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Today, our congregation had a potluck.  This is the second of such in the same number of months.  As recommended by some congregational consultants who reported to us in December, we were desperately in need of time together just having fun and enjoying one another’s company - time when we weren’t trying to get anything done.  Granted, we are trying to use this time to build relationships with one another, so it is accomplishing something. But it’s not a meeting.

In Leading Congregational Change: A Practical Guide for the Transformational Journey (San Francisco: Josey-Bass/Wiley, 2000), Rev. Dr. James Harrington places a congregation’s Spiritual and Relational Vitality at the center of his model for congregational change.  (13)  In Herrington’s model, the strength and the depth of this piece is the constraining factor for any change that operates in a congregation to move it toward any positive change.  The relational vitality aspect is based in the ability of the congregation to carry out the “love one another” aspect of Christian life. 

Fellowship events, such as potlucks and other more social settings are often downplayed in church planting and church renewal, but they are essential.  They enable people to build relationships outside of the politics of church.  Next to service projects that involve a broad spectrum of the congregation, they are often the key missing ingredient to building the relationships necessary to bring about positive transformation. 

Beyond the theology, though, today was genuinely fun.  We genuinely enjoyed one another’s company - with people mixing and mingling with no hint of cliquishness.  Suffice it to say that we are taking positive steps toward a healthy congregational life, based in the life of Christ, expressed in love.  I believe we are starting to see the kind of joy and “don’t want to miss it” of the kind seen in the ancient Christian practice of communion.  And that makes this thing all worth it!

Earlier this evening, I had the opportunity of going up on our church building’s roof with one of our maintenance folks to check on a few issues.  The picture you see above is looking out across our flat roof down Eastland Ave. in Warren. 

It is now almost cliché to talk about going outside the walls of one’s congregation into the community.  But what about going above them?  From the vantage point of the flat roof, the walls are relatively invisible.  Going above gives us the unobstructed view of the community in which we live: still distant, but much more clearly displayed.

“Church folks” are often challenged to find ways of relating to people outside the walls of the church.  From this vanatage point, it isn’t so daunting.  For one, without in any way neglecting the identity of who we are as a Body of Believers, we break down the us-them divide entirely.  With our identity securely in Christ, we can relate to others without fear of the loss of our Christian perspective, lifestyle and hope.  This is the essential piece of our outward view. 

For another, we see people from a different angle.  From the rooftop, we see backyards and roofs - a very different perspective from the street level.  Perhaps added perspectives will help us relate to people better.

Finally, we have risen above the business of being the church together and can look out at others without having to draw them into our politics.  That, perhaps, is the greatest asset to rising above the walls of our church.  Outsiders don’t care about our internal struggles any more than a dinner guest cares whether the oven is gas or electric, as long as the food is cooked evenly and throughly.  Rising above our structures allows us to stand upon them to gain a vantage point, instead of being locked in them. 

These are lessons I have thought about as I stood on the roof.  Any other analogies we can draw?

Today, I really think I connected with a large portion of the congregation.  At the end, someone stood up and told me it was the best sermon he’d ever heard me preach.  The congregation applauded.  I didn’t quite know what to do. 

All I can say is that God is at work to transform our congregation into a missional community of disciples who reach out to those who normally get left out of what God’s up to.  And that was the content of the sermon, basically.  Since that’s connecting now with the whole group, that means we’re on the right track.

Praise God!

As I said last week, Saturdays are often my days to prepare the sermon. 

It’s not procrastination.  Really, it’s not.  I actually worked ahead on the sermons for Advent, so that they were done well before the time of delivery.  And that worked pretty well.  That’s actually my preferred mode of operating, truth be told.  Work ahead, be ready, make sure all the widgets are in a row, or whatever.

But several things conspire against early sermon prep these days.  First of all is busyness.  Sad excuse, right?  Well.  That’s the one I have control over, and I do think that if busyness were the only factor, this would all be dealt with summarily. 

Second, we have groups that read the Bible together.  These groups read the passage I’m preaching on, along with the other lectionary passages, in the week prior to the big preach.  (Ok, so maybe just the preach…)  I draw from the reflections in those groups as the sermon takes shape: sometimes from what is heard and said, and sometimes from what is not.  It is an important exercise in exposition and interpretation to listen to the voices of those who are reading the Scriptures around you.

Third, there’s the Holy Spirit.  He shows up when he’s good and ready.  Sometimes, it’s the middle of the night.  Other times, it’s not.  Whatever the case, I usually need some good “getting quiet” time to hear him.  Which probably goes back, in part, to the busyness thing.  Well. 

But the sermon for tomorrow is done, and we’re going to hear from God.  Amen?

Brian McLaren posted the following quote from Mike Huckabee:

As easy as it is for those of us who are white to look back and say, “That’s a terrible statement,” I grew up in a very segregated South, and I think that you have to cut some slack. And I’m going to be probably the only conservative in America who’s going to say something like this, but I’m just telling you: We’ve got to cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told, “You have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant. And you can’t sit out there with everyone else. There’s a separate waiting room in the doctor’s office. Here’s where you sit on the bus.” And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. And you have to just say, I probably would too. I probably would too. In fact, I may have had … more of a chip on my shoulder had it been me.

- Mike Huckabee, offering his perspective on the preaching of Rev. Jeremiah Wright. (Source: MSNBC)

He then adds:

I’ve been dismayed to see so many white pundits take more umbrage about Rev. Wright’s statements (some of which are, no doubt, offensive) than they do about the racism that created the anger, insult, and hurt out of which those statements arise. By amplifying their offense at Rev. Wright, they demonstrate their relative insensitivity to how destructive racism has been, and in so doing, they add to the anger, insult, hurt, and misunderstanding - perpetuating the vicious cycle. Their impolitic responses make Mike Huckabee’s response look all the wiser. Way to go, Mike. That’s leadership worthy of the adjective “Christian.”

What’d'y’all think?

Over the course of this week, I have met with several groups to do Bible reading.  The object of these groups is to read the Bible together and listen for what God is saying to us individually, as a group, and as a congregation.  This particular time, I worked with two groups, our Men’s group on Wednesday evening, and a couple of teen guys on Thursday afternoon. 

Listening to the voice of the Spirit is an essential part of the life of a disciple; it is also a necessary part of congregational life.  Those of us who landed on the Free Church/Congregational side of the Reformation understand that all who have the Spirit of God are able, at least at a basic level, to discern God’s will, both individually and together.  This is the theological basis behind having meetings of the congregation to make decisions. 

This practice applies to the sermon process as well.  As we listen to the Bible together, we hear God speaking to us by the Holy Spirit.  Hearing others contextualize what they hear in the passage, and applying it to their lives gives me a stronger sense of connection to what the message must look like or sound like to be able to connect to the people who will be a part of the audience, in the end. 

What this does, however, is push the final sermon prep to the end of the week.  This is not a very good situation, as I believe the Sermon should not be hanging over my head during my days off - theoretical though that concept often is.  But at the moment, it is a practice for me of connecting with the congregation to “do the faith together,” as so many have said. 

In order to pull this off, we use the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL), so that everyone can be on the same, albeit arbitrary, page.  And, really, this helps us live the story of Jesus’ life as we cycle through the seasons and the Gospels together, which I find to be a really good thing. 

Therefore, tomorrow we will be hearing from 1 Peter 1:17 - 23.  What do you hear God saying there?