Modernizing the Media of The Message

When I became the DCE of our church several years ago our pastor gave me a cartoon that I framed and put over my desk. The tagline read: "We were looking for a DCE with a D.Min and 5 years experience but we'll settle for someone with a minivan." That was me! I had the minivan.

One of the first things I did was throw out a decade's worth of accumulated Sunday School materials--including several feltboard sets. Those of you of a certain age will remember how Sunday School teachers in the misty days of yore put little cardboard figures on the feltboard as they told the Bible story for the day. It was a primitive audio-visual technique and yes, you youngsters found it very lame.

The next cutting edge technology was the overhead projector. At one time two of those things lived on the shelves in my office. One has since vanished and the other gathers dust.

Now we are trying to learn to expand the use of our computer technology, digital projectors, dvds etc to help us bring the message to our classes. We use a series of powerpoint presentations for our "potential new member" class on several subjects that I prepared. One of our Sunday School teachers was talking to me today about her plans to begin preparing her lessons for the high school class on powerpoint because she and the kids had become so accustomed to that format.

What's next? We have a computer lab at our school but so far have not tried to use it for Sunday School. I don't know of any curriculum you can purchase for children and youth that includes some computer work, but I bet we'll see some soon. Children as young as 3 and 4 are now using some simple programs. Recently I received curriculum by email that I had to save and download on disks so that the lessons could then be printed out.

Why not use blogging technology to encourage members of a Bible study to post and comment on the study in between meetings? I am planning to try to do that with a program we are planning to do this fall. One problem I see is that to make that work with the adults, I'll have to spend a little time explaining blogs and doing a little training with them. Maybe I'll get one of our teenagers to help me!

There are always those who worry that changing the way we tell the story will change the story. And we do need to be mindful of that concern. But isn't it exciting that now we have the means to fulfill St. Paul' s words:

But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have; for
" their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the end of the world."
Romans 10:18 NRSV

Confronting Unmet Expectations

Today I'm hearing a lot of discussion about unmet expectations.

Youth ministers expect parents to support the guidelines for participation in youth groups and expect the teens to respect and abide by them. Church members expect all programs to be provided for them by the staff and are disappointed when told that they need to assume responsibility for some of them. Staff members propose new ideas for mission and ministry and are disappointed when those ideas are brushed aside. Small and medium size church members are frustrated that the resources of their congregation will not support some of the opportunities for worship, fellowship, education and mission that can be had at large or super-size churches.

The gap between the ideal and the real world in which we live is rubbing particularly hard on several folks around me today. Because they believe the work of the church is important, they are frustrated when they think others do not share their view.

Unmet expectations can frustrate church workers just as much as unmet goals can frustrate corporate workers. They are usually an indication of unrealistic assumptions or flawed projections. And that is what makes them so difficult: our own sins and mistakes are probably just as much to blame as the actions or inactions of others.

Asking for the blessing of St. Adiposa

Back in the '60's a little-known book called "St. Fidgeta" was published. My father dearly loved this little book which was authored by a Catholic and was a gentle satire of the haigiographies he had been exposed to growing up and attending Catholic schools. Daddy's Catholic friends thought it was hysterical and even though he was a staunch Presbyterian, he knew enough about the Catholic church to be greatly amused by it .

I was searching my bookshelves today, trying to find this little volume, to no avail. I thought I had gotten my hands on it after my father died, but apparently not. I was looking for the essay on "Saint Adiposa".

Saint Adiposa was one of my favorites. She decided that a life intentionally cut short by overweight could be consecrated to God, so she retreated to her cell and ate continuously until she died when the floor collapsed and was declared a martyr to caloric immolation. She was famous for her poetry where she compared the Holy Spirit to a fig, a cake, a whortleberry and other comestibles.

My sister-in-law and I were commiserating today about the changes age brings to your figure. We needed the consolation of Saint Adiposa! Deliver us, Saint Adiposa from the desire to reclaim our girlish figures. Grant us consolation in the your four blessed food groups: caffeine, chocolate, fat and sugar.

St. Fidgeta, by the way, was the patron saint of wiggly children. It is said that she fidgeted so much in her desire to go to mass that her pagan tutor slapped her to death in frustration ;-).

Spreading the Quilt

Chrysalis quilt
Originally uploaded by Quotidian Grace.

Tonight this quilt will be raffled off as part of the fundraising dinner for the school which is part of our church. It is called "Chrysalis" and was made by the Ministers of the Cloth, our quilting group who I have posted about before.

Since the theme for the evening is "Spreading our Wings" (butterflies--also a symbol of the resurrection), we chose a name for the quilt that echoed the theme. To be honest, I have to confess we choose the pattern and had begun the quilt before we knew what the theme was--but it's appropriate, don't you think? Since we're Presbyterians, we would never say this was a coincidence...

Just like the fundraising event, which has outgrown every venue used each year, the skill and ambition of the quilting group has grown. A few years ago we would never have attempted piecing a pattern this difficult: there are about 1000 pieces in it!

People always ask us how long it takes to make a quilt like this. The answer is that we really don't know. The one thing we are sure of is that there is more time and effort put into a quilt like this than most people are willing to pay for.

We have members of the group who only cut, iron, hand-sew, machine-sew,or quilt the top together with the batting and back. There are about five people who choose and direct the pattern and the rest of us are very happy to do what we are told. Many hands can either make light work or a big fat mess!!

Our division of labor is totally voluntary--each woman contributes what she thinks she does best. This has always reminded me of St. Paul's teaching about the variety of spiritual gifts: "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." 1 Cor.12:7.

When we first began donating quilts to the school fundraiser, we sold raffle tickets to the congregation, school parents and the community.The first event was held in the church sanctuary and was more like a flea market than a fundraiser.

A couple of years ago as the auctions at the event were bringing in more money so we decided to have the quilt auctioned off.This year we are raffling the quilt again so that more members of the congregation can participate by buying tickets.

This spring our first fifth grade class will graduate from our church school. (We don't have a middle school.) As that group of children who were in our first kindergarten class have grown and developed, so has the school, the church and the Ministers of the Cloth.

One of the reasons I began this blog was to showcase the life and vitality of the Christian witness in a modern mainstream Protestant church. Doesn't this picture equal a thousand words on the subject?

A taxing day

kitchen in progress
Originally uploaded by Quotidian Grace.

On this day of rendering unto Caesar, it seems that minor irritations threaten to blossom into full-blown aggravations.

Hence this picture of our kitchen at the close of business today. Sigh. I'm told that most of the work will be completed by the end of next week. Those of you who have lived through remodeling projects will sympathise.

El Jefe continues to take the disruption very well. The Noble Dog has even adjusted to her new sleep chamber: she usually sleeps in the kitchen but now is displaced to the master bathroom.

I miss being able to prepare and eat breakfast there in the morning. The rest of the day I can deal with just fine--even the paint smells and the dust in the air. That surprised me because I thought it would be harder not to be able to use the kitchen in the evening.

Popapalooza 2005

It's Friday and time for a little fun!
Check out Popalalooza 2005 for the inside scoop on next week's papal conclave.

Praying the Church Will Be On Fire

Today I had a lunch meeting with the other members of the administrative commission that served for a couple of years to the Church Under Fire. (See previous posts March 18 and March 20).
We were celebrating the ministry of the commissioned lay pastor who served as an interim for the past year at this church. He brought each of us a future plan for the church developed by the session, and the further good news that the strong stand taken by the church to bar the troublemaker and his cohorts from the premises has worked so far.
The best news was that the church is now united and the session able to work amicably together to move the church forward. Reminiscing about the experiences we had shared together we all agreed that none of us would have forseen this happy turn of events.
It was a joy to hear the interim pastor relate how prayer and his experience of the Holy Spirit moving in the worship and work of this congregation have saved this church which seemed destined to dissolve in bitter acrimony of the kind we saw when we first met with some members of the congregation.
Legal battles still continue but are now reduced to nuisance-level thanks to the pro bono work of one of the finest Christian lawyers any of us are privileged to know. This was quite an experience for everyone. The lunch was the perfect way to thank the interim for his inspired ministry as he and his family relocate to another part of the state.
With God's help, the Church Under Fire will become the Church On Fire for Christ.

Revelations: Omnium Finis Hic

I just finished watching the first installment of Revelations. It is a waste of time, I won't be watching any more of it. Here are some random thoughts about this mini-series.

The show is very broadly drawn and thumps you over the head with its symbolism. After the first episode you know exactly who is the Anti-Christ is and that Christ has returned in the form of an infant miraculously spared after a boat disaster and later baptised at Patmos (get it?).

The producers even milked the recent Terri Schiavo tragedy by including as a character a young girl, Olivia, who was in a persistent vegetative state as the result of a lightening strike. Olivia becomes as a conduit for messages from the deceased daughter of the one of the main characters, Dr. Massey. The writers were tasteless enough to include references to court battles to prevent taking her off life support so her organs could be harvested and scenes reminiscent of the protestors outside the hospice where Terri Schiavo died.

A young nun, Sister Josepha, is the other major character. She is portrayed as insufferably pious and arrogant as she pursues her own crusade to prove "the end of days" is near. She can't speak without spouting verses from the Bible--is that the producer's idea of how a religious person behaves?

NBC just doesn't get it. I think that the program the network chose to air just before the series, and the promos for other shows and movies shown during commercial breaks revealed their inability to identify religion separately from the paranormal, the supernatural and New Age thinking.

Prior to the show, NBC showed an episode of Dateline where the The DaVinci Code was discussed. That seems calculated to lure the target audience to the network and hope they will stay to watch Revelations. The problem is that the author of The DaVinci Code has claimed that his work of fiction is factual when it is demonstrably not and this has angered many faithful Christians.

During each commercial break the advertisements included promos for a TV show featuring a "psychic soccer mom" who said that her ability "comes from a higher place; the movies "The Amityville Horror" and "The Kingdom of Heaven" (not what you might think-it's about the Crusades). Neither mediums nor ghosts are part of the Christian (or Jewish) faith. In fact they are denounced in both the Old and New Testaments. The Crusades were wars fought for religion, power and national pride. "The Kingdom of God" is a curious title for a movie on that subject. Is this another attempt to attract the Christian audience to the theatres?

Someone clearly thinks that using a lot of Latin and chanting in the background lends authenticity and creates a religious mood to the piece. There is a lot of weather of the "dark and stormy night" variety with plenty of dramatic thunder and lightening at just the right moments.

Each segment of the hour began with a quote from the Bible that was designed to heighten the mood of foreboding and was chosen as a proof text to establish the theme of the segment. This is a really poor and irresponsible use of scripture. But hey, the producers never claimed they were responsible or that they were following scripture, did they?

Revelations has the a Latin subtitle (again with the Latin, because you know how Jesus spoke Latin!). Omnium Finis Imminet: translation: the end is near. (Yes, the website for the series translates this incorrectly).

As far as I am concerned, Omnium Finis Hic: the end is HERE.

Pre-Revelations Quiz answers

As promised, here are the answers to yesterday's "pre-Revelations quiz":

1. What is the Revelation of?
The Revelation is of Jesus Christ to his servant John. Revelation 1:1.
2. The book of Revelation is written in what literary form?
Revelation is a letter to the seven churches in Asia. Revelation 1:4
3. What is the meaning of the word "apocalypse"?
Apocalypse means "unveiling".
4. How many times is the rapture referred to in Revelation.
The word "rapture" is never used in Revelation. The rapture, the tribulation and the reconstruction of the temple are ideas from other parts of the bible and are not mentioned by John.
5. Are there any beatitudes in Revelation?
There are 7 beatitudes in Revelation. Revelation 1:3, Revelation 14: 13, Revelation 16: 15
Revelation 19:9, Revelation 20:6, Revelation 22:7 and Revelation 22:14.

This morning I read a review of the Revelations series that begins airing tonight. Since both Jerry Jenkins, one of the Left Behind authors, and Frederick Smith, a professor at SMU, trashed the series it may be a complete bust. These men have widely different interpretations of Revelation and the Bible in general and neither one of them like it!

While I am glad to see that mainstream television producers are trying to write shows that will appeal to Christians, it is discouraging that they can't resist the impulse to sensationalize their subject matter. According to this review, other shows being considered feature a contemporary Jesus appearing to a troubled Episcopal priest and a spiritual "X-files" drama featuring an excommunicated priest. How about a show that features an ordinary ("quotidian" if you will) minister striving to serve the spiritual needs of a medium size congregation in anywhere USA? I promise you that pastors like that have lots of compelling stories to tell --without resort to the invocation of poltergeists, apocalyptic imagery and whiffs of spiritualism and New Age blather.

Pre-Revelations Quiz

I can't remember the last time that I watched a mini-series on network TV, but I'm planning to watch Revelations which begins tomorrow night on NBC. A few years ago I taught a class on the Book of Revelation. I used Bruce Metzger's Breaking the Code as the primary text for the class but also brought in parallel commentaries that explained the different approaches to interpretation of the text. It was fascinating to me and I came away with a deep appreciation of this difficult book.

How will Hollywood handle this subject? The director says he titled it "Revelations" not "Revelation" because his script includes the "revelations" that the individual characters have in the course of the movie. The print publicity claims that the series is meant to be respectful of the subject matter and will not present it literally. However, the video clips promoting it on TV are sensational enough that they could be previews of The Exorcist. So I am planning to blog on each episode as they air, unless I decide it's a waste of time.

Here is a little pre-Revelations quiz, to see how much you know about this much-misinterpreted book of the Bible:

1. What is the Revelation of?
2. The book of Revelation is written what literary form?
3. What is the meaning of the word "apocalypse"?
4. How many times is the rapture referred to in Revelation?
5. Are there any beatitudes in Revelation?

I'll post the answers tomorrow and if any of you watch the series, I would love for you to post your reaction to it as a comment here.

P.S. Will Spotts has a great post on Presbyterians and Catholics on the PCUSA Elders blog today.

Not really a Quaker

A few days ago I posted a link to a little online quiz called What Denomination Are You Really?
I emailed the link to friends and family and we have had an interesting time comparing and discussing our results.

My brother, an Episcopalian by choice and marriage, found himself categorized as Eastern Orthodox. Portia was told she should be a Methodist and is puzzled about it. Although one of our pastors was fortunately rated as a Presbyterian/Reformed, his runner-up denomination was Eastern Orthodox and he can't figure that out either. El Jefe and Babs rated as Presbyterian/Reformed. We're still waiting to hear from a few others.

We've had some lively discussions about which answers were "right" and how they may be used to define the results you get. Some of the questions were obvious and some were not. We also wondered how your result would be changed by "don't know" answers.

A few years ago there was a similar online quiz that I took. If memory serves, it had a lot more questions. That quiz said I should be a Quaker! Not really. These quiz questions are on theology and church government and do not include social and political issues that these denominations may have. It occured to me that if those types of issues were included, I might not have had my Presbyterian result.

The quiz is a good reminder that none of us are in complete accord with every aspect of our denominational traditions. We are drawn to the churches we attend for many reasons, not all of which include acceptance of each theological doctrine or polity structure. The community of other Christians and our life together in the congregation is the most important tie that binds us to the churches we join.

Too much information at the ball game

Last night El Jefe and I went out to the ballgame. It was a beautiful cool and breezy spring evening--perfect baseball weather! Unfortunately there was a young man a couple of rows behind us who almost spoiled the evening with his loud cellphone conversations.

Talk about too much information! This guy was upset because he thought that he had been "dissed" in the presence of his kids by some group of other men before the game. Every other inning he was calling another one of his buddies, relaying the story in loud, agitated tones, and begging the buddy to meet him with some others after the game to "show" this other group that he had friends who would back him up. "Ya know what I'm sayin'?" he shouted repeatedly.

I felt like I was privy to the planning of a gang rumble or something. Yet when I looked behind to see who this yahoo was, he appeared to be an ordinary enough looking guy--just another young father with his kids at the ball game. He wasn't sporting ghetto-style attire, or visible tattos or other gang-like insignia.

People on cellphones often behave as if they were in a sound-proof telephone booth, oblivious to the fact that they are broadcasting the intimate details of their lives to the strangers around them. What in the world must his kids think about all those phone calls?

One of my favorite retired pastors often counsels people thusly:

GET OVER IT
GET A LIFE
ITS NOT ABOUT YOU

That may sound harsh, but so often we dwell on slights real and imagined and create problems and difficulties for ourselves in life that we could have avoided. In the Lord's Prayer, we say "forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." Forgiveness is a powerful thing: it frees us from the destructive emotions and actions that accompany dwelling on the wrongs, real or imagined, done against us.

During the last phone call of the evening, it was clear that one of the young man's friends was trying to persuade him to forget about the issue. I hope he was successful.

By the way, our team won!

The sheep don't fit in the pasture

It's a nice problem to have, and it's too bad that more Presbyterian (or Mainstream Protestant) churches don't have it. Still it is a problem when your church facilities are not large enough to accomodate congregational gatherings.

We're facing this dilemma again tomorrow as our Deacons have their annual brunch. Although many Presbyterian churches no longer have a board of deacons (it's optional under the Book of Order), we have a very active one. The deacons are each assigned a number of families in the church to "shepherd" with oversight from our Associate Pastor. Deacons are included in the officer training for the session and have additional training in pastoral care before their ordination.

The annual brunch is an attempt to get these shepherds together with their flocks for some "face" time over breakfast tacos and kolaches (it is Texas, after all), donuts, fruit and beverages. We don't have Sunday School tomorrow so that all of our teachers may attend with their families.

It is a logistical nightmare for the Deacons to try to use the one large space we have that isn't nearly big enough for the crowd by trying to spread the food and some of the groups into adjacent hallways and classrooms. This brunch is not for the claustrophobic!

Lately, we find ourselves planning major church-wide events for days when we hope enough people will be out of town so that the room won't be overcrowded while knowing that something is wrong with that picture! Recently our session took steps to evaluate the future needs of the church and the need for a larger gathering area for the congregation was right at the top of the list. When the sheep no longer fit in the pasture, then the pasture needs to expand.

Online Denominational Quiz

The blog Locusts and Honey has a link to a denominational quiz which is short and fun to take. My results were Reformed/Presbyterian, so that's a good thing since that's where I am now.

Try it out and see what your results are.

butterflylily

Our butterly lilies are blooming all over the back yard. I couldn't resist taking some photos so I could try posting one on the blog.

Blogging while you wait

Last night confusion reigned Chez Nous, when we tried to leave the house to get some dinner (the kitchen still being under construction). Gretel, TND, was confused about where she was supposed to be so it took some time to corral her. Then as we left the garage door wouldn't close. After fooling with it for a few minutes, El Jefe declared it broken. So here I am awaiting the repairman instead of leaving the house for work and errands.

This gives me a chance to roam the blogosphere and check out some new-to-me sites.

Mark Roberts is writing a wonderful series on Handel's Messiah as an Easter oratorio (which it is, of course!) Don't miss it, because he also has links to some of the music. I must confess that as far as I am concerned Messiah is the definitive, ultimate sacred musical composition of all time. Not that I have an opinion!

Reverend Mother has embarked on a Bible Blogging project in which she invites fellow bloggers to make their own comments on their blogs and then post a link to their blogs on her comments section. The prompt for the comments will be from the weekly lectionary readings. This ought to be interesting, as a number of pastors indicated they wanted to participate.

Losing Protestant Perspective

When the Pope died, it never occurred to me that prayers for the Pope should be offered during worship in our Presbyterian congregation. However on Sunday, a member of the congregation stood up during one of the services, made some remarks about the greatness of the late pontiff, and asked the entire congregation to rise and say a prayer for him. Our pastor, though startled by the interruption, asked him to be seated and said the concern would be covered later when he led the congregational prayer.

Several people seated around me and El Jefe asked us, "what was that all about?" We didn't really know. Apparently after the service the member told the associate pastor that he was very angry because he didn't think the Pope had been properly acknowledged in the service. I thought our pastor handled the interruption with tact and good grace. His prayer, entirely appropriate to our Presbyterian tradition, expressed sympathy to our Catholic neighbors and reminded us that the church universal is not dependent on one man.

I wouldn't have thought much more about it, except that apparently another member has expressed his dissatisfaction with the acknowledgement given in worship of the death of the Pope who he saw as a "great spiritual leader." That made me wonder if other Protestant churches are getting similar reactions from some in their congregations.

Anyone else have this experience? I am not sure what is going on here.

On the one hand, there is certainly a lot of admiration for the late Pope's stance vis-a-vis the Soviet Union, particularly where I live which is one of the most conservative Republican areas of the country. I'm sure many of the members of our congregation also appreciate his pro-life stance and the clarity and consistency with which he refused to compromise with the popular culture. Wall-to-wall television coverage of his last illness, his imminent funeral and then the conclave to elect his replacement has probably influenced some into thinking that they should be a part of this international event in some way, even if they are not Catholic.

Where I grew up, Protestants were a distinct minority in the largely Catholic city of San Antonio. We were raised to be aware of the differences between our church and the Catholic church and to be proud that our forebearers in faith had broken away from the Catholic church during the Reformation and established a church government that deliberately avoided vesting ultimate authority in any one man or even small group of clerics. It would have been unthinkable to pray for the Pope in one of our church services or to do much more than wish our Catholic friends well in the selection of the next Bishop of Rome.

That was all pre-Vatican II. John XXIII did a lot to modernize the church and improve its relations with the Protestant churches. But John Paul II was a traditionalist in church doctrine and policy. See the excellent article by Thomas Cahill in the New York Times in which he argues that John Paul II was a great political figure, but not a great religious figure. I doubt that those who want to see the late Pope honored in worship in the Protestant churches admire and embrace his theology as much as they do his politics. Perhaps because we don't do a good job of teaching theology or comparative theology, they have not developed a Protestant perspective on the office of the Pope.

As I drove home today, the radio news announced a recent poll saying that over 60% of the country thought that there was too much coverage of the Pope's death and the funeral ceremonies. Is that because people have a short attention span or because they think that these events are not as important as press coverage would imply? Jesus Christ is the head of the church, not the Bishop of Rome, or the Moderator of the PCUSA, or the Archbishop of Canterbury, or any other church "CEO". I'd like to think this poll reflected some awareness of that fact.

Pruning Your Life

Sometimes you have to prune activities and committments from your life just as you have to prune unwanted growth from your plants. One day you wake up and realize you are attending three night meetings every week in addition to your responsibilities at home and/or at work. Then Sundays become the most exhausting day of the week as you race from teaching Sunday School to warming up for choir to lunch with the family, then back to church with the kids for children's choir practices and youth group meetings. Plus you have a committee meeting or a Deacons or Session meeting. Whew!! What happened to the day of rest? You find yourself looking forward to Monday.

This morning I had that kind of conversation with one of the young women in our church. Feeling stressed and stretched by her multiple committments at the church she had decided to take action. She rescheduled an activity she was responsible for until fall when she would have more time to plan it. Then she left one of the music groups in the church that met weekly and joined the one that only met twice a month. Taking charge of her schedule made her feel freer and would make a big difference for her family as well.

As we talked about this, I shared some of my own experiences of pruning my life back to a manageable level when Portia and Babs were very little. She and I discovered that we each had a good friend who helped support and encourage us in this while we did the same for them. My supportive friend and I tell each other whenever we are tempted to overcommit: You need to go back and have that "NO" tattooed again on your forehead! (Thank you, D!)

I wish I could remember where I read the admonition that God sent Jesus Christ to give us eternal life not eternal committee meetings. The work of the church is important, but it needs to be spread around the congregation. Thank you God, for sending us friends and family who will tell us the truth in love and help us find a healthy balance in our responsibilities.

Have you pruned your life lately?

Wrestling with Schiavo Questions

Will Spotts has a thought-provoking post today: The Anti-Gospel of Terri Schiavo. The quick shift in public attention from the Schiavo case to the death of the Pope and imminent election of a new Pope is troubling. Will the issues that were raised by death of Terri Schiavo fade away until the next time a family dispute over end-of-life decisions lands in the court system? Uncomfortable questions like what quality of life should be sustained by medical means, for how long and who gets to decide are waiting to be resolved. They will surely resurface in another situation before too long.

Spotts questions the assumption that advance directives are the answer to the problems seen in the Terri Schiavo case. This is a concern that I share. Some of the questions that are not being asked by those pundits who emphasize the importance of these documents are: If you were to write a Living Will or discuss with your family your wishes, how long would you tell them you wanted to be sustained by a feeding tube (assuming that there is no other artificial life support) before it should be removed? What is an acceptable quality of life that you would want sustained? And how could you possibly know before you were in that situation what your wishes would be? Of course the problem is that you might not be able to communicate them. That's what happened to Terri Schiavo.

Modern medicine has produced many techniques that allow life to be sustained almost indefinitely under certain conditions where just a few decades ago that life would have naturally expired. Most of these techniques were developed to assist patients over a critical stage in their recovery and are meant to be removed when the patient is well enough to survive without them. However the threat of malpractice suits have caused doctors and hospitals to use every possible medical means to sustain life in situations where there is no hope of recovery and a life independent from these devices.

In my previous life as an attorney, I learned that even when people try to express their wishes clearly in a legal document, lawsuits will follow if their relatives, business associates or anyone else remotely affected don't like it. That's what keeps the legal profession in business.

What is a useful life? It is not surprising that many advocates for the mentally and physcially disabled have been profoundly disturbed by the implications of the Terri Schiavo case. Although the courts repeatedly ruled that she had said before her illness that she did not want to be kept alive by artificial means, these advocates are disturbed because common sense tells us that she could not possibly anticipate the condition she was left in after her stroke.

On the other hand, as Christians we believe that death is not the end, but that the soul goes on to God. A wise older man in our congregation told me many years ago that there are a lot of things worse than death. To many, Terri Schiavo's condition seemed like one of those things. To others, it wasn't. What is it to you and me? I wrestle with the answer.

Construction and Omlettes

We're in the midst of remodeling our 20 year old kitchen. I was greeted by plastic sheeting and waves of white plaster dust when I got home this afternoon. "You REALLY won't want to be in here this week" our contractor said. No, I don't want to be in there, and I miss my kitchen!

It makes me think about the how difficult it is to change our lives, even when it is for our own good. El Jefe and I have been talking about having this work done for the past two years. It's taken us this long because I dreaded the work and disruption it would involve and was reluctant to get started. Now that I'm in the middle of it, it's not so bad and I'm looking forward to the finished result.

My church and our presbytery are engaged in "visioning" processes that should ultimately involve significant changes in the life of those groups. For the church the changes will probably involve remodeling, building and expansion of its facilities. Things will have to be moved, meeting places will change temporarily and the campus will be different when the "vision" is fulfilled. Policy changes will be the focus of the presbytery's visioning process and could be just as disruptive as any building expansion or remodeling.

Construction is always a messy process--whether it is construction of a building or a new way of being an organization. Unpredictable weather can cause major problems in a project while events outside of the church and presbytery can also disrupt plans for change.

You always hope when you crack eggs to make an omlette that it will be a tasty dish when you finish cooking it. But if the eggs aren't fresh, the pan too hot, you forget to butter the pan, or you get distracted and leave it in the pan too long, the omlette will be ruined.

In the parable of the wise and foolish builders, Jesus warned that a house that is not built on a firm foundation will not last. Whether we are remodeling our house, our church or our presbytery we pray that we are building on solid foundations so that the result will be good.

Low Sunday Thanksgivings

Today was another glorious Chamber-of-Commerce type day. Our church was surprisingly well-attended for "low Sunday" (the Sunday after Easter) and also for the weather which usually tempts many away from services and to the golf links or other outdoor recreational activities.

Before tackling the subject of the "post-modern" church in the Sunday School class I was teaching this morning, I asked the group if anyone wanted to share comments on the passing of the Pope. One young woman in the class commented on the news reports that refer to the Pope as the "head of the church" and the "Holy Father." She observed that if you asked her young daughter who was the head of the church she would answer "God." The class generally agreed that they felt the news coverage of the event was designed to appeal to the Catholics in our population.

This afternoon I picked up The Noble Dog from the kennel and then attended my father-in-law's 89th birthday celebration. We are all very thankful that the new medications that he is taking have significantly improved his condition and his memory. He is so much more like his old self! It is a real lesson to all of us that even at an advanced age, proper diagnosis and treatment of senility-like problems can result in a much better quality of life.

And finally, I have to recommend The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series of novels. Brought to my attention by Babs, I found them charming, literate and interesting. They are set in Botswana and the author (who used to live there, although he is a Brit) has a great ear for African dialogue. We have a number of African members of our church, and the novels remind me so much of them. Although not overtly Christian books, they have a subtle Christian sensibility that I think is very appealing. I am about to start the latest book in the series and am sad because when I finish it I will have to wait for the author to complete and publish the next one!

As Sunday draws to a close I give thanks for intelligent and engaging Sunday School class members, spectacular Texas Spring weather, a good birthday observance, and the discovery of a fine series of books. Thanks be to God!

Challenge of the Pope's Passing

Pope John Paul II's death today was a blessing to this man who struggled publicly for several years with chronic illness and the debility of old age. Watching the news reports on TV reminded me of the two visits to the Vatican I have made in my lifetime.

On both occasions, as the descendant of many generations of Scots Presbyterians, I was astounded by the grandeur of St. Peter's Church and Square. Used to worship in very plain spaces with little decoration and sparse symbolism beyond the empty cross, my head spun with the artwork, decoration, and luxurious appointments of the immense building. I was torn between awe for the ancient tradition it represented and a gut-level understanding of why that tradition was divided by the Protestant Reformation.

Already praiseworthy remembrances of John Paul II are filling the airwaves, the internet, and the print media. While Protestants may not join their Catholic friends in calling him the "Holy Father" and may not accept his traditional theology, they do admire his unyielding advocacy of his faith, his opposition to the Communists in Eastern Europe, and the integrity of his life .

There is still a sharp divide between Catholics and Protestants on matters of church organization and some doctrinal issues. ( For a recent analysis of some of these issues from my denomination, see "The Successor to Peter" a paper for discussion by the PCUSA, November 16, 2000.)

But there is unity in their shared belief in Jesus Christ and the need for the witness of His church in the world. The role of the Pope in the Catholic Church gives him the unique ability to command the attention of the world as a spokesman for the faith --there is no equivalent office in any other denomination.

For most Protestants, the chief administrative office of the church has been deliberately designed to make it as un-Popelike as possible. There are no lifetime appointments: often these officers are chosen by both laity and clergy and the term of office is limited. There is no power to speak "ex-cathedra" and bind the church with that pronouncement. Authority to make policy is shared with assemblies of clergy and laity. The advantage of these arrangements is that no one person has unquestioned authority over the church. The disadvantage is that the church's message comes from many voices rather than one.

John Paul II was an effective witness to the world of his faith in Jesus Christ. By that I mean that his message was clear and uncompromising. For Protestants, the challenge is to become equally effective witnesses to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His Church as we understand it.

Its a Jumble

It was a jumbled, frantic day. You know, one of those days in which things pop up unexpectedly and you find your plans for the day scrambled.

Some of this was due to trying to finish stuff at work before I leave town for a couple of days tomorrow to visit Older Daughter in Austin. But most of it was due to things breaking (the air conditioning) and getting misplaced (a set of Sunday School lessons), and having my kitchen torn up for the purpose of redecorating after 15 years (those of you who lived through that will sympathize). Always a frustration! Its all sorted now, more or less.

Younger Daughter has her comprehensive exam tomorrow at her college. The school requires all graduates to pass an exam in their major that covers their four years of study before they can graduate. YD is conscientious to a fault and is probably overprepared, but still a bit nervous.

So there hasn' t been time to reflect on the two major news stories today which are of great concern to many faithful Christians: the death of Terri Schiavo and the grave illness of the Pope.

This morning one of the teachers at our church's school came by to tell us that every mom in the carpool line told her that Terri Schiavo died as she opened the car doors to let the children out. Later this afternoon as I walked into a room where the TV had a news program on, the reporter was saying that the cardinals had 9 days to get to the Vatican for the election of the next Pope. Startled, I paused to hear the rest of the story. It concluded with the anchorman saying "if you just tuned in, the Pope did not die but is in grave condition."

Although the death of Terri Schiavo and the Pope's health crisis are an interesting juxtaposition of events, I don't believe they are any more than that though there are those already trying to find some significance in them. For now this deluge of news reporting on these two stories seems like a jumble.

Tomorrow brings a nice drive through the countryside which is always a great opportunity to reflect and enjoy the scenery while listening to books on tape. The weather should be good and hopefully the wildflowers will still be in bloom. It will be great to have some time with OD who has had a very busy semester. I'm not sure I'll be posting again until Saturday.

Reacting to the Schiavo Case

Different aspects of the Terri Schiavo case again were the subject of discussion at our staff meeting today in various ways.

In prayer for the concerns of the church, our senior pastor noted that we should be praying for the other residents of the hospice where Terri Schiavo is and their families. What must it be like for them to run this gauntlet of protestors, police and newsmen everyday? All of these families are facing end-of-life decisions and issues in different ways. Some of them, like the Schiavo/Schindler families, may be torn apart by disagreement over appropriate care or end-of-life decisions for someone they love. How hard it must be for them to have to deal daily with a situation that they did not create and cannot control while struggling with their own emotions and stressful situations! They must feel under seige themselves.

We made plans to begin a new Sunday School class topic to begin later in April that will be designed to help people learn more about the medical, ethical, economic and legal issues that have been raised publicly by the Schiavo case. The goal is to equip those who attend with information that will help them define and discuss their own values with their families in advance of any emergency or terminal illness. We're fortunate to have an associate pastor with experience as a hospital chaplain and with hospital boards of ethics who is planning the series and can invite experts to speak and answer questions .

So much irresponsible and inflammatory rhetoric has been unleashed the past few weeks that I hope it will be possible to provide an atmosphere where these issues can be discussed "decently and in order" (as we Presbys love to say).

For those who would like to see a history of the litigation and legislative actions in this case, check out the University of Miami ethics program timeline (up to March 28, 2005 as I write this post). I was interested to note that the feeding tube was removed on two previous occasions and then restarted pursuant to court orders.

After reviewing that timeline I don't think there is any way that the litigation between Michael Schiavo and the Schindlers will end with her death. This timeline reveals so much bitterness between them that it is bound to continue in other forums with different charges as long as publicity and money can fuel legal action.

Proud to be Dorks

A number of years ago during Vacation Bible School, I taught the kids a song called "Dorcas". The kids loved it because they could sing "Dork" very loud and "us" very soft and get away with it. The song was about Dorcas, whose story was told in Acts 9: 36-42. A very generous woman, she sewed and gave away clothes to widows. When she died she was raised by Peter.

Today I had lunch with our own "Dorcases", the Ministers of the Cloth. This is a group in our church that has met since 1996 to sew baptism quilts for infants baptised in our church. Over the years their numbers and projects expanded. Today they meet every Tuesday and were recently featured in a local newspaper and on a tv news show for their work with Quilts for Soldiers which is a charity that gives patriotic-themed quilts to wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Hospital. I am a long-time member of the group, but since becoming a staff member at the church I am not able to sew every week.

While doing some research for the Sunday School class I am teaching this week on the future of the postmodern church, I came across some statistics from the Barna group that stated that church members' participation in small groups had grown from 12% to 20% since 1994. This group has certainly more than doubled in size since 1996 and has become the model for small group development in our church because it has successfully blended service, fellowship and devotion in its meetings.

We're proud to follow in the footsteps of Dorcas, and we're even proud to be "Dorks"!

He is not here

"He is not here" was the theme of yesterday's sermon. Today my brother sent me a cartoon with the same title by Johnny Hart (who does the B.C. comic strip). I doubt that is a coincidence!

After 40 days of Lent which anticipate the death of Jesus, it is tempting to linger at the empty grave instead of looking for Him in the world outside. Following Christ in the world demands much energy, imagination, love and faith, and we seldom possess these qualities consistently. We tend to seek Him in church or Sunday School or Bible study groups and forget to follow Him in the grocery store, at school, in the carpool line, or in the neighborhood.

Today I found myself multi-tasking at home, since the church was closed. While doing the laundry and emptying every shelf and cabinet in the kitchen in preparation for painting, I prepared a meal to take to a friend who just had a baby as I supervised two repairmen fixing leaks outside. Not so long ago, I would have been doing all that and taking care of two little girls as well!

I took a break to deliver the meal and was rewarded with a nice drive on a spectacular day and a good visit with my friend, her mother and the precious new baby. When I got back to the house I was refreshed enough to finish all the chores in record time.

Cooking and delivering the meal to my friend and her family didn't add to the stress of the day it all. Rather it took away from it. Doing something for somebody else in my checklist of things to accomplish today actually made everything else easier.

Holy Saturday Washing

A few weeks ago I bought a pressure washer at El Jefe's instigation, so we could get the mold and mildew off the bricks and the deck around our pool. This morning I was inspired to get it out again and put it to work on the north side of the house where a lot of algae clung to the masonry.

Pressure washing is a tedious task. I thought the machine would make quick work of the grime but it takes a lot of repetitive motion and careful application to do its work. Pressure washing is actually a soothing and almost meditative activity that can lull you into using the machine for longer than is good for you. The constant vibration of the applicator can really tire the muscles in your hands, arms and shoulders.

Still it is very satisfying work to watch the grit and mildew of many years slowly dissolve under the pressurized stream of water.

Washing seems like a good way to prepare for Easter. The psalmist says "purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow" (Psalm 51:7) The bricks on the side of the house aren't whiter than snow, but they are much cleaner than before. My arms ache from the effort, but I am pleased with the result. It seems like a mini-metaphor for the renewal of life and hope that we celebrate tomorrow.

A blessed Easter to all reading this.

Limits of the Law part 2

Interest in Living Wills and the Medical Proxy documents (in Texas called Medical Powers of Attorney) has never been higher because of the Terri Schiavo situation. TV and radio commentators are repeatedly pointing out that the debate over her wishes in the situation would not be taking place if she had left a Living Will or a Medical Proxy. Attorneys, social workers, pastors and health care providers across the country are getting questions about how to obtain and execute these documents.

While I would advise everyone to have a Medical Proxy and a Living Will, these documents will not solve every dilemma that can arise when people are struggling with difficult end of life issues.

A Living Will states your desire not to be sustained by "extraordinary" means past the point where you can be expected to make a recovery that gives you some quality of life.A Medical Proxy appoints someone, usually your spouse, to make medical care decisions for you if you are physically unable to do that for yourself.

However when you execute these documents while still healthy, you cannot possibly anticipate the types of decisions that might arise in the future. When someone who is recently diagnosed with a life-threatening condition makes a living will and a medical power of attorney, they are doing so in the context of being informed about specific possibilities that lie ahead for them. This gives much more assurance and specificity to those charged with giving effect to their wishes.

Another limitation is that others in the family may not be ready to let their loved one die and want to continue to seek treatment past the time that the one in the family with the Medical Proxy thinks is appropriate. I have seen this happen before, and it usually results in a long delay for any decision because the one who can authorize cessation of treatment is reluctant to do so until most of the rest of the family can accept the outcome.

Both of these documents are important, but it is just as important to have frank discussions with close family members about your wishes. That way all of the burden of decision making and consensus is not placed on one person in the family and more of them understand and know the context in which decisions are being made.

Those conversations usually do not happen because they are painful, uncomfortable and unwelcome. The efficacy of the law is limited by our shortcomings as human beings. Today is Good Friday and we remember Christ's suffering for the sins and failings of all men and women on the cross. His sacrifice is a reminder that the law was not sufficient for salvation then, and it isn't sufficient now.

The Limits of the Law

Tragically, all those involved in the Terri Shiavo tragedy continue to look to the law and the courts to resolve matters that the legal system was never designed to address. We have an "adversarial" legal system which is predicated on the idea that when both sides to a dispute are represented by competent counsel who advocate their client's position vigorously, the trier of fact (either the judge or the jury) will be able to discern the true facts of the matter and render an impartial and just decision.

In the Terri Shiavo case the crucial issue is defining her medical condition. As often happens when the courts are asked to practice medicine, lawyers for each side present medical experts with widely differing opinions that the judge must
sort out. Although a judge may have presided over cases where medical experts were involved, he or she has no medical expertise. Yet somehow the judge must make a medical decision: what is the accurate diagnosis of Terri Shiavo?

The bitter conflict between her husband and her parents is another important factor in this case. In family law courts in Texas, parties to a divorce are required to meet with a mediator to try to work out an agreement respecting the division of marital property and the custody of minor children before these issues can be tried before a court. In this instance there is a recognition that the adversarial process that applies to other types of lawsuits is not appropriate in family disputes where it is in everyone's interest to cooperate. Clearly the many years of adversarial litigation between the husband and the parents has prevented any negotiation between them that might have averted this crisis.

"Hard facts make bad law" is a old adage taught in the law schools. Here have some very hard facts and some very bad law.

A bevy of babies

March and April are bringing a bevy of new babies into our congregation. So far this month two little boys were born to couples in the church. Today a little girl was born to another family in the congregation.

About the same time the church office got that call, an email came in with pictures from yet another couple sending pictures of the baby boy they picked up yesterday at an orphanage in Russia. They will be there a while longer until the legal process in that country is complete and they can bring their new son home to Texas.

Those pictures were eagerly examined by a young mother who happened to stop by my office this morning. She and her husband have just begun the process of adopting from Russia, so she was delighted to see the healthy beautiful baby in the pictures her friends sent.

Interestingly, all these couples already had children. These new births and adoptions bring the second, third or fourth child into these families. Is there a new trend of larger families out there?

So many churches in our denomination have such an elderly membership that they have no Sunday School or youth groups. They'll be closing their doors within the next decade or two if younger families don't come into the congregation. It's not only the church as a whole that is only a generation away from extinction--its also individual churches.

My church is so blessed with all these babies coming into the life of the congregation around Easter. It is particularly meaningful to me because three of the couples are part of a study group I have led for the past two years. We have all prayed for the safe delivery of the babies and when one of them suddenly needed heart surgery to correct a congenital defect, we prayed and worked to support that family. (That baby is fine now and the doctors say should never have any problem in the future).

These babies bring new life and the prospect of the continuation of the faith into the next generation: a blessing and a challenge to faithfulness and witness for our congregation.

What do you tell children about Terri Schiavo?

I'm not going to discuss the facts of the Terri Schiavo case, because they are murky to those whose only knowledge comes from the media.

The relentless coverage of this tragic situation reaches young children as well as adults. Today in our staff meeting, the Head of School related that the fourth and fifth grade classes at our school came to her office as a group with their teachers because they wanted to ask questions about what they were hearing on the news. She shared her struggle to respond to them appropriately without becoming embroiled in a controversy with their parents, whose views on the subject could be quite diverse.

Children this young do hear and absorb news reports: from TV at home or from the radio as they are driven to school. This was brought home to me years ago when Older Daughter was about 5 and asked me "exactly" how do you get AIDS? She had just heard a news report on the subject on the car radio. That really brought me up short.

There is an old Bible School song: "Be careful little ears what you hear". Today we cannot shelter our children from everything that they hear. Yet they often hear and try to understand things that are still beyond their developmental capabilities, because those things are thrust upon them, even when their parents try to shelter them from too much media exposure.

What do you tell young children about the Terri Schiavo case if they ask ? These 4th and 5th graders are just beginning to grasp the concept of the finality of death, but certainly cannot understand the complex legal, medical and moral controversies that abound in this situation.
Most adults are at a loss to do so as well.

One of our confessions states "in life and in death we belong to God." Perhaps that is the best assurance that can be given. Terri Schiavo belongs to God, and so do we.

He Chose the Nails

Another Holy Week reminder came in by email this week. Max Lucado has a beautiful slideshow with music called He Chose the Nails. It takes at least 5 minutes to view, so plan accordingly before clicking the link.

Holy Week reminders

Every year during Holy Week I make a point of listening to all of the Messiah by Handel. It is always performed during Advent and Christmas, but is in fact a Lent and Easter piece. I was wondering this afternoon why sing-a-longs of the Christmas portion of the piece are popular but I have never heard of a church or symphony organization sponsoring a sing-along of the Easter portion. If someone did, I would love to participate! For now I am limited to singing along with my ipod in the car...

The clutter of the world's busy-ness contained in many emails today was interrupted by several messages reminding me of the meaning of the week. Then I joined the quilting group from church and a few (brave) men for lunch at a restaurant with outdoor tables so we could enjoy the glorious spring weather we are having today. We are blessed with clear blue skies, coolish temperatures and a mild breeze while all the flowers are in bloom. That's another message for Holy Week.

Gospel women during Holy Week

Back to everyday things, now. El Jefe and I missed Palm Sunday worship in order to get younger daughter to the airport so she could fly back to college after her spring break. I was sorry to miss Palm Sunday because now I feel a bit unconnected to Holy Week. It doesn't seem the same without seeing all the children process into the sanctuary with their palms singing "Hosanna in the Highest".

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week don't have special names that I know of. Were Martha, Mary, the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, and "the other Mary" busy on those days in Jerusalem with everyday tasks preparing for Passover? Washing the special linen to be used for guests, kneading and baking bread, shopping for wine and special foods for the feast?

They aren't mentioned in the Gospel accounts of Maunday Thursday--but they were at the cross on Friday and at the grave on Sunday morning. So they had to be around. Were they engaged in the same kinds of tasks that I and my 21st century friends are as we prepare our own households for the Sunday Easter dinner?

Good blog on divestment

Jeff the Baptist really nails the issues on divestment of investments in Israel by the PCUSA in his post today.

Pleas to the sergeant

Several members of the former Administrative Commission of the church under seige, as well as the General Presbyter of our Presbytery have written emails to the sergeant in charge of off duty police officers for the city asking him to permit off duty offcers to work at the church as requested to protect the congregation from disruptions.

One of the members, a retired pastor who also has a Phd in political science (interesting combo, no?) pointed out that the congregation had a constitutional right to worship in peace. Wish I had thought of that myself!

Teaching the Presbyterian Controversy

It's hard to imagine a task more daunting than trying to describe the complicated series of disputes in the UPCUSA during the 1920's and 1930's collectively known as "The Presbyterian Controversy"--and having to do that in less than 45 minutes! The regular teacher of one of our adult Sunday School classes was out of town today and I was subbing in for him. This class has been studying the history of the Christian Church and this was the topic for the day.

The class was interested in the topic and the outline I presented, which of course was highly selective. That surprised me as it seems to me that most folks would find it rather a dry subject. However since some of the controversy revolved around disputes concerning what candidates for ordination to ministry must believe in order to be ordained in the church, the class was clearly making the connection with the modern controversy over the eligibility for ordination of practicing homosexuals.

We did not get on that topic however, but stuck to trying to analyze the underlying themes such as different views of the authority and interpretation of the Bible and the attempt to find a balance between toleration of diverse beliefs in the church and adherence or enforcement of the "basic tenets" of belief.Once again my legal background comes in handy as many of the events we were reviewing involved ecclesiastical litigation in the church courts.

No conclusions were reached, but I am again subbing in on Easter Sunday when we will conclude the study with a look at the development of current controversies in the church since the 1970's. Not my favorite topic for Easter Sunday!

It is really a blessing when you find people taking a serious interest in these important issues for the church, as this group does. They keep me on my toes....

Update Church under fire

Good news! The Palm Sunday service at the church under seige went very well. Many Presbyterians from other churches attended to support the congregation and the presence of an off duty police officer deterred any untoward incident from the troublemaker and his group.

We did get word that the troublemaker is trying to convince the police department that this is an internal dispute at the church in which the department should not get involved by permitting off duty officers to serve as security. At the request of the interim pastor, many of us (including me) are sending emails or phone calls to the sgt. in charge to apprise him of the true situation and the real need for peace officers on the premises at this time.

Continue to pray for this Church!