Alban Institute
Alban Institute publish many of the books that we as an MRN team have found to be helpful resources in our work with congregations and also for our own faith journeys. Their website also has a host of readily available resources. For instance, on their blog this week, you can read a post about the way in which vital congregations are communities of practice – places where we “immerse ourselves in those patterns of communal action” …which “create openings in our lives where the grace, mercy and presence of God may be known to us” (Craig Dykstra). The author of the post, Wayne Floyd, identifies and expounds on five practices that he associates with vital congregations: Discernment, Story-Telling, Proclamation, Hospitality and Service. You can read the whole entry here
You can subscribe to a weekly newsletter which contains articles and information about resources. In this week’s there is an excellent feature on “Planning as Holy Conversation”. The authors, Gil Rendle and Alice Mann have written a book, titled “Holy Conversation”: a resource I use frequently. They acknowledge the complexity of planning, where in contemporary congregations there are many competing preferences and needs. Their belief is that planning is not problem centred and it is not the responsibility of the leader(s) to find a solution. Instead, the task of the leader is to help the people have a purposeful and meaningful conversation about who they are and what they believe is important to do. The Exodus journey mirrors that of many congregations. It is helpful to think of leadership as “a dance in whcih we seek a more distant future that is both meaningful and faithful while simultaneously mananging the specific day to day realities of the trip”. To read the full article you will need to subscribe to the Alban Institute weekly newsletter – which is FREE. You can do that here
Their book (see below) is available on order from MRN Resources. Please contact Heather at hbald@sa.uca.org.au MRN have a copy for previewing.
Holy Conversations: Strategic Planning as a Spiritual Practice for Congregations by Gil Rendle and Alice Mann
Gil Rendle and Alice Mann cast planning as a “holy conversation,” a congregational discernment process about three critical questions: Who are we? What has God called us to do or be? Who is our neighbor? Rendle and Mann equip congregational leaders with a broad and creative range of ideas, pathways, processes, and tools for planning. By choosing the resources that best suit their needs and context, congregations will shape their own strengthening, transforming, holy conversation.
Even in Sleep…
It is vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for God gives sleep to his beloved - Psalm 127:2
Those who have the wind of the Holy Spirit go forward, even while they sleep – Brother Lawrence
Last Thursday the MRN team enjoyed a half day retreat with Marjorie Thompson from The Upper Room. Her theme for the morning was Sabbath. This beautiful poem set the refreshing tone:
Camas Lilies
Consider the lilies of the field,
the blue banks of camas
opening into acres of sky along the road.
Would the longing to lie down
and be washed by that beauty
abate if you knew their usefulness,
how the natives ground their bulbs
for flour, how the settlers’ hogs
uprooted them, grunting in gleeful
oblivion as the flowers fell?
And you — what of your rushed
and useful life? Imagine setting it all down —
papers, plans, appointments, everything —
leaving only a note: “Gone
to the fields to be lovely. Be back
when I’m through with blooming.”
Even now, unneeded and uneaten,
the camas lilies gaze out above the grass
from their tender blue eyes.
Even in sleep your life will shine.
Make no mistake. Of course
your work will always matter.
Yet Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these.
~ Lynn Ungar, from Blessing the Bread
Marjorie reminded us that in the Jewish tradition day begins at sundown. We tend to think the day begins when it is morning and we get up, ready to make things happen. All labour begins with rest. A secular rhythm makes work primary, and we go from work to vacation. In contrast, a sacred rhythm moves from Sabbath to vocation. Resting in God is radical in our culture and in our churches particularly for those in church leadership: we are always being tempted to “leave God for God’s service”. I enjoyed hearing Marjorie quote Eugene Peterson
”The Hebrew evening/ morning sequence conditions us to the rhythms of grace. We go to sleep, and God begins His work. As we sleep, He develops His covenant. We wake and are called out to participate in God’s creative action. We respond in faith, in work. But always grace is previous. Grace is primary. We wake into a world we did not make, into a salvation we did not earn. Evening: God begins, without our help, His creative day. Morning: God calls us to enjoy and share and develop the work He initiated.”
How beautiful is that! What a way to begin each day – remembering that God has already been at work and now that we are awake we are invited to join in and participate with delight in what God has already been doing.
Why do we want children?
I’ve recently been wondering: why do we want children part of our church community? What is the purpose of children’s ministry? And how can we meet this purpose through family ministry?
When I ponder my first question the cynic in me sometimes entertains the thought that some churches want children in their church to fill in the space and give them hope that their church will continue on the way that they created it beyond their life time. However, I’m snapped back in to reality when I see the likes of many family ministries like those in the western suburbs of Adelaide who have many playgroups which meet the needs of families in their area and then go the step further to create a day of festivities, completely free to the public specifically catering for families. Playgroup in the Park is all about the families and showing them love. Then I see ministries such as that close to the city who run a day camp for primary aged children in the school holidays. They provide respite for tired parents, fun for bored kids and care and love and a glimpse of Jesus for everyone attending. I see these examples in the country as well with amazing music and playgroup programs in the South East. The truth is we have some great ministries, not programs, which meet the needs of our community. Are these ministries the answer to my third question?
I better not get ahead of myself. Why do we want children part of our church community? The Uniting Church sums up what we believe Church is about in our vision statement “We seek to be an innovative, growing church proclaiming Jesus Christ, empowered by the Spirit to transform God’s world.” In my mind this translates to us having something to offer the world. What do we have to offer?
1. We have a Lord who anyone, regardless of age, gender, social status, can personally connect with. We offer this Lord by introducing children to him through teaching, prayer and worship.
2. We have faith in a God that is life giving. We can live out this faith through mission, service and fighting for justice in the world.
3. We have love, care and support.
These aspects of our community are so amazing, we should want this type of community for our children to participate, experience and learn from. However, I fear that some of us have been living with these aspects for so long, that we become desensitised to how amazing they truly are. Some of us have got caught up running a church instead of being church. And our creativity in some areas has fizzled, making it hard to create new ways of celebrating the amazing attributes that we have.
So now that we have briefly explored why we want to involve children in our church we should look at the purpose for ministering with families. I would argue that the reason we want them part of our church may also be the purpose for which we minister to them. To disciple, to help children live out their beliefs and faith, and to care for them. We want them to have the best.
The emergent church would look at needs in the community and help provide for them. Maybe this is something that the church could do in ministering with families? One example of this is playgroups where we can offer discipleship by demonstrating in our own actions who Jesus is. If participants want to take it further we need to be prepared to share our faith and knowledge as well as provide appropriate resources. We can live out what we believe with playgroup families by enabling them to participate in mission. Simple things like shoe box of love appeal is one simple way of doing this, there are many others. Pastoral care is so easy to do through playgroups as many families need support. This can be simply through allowing them time to talk, or providing meals when they are going through a rough time, or connecting them with appropriate community services to meet their needs. And just like that we have met the purpose of church. We have invited people into our community and offered them what we have.
This is simply one way we can be church with families, feel free to add your own ideas of how you believe it can be done. I know that there are plenty of examples of how this is done during Sunday worship as well as during the week in the community. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and insights.
Heidi Harding
What in heaven’s name are we singing?
I was at a workshop last week, when the person leading morning worship asked us to sing “Days of Elijah”. This was greeted enthusiastically by those present and they joined robustly in the song – while I stood there open-mouthed wondering, “What in heaven’s name are we singing?”
For those unfamiliar with the words (as I was) here is a sample – first verse, chorus, and final refrain:
These are the days of Elijah
Declaring the word of the Lord
And these are the days of your servant, Moses
Righteousness being restored
And though these are days of great trials
Of famine and darkness and sword
Still, we are the voice in the desert, crying
“Prepare ye the way of the Lord!”
chorus:
Behold he comes, riding on the clouds
Shining like the sun, at the trumpet’s call
So lift your voice, It’s the year of Jubilee
And out of Zion’s hill, salvation comes.
There’s no God like Jehovah,
There’s no God like Jehovah,
There’s no God like Jehovah!
The lyrics raise at least three questions for me about what we sing in worship:
- Why do many of our newer songs, especially those coming out of the more conservative wing of the church, persist in using images from the Hebrew Scriptures (which some still refer to as the Old Testament) as the primary language of worship? We are those who know the revelation of God in Jesus of Nazareth and are called to live as Jesus’ followers in bringing to birth the presence of God’s reign. Are we really living in days like those experienced in the time of Elijah, Moses, Ezekiel, and David – or are we living in days of hope because God’s love and grace have been revealed to us in Jesus the Christ?
- Why do we think that cobbling together pseudo-biblical phrases, as in the chorus above, actually means anything? Do people believe that such language is somehow more worshipful? And who is the “He” it refers to? This is just a mish-mash of words that neither honours God, nor elucidates the faith community asked to sing them.
- Why, as in the final refrain, do some parts of the church persist in using the title “Jehovah” to speak of God? It is not a biblical word. In fact it’s not even a proper word being a miscegenation of consonants from one Jewish name for God and the vowels from another. It’s like us taking the consonants from “Jesus” and the vowels from “Christos” and forming a new word “Jisos” as a shorthand name for Jesus Christ. We wouldn’t do it! So why do it to the language of our Hebrew ancestors in the faith?
We can do better than that in our worship of God.
Posted by Rob
