Testing My Patience

The hardest thing about moving is not the moving boxes and the movers, the reorganizing of closets without your carefully designed shelf-system (although that’s up there), the hardest thing is getting all your accounts transferred over to your new email…. this blog is a case in point.

Random Thoughts on Re-thinking Church

Thank you for your patience as I took a break from the blog to set up house in New Hampshire and as I continue to get my bearings in a new congregation. In this time of contagion, when so much of “business as usual” isn’t possible, I’ve had to open myself to creative, new ways of being church. And it’s scary and messy and hard and … exciting. I’ve had to re-think church in all new ways and am discovering a resistance in my soul to returning to church-as-we’ve-always-done-it. So what are some of the ways I want to explore about what kind of faith I will have and who the church will be in this new time?

I want no less than a living faith.
I don’t want to be clinging to outdated doctrines or tenaciously defending dogmas.
I want to be a disciple of Jesus, to see him as one who was so fully alive
that my own diminished ways of living are challenged.
I don’t want to be part of a church that creates outcasts and sustains prejudices.
I want to be part of a church who thinks critically about the way we read the Bible, who will watch for interpretations that allow us to
subjugate others and legitimize violence.
I don’t want a faith that is completely unbelievable to thinking people.
I want to take the Bible seriously, not factually or literally (as if that were even possible), to allow the more powerful nature of its symbolic language and message to speak to us.
I don’t want to live resentful of a secular worldview that has rejected institionalized religion.
I want a church a focused more on being the church rather than going to church.

–pastor kelly

Wisdom from Weird Church:*
The church will look unlike what we have seen in our lifetimes.
We’ll need to open ourselves to limited partnerships, affiliations,
outreach that isn’t about us and missions where our church doesn’t get the credit.
We may well have to be a silent partner in some activities,
and encourage community projects we’d never dream of
because the generations coming up and this fast moving cultural environment
is going to need a space and speed that the UMC can’t manage.
They need a “distance from old church DNA and bureaucratic inertia
that has driven their generation away from institutional religion.”

From Weird Church: Welcome to the 21st Century by Beth Ann Estock and Paul Nixon.

Celebrating Ministry while Apart

We have a lot on our plates to keep us safe and healthy–important things: sheltering in place, encouraging others, teaching our kids, taking care of family, attending an endless stream of ZOOM meetings, learning new technologies, and trying to remember what day of the week it is. And we’re also trying to transition to new pastoral leadership. This is NOT the transition we planned and perhaps we don’t have the bandwidth available for the transition right now.  But there is ministry to be celebrated and grief work to be done to to free us up for the next thing, so for our remaining time together, I’ll share a daily memory. And I’ll be glad to hear about yours. Follow ELUMC on Instagram to celebrate our shared ministry and affirm that while pastoral transitions are hard, we can do hard things!

ELUMC has a history of investing in its youth leaders and the fruits were seen in a dedicated group of leaders who took youth groups to the UMC National Youth Convo every 4 years where 4,000 young people gathered for Bible study, inspirational speakers, musicians, and a super-sized exhibition space. That’s where I was introduced to the SuperChick band on tour complete with mosh pit and super fans. At the time, I thought this deeply moving song, Beauty From Pain, was incredible, if not perhaps a bit dark for teenagers.

After all this has passed, I still will remain.

After I’ve cried m last, they’ll be beauty from pain,

though it won’t be my last, they’ll be beauty from pain,

though it won’t be today, someday I’ll hope again.

I’m so grateful for those adults who used their vacation time and in many cases, their own money, to make this inspiring travel possible for our young people. #celebrateministry #pastoraltransitionsarehard #wecandohardthings

Virtual Communion

Can Christians celebrate the Eucharist—the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion —through technology? Is the sacrament valid if it happens virtually?

Here’s a link to the larger conversation about hoarding eucharist in a hungry world. The Worship Team had a robust discussion on the options and decided to offer communion in our livestream service the first Sunday in May when we welcomed Pastor Katherine Mitchell to join us as a celebrant. But for the recorded version of the service that is available afterwards, we’re removing the Holy Communion portion since the body is no longer “gathered.”

churchanew

Palm Sunday

As the first Sunday of the month, this Sunday is traditionally Communion Sunday for our church. Not all denominations are comfortable with utilizing a communion prayer and distribution of Holy Communion outside of the context of in-person worship. So we’re offering instead a chance this Sunday to participate in a “Love Feast” — a format John Wesley popularized in early American worship. It’s a way to recall Jesus’ wider table ministry and break and share comfort and love so we don’t feel deprived of “gathering at the table” while physically separated.

So we’ll ask you during Sunday’s service to get something to eat that is a comfort to you, pour a fresh cup of coffee and let us know in the comments section of the live feed, what you’ve chosen to bring to the “feast.”

What food says comfort to you?  For me, it’s a decadent chocolate espresso cake made by Vance. And the Denykos have been making bunny pancakes. Neither are available on Sunday so I’ll have to get creative. Perhaps a cup of green tea in an art mug?

Here’s the order of worship if you want to follow along. OR we hope to have slides this week (forgive us if it’s clunky as we try to learn new technologies).

You can access the livestream this Sunday at 10. even without a Facebook account by clicking on the blue F button on the ELUMC homepage http://elumc.org/

4.5.2020 Palm Sunday on-line worship

The Woman Cards

The folks behind The Woman Cards (playing cards featuring original, hand-drawn portraits of women who have changed the world and pioneers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math) have made their artwork available as a coloring book to help kids at home learn about these remarkable women and their achievements. They encourage everyone to share their creations on social media. #TheWomanCardsTWC Coloring Book – High Res

3/29/2020 worship bulletin

Grab your favorite beverage and join your family of faith in an on-line experiment in worship this Sunday. You can follow along and sing out loud with the bulletin or just sit back, close your eyes and listen as you imagine yourself amidst the family of faith who are usually gathered in the sanctuary. 3.29.2020 on-line worship (1)

Guide to Self-Care for Families

The creative team at Salt Project offer this “Guide to Self-Care for Families Together at Home.” It’s peppered with scripture and evocative theological ideas, and it’s perfect for families of all shapes and sizes who are sheltering in place.

Parents, we see your struggle to stay safe and sane during this time of social distancing and hope this helps. We know you’re up to the challenge.

Self Care at Home E-Reader

Get creative, even in, especially in suffering and grief

We keep posting coloring pages and they’re not just for kids. It can be a lovely way to pray with your hands, to channel the creative spirit, and to calm the mind in an anxious time. Several coloring prayers were attached to last week’s eblast. Here’s another one for Palm Sunday. Since we can’t distribute the palms at the church safely, here’s a way to color your own, cut it out and be ready for April 5. Of course, that’s also a Communion Sunday so make plans now to join us with a beverage and a bite for our Love Feast. It doesn’t have to be grape juice and gluten-free bread. How about a cup of joe and a tortilla. Or I’ve got pretzels rising in the kitchen as I type.

As I grieve for loved ones dying during this time, I’m looking for the strength to endure, for ways to listen and wait and open my heart to the pain of others so that together we might have this suffering pass .

Psalm 130 (translation by Stephen Mitchell)

Out of the depths, Lord, I call you:

let me feel you even in this darkness.

Take away by affliction

or give me the strength to endure.

If all our mistakes were indelible,

which of us could survive?

But you have forgiven us, even when

we cannot forgive ourselves.

I listen for you; my soul

listens like a deer in the forest.

My soul waits more intently

than a soldier watching for the dawn.

Answer me; open my heart

so that I can wholly receive you.

And teach me that when I am ready,

you will let this suffering pass.

On Friday nights at 7:00 we’ll briefly check in with one another on Zoom.

To connect with a computer, mobile phone or tablet, click this link:

• Join Zoom Meeting:  https://zoom.us/j/7781251108

If you prefer to join by telephone (audio only)

• Dial:  +1 929 205 6099
• Meeting ID:  778 125 1108

 

Live-stream worship 3/22/2020

3.22.2020 livestream bulletin

Live-stream bulletin

Grab a cup of joe and a bagel and join your family of faith in an on-line experiment in worship this Sunday. You can follow along and sing out loud with the bulletin or just sit back, close your eyes and listen as you imagine yourself amidst the family of faith who are usually gathered in the sanctuary.