You Are a Perennial

 

Last week I posted, in distress, “consider the lilies of the fields."

And I did just that.

I walked to my front yard and looked at the lily in my front flower bed. No more blooms. A brown branch remained.

Dead.

I shared this over dinner, with a layer of cynicism. Amber responded, with classic eyes rolled, "it's not dead. It's just changing. New growth returns in the spring."

Mind. Blown.

I think there is a reason the imagery of the Sage was lilies in the field not sunflowers.

And I love sunflowers.

Still, sunflowers are annuals. They die. Lilies are perennials. They have bulbs. They return to a fresh form of beauty each year. They cycle through their growth.

My friends, in this fall season, may you see yourself and how you lead not as dead and dying, but changing. Look for the signs of growth that will give way to a new emergence of goodness and beauty.

You are a perennial.

The Sit before the Change

Only when we sit in the shadow, dwell in and contemplate the shade alongside and with others in similar contexts with parallel stories holding space together willing to name our great fears, losses, and laments, cycled for generations, can we begin to see a new emergence an open invitation to change, a call that comes only after the sit

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For a variety of reasons, I write about Scripture less and less these days. But somehow, Sunday's lectionary found its way into my morning meditations, pulling the chair out from my normal reading of poetry and a good novel. 

What felt like an abrasive disruption became a nudge to my own stanza above, shaped by this lection: 

"The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat together in the region and sat together in the shadow of death [Ps. 23], light has dawned. From that time, only after sitting with them, Jesus began to proclaim, 'Now is the invitation to Change.'"

--Matthew 4:16-17 (my own paraphrase]

On Coaching, Parenting, and Holding Space So Others Can Fly: Learnings from Teresa of Ávila

Teresa of Ávila is the kind of mystic that can make you both misty and mad.  One page she pens words to her beloved Carmelite "daughters" about their value and worth, leaving me in a meditative puddle:

this true Lover never leaves [the willful soul], but goes with it everywhere and gives it life and being."  

The next page, the first woman honored as Doctor of the Church, elicits self-deprecating language as reminder that even the most sacred of saints were products of their times laden with patriarchal language and debilitating religiosity. 

I may have thrown the book across the room a time or two.

But I am so glad I continually pick the book up off the floor and read more of Teresa's pilgrimage through mystical mansions.  As someone who values both the practice of coaching and the wild world of parenting, I cannot think of a more beautiful litany than what she offered those under her tender care:

"It is a great advantage for us to be able to consult someone who knows us, so that we may learn to know ourselves. And it is a great encouragement to see that things which we thought impossible are possible to others, and how easily these others do them. It makes us feel that we may emulate their flights and venture to fly ourselves, as the young birds do when their parents teach them; they are not yet ready for great flights but they gradually learn to imitate their parents. This is a great advantage, as I know" (Interior Castle, 49).

In our own world, ripe with absurdity related to our worth and potential, Teresa reminds us of the timeless call to have space held for us to see what we may not be able to see for ourselves. This can be the most sacred of work- as the Spirit awakens us, through the compassionate curiosity of another, to our capacity for beauty and possibility in the most turbulent times. We are nudged and empowered to take flight when everything around us demands we ground ourselves in cynicism, despair, and trauma-induced idleness.

This is the empathetic work of coach and parent. It is the gift and call of each of us as young and old(er) birds, to consult and be consoled so to learn ourselves best and love others just as well.

This is a great advantage Teresa Ávila invites us all to know.

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Here is the quote adapted into a litany for whatever purposes meaningful to you; 

maybe a personal meditation or call and response.

One: It is a great advantage for us to be able to consult someone who knows us,

Many: so that we may learn to know ourselves.

One:  It is a great encouragement to see that things which we thought impossible are possible to others, how easily these others do them...so it seems.

Many: It makes us feel that we may emulate their flights and venture to fly ourselves, as the young birds do when their parents teach them;

One: They are not yet ready, we are not ready, for great flights

Many: yet, as they gradually learn to imitate their parents, so we learn to fly by watching others soar. 

One: This is a great advantage, as I know.

Many: This is a great advantage, yes, we know. 

Stir: AdventWord Day 17

Stir. Mix. Whisk.

The aim is to bring together. Every morning I do that with my four cups of bold brew, freshly ground coffee and four teaspoons of organic sugar in the raw. This bringing together is vital to my day’s beginning…middle…and end.

Stirring can also be agitation, a necessary shaking and disturbance of what is settled to bring about something new and better. Organizer and strategist, Priya Parker, says hosts need to stir up with intentionality our social and professional gatherings so to create beautiful intersections and relational bonds that would not happen on their own. You know, work the room with what Parker calls “generous authority.” This mixing risks aggravation and breaks up comfortable conventions; gracious disturbance also results in new relational networks able to bear fruit of generative and expansive community. Theologian Karl Barth calls this work “priestly agitation,” a candid and thorough task that curates varied expressions of God’s hope for the world.

This has been increasingly difficult in the midst of the last two years. Working from home, quarantines, social distancing, and the limitations of the size of social gatherings has reduced our willingness to create these diverse connections in the pursuits of health and safety. We need to get creative so our isolation does not breed separation and the perpetuation of biases that were already at oppressive levels. We all-the-more need to embrace healthy stirrings and holy agitations so we remember the world is better, we are better, when we welcome, pursue, advocate for, and even convene these unsettlings.

This was Jesus’ whole mission and ambition. Maybe this is why Immanuel is also known by another name- host. Jesus worked and unsettled the rooms of the world and made a way for the adventing of the better.

Not Quitting but Preparing to Lead: #AdventWord Day 14

PREPARE

There are days when I raise some pretty raw existential questions about this whole church experiment. I wonder, does what we what we offer alongside our neighbors and communities near and far make any difference at all? These are the days I am grateful for the work I do alongside seminarians. As we prepare one another for new approaches to ministry, creative enactments of the gospel, and intentional expressions of love and welcome, we affirm God is still invested in this broken yet beautiful organism called the church. Every time I talk with these budding leaders, hear their call stories, make space for their questions, and listen to their passions for intersecting the biblical story with the present realities swirling among us, I am reminded God has not given up on us for one second. The Spirit is still awakening people to follow Jesus. This gives me great hope; this helps me not to bail but take greater and bolder risks as we make even the smallest of preparations for God’s world we dare to believe will be made whole and good and right again.

Design Thinking and the Church: Ministry as Mitigation of Wicked Problems

I have recently been immersed in varied readings and resources related to design process, a method of product innovation and social entrepreneurialism that has quickly gained traction in the realm of ministry. Design process has become particularly important in addressing "wicked problems,” social and cultural dilemmas that wreak havoc on individuals, organizations, communities, and the larger world and are difficult if not impossible to solve. Wicked problems are vast, complex, and interwoven with so many contributing factors unable to be reduced or ignored. Wicked social problems range from poverty to racism, homelessness to discrimination, mass incarceration to pervasive violence and much more. 

It would be foolish for me to try to unpack design process as if I was anything but a novice, entry-level learner. Instead, check out the book I am currently reading and related resources below.  Here is a sample that caused me recent pause:

"So most social problems- such as inequality, political instability, death, disease, or famine- are wicked. They can’t be ‘fixed.’ But because of the role of design in developing infrastructure, designers can play a central role in mitigating the negative consequences of wicked problems and positioning the broad trajectory of culture in new and more desirable directions. This mitigation is not an easy, quick, or solitary exercise. While traditional circles of entrepreneurship focus on speed and agility, designing for impact is about staying the course through methodical, rigorous iteration. Due to the system qualities of these large problems, knowledge of science, economics, statistics, technology, medicine, politics, and more are necessary for effective change. This demands interdisciplinary collaboration, and most importantly, perseverance.” (Wicked Problems: Problems Worth Solving 11)

The implications of design process and the church are very real- even urgent.  Every day we are exposed to gross symptoms of wicked problems. We need only mention Philando Castile and the recently returned verdict, current propositions for healthcare legislation, lead in Flint water and Kensington soil, Bill Cosby, closing public schools, pulling out of the Paris Accord, and all things American politics today. This is only to scratch the surface. The temptation is to become either stunted by despair so we do nothing or scramble from one issue to the next as if we can solve wicked problems through a collection of hastily manufactured programs.

Design process, on the contrary, dares social innovators to enter into an intentional process that combines empathy, abductive reasoning, prototyping, and constant evaluation to create collaborative impact and sustainable social change over time (Wicked Problems: Problems Worth Solving 10).

Design process is not afraid of failure. In theological terms, design process is once reformed and always reforming. When applied to the realm of practical ministry, design process pushes the practitioner towards enhanced listening, learning, and creating alongside leaders in congregation and community as we incarnate localized expressions of the gospel right where God has called us to serve.  Our starting place shifts from how to solve wicked problems to focused and collaborative efforts to reduce impact, change the wind, and cultivate alternatives to whatever may be creating conditions that are far from whole, good, and just.  

Ryan Hubbard says it this way:

“You have to pick something very concrete and very tiny, and not worry that you won’t fix all aspects of the problem. You start on one of the smaller problems, someone else focuses on something else, and eventually, after a long period of seeing no change, you will have enough scaffolding- support base - in place for the community to enjoy some results" (Wicked Problems: Problems Worth Solving 34). 

In many ways, design process is much like the agrarian, mustard-seed laden kingdom of God of which Jesus spoke. Each seed planted is a small contribution to an invasive movement of subversive growth that fosters new possibilities for the birds of the air to make their home in even the most wicked of environments.  

The question then posed by this methodology: what seeds of subversion have you been called to design and plant in the face of wicked problems? May the church dare to engage in this redemptive process with gracious empathy, humble reasoning, and a commitment to community-based innovation that embodies holistic love for neighbor.

Design away...and don't be afraid to fail.

"Transformative innovation is inherently risky. It involves inferences and leaps of faith; if something hasn’t been done before, there’s no way to guarantee its outcome. The philosopher Charles Peirce said that insights come to us “like a flash”—in an epiphany—making them difficult to rationalize or defend. Leaders need to create a culture that allows people to take chances and move forward without a complete, logical understanding of a problem."

John Kolko 

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There is much to be gleaned, probably even critiqued, about design process. That said, it is wise and faithful to at least engage. Here are helpful resources and introductions to Design Process:

• Wicked Problems: Problems Worth Solving (A Handbook & Call to Action): Download Book Here
• http://www.stollecreative.com 
• Bethany Stolle E-Formation Presentation: Theology by Design: A Practical Approach to Design Thinking for Congregations: https://youtu.be/ANe1RZX0mJg
• "Design Thinking Comes of Age" by John Kolko, Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2015/09/design-thinking-comes-of-age 
• Design Thinking 101: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/design-thinking/ 
• Human-Centered Design: https://www.innovation.va.gov/docs/Toward_A_Veteran_Centered_VA_JULY2014.pdf 

From Polity to Pavement: Brief Reflections on the 222nd General Assembly

One of the privileges of being a General Assembly attendee versus commissioner is the chance to observe all the committees as they pour over the nearly 100 overtures requiring action. As I walked into room after room, I was blown away by the faithful conversations the church was having in regards to our local, international, ecclesial, financial, social, ecological, institutional, ecumenical, and theological witness.  

...and breathe...

While not all conversations were invigorating, "ho-hum" could be said about more than a few items of business, and disagreement was certainly present, each conversation was laced in the question- “what does this mean in light of the hope that is our calling as the church of Jesus Christ?” 

The faithful actions of the Assembly, which are too numerous to account for fully in this blogpost,* enabled the Church to bear witness to God's love and grace, near and far. The Assembly elected two women as co-moderators and an African-American Stated Clerk, both firsts for our denomination as we change the face of our leadership. We embraced the Belhar Confession, pulling into the present Belhar's call to model the same unity, justice, and reconciliation in the midst of all that separates persons from one another in our given time and place. Said differently, Belhar is now us!

Our corporate and confessional voice called for the acknowledgement of harm done to LGBTQ/Q people, expressions of apology to Native Americans dishonored at the hands of our Presbyterian ancestors, and directed our Stated Clerk to request from the United States government an apology and statement of regret sent to the Republic of Korea in light of the known killing of Korean Civilians at the battle of No Gun Ri during the Korean War (history lessons are as much a part of General Assembly as anything else).

The General Assembly affirmed and simultaneously lived into our commitment to nonviolent means to alleviate oppression and injustice as we moved to divest from (or begin the process of) corporations that profit off violence and oppression in the Middle East and the exploitation of creation.  Our polity was even an agent of God’s grace and reconciliation as, after testimony from a Presbyterian minister who was sexually abused as a child by a chaperone at a PCUSA youth event, commissioners approved a Children/Youth/Vulnerable Adult protection policy to be implemented by all mid councils and mirrored by local congregations. Following the plenary vote, Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons elicited a tearful-apology and vowed to ensure the safety of all children. 

The list goes on, sure to include the recommendation to address the increasing generational gap in our denomination, approve a new Directory of Worship and related inclusive sacramental language, and call for a commission to explore the PCUSA's organizational structure as we discern a new “Way Forward.” 

After a week of committee work, thoughtful debate, pursuit of perfected motions (or substitute motions), and a crash course in Robert’s Rules of Order, there are many reasons to give thanks. But our gratitude calls not for rest from our mission. There is no time to bask in the light of our governance. Now is the time to move from polity to pavement with a sense of urgency and intentionality.

As I turned into the Presbytery office on my first day back, t-shirts with names of Philadelphians killed by illegal guns lined the intersection of Gowen and Stenton Avenues, a monument to the slain installed by our neighbor congregation. Yesterday afternoon was spent with a local ministry whose congregation consists primarily of people experiencing chronic street homelessness, a reality many of us witnessed and were overwhelmed by while traveling to and from the Oregon Convention Center.  The threat of deportation of undocumented immigrants continues to tug at the hearts and sense of call of our local pastors, whose immediate neighbors are affected by unjust legislation and Supreme Court decisions.  Yet another act of terrorism, this time in Istanbul, has resulted in all-too-familiar crafting of public prayers and hashtags of solidarity. 

In the midst of it all, we have neither the time to revel in the strength of our ecclesiastical praxis nor become wearied by tired narratives of perceived denominational death. Stated Clerk-elect, Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, said it best, “We are not dying. We are reforming….church is not enough in this day. We need to set our aim on higher ground.” In his familiar prophetic cadence that will now shepherd our denomination, the newly-elected Stated Clerk reminded Presbyterians the same Spirit that resurrected Christ dwells within us as agents of God’s work of reconciliation and justice.  

This is the very agency we affirmed at the 222nd General Assembly.  This is the very agency that frames our policies and procedures.  This is the very agency that moves us from polity to pavement as we embody the Good News of Jesus Christ wherever we are post #GA222.  After all, that is the hope of our calling. 

*For a full report on action taken at the 222nd General Assembly: https://www.pc-biz.org/ 

ABC’s for Ministry Innovation and Grant Writing

“Where do we start?” 

This is a common question raised whenever dreamers and ministry innovators gather together. The question is frequently leveraged after someone passionately outlines their vision for a creative and intentional ministry effort in their neighborhood. Then, after a few moments of excitement and a border-line hyperbolic monologue, the tone changes and zeal withers; uncertainty about how to get this idea off the ground overshadows the once prophetic and imaginative spirit. 

So where do we start? 

Maybe with the alphabet.  

Over the last 15 months a few of us in the Presbytery of Philadelphia developed a framework in which to jumpstart ministry innovation and ease the angst that can so easily stifle dreams for new possibilities. In what we have called, “The ABC’s of Ministry Innovation and Grant Writing,” these helpful tips have aided our imagineers as they not only ask the critical questions, but also frame grant applications that can generate new funding sources of sustainability. 

ABC’s of Ministry Innovation and Grant Writing 

Awareness of Context & Community

Ministry cannot be done in a vacuum or framed by assumptions. Packaged programs no longer, if ever, work. As the church explores creative ministry within the complexity of the twenty-first century, key questions about both the story of the neighborhood and the story of the congregation must be asked. Consider, what is the demographic of your neighborhood? What is the history of the community? Where are the third places, beyond the home and places of work, whereby people gather for conversation and social activity? What are the real and urgent concerns of your neighborhood? Who are those who have been isolated and marginalized by both the community and (possibly) church? What assets do both the community and congregation possess to engage and work towards the healing of these issues and real concerns?  At the very beginning of ministry innovation is the work of cultural exegesis- a variation of anthropological and sociological research that can help decipher what ministry can and should look like in a particular place at a particular time. This intentional, yet frequently-overlooked, period of questioning can  leverage something both of value and of holistic impact alongside your local neighbors. 

Budgetary Stewardship & Sustainability

Finances can be the great killer of dreams. Money can also be the means of grace by which the Spirit sustains new demonstrations of love and hospitality. That said, while budgeting for sustainability is essential, beware of allowing money to be the driving agent of ministry. Instead, develop a holistic and contextualized mission and vision first and then work to find funding partners. If dollars are where you start, the ministry dream will quickly die due to the weight of perceived limitation. Nevertheless, as budgets are crafted (and they must be crafted), look for resources beyond the congregation. Invitations to stewardship should not be limited to those who sit in the pews. Invite community partners, grant providers, and digital platforms like GoFundMe and Kickstarter to support the discerned ministry of impact. Creativity should flow not only through the idea, but also the search for financial sustainability. Even more, each investing partner becomes a sort of evangelist for the cause able to generate new interest and ideas. 

Collaborative & Congregational Partnerships

It takes a village to leverage a new initiative. Even more, leadership does not only come from those who monopolize the spotlight and claim privilege at the front of the room. Invite those who are in the back of the room to have voice of influence; look beyond your congregation and to your community as a primary pool for generative leadership and new possibilities. Explore local neighbors, nearby faith communities, entrepreneurs, public officials, small business owners, teachers, community organizers, and field experts to be a part of the visioning and implementation. It can even be said that a board of directors is sometimes more pertinent than a council or session for the ownership and effectiveness of a given ministry. A board may be a means to empower and celebrate the gifts of your neighbors who do not frequent your church yet now find the congregation as a place of welcome and solidarity. 

Distinct & Imaginative Initiatives

What can you develop that others may not have previously considered a vital need in your neighborhood? What makes your congregation uniquely poised to engage your community and extend the love of Christ through compassion, hospitality, and a real willingness to serve alongside others. Do you have a building with adequate space to host a computer lab for after school programs amidst broken education systems, a gym that can be utilized to provide recreational programs for neighborhood kids, local artists willing to celebrate creativity alongside those struggling with addiction and loss, open space that can be transformed into community gardens in contexts of food insecurity, members passionate about social justice with connections to those who can work towards holistic change, etc. All of this and more will require risk and a willingness to try, fail, and try again. It will also assume relationships have been developed with those who live and work in close proximity to the congregation. 

Evaluation & Communication of Ministry

"Reformed and reforming" is not only a theological mantra, but also the very undercurrent of church mission. As new ministries are leveraged, a key to sustainability is the willingness to undergo raw and honest evaluation.  At some point, all churches were innovative and intentional plants developed by disciples called to that place and time. Those churches that continue to exist and bear witness in their communities, some 300 years later, are those who have been willing to live into the evolution of their neighborhood, congregation, and available mediums for community formation. There are no sacred cows and nothing is immune to change. So evaluate, adapt, adjust, and reframe as the Spirit leads and as the context demands.  Even more, as you evaluate, look for creative platforms and new media to tell your story to both church and world; be willing to listen to those who offer constructive feedback. Who knows what new initiative may be birthed out of your no-longer-new initiative?

Faithfulness to the Gospel & Mission of the Church

Ministry is not creative programming for programming’s sake. Instead, mission is the very lifeblood of the church and the call of Christ’s gathered and scattered people. Innovation has been a part of the work and witness of the church from the very beginning,  “…I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh and your youth shall see visions, and your elders shall dream dreams” (Acts 2:17, translation mine). As all of God’s people collaborate together across various lines of age, race, ethnicity, culture, orientation, and theological conviction, good news is sure to bubble up in the midst of our wearied world. 

Now you know your ABC’s- it’s time to dream in your communities. 

Related Post:

http://gregklimovitz.blogspot.com/2015/07/neighborhood-narratives-and-cultural.html

Technology as Sacramental: A Means of Grace, Prophetic Witness, and Community Formation

I remember my ordination service vividly. 

Probably because it was this past February. 

Also because I was able to preside at the Eucharistic table and serve communion to family, friends, and neighbors who joined in the celebration. 

The opportunity to break bread and share the cup was what I most looked forward to as an ordained Teaching Elder and, more preferred, Minister of Word and Sacrament.

In seminary and throughout my theological studies, the sacraments were taught as a means of grace.  Presbyterians are also apt to affirm the ordinariness of the elements, a visible sign of an invisible grace. Water. Font. Bread. Cup. Wine. Juice. 

Ordinary. Common. Everyday. Tangible. Not much has changed in nearly two-thousand years of Christian tradition and sacramental practice. Theological nuances of the practice have varied; nevertheless, we still use the same basic elements. 

And these elements point beyond themselves.*  They point to the God made known in Jesus Christ and the Spirit who calls and sends us all into the world as embodiments of the very means of grace that drench our heads and nourish our bodies. The sacraments are simple reflectors.

These liturgical elements, in a certain sense, were also ancient and sacred technologies of the church. 

I once stumbled upon this definition of technology:

technology, n. the mediums and/or tools used to apply knowledge of something [or someone] of significance for real and practical purposes.

As the real and practical mediums of bread, wine, and water are used to apply the knowledge of and bear witness to the Crucified and Resurrected Christ, the sacraments serve a technological function. 

The ordinary also becomes holy. 

In the Digital Age, might this be the framework in which the Spirit invites us to view the everyday mediums of social media, digital devices, on-line platforms, and new technologies we hold in the palm of our hands or upon our laps? As twenty-first century disciples of Christ, the witness of the early Church dares us to consider not only the sacraments as technological but also the technological as sacramental.  We are nudged to consult all available mediums and tools within reach to apply our knowledge of the One who gathers us at font and table and sends us from these sacred, technological spaces.  

As Brandon Vogt writes in The Church and New Media: Blogging Converts, Online Activists, and Bishops Who Tweet:

“The church can’t change her response to Gutenberg’s printing press, the radio, or the television; they are forever fixed in history.  But at the onset of this digital revolution, her response to New Media is wide open.  The world is waiting and listening in the virtual sphere.  Will the church remain silent, or will her voice be proclaimed from the roof tops (and the laptops)?  Will she plunge the message of Christ into Facebook feeds, blogposts, podcasts, and text messages, or will she be digitally impotent? If the Church’s promotion of evangelization, formation, community, and the common good is to continue throughout future generations, she must harness these technologies and utilize them well."

The Christian church continues to wrestle with how to engage the digital revolution of the last 25 years.  Especially since the advent of social media and on-line networks, we are more connected than ever before. New and innovative technologies are more accessible than at any point in human history, being used for both good and ill. 

Think of all the hashtags that have birthed social movements through open-source rhetoric. Think of all the Facebook posts that have perpetuated various forms of hate speech and slander. 

As a result, many church leaders and members of our congregations become admittedly overwhelmed, overly indulged, or even dismissive of new technology and media. Our on-line world creates unique challenges for congregations and related pastoral care as we live into the emerging cultural realities. 

Nevertheless, we must not throw out the baby with the bath water.  Instead, we must regularly ponder which forms of new technology our congregations and ministries will use and how we will use them as means of grace for practical purposes of loving and serving our local and global neighbors.  We must be willing to view various forms of technological innovation not solely as evolving distractions, although aware of such possibility, but as redemptive opportunities for community formation, social advocacy, prophetic witness, and proclamation of the Good News. 

In so doing, the ordinary technologies we apply become sacramental platforms versus trendy widgets void of broader meaning. They are able to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth, pointing beyond themselves and towards God’s dreams for a world made new and right again. That’s what our earliest ancestors of the faith did with bread, cup, and water as they went viral with the Good News of Jesus Christ. 

May we be at least as technologically innovative as they were two millennia ago.

Where have you seen technology as sacramental?  #sacredtechnology
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Theology of Technology, Media, and Ministry (Slideshare Presentation: http://www.slideshare.net/gregklimovitz/technology-and-ministry-54307946) 

A great resource: 
The Digital Cathedral: Networked Ministry in a Wireless World by Keith Anderson

*"We cannot celebrate and receive the sacrament ordained by [God] without looking beyond the sacrament as such and finding [God] in the sacrament" (Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics II.1 p. 50).  

Neighborhood Narratives and Cultural Exegesis: Churches Moving from Pulpit to Pavement

While there are plenty of reasons to lament the brokenness of the twenty-first century, Mainline church, many congregations are daring us to lift our eyes from trending despair and towards resurrected life. 

In recent months, I have witnessed first-hand their invitations to hold on hope for another day more. 

There is a church who, when their suburban community reported an increase in heroine use, developed an art program alongside local partners as one of many mediums offered to neighbors in recovery. 

A fellowship hall in an old urban church building was revisioned as studio for local artists who craft elaborate murals, which have been plastered on city schools, historic prisons, and a SEPTA train.  Many of these resident artists are ex-cons participating in Philadelphia’s Restorative Justice program.

Another church, located in a neighborhood whose residents are predominantly immigrants, has reclaimed the value of ecumenical partnerships as they reach out to children who are both first-generation Americans and first-generation Christians. 

A new church development is using rare urban green space in their front yard, once the site of their large sanctuary before being destroyed by a hurricane fifty years prior, to host art programs for urban youth. As they engage everything from Matisse to Monet, young people are empowered to dream and imagine alternative futures for their families and communities.  

Still more, another city church is incorporating “Harambee,” motivational songs, and methods learned from the Children’s Defense Fund in education programs offered to urban children who reside in the middle of one of the most dysfunctional school districts in the country. 

Each of these churches, and an abundant more, have learned the narratives of their neighborhoods, leveraged ministry initiatives through collaborative local networks, and birthed new (or renewed) contextualized expressions of church in their communities. 

This is what many in ministry call practices in cultural exegesis. 

For most, exegesis is a fancy word thrown around at gatherings of theology and Bible nerds. Exegesis is not exactly a word able to make you the life of any sort of party.

I know from experience.

Exegesis is a term that refers to the reading out of a given text or narrative in Scripture a reasonable sense of meaning or purpose. Exegesis is the process preachers implore as they prepare sermons and do their due diligence not to read into the story or passage what may not actually be there. That would be called eisegesis.  Unfortunately, eisegesis happens with great frequency and can quickly transform the Bible from hopeful story to oppressive weapon.

Exegesis, linked to the broader discipline of hermeneutics, is the preferred method for reading the Bible and teaching and/or preaching what is thoughtfully gleaned. The process of exegesis is not always pretty and frequently looks more like the dissection of a carcass than the crafting of a piece of art. 

Word studies. 

Underlining and boxing key terms.

Pretending to know Greek and Hebrew. 

Pretending the congregation will be impressed by Greek and Hebrew words.

Highlighting.

Commentaries.

Bible study software.

I was once told that to preach effectively you needed to spend one hour of study for every minute preached. 

That doesn't leave much time for Starbucks runs. 

The messy craft of exegesis is important.  Actually, exegesis is critical. However, in the twenty-first century, preachers and practitioners of the faith require far more than an ability to know what the Scripture once said and may be saying. Church leaders must be invested in cultural and neighborhood exegesis, drawing out of their local and relational networks a sense of identity, thirst for justice, and expressed hope no longer limited to the great beyond.  We cannot afford to read into our communities a (falsified) longing for what the church once was. There is no time for cultural eisegesis. 

So we must engage new hermeneutical tools: maps, impromptu conversations with neighbors, partnerships with community leaders, interactions with the polis and local officials, investments in the history of the context surrounding a given congregation, new stewardship methods and sustainable funding sources, and a willingness to risk implementing something altogether different and no longer limited to 9:45 on a Sunday morning. 

Over the years, I am grateful so many cultural exegetes, a.k.a. pastors and church leaders, have been willing to take such risks. It is through the likes of these faithful innovators that the Spirit will not only birth a future for our congregations and communities, but also foster a platform to proclaim Good News alongside our neighbors near and far. 

This is sure reason to hope beyond despair.

Who Is Walter Heath and What's an Associate Presbyter?

On February 25, 1965, Walter R. Heath passed away after a life of 80 years.  Along with a fondness for baseball and always looking his Sunday best, Mr. Heath loved Jesus and served as a devoted member and ruling elder at Faith Presbyterian Church just outside of Baltimore, MD.

That's all I know about Walter R. Heath.

Aside from one more detail, Walter R. Heath was my maternal great-great grandfather.

That's right, Presbyterianism is in my blood.  Despite years of leaving out the tradition whenever I described my pre-presby background and thanks to recently unearthed family history by grandmother, I can now proudly claim the Reformed Faith as part of my heritage.

And on February 22, 2015, almost exactly 50 years after Walter Heath's passing, his great-great grandson will bring Presbyterian ordination back into the family.   I can't wait to grab my robe, a stole, and head down to the church off Loch Raven Boulevard so I can snap a quick picture en memoriam.

When I was fifteen and sensed a call to ministry, my family and I were members of a Lutheran congregation in the suburbs of Baltimore. I vividly remember one on the vicars in our ELCA community who affirmed my call and challenged me never to limit the possibilities God would make available and the doors God would open as I responded to the call.

She was spot on.  Yet, I am quite confident neither of us would have thought my call to serve as an ordained pastor and teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) would have been one such door God would open.  I certainly doubt my position as an Associate Presbyter in the Presbytery of Philadelphia would have been what she or I would have forecasted for my vocational future.

But God is a God of mystery and surprise.

Since I have responded to that call, whenever I share about my new ministry and title as Associate Presbyter, I am met with a bit of a blank stare of confusion.  Whether family member or friend, person cutting my hair or neighbor next door, my vocation is ambiguous at best to those less than familiar with Presby speak.

As a friend posted on my Facebook wall:

If you look into the PCUSA Book of Order, a presbyter can be described in this way:

"This church shall be governed by presbyters, that is, ruling elders and teaching elders...Presbyters are not simply to reflect the will of the people, but rather to seek together to find and represent the will of Christ" (F-3.0202, 3.0204). 

That may not always help the novice Presby, so here's more:

"Teaching elders (also called ministers of the Word and Sacrament) shall in all things be committed to teaching the faith and equipping the saints for the work of ministry (Eph. 4:12). They may serve in a variety of ministries, as authorized by the presbytery. When they serve as preachers and teachers of the Word, they shall preach and teach the faith of the church, so that the people are shaped by the pattern of the gospel and strengthened for witness and service. When they serve at font and table, they shall interpret the mysteries of grace and lift the people’s vision toward the hope of God’s new creation. When they serve as pastors, they shall support the people in the disciplines of the faith amid the struggles of daily life. When they serve as presbyters, they shall participate in the responsibilities of governance, seeking always to discern the mind of Christ and to build up Christ’s body through devotion, debate, and decision" (G-2.0501). 

This coming Sunday, I will be ordained as a teaching elder/pastor/minister of word and sacrament to serve the Presbytery of Philadelphia as a presbyter in their regional office.  The ministry, which I will continually grow into in the days and years ahead, takes on a three-fold form (how very Barthian of me):

1. Pastor Alongside Pastors: networking and leading alongside the faithful ruling and teaching elders of the Presbytery, which incorporates nearly 130 churches and has a rich 300-year history (298 to be exact).  Actually, American Presbyterianism began in Philadelphia and provides more than enough history and ministry witness for me to explore. 

2. Storylearner and Storyteller: narrating the many attestations to what God has done, is doing, and will do in and through the faithful of Philly. This will take on various forms and expressions, utilizing all sorts of platforms and mediums to tell the story of the Body of Christ in and around the city. Look out blogosphere, Twitter, and dare I say podcast world.*

3. Steward of Resources: navigating ways to support and sustain already existing and fresh expressions of the church in communities connected to the Presbytery. In just a few weeks on the job, it is already evident that prophetic imaginations and creative spirits are abundant throughout the Presbytery of Philadelphia.  As an Associate Presbyter, I am privileged to walk alongside those who are on the ground doing good work and imagine methods and strategies to equip the saints for their incarnational and diverse ministry. 

I come into my vocational call and pastoral ministry with arms and ears and eyes wide open. I have much to learn and many to meet.  The bulk of the next few months will be spent as a humble servant whose heart and mind will take on the form of a sponge, absorbing as much as I can from the many partners and collaborates in ministry. 

Yet one thing I can now cling to as added affirmation and validation whenever I face challenges sure to come, I can do this. Presbyterianism is in my blood.  

*If interested, here is the first story I wrote about great ministry at one of our churches in the city: http://presbyphl.org/16497/berean-presbyterian-church-echoes-faithful-broad-diamond/ 

Faith Forward: A New Kind of (Youth and Children's) Ministry Conference

I still won't line dance and certainly will not buy a pair of cowboy boots before I leave, but Faith Forward 2014 (formerly Children, Youth, and a New Kind of Christianity) in Nashville won me over once again.

The past four days serve as yet another reminder that God is resurrecting a new way of doing children and youth ministry within and beyond the walls of the church. A fresh movement of the Spirit has captured the prophetic imaginations, theological consciences, and creative edges of faith-formed innovators tired of consumer-driven programs and reductionist models of ministry.

Faith Forward 2014 was a chance for those serving within a broad scope of Christian traditions to share in raw, unfiltered, unrefined, and authentic community that hinged on Christocentric theology, story, and rhythm. More than any other conference I have been to in my 12-years of youth ministry, Faith Forward created sacred space to foster new friendships with fellow conspirators across the country and around the globe.

As I sit in my aisle seat on my fligh back home, I wrestle with how to capture all that transpired this past week. I wrestle with how to put into words the richness of conversations, breadth of questions, and openness of community.

A blog post really cannot do justice to what it's like to listen to such brilliant and clever, thoughful and generous contributors to the Christian Way while nestled in city whose own rhythm of life reflects the same. A blogger really cannot capture what it's like to develop new friendships with practitioners of the faith as we ride a bus to the a Farmer's Market for a bite to eat.

It's difficult to illustrate the encouragement and grace birthed from a back-and-forth dialogue with Jennifer Knapp. We wondered together if aspiring pastors like me will put our "money where our mouth is" in support of the gay community once we have "run out of real estate" as our states legalize same-sex marriage.

We can no longer hide behind the law when our gay youth grow up (or their gay parents and partners) and ask us to officiate their weddings.

That's a blog post in and of itself...

I doubt I can ever do justice to how accessible and playful all the speakers, collaborators, attendees, and bar tenders were as we found whatever space we could to talk faith, theology, culture, or debated the best locations for BBQ or beer.

I vote Pucketts Grocery Restaraunt.

Then there was the late-night run across the Cumberland River, a bike ride on rentals up and down Broadway, and the capstone "youth group conference" party at the Wildhorse Saloon (I made sure to spellcheck the name of this place).

In a sense, this gathering mirrored what our ministries should look like when we return home: intentional incarnations of faith-formed community whose theology, story, and rhythm hinge on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Thank you, Faith Forward, for once again renewing my passion for youth ministry, love for theological reflection, and conviction that we are all God's beloved.

Let's keep the conversation going. I look forward to 2015...maybe in Philly?

 

A few noteworthy sound bites:

We live within the structures of Egypt. Yet we are not training to children and youth to be drones within the empire of old and oppressive theological systems and institutions. ---Brian McLaren

We both idealize and devalue children at the same time. How doe we reclaim children's gifts, invite them into meaningful tasks, and celebrate their agency as God's movers and shakers in both family and congregation. ---Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore

Theological turn in youth ministry does not mean to get kids reading more theology, but to begin to look at children and youth theologically. ---Andrew Root

Has youth ministry simply become the church's latest technology for reach youth and thereby increasing revenue? ---Andrew Root

We have narrowly defined our goals in youth ministry and so have failed to adapt and change, starving ourselves and our children. ---Melvin Bray

The Word of God is the church's melody, ritual the church's rhythm, and justice as sacred timbre. They are the mediums for the bacterial growth of Christian life. ---Archbishop Andre Durocher

The church is in the streets, looking for those who live there. The church building can't hold Jesus hostage inside. ---Romal Tunes

What emerging Christians are looking for is a story not only a doctrine,. We need not only look for the Timothy's to tell and share this story, but also the mothers and grandmothers of the Christian faith. ---Phyllis Tickle

Related Posts from 2012

http://gregklimovitz.blogspot.com/2012/05/potter-house-cynk-continuing-ed-as.html

http://gregklimovitz.blogspot.com/2012/05/more-creative-than-violence-reflections.html

Martin Luther King, Jr.: Now That's a Pastor to Model Your Ministry After!

When I am ordained, and I am hopeful the day will eventually come, I pray my ministry has at least hint of the same fragrance of Reverend Dr. King. Even if it's only a whiff of the same scent of advocacy, justice, and love for friend and foe alike, my prayer is for my pastoral witness to take on the same flavor of the gospel that defined the greatest Baptist minister ever to live (sorry Billy Graham).

I pray to follow King as King followed Christ.

I pray I never sell my soul to the institution that has become the church and instead leverage the institutional elements for the sake of influence on behalf of our most vulnerable neighbors.

I pray I remember the gospel cannot be removed from real human experience and present manifestations of injustice (see his critique of Barth below)

I pray I always have my ear opened to the cries of the poor, oppressed, and all who are relegated to the margins of church and culture.

I pray I always remember that the greatest human and even religious question is, as King said, what can I do for others?

I pray I always remember Dr. King was a Pastor. The Baptist minister's convictions were rooted in the teachings of Jesus and promise of universal reconciliation and redemption able to break into the very real and occasionally dark present.

On this Martin Luther King, Jr. Monday, I pray I pay attention to the echoes of his witness, meditate on the plethora of memes streaming his one-liners of compassion, and even consider re-reading some of his greatest writings of socio-political and theological change that continue to transform hearts, minds, and imaginations over a half-a-century later.

And I pray the words would jump off the page and nudge us all towards ordinary and extradordinary acts of love and generosity that would make the Pastor proud, even if You are a Youth Ministry Director.

"We are outnumbered; we do not have access to the instruments of violence. Even more than that, not only is violence impractical, but it is immoral; for it is my firm conviction that to seek to retaliate with violence does nothing but intensify the existence of evil and hate in the universe... I believe firmly that love is a transforming power that can lift a whole community to new horizons of fair play, good will and justice."

"God is also immanent, expressing his creative genius throughout the universe which he is ever creating and always sustaining as well as through the essential goodness of the world and human life." (see King on Barth below)

A Few Related Resources

Letter from Birmingham Jail

www.thekingcenter.org

What Is Peace? (a confirmation lesson and a Bible study on Dr. King)

Karl Barth's Conception of God by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Your Image of Dr. Martin Luther King I Likely Wring by Drew Hart

Photo Above of Dr. King with Karl Barth from Center for Barth Studies

The Kingdom of God Is Like a Mango Tree in Guaimaca: Reflections on Honduras Youth Partnership 2013

There are two prominent figures that overlook the market and downtown Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The first, El Cristo del Picacho, is located in a beautiful park with an incredible view of the capital city. It costs 10 Lempiras (roughly $.50) to see this Jesus, which seems to debunk any theology about salvation being free.

The second is a yellow house on the opposite hill, which is home to one of the more prominent drug lords in Honduras. Everyone knows he lives there; he simply has paid-off police and other law enforcement to ensure security for his residence and dealings.

In between these two cultural "icons" is a plaza buzzing with activity. The streets of this plaza serve as residence for many of Honduras' most marginalized and ignored.

There are the "glue boys," homeless youth who flee domestic distress and develop addictions to yellow shoe glue that provides a cheap daily high. Most pay no attention to kids like Mil Años, a young boy nicknamed for his aged face that results from his addiction. Micah Project, instead, calls them family and extends them invitations into their community where they can be lifted from addiction, receive an education, and discover the love of God in Jesus.

The plaza is also home to a young leper, who sits at the main entrance of a Catholic Church. Our youth took notice and offered him hot food, cold water, and quite possibly the only expression of hospitality and affection he encountered all day. Talk about a story that will preach!

Then there are the severely physically handicapped, aged "glue boys," homeless old women, and a long line of others. As our youth walked with leaders from Micah Project throughout the streets of this Honduran Central Park, stories of Scripture came alive. It was almost too much for some of our youth.

And we remembered those overlooking the city, symbols of liberation and oppression. We were in the space between them, a very thin place where we could hear echoes of the benediction from the previous night's debriefing:

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, hard hearts, half-truths, and superficial relationships. May God bless you so that you may live from deep within your heart where God's Spirit dwells...And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, in your neighborhood, so that you will courageously try what you don't think you can do, but in Jesus Christ you'll have all the strength necessary." (Franciscan Blessing)

It is true, Honduras is a country in distress. The nation is plagued with political corruption, insufficient education, significant malnutrition, pervasive poverty, increasing drug-related violence, and a police force confused about who to defend- drug lords or vulnerable citizens?

It is also true that beauty, love, and hope are sprouting up like mango trees in the back yards of Guaimaca homes, an hour outside the urban center. If we are not paying careful attention, we may miss these stories and the sweet attestations to the kingdom of God falling from their branches.

Each day of our evolving youth-to-youth partnership in Honduras began and ended with cross and resurrection stories. Youth were invited to share where they encountered suffering and despair and where their eyes and ears were opened to signs of God's hope and redemption.

I am convinced this should become a daily, personal and corporate discipline. The temptation is to either fix our eyes on Cristo del Picacho and forget the drug lords wreaking havoc behind us or be overwhelmed by the drug lords and others just like him, unaware that Jesus has entered into real human suffering and promised all of us new creation.

The call of disciples of Jesus is to live in the spaces between Picacho and that yellow house on the hill, or at least make pilgrimages of partnership there, with an honest and awakened hope that this new creation can and must begin now.

And I am firmly convinced that this especially begins though the youth of our respective communities.

Here Are Some Resurrection Stories from Year Three of Our Partnership in Honduras