated on counting and breathing, there is nothing involuntary about this process.  I am becoming a control freak about trying to breath, I guess I am rationalizing that I can run further (faster isn’t even a thought at this point) by how I space out my breathing when in actually fact, I find that I just get shorter and shorter of wind.  What eventually happens is that I have to stop running and walk until my breathing becomes more comfortable, or I stop counting. 

So by now you are probably asking where are you going with all this Malcolm? 

Well, this last week has been a full week.  Last weekend, I finished the tiling in our master bathroom, and it looks great if I do say so myself.  I’ve been on a bit of a cleaning frenzy in the house, much to my family’s frustration (Don’t leave that glass in the sink, it isn’t dish purgatory so that it can eventually end up in the dishwasher!)  I’ve cleaned up the basement, even shampooing the carpet and gosh it smells so much better down there.  I've spent several days this week running my father about to labs and doctors’ offices getting their approval for his foot surgery this coming Tuesday. (Prayer for successful surgery and recuperation much appreciated)  As I’ve been able, I have been planning Jacki and my trip to Ireland, Scotland and England in September (look to next blog for information about this trip.)  And into the late hours I have been working on genealogy stuff because I want to look into family stuff while in Ireland.  Between all that I've been running every other day and then do other exercises on days in between, sometimes walking with Jacki or weight lifting.    Yeah… it has been a full week.  

As I write this entry, Brittany, Elisabeth and I are up visiting Jacki’s parents, Jack and Jane at Dove Cottage in Mt Gretna.  Staying at Dove cottage is a great respite cause this week is going to be equally as busy.  My in-laws, Jane and Jack, have the gift of hospitality.  Whenever we come to Dove Cottage, you can feel the stress leave as they take care of us providing five-star hospitality.  They even put a chocolate on the pillow on your bed -- Dove chocolate of course which brings me to the title of this blog.  Last night as I climbed into bed and saw the

Take a deep breath and exhale, and the Slow Down Therapy book
was on the night stand, it seemed to go so well with the Dove
chocolate Wisdom saying. 

 chocolate  “Oh heck," I thought, "I already brushed my teeth, oh well, it be rude not to eat it” I opened up the chocolate and read the inside wrapper (if you never had a Dove Chocolate, there are little sayings on the inside of the wrapper) my wrapper said, “ ‘Take a deep breath and exhale,’ love Dove.”  HA! Do you know the kind of week I have been having, It has been insane!      

Just what I needed, a reminder, amidst all of what I’ve done in the last week wisdom from a candy wrapper tells me that I need to "take a deep breath and exhale."  I think that I’ve been taking a lot of deep breaths, tasks and projects, but I don’t think that I’ve been very good at exhaling… Obviously breathing has to involve both inhaling and exhaling  But if all we do is breath in, doing all those tasks and projects for example, and we don’t exhale, rest and enjoy the fruits of our labors, we become stretched up like a balloon that blown up to the point of popping.  In between all the projects and tasks we need to exhale.   

Finished tiling the master bath?  Check!  Take a deep breath and exhale.

Finished cleaning the basement and carpet? Check!  Take a deep breath and exhale.

Finished running Dad about?  Check!  Take a deep breath and exhale.

Finished planning trip?  Almost check!  Take a deep breath and exhale anyways.

Finished genealogy stuff?  Perhaps never take a deep breath and exhale anyways.

Finished running every other day?  Check!  Take a deep breath and exhale.

Finished a busy day and ready to go to sleep? Check!  Take a deep breath and exhale.

A God moment in the midst of all this… Did you know that the word for breath in Hebrew is “ruach.”  Ruach can be translated as “breath, wind, spirit.”  In the second creation account in Genesis 2.7, we are told that God form man out of the ground (adamah) and breathed into him the breath of life (ruach = spirit or breath.)  In breathing in the breath or spirit, God made the man a living soul.  Christ in his departing ‘breathed” into his followers the Holy Spirit (John 20.22) we later see the impact when that spirit falls upon them again in Acts 2 and they are filled with the Spirit (Ruach) of God and head out into the community to exhale the good news to all those gathered in Jerusalem that day. 

In our day to day living our all too busy lives, we need to remind ourselves to “take a deep breath and exhale.” Also in our day to day living, are a still called to breath in the Holy Spirit, not to keep to ourselves but to exhale it back out in the way that we live our life for God and God's kingdom.   

So... “Take a deep breath and exhale!”  

Heading Home ...

We're heading home today.  Woke up and the rain was coming down, great driving weather as there won't be a bright glare heading south.  Had a great time up here in Hancock, Mass.  Here are a few photos that I thought I'd share with you all on the experience. They say a picture paints a thousand words, here are a few thousand...

Edith Wharton Home, The Mount

Beth at The Mount

         

Brit at the Mount

Garden Path at the Mount

Fountain Garden at the Mount

  

Lunch at Christopher's Pub at Jiminy

Wesley - View from top of Jiminy

Wesley ... too cool! on the Ski Lift

Thunder Cabin at the top of Mount Greylock

Jacki and Wesley, WWI Memorial in back ground

Jacki and Malcolm, view of valley from Mt Greylock

WWI memorial inside the tower...  awesome view from up top.

Jacki ... beaming 

Cascade falls hike ...  Can you find Brit and Wes?

Wesley on a rock at the Cascade Waterfall

Brit and Wes going up on the falls        

Brit Picking Apples at the Orchard

Beth Picking apples

Malcolm and Jacki at the Mount ... yeah this one is out of order, sorry

Jacki wanting a high up apple

Anniversary Luncheon

Jacki and Malcolm at our Anniversary Lunch

the Ladies Posing...

Just a quick note, I finally was able to finish this when I got home this evening.  The weather was pretty vicious on the way from Mass to New York City where we dropped Beth off to visit friends overnight.  Some pretty significant rain storms along the way.  After we dropped Beth off and stopped at a rest stop Jacki took over driving and wouldn't you know it, the sun came out and she drove in pretty nice weather, lots of traffic on the NJ turnpike but heading into a weekend that wasn't too much of a surprise.  It was great getting away, more great returning to our home...

How Peculiar are We?

Over the last few days, we have noticed a growing number of Hasidic Jewish families present at the resort.  It is kind of hard not to notice as men walk about black trousers, white shirts with black suit coats or long black overcoats and distinctive hats; locks of curled hair fall from the sides of their heads from under their hats while prayer shawls dangle from under their coats.  Children in tow, women in long skirts and heads covered or at least hair pulled back.   Young boys emulate their father’s haircuts but less stringent polo shirts are worn. 

It was close to sunset when I decided to take a walk around the resort where we are staying and as I happened upon a parking lot there were quite a few cars and minivans rushing into the parking lot spaces and then families quickly hopping out and running for a building up in what would be the “ski village” during the winter months.  Apparently, they were a little late or rather right on time for an event that they might have done better to have given themselves a bit more time to arrive for.  I was curious but that was where my intrusion came to an end.  I walked along I started to think about their peculiar ways in light of today’s culture.   I don’t mean to use the word peculiar in the manner that some thing of as “odd” but rather different. 

I recollect a book I read in seminary, Rodney Clapp, A Peculiar People.   In this book, Clapp asserts that Christians and the Church shouldn’t co-opt into the dominant culture, but rather should live by distinctly Christian values as an alternative to the dominant culture.  It is a kind of interesting question, how peculiar are we as followers of Christ? 

When I think of Christians who are “peculiar,” the Amish of the Lancaster area come to mind.    They have for the most part shunned any form of modern technology:  horse and buggy, homes with no electricity, plain clothing and all.  They are hard not to notice them when you run into them, much like our resort with Hasidic families.  The witness of the Amish communities faith  was evident in the shooting at the school house in October 2006.  The horrific the act of the shooter was met in a peculiar fashion, rather than revenge, the community expressed forgiveness even to the point of visiting the shooter's wife to offer their condolences in her loss.  Clothing isn’t the only thing that expresses a peculiar people, the expression of their faith was peculiar to the dominant culture.  Wow, what a witness!

As I walked along from that parking lot, I was thankful that I don’t have to dress in black or curl my side burns (a rather difficult task I imagine.)  I am equally thankful for electricity, my mode of transportation.   I’m thankful that for the most part the Christian faith attempts to move from following the letter of the law and move in the direction of Jeremiah 31.31 to having the law written in our hearts.  And yet, I am also reminded of the words from 1 Peter 2:9 that “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” and as such we should strive to be more peculiar, Rodney Clapp’s “peculiar” that is…

If we look just like everything (everyone) else out there, haven’t we just domesticated God into our cultural reality? OUCH!  As I think about the church 'beyond the walls" it has to be somewhat distinguishable from the world in which it exists...  If this relationship we have with God is our most important, life-changing reality, shouldn't it be noticeable to others?   

How peculiar are you? 

Anniversary Day ...

Today is Jacki and mine anniversary, we’ve been married for 29 years.  We started to “date” in our senior year of high school.  She and I were on college release, basically we attended high school for three classes in the morning and then were released to attend college classes for the second half of the day, Jacki didn’t drive and found me quite willing to oblige.  Five and half years later, after Jacki had completed college, and I dabbled in the travel industry only to eventually sign on with the Department of Defense in a Telecommunication Intern program, we were married at Western Maryland College in Big Baker Chapel.  It was hot and humid as any Maryland August day could be.  My best man was Paul Gregory, my cousin on my mother’s side of the family.  We drove up Westminster, stopping at the local 7 Eleven store to get lunch (I grabbed a liverwurst and spring onion sandwich on white toast, I still try to have one each anniversary)  We arrived well in time for the wedding got dressed in one of the classrooms in the undercroft of Big Baker.  Shortly before the wedding started, we had a downpour, it didn’t really improve the humidity but it did provide for some great photo opportunities following the service.  I remember two things from that wedding day.  The moment that Jacki and her father walked around the door into the aisle way, and the attendant then billowing up her dress.  (Side note:  To this day in any wedding I have the privilege to officiate, I try to protect that image for any bridegroom waiting to see his bride.  I warn any photographer that while they want the perfect picture, they are not to enter the aisle way as the bride entrances.  You don’t get a second chance on one of those moments, Wow! 

 Now we’ve been married 29 years and we are visiting New England, the Berkshires.  We are staying in a place called Bentley Brook in Hancock, MA.  It is kind of remote, the area is beautiful, rolling hills and small communities.  We had a deluge of a storm last night, water flowed from the eves (we’re on the fourth floor) and it look like an waterfall outside our window. Brittany, Elisabeth and Wesley are all here as this is the family vacation time.  Wesley laments that we aren’t here in the winter cause Bentley Brook doubles as a winter ski resort.  We visited here many years ago, before he was really big on skiing and snowboarding, during the summer months again,  and at that time we did the alpine slide.  Wes remembers that experience and is determined to improve upon his time downhill.  The only change that we’ve noted so far is that there are the windmills up on the ridge.  Sort of reminds me of Camp Hope in West Virginia.  I suppose a purist would be frustrated by the windmills on the ridge, a great photo editor can clip them out, they don’t bother me, clean energy tain’t all that bad. 

Infact, it is all good.  A good 29 years.  No doubt! 

To Surf or not to surf...

Okay, so by now you might have figured that I didn’t make it to the shore.  I got up at 3 am on Friday morning, got the tent and camping supplies out of their hiding places (too varied to mention and suffice it to say they were hiding real well.)  I thought, or perhaps was prompted, that I ought to check the websites and see if there are camping spaces at the Maryland State Park only to discover that they were fully booked.  No worries, I thought, I’ll check the Federal National Park and they too were booked fully up.  Decision made, I’m not heading to the shore.  Would it be sour grapes if I said that it was probably going to be ridden with mosquitoes? 

I headed back to bed and when I got up later that morning, I started to feel a little bit like I was behind the curve about looking into the “church beyond the walls.”  So instead of the planned body surfing and staring at the waves, I decided to surf the web and find what google might come up with as far a “the church without wall” and “beyond the walls of the church.” 

What I found was that there are a lot of churches out there that label themselves as a “church without walls” infact they will actually themselves “The Church without Walls” but in actual fact many of them had walls and in some cases their walls were pretty impressive facilities.  One website that I looked into showed a “church without walls” actually had a campus set up, where the pastor was in a video getting in to a helicopter, I think that he was flying to one of the other campus locations’ so that he could preach at the next worship service.   I’m kind of struggling with a church that calls itself the church without walls when the facility that they have is not only huge but spread across different parts of the city.  Another website that I look at was  a church that was a “church without walls” and became a “church with walls” when I finally came up with a location a for Sunday worship and inviting every to come to their church worship service. 

Another church that I look at actually was doing something pretty cool.  It is Calvary Baptist Church in Andrews, Texas (graphic borrowed, okay, I guess it was stolen from their website)  They started a sixteen months program of outreach, four month in each quadrant of the city.  Apparently, the city is conveniently arranged a little like Washington DC into quadrants.  They decided that for four month in each of the quandrants Walking, Working and Witnessing.  The Walking was a form of prayer, where members would walk the community and pray for the people in that quadrant.  In the process they would be gathering data about what needed to be done in each of the quadrant and then they would head into the community and serve.  The final focus was witnessing to their faith in the hopes that people would come to a saving grace in Jesus Christ.  At the end of the sixteen months they would return to the first quadrant and start all over again.  It sure is a pretty cool idea to cover all areas of the community. 

No don’t get me wrong, I believe that a church building is very important.  It is a place where the people can gather for corporate worship, a place to gather to learn and go deep in our understanding of our faith.  But a church with wall … shouldn’t miss represent itself as a church without walls when it actually has some.

I looked into thesimpleway.org website but it was still under construction.  The Simple Way community is a monastic community that serves in urban Philadelphia.  They are transforming the community in which they serve.  This is a good example of church without wall. 

I also found that Facebook had a social group called “Christians without walls” This is a pretty cool but underused social group.  It seems to be people coming together to pray for each other and their ministries. 

I’m kind of looking for what it would look like if Christians connected outside of the walls of the church and lived their faith in real tangible ways, unapologeticly as Christians, and the example of how they lived their faith resulted in others coming to Christ, or in the very least fulfilling Matthew 5, “May others see your good works and give praise to our Father in heaven.” 

Still gathering information, you got some ideas you think I should look into … I’d appreciate the suggestions.

And So our Journey begins ... Disconnecting...

Today is the first day of our ( Mount Zion and my ) Sabbath leave.  My last email that I sent last evening was timed at 1146pm .   I was trying to catch up on the list of things to do but unfortunately I didn't get everything done. Thankfully, there are some amazing people at Mount Zion who are willing to pick up my unfinished work and take it over and see the uncompleted tasks to completion.  I guess I should feel guilty but in actually fact, I am kind of releived. I trust the staff and the members of Mount Zion.  They will do great and wonderful things.  At least I don't have delusions of grandeur that nothing can happen unless I'm present, eh?

I'm officially "Electronically Disconnected" from the church.  Prior to leaving the office I set up a voice mail message on my church extension babbling something about leaving the office and returning on November 1st.  The last thing I did last night was to remove the automatic downloading of my email from my verizon account to my laptop, I know that I'm not disciplined enough to not look at email that might happen to "pop up" on my Outlook   If you send me an email to my verizon account then you will get a  message back promptly informing you to "Remember the Sabbath Day and Keep it Holy ( I really wanted to put "Wholly" in honor of Marva Dawn who wrote a great book by the same title but feared that someone might take offense and what might be read as a misquote of the bible.  Seriously, folks?)  Folk are also prompted that in the event of an emergency you should contact Barb Jacques (who I'm sure will be "blessing me" for the message but then again who uses email for an emergency anyways?)  If push came to shove, I could still go online to view emails that would be too much work, besides, I don't like the verizon interface for responding to email.  Folks that know me are probably asking about my cellphone (which I used to answer a load of church business emails already) to which I say that it died two weeks ago while at West River (being without my cellphone for the rest of the week was pretty tramatic in and of itself.)   When I returned from camp, I got a loaner phone until my replacement phone which arrived later the next week)   I never got about to loading the verizon email preferences  on my replacement phone, so in actually fact, I've been running at reduced email capabilities for a while.  Suffice it to say, I am completely disconnected from the church for official business.

I've been debating about Facebook but I also stay connected with much of my family on that medium and besides, as Brittany asked, "what would you do Dad if you didn't play Words with Friends."  I'll just use my mobile app, thank you very much!  I think that most folks will respect the forum for social conversations and not business. 

Today I'm working up a calendar for the next week or two.  I'm heading down to the ocean ("downey oshin hon") early Friday morning and staying through Saturday evening, just gonna stare at the ocean for a couple of days, see a sun rise, and set and such...pray for good weather cause I'm going to stay down in the National or State Park, tenting it overnight.  I found the following cartoon that might just be me by the end of the second day.  

When I return, we are heading up to New England for the family vacation next week, going to enjoy the cooler New England. 

My "I've got to be doing something..." is kicking in and so I'm also working on that list of things to do.   I've checked out the www.simplyway.org but their website was under construction but they had a twitter feed up out in Google land and there were a few points of contact as well as interesting YouTube videos.   Seeing as I'm heading up to Mt Gretna the 17/18, might see about swing by Philadelphia if I can get someone to talk to about their ministry , urban monsasticism... Might also check into Eastern University that arranges what appears to be internships or support for the ministry going on there.    If you have an idea about how the church exists beyond the wall of the church send me a point of contact and some information about it and I'll see if I can look into it.  Heading across country in October so would like to have things across country to check out too, so suggest away...

Will follow up after the shore folks ...