Church as Family?

I hear the phrase “church family” used frequently when people talk about Prince of Peace.  I really like the term. I’m going to challenge you to reflect on how you are a member of this family: what it means, what it looks like, what are family responsibilities…you get the idea.

When I rent a car, there are a few things I never do with my rental.  I never check the tires.  I never check the oil.  I never empty the ash tray.  I never have the car serviced. I never wash the car.  I do fill up the gas tank when I return the car (because I am too cheap to pay the $15 a gallon the rental company charges me if I don’t).

In sharp contrast, my own car is well cared for.  I check tires, have a lifetime alignment purchased, change the oil regularly, keep up with the regular maintenance schedule, and (believe it or not) even empty the ash tray (trash tray) regularly.  I wash it, wax it, and have even been know to use “Armor All” on to preserve the plastic parts of the car.

The difference is, it’s my car. I value it.  I’ve invested in it.  I’m supposed to take care of it.

To people, the church can be either a rental or theirs.  Using the family metaphor, this church is ours.  We are responsible for its maintenance, upkeep, health, beauty, ministries, facilities, vision… you get the idea.

How are you doing as a member of the family?  Are you taking your ownership/stewardship of this family seriously, or are you more like the renter?

I encourage you to be a strong, responsible member of the family, fully involved in working, praying, and giving for the spread of God’skingdom through this community of Christians.

Fr. Rand ✞

Dying or thriving?

The mainline churches in the United States find themselves in rapid decline.  Did you know that the average Episcopal Church has an average Sunday attendance of 60 people in worship?

I think the difference between those churches that are dying and those that are thriving can be found in the questions they ask about ministry.

Dying churches ask:

• What do we want?
• What will please our loyal members?
• How little can we change and stay alive?
• How can we stay true to our identity?
• What can we cut next?

This provider centered or us centered view is killing the church.
Thriving churches ask the opposite questions.

Thriving churches ask

• What do other people need from us?
• How can we deploy our present members to serve people outside our walls?
• What changes must we make in order to connect with a changing world?
• How is God trying to change our identity so that we can be more like Jesus?
• How can we improve our giving so that we can do more serving.

It is tough to change a mindset, a habit, a paradigm, but that is what we need to do…..and are trying to do at Prince of Peace.  Spirit of God we need your help to transform us individually and corporately so that we can begin to ask the right questions.

The Denial of Death?

I remember one of the first books I read in seminary was called the Denial of Death by Cultural Anthropologist, Ernst Becker. The premise was much more psychological than theological. The author asserted that most human action is ultimately a defense mechanism against the knowledge of our mortality. We have this innate “immortality project” in which we want to create or become a part of something that will last forever. This project, Becker said, is what gives our life meaning, purpose and significance (in an existence that is moving only toward death). Where Becker was talking about a belief system, as with most existential philosophers, he does not project much hope.

In the past several weeks, we have all been touched by the death of our Children and Families Minister, Monica Warrick. Her death has brought about several feelings in me that perhaps you share. The first, things just don’t feel quite right. Monica has been a fixture here since 1998 and her presence on the campus is missed. Next, I have needed to talk about Monica with other people. Yes, I have been extra busy putting together the fall program and making sure that Children’s Ministry continues to run smoothly, but I have talked to many of you, as has Katherine Geeslin, about our feelings and love for Monica as a child of God and the love she shared with us. I have noticed a sense of anxiety in many people (me included) and found myself being very sad for myself, her family and our parish family. Perhaps Becker is on to something when he says a great deal of our actions is motivated by our need to deny the reality of our own death.

But the Christian message includes not only death but also grief, and eternal life. The Christian belief in life after death is not a denial of death but an acknowledgment of what death does to friends and loved ones who are left behind. The Christian message is one of allowing the grief process to happen. You all remember the Kubler-Ross process of grief: denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance? Even though we believe in a life after death, we need to go through these stages so that we do not deny the reality of death but feel what the Bible calls “the sting of death.” After all, death and sin are our ultimate enemy. As the Baptism service shares, “Moses came to set the Israelites free from their bondage in chains in Egypt but Jesus came to set us free from the bondage of sin and DEATH.” Alleluia

Death still hurts. We still miss our loved ones. But the truth for us, as people of faith, is that life is not ended…it is changed. For Christians, there is no denial of death, only its ultimate defeat. That is a belief statement I will hold on to.

One final thought: I was sitting by the side of a friend who, when he was dying, said, “The images of heaven found in the Bible just don’t work for me.” He said that Christians really needed to use our imaginations to think and dream of new images for heaven that might bring more comfort for contemporary people. My wife found these images that I’d like to share with you in out time of community grief.

Imagine stepping onto a shore and finding it heaven
Imagine taking hold of a hand and finding it God’s hand
Imagine breathing new air and finding it celestial air
imagine feeling invigorated and finding it immortality
Imagine passing from storm and tempest to an unknown calm
Imagine waking and finding it home.

Imagine………..

Fr. Rand ✞

Pentecost

Pentecost is the longest season of the church year.  This year it lasts twenty four weeks.  Not only is this season the time when we remember the Holy Spirit descending on the Church (the day of Pentecost) but also it is the remainder of the time meant for us to focus in spiritual growth, not only in understanding of God (orthodoxy), but also in practice of what God calls us to do/be (orthopraxy).

This past year, since returning from my sabbatical, has been a time when numbers of ideas have been coalescing in ministry for me.  First, as we have been working hard in the area of worship…in planning worship that involves the whole person…body, mind, and spirit, I am convinced that people learn and experience God in worship in various God given ways.  This variety needs to be reflected in worship more and more.  For example there are some people who worship best visually, by touch, by sound, by intellect, by smell…you get the idea.  A question the Liturgical Design Team is asking is “does Sunday worship have an element for all our uniqueness to enter into?  We are working on it.

The second area that has seemed to come together for me is not only do people experience God in worship differently, but also in the areas of ministry outside of worship, too.  I believe that most church challenges, church arguments, and even church divisions are caused by an imbalance in the way the people feel they and others should experience God in ministry.  An example: as Christians, we believe that God has revealed himself in three unique persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  The blessing of Christianity is that God has reveled himself in these unique ways to uniquely reach people. The challenge is that we often favor one person of the Trinity over the other and often that preference has become for us “the only way God can work.”  We are called to a balanced experience of all three.  Unfortunately our preferences can exclude the other ways God wants us to experience his unity thereby limiting our life with God and others.

God the Father is the creator  (creation revelation)

God has left his handprint in all of creation.

God the Son  Jesus   (salvation revelation)

God becomes human to reconcile us to God.

God the Holy Spirit  (personal revelation)

Subjective reality of God in us.

Each of these revelations has blessing:

• Blessing of creation revelation:  stewardship of creation, peace, justice for all.
• Blessing of salvation revelation: personal responsibility, choice, evangelism, salvation.
• Blessing of personal revelation:  life changing power in daily life.  Feeling God.

Problems come individually in our personal spirituality or corporately in a church’s life when one of these three revelations is isolated and one of the persons of God becomes our “favorite God” to the exclusion of “the rest of the Trinity.” The curses associated with this favorite God are:

• Problem of Creation revelation: syncretism.  Mixture of religions.  All beliefs and all behaviors are equal.
• Problem of Salvation revelation: dogmatism. Correct doctrine taking the place of a living faith.  Salvation by code.  (Pharisee)
• Problem of Personal revelation: spiritualism. What I think and feel and experience is true and okay, no matter what scripture might say about it.

A goal for a mature Christian would be to become aware of what our “preferred” style of experiencing God is…….become aware of what other styles are like…..and concentrate in systematic ways to open our lives up to the fullness of the “other ways” and thus experience the fullness of God…..Father, Son, and Holy Spirit instead of Father or Son or Holy Spirit.

Life on the periphery with God is okay, but life at the center is where it is at!

This fall we will introduce this concept in worship and provide you with tools to identify your strengths and opportunities to work on areas of spiritual growth.