what makes you come alive?

normally, meetings don't make me come alive. i like to know the agenda; do the work, and move on. of course, prayer and spiritual direction have become part of the agenda for our meeting time here in merced. and perhaps the best thing about meetings is that i get to be in relationship with people who are longing for the same vision. we may not always agree on the process, but we work towards the same goal.

so, when i ventured to an overnight meeting last week, the focus was placed on transformation. richard rohr was quoted: 'transformed people transform people'. i've lived with that statement for nearly a week, now, and it makes total sense to me; does it to you? we cannot feed strongly if we are not well fed. we cannot do our best if we are not at our best. kind of like the airlines that remind you to put your mask on first -- if there is a sudden drop in cabin air pressure, and then assist children and those around you.

on the agenda for this transformational meeting was a quote from howard thurman. i have often read many things from howard thurman, but i must have missed this one. or, it could be that i wasn't in a place to really understand it. but i was paying attention this time!

thurman wrote:

"don't ask yourself what the world needs.
ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do that.
because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

isn't that powerful?! during these last couple of weeks leading up to our national election, we are hearing lots of statements; we are seeing lots of finger-pointing. but there hasn't been a statement from anyone better than that quote of thurman!

so, what makes you come alive? for me, coming alive is connected to discernment. i feel my best when i have considered -- prayed, read, journaled, listened and talked, and thought. as an extrovert, i talk out my thoughts, and then i can get excited. i do seem to come alive with people around me, but i am not 'dead' when i am on my own. because, honestly, i am never totally alone. but with others, sharing ideas and reflections, do make me come alive. that, and music and milk & cookies help too!

what makes you come alive? and share a favorite quote or author if you have one.....

blessings to your week -- and do the something that makes your heart, and the heart of other, sing!

moving ants....and herding cats

i have come to believe that working with faithful church people can be like moving ants ... and herding cats! honestly! let me tell you my funny 'sad' story.

before it rained here in merced on sunday, the ants had all come looking for water. i finally had to put out liquid poison, hoping to ward them off; trouble was that the liquid they were suppose to carry back to their hives, killed them before they got there, and so they just moved to another spot in the house; i ended up chasing them; what's wrong with this picture?

cats, as you know, have a mind and a life of their own. they just don't give you the time of day unless they choose to give your their time and their part of the day. otherwise, you're nothing but a pain in their day. i like cats, but i can't figure out the reason i do to save my soul.

so, how are ants and cats like faithful church folk? well, like ants, you put out opportunities, and some go for the 'bate', and others move to another location. the ones who are taking the bate here in the united methodist church of merced, are really having an opportunity, so i understand, in getting to know themselves and others better, and to clarify their own belief system. they are being thoughtful about what we need to be doing next to risk changing our direction. the others who have not taken advantage of our small group opportunities may seem a little lost, but are continuing on their journey; we may end up at the same place, but the ones who have participated in the journey will inevitably have the advantage of having part of the ownership in the new ministry we do.

like herding cats, not everyone will be willing to come along. but our aim is not to necessarily focus on the current needs of our congregation. well, that may not be true either. the current need of our congregation is to help focus our attention on the ministry in our community that will make a spiritual difference now and in the future. cats don't always come on board in this way.

we're planning to meet in november with our leadership to discuss one of the first major changes we will make in our visioning process; worship and education. currently we have our more praise style service at 9 with an education program, fellowship time, our more traditional service at 10:30, fellowship time (heaven forbid that united methodists would give up fellowship time!), followed by our hmong education program and then hmong worship.

one of the ideas is to combine our education programs into one hour, and flip the praise worship with the traditional worship; hmong worship would stand on its own as usual. what difference would it make, you wonder? well, in general, many of our traditional folks wake earlier than our praise people. and there has been a request to combine our children's education program. often it is more difficult for our hmong households to be at church even by 10. so we are dealing with many factors, including 'late night saturday night folks'.

another prospect is dealing with a whole population of folks that are hardly visible...young adults. and there are two areas of young adults; students and singles/young families/couples. so a group of folks will be working on what we're calling 'the new ministry'. more about that another time.

my question for you today is, what moves you spiritually, and what are you longing for? some of your answers may reflect about worship, some about education/spiritual growth, and some about fellowship. you may even long for something that doesn't happen on sundays; that's ok; your thoughtful feedback is appreciated. and, are you an ant or a cat or some other 'anamal'?

anam cara, anybody?

i am part of what our church conference is calling a 'circuit leader'; about 50 of us host circuits of church pastors -- my circuit has seven pastors in it -- and we gather for mutual support and accountability as we focus to 'make disciples of jesus christ'.

so who knew, when the circuit leaders gathered this past week in alamo for a meeting, that it would be no ordinary meeting! outside our room was this wonderful meditative garden -- pictured to your right -- that simply invited you in.

one of the first questions asked was, 'what does a disciple, in this day and age, look like?' great question! do you have an idea in your mind as you are reading this? then we were handed the book, anam cara; collegial clergy communities
by mahan siler. ok; now, this looks more like a regular meeting, and less like the meditative garden!

so what is anam cara, you ask? it is a way that redefines ministry. anam cara embodies a shift from seeing ourselves working solo to identifying ourselves as pastors in peer community (page 7). steve hyde says, he can no longer imagine doing pastoral ministry without his group of soul friends. well, this made me think of small groups.

we spend so much of our lives in isolation; our society encourages this; think about our office space or cubicles; commuting; competition for advancement; we are not a society that builds a lot of trust with co-workers, and the result is that we are diminished in so many ways.

the meditative garden reminded me that i am not alone, even though that garden seems like a space where you'd like to be alone with your own thoughts. but imagine being in a setting with that kind of beauty, talking about real life stuff; i believe that is an awesome place to open up one's fears, joys, deep-seeded secrets, and to become vulnerable enough to ask for help. and imagine, being open enough and building up enough trust, that you wouldn't mind if god heard too!


what if we had a place as we (the merced church) were seeking to discern those difficult future decisions? what would happen if we had a group (we do; we are forming small groups) to wrestle with the issues that face us; not only the future of our church, but our very own future -- our loved ones, our very lives, and the reality that we will not be here forever; don't we want to share with the unforeseen future the richness of life that we have experienced?

here is another view of that meditation garden; the path leads to a door; what does that door symbolize for you? is this a path you would risk taking? is it even a path you could venture to cross? who do you talk to about such issues in your life? or do you allow yourself time to even have such fleeting thoughts?


the dedication page of anam cara is addressed to the chutzpa of pastors, but i believe it is a good place for all of us to start:
the courage, week after week, to declare the gracious reality of god with words that fall short every time;
the courage to stand with conviction, offering an alternative worldview of shalom to the dominant culture of competitive, often violent ways of relating;
the courage to enter, upon invitation, into the private places of a person's life and be there with presence, faith and sometimes sight;
the courage to call for surrender to the christ spirit that takes us often where we do not wish to go;
the courage to be a flawed leader (or follower) of an imperfect institution that frequently contradicts the compassion it espouses;
and the courage to bear the symbols of god, even be a symbol of god, at the perilous risk of playing god.

i'm wondering....is this the community we want to be? can we build such a community? can we live into such a community as the peaceable kin-dom? do we have this kind of courage?

invocation....chicken....advocacy

i had the opportunity to once again, pronounce the invocation at the merced city council meeting on monday night. i prayed that our leaders in these difficult economic times would come to compassionate decisions particularly for the most vulnerable in our community; the children the homeless, and those without adequate health and mental health care.

i believe we at the united methodist church seek to respond to everyone in the best possible ways that we can. we helped to sponsor the wesley foundation bbq chicken dinner on saturday...what preparation goes into the care of chicken, let me tell you! the picture above shows that we united methodists are a clean lot!

but the real secret to the success of such a 'fun-draiser' isn't all the ingredients or the hours of labor; it's the dedication, and the willingness of those who serve.

the picture below gives a new concept to 'men at work'. yet our care for one another and our dedication to the community is undisputed.

we have a group of women who prepare and serve food for those living at the creek; the city council will make decisions about their living space this evening.

our social action team sponsors a monthly food distribution; our tuesday 'children at the church' after school program provides dinner for participants and their families during the school year; one of our christmas eve services is dedicated to providing a meal for those in our neighborhood.

but there's more! our social action team is also exploring ways to 'step up' our care for our most vulnerable sisters and brothers. we are talking about advocacy. jesus reminds us that 'the poor you will have with you always', and i believe by that he means that our care for others will be unceasing. and, i believe, as we care for others, jesus is in the midst of such care.

we can pray unceasingly. we can bbq until we run out of food. advocacy may allow us to raise a collective consciousness to empower long-lasting care, not simply the immediate needs to be attended to. what can we do? do you have an idea?

talk to our representatives, write a personal note to those empowered to make the needed changes, and offer your time to make a difference to others.

what's your take on what needs to be done? and by the way, buying a chicken dinner isn't possible this week...we sold out! thank you for your support of our young adult/college student ministry.