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This blog is the intersection of many aspects of my life, liturgy, social justice, sacramental, Christian Church, african american culture and eqaulity for gay and lesbian people and all this is link to my eucharistic-centered spirituality at the table of the Lord. When we break bread together we give meaning to our life in community.
Friday, July 25, 2014
Tuesday, July 08, 2014
Congregational Sustainablity in the Independent/Old Catholic Community
One of the most significant issues facing the IC/OC movement is sustainability and leadership development. Most congregations in this movement shut their doors at the death or resignation of a pastor. It is essential to have strong lay and clerical leadership in a congregation. Financial sustainability is critical and that requires building a good stewardship model of raising givers to our ministries. Leadership sustainability requires building strong lay leadership,discerning and preparing people for ordained ministry. A good discipleship model will produce lay leaders and ordained leaders arising from our common baptismal call to ministry.
My thoughts on church planting
The primary mission for all congregations is making disciples . The goal of ministries is transformed lives. Vision is the local context of the mission expressed by how you incarnate your ministry to the people you have been called to reach for the kingdom.
Strategy is the tools that you use to make your church a disciple making organism through worship, study, service, community building and evangelism. In the Independent Old Catholic environment, the Eucharist, daily office, sacraments, catechumenate, bible study are some of the instruments that we utilize . We are constantly focused on helping our people grow spiritually and in discipleship.
Wednesday, July 02, 2014
Some thoughts on evangelism,church planting,renewal,diversity in the OC/IC movement.
I believe that Independent/Old Catholic congregations of
all sizes can be strong missionary outposts in our local communities
I believe that our congregations can be vital and thriving
communities regardless of size. It is
for this reason that I have studied congregational development, church planting
and renewal. I believe the primary focus
of our congregations should be on making disciples, not seeking folks from other
churches. The unchurched and dechurched among our communities is significant. If
we accept the great commission from Jesus “to makes disciples “ we can create vital
communities of various sizes and demographics. It is from the unchurched and dechurched people in our communities who should be our
primary mission field. They are often right in the neighborhood where are
churches are situated.
I believe like the pastor of a Roman Catholic parish in Baltimore, we have much to learn from some of our evangelical brothers and sisters.
I believe like the pastor of a Roman Catholic parish in Baltimore, we have much to learn from some of our evangelical brothers and sisters.
“Without apology and eventually without
embarrassment, we became students of successful growing churches. Most all that
we studied are evangelical Protestants, who have more or less cornered the
market when it comes to intentional church growth across the America religious
landscape. Seventy five percent of Catholics who have left the Catholic Church
to become Protestants have chosen evangelical churches, so it looked like a
good place to start. Clearly they have something to teach us. “Father Michael
White, Author of Rebuilt.
Awakening the Faithful, Reaching the Lost, Making Church Matter
Awakening the Faithful, Reaching the Lost, Making Church Matter
There are many resources from Episcopal/Anglican and
Lutheran congregations on effective evangelism and reaching the unchurched.
Many of these principles can be adapted to our sacramental context. The
creation of welcoming environments for the unchurched is crucial to this
evangelism. I must say in this movement some of us have been waiting for large
numbers of Roman Catholics to leave their parishes and join us. That rarely happens,
except in unique situations.
But there are many evangelicals and non-affiliated ex-Catholics
who have not grace the doors of the Roman Catholic Church or our doors. We know
that in the majority of evangelical churches, mainline Protestants and that
large denomination called “Nones” consists of former Roman Catholics. So it’s
possible that we could attract those folks who have left and not found another
spiritual home. There are people in our community who been not been a part of
any church or a part of conservative churches who are looking for places to
connect to Christ in a community. How do
we reach those people?
If we are to reach those folks, we will need to meet their
spiritual needs that have been identified in research. Strong scriptural preaching applied to daily
living, liturgy with strong and good music that they can sing, Bible study that
helps people connect and understand scripture and finally service to those in
need in our local community, hands on service, not just charity.
We don’t need to become fundamentalists as we do this.
We may have to find new ways to gather people for worship,
study and service and it might not be on a Sunday morning, or in a traditional
church building. Things have changed in our society, a lot of people works on
weekends, families are often engage in youth sports and that is our
competition. In the Northwest hiking, being outdoors or brunch with
friends occupy many young adults and young families. So let the Holy Spirit
guide you in serving new expressions of ministry. So instead of lamenting why
people have changed, we should be thinking of new ways we can connect to them. Traditional expressions of church will remain
the majority of our ministries, done well, they can draw the unchurched.
Excellence in all we do is important. Father Michael White says the weekend
experience is primary to our connecting to the unchurched. “The weekend
experience is the number one opportunity for people in the community to connect
with church. And almost everyone who
actually does come in contact with the parish does so on the weekend. In that brief time, they will decide if it’s
worth it to come back or not. If the experience is boring and bad, then they
won’t”
Bishop Eugene Sutton of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland
shared this gem in a sermon to pastoral musicians about worship.
“Good
worship consists of its own “three legged stool”: music, liturgy and preaching.
Each leg of that stool is important, and if one of them is weak than the other
two will not be able to stand for long. The truth is no matter how earnestly a
church may pour itself into serving its community (which, as I said earlier, is
a good thing), if the preaching is uninspiring, the liturgy is sloppy, or the
music is barely listenable, then that church will shrink and eventually may
have to close its doors as a worshiping community. “
These
things ring true for traditional or new expressions of congregations. We do not
need to throw out the baby, but we may have to change the bathwater
Stephanie Spellers speaking about Anglican
essentials and evangelism, believes
that embracing diversity in the church may require us to change the bathwater
without throwing out the baby. As in the
Episcopal Church ,the IC/OC movement is
majority white and middle class. That often shapes the culture of most of our
congregations and ministries. Yet if we are going to do evangelism that reaches other
generations and people of diverse cultures. It requires some adaption. They might seek what we offer and adapt it
to their culture or local context. We are called by Jesus ”to make disciples of
all people” So here is what I believe
are essentials in our movement as Independent/Old Catholics that we can adapt
in traditional and new expressions of congregations:
The vernacular
principle, Incarnation, ancient Catholic traditions,liturgical ordo , God’s
mission and Jesus. I add to those baptismal covenant
and living, eucharistic ecclesiology, synodality, unity in diversity. If we build ministries around these essentials, they make look different in your
local ministry context, but they can hold our catholicity.
Our
mission and ministry would look different in Seattle and Minneapolis, have a
different flavor of worship in an Anglo, African-American, Latino or Asian
congregation. Our congregational outreach might focus on immigrants, homeless
people, LGBT persons, women or children, our catholicity will hold together in
our essentials. Let’s look around us to
see where God might be calling us to plant, renew or create diverse expressions
of ministries.
Our greatest opportunity to reach God’s people is often
right in front of our eyes, our local neighborhood. Many people, who never
attend your congregation, consider you their pastor. I encourage some priests to return to the concept
of neighborhood or parish ministry.
Make Jesus known to your neighbor, by getting to know your neighbors. Our congregations must always be outward
focused on reaching those who are not a part of our communities. There are so
many possibilities and opportunities that God is providing us.
Now to those who think, I might be overly optimistic or
idealistic, let me share these words with you today.
I know that it is hard work to build a ministry from
scratch, often with your own funds.
I know that is can be overwhelming at times, strategizing
about how to reach and connect to people, while working a full time job.
I know what it’s like to have people think your ministry
is not legitimate, because it is small
and part of a movement that is unheard by a majority of people .
I know it’s hard to put yourself out there among other
clergy, who might treat you or see you as suspect, since you are not part of
mainstream church.
I know what it is like to spend your free time preparing
for liturgy each week, set up the church, and serve as the welcoming committee
and marketing specialist. Only to have no one show up or those who do show up, come
with many ideas about what you should be doing. They are not willing to help in
implementing these wonderful ideas.
I’m here to say to you, if this is what you have been
called to do as your primary purpose or even secondary vocation, don’t give
up. But I encourage you to get up, get
on with it and stay connected to Jesus in prayer to sustain you in those
difficult moments.
Have I become discouraged at times, you bet! Did I walk
away at one point, yes, but the call would not walk away from me. Despite all
these things, I believe that it is possible to do this ministry.
This ministry that we are called to do in the
Independent/Old Catholic Movement requires prayer, planning, purpose and perseverance. It will require that we step out of our
comfort zones. It requires that we meet
people, often one on one. Get out of the office and into the coffee shops,
pubs, community centers, walking your neighborhood where your church is located
meeting God’s people.
I know this is the vision of evangelism that we are
seeking to build in our jurisdiction, it is my hope that this may encourage
others as you about your mission and ministry, let us pray for the Kingdom to
come among us, as Jesus choose to come among us to change our lives and the world.
I believe that Independent/Old
Catholic congregations of all sizes can be strong missionary outposts in our
local communities.
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Who that at the Well? Third Sunday
This past Sunday I preached on the text about the woman at
the well, with a slight variation, that changed the story to Jesus meeting a LGBT
person at the well. Since I don’t preach from written text, this is a recapture
of what I said on Sunday.
John 4:5-42
Text: Who That At The
Well?
Jesus asked the Lesbian “Give me a drink” and She said, How
can you ask me for a drink, your church says I’m abomination, your church says
that I’m unnatural. Jesus response was “did I say that to you? I’m the word of God, not the rules, not the
book or the church. They have words
about God, but I’m the real thing. “If you knew who you really were talking too
that I can give this living water”. So Jesus says let me give you living water
and a living word from which you will never thirst again.
Jesus says to gay man” go get your partner and others in
your life that is on the margins” Jesus said I know that you have that have not
always lived a spiritual life. You may have some regrets about relationships,
past actions “The gay man said, “Jesus you know all things that I’ve done in my
life”
I would be can’t go to church to worship you”
They stare at me, laugh behind back, talk about me and besides you said that I
had to worship at the big mega church in Tacoma. Jesus said that time will come
when you will worship me, wherever the Spirit and Truth shows up. You will worship with all “sorts and
conditions of people”
A place that has a
word for you that heals and restores and not condemn, “My house is a house of
prayer for all people” Come on in to your house.
The Transwoman said to him, "I know that the Messiah is
coming" (who is called Christ). "When he comes, he will proclaim all
things to us." Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is speaking
to you." I’m proclaiming to you
that when you live in truth, you will be free.
I’m telling you, if that church
won’t welcome you, I have others that will welcome you.
The transman went back to the community and said “I met this
man who told me everything I had done” He said he loved who I was before and
who I’m now.
I don’t know if you
hearing me today, Spirit of Christ, but somebody need to know that we got Samaritans
in our life, we had such a person who came to our church last weekend. He was
homeless and mentally ill. He was taking off his shoes and socks, but he
is our Samaritan in the middle of worship. Yes his feet smelled, but guess what he came to worship Jesus. He came in our midst and challenged us on who
all are welcomed here. Are we ready for what other Samaritans God will bring
through these doors?
There other Samaritans in Tacoma who are skeptical about our church or any church. They are afraid if they come to
the well, they find judgment and rejection. We can’t just wait for people to
come to the well. Let’s go meet them in
the coffee shops, nightclubs and streets of downtown. If
Jesus wasn’t afraid to go to places that others thought he shouldn’t be seen in
or with people that he shouldn’t be caught talking to them. We can’t be either. We need to go to the Samaritans, straight, homeless, addicted,
poor, rich and middle class Samaritans. Undocumented and Queer Samaritans. Thanks to
Father Shannon Kearns and Brian Murphy for helping me to embrace the word
Queer. There are so many Samaritans , I can’t name them all today, but let’s keep
looking for them.
We have a Jesus who was willing to cross boundaries of his
culture, so must we. We have a Jesus who
said that he will them give water from which they will never thirst, then we
must be a people who having been baptized in the living waters, must ensure
that all of God’s children know this good news and share the living water with
others.
Who that at well? A
homeless man with smelly feet. Who that
at the well? Somebody needing to know “Jesus and Justice”. Who that at the well? A child of God! You don’t have to thirst or
hunger, Let Jesus fill you.
Finally as your pastor, if Jesus didn’t say it to you, don’t
be listening to those other folks, who know everything, but not love in their hearts.
You are welcome at the well!
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Be Free Like Me
Earlier today on Facebook I put up a video up of a woman
singing two songs, The Lord is Blessing Me Right Now and Give Us This Day. I returned to the second song multiple times
today. What keeps drawing me back to it, is this verse.
"To go from here
And share this love
You gave to me
To show someone who's
lost
And help them find
their way,
The way to truth and
faith
So they can be free
Be free like me
Be free like me"
Her melodic voice on the last line, moved me to tears today. They were tears of gratitude that I’m free. I
thought of the day I decided to come out for good, it was a weight lifted off
me, no more hiding, no being afraid that my family would not find out from someone else No more
worries about staying in a church that said I was intrinsically disordered. At Tuesday evening community night mass at
College Seminary, when the
priest read the gospel for that evening with the verse "You shall know the truth
and it shall set you free" I knew I had been freed, no turning back for me.
I have family,
friends, job and church I love and been blessed by all along the journey by
many people. I’m out and open and free to be in all of dimensions of life. The reason I engage in a ministry in addition
to my full time job, it has been my calling to help other LGBT people to live
in truth and freedom.
For the last 21 years I have tried to be a liberating
minister /witness for my community, because too many LGBT people can't believe
that God loves them, which often leads to believing they can't receive love
from others. Fail love themselves or believe they deserve a loving relationship.
I want them to know that “God Is Love”, since she is all knowing ,is not
surprised by who they are, but he is waiting for them to recognize who are in
God. A valued creation of a empowering God.
I know that I'm
free! So many can't be free in Uganda, Iran, Nigeria, Russia, other countries
and even in the United States. I will not give up on this fight for equality
and human rights for LGBT people around the world. I look forward to the day
when they can sit in their home and cry tears of joy as they listen to the
words of this song. Knowing they can be free! Until then and beyond I will keep building a progressive
church in Tacoma. A faith community of LGBT people and our allies who
seek "Jesus and Justice" in freedom.
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