A Personal Psalm

This summer the pastors at our church are preaching a series on the Psalms. Each Sunday a church member has been asked to write and read an original psalm that before the sermon. Today's psalm was Psalm 138 and I was asked to participate. It is a psalm of praise, so that is the theme I took for my personal psalm and although I haven't been posting much lately, thought I would share in on the blog:

It is so easy to praise you, Lord
As the sun sets in blazing glory behind the clouds
As majestic waves of the ocean break on rocky cliffs
As spring breaks out in riotous colors along the highways

It is harder to praise you, Lord
In the waiting room with the devastated family
In the silent home bereft of the beloved voice
In the midst of life’s doubt and trials

It is hardest to praise you, Lord
When chaos overcomes calm
When hateful speech divides brothers and sisters in faith
When Your peace that passes understanding is not present

Teach me, Lord, to see you and to praise you in all things
Even when frustrated with the tedium of everyday life
Even when frustrated with other people
Even when frustrated with myself most of all

Remind me, Lord, to be aware of your presence
To seek you every day in prayer
To seek you every day in your word
To seek you every day in the people you place in my path

Bless me, Lord, to be a blessing to others
With the gifts of your spirit
With the words of your choosing
With the acts of your grace

I praise you, Lord, for guiding me in the important things and in the small things
I praise you, Lord, for drawing near to me when I draw near to you
I praise you, Lord, for nudging my unwitting self in the ways you would have me go

In all times, in all places, with all people, let me be full of praise for you, O Lord!

AMEN

Refugee Thanksgiving Dinner

Last night Mike and I had the privilege of hosting tables at a dinner for about 350 refugees in the Houston area that was co-sponsored by our church and Houston Interfaith Ministries. 

Our church's Food Ministry provided a traditional Thanksgiving meal for our guests while church members and staff members of HIM waited tables and provided logistical assistance. We actually had a surplus of church volunteers! What a blessing.

Refugees are different from immigrants. Although they are immigrants to this country, they have come with State Department permission because of political/ethnic/religious persecution in their countries. Our guests were recent refugees, coming within the past year to the Houston area.

Seated at my table were two families: an Iraqui mother with her young son and daughter and a Burmese family consisting of a married couple, their toddler and aged aunt, and a family friend. 

The Iraqui mother, clad in traditional style, had no English ability while her young daughter chattered away in English with no accent and served as translator. I was unable to get the story of the young Iraqui family and wondered where the husband and father was. Dead? Working that evening I hope?

 

The young Burmese father had limited English and told me his family had been in this country for three weeks, but "we are Americans now!" They fled ethnic cleansing in Burma and were assisted out of that country by the United Nations. He is very eager to find a job and was excited about the opportunity for education his young daughter would have here. He told me he and his family are Christians.

El Jefe hosted another Iraqui family and several young teenage boys from Tibet who were somehow separated from their parents in the table assignments. He thought they weren't too sorry about that either!

The Iraqui mother at my table had her daughter ask me if the meat on her plate was pork. When I told the young girl it was turkey, she looked very confused so I told her to tell her mother it was chicken. She didn't eat it but didn't object to her children eating it--which they did with great gusto. Not sure what she really thought, but she seemed overwhelmed by the crowd and her lack of understanding English. My charades weren't that successful with her either, but she thanked me very graciously at the end of the evening.

A children's craft room was set up for the kids and they all seemed to really enjoy that activity after dinner while the adults were entertained by singers and dancers from Bhutan, Burundi, Malaysia and our Hispanic ministry group. It's really hard to follow the African drummers, I'm just saying!

At the end of the evening we taught them to sing and clap along with "Deep in the Heart of Texas", dubbing them all Texans now.

So that's the highlight of my Thanksgiving season. What's yours?

Bless Friday

Our church has been encouraging the congregation to turn Black Friday into Bless Friday by engaging in community service rather than going shopping. Today's Houston Chronicle has a nice story describing the initiative, here.

The church website had several different opportunities for service that ranged from serving meals at a homeless shelter to bagging beans and rice for the church's Hispanic ministry food pantry. Or you could create your own project.

Last Sunday the Outreach Ministry  also distributed $20,000 during the worship services in envelopes ranging from $1 to $1,000. The idea was to pass the money along as a blessing to others and then report back. The idea was that each family took one envelope and then decided what to do with it.

Babs and I went forward and I was given an envelope with $200 in it. Babs got $10 in $2 bills so she gave hers to me and told me to use it together. 

El Jefe and I weren't sure at first how to use the money. Then last night it came to me--we will pass the money along to the Caring Bridge website in honor of our nephew, Patrick. 

That website is truly a blessing for families coping with extended illnesses or traumatic accidents such as Patrick's. I've followed a couple of other people on Caring Bridge in the past and often thought how helpful it would have been for my brother and his family during the years they coped with his daughter's cancer treatments.

Meeting Myself Coming and Going

How many church meetings is too many church meetings?

Three in a 24 hour period? Six within four days?

Presbyterians are famous for their meetings and fall is always Meeting Season.

'Tis the season to be meeting. Fa-la-la-la-la!

Virtual Church Meetings

An ongoing problem in the Presbyterian church (and other mainline churches) is that it is difficult to find younger members who are willing to serve on the session because of the number of meetings--not only of the session but of session committees--that are required.

All too often those meetings are scheduled during the day which makes it impossible for many of these folks who are working to attend. The result is that the church elects more elders who are really "elders", i.e. retired, delaying the transition in leadership to the next generation.

I've been thinking about ways to address this and wonder if any of you have implemented changes that are working in your churches? Of course the current leadership needs to be more flexible and willing to schedule meetings at times when younger people could attend, but the number of meetings is still a big issue for most families today.

Can't we make better use of our digital capabilities for meetings? For example, are you cutting down on in-person meetings by using conference calls, Facebook private groups or some other method? Anyone know a cheap and effective way to video conference with a group? I don't think you can Skype with more than one other person, but if I'm wrong let me know.

Certainly there are some committees whose work is best done in person, but for most of them I suspect that a lot of things can be done through virtual meetings thus reducing the number of times a committee has to gather in person at the church. After all most businesses and other organizations do that these days.

If we are going to bring younger working people into church leadership--and we MUST do this-- then we have to rethink the ways in which we have always done our committee meetings. Your thoughts?

Last Day of BSD

Yesterday was the last day of our BSD study for 2009-2010 and we wrapped up with the last two chapters of Romans. I really loved this year's study and the amazing women who were members of my small discussion group and my leader group who inspired me weekly with their devotion to study and their faith.

On the last day of the study we traditionally invite people to speak about their experience with BSD that year. There were more than 200 women overflowing the church's chapel yesterday. (BSD also has coed study groups on weeknights and Sunday mornings that were not represented.)

This year one of the speakers was a woman who identified herself as a Messianic Jew who has involved with BSD for several years. She thanked the group for the welcome she had experienced and the interest shown in her Jewish heritage, saying that over the years she shared seders and other celebrations with group members. Then she exhorted us, in the words of the Apostle Paul, to "arouse my own people to envy" (Romans 11:14) of what we have in Christ by the example of how we live. This was the most memorable witness I have heard in the few years it has been my privilege to be a BSD group leader.

Afterwards at the Celebration Luncheon someone asked me how early I have to leave Sugar Land to get to the church on Thursdays and then asked me if I was coming back next year. But all I could say in reply was, "how could I not?"

He WAS Listening...

Dear God,

I know I made the mistake of ever-so-briefly wondering what I would do with myself when BSD and the wedding are finished. Foolish me, I didn't really think you were listening.

So now I'm asking you to help me pull it together to lead Take Six and Go! (a study of selected parables of Jesus plus a mission project) on Wednesdays in May and June at the church.

And this time I KNOW you are listening.

Thanking you in advance,
QG

Easter Monday Share

The RevGals are asking folks to share what went well, or not so well, at their churches this last week.

I'd like to share the Good Friday service at our church that was unusual and particularly meaningful.

As we entered the chapel where the service was being held we were encouraged to sign our names on a large piece of cloth. The entire service was shaped around the theme of Christ as the Lamb of God whose sacrifice atoned for our sins.

The scripture readings were Genesis 22: 1-8a; Hebrews 10: 1-14, John 1: 29-36. We sang the hymns When I Survey the Wondrous Cross and O Lamb of God Most Holy! A quartet also sang Behold the Lamb of God from Handel's Messiah.

The Reflection offered by Dr. Dave Peterson illuminated the Old Testament history of the Paschal Lamb.We all stood for the reading of the entire chapter 19 of the Gospel of John--the passion narrative.

Then a real lamb was brought forward and Dr. Peterson wrapped it in the cloth with all of our names inscribed on it. We were invited to come forward and place our hands on the head of the lamb as the Jews were told to do in Leviticus for the lamb that they offered for sacrifice. We then exited in silence.

Three large wooden crosses were placed in the courtyard opposite the chapel where you could go for more silent reflection.

It was a very powerful Good Friday message.

Ash Wednesday Thought

Heard at yesterday's church meeting:

"Those called to leadership in the church have the privilege of seeing Christ's bride without her makeup and with all her flaws and wrinkles exposed, but love her anyway."

Looking for that Special Verse

Yesterday in worship, members of our church's third grade Sunday School class were each given a Bible. This is an annual custom in our church. The translation they are given is the NIV Adventure Bible.

The senior pastor told them he had highlighted a different verse in each Bible --one that he had chosen specially for each child--and signed his name by it. A very thoughtful gesture, especially since there were 55 children involved!

I wonder how many kids started looking for their verse as soon as they sat down again in the pew?

Thinking About Radical Generosity

Like many churches, the one we are members of receives a large portion of its annual income in the month of December. Some years those entrusted with financial responsibility for the church are more stressed than others in that last month of the year. It all depends on how short of the budget the revenue is at that time.

This year was very stressful. The shortfall in December was well over $2 million (bear in mind this is a large congregation of over 4000 members). Hand-wringing, prayers and development of worse case scenarios were the order of the day in the year-end committee meetings.

But then.

In the last two weeks of the year the congregation gave generously--generously enough that a surplus of $400,000 over the budgeted revenues were received. Amazing. Just amazing.

We were given this news at the session retreat this past weekend. I'm still processing it. I mean, its a tough economy out there. Our congregation is not immune from job loss and financial difficulties common to the rest of the nation.

The treasurer told us that the year-end giving represented lots of small gifts--not a few very large gifts from wealthy, generous individuals. In fact, the "big givers" had made their contributions earlier in the year.

Why this significant outpouring from so many people?

I think it is because the church from its founding (in 1954) set a goal of matching the money spent in the operation of the church and its programs with giving to those in need in the community and the world. It's called the Dollar for Dollar benevolence program and it is taken very seriously every year. Since the congregation is committed to this kind of radical generosity, our faith-based budget works.

This dollar-for-dollar commitment also forces the staff, session and committees to be excellent stewards since for every dollar that is spent on the church's internal operations and programming, another dollar must be found to give away. Members know that their giving to the church does not stop at the church campus but goes to those in need in the local area, the state, the nation and around the world. This principle also forces the congregation away from being internally-focused towards being externally (or missionally, if you will) focused.

People say, "of course MDPC can do this--it is a wealthy, large congregation with lots of resources." But really, there is no "of course" about it. MDPC followed this guiding principle from its first days as a new struggling congregation in the far western suburbs of Houston more than 50 years ago. From time to time the church had difficulty adhering to this goal, but always found a way to do so and re-affirmed the commitment to radical generosity.

The fact that the founders had that kind of faith in God's provision for their congregation and sustained their faithfulness to the gospel still awes me today.

Understand that I am NOT saying that dollar-for-d0llar is some kind of magic formula -- it is NOT some kind of prosperity gospel for congregations. No, I think that it is an important spiritual discipline because it requires us to be constantly mindful of the needs of the world outside our doors instead of focusing on ourselves.

So what happened to that surplus? The session gratefully decided to allocate all of it to the Outreach Committee so it will be distributed among our mission partners in 2010 in addition to the dollar-for-dollar benevolence already allocated to Outreach in the budget. Because it's not about us, it's about bringing the love of Christ to a world in need.

It Is Finished!

After about 6 months of effort the church's policy and procedures manual is finally finished! The session approved it at yesterday's meeting. There were a couple of last-minutes changes, but nothing substantial.

So the great opus will be posted on the website and the master copy will go to live in the church office.

Will anyone ever look at it again? We will make a "reader's digest" version to show the new elders at their training meetings. But its just too long to go over in any detail. And that would be a real MEGO (my eyes glaze over) experience anyway. I do think the revision is more "user-friendly", relatively speaking, and hopefully will be easier to update in the future.

It was a good exercise for me since I am relatively new to this church because it forced me to learn a lot about the way it is organized. Now the challenge will be keeping it current because there are sure to be changes big and small to procedures and policies in the future.

But for now, I'm just glad it's done!

Thoughts on the Gift of Administration

And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues.
1 Corinthians 12:27-29

Although I like to think of myself as having other spiritual gifts, it seems that I am mostly called upon by the church to exercise the gift of administration. Checking the above passage from 1 Corinithians, I suppose it is a good thing that it is listed ahead of speaking in tongues since most of us PresbyTypes don't do that.

For the last couple of months I've been immersed in revising the Policies and Procedures manual for our church. This is done every other year and assigned to the newest Senior Administrative Officer (a/k/a SAO) in the 3 year SAO chain. That would be me this year.

The old P&P was a mish-mash of styles and formats which made it hard to read and use, so we decided to create a standard format for ministry and committee descriptions. My inbox has been filled with comments from elders and staff after I emailed the new versions to everyone and asked for any additional policy documents that weren't there in the first place.

Master drafting responsibility is mine, and did I mention that as a word processor I am a great lawyer and a better singer? I confess that frustration with editing did have me speaking in tongues--just not the kind in 1 Corinthians! Fortunately the church communications staff agreed to format the manual after the text of it was in a final draft form. Whew!

Although we've joked about how the best manual would be two pages long rather than the 100+ pages this one is morphing into, I'm now convinced that it is important to have everything in one place somewhere. The fact is that if a policy or procedure is approved by the session and is only recorded in the minutes, it is likely to be forgotten within a few years when the membership of that group has turned over. What we are doing here is creating institutional memory and consistency and that is just as important for a church as for any other group.

When the master P&P is finished, we plan to create "condensed" versions that will refer the reader to the church website for links to the lengthier policy documents such as teacher and employee handbooks, accounting and financial guidelines, etc. We'll also post the P&P on the website, probably in the condensed version that will include live links. Since the church is "reformed always reforming" its policies and procedures, the challenge will be to keep it current!

Having to revise and live by this manual is difficult--but not doing that would be far more difficult because not operating under agreed upon policies and procedures invites the chaos, dissension, and misunderstanding that undermines the ministry of the church.

And that's why administration is one of the spiritual gifts.

What Would Visitors Think?

Yesterday one of my fellow choir members asked me what a visitor would think about our church based on the way our chancel is arranged.

What a great question!

Most Presbyterian churches have a communion table (don't call it an altar!) with the symbols of communion on it in the center; a pulpit to one side and a lecturn on the other. A cross is usually front and center in some way.

Our church is having space and logistical issues between a growing traditional choir and music program at the late service and the popular contemporary music of an earlier service. Sharper conceptual minds than mine are noodling about solutions, but meanwhile there is no lecturn or pulpit (the pastors preach without notes and the scripture readings are projected on screens). The communion table is not in place unless it is communion Sunday. The pipe organ console and choir loft are in the center. A very large cross and abstract stained glass wall are behind the choir. To one side is a piano and to the other is a large set of drums, left over from the previous service because there is not enough time to move it safely out of the way.

My friend suggested a visitor would conclude from the arrangement that music was the center of worship. She's probably right.

What do you think your chancel suggests to a visitor about your church's emphasis in worship?

Presbytery Day of Service Report: MDPC

After I mentioned on QG the Presbytery of New Covenant's plans for a Day of Service in lieu of a regular presbytery meeting, I received an
email from a reporter for the Presbyterian Layman asking who he should contact to get more information on the event. I suggested he contact our General Presbyter and Moderator, and he wrote a very nice article posted on the Layman site here. I didn't realize they were following my blog, either!

So here's my report on my church's project which was called Operation Compassion. Church members spent Saturday at Spring Woods Middle School, which is a few miles from MDPC and serves an economically underprivileged area.

As we came in the school's monument sign greeted us.

We went inside to register and get our assignments.

There was already a lot of activity, plus donuts, kolaches and coffee. If you feed Presbyterians, they will come!



I was assigned to the teachers project room. Here we were given miles of laminated activity cards for math classes to cut out and clip together. I was told that since the school doesn't have many parent volunteers this was the first time the teachers had this kind of assistance. And they really went to town! Apparently they had been organizing and planning for this since last spring when they heard we were coming. I appropriated a paper cutter and got to work.

In another area of this large rooms a couple of moms and several preteen and teenage girls were putting together "goody bags" for the teachers. I spotted some nice metal thermos mugs going into the bags, which were carted away and will be a nice surprise for the teachers on their first day back to work later this month.



Here's El Jefe at his duty station: rolling lockers. That meant he was tasked with changing the combinations on the lockers. Unfortunately most of them were near the floor. "This is a good job for a short guy," he said. Which he is not. Later in the morning I found him scooting around on a rolling chair he had commandeered from someone's office.





The school had a nice courtyard that needed attention, so here's a photo of some of our gardeners. The smell of mulch filled the air--even inside the building! God bless them all for their efforts on one of the hottest days of the year.






As we left, I got this picture of church and community families eating lunch together, courtesy of Chik-Fil-A. One of the organizers told me that more people were expected for the afternoon shift than the morning shift that we worked. There was still gardening, painting, locker rolling and paper trimming to be done!


It was a great day for the church and the school and the presbytery. If your presbytery takes the challenge and schedules a day of service, let me know!

A New Member First

At last night's session meeting we welcomed about 25 new members to the congregation at the beginning of the meeting. As always, the moderator told them they were welcome to stay to observe the rest of the meeting if they wished, while commenting that he had yet to see any new member take him up on the invitation.

SURPRISE! This time a young couple actually stayed for the entire meeting. And asked a question about the financial report, too. They looked to me to be twenty-somethings. I learned afterwards that they are engaged and the young man is in the armed services (not sure which one) expecting to be deployed to a combat zone in a few weeks.

After the meeting as I was leaving I overheard his conversation with one of the associate pastors. He was asking how he could contribute his time to some mission project of the church between now and his deployment.

WOW!

On Observing the Birthdays of the USA and John Calvin

Yesterday's worship combined the celebration of our country's independence with the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the birthday of John Calvin.

Yes, you read that sentence correctly! That turned out to be a very powerful combination.

While you don't hear Calvin mentioned often, even in Presbyterian churches, the Fourth of July is a very appropriate time to acknowledge him, 500th birthday or no, because Calvin's interest in right government and advocacy of the need for checks and balances in power make him one of the intellectual Fathers of the American revolution and republic.

The sermon was preceded by a brief video from the Witherspoon Press that focused on Calvin's theology of government. Using Galatians 5:13-26 as the text, Dr. Dave Peterson preached a powerful sermon that concluded with the importance of individual self-government as the foundation for an effective representative government. I would do an injustice by trying to summarize it, but if you would like to hear the podcast it is available here.

The Economy--An Unwelcome Guest

A recent article in the Outlook reports that the "staggering economy" is an unwelcome guest at the meetings of the PCUSA's General Assembly Council. The reporter notes that it is also an unwelcome guest at every level of denominational life.

That's certainly true for my church, which has had to take some cost-cutting measures in light of anticipated reduced income. I'm sure it is the case for most congregations in every denomination across the country.

The fear-filled atmosphere that surrounds us on all sides doesn't help, either. It's hard to set fear aside and replace it with confidence and calmness. At yesterday's stewardship committee meeting we were reminded "God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline". (2 Tim. 1:7 NIV). That's a good reminder, but hard to internalize.

On the positive side of the situation, leaders are focusing on continuing funding for core ministries of the church and cutting back on the "nice-to-do's". That is something no one is inclined to do when economic times are good.

Is the economy an unwelcome guest in your congregation?

A City on a Hill

As I mentioned last month, our session meetings at MDPC begin with a time of group lectio divina. The method is this: the moderator selects a passage of scripture and offers some brief reflections on why he chose it. Then he reads it. We break into groups of three and each person in the group reads it aloud. Then each one comments on what words in the passage stood out and why, followed by a time of silent reflection.

Last night's passage was the very familiar passage from the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5: 14-17.

You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

The second sentence jumped out at me last night. Why did Jesus talk about a city on a hill in the middle of a talking about light and lamps?

A city on a hill is both vulnerable, because it cannot be hidden, and protected, because it is very difficult for an enemy to scale a hill and overcome the city's defenders. Is this a metaphor for the faithful church which cannot and should not hide itself in the culture of the day? Would that mean that God will protect such a church from its enemies?

Then I wondered why this sentence leapt out at me. Maybe because our increasingly sour and negative national atmosphere needs the example of the church as that faithful city on a hill? How can we do that? For me, that means consciously reducing the amount of time spent with the media. I can keep up with the events of the day without wallowing in them. Then I can become more balanced and faithful and hopefully can be a little light in my corner of the world.

Of course the Houston area is a city on a swamp (er...bayou), not a city on a hill. But still!

Faith Comes By Hearing--Second Update

Yesterday I finished listening to Luke and John and began listening to Acts. I'm a bit behind on the Faith Comes By Hearing schedule, so I need to step it up if I'm going to finish by Easter.

I was thinking I would listen to Acts right after finishing John and then go back to John in order to hear all of Luke's history without interruption. But I didn't plan too well and found myself on the freeway when the narration shifted between the last two gospels. So I let it run on until I got home which meant I was well into the third chapter of John. So much for that idea.

The contrast between the mystic style of John and the other three gospels is just as striking when listening to narration as when reading straight through them. I was surprised by the number of mysterious sayings in John that I didn't remember. Also I found it harder to concentrate on John than on Luke. But then, Luke is my favorite gospel--probably because I love history and relate to his style best.

Acts is one of my favorite books of the Bible so I'm already enjoying listening to this history of the early church. It's much easier to follow in this format than John!

I'm still struggling with bookmarking the recording on my IPhone's IPod. Whenever I switch to another application, I loose my place. Then I guess where I left off and often guess wrong. Anyone know how to fix that?