We continue the “Ten Best Ways to Ruin Your Church Staff” to avoid for those pastoral leaders who want to keep and develop quality staff ministry colleagues, (For those pastors who want to get rid of troubling church staff, then this is the way to do it!). Today, no. 5: Do not do worship planning together.
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I was asked to offer the Prayers of the People this Pentecost Sunday. At my former church I regularly gave the Pastoral Prayer in the worship service. As a matter of course a pastoral staff member led in that prayer during Sunday worship, and on occasion, a church member would. The practice is opposite at my current church, where the norm is to have the Prayers of the People led by a church member, and on occasion, a pastoral staff member leads it. Here is the prayer for Pentecost Sunday:
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I met up with some old friends recently, who’d brought along some of their friends I appreciated meeting. It didn’t take long to get to that awkward point in the conversation that follows the “What do you do for a living?” Well, maybe not awkward for most jobs, but typically for the ones I’ve held (funeral home manager, local church clergy, and now seminary professor). At least people clean up their language.
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I recently attended a denominational meeting where my I.D. badge noted the name of the church of which I’m a member. That information triggered a conversation when someone reading the name of the church asked me how I liked my church (it was an odd question, but as it turns out, a good conversation starter).
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In his book, Celebration of Discipline (pages 7&8), Richard Foster shares a meditation exercise that I’ve used often and find helpful. Foster says,
“In your imagination picture yourself walking along a lovely forest path. Take you time, allowing the blaring noise of our modern megalopolis to be overtaken by the sound of rustling leaves and cool forest streams. After observing yourself for a bit, take the perspective of the one walking, rather than the one observed. Try to feel the breeze upon your face as if it were gently blowing away all anxiety. Stop along the way to ponder the beauty of the flowers and birds.
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If I only had the nerve…
I would lead a children’s time where I would tell the children to come to the chancel, as I normally do. Then I would tell them, “You know I really have to use the restroom. I’ll back really soon. Don’t tell anyone I left. I’m sure I won’t miss anything.†Then I would exit.
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Peace – it sounds like such a nice word, but what does it really mean? What does peace really look like? How do we preach peace – especially every year at Advent?
These are just a few questions that went through my head as I was preparing to preach last week.
Below is the sermon I preached last week, Dec 9th, on the second Sunday of Advent.
Title – Yeah Right!
Texts – Isaiah 11:1-10, Matthew 3:1-12
Focus – Peace takes work
Function – To challenge
Other information:
Size/style of congregation – average 150 in attendance on a Sunday, Pastoral Style
Spirituality – Head
Advent themes – Hope, peace, joy, and love (some churches focus on peace first and then hope).
My position – Associate Pastor – preaching as a “second chair”
Technique – I like to “weave” the text with present and real life issues and situations, even if it is a line or two here and there.
Other – Some of the organizations listed are particuar to my congregation and surrounding city
Enjoy:
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For some of us who have been following with interest the “worship wars†of the past decades, there seems to be a tangible waning of the passions that fed the rhetoric. Arguably, the worship wars are over, all that is left is the occasional skirmish between the passionate of either camp. What remains today are distinctly delineated boundaries where the practicing faithful have settled into the comfortable landscapes of their preferred modes of worship.
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In many ways my native language has always been dance. I moved stories before I told them in words, heard music most clearly when it flowed through my body and out again into the waiting space. In secret my deepest prayers were danced before God.  Perhaps that is why I am drawn to those who, writing about religion, note that we are creatures with bodies. Christians have some trouble with this reality. Often, if they affirm their bodily state at all, it is to triumph over it, to deny its power, to dismiss its claims on us.  Rarely do they celebrate the body and own the sheer joy of abandoning oneself to the dance.
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