It's Official (I mean It's Projected)

This Sunday an announcement will be made in our four morning worship services that someone is projected to be appointed as "Minister of Nurture" at First Broad Street (I don't want to steal any one's thunder, so you'll just have to show up to find out who). Since I am currently the "Minister of Nurture" and I don't share my office space very well, that means that I am projected to move somewhere else.

This is not a surprise for me. I have know since November that I would be moving. I asked to move. That sounds so matter of fact, but in reality it was a grueling decision. I have been a part of the ministry at First Broad Street for 5 years --the longest any church has ever kept me. FBS is a special place for me and my family. Max was added to our family during our time here and I will never forget the outpouring of prayer and support as we navigated the seemingly endless red tape of our adoption. I originally told the D.S. that I would stay another year, but after two weeks of reflecting upon this decision, I felt God was nudging me to new things.

I didn't have much to do this past Sunday, having just returned from Brazil. As I looked out over the congregations at 8:30 Contemporary and 10:45, I remembered the special times we have had. Some have already caught wind of the change and approached me with thoughts of support and love. Thank you for 5 fantastic and wonderful years!

BIT: But ... I'm not done yet!!! No lame duck here!! There is much to do! We have a new Contemporary Worship Service to kick off on March 30th. Everything is coming together. Jenny Rogers will be announced as our Interim Director of Contemporary Worship this Sunday. She has hit the ground running. I will be working with our new Minister of Nurture to get him off the ground. And so much more ... So good bye will have to wait for a while. Let us carry on ...

BRAZIL

I will spend the next several entries sharing about my mission trip to Brazil. The 10 of us (latter to be 9 and then back to 10 again) went with little knowledge of what to expect. We were all clergy -- we were all men -- a dangerous combination! Add in that our leader and assistant leader had to back out of the trip, that our fill in leader had to leave after the first week, and you begin to get a picture -- and if you can't, I will share my pictures with you. So, let us begin...

We (Paul Goshorn and I) left at 2:30 p.m. from Walgreen's on Stone Drive for the two hour trip to Maryville, where we left the car and made the 20 minute trek to the airport. We got there several hours ahead of our departure and then the plane was delayed for 40 minutes. We boarded our plane to Washington, DC and arrived in just enough time to walk to our flight to Rio which was beginning to board. Now it was just a 9 hour flight!

Bit: A 9 hour flight with a screaming child two rows in front of me! That's all I'm going to say.

The pictures here were made on our trip from the Rio airport to Teresopolis. Who wants to look at pictures of pastors waiting in an airport.

Not Yet

Lent has begun!

For me, one of the most moving worship services each year is the Ash Wednesday service. This year Clark read the "Invitation to the Observance of Lenten Discipline" and I heard with new ears the invitation, "I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to observe a holy Lent: by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's Holy Word." I try to use the season of Lent like society as a whole uses New Year's resolutions. However, unlike resolutions, it's not really me trying to get myself thinner, healthier, etc., but it is a time to allow God to get me right. What discipline can I use to allow God more access to me? The Ash Wednesday service helps me "to make a right beginning of repentance."

Another powerful aspect of the service for me is the imposition of ashes. The United Methodist Book of Worship describes Ash Wednesday as "a dual encounter: we confront our own mortality and confess our sin before God within the community of faith." It's that mortality thing that really gets me during the service. As I stand there and make a cross with the ashes on each person's forehead, as I say, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return," as I especailly try to do this with little children, I want to say, "but not yet."

"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return, but not yet."

Yet, there is no guarantee. For some, whom I've seen "walk through the valley of the shadow" and come out (sometimes miraculously) on the other side, it is a celebration to think, "but not yet!" For others I know the time is approaching quickly. The tornadoes of Tuesday, just as the service of Ash Wednesday, remind us that there is no "but not yet." At any time, the words I use might come from the "Service of Committal".

"This body we commit to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust."

BIT: May this Lent lead us all to live each day with the thought of ashes.

Check Out a Bible

Last week my oldest, who is in the 2nd grade, came home with his library book. How suprised I was to find that it was the Bible. First, I was surprised that the elementary school library had the Bible on its shelves. Second, I tried to imagine what the librian was thinking when the pastor's kid checked a Bible out of the library. But check it out he did and carried it to Art & Soul on Wednesday night.

I thought nothing more of this until he brought his library book home again this week. You know where this is going -- it was the Bible (a different one, but I Bible it was)! So I asked him why he kept on checking out Bibles when we have soooo many Bibles at home. He shared that these were his Bibles and that he had been reading it. He proceeded to open it up and told me that this was his favorite verse, "God has always been, before there was anything there was God". (Genesis 1) Then he shut the Bible and began to tell me the story of Noah. As a preacher it was more than a little bit spooky. Maybe he'll become a great Sunday School Teacher or Bible Scholar -- that would be nice.

Thank God for the Art & Soul ministry and all those who teach. Not only has a seed been planted in one who has just begun to read, but it has already sprouted into a love for God's Word. Not only that, but a desire to claim it has his very own and share it with others.

BIT: I believe we'll be going to the store this weekend to buy him his very own Bible. We can't have the library staff thinking that Methodists don't have Bibles! I did notice when I was in a Sunday School class on Wednesday that not a Bible could be found. Hope they have their library card. Of course, if I had brought my Bible I wouldn't have been looking for one.

My Report

What a fantastic time I had on our College/Young Adult mission trip to John's Island, SC.! (yes exclamation points will be a staple for 2008!!!) I felt a little weird being a little outside of my comfort zone (I'm just a little outside of the College/Young Adult classification). As a matter of fact, we left on my "I'm not 40 yet" birthday (that's vastly different from celebrating your 2nd anniversary of your 39th birthday).

Being a little uncomfortable, and seeing that we would occasionally have an "incident of merit" such as Danny Howe hitting a stump and busting the entire entry door on the bus, or Sam Eastridge nearly losing a finger in the wood splitter, or Jarrod Suits lighting the most enormous fire work I have ever seen. I would occasionally tell the offending party that this would be "going in my report". As if there were someone who would care what was in my report!

So for all you who care ... my report is ...

We have the greatest group of college/young adults I've ever met!!! They gave up a large part of their Christmas Break, worked tirelessly through some very cold and windy conditions, ate food prepared by someone trained in the ministerial arts, and slept in conditions that make a dorm room look like a 5 star resort. They worked with insulation (one of my all-time dreads) and got stuck with the pointy ends of rabbit wire. And, I didn't hear one complaint, nor did I see even the suggestion that any of them were going to do anything that looked like something out of a college movie.

They were the best and I was privileged to be included.

BIT: You noticed the pictures mostly have a theme of eating ... out!

"I'm Not Done, Yet!"

No, the Brewster Family will probably not be asked to light the Advent Wreath next year -- or ever for that matter. We practiced so hard. Kile worked on reading his summary sentence about lighting the candles of hope, peace. joy, and love again. Max was going to say, "Let us pray." We had it down!

And, then the time came. It was the 5:30 p.m. Christmas Eve Service. Over 400 in attendance. My family makes their way to the Advent Wreath and Lectern. Kile did a perfect job! Gincy read about each candle as I lit them. Then, it was Max's turn. I lifted him to say his line into the microphone. He said it, "Let us pray" as only a 3-year-old can. I start to let him down as the congregation all sighed together ("ohhh..."). It was a Norman Rockwell moment (if Norm included bi-racial families),

And, then if fell apart as Max started screaming (still in range of the microphone), "I'm not done yet. I'm not done yet." The sighs of the congregation turned into laughter. I prayed, but it was already over.

I have no idea what more Max wanted to do. We had not practiced anything else. He WAS done. Practice does not necessarily make perfect.

BIT: After Christmas Day, we get a feeling of being done. The presents are unwrapped. The special worship services are over. The decoration begin to come down. Yet, we know that Christmas is a season -- twelve days -- that leads into Epiphany -- which leads into Lent -- followed by Holy Wee and Easter. Advent is the beginning and Christmas keeps it going. So, as we celebrate this Christmas Season and as we move into Epiphany, my new motto is "I'm not done yet." Maybe Max just had a sense that things were just getting started.

IT IS CHRISTMAS!

Hodie! Hodie! Hodie! W00t! W00t! W00t!
IT IS CHRISTMAS TIME!
I've completed the grueling schedule of Christmas Eve Services, all of which were fantastic! I know I said "Merry Christmas" 400 times (we were at 908 in attendance before the 10:30 service). I had looked forward to just working two of the services, but somehow ended up working all four (sucker!). But they were glorious! I love Christmas!!! (there's those exclamation points).

BIT: Yes, I know it is nearly 12:30 a.m. but this is the earliest I've gotten in bed in years. This year the Brewster Family is celebrating a "No Assembly Required" Christmas. Hallelujah! So it will be an early to bed Christmas as well. Have a blessed Christmas and I'll be back from John's Island (a mission trip with the college kids) on Epiphany! I know I'll have some more material to work with -- I'm cooking. Pray, Pray Pray!!!