Today I journeyed with one of the member's of our feeding team over to the Wayne County Family Center, a center for people in need of transitional housing. We have committed to serve dinner twice a month at the center, a worthwhile partnership between Wayne County and Lutheran Social Services of Michigan. Each time I am privileged to be present at the center I learn something and take away much more than I give. Today was no exception. The director of the facility is a wonderful woman clearly dedicated to the work God has empowered her to do for the kingdom. Being in her presence makes me want to help the shelter all the more. Today, as usual, I asked her if there were any additional tangible ways the our church could be a presence at the facility, and she relayed to us the need for electronic alarm clocks. She reminded us that often folks in transition needed the most basic things in life, including the reminder that when working or having responsibilities to be certain places at certain times that an alarm clock might be a great asset. She further said that one of the goals of the center was to model some realities that lay ahead when the families transition to their next home. Educating or re-educating people on the value of an alarm clock is just one of the many life lessons they attempt to instill in the residents while they are at the center.
Today, 89 days shy of my 40th birthday, I want to give thanks to God for all the people who have travelled in and through my life modeling and teaching me basic life lessons. It is not often that I have the opportunity to have such gifts in my life pointed out to me in such a profound way. So, for all those who gave of their time and wisdom helping to make me into the person that I strive to be, I thank God for your presence in my life. Today I appreciate each of you in a different way.
Thought for the day: Who are those wonderful people God placed in your life, individuals who participated in making you into the person you are today? Do they know the impact they had on your life? I wonder, could you be so bold as to let them know?
Friday, March 14, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
90 day journey to the big 4-0
Friends:
It turns out that Thursday, March 13, 2008 is a significant day in my life. Today I am officially 90 days shy of my 40th birthday. I have thought a lot over the last few months about what it means for me to be turning” the big 4-0”. It leads me to wonder what God has in store for me as I live into my fifth decade as a member of this planet. New friend Doug Pagitt recently challenged me, when speaking about church work and life, “ask yourself if this is this how you want to spend your forties?” I had not really thought about my life in that way, breaking it down in decade long intervals. It makes sense, I just never thought of my life in that way before. As I journey through my life and try to walk in a way of faith I find myself wanting to create a list of hopes and dreams for the next decade. The more I engage in my walk with God the more I feel passionate about walking in and toward the light of Christ and making myself into an expression of the gift of life given to me by our Creator. Here is the start of the list I am creating about this transition in my life. I will be blogging daily about this walk toward 40, and invite you to join me as I attempt to discover if the passions I believe God is placing in my heart will translate into real action and change in my life and those whose lives I am connected with.
Church: I am feeling called to help those I share a calling with to journey the walk of a disciple rather than a member of a church. I sense God calling me to speak to and with those on a journey of faith rather than those “fixed” in a comfortable final destination. I feel passionate about traveling with those who are questioning their faith, life, and how faith and life connects within the context they find themselves in. I would like to help others, and myself, to change our view of what the church is and what it is called to be. I have been ruminating over a quote from one of my favorite authors, Brian McLaren, about the church and what he sees as God’s vision for the purpose of the church. McLaren writes of how the role of the church is not about meeting your individual needs but rather about inviting others to join the mission of God’s people to meet the world’s needs. I want to spend my forties exploring what living into that means.
Family: I want to spend my forties being the best husband and father I can be. I desire to be a role model for faithful living within the context of raising a family and nurturing relationships with those closest to me. I am committed to being intentional about investing in the lives of those who surround me.
Health: I have often attempted to convince myself that I was committed to healthy living. However, often my actions do not always reflect a commitment to that journey. God entrusted me with a physical body and charged with its care. Too often over the last few years I have taken this for granted. I feel encouraged to change this and model the life I speak about in a more definitive way.
Environment: God has really been convicting me lately to take a larger role in caring and advocating for our planet. I like to think I was interested in this before the recent buzz about “being green”, but only in the last year have I began to seriously look at how we are caring for the environment God has entrusted us with. I want to continue to strengthen my knowledge and voice about environmental issues and encourage others into care of this awesome earth we are privileged to reside in.
Justice: This concept is freshest on my radar. God is really working on me to be more of an advocate. I feel I have spent too little time in public ministry acting and speaking out for injustice in our world. I am dedicated to change that and lend myself in partnership with others as a voice for justice.
There you have it. This represents the ground floor of a list that will be ruminated over, molded, shaped and perhaps modified over the next ten years. I wonder, if you examined your life in the same way, how God is calling you to be His agent over the next decade. Remember, it is not a question of if, but rather how God is calling you. What things or issues is God placing in your heart to be passionate about?
It turns out that Thursday, March 13, 2008 is a significant day in my life. Today I am officially 90 days shy of my 40th birthday. I have thought a lot over the last few months about what it means for me to be turning” the big 4-0”. It leads me to wonder what God has in store for me as I live into my fifth decade as a member of this planet. New friend Doug Pagitt recently challenged me, when speaking about church work and life, “ask yourself if this is this how you want to spend your forties?” I had not really thought about my life in that way, breaking it down in decade long intervals. It makes sense, I just never thought of my life in that way before. As I journey through my life and try to walk in a way of faith I find myself wanting to create a list of hopes and dreams for the next decade. The more I engage in my walk with God the more I feel passionate about walking in and toward the light of Christ and making myself into an expression of the gift of life given to me by our Creator. Here is the start of the list I am creating about this transition in my life. I will be blogging daily about this walk toward 40, and invite you to join me as I attempt to discover if the passions I believe God is placing in my heart will translate into real action and change in my life and those whose lives I am connected with.
Church: I am feeling called to help those I share a calling with to journey the walk of a disciple rather than a member of a church. I sense God calling me to speak to and with those on a journey of faith rather than those “fixed” in a comfortable final destination. I feel passionate about traveling with those who are questioning their faith, life, and how faith and life connects within the context they find themselves in. I would like to help others, and myself, to change our view of what the church is and what it is called to be. I have been ruminating over a quote from one of my favorite authors, Brian McLaren, about the church and what he sees as God’s vision for the purpose of the church. McLaren writes of how the role of the church is not about meeting your individual needs but rather about inviting others to join the mission of God’s people to meet the world’s needs. I want to spend my forties exploring what living into that means.
Family: I want to spend my forties being the best husband and father I can be. I desire to be a role model for faithful living within the context of raising a family and nurturing relationships with those closest to me. I am committed to being intentional about investing in the lives of those who surround me.
Health: I have often attempted to convince myself that I was committed to healthy living. However, often my actions do not always reflect a commitment to that journey. God entrusted me with a physical body and charged with its care. Too often over the last few years I have taken this for granted. I feel encouraged to change this and model the life I speak about in a more definitive way.
Environment: God has really been convicting me lately to take a larger role in caring and advocating for our planet. I like to think I was interested in this before the recent buzz about “being green”, but only in the last year have I began to seriously look at how we are caring for the environment God has entrusted us with. I want to continue to strengthen my knowledge and voice about environmental issues and encourage others into care of this awesome earth we are privileged to reside in.
Justice: This concept is freshest on my radar. God is really working on me to be more of an advocate. I feel I have spent too little time in public ministry acting and speaking out for injustice in our world. I am dedicated to change that and lend myself in partnership with others as a voice for justice.
There you have it. This represents the ground floor of a list that will be ruminated over, molded, shaped and perhaps modified over the next ten years. I wonder, if you examined your life in the same way, how God is calling you to be His agent over the next decade. Remember, it is not a question of if, but rather how God is calling you. What things or issues is God placing in your heart to be passionate about?
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
ELCA's Environment Lenten Devotional
I have really been enjoying the Lenten devotional produced by my tribe, the ELCA. Check out the following sample:
Stop Global Warming
Saturday March 1, 2008
Abundant Living: Wendell Berry wrote, "To live, we must daily break the bread and shed the blood of creation. ... When we do this knowingly, lovingly, skillfully, reverently, it is a sacrament. When we do it ignorantly, greedily, clumsily, destructively, it is a desecration. ... In such desecration, we condemn ourselves to spiritual and moral loneliness and others to want." How can your life be a living sacrament to the wonders of creation? [Wendell Berry, "The Gift of Good Land"]
Stop global warming at home. Stop global warming at church, school, work.
Stop global warming in fields, factories, and governments.
Start.
This is a call to something extraordinary: a life of care and justice.
To protect creation we must make small and sweeping changes. But most importantly, we must begin. You can change a light bulb to conserve electricity. Business can reduce travel and use carbon-free technology such as teleconferencing. The United States can commit to treaties that take responsibility for our disproportionately high carbon emissions.
Jesus calls us to actively witness to a new order that recognizes the outcast and the broken. Jesus' message was radical because it transformed the earth through extreme love for the place where unity and harmony are missing. Global climate change requires that we embrace these dark places as well and find solutions that reconcile us to creation knowingly, lovingly, skillfully, reverently.
Be Aware and then Act
ELCA's Global Warming Resources
National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Resource Guide
Pew Center on Climate Change
Prayer for the Day's Journey Let there be respect for the earth,Peace for its people,Love in our lives,Delight in the good,Forgiveness for past wrongsAnd from now on, a new start.Rev. Peter Trow
Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this. Tell-a-friend!
If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Evangelical Lutheran Church in America e-Advocacy Network.
Writer: Kathleen Wood. Design and editing: Brewer Communications, Inc. Produced by: Advocacy Department, Church in Society Program Unit, ELCA. Photo © iStockphoto.com/Daniel Gustavsson. Earth photo courtesy of NASA. Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA and used by permission. All rights reserved. Web sites linked from this message reflect the positions of the outside organizations and may not necessarily reflect an official position of ELCA. Copyright © 2008 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. All rights reserved.
Stop Global Warming
Saturday March 1, 2008
Abundant Living: Wendell Berry wrote, "To live, we must daily break the bread and shed the blood of creation. ... When we do this knowingly, lovingly, skillfully, reverently, it is a sacrament. When we do it ignorantly, greedily, clumsily, destructively, it is a desecration. ... In such desecration, we condemn ourselves to spiritual and moral loneliness and others to want." How can your life be a living sacrament to the wonders of creation? [Wendell Berry, "The Gift of Good Land"]
Stop global warming at home. Stop global warming at church, school, work.
Stop global warming in fields, factories, and governments.
Start.
This is a call to something extraordinary: a life of care and justice.
To protect creation we must make small and sweeping changes. But most importantly, we must begin. You can change a light bulb to conserve electricity. Business can reduce travel and use carbon-free technology such as teleconferencing. The United States can commit to treaties that take responsibility for our disproportionately high carbon emissions.
Jesus calls us to actively witness to a new order that recognizes the outcast and the broken. Jesus' message was radical because it transformed the earth through extreme love for the place where unity and harmony are missing. Global climate change requires that we embrace these dark places as well and find solutions that reconcile us to creation knowingly, lovingly, skillfully, reverently.
Be Aware and then Act
ELCA's Global Warming Resources
National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Resource Guide
Pew Center on Climate Change
Prayer for the Day's Journey Let there be respect for the earth,Peace for its people,Love in our lives,Delight in the good,Forgiveness for past wrongsAnd from now on, a new start.Rev. Peter Trow
Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this. Tell-a-friend!
If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Evangelical Lutheran Church in America e-Advocacy Network.
Writer: Kathleen Wood. Design and editing: Brewer Communications, Inc. Produced by: Advocacy Department, Church in Society Program Unit, ELCA. Photo © iStockphoto.com/Daniel Gustavsson. Earth photo courtesy of NASA. Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA and used by permission. All rights reserved. Web sites linked from this message reflect the positions of the outside organizations and may not necessarily reflect an official position of ELCA. Copyright © 2008 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. All rights reserved.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Update
Friends:
I pray for all of during this time of Lent.
Some updates for your consideration:
Lenten Services: We are presenting unique services on Wednesday nights during Lent. These services will help shape the new community we hope to create on Sunday evenings in the near future. These services call us to reflection about five different ways God speaks to us. Soup is served at 5:30 followed by a short service at 6:15 pm. I invite you to check out this new service.
Echoes to be available on-line: Our paper newsletter, the Echoes, will be made available on-line starting in March. You will be able to access it through our website or we can e-mail it to you. This follows the “green” principal of reducing the need for paper and will financially help our church with postage/production costs. If you would like to electronically subscribe to the Echoes, please e-mail our office manager Jennifer at sjlcredord@yahoo.com.
Solomon's Porch this Thursday: We will meet as usual at First Cup coffee house from 7-8 pm. First Cup is located at the southeast corner of Five and Inkster in Redford Township. The topic for discussion this week will be a look at the presidential candidates and how they will address environmental concerns if elected. Come out and share your opinion and find out where the candidates stand on this issue. Remember, whether we agree or disagree, all voices are welcome in the discussion.
Green Request of the week: Are you one of those people who use a signature on your e-mail? Have you seen others signatures and wished you had one? This is your chance to investigate/implement it and help the environment in the process. Why not join me in cutting and pasting the following statement into your e-mails? Even if you don’t create a signature you could easily place it at the end of your e-mail correspondence. Thank you in advance.
Tag statement for the end of e-mails:
P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.
Social Ministry Update:
Wayne County Family Center (WCFC) Update: We are now just three weeks away from our initial feeding at the Wayne County Family Center, a transitional housing unit for families in our county. We are scheduled to provide dinner for the residents the third Sunday and Tuesday of the month. There are still many chances to serve available in order to make this commitment happen. NO experience necessary.
WCFC Towel update : Our bath towel drive for WCFC continues to be a huge success. To date we have collected over 50 bath towels. Remember, each new family is given the towels when they arrive at the facility, and they take them with them when they transition to new housing, so new towels are always needed. Thanks to all who have participated in the service project.
Shoe Update: We have been collecting gently used shoes for redistribution among those in need in the metro Detroit area. To date we have collected over 25 pairs of shoes. Remember, these shoes help someone in need as well as address a “green” principal through the recycling of shoes.
I pray for all of during this time of Lent.
Some updates for your consideration:
Lenten Services: We are presenting unique services on Wednesday nights during Lent. These services will help shape the new community we hope to create on Sunday evenings in the near future. These services call us to reflection about five different ways God speaks to us. Soup is served at 5:30 followed by a short service at 6:15 pm. I invite you to check out this new service.
Echoes to be available on-line: Our paper newsletter, the Echoes, will be made available on-line starting in March. You will be able to access it through our website or we can e-mail it to you. This follows the “green” principal of reducing the need for paper and will financially help our church with postage/production costs. If you would like to electronically subscribe to the Echoes, please e-mail our office manager Jennifer at sjlcredord@yahoo.com.
Solomon's Porch this Thursday: We will meet as usual at First Cup coffee house from 7-8 pm. First Cup is located at the southeast corner of Five and Inkster in Redford Township. The topic for discussion this week will be a look at the presidential candidates and how they will address environmental concerns if elected. Come out and share your opinion and find out where the candidates stand on this issue. Remember, whether we agree or disagree, all voices are welcome in the discussion.
Green Request of the week: Are you one of those people who use a signature on your e-mail? Have you seen others signatures and wished you had one? This is your chance to investigate/implement it and help the environment in the process. Why not join me in cutting and pasting the following statement into your e-mails? Even if you don’t create a signature you could easily place it at the end of your e-mail correspondence. Thank you in advance.
Tag statement for the end of e-mails:
P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.
Social Ministry Update:
Wayne County Family Center (WCFC) Update: We are now just three weeks away from our initial feeding at the Wayne County Family Center, a transitional housing unit for families in our county. We are scheduled to provide dinner for the residents the third Sunday and Tuesday of the month. There are still many chances to serve available in order to make this commitment happen. NO experience necessary.
WCFC Towel update : Our bath towel drive for WCFC continues to be a huge success. To date we have collected over 50 bath towels. Remember, each new family is given the towels when they arrive at the facility, and they take them with them when they transition to new housing, so new towels are always needed. Thanks to all who have participated in the service project.
Shoe Update: We have been collecting gently used shoes for redistribution among those in need in the metro Detroit area. To date we have collected over 25 pairs of shoes. Remember, these shoes help someone in need as well as address a “green” principal through the recycling of shoes.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
A view from the outside?
Here is another good dose of “food for thought” from author Dan Kimball:
In his book “They Like Jesus But Not the Church”, Kimball questions out loud if people who are connected to the church are also remaining connected to the “outside” world. He wonders if we follow our charge as people of God to be an “everybody church, everywhere”, if we are a people that regularly journey with people who do not identify themselves as Christians? Here are some great questions to ask:
In his book “They Like Jesus But Not the Church”, Kimball questions out loud if people who are connected to the church are also remaining connected to the “outside” world. He wonders if we follow our charge as people of God to be an “everybody church, everywhere”, if we are a people that regularly journey with people who do not identify themselves as Christians? Here are some great questions to ask:
Am I numb or neutral toward people outside the church?
Do I intercede daily for people outside the church?
Who am I praying for now who is not a Christian?
When’s the last time I had coffee or dinner or gone to a movie and hung out with someone who is not a Christian?
How did you do? Are you engaging in the culture that surrounds you or are you remaining insulated in our own comfortable environment? How comfortable are you with doing something about it?
Green tip of the week: What's the probability your supermarket plums are genetically modified?
The BitePlum dandy (um, pretty high). But we'll help you crunch the numbers: the little stickers on fruits and veggies have digits that let you know whether they're conventionally grown or organic, and if they're genetically modified (GM).
The Benefits
· Better odds for your body. GM foods have been in stores only since the 1990s, so we don't know the long-term health risks, and in a 1998 EPA sampling, 29% of the foods tested contained detectable pesticides.
· Less of an eco-gamble. Scientists are concerned that GMOs will reduce biodiversity.
· Winning the taste-bud lottery. Foodies all over the world agree that the range of possible flavors is greater when we just let Mother Nature do her thing.
Wanna Try? Look for the labels stuck on your fruits and veggies:
· A four-digit number means it's conventionally grown.
· A five-digit number beginning with 9 means it's organic.
· A five-digit number beginning with 8 means it's GM.
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