in Faith Wordle

Here is the Wordle rendering of this past Sunday's sermon; the fourth in our four-part sermon series based on the Church's identity statement -- Caring Christians Joined in Faith. Which means next week you can expect a different color scheme and lay-out, but for now, the four renderings actually look pretty cool together. For the full text, click here. Or to see the full image, just click on the picture below.

I've been thinking about...

Last Sunday’s Order of Worship.

Over the last few Sundays I have filled this space with extended quotes from Temporary Shepherds (the handbook for interim times). As we finish up our four-part sermon series, it makes sense to do it one more time! So here are the concluding thoughts from contributor Linda Lea Snyder on the importance of identity work in the interim time:

This task of discovering a new identity can be one of the most exciting components of your interim time as a congregation. It is work inextricably tied to the other developmental tasks, especially the tasks of coming to terms with history and committing to new directions in ministry. Work on the other tasks will also be work on this one. Bit by bit, when you develop an eye for it, you will begin to see the outlines of a new identity that God is giving you for the next chapter of your journey as a community of faith. In that identity you will find your greatest clarity of mission and your fullest joy as a congregation. Knowing yourselves will also help you make a good leadership match with your next pastor.

Today is the conclusion of our four-part sermon series based on this church's mission statement – Caring Christians Joined in Faith. We've dedicated a worship service a week to each one of those words and today we'll talk about “Faith”, in the hope that that word continues to define the character and quality (the identity) of this gathered community.

Yours in the journey, Rev. Brian

Joined Wordle

Another week, another Wordle rendering. Here is the link to the full manuscript for this past Sunday's sermon. It is the third in a four-part sermon series, and so you'll notice that all the settings (color, font, layout) are exactly the same as last two week's.

I've been thinking about...

...Last Sunday’s Order of Worship.

Last Sunday I filled this space with an extended quote from Temporary Shepherds (the handbook for interim times). I liked it so much, I decided to do it again! So here is more from contributor Linda Lea Snyder on the theological significance of identity work in the interim time:

One of the firmest foundations of our Christian faith is that we worship a God who, in Christ, is continually “doing a new thing.” We think of Paul’s central teaching on this act of God’s continual regeneration. He sets it forth to the Corinthians: “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (2 Cor. 5:17) Day by day and year by year, in seed-like fashion, this new realm Jesus talked about is coming into existence before our very eyes. Paul writes to the church at Rome that the whole creation longs for this new thing like a woman longing for the birth of her child. We are being made new as individual believers and as communities of faith . We are dying to the old and being born to the new. As this newness breaks forth, we are invited by God to be co-creators and midwives with God and to recognize and name these new things. By doing so, we receive and claim a new identity.

Today is the third of a four-part sermon series based on this church's mission statement – Caring Christians Joined in Faith. We'll dedicate a worship service a week to each one of those words and today we'll talk about “Joined”, in the hope that that word continues to define the character and quality (the identity) of this gathered community.

Yours in the journey, Rev. Brian

Three Things from RE

The Religious Education Board met on Sunday May 17, 2009. Here are three things you need to know from that meeting:

1) We have 7 young people heading off to church camp this summer! Thank you for your generous contributions to the Camp Fund that allowed the RE Board to subsidize half the cost of camp registration fees!

2) The RE Board will sponsor a new sound system for Fellowship Hall, and Ted is dying for a chance to run it!

3) We planned the Summer Schedule for our Youth Group with exciting events including:

• Game Night on May 27
• Bowling on June 7
• Faith and Family Night Lock-In with the Phoenix Mercury on June 19
• Fishing Trip on July 11
  
• Water Park Day on August 9
  

Three Things from the Diaconate

The Deacons met on Sunday May 17, 2009 immediately following worship. Here are the three things you need to know from that meeting:

1) We discussed recent Conference-wide events (including the Annual Meeting and the Church Growth and Revitalization Listening Session) with the church members who participated. They were very good events that opened people's eyes to the excitement in the Conference and the resources that are available to the church. There was a broad consensus that we would like to participate in these kinds of events in the future and a particular hope that more folks from the church will take part.

2) As the choir takes their annual summer hiatus we discussed the changes in the weekly Order of Service, including arrangements for Special Music and the customary approach to the Summer Hymn Sing. Start thinking about your favorite hymns now and be ready to request them!

3) In housekeeping news: The newly elected Deacons will be invited to their first meeting of the Diaconate starting next month. Then in July we will hold elections for Officers of the Diaconate.

Wordle:...Christians...

Here is the Wordle rendering of this past Sunday's sermon. It is the second in a four-part sermon series, and so you'll notice that all the settings (color, font, layout) are exactly the same as last week's. Or maybe you didn't notice, but you know now. So there you go.

I've been thinking about...

...Identity Month.

We have dedicated May 2009 as “Church Identity Month” at the Encanto Community Church.

As a helpful word of background, here is a nice excerpt from Temporary Shepherds (the handbook for interim times). In describing the importance of talking about church identity in the Interim Time, contributor Linda Lea Snyder, describes the work like this:

When we talk about identity, what are we talking about? First, it is the way we understand ourselves. This includes how we think of ourselves and how we describe ourselves to others. Reflect on all the ways we characterize our congregations. We say, for example, that we are friendly or are concerned about mission. We often identity ourselves by our programs or ministries or staff or gifts. We might know who we are by how we spend our money or time, by how big we are, or by how we worship together. Even the things we hope for shape our identities. We ask small children what they want to be when they grow up because those visions tell us something about who that child is today. So our hopes for the future, our experience from the past, and our present realities all combine to form our identity.

Today is the second of a four-part sermon series based on this church's mission statement – Caring Christians Joined in Faith. We'll dedicate a worship service a week to each one of those words and today we'll talk about “Christians”, in the hope that that word continues to define the character and quality (the identity) of this gathered community.

Yours in the journey, Rev. Brian

Weekly Bibliography -- Lotsa Stats!

In preparing for this Sunday's sermon (the second in our sermon series on Christian Identity; built around the Mission Statement of the Encanto Community Church -- Caring Christians Joined in Faith) I've spent a lot of time reading over survey results and the reactions to those results. Here are some of the links that I found particularly helpful and worth reading this week.

American Religious Identification Survey
The place to start if you are going to look at the most recent, wide-sweeping, big-picture view of the current context of religious life and identity in America. The stats I quote in the sermon (not too many, I promise!) come from here.

Beware American Religious Identity Survey
Rabbi Brad Hirschfield's re-framing of the results from the ARIS. He claims the survey shows a sea change in religious identification, not a vanishing of faith. I couldn't resist putting these two links back-to-back! Nothing like telling you to read something and THEN telling you to beware of it.

Pew Forum US Religious Landscape Survey
Can't get enough stats? Here is an another broad-based survey of American Religious Identity. It includes 5 page summary version of the results or for the truly diehard, a full 143 page version!

God Talk
Tired of stats? Then check out Stanley Fish's New York Times opinion piece about faith, reason, and the future of religious belief.

What if Starbucks Marketed Like a Church?
I freely admit, the title is better than the clip. But if you are jonesing for a youtube clip on the current state of the church, you could do worse than this one.

Caring...Wordle

Here is the Wordle rendering of this past Sunday's sermon. We have designated May as "Church Identity Month" at the Encanto Community Church, and in part of that celebration I will preach a four-part sermon series based on the congregation's Mission Statement -- Caring Christians Joined in Faith. I'll dedicate a sermon to each one of those words...well, okay, not "in" but the other four!

As always, you can read the entire sermon at the church's website and see a larger version of the Wordle by clicking on the image below.

I've been thinking about...

...Annual Meetings.

It just so happens that our Annual Congregational Meeting fell on the Sunday immediately following the Annual Meeting of the Southwest Conference of the United Church of Christ’s.
Lucky for you, our Annual Meeting doesn’t run three days long!

But I don’t say that to disparage the Conference Annual Meeting. It was a wonderful event that I am overjoyed to have taken part in. I’m also grateful to our delegates Jan Russell and Betty Grotewald for representing our congregation. We heard reports from all of the Conference committees, received a rousing keynote address from the Rev. Cameron Trimble (National Advisor for New Church Development), celebrated the Rev. Dr. John Dorhauer’s first “State of the Conference Address”, and yours truly even took part in the first annual Clergy-vs-Youth Softball Game (the final score may have been tied, but that was only because The God Squad gave the youth an extra half-inning and more than a few “intentional errors” to let them catch-up!).

At our Annual Meeting today we will do some of the same things...though without the softball game. Reports will be received, new committee members will be elected, a budget will be passed, and we too will continue the work of Christ by attending to the good and faithful business of our local congregation. I hope you will stick around for the meeting...and if you need any more incentive than that, well, we have a potluck luncheon scheduled in Fellowship Hall to kick it all off! Thanks for your support, and thanks for taking part in our Annual Meeting today.

Yours in the Journey, Rev. Brian

Weekly Bibliography

Here are a couple of interesting reads for this week.

Caring
Remember, that this month we are observing "Identity Month" at the Encanto Community Church by dedicating one Sunday service to each word of our Mission Statement, "Caring Christians Joined in Faith." So it makes sense to actually define "caring".

The End of Christian America
Jon Meacham's Newsweek story from a month ago. It is your "assigned homework" for Sunday May 10th; required reading leading up to the second of our "Identity Month" sermons. As you are reading, pay special attention to the demographics and statistics pertaining to belief and religious affiliation.

Hot Passionate Conservatives and Icy Cold Liberals
A good read from TribalChurch.org that challenges the familiar notion that Conservative Churches are growing and thriving while all mainline churches are shrinking and dying. It does a nice job laying out some of the context that most mainline churches (including us right here at Encanto) were born into...and the new context that surrounds churches now.

The new and improved UCC News
A must bookmark for UCC folks. This is the new redesign for the UCC News website, which features videos, opinions, blogs, and news feeds broken down by category. Enjoy.