Thursday, August 30, 2007

Unique way to help the hungry

Labor Day blessings to each of you in the name of the one who cannot fail, Jesus the Christ!

I am choosing the end of summer to re-commit myself to eating healthier meals. Usually I eat reasonably healthy but the summer brings way too much ice cream, BBQ, french fries and beer while grilling out. It is time to curb my appetite for those indulgences, and as I do I would invite you to join me in a new way to help the hungry and poor in our community and beyond. This idea comes from a colleague in ministry as a aid in addressing hunger. It is called "fast" day, and this is how it will work at St. John's and for those who wish to participate across our e-mail list:

-Wednesday will be "fast day. On that day commit to skip a meal, or a dessert, or a cup of coffee(Starbucks addicts take note), and use the fast to pray for those who are hungry.
-At the end of each month donate what you would have spent on the meal, ect. to Redford Interfaith Relief, www.redford.pantrynet.org or your favorite hunger charity.
-No sign up is necessary. Simply decide what you will fast and go for it.
-Advice for when the cravings hit-use that as a reminder to pray for the poor, oppressed and hungry.
-Bicycle Pastor

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Thanks to the faithful!

Thanks to everyone who helped make our first "Back to School Supplies" give-away a great success. Despite some weather issues we were able to give out over 80 packets to our local children. It was great to see many at St. John's come out and support this event. Look for more events like this one in the future.
-Bicycle Pastor

Friday, August 24, 2007

A great weekend for the "church"

Today was a good day. At eleven o'clock this morning nine people gathered to pack the supplies for our "Back to School" give-away. Six people were from St. John's and three were from the community, all coming together to make our event tomorrow happen. As supplies were stuffed into 2 gallon bags I could not help but smile. People coming together, responding to a need in our community and reacting in a way that will benefit hundreds of children and their families as they return to school in a couple of weeks. Today was a good day.

Tomorrow is looking even better. Tomorrow we will open the grounds of our church to the community, sharing a day of family centered fun. There will be plenty of food, bouncers, crafts and good will spread throughout the day. Our volunteers will come from our church and beyond, sharing a vision of service for a community we have been called to engage in. It will give our church a chance to be a real presence in the lives of those we are called to serve, to address in a small way how God calls us to share the gifts we have with those around us. Tomorrow will represent the culmination of eight weeks of work preparing and empowering people and businesses in our community to partner with us in support of our families in these trying economic times. I cannot wait. This is what the church is called to be.

Today was a good day.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

What does the word "church" mean today?

I spent the morning surfing around different sites/blogs focusing on faith and the church. One of the sites asked an intriguing question that deserves some thought. The central idea to this particular post was to examine exactly what the term "church" means to people today. As I begin to ponder how I would respond to this question I am reminded that responses from society today would be varied (as in any generation I would imagine) . There certainly would not be a universal answer to this question. It seems for many the term "church" has grown to mean an institution that houses worship and a church community and is an exclusive place for the righteous or at least for those who sin as we do. Hearing or reading the term may also bring sour tastes in the mouths of individuals who have experienced negative interaction with the "church" and "church" people or fear in light of the recent stories of neglect and abuse by church officials. All this can serve to sadden those who love the church. Yet in the midst of that sadness comes empowerment as children of God to change the way that term is viewed by being the radical, grace filled body that brings real faith to real life. The church that I want to be a part of wades out into the abyss of messy lives and situations and brings God's message of forgiveness, hope, love and grace without beating up an already beaten world. The church that I want to be a part of expects brokenness, doubt and struggle as well as joy, spiritual engagement and the notion that we are put here in this place to live in community loving and serving one another as God loved us. Power lies in the thought that the church can be a welcoming place to figure it all out in good company, with a bunch of confused, empty, sinful people faithfully looking for hope in a world that can seem hopeless.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Excitement abounds!

This past Sunday we were blessed with great worship at St. John's. Our soloist sang a beautiful arrangement of "El Shaddai", which literally translates from the Hebrew as "God Almighty", and our lesson from Isaiah was a good reminder of how God calls us to be witnesses to others and not just serve ourselves. This Sundays blessings included two new families in our midst to check us out. It is always awesome to see new people sharing worship with us. I am thankful for all the ways that our community of faith welcomes these new faces. As always, my hope and dream for these new folks is that they find a place where they feel fed by the Spirit and after some discernment find themselves called to become rooted in the life and ministry of our church as we journey together to where God is leading us.

New people in worship also helps us learn about the things we are not doing so well. For instance, we do not have a good system in place to gather information about our visitors and let them know about our church. We need to develop a system to better track those who visit our church so that we can be in better contact with those who desire contact after they share worship with us. I hope in the coming weeks and months to develop a system that better addresses this issue. If anyone has any ideas please let me know.

-Bicycle Pastor

Friday, August 10, 2007

Lots of appendages to the misson tree

I continue to be overwhelmed with the response to our "Back to School Supplies" give-away. It serves as a good reminder of why seed planting is so important. As word gets out about this event more and more agencies are coming forward to help. Yesterday, our local school agreed to make our flyer part of the welcome packet for their new student registration next week. Our local Costco called to say they would like to donate bottled water for our family fun day. Meijer, the store we are purchasing the supplies from, informed us today they would be donating two additional gift cards to cover any other items we may need for our event. I hope and pray that this event, as well as others like it planned for fall, will serve as the catalyst we need to increase our presence in the community and welcome people into a relationship with Jesus. It seems hard to believe that life for this event was birthed after we decided not to go ahead with Vacation Bible School this year due to low enrollment. I remain convinced that when we continue to move forward in faith God opens new pathways for connection if we are willing to step out grounded in that same faith. It is humbling to realize how God provides opportunities for us to be blessings to others if we are open to it and follow where God leads us.

-Bicycle Pastor

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Planting the seed

I often need reminders of how God calls us to be missional people. I sometimes forget that God's people are hungry for mission but are not exposed to a vehicle to fulfil that hunger. We decided to do an outreach event before the start of school to give away supplies to our local children. In the process of getting the word out two groups stepped forward to help our cause, allowing us to purchase many more supply bags than we originally planned. Their generosity, as well as sweat equity, is allowing our small church to make a big impact on our community.

By the way, both groups are from our community, not our church. Isn't God awesome!

Bicycle pastor

Friday, August 3, 2007

Taking my own advice

I have been re-reading my last post and I realized that I need to start practicing my own advice if I am going to rant about it. This afternoon I am going to a local park for an overnight camping trip with my family. Connecting with nature and those I love might just be the best getaway there is.

Today we start a new book series at church using Mark Atteberry's latest titled "free refill-coming back for more of Jesus". I have been amazed that these latest book selections have all been home runs in terms of helping us figure out how God is calling us along the discipleship pathway.

-Bicycle Pastor

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Living the toxic life

Have you noticed lately how many of those around you-maybe even yourself-seem caught up in a toxic mix of overwork, stress, keeping up with the jones' type mentalities that so often leads to neglecting those closest to us? Our society today does not often speak to the need for cleansing/nurturing relationships with those closest to us on a regular basis. It does not seem long before one gets caught up not in life but in the things that get in the way of life. We seem so determined to live life and accomplish great things that we often forget that the best accomplishments are the relationships we engage in and the legacy that leaves behind. I often wonder why we replace genuine relationship with reaching that next great milestone or plunge ourselves deep into activities or projects that leave us to neglect those closest to us. I cannot believe that this type of lifestyle is one that God desires for us. It seems our society has moved away from an emphasis rooted in relationship with each other toward one that leaves many feeling emotionally and spiritually empty. Can you relate? Over the next few days I hope to explore this "movement" on a deeper level.
-Bicycle Pastor