From Quaker Hill

Easter

2011-04-24T00:01:00.005-04:00

“When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back.” ~ Mark 16:4

"There will come a time when you believe everything is finished; that will be the beginning.” ~ Louis L’Amour

The cross is bare

The stone is rolled away

The tomb is empty.

Christ is risen. He is risen indeed!

Lent 3: A Holy Week

2011-04-20T09:16:00.001-04:00

Walking through this week is always a challenge. We are asked to ponder some deep questions and consider some deeply troubling events.

In my recent trip to Israel, one of the most moving moments was in, what is now, the church of St. Peter in Gallicantu. It is just outside the walls of old Jerusalem. And it is believed that on this site was the house of Caiaphas, the high priest to whom Jesus was brought after being arrested. In the lowest level of the building there is a pit, dug out of solid rock, which dates to the time of Jesus. It seems likely that Jesus would have been held here. While our group gathered in this small, dark space, I read the 88th Psalm (…You have put me in the Pit, in the regions dark and deep…).

Outside of the church would have been the courtyard that Peter, at a distance, followed Jesus to, and in which he denied he knew him, not once, but three times.

Right along side this building and courtyard is the ancient roadway up which Jesus would have been led after his arrest in Gethsemane. (see left)

It is hard to be so close to where all these things took place without seeing them in a new and powerful way. For three years Jesus taught of another way to live; a way that showed the transforming power of a humble, sacrificial love. During this week we saw it lived out. And we can’t help but hear the words “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for ones friends”.

Lent 2: Do You Trust Me?

2011-03-29T11:29:00.000-04:00

As we move deeper and deeper into Lent, closer and closer to Jerusalem, the words of Jesus take on more meaning.

Words like these: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.” Mark 8:34-35

In such challenging words, we can hear that what Jesus is really asking us is “Do you trust me?” Maybe this is the real question of Lent.

Look at this Youtube clip about Nick Vujicic. He is an Australian preacher and speaker, who was born without arms or legs. We can only imagine the challenges he has faced, and yet he has found peace and joy in his life. He travels the world now to share these deep truths. Especially listen for the big question he has for God, and the answer he gets.

The "Letting Go" of Lent

2011-03-09T16:13:00.000-05:00

Many of us come from traditions of giving something up for Lent. This can be a good spiritual discipline and one that makes the meaning of Lent richer. But I think we find the true meaning of this season by asking why we give something up.

The truth is that we can’t experience the fullness of Easter, resurrection, and renewal, without first experiencing a letting go of some things. Giving up a particular food or something else you normally do, is symbolic of a greater giving up.

This is the season we share the journey to Jerusalem and the cross, with Jesus. And we do so, that we might share in the joy of new life. This talk of sharing the journey with Jesus can seem abstract until we ask what it is that needs to die within ourselves. We are the only ones who can answer that question for ourselves, but I am convinced that we each already know the answer.

Our faith is based on dying and rising. It is about letting something go, so something better can enter in. It is not easy to let some things die. Some things we are not ready to let die. Others will remain because we prefer the comfort and security they bring. And yet others will stay because we haven’t looked deep within ourselves and seen them for what they are. But in order to live the life that God intends for us, in Christ, there is always a letting go, a dying, that occurs again and again throughout our lives. But the good news is that by doing this, we find a new life, a new birth, and a new beginning.

What does each of us need to let go of this Lent?

A “Fat Sunday”

2011-02-17T16:51:00.001-05:00

Christ Church on Quaker Hill is a congregation that values its rich and storied history. But unlike some others churches where the past drives the future, this congregation is also very open to new ideas. They are a people who truly believe God can bring us to new places.

One of our relatively new traditions here is “Fat Sunday”. On the Sunday before Lent begins, our worship service takes on a New Orleans feel. Based on the New Orleans tradition of Mardi Gras – Fat Tuesday - we reclaim the Christian roots of this time, to strike a celebratory and thankful note before the more reflective season of Lent begins. There is some great jazz music, the service has a different feel and even the coffee hour will make you think you are in New Orleans.

One of the images that I often think of around this service is that of a traditional New Orleans funeral. Maybe you’ve seen one. On the way to the cemetery the music is sad and somber, acknowledging what is happening in that moment. But then, after they leave the cemetery, the music is raucous and celebratory and triumphant. They celebrate a greater reality – God’s promise of new life.

Lent is a time to look inward and to reflect on Christ and ourselves. But at the same time we have the benefit of knowing that the journey of Lent brings us to the joy of Easter. As we prepare to enter this season of introspection and preparation, we take this particular Sunday to remember that ultimately we are a resurrection people.

This year, for the first time, on the Saturday evening before, we are having an “Evening of Jazz” as a prelude to the Sunday Service. On Saturday, March 5^th, beginning at 7:30PM this fundraising event will be an informal evening of some great music, desserts and wonderful fellowship,

And if you are nearby, join us Sunday, March 6^th at 10AM in the church as we sound a note of celebration and good news. You can click here for more information about Christ Church on Quaker Hill.
Photo attributed to Infrogmation, 1996 under Creative Commons Attribution License 2.5

Looking at the Horizon

2010-12-14T15:09:00.000-05:00

This season of Advent asks several things of us, but maybe the one we most need, is to wait and patiently watch for the coming of Christ. In days that grow progressively darker, we are invited to quietly look at the horizon for the light of the world.

But I’ll bet that doesn’t sound like what you’ve been doing this December. The parade of excess comes earlier each year, rushing us all into Christmas. For weeks now we've seen too many holiday displays, penciled in too many events on our December calendars and heard too many Muzak carols. And that isn’t even mentioning the shopping. The world around us keeps speeding up the Christmas merry-go-round. And we get caught up in it. Every year we feel like Christmas has come and gone so quickly and we feel empty and maybe even sad. It just isn’t what it should be. But we can stop. We can remember that this time before Christmas is not just the “holiday season”, it is Advent and we can reclaim what it means for us. And in the process we can reclaim the true meaning of this time of the year and maybe even a little bit of our sanity.

By fully knowing what Advent means, we understand we can’t rush through it just to get to Christmas. Advent is a season of waiting and preparation. Although it may be tempting to rush headlong into a full-blown Christmas celebration, it's good for us to slow down and wait, recognizing that all our deepest hopes and longings can only be satisfied by God. We watch, as we prepare for Christ to come anew into our hearts. We watch for the coming of Christ again into this broken and confused world. It is hard to truly grasp Christmas without the patient waiting and preparation of Advent.

Our days of waiting are contrasted against a world of shopping mall lines, filled calendars and rushing around. In great contrast, simplicity and silence are strikingly honest to us, and perhaps quiet simplicity is the best way of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to our complex world today.

After so many chaotic Decembers, this year maybe you will have one that is different. One that will allow you slow down and let sink in, what this coming Christ really means in your life. Don't let the busyness and rush that December has become, get between you and the real coming of Christ. Instead, slow down and watch for Him.

This year, don’t forget to take time to gaze upon the horizon.

Processing the Pilgrimage

2010-11-18T15:21:00.000-05:00

Have you ever had one of those experiences that is hard to put into words? That is the case with my recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Maybe if I had several pages it might help, but for a blog entry it becomes even more difficult. As I try and find the essence of what I experienced those 10 days, it might be this: In all I saw and felt, there was a reaffirmation of my faith – a reminder of the reality of God’s blessing and Christ’s presence. I’m not sure anything was added to whatever it is that makes up my faith, but it was strengthened and renewed. So much of the work of God’s hand has seemed to have focused on this little piece of land, seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

It is hard to pick a special moment or place, because there were so many, but my favorite passage of scripture is Matthew 14:22-33. One of the days we took a boat out onto the Sea of Galilee. Being out there, where that took place, and being able to see from Capernaum to Tiberius, where so much of Jesus ministry happened, was very moving for me.

Some have asked me if this experience has made the bible come alive for me. The answer is yes, but even more it has made Christ, and his work in the world seem closer. And that is a great gift.

Here are just few pictures of some of the sights.

The Sea of Galilee

The Synagogue in Capernaum where Jesus preached

The Tomb of Christ in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher

The Old City of Jerusalem looking towards the Temple Mount

The Western Wall

Looking at the Dead Sea (and Jordan in the background) from Masada

A doorway in the Old City of Jerusalem

Preparing for a Pilgrimage

2010-10-21T17:14:00.002-04:00

In the next few weeks my wife and I will be taking a trip to the Holy Land. We have never been before and to say we are excited is an understatement.

As one interested in all kinds of history, being in sites that are central to our faith is a big part of what we are looking forward to. But maybe even more so will be walking in the places in Jesus walked.

Ultimately the walk of faith is, spiritually, walking that same path. We are asked to do this every day. But to actually be in those very places Jesus walked and taught makes that call upon our lives even more real and alive.

When I was in Yale Divinity School I took a great course entitled “Pilgrimage in Word and Image.” It was a study of various Christian pilgrimages over the years. One of the concepts that was often talked was called “liminality.” Liminal, here, means the idea of a border or threshold. Each pilgrimage includes a stage when we leave behind our “regular life”, go someplace different, and stand at the threshold of something new, and possibility life changing. I am starting to have that sense as our departure grows closer.

The path Jesus walked took him through crowds of thousands and to places of solitude; to mountaintops and the wilderness. It brought him to tables where he ate with the marginal and outcasts. Along the way he blessed, healed, taught and showed all who would listen, a new way. Ultimately it led him to Jerusalem. And there, through him, God showed us the truth about ourselves and the even bigger truth about his gift of grace and new life.

Walking those very steps will be powerful. And at those times when the path ahead seems unclear, having this experience will remind me of where I am to go.

From Nepal

2010-09-24T15:01:00.000-04:00

Many have asked how my daughter Blair, who I wrote about earlier this summer, is doing in Nepal. Here is a link to that post: http://fromquakerhill.blogspot.com/2010/07/fathers-perspective-on-following-jesus.html

I am glad to say she is well and is really enjoying working with the children in a couple of different orphanages. A bit of culture shock at first, but she has grown to love these kids. It will, she says, be hard to leave them. Here are some pictures of Blair with some of the children of Nepal.

Easter in Autumn

2010-09-15T10:47:00.000-04:00

The church can point to many different days as the “beginning” of its year. For some the first Sunday in Advent starts the liturgical year. For other churches July 1st seems the beginning of the year because they vote on a new budget and new board members. Of course, we could consider what the calendar tells us, that January 1 is the start of the year.

But I always consider September a beginning. It has the feel of a new start. Schools are back in session. The calmer days of summer give way to the return to real life. In the church many folks who have been away over the summer are back in the pews. Sunday school gears back up. Programs start up again. It does have the feel of a new beginning to it – in some ways maybe even an Easter feel.

Yes, it might be easier to see the message of resurrection, in the season when flowers are blooming and trees are coming back to life. But in the fall the promise and potential of new life is just as clear. It is a time of new beginnings and a fresh start. Isn’t one of the things that Easter tells us is that each day is a new beginning and a chance to begin a new life? The promise of resurrection is not just for eternity but also for now.

Even as we look out at the dead leaves on our lawns and see the barren trees we remember that God, in Christ, tells us there is more than we can see with our eyes. It is the ultimate promise of hope. As things start up again in September, we can know it is a gift - a fresh beginning. And most of us could use a fresh start every so often.

Yes, Easter will always be in the spring but we need to hold onto, and live, that Easter message each day – and maybe most especially when the leaves are falling and winter seems close.

What Steven Slater Shows Us About Ourselves

2010-08-19T13:54:00.003-04:00

The story of Steven Slater, the now famous JetBlue flight attendant, has captured our attention for the past week or so. The story itself has gotten a little murky as more details have come out. To some he is a working class hero, who did what we might like to do, when practically assaulted by a member of the public. To others it was he who treated folks poorly and so deserves what the District Attorney wants to give him.

We’ll let the truth about those details sort themselves out. What interested me was how the story became a way for us to talk about our work lives and the way we treat each other there.

It seems to me that many can identify with the feeling of being beleaguered in their work. And for many, the way they are treated by the public just adds to this sense. (Just ask anybody in retail.) I also get the sense that this has not always been the case; that in recent times it has all gotten worse. Likewise some feel that the way they are treated as a customer isn’t up to the level of service and consideration that they might reasonably expect.

As we step back and look at this phenomenon, there is one word that jumps out at me – stress. I think the rising sense of stress in our lives, is showing up here first, and maybe most clearly. Many are feeling more and more strained and anxious in their work. The way we are treating each other seems to have taken a downward slide. All of us appear to be feeling increasingly tense in our lives and it comes out in how we interact with each other.

As people of faith, what does all this call us to? Ultimately I hear the call of Jesus to love our brothers and sisters as ourselves. Like many things Jesus said, it is much easier to hear, than it is to live. Alright, love might be a bit too much to expect in that kind of relationship, but it at least means having a certain minimum respect.

For those in service work, it might mean not letting that particularly mean or rude customer change who you are, or let them affect the way you serve others. For customers and clients it might mean not dumping all the strain of our lives, on the person who happens to be waiting us at the local store. And it certainly means not yelling at them.

Stress can be a perpetuating event. As others unload on us, we do the same to others. As we feel it, it comes out in many ways and places – maybe most easily in the human being who is most vulnerable. It all comes down to how we treat everybody we come in contact with. Maybe I am just getting older, but don’t you think we treat each other with less civility, graciousness, and, maybe even love, than we used to?

A Father's Perspective on Following Jesus

2010-07-15T16:06:00.003-04:00

One of my favorite preachers is Will Willimon, formerly the dean of the Chapel at Duke University. He tells a story about getting a call from a very irate father one day.

“I hold you personally responsible for this!” this father yelled.

“Me?” Willimon asked.

This father was upset because his daughter, who was about to graduate from Duke, had just informed him that she was going to "throw it all away" and go do mission work with the Presbyterians in Haiti.

“Isn't that absurd!” shouted the father. “A degree in mechanical engineering from Duke and she's going to dig ditches in Haiti. You are completely irresponsible to have encouraged her to do this. I hold you personally responsible!”

“Me?!” Willimon protested. “But you are the one responsible! You are the one who started this ball rolling. You were the one who had her baptized, read Bible stories to her, took her to Sunday School, let her go on trips with the Presbyterian Youth Fellowship.” Willimon said, “You're the one who introduced her to Jesus, not me.”

“But,” the father said, “all we ever wanted was for her to be a Presbyterian!”

When I think of this story I usually picture myself in Willimon’s place. But now I find myself in the father’s place. In a couple of months my little girl, Blair – well, she’s 24 but she’s still my little girl – will be getting on a plane and going to Nepal to work in an orphanage. You can read about this trip in an article linked below.

Am I anxious about this? Yes. Will I sleep well until she comes home? No. And yet isn’t this what her mother and I raised her to be? In our case we thought we just wanted for her to be a Congregationalist, but here she is going to a country half way around the world to help children.

Our faith asks us to be more than just a member of a church or denomination. It asks us to follow Christ. Somehow I think Jesus would go to Nepal to help orphans.

After living in Hollywood for 4 years my daughter has come to see that the real depth and meaning of life is not in the places our culture tells us they are. The real meaning of life is in being in places like Nepal and sharing healing. It was that same Jesus we introduced Blair to, who said “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:40)

Sometimes, as parents, the seeds we plant grow into something more than what we expected. Thank God for that.

To read more about Blair's adventure, or to help her, click here to read more: http://www.examiner.com/x-15160-Hartford-Motherhood-Examiner~y2010m7d13-Next-stop-for-Bridgewater-native--Nepal-orphanage

What do we owe our kids?

2010-07-03T18:06:00.000-04:00

Any pastor will tell you that having a good youth ministry is one of the hardest things for a church to create and sustain. Getting middle and high schoolers to even come to church is difficult enough, but having a program that they enjoy and find something that has some meaning to them, is even more difficult.

At the same time we know how important a good and strong faith can mean to them, in such a changing and formative time in their lives. There are many voices out there that are trying to tell our kids who they are. Not all of them are good. They need to hear from us that they are a beloved child of God. They need to hear, on a regular basis, "remember who you are". As I look back on my life, I see that the ministry offered to me when I was a teenager was a seed. While I wasn't sure of its value at the time, it certainly blossomed many years later. We owe it to our kids to at least plant the seed. Few things that we do as a church are as important as that.

And so as our church discusses our vision and plans for such a ministry, we need to hear from many voices, share many ideas, and be open to where God is leading us. I invite your input.

What do we owe our kids?