Hallelujah even though and anyway

Feb. 20, 2012

Here we are at the beginning of Lent, that time of lengthening days that bridges the days between the darkness of winter and the light of spring. Lent is a time for looking inward, for introspection and contemplation of the darkness that is in our lives. It is a time that is not always welcomed in our yearly cycle of life.

Sometimes I envy our brothers and sisters in the southern hemisphere. For them Lent comes at the end of summer into the autumn. The energy and vitality of summer generates a certain strength of spirit for the sometimes difficult journey through the darkness. For many of us north of the equator, winter can sap that energy and vitality.

But the flip side is also true. When our energy and vitality have been sapped, our natural human defensiveness is lowered and we can be more ready and more open to face the questions of Lent. How do we incarnate the life God created us to live? How do we make real in this world the love and well-being God intends? How are we following Love Incarnate on the Way? How can we even think or dream that we might have the gift of renewal and of finding the Way again, when so many of us wander off? Even though we have wandered off and forgotten, can we really hope to be renewed again and again each year?

This isn’t a new idea. Many cultures recognize the need for renewal and reminders, and most often, traditions pointed at this have developed in the spring with its promise of new life, new opportunities. As the earth thaws and the grass greens we are filled with hope for what might be. Judaism has the festival of Passover. For Christians in the north, spring is the season when we tell again the story that lies at the foundation of our faith. It’s a story of “even though.”

Even though humankind continually ignored God, God never gave up on us; God became human and took the worst we could give. Even though the incarnate God died, God rose again in new life. Even though Jesus died and rose, God still didn’t leave us. The Holy Spirit leads and guides and calls us to change our ways to more and more reflect God in our lives and our living.

During Lent we are called to take stock of our lives in the Spirit. It is a good time to pause and reflect on how we are living out our spiritual lives. It is a good time to intentionally set aside our modern cultural craving for speed and immediate results. It’s a good time to slow down and pay close attention to the foundations of our faith into which we have been baptized. 

This is a particularly good year to do so. In this interim time before your next pastor arrives, you will be taking stock of who you are as a congregation together. Then you will begin the process of identifying who you will be. Your Session is reflecting on how best to proceed in the unique context that Eliot is. Eventually, the time will come when you will welcome your new pastor together.

What is becoming clearer and clearer to me in all this is that word “together” and all that it implies about the relational nature of our faith. Relating to one another is ministry of the first order. This is, in fact, the example for ministry set by Christ. I am explicitly not limiting this image to the ministry of word and sacrament (my role). In fact, you will find that your new pastor will be blessed by your having a solid understanding together of who and what you are.

This year, during your Lenten journey, I encourage you to reflect together on how and where your living in the Holy Spirit is going. Use this time that is traditionally set aside for introspection as a time to be in worship, and serve together with the vision of who and what you are. Continue to reflect on what it means to be Christian in the world and here in Lowell. Give the Holy Spirit space to enter into what you do here and touch your common ministry. It is a journey well worth taking. It is a journey that will serve you and your new pastor well.

I have a colleague who signs off all his e-mails with “Hallelujah anyway!” In spite of all our “even thoughs,” he always praises God anyway. That is my prayer for you this Lent: that in the face of all your “even thoughs” you will find and know the hope of newness and renewal that is the promise of the resurrection, that you will find that praising God is natural any way and any time. Even though you may not ever find answers to some of those Lenten questions that are good for all time, Hallelujah anyway!

May Christ be your guide along your personal and you common journey through Lent.

In Christ’s service, Skip

Starting a new year

Jan. 25, 2012

Well, here we are at that time of year when we stop and take a snapshot of Eliot Presbyterian Church. We take a look at what has happened in the last year and where things stand now. There is a great deal of incredible good here and I am blessed to be among you to be part of that. 

It is especially good to see so much happening during the interim time between pastors. That isn’t always the case — oftentimes things slow down or stop. When that occurs, it is usually because of the natural apprehension and tension that accompany times of major change and anxiety. Even though you have your share of all that, I want to focus on one of the main jobs of an interim: to hold up the hope of an exciting future.

I want to do that by reviewing the five tasks of an interim minister that we are trained in. They are called the developmental tasks:

• Coming to terms with history
• Discovering a new identity
• Allowing and empowering new leaders
• Renewing denominational linkages
• Committing to new leadership and directions

The first two you will be working on in the mission study. Your Session is considering ways to best accomplish the mission study, but please remember that you will be an essential part of that process. The more of you who are part of the study and planning, the better the final understanding of Eliot’mission will be.

Also walking with during this time will be the Presbytery if Northern New England, most directly with your liaison with the Committee on Ministry, Rev. Beth Richeson. Some of you are attending presbytery meetings to better understand how the denomination works. And the presbytery is reorganizing too. Your presbytery will be with you through all the challenges, troubles and struggles that may come up. Committing to new leadership and directions is a task you really cannot complete until your new pastor is identified. 

I am blessed to have seen you working on some of the struggles, something not all congregations have the courage to do. I have been impressed by the care and commitment to Eliot and by the respect and trust you have shown for one another in some difficult conversations. And I see you trying to look toward the future so that you can begin to see what God has in store. Any prospective pastor will be positively impressed by a congregation that has already started down this road.

Friends, I know that times of change, of transition, can be unnerving and unsettling. You have been living that for some time. Yet it is out of the seeming chaos of uncertainty that wonderful creativity arises. Your energy, your spirit and your commitment to Jesus Christ tell me that Eliot will not just survive. You will flourish.

My prayer for you is that you will enjoy a new and long future:

• a future that is built upon the strengths of your common past, but not strangled by the past
• a future that reflects the gifts and resources of Eliot as you creatively serve the needs of Lowell and surrounding areas
• a future in which you will all get to know more of who the Presbytery of Northern New England is and what we do, and I hope that you will find ways to be part of that
• a future in which the wonderful spirit that is evident in this place will grow and be a beacon to all those who are seeking the Spirit.

Most translations of Genesis continue the historic rendering of “In the beginning, God created. . . .” There is an alternate translation that also accurately translates the Hebrew text (actually there is a number of alternates). The alternate that seems best to me is “When God began creating. . . .” Creation hasn’t ended. God continues to weave new tapestries of life. As we travel this year and our common ministry together, I pray that history will read, “When Eliot Presbyterian Church began again creating. . . .” 

Our work together is not done. The work of Christ in the world never is, and we are part of that. Thanks be to God that He is working with us.

In Christ’s ministry together, Skip