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Past Messages from The Visitor
February 2010
Here we are ready to begin a new season in the church year on February
17. Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent, which is 40 days in length, not
counting Sundays (always little days of resurrection.) My kids always figured that
meant if they gave something up for Lent, Sundays didn’t count!
However you count the 40 days, we remember that we are invited to
follow Jesus’ example of withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days. So Lent
is a time for introspection, repentance and prayer. Lent is also a good time to
delve into scripture; as a congregation we will work our way through Mark’s gospel
reading two chapters each week. Mark’s gospel was the first to be written down,
it’s the shortest and it focuses more on what Jesus did than what he said. So here’s
your reading assignment:
February 21: Mark 1 & 2 February 28: Mark 3 & 4 March 7: Mark 5 & 6 March 14: Mark 7 & 8
March 21: Mark 9 & 10 March 28: Mark 11-14 (Palm/Passion Sunday) April 4: Mark 15 & 16 (Easter)
On Palm Sunday the 10:00 AM service
will begin across the street in the park with the other downtown churches. We are
hoping to have a live donkey or two, wave palm branches and march to our churches.
More information will be forthcoming, as we get closer to the date.
On Good Friday our downtown churches
are also planning to visit various modern day “Stations of the Cross” in the downtown
area beginning at noon. If you would like to help with the planning of this powerful
witness,we will meet on Saturday Feb. 6 10:00 at Trinity Episcopal Church. Let me
know if you are coming!
May the power of the Risen Christ be present in our lives this Lent.
Faithfully,
Judith
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January 2010
New Year’s resolutions have been on my mind as they are at the end of every
year. Three years ago I joined a local gym with the intention of getting
exercise at least three times a week. The three-year membership included a
couple of sessions with a personal trainer and I took advantage of those! That
was the last time I went to the gym although the monthly fee was taken from my
checkbook each month. After injuring my back in November, it became very clear
that exercise has to be at the top of my “to do” list.
I have lots of good intentions at the beginning of every New Year that fizzle
out before January is over. I am trying to be more realistic this year with my
time and my energy. What is God calling me to do with my time? What is God’s
desire for me to take better care of my body and spirit? If I can view New
Year’s resolutions as spiritual disciplines that honor God, I just might be able
to keep them more fully.
So once again I make a few resolutions for 2010. Here are my good intention
resolutions:
• Practice 15 minutes of Spanish at least every other day • Walk Arlo (my dog) thirty minutes at least five days a week • Pray more, snack less, drink more water and less coffee • Find a reasonable exercise program to strengthen my core
I am very energized about some of the new beginnings at Reno First for 2010.
We’re looking at getting our Stephen Ministry back up and going, the food panty ministry is more fully funded and better organized to feed
the hungry, we have new leadership for the Church Council who will begin working for and with you, as we finish our review of “Five
Practices of Fruitful Congregations”.
God has richly blessed us with so many talented and generous members. May we
honor God in the choices we make each day of how we spend our time, which is
literally how we live our lives one day at a time!
Faithfully, Judith
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November 2009
Someone asked me this week how I was doing getting to know
people. My answer was not a simple one: with some of the church leaders who are
in the office on a regular basis or attending meetings or the women’s retreat, I
know their names and something about their families; with those who only attend
worship on Sundays, I am feeling a loss. How can I get to know you better? With
a church of 600 members, it’s a challenge! I hope we can find ways to visit and
get acquainted in small groups.
This has never been easy for me. I was reminded of this recently
when a colleague mentioned to me that she was an extreme introvert and needed a
lot of time alone. We joked about comparing our Myers-Briggs personality
inventories to see who was more introverted. I have been puzzled why God calls
introverts into the ministry when it’s such a people-oriented profession! Each
congregation is made up of a combination of people, so allow me to remind you of
some of our differences:
● Extroverts speak
in order to think. Every thought is voiced out loud in order to sort things
out.
● Being with a lot
of people charges an extrovert.
●
An introvert will not force his/herself into a conversation.
●
Being with a lot of people exhausts an introvert.
Some people will experience me (as an introvert) as aloof or
unfriendly. I love people, fall in love with every congregation, but it’s
difficult for me to express this, especially in a large group, unless I’m “in
charge.” I would rather listen to other people and relate better one-on-one.
It’s also difficult for me to express warmth, even when I care deeply. This is a
learned behavior from my family and I’m so grateful that my own children are
breaking this cycle.
Introverts and extroverts must live together in our families,
businesses and churches. Extroverts can learn to not speak every thought in
order to give introverts a chance. Introverts can learn to risk speaking up more
often. Yes, introverts frustrate extroverts and extroverts exhaust introverts.
Isn’t it amazing how God made us so different and unique? God needs all of us to
learn to work together in order to build places of peace: in our families, in
the church and in the world. Thank you for being such a loving and accepting
church where every person is valued! Let’s continue to work on ways to know one
another better!
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October 2009
The newly formed Leadership Team
met for the first time on September 15. The team, open to everyone who wanted to
be a part, focused on the first Practice of Fruitful Congregations: Radical Hospitality.
(Please
see highlights on the cover of “The Visitor” - Oct 2009.)
We discussed why people visit First UMC, Reno on an average
Sunday morning:
● They are new to the area and are
“church shopping.”
●
The beauty of the building and sanctuary.
●
Word-of-mouth or invitation of a friend or neighbor.
●
They are experiencing a personal crisis.
Most likely the “only Sunday we have to make an impression is
that Sunday”!
Here are some of the conclusions we drew:
●
Radical Hospitality, being
welcoming to newcomers, is the responsibility of every member of the church, not
just a select few. This extends not only in worship but also into Fellowship
after worship.
●
The ushers and greeters
need specific training and procedures for welcoming visitors.
●
We need to develop very
intentional ways for following up with visitors the first week after they visit.
●
We need to improve our
signs inside and outside the building so first time visitors can find restrooms,
the nursery, the Fellowship Hall, etc.
We also brainstormed about the needs of our community and how we
are being called to meet these for those not yet coming to our church or any
church. This will be an on-going and growing discussion!
The sermon series during October will highlight The Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations
and the dialogue and planning will continue over the next six months. Being a
part of the team is still an open invitation. We are reading the book
“Cultivating Fruitfulness”, by Robert Schnase. All 28 of the books were
purchased; you can order a copy on-line or borrow one from another member.
I have been invigorated by the response of our church’s
willingness to look very honestly at our strengths and our weaknesses. A
mathematician in the group calculated that in our first meeting those present
represented almost 500 years in Reno First UMC! And we felt challenged to
provide “a place we love” for the next generations.
For Jesus’ sake. Faithfully, Judith
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September 2009
Your Church Council met on August 11th and agreed to embark on an exciting
journey together; everyone in the congregation is encouraged to join in!
We will each be reading a 10-minute daily devotion from a book “Cultivating
Fruitfulness” that is a companion to the larger book “Five Practices of Fruitful
Congregations.” Whoever wants to participate will be part of the
First Church Leadership Team. We will meet monthly for
one hour to discuss and implement for the five practices:
Where are we excelling and where do we need to improve? Where do we discern
God is calling us to reach out and in what ways? What are some tangible and
concrete ways to put these practices into…well, practice?
If you would like to participate you may pick up a copy of the book in the
church office during the week or on Sunday mornings. The suggested donation is
$6.00 per book. You will find the readings inspirational and thought provoking.
And we will value as much input from the congregation that we can gather.
First Church Leadership Team will meet the third Tuesday of each month from
7:00 to 8:00 PM in the parlor or sanctuary. At 8:00 if there is any business to
come before the Church Council, those interested are encouraged to stay until
8:30. So the first official meeting of the First Church
Leadership Team is Tuesday, September 15th. Consider this an
invitation to take your place in helping to chart our future; you will find your
own faith journey enriched along the way!
Faithfully,
Judith
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August 2009
Reno has been a pleasant surprise in so many ways: the lovely
flower baskets along the bridges, concerts and art everywhere I look, people who
offer to help in the church and a general excitement about our new beginning.
And what a treat to live surrounded by mountains and along the river!
It’s always a bit odd to move to a new church in July because so
many people are taking vacations and committees often take a well -deserved
break. But that gives me time to ease into a routine while still unpacking boxes
and deciding where to place the furniture. Once the painting in completed in the
parsonage, I can really begin to settle in with hanging my favorite things on
the walls and organizing books on the shelves in my home office.
Speaking of offices, I will do most of my work at the church
office and will generally be in Tuesday- Friday from 9:00 to 3:00. I will do my
reading and sermon preparation at my home office where there are fewer
distractions. Monday will be my day off (my Sabbath, if you will), and I will
only be available for real emergencies. Those working in the office will always
be able to get in touch with me, so it is best to go through them in the case of
an emergency. I will plan an afternoon a week for visitations and always
available to go to the hospital when someone is admitted or before a surgery.
When I have to be out of town for a meeting, I will be sure there is pastoral
coverage for such occasions.
Please continue to be patient as I learn your names. The
nametags help a lot, as I am a visual learner. If you do not have one, please
let the office know and she will have one made just for you!
As you will notice in this issue of “The Visitor” I am preaching
a sermon series this summer with some very basic faith concepts in order
for you to get to know me. Feedback is always appreciated and will help me
to get to know you as well. I am looking forward to my first meetings with the
major church committees as we listen to God together to discern where God is
calling us in this time and place. It is an honor to be among you in these times
where the light of Christ is needed so desperately.
Faithfully, Judith
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July 2009
I
am eagerly awaiting my move to Reno and getting to know the congregation of 1st
Reno. This first year will be one of getting to know one another. It will be a
time of waiting, watching and wondering. Some have described our denomination as
one of “arranged marriages”! This we know: God is good! Christ has gone before
me to prepare a place and a people in Reno as Christ has prepared the
congregation in Manteca to welcome their new pastor. It’s the genius of the
United Methodist system, but it doesn’t come without some challenges. Change is
rarely easy or welcome; it forces us into places we may rather not go. And it
will be a time of celebrating new life for both of us as well. I am eager to be
back in the mountains and living on the river. Those are life-giving forces for
me.
Here’s a brief bio: I was ordained in 1974, graduated from Pacific School of
Religion in 1975, and after serving for five years in California, I moved to
Alaska to be a missionary. I was serving on the General Board of Global
Ministries at the time where I discovered this awesome possibility for ministry.
As an avid back-packer and hiker, with an interest in Native American cultures,
Alaska appealed to me in many ways. My husband and I moved to Seward in 1980
with a nine-month-old son; our daughter was born there in 1982. I was the only
patient in the hospital that Mother’s Day and a doctor in my congregation
delivered her! I was selected to serve as “Minister-in-Residence” in 1986 at
Pacific School of Religion and assisted in teaching “United Methodist History
and Polity” and “Women in Protestantism”. That June we returned to Alaska where
I served as the pastor of the UMC in Chugiak for six years. I was elected by the
Jurisdictional Conference to serve on the General Board of Church and Society
and worked with the Department of Environmental Justice and Survival for eight
years. I continue to have a passion for environmental issues.
In 1988 my life was turned upside down after major surgery, a divorce and the
following year the death of my father from cancer. In 1992 I returned to
California where I served a church in San Jose for four years. The stark change
from Alaska to San Jose was difficult; I then served churches in Montana and
Wyoming for six years, returning to California in 2002. My mother lived with me
from mid-2006 until her death in February 2007. Both of my children graduated
from Willamette University in Salem, OR. My son is currently a doctoral student
at UNC, Chapel Hill in Comparative Politics (Latin American emphasis) who plans
to teach after receiving his degree. He is helping with my move so you may meet
him! My daughter is married and working on her credential to teach English
(while being fluent in French)! They have one child, a 17 month-old son. Yes, I
am a proud grandmother and you will meet them soon as well; they live in
Sacramento and both are avid rock climbers! My grandson is not far behind in his
climbing adventures. And last but not least, I have a two-year-old dog named
Boo, (a golden retriever -mix). I love all kinds of music and have sung in
church and community choirs since the third grade! I look forward to the rich
tradition of music at First Reno and in the greater Reno community. I am an avid
reader and love to cook and bake when I can share the results with others. Like
your former pastors, I am also a lover of congregations. I have been trained as
a spiritual director in the contemplative tradition and have attended the
Academy for Spiritual Formation through the Upper Room. My passion is creative
worship (that incorporates liturgy and tradition) and spiritual formation that
moves us from looking inside to turning outside, serving the world as Jesus
calls us. Above all I believe we are each called to love God with all our
hearts, minds and spirits and our neighbors as ourselves.
Faithfully, Judith
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June 2009
With
little bottles of bubbles left from son Jacob and Sonya’s wedding in San Rafael
the week after Easter, we summed up my mother’s burial on my dad’s birthday just
before Mothers Day, on the banks of the Fox River, St. Charles, IL – leaving the
air above the family plot shimmering with fragile resiliency! A gentle playful
foretaste of another side of the Holy Spirit whose wind and fire ignite and
inspire the DAY OF PENTECOST May 31! It’s my favorite day of the church year –
the culmination of resurrection in the form of Christ’s Spirit returning to fill
his Body the Church with continuing presence and power of his life and work!
I believe there is no other “return,” no “second coming,” no
more excuses – We are it! Jesus has no other plan than us! I hope that I will be
remembered, now that my fulltime work for the church is done, as part of the
gentle playful side of the Spirit. I am serious about things to be serious
about. But I am always humbled by how little we ever grasp of our all-too-human
role and responsibility as consciousness of creation to “represent Christ”
whoever, wherever we are. Like Jesus, each of us has our ways to let go. Mine is
undoubtedly too verbose.
Since I came to ministry in response to Dr. King’s death, I am
specially thankful for chances to offer our community the
yet-to-befully-revealed gift of the weekends we did to remember and recommit to
his “unfinished business” – of poverty, racism, war. I am a child of the
sixties. Beginning seminary in 1968 and becoming a 3-year student pastor, I have
been preaching for 40 years! Get the hook!! As we all preach with one foot in
heaven, one foot on earth, so I have tried to preach one foot in the church, one
in the community. Thanks to this congregation, “like a tree that’s planted by
the water,” for not moving but being moved by the chaos/community,
wilderness/promised land, staying “downtown!”
Now that I have grown to accept and appreciate this best
possible circumstance for all, Julie and I look forward to adventurously
beginning again, as we have our whole life together – from Showboat days on the
Ohio River and Peace Corps in Turkey, through conversion and call (or was it
call and conversion?), 25 years in Chicago as an adoptive family, California
and even Nevada! As usual, we did not know exactly where or how we were going.
We came here with no other plan.
This was to be (for better and worse – as all things are!) last
stop on our fulltime itinerancy. The “state of the church” was good when we got
here. It is good now. My mother, among all the words of wisdom we attribute to
her, said all comparisons are odious. We are at a different, newer – perhaps
edgier, even riskier place – still on the journey – still responding to God’s
still gracious invitation to follow Jesus at all costs – still revealed to, for,
with, through, in spite of us by the Holy Spirit – leading, guiding, evoking,
inspiring, cleaning up after us!
Thanks and Love Always, John and Julie
PS – Most of these words served as introduction to a “state of
the church” report I left with Church Council. You are welcome to a copy. Let me
know you want it.
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May 2009
Dear “Springers” to Life!
Praise the Lord – CHRIST IS RISEN! I am so thankful
for all the good preparation and participation in Holy Week and Easter
Sunday services! The Tongan Youth Band arrived from a church
engagement in San Francisco at 2 AM Palm Sunday morning to be able to
accompany the procession into Jerusalem!
The children and families of Sunday School led us through
Thursday supper with communion – the older students moving among tables to
ask questions revealing the biblical persons they were – the younger
creating a handwashing table in spirit of Jesus’ footwashing! The Youth
Group then read the Passion narrative for Tennebrae. Friday the Tongan
Youth Choir gently accentuated personal witnesses to Jesus’ last words. As
Pastor Art Griffen witnessed, the work of the one on the cross is not done
until we all come together and just get along!
I had one of those grandfathers who always reminded me to
return anything I borrowed in as good or better shape than I found it. Those
terms are always relative. But Julie and I are privileged to have “borrowed”
pastoral leadership of this congregation a while. We have respect for the
past, excitement about the present, and belief in the future of the life,
mission, witness and service of this congregation!
We love how the more traditionally “administrative” teams of
us – Finance, Trustees, Staff-Parish Relations, Stewardship – are connecting
with one another and with the common concern and commitment to our
ministries.
Please nurture and nourish the existing and emerging
“program” teams – Artown (led by Cheryl Shingler),
Missions and Social Concerns (Priscilla Barton, Patti Bengtson, Mike
Faulstich), Nurture and Congregational Care (Susan Miller, Ruth
Stacy, Young Lowe), Witness and New Member Support (Paula McDonough,
David Shintani), and Worship and Sanctuary Adornment (Zona
Hairgrove, Mary King). Of course, the life and work of this
congregation spring up and thrive in all sorts of spontaneous and less
“organized” ways. There is a group and/or project for everyone, it seems –
and where none is at the moment, there may be soon!
“Order” follows from “word” and sacrament” in our life
together -- what we proclaim and practice of Christ – how we walk the talk
of the Holy Spirit. As lovers of congregations for the past 41 years,
we know of their power in larger community near and far. Please, carry on
that crucial interfaith and ecumenical work toward “faith-based organizing!”
We all are so desperately needed. Now Julie and I – as we seek to “heal and
make whole” in our own lives and life together -- go back to the “real work”
of being “laos,” laity, the whole people of God! The work subversive of
“what is” in behalf of “what can and should be” is here, there, and
everywhere! Jesus is calling – We hear his voice over the deep!
Love, John and Julie
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April 2009
Dearly Faithful to the End --
I am proposing to call Holy Week “King
for a Day – Fear-Breaker Forever!” In our Lenten studies of the prophets
with Joan Chittister, and in news of the world all around us, fears possess
us – for our jobs, our homes, our savings, our general sense of sell-being
and security, yes! But also for our powers and prerogatives to speak up and
out about what we perceive in light of our faith.
Amos, for instance, was “Mr. Normalcy,” –
comfortably part of established propriety and prosperity. Only he could not
help but wonder who was getting poorer as the rich were getting richer. Now
we know: any of us can get poor!
Jesus says only perfect love can cast out
fear. We’ll spend the resurrection season pondering, practicing that.
Living in faith is like falling in love – more than once! Without growing
up much in church, I fell in love with “God” (unnamably) through skies and
stars, mountains and trees, rivers and oceans – mystery, grandeur, beauty,
wonder. Then I met a tiny United Methodist congregation on the north side
of Chicago who believed as Wesley did, the world was their parish! I fell
in love with Jesus through singing, praying, preaching, studying, speaking
and acting out – I have seen Jesus in so many congregational faces ever
since.
It took me a while to find the Holy
Spirit – even as Pentecost pales alongside awareness of Christmas and Easter
in our church and culture. I fell in love with the Holy Spirit through the
biblical record of “Jubilee!” – a time of “atonement,” of radical
forgiveness – sins, trespasses, and debts! The goodness and fairness of God
so clearly built into creation itself – in the beginning and in each new day
-- are meant to be built into history, human community, as well! We are
entitled to fresh starts and new beginnings – equal access to grace
spiritual and material!
At District Training Day, we traced this
thread from Genesis through Leviticus, Isaiah, Luke, and Acts – Jesus
embodying “Jubilee” once and for all – the Church born to be his witness!
Between scriptures we said the response –
For
God makes the sun to rise on the evil and on the good.
God
sends the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike.
Let
us be perfect as God is Perfect – Thy kingdom come,
Thy
will be done – on Earth! – as it is in heaven.
We also made up a new second verse to
“Morning Has Broken” –
Rain
on the just, and reign on the unjust.
Debts, sins forgiven – trespasses, too.
Equal
beginnings, equal belongings,
Fresh, free, and fair starts – every day new!
The
world within and around our church and culture today are driven by
(Nevada-style!) by “boom and bust” cycles of wealth and impoverishment,
greed and indebtedness. Those are precisely the cycles “Jubilee” breaks and
mends into ever more diverse and inclusive community of all peoples and with
all creation.
I rarely imagined through the years how
transparently, practically applicable “Jubilee” might become in a time such
as ours! What choice might save us – but to start over again? To declare
“all-ee, all-ee, all in free” on all that we “owe” one another (other than
love, which Paul calls our sole obligation!). To grant to each (especially
the indentured, enslaved, imprisoned, emigrated) equality of access and
parity of result – all God’s children provided for equally by God’s
resources!
In the End Is the Beginning – Love, John
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March 2009
A NOTE FROM CURT FONKEN, PASTORAL ASSOCIATE
As you read this, we’ve entered into the season of Lent and
our journey toward the cross. Our journey doesn’t stop with the cross, for
on the other side of it is the mystery of the empty tomb. Like any journey,
it is best approached with a great deal of preparation. Yet we all know that
is not always done.
Journeys can take on a mystical bent and a life of their
own, sometimes wondering where we’re headed and sometimes stuck where we’ve
already been. As I look back upon my life, I often wonder where this journey
is taking me. Embracing where I’ve already been, but praying I don’t get
stuck there, knowing that as I look forward the future is full of
opportunity. Yet to take advantage of the opportunities requires
choices. Once the choices are made, the preparation begins again and new
opportunities arise.
Jesus, Moses and Elijah each spent 40 days in the
wilderness. It was not just a time of wandering, but of choices and
preparation. As we enter this 40 days of Lent, what new choices can we make
and how do we prepare ourselves once the choices are made for the journey
ahead?
In Christ’s Love,
Curt Fonken - Pastoral Associate
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February 2009
Pathwalkers & Patchworkers!
Hope my favorite line from the Inaugural Address applies to each
and all of us – “Our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness!”
Inaugural events were a little ego-trippy for “professional” Protestants –
Bishop Gene Robinson (Episcopal), Pastor Rick Warren
(Baptist), Rev. Joseph Lowery (United Methodist).
In timely succession, on Sunday, February 8, 3 PM,
FUMC hosts the next “Interfaith Dialogue” presenting “Protestant
Christianity.” (We also will observe Ashure with “Noah’s Pudding” Feb. 8.)
PLEASE come out and help us. We went to the Mosque in January and will be at
Temple Sinai for Hinduism March 15 and Judaism April 19. This is a local but
lasting way to invest in a more just and peaceful, inclusive and equal future
for all our children!
It is worth noting Inaugural events historically were blessed by
a more diverse range of religious professionals – at least by Catholic, Jewish,
Orthodox and Protestant leaders. This year’s publicized “pray-off” among
Protestants represents a diverting but narrowing, perhaps limiting, form of
diversity. I’d love to know what you think about all this.
Meantime the “pray-ers” each contributed to the blessing of the
whole. Rev. Lowery brought rich pertinency and poignancy of the Freedom and
Civil Rights Movements – “God of our weary years, God of our silent tears . . .
Keep us forever in the path we pray.”
Because we know you got the whole world in your hands, we pray
for not only our nation, but for the community of nations.” “While we have sown
the seeds of greed” . . . we seek “to turn to each other and not on each other.”
“As we leave this mountaintop . . . .We know you will not leave us alone.” “Help
us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can
stick around, when yellow is mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man; and
when white will embrace what is right.”
Pastor Warren rejoiced in this “hinge-point of history” in “a
land of unequaled possibility.” “We know Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses
are shouting in heaven.” “When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other,
when we forget you, forgive us . . . forgive us . . . forgive us.” “Help us to
share, to serve, and to seek the common good of all.” “In the name of the one
who changed my life, Yeshua, Isa, Jesus, Jesus (hay-SOOS) . . .”
Bishop Robinson began, “O God of our many understandings . . . .
Bless us with tears . . . Bless us with anger . . . Bless us with discomfort . .
. Bless us with patience . . . Bless us with humility . . . Bless us with
freedom from mere tolerance . . . Bless with compassion and generosity.” “Give
your child Barack “wisdom beyond his years . . . a quiet heart . . . stirring
words . . . .” “Make him color-blind . . . . Help him remember his own
oppression . . . . Give him the strength to find family time and privacy . . . .
And, please, God, keep him safe ….” Amen.
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January 2009
Dearly Enlightened/Enlightening Ones & Others,
Like Rocky in the movies, “I just want to go the distance” in my appointments
and in my ministry. Julie and I feel we have gone as far as we can at Reno First
UMC and in our fulltime ordained and appointed ministry. We are asking our
Bishop to grant us retirement as of July 1, 2009. Mostly we seek time for me to
heal and for us to get used to each other again without the demands of being the
pastor – even or especially to such an exciting, fulfilling congregation as you
are!
Chances are we will try to take some time in Florida close to the Gulf where
my sister owns a condo and where we can swim and walk the sand nearly every day.
Then we are likely to settle in southern California. I look forward to preaching
as I am asked. We would also like to think I will get some writing done – famous
last & first words! Rest assured, we will be active as we can in the witness and
service of inclusive and just community – Raising “Hail Mary’s Magnificat – so
that the New Creation may come on earth as it is in heaven!
We did not come to Reno wanting or waiting to go anywhere else. We sought to
conclude our full-time ministry doing the best we could for this congregation
and community. We have been more than pleased we did! A year or two more or less
may or may not matter. But I am hardly able to stand through weddings and
sermons (I know, I know – shorter sermons! You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone!).
I have to calculate how to make pastoral visits and public appearances. I will
be 66 years old in July. Mind and spirit feel strong as ever but flesh is weak!
The climate is not best for me. Church and parsonage have not been easily
accessible – though the church is well on its way to be -- Bravo! This church,
both within and around it, needs more time, energy, strength than I can give.
We know well, by God’s grace, that gratitude is a whole way of life. We can
only begin to say who all and what all we are thankful for here. We are very
modest. We like to take credit for the recent successes of Wolf Pack teams, the
installation of the kayak park, the completion of at least a phase of sheltering
facilities, the invigorations of Artown and River Walk . . . . Then there is the
condition of the state budget. Ministry is by nature a mixed and mixing
blessing!
Actually, many good and faithful things have happened – some whose time had
come anyway, some who benefited by our presence. I can only to start to name
them now – I know you will help me finish them. Up to nine Artown concerts a
year – plus exhibits – and all the theater connections – Nevada Shakespeare (“A
SingleWoman”), Ageless Rep, now Good Luck Macbeth – and the Bishop’s visit! Our
own powerful music – and many other gifts and graces of leadership – in more
participatory worship. Many exciting Adult Class sessions and one Disciples
Bible Study. A Youth Group that kept a strong life of its own through many
changes of leadership – and some confirmations! A Sunday School/Children’s Time
refusing to be lost in the basement but growing in participants and
contributions. Apportionments paid in full at least once – and an oversubscribed
Capital Campaign – with continuing mission component.
Strong leadership to Kairos/Ridge House, IHN/Family Promise, now Drop in the
Bucket and New Orleans/ Fernley Recovery teams, Dr. King Weekends, Molly Ivins
Pots and Pans. . . . Help me think of more that we have been and done.
None of it is any substitute for the day to day life and work of loving and
serving one another together – in worship, study, fellowship, prayer, visitation
– that together we may serve the world.
Just think of some of the lives we have received and lives we have sent on –
figuratively, literally. And God is not done with us yet!! Six more
memorable months lie ahead.
It’s good to begin in Epiphany – the journey time of the World’s Wisdom both
coming to us and being revealed in us – Jan. 4, Look for the “wise ones” and
“kings!” Jan. 11, Renew our baptisms with Jesus, celebrate covenant and
leadership for 2009! Jan. 18, Happy Birthday, Dr. King, and Human Relations
Sunday! Jan. 25, Reconciling Congregations Sunday. February brings Black History
– look for a video on the evolution of African-American music!
Transfiguration Sunday, Feb. 22, is traditionally Healing Sunday for us. I
would like to see that as a springboard into a “healing" theme for Lent – your
suggestions welcome. (Connects with Prayer and Share and with new Congregational
Care Team.) During Eastertide I’d like to emphasize the coming together of
“freedom/liberation movements” around the fullness of “human rights” – in this
80th year since Dr. King’s birth and 60th year of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights. It is a momentous time in all of our histories – from the most
personal at the core of our lives to the most general in our nation and our
world. All I can say in closing is how glad Julie and I are to be alive! To be
well at all! To be at work with you to welcome the reveling and revealing
Life-Light of Christ.
Keep Your Lamps Lit, Love, John
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