no longer web-invisible

So, now Church of the Covenant is on the web. [see my first post here] I guess the technology gurus have won out. This morning our road sign will announce it to the drivers on Military Road in Arlington. Does that mean we have arrived? Not likely. We still face the challenge of how to love our neighbors, most of whom we never see. During the week, when I'm hanging around Arlington, very few people are in their homes. On the weekend--Saturdays and Sundays--I see loads of people outdoors: cyclers, walkers, dog- and otherwise, runners, strollers (with and without children). Every week, I pray for our neighbors, those who know God and those who don't, and I pray for me and the church, for how to love them. What I'm hoping that the new website will do is not call attention to ourselves, but let the neighborhood know that we care. We care about its individuals and its community. I'm fairly sure that this is at least one reason God put Church of the Covenant right here.
Most of the members and friends who worship here on Sunday live within just a few miles of the church building. That's amazingly LOCAL, and it's not just an accident. Our mission is right here, with the folks in this neighborhood. We know there is pain here--families in trauma, broken relationships--and we know that God wants a better life for us. God loves us with a love stronger than we can imagine. Jesus promised it, and learning to rely on that promise is an act of faith. Sharing that faith, with love, hope, and conviction, can make a difference in our neighbors' lives, I'm convinced of that.
There's a button on the website called "I believe..." Eventually we hope to collect the faith stories of lots of us to post here. My next sermon series will be on "telling our faith stories" so that we can practice telling each other how God has become real in our own lives, how love has conquered us. Sharing that faith with neighbors is not far behind.

The Alban Institute - 2009-06-01 God Talk

The Alban Institute - 2009-06-01 God Talk

Shared via AddThis

The azalea church

Easter has come and gone...the grounds at Church of the Covenant are alive with...azaleas. This is the month that God said "You see; purple does go with green." For a long time, this has been known as "the azalea church." It's hard not to be impressed by the beauty of our setting here on Military Road. But we wonder if our neighbors are impressed by our gardens or our giving glory to God. Are they seeing our horticulture or our culture of love? I don't know, but I'm going to find out...a small step outside of the church building to make some face-to-face contact with the neighbors seems the right thing to do. What will we find out?

Update--website almost live!!

The Webmasters conspiring to launch the website...

So the church website is on the way...

In the first reflection I did when I came to Church of the Covenant, I thought about what it's like to be a small church pastor, to a church without a website. So now we're about to get one...plan to launch by Easter...
When the tribes of Israel asked Samuel to find them a king, he responded by telling them how much it would change them. The king would confiscate their wealth to raise armies, take their women, and generally mess up their lives. "But we want a king, anyway," they said. "So that we can be like all the other nations."
Somehow having a king might give them a prestige in the eyes of the outside world. OK, now, little Church of the Covenant...we're going to be a little like everyone else. Still I think, God has a special mission for us on Military Road. It may or may not depend on a website, but I'm sure it does depend on us being present to our neighbors and neighborhood.

Transforming the Holidays

The holidays are coming—Thanksgiving, Christmas, the New Year! Does this strike joyful anticipation or dread in you?

This will be the first time that I go through this season of the year with my new congregation, and I have some apprehension. I know there are some things to learn and experience. Most congregations have ‘sacred traditions’ which are the unspoken—but highly meaningful—ways that a community remembers and celebrates its past. The way that most pastors find out about these traditions are to break them. Usually it’s because a pastor breaks them unintentionally. Then we hear. But woe to the new pastor who tries intentionally to break a holiday tradition!

I’ve already heard from many congregation members about what traditions they care about. And here’s an interesting observation: not all of them are the same! Some people are very interested in the community Thanksgiving service held in area churches on Thanksgiving Day, and some couldn’t care less. Some of them really care about the Christmas pageant and have a vested interest in seeing it remain on a Sunday. Some people very much care that the same decorations go in the same spots. Some want that candle lighting Christmas Eve to be dignified and quiet. Some care about hearing the same hymns or music, and some want to hear new things.

The holidays are emotionally charged times. Families have to negotiate how they will manage the social scene. Who will be visiting whom? Where will we have a dinner? A lunch? Who will host the Thanksgiving dinner? Who will buy the tree? The repeating and evolving rituals give us both comfort and stress. Many times, particularly after a loss, the holiday season is not a joyful time of year, because it serves to remind us of our loss.

So what to do? What would God have us do? How are our celebrations witnesses to the Good News of Jesus Christ? If we are truly open to the radical, transforming life that God has in store for us, what to do about the holidays?

One thought comes to mind—Grace. "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9) The Apostle Paul is reporting the answer that came to him after struggling with the thorny problem of “doing” rather than “being.” The Good News about God’s grace is that we have been set free from the hell of trying to live up to our own standards. The Good News about Jesus is that humans can be set free from the idol worship of petty priorities if we let God be the God who wants more than anything for us to belong to God’s very self. Everything else is idol worship. As long as we cling to the priorities of our own constructing, we will miss out on the true purpose of God’s incarnation into human life.

So bring on the Holidays! Let’s revel in God’s extravagant Love, and not feel compelled to DO anything. What would that look like? …just a thought.

Transformation--yea, and I've got beach sand, too

I have come back from St.Pete beach with a new bathing suit. They don't sell bathing suits in October in Virginia and I needed a new one. So I shopped at the beach duds store across the street from the hotel where 60 + Presbyterian pastors have been contemplating what Transformation means for the churches we serve. Transformation is a new buzz word for what church-types used to call "redevelopment." Sometimes dying churches can be redeveloped/transformed. Sometimes not. The congregation I serve knows that transformation is probably in the future--either that or slow death.
We were reminded by one of the conference speakers that in early Xn communities, baptism meant getting a new suit--going down in the water, stripping and coming back up in a new white robe. In the non-magesterial Reformation, the Anabaptists decided that their infant baptisms didn't fit anymore. They wanted a new suit, and so they practiced re(ana)-baptism. Some of the pastors at the conferenced joked that we should chuck out the membership every year and ask all the church members to re-up every year, re-take those baptismal vows every year. I have returned with a lot of new ideas.
I didn't model my new suit--still the same black one-piece appropriately modest for 55 year old woman, not slim. I just brought it back in the suitcase with the tags still on it. I haven't taken the plunge in it. I used the old Speedo swimsuit (one piece, black, non-descript) for the last time this morning in the Gulf of Mexico. I left it in the hotel.