Standing on Holy Ground

Yes, I am still alive. It has been almost two weeks since I have posted. Some of that time I spent back at Duke Divinity School with Brian, my best freind from those days and we remain close today. We were there for a week on a self directed time of study and preparation for the year ahead in our respective churches.
During the week, I worshipped several times on campus. I attended evening vespers in Duke Chapel led by the choir singing Gregorian chants. I sat in the seminary chapel and listened to Bishop Willimon preach and shared in Holy Communion. We spent hours in the library reading, writing, doing worship planning and engaging in spirit filled conversation about ministry and life.
It was a holy time. I walked on ground that formed and inspired me thrity years ago. I met with professors retired and new students preparing for ministry. I planned the outine for worship in the coming year and shared in worship going back centuries.
It was Holy Ground!!
Tomorow is All Saints Sunday. In church we will remember members who passed away in the last year. We will share in Holy Communion. We will pray and sing with brothers and sisters in faith, and the saints through the ages. We will be on Holy Ground again!!! To God be the Glory!

Moving Forward

The Five Practices weeks have come to a conclusion.  I hope they were a blessing to you personally and to the congregation as a whole.  Certainly we have had the chance to reflect on the strengths of our ministry and critique the places we need to improve.  The conversations in the study groups, hall ways, and on the web have been a great exchange of ideas and questions.  The question I am hearing now the most is a simple one, Now what?  The implication is this ministry is getting ready for a next step.  This next step is not about an individual program, ministry area or project.  It is the next step of direction for us affecting all we do and all we will serve.  I have been asking the What next question also.  I have been in prayer and reflection to know the next step we will take as a congregation. 

 

At the Church Conference, (Sunday, November 8 at 6:15 p.m.), I will be sharing what I have come to believe the next steps are for us.  I offer my answer as a call for us to come together and engage in intentional discernment leading to congregational focus and action.  Certainly, God has been preparing us for mission and witness in this community.  We are a fruitful congregation.  My years on the farm taught me though if you keep a garden the same year after year, you lose vitality and produce.  For the greatest harvest and best produce, you have to be willing to plow up, rotate and plant new crops.  Vital ministry is the same way.  I look forward to sharing with you in November my calling for the next steps.  I ask for your prayer support and listening souls to hear God’s calling and observe God’s preparation in our midst for harvests to come. 

Monday Morning

I am getting ready to participate in a day-long meeting at the Flint District Office today.  It is  a full day, but it is not as full as yesterday.  Full in the sense of God's amazing showering of blessing and grace. 

I praise God for the witness of Sharad Stump, Jay Bleim and Julie Hall in worship.  As one came up to me following worship said, "I felt like each person who spoke touched my heart in a different way and I could relate to them".  Certainly it was a special service also in no small part due the sharing in World Wide Holy Communion.   After worship, Laura and I were blessed to attend a party celebrating a 65^th wedding anniversary of Don and Francis Wills.  After a little time at home, we attended our couples class at church in the evening.  I said it was a full day, not because it was busy, but because God's amazing grace was pouring through it. 

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Sundays are thought of as a day of rest.  Certainly Sabbath and renewal are critical to our spiritual health and growth.  Sundays though may best be measured by the amount of holiness, Christ and divine power are to be found on Monday morning for the week ahead.  It was a good Sunday and God is more than sufficient for the week ahead.  I give God thanks for the amazing generosity we always find in presence of the Lord. 

As you go through this week, take time to be in the presence of the Lord.  Fill up on grace, feed on the power of scripture.  Live in the abundance of grace, which allow us to see beyond the scarcity the world lives in.