The Tulsa portion of my 30 day Sabbatical Experiment was very pleasing. In spite of my anxieties about the mini-reunion it was way more fun than I could have hoped. The whole reconnecting with friends from days gone by was especially sweet and wonderful. Yet, as we talked and remembered and filled in the gaps of our lives it was not difficult to discover that many of us have lived through some really difficult days and situations, health concerns, marriages that didn't go well and the like. Not a one of us seemed to be without scars of some sort and there were even some among us who had fresh wounds. It seems to be so that none of us walks through this world unscathed. We've reached our 50's and that's plenty of time for a hike through the woods of life.
Most of the people, and perhaps even all of them, who were there are decent, good people. Bad things do indeed happen to the best of us. One particularly endeared friend is reovering from the loss of her father whom she deeply adored. She is very strong in faith and has lived her principles, as did her dad. But, grief shows on her face nonetheless.
I often assert that life can almost always be explained by physics. A curious thing for a pastor to say others often think. But I believe that when a heavy load begins to crush us it is good to have a structure around us that can support and distribute the weight. Because none of us escapes life unschathed it is good indeed to have friends who bear us up on eagle's wings and help us carry the load.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
A Long Way to Go and a Short Time to Get There
We picked up the RV a little early today thanks to some outstanding and wonderful employees at NotNu/Cruise America in Tulsa. We hit the road around 12:30 Central time with me behind the wheel.
The rented RV planted itself at 70 MPH and didn't look back. Stroud, Oklahoma City, Weatherford, Shamrock, Amarillo, Tucumcarie and now we rest at the KOA in Albuquerque. Apparently they have Wi-Fi because here I am at midnight thirty writing in the blog.
The landscape along the way was inspiring. The hills and farms of Oklahoma, dotted with gas wells and ponds. The flat prairie of the Texas panhandle with mesquite growing low and washes and draws where Indians used to hide from the US Army. The mesas, ravines and oddly shaped mountains of eastern New Mexico without a tree in sight. Inspiring. It is amazing the change in topography you can experience in one day's drive. Amazing.
The sunset over the New Mexico mountains was special and the full moon guiding us tonight was our constant friend.
The KOA is very nice and the RV seems to be functioning quite well, even if it is only accomplishing about 7 MPG. That may have more to do with the leadfoot behind the wheel than anything else.
We will all sleep well tonight. In fact I am yawning now and ready to sign off.
Goodnight from Albuquerque.
The rented RV planted itself at 70 MPH and didn't look back. Stroud, Oklahoma City, Weatherford, Shamrock, Amarillo, Tucumcarie and now we rest at the KOA in Albuquerque. Apparently they have Wi-Fi because here I am at midnight thirty writing in the blog.
The landscape along the way was inspiring. The hills and farms of Oklahoma, dotted with gas wells and ponds. The flat prairie of the Texas panhandle with mesquite growing low and washes and draws where Indians used to hide from the US Army. The mesas, ravines and oddly shaped mountains of eastern New Mexico without a tree in sight. Inspiring. It is amazing the change in topography you can experience in one day's drive. Amazing.
The sunset over the New Mexico mountains was special and the full moon guiding us tonight was our constant friend.
The KOA is very nice and the RV seems to be functioning quite well, even if it is only accomplishing about 7 MPG. That may have more to do with the leadfoot behind the wheel than anything else.
We will all sleep well tonight. In fact I am yawning now and ready to sign off.
Goodnight from Albuquerque.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Disaster or Disaster Avoided?
Today was a disaster. Or perhaps it is a day when disaster was avoided.
The morning went pretty well. We left the hotel in St Robert, MO close to an "on-time departure" and arrived in Tulsa to do a bit of sight-seeing for Ryan, and a little coney eating too, before we went to Mom and Dad's.
We loaded the RV and made for Oklahoma City. First, it was the generator that malfunctioned. The generator was surging which made it nearly impossible for the air conditioner to run, which made it really, really hot inside the RV. So, before we got out of town we stopped and tried to make adjustments. Nothing really worked but I got behind the wheel and we entered the Turner Turnpike.
That's when the engine went amiss. Each time we tried to climb a hill it would starve for fuel. It backfired once. Still, I kept thinking it might just smooth out.
Forty miles onto the turnpike we hit the toll booth. As we exited the RV decided not to shift into overdrive. The torque converter wasn't kicking in. So, Dad said, "Jerry, we need to turn around and go home. We can't have this thing breaking down and stranding us in the middle of nowhere." By the way, the middle of nowhere was our chosen destination but breaking down there was not our chosen activity.
So, I turned us around and headed back to town; bewildered and with my Dad nearly sunk with disappointment and sorrow. He kept saying he was sorry, but, it didn't need to be said because he hadn't caused the phantoms and I wasn't about to hold the misfortunes of the day against him.
Still, I didn't know exactly what to do. We called a place in Tulsa called NotNu and they rent CruiseAmerica RV's. Yes, we can get one tomorrow she said. Not today? Nope, thanks to Timothy McVeigh no one can get a same-day RV rental ever again.
I talked with Kelly and she said that this was a once in a lifetime trip and we would just work out the money at a later time. How, I don't know and I didn't really think about it as I signed the rental agreement.
Tomorrow we get a CruiseAmerica RV with a huge billboard on the side of it. It's bare. We have to take everything from toilet paper to sheets with us tomorrow. It's gonna be an ordeal, but, they have roadside assistance. It's nearly new. It sleeps 7. It may be OK.
But, we still have to get to Phoenix by 9:00 PM on Wednesday to pick up Kelly at the airport. Hard days ahead tomorrow and Wednesday. We can't get the rolling billboard until noon tomorrow and it will surely be 1:00 before we are packed and moving.
Still, I think today is about learning something. Even though it seemed to have all went wrong we are moving forward; trying to learn; trying to be on sabbatical. By the way, that was especially hard to do today because the church phone kept calling me to tell me someone had left a message. I thought I had turned that off but I guess I didn't. The tech guy was supposed to call or come by last Thursday to help with the phones but he didn't.
Trying hard to be on sabbatical. Trying hard to learn each day. Today I learned a lot about character and will and determination and grit. And I think Dallas and Ryan learned something too. I hope they did.
The morning went pretty well. We left the hotel in St Robert, MO close to an "on-time departure" and arrived in Tulsa to do a bit of sight-seeing for Ryan, and a little coney eating too, before we went to Mom and Dad's.
We loaded the RV and made for Oklahoma City. First, it was the generator that malfunctioned. The generator was surging which made it nearly impossible for the air conditioner to run, which made it really, really hot inside the RV. So, before we got out of town we stopped and tried to make adjustments. Nothing really worked but I got behind the wheel and we entered the Turner Turnpike.
That's when the engine went amiss. Each time we tried to climb a hill it would starve for fuel. It backfired once. Still, I kept thinking it might just smooth out.
Forty miles onto the turnpike we hit the toll booth. As we exited the RV decided not to shift into overdrive. The torque converter wasn't kicking in. So, Dad said, "Jerry, we need to turn around and go home. We can't have this thing breaking down and stranding us in the middle of nowhere." By the way, the middle of nowhere was our chosen destination but breaking down there was not our chosen activity.
So, I turned us around and headed back to town; bewildered and with my Dad nearly sunk with disappointment and sorrow. He kept saying he was sorry, but, it didn't need to be said because he hadn't caused the phantoms and I wasn't about to hold the misfortunes of the day against him.
Still, I didn't know exactly what to do. We called a place in Tulsa called NotNu and they rent CruiseAmerica RV's. Yes, we can get one tomorrow she said. Not today? Nope, thanks to Timothy McVeigh no one can get a same-day RV rental ever again.
I talked with Kelly and she said that this was a once in a lifetime trip and we would just work out the money at a later time. How, I don't know and I didn't really think about it as I signed the rental agreement.
Tomorrow we get a CruiseAmerica RV with a huge billboard on the side of it. It's bare. We have to take everything from toilet paper to sheets with us tomorrow. It's gonna be an ordeal, but, they have roadside assistance. It's nearly new. It sleeps 7. It may be OK.
But, we still have to get to Phoenix by 9:00 PM on Wednesday to pick up Kelly at the airport. Hard days ahead tomorrow and Wednesday. We can't get the rolling billboard until noon tomorrow and it will surely be 1:00 before we are packed and moving.
Still, I think today is about learning something. Even though it seemed to have all went wrong we are moving forward; trying to learn; trying to be on sabbatical. By the way, that was especially hard to do today because the church phone kept calling me to tell me someone had left a message. I thought I had turned that off but I guess I didn't. The tech guy was supposed to call or come by last Thursday to help with the phones but he didn't.
Trying hard to be on sabbatical. Trying hard to learn each day. Today I learned a lot about character and will and determination and grit. And I think Dallas and Ryan learned something too. I hope they did.
The 30 Day Sabbatical Experiment
We (Dallas, Ryan Pendleton, and I) have made it to the Hampton Inn in St. Robert, MO. The boys are asleep as I post pictures and write this. It has been a long, long day.
We got started on the trip about 1:25 this afternoon and pulled into the Gateway Arch Parking Garage at just about 6 PM Central time. While we were getting Ryan's camera out of the trunk I sliced my middle finger right hand wide open on the underside of the trunk. It bled immediately and a pretty good amount. I pinched hard and got it stopped but I am typing with a handicap. It hurts.
The trip up the Gateway Arch in StL was as good as it has ever been. The Mississippi River is out of its banks, above the walkways and into the street below the arch. Dallas stood in the river which we thought was great fun.
So, it's publish this, try to sleep and get on the road around 7:30 tomorrow morning. We are hoping to make the panhandle of TX by tomorrow night.
We got started on the trip about 1:25 this afternoon and pulled into the Gateway Arch Parking Garage at just about 6 PM Central time. While we were getting Ryan's camera out of the trunk I sliced my middle finger right hand wide open on the underside of the trunk. It bled immediately and a pretty good amount. I pinched hard and got it stopped but I am typing with a handicap. It hurts.
The trip up the Gateway Arch in StL was as good as it has ever been. The Mississippi River is out of its banks, above the walkways and into the street below the arch. Dallas stood in the river which we thought was great fun.
So, it's publish this, try to sleep and get on the road around 7:30 tomorrow morning. We are hoping to make the panhandle of TX by tomorrow night.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Here Is the Church.....
When I was a child I was taught, like many, many others, to put my hands together with my fingers interlocked and my two index fingers pointing skyward as I said, "here is the church, here is the steeple." Then you would open your hands with fingers still interlocked and say, "open it up and here are the people."
I have a completely different perspective on this exercise today and don't think I recommend it any more.
Why?
Two reasons.
First, the people should be outside the church where the people who need to hear the message the church offers actually live. Those people who are in need and are seeking aren't near as likely in our day to search for a church to attend. They won't come to us any more. It's time we go to them. Jesus rarely taught in the synagogues and temples, he did, but it was far more often we find him on a hill, at a lakefront, in someone's home, on the road. When he commissioned the 70 to be his advance men he sent them out on the road and into homes, not the temple and not the synagogue.
Church people should be outside the walls of the church.
Second, when you open your hands in this exercise the fingers that represent the church people are still interlocked. They are tight knit. We used to say that cohesion and group identification in the church were good things, and to some extent they still are. It's not near as satisfying to affiliate with a congregation where you don't feel connected and integrated -- and that makes the opposite point. The church is too tight, too cohesive and not near welcoming and inclusive enough. It's difficult to break in. We even have rules that say new members can't be in leadership until they have been in the church for a certain period of time. The church needs to be less interlocked and more open.
Really, about the only thing I like about the exercise any more is where it says, "open the church." Yes, let's do that. Let's open the church and when we do maybe more people will find its message essential to their lives.
I have a completely different perspective on this exercise today and don't think I recommend it any more.
Why?
Two reasons.
First, the people should be outside the church where the people who need to hear the message the church offers actually live. Those people who are in need and are seeking aren't near as likely in our day to search for a church to attend. They won't come to us any more. It's time we go to them. Jesus rarely taught in the synagogues and temples, he did, but it was far more often we find him on a hill, at a lakefront, in someone's home, on the road. When he commissioned the 70 to be his advance men he sent them out on the road and into homes, not the temple and not the synagogue.
Church people should be outside the walls of the church.
Second, when you open your hands in this exercise the fingers that represent the church people are still interlocked. They are tight knit. We used to say that cohesion and group identification in the church were good things, and to some extent they still are. It's not near as satisfying to affiliate with a congregation where you don't feel connected and integrated -- and that makes the opposite point. The church is too tight, too cohesive and not near welcoming and inclusive enough. It's difficult to break in. We even have rules that say new members can't be in leadership until they have been in the church for a certain period of time. The church needs to be less interlocked and more open.
Really, about the only thing I like about the exercise any more is where it says, "open the church." Yes, let's do that. Let's open the church and when we do maybe more people will find its message essential to their lives.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Asking for Money
It's Capital Fund Drive time at the congregation I Pastor. It's that time when the Pastor and the Fund Drive leaders ask the congregation to give some extra over the next three years to help pay down the debt on the facility.
I don't mind asking for money.
What the church is about is worth supporting. From food pantry to visitation, from Habitat house to community Easter Egg Hunt, the church is worth supporting.
On the other side of the aisle; out there in the chairs, people complain when you ask for money. If you've been a part of a congregation for any length of time you know that the church needs money and is going to ask for it. And, if you are really active in the work of the congregation it's likely that you already have within you a desire to support the church financially.
However, all that being said, I would like to not have to ask. I would prefer that the church members offer; that they say, "we recognize the value of the church in our lives and in the lives of others and we want to give this extra." Sometimes that happens for smaller projects -- here's hoping that someday it happens for something bigger.
In the meantime, I will be asking for money.
I don't mind asking for money.
What the church is about is worth supporting. From food pantry to visitation, from Habitat house to community Easter Egg Hunt, the church is worth supporting.
On the other side of the aisle; out there in the chairs, people complain when you ask for money. If you've been a part of a congregation for any length of time you know that the church needs money and is going to ask for it. And, if you are really active in the work of the congregation it's likely that you already have within you a desire to support the church financially.
However, all that being said, I would like to not have to ask. I would prefer that the church members offer; that they say, "we recognize the value of the church in our lives and in the lives of others and we want to give this extra." Sometimes that happens for smaller projects -- here's hoping that someday it happens for something bigger.
In the meantime, I will be asking for money.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
The Gossip Factory
Why is it a part of church life, this she said or he said thing? Why is it that we have to tell someone what someone else said? It's drama. It's inflammatory. It causes extra pastoral work for the pastor. It does not build up the church, which was intended to be a mission outpost not a gossip factory.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)