Procrastinating...
Well, actually I'm not procrastinating. I'm finishing up a sermon and I have a little bit of writer's block. It'll get done. It might just finish itself Sunday morning.
Marnie is coming into town tonight! YEA!!!!!! I've been cleaning and stuff today. I'd rather she not see that I've been wallowing in my own filth for two and a half weeks... two and a half weeks! that's a long time to be apart. After this we have to do another two weeks. UGH!!!
So the sermon I'm working on is for a church that might not be there in a year. Its currently worshipping at about twenty a week. The pastor told me that this week she is beginning the conversations with the church this week about the church's future or lack thereof. its weird writing a sermon under those circumstances. Am I just shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic here? Weird feeling. I'm reminded that I'm just here to be faithful with the time that I have. I have to remind myself that I'm not here to save Portland. I wouldn't want that job anyway.
I had an interesting exchange with one of the pastor's here. On Tuesday afternoon we had are regularly scheduled lunch meeting where I mentioned something about all of us minister types having had some sort of life transforming encounter with Jesus Christ. Later that evening I went to a neighborhood association meeting with one of the pastors. After the meeting he mentioned to me that his church is more "evangelical" than some of the other PUN churches. I told him that wasn't a big deal to me and that I had been raised in a pretty "evangelical" church. He went on to say that he had gotten that impression from what I said earlier. "Its kind of a shock to hear Jesus mentioned in a Presbyterian meeting"...uh...okay. When did "evangelicals" get a corner on the Jesus market? When did Presbyterians abandon Jesus? If Jesus isn't being brought to the meetings than no wonder the churches are shrinking. Maybe we need to have a "bring your saviour to work" day.
I met a pastor here the other day who some would call emergent (mostly because he's a young, white, male pastor), but he des not consider himself that. Missional, yes. Emergent, no. Interesting all the terminology we come up with. Anyway, after explaining what I'm doing, his advice to me was that I need to call these churches to repentence for not truly preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He believes that there is no reason for a church to be dying in Portland. He believes that churches say they want new people, but what they actually want are new people who look and think like them (if they actually want new people at all). I believe he might be right. I think that's true of most of us; we want people in our churches (and in our lives) that look and think like us to the exclusion of difference in opinion, race, religion, etc...So how do we break out of that? I don't know, but I'll let you know when I've figured it out! hahaha...
Last thing, Dietrich Bonhoeffer has some really interesting thoughts on the nature and mission of the church from 'A Testament to Freedom'. I've been reading them in my devotional the past week or so. I'll share some of that next week. Something to look forward to...
Marnie is coming into town tonight! YEA!!!!!! I've been cleaning and stuff today. I'd rather she not see that I've been wallowing in my own filth for two and a half weeks... two and a half weeks! that's a long time to be apart. After this we have to do another two weeks. UGH!!!
So the sermon I'm working on is for a church that might not be there in a year. Its currently worshipping at about twenty a week. The pastor told me that this week she is beginning the conversations with the church this week about the church's future or lack thereof. its weird writing a sermon under those circumstances. Am I just shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic here? Weird feeling. I'm reminded that I'm just here to be faithful with the time that I have. I have to remind myself that I'm not here to save Portland. I wouldn't want that job anyway.
I had an interesting exchange with one of the pastor's here. On Tuesday afternoon we had are regularly scheduled lunch meeting where I mentioned something about all of us minister types having had some sort of life transforming encounter with Jesus Christ. Later that evening I went to a neighborhood association meeting with one of the pastors. After the meeting he mentioned to me that his church is more "evangelical" than some of the other PUN churches. I told him that wasn't a big deal to me and that I had been raised in a pretty "evangelical" church. He went on to say that he had gotten that impression from what I said earlier. "Its kind of a shock to hear Jesus mentioned in a Presbyterian meeting"...uh...okay. When did "evangelicals" get a corner on the Jesus market? When did Presbyterians abandon Jesus? If Jesus isn't being brought to the meetings than no wonder the churches are shrinking. Maybe we need to have a "bring your saviour to work" day.
I met a pastor here the other day who some would call emergent (mostly because he's a young, white, male pastor), but he des not consider himself that. Missional, yes. Emergent, no. Interesting all the terminology we come up with. Anyway, after explaining what I'm doing, his advice to me was that I need to call these churches to repentence for not truly preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He believes that there is no reason for a church to be dying in Portland. He believes that churches say they want new people, but what they actually want are new people who look and think like them (if they actually want new people at all). I believe he might be right. I think that's true of most of us; we want people in our churches (and in our lives) that look and think like us to the exclusion of difference in opinion, race, religion, etc...So how do we break out of that? I don't know, but I'll let you know when I've figured it out! hahaha...
Last thing, Dietrich Bonhoeffer has some really interesting thoughts on the nature and mission of the church from 'A Testament to Freedom'. I've been reading them in my devotional the past week or so. I'll share some of that next week. Something to look forward to...
not much to say, but might i suggest these links:
http://www.pcusa.org/nmd/evangelismandwitness.htm
http://www.pcusa.org/transformation/
(i perticularly like the transformation ministries)
http://www.pcusa.org/nmd/racialethnic.htm
Posted by
Kathryn Craven |
12:16 AM
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Posted by
Nick Larson |
11:14 AM
It's terminology fun! Some how the more and more we label the more and more seperate we become?
It would be kind of wierd to give a sermon to a group of people that is getting that kind of news. It's almost like talking to a cancer patient or someone who has just caught a terminal illness.
I think it's rather wierd in all of what is going on in church discussions today that 'evangelical' has become a label that seperates.
About this young pastor that you talked to in portland. I think that almost everybody who is involved in anything wants to walk through the door and see people who look (and think) like them. It makes us feel safe. We break out of it one relationship at a time. When I think of groups of people that I used to shy away from, I think of individuals who are a part of that group that I know and love now. One by one. That's the only way I know.
Posted by
Nick Larson |
11:17 AM