Remembering Costa Rica

   One year ago this week, 12 members of our congregation (7 youth and 5 adults) traveled to Costa Rica for our first-ever foreign mission trip.  I was privileged to be numbered among them.  We worked with Rice and Beans Ministry, a ministry that focuses on carrying food and offering prayers to families in some of the poorest regions of this beautiful country.  The following reflections were gleaned from my daily notes.

Costa Rica – Day 1 (Saturday – June 30, 2012)

    Today, we left Charlotte around 11:30am, and arrived in Costa Rica around 4:30pm our time – 2:30 local time.  After picking up our luggage, passing through immigration and customs, we stepped out onto the busy streets of San Jose Costa Rica.

    Louis - pronounced Loo-EES, (manager of the bus company contracted by "Rice and Beans Ministry") met us outside.  A few minutes later a big bus pulled up to the curb and we met our non-English speaking driver who would be with us all week, Mario.   The 4 plus hour ride to Santa Rosa was filled with bumper to bumper traffic, many many near misses with other vehicles and a few pedestrians who had no panic as they walked in and out of traffic – though Kathy was tensing up pretty good, and clutching my arm at every close call.

     We stopped at a local grocery store, bought a few snacks and made our way up the mountain in the rain and fog on winding roads with no lines, cars and buses and big trucks passing on curves, with Mario happy as he could be while Kathy dug her nails into my arm.

     We arrived at Santa Rosa Methodist Church –Iglesia Metodista Fortaleza Divina Rosa – about 6:40pm to the sound of pulsating music in the sanctuary.  We couldn’t understand a word of it, but readily recognized it as sounds of praise.  

    We ate supper – chicken, rice and beans, pineapple, tomato and watermelon. We got to know a few new friends from the team – Juan (in college), Jennifer and Rosa. 

       After unpacking our bags and preparing our beds in our home for the next few days, we had one final meeting with the team, a devotion and prayer, and our team gathered outside to pray for our week, our families and church.

     I’m typing this, at 5:45am (local time) on Sunday morning while sitting on a concrete platform outside the sanctuary with the smell and sounds of breakfast cooking surrounds me, about to get my first cup of coffee.  Breakfast is served at 7:30am this morning, before we gather for worship at 10am.

      So, for the week, we will live in a community where we are the foreigners, where we do not speak the right language, where we do not know the local customs, where we have to ask silly questions like “what do we do with the paper since we can’t put it in the toilet?” (actually, I asked that one) – and we are here, because we believe God has called us to this place – we are here so that we might learn to love more deeply –

    - and we are here, outside of our comfort zones, which is where, of course, most growth generally happens.

Costa Rica Day 2 (Sunday, July 1)

    I’m typing this around 5:50am local time (7:50am back home) – the sun comes up between 4:30am – 5:00am year round I’m told.

     Today started with breakfast at 7:30am local time (body clock still at 9:30am).  Rice and beans were part of the menu.  We had time to walk up and down the road in front of the Iglesia Metodista Fortaleza Divina Rosa.

      Sunday worship was at 10am local time.  The Methodist Church here is very Pentecostal in nature.  Watching worshipers so moved by the Spirit that they fell on the floor during Holy Communion was a new experience for each of us. 

       However, though the service was in the native Spanish tongue, a number of praise songs were familiar, that we could sing along in English.  “Lord I Lift Your Name on High” is one example.  The familiar rhythms and tunes allowed us to feel a bit more connected to the worship experience I think.

      (As I’m typing this, I’m waiting for breakfast at 6:30am, sitting outside the church.  I’m sipping my first cup of coffee as Ryan Smith, our team leader/youth counselor reads a devotional book while sitting to my right.)

      The most meaningful part of our worship for me was the moment during the lengthy praise song portion of the worship – about 1 hour, before Holy Communion and the preaching by pastor Freddy.  After singing in Spanish for the entire song, Jody, the worship leader changed to English as he sang, “He has conquered the grave, Jesus conquered the grave.”

     At this point the congregation burst out in thunderous applause!  Several, including Pastor Freddy, had been kneeling at the altar for some time at this point – and the ones at the altar and the 30 – 35 others sitting in the light brown plastic chairs cheered and cheered.

      It was as if they were standing outside the tomb when Jesus walked out!  I found myself deeply moved by that moment of unabashed, spontaneous celebration and joy, as the one who has conquered the grave was worshiped, deeply and profoundly.   And as I sat among the poor people of Santa Rosa, I could hear in their shouts and see in their faces that they knew without a doubt, that this one who had conquered the grave could conquer the tombs of their own struggles.

      The visiting teams – us and a team from Azle Christian Church in Azle Texas – left before the sermon began to have our "English devotions with Fred Curry, the American missionary and director of Rice and Beans Ministry, the group responsible for building this worship space and the adjoining dining area and kitchen.  Before we lift, Fred told the worshipers who we were, and allowed us a moment to offer a word.

      I shared with the Costa Ricans, as one of the Rice and Beans team members, KiKi translated, that we had been planning and praying about this trip for a year, and that we had been praying for the people of Costa Rica.  I told them we were honored to be living among them for a week, and thanked them for their hospitality.

      After lunch that consisted of rice and beef, cooked squash, pineapple and watermelon – we traveled up the mountain   (Mario, our driver, just stopped by to say good morning – he trying to teach me mucho Espaniol this week.  “Como esta?  Muy Bien!” I am trying, but I’m a slow learner!)

       We delivered bags in Santa Marta. A couple of our groups went very high up, too far for the bus to carry us – so we walked, walked and walked, up, up, up.  It was quite challenging physically.  We walked on roads, but they were covered in rocks and always pointed upward.  We asked one of our translators who traveled with us, how people got around who lived so high up on the mountain. He said simply “they walk.”  I began to imagine that these folks were undoubtedly in better shape than the average Westerner (at least this one!)

      Offering rice and beans, dried milk and masa (to make tortillas) filled in the bags donated and decorated by Rock Grove was a deeply meaningful experience. Every home we approached welcomed us, received our gift, and allowed us to pray for them.  We spoke to them through an interpreter, and held hands in a circle while praying.  As was the custom of the people at the church, we all prayed simultaneously.   In some cases, we were invited into homes to pray.  Some families were so grateful and welcoming, that we hated to leave them.  In more than one home we felt an instant connection of the presence of Christ that reminded us we were truly sisters and brothers.

      Some of folks brought candy for the children – my wife Kathy especially enjoyed handing out the treats to the smiling and appreciative faces.

      Our youth joined with the youth of the Texas church and the youth and young people from Costa Rica who are part of the Rice and Beans Ministry for some fellowship time during the afternoon before supper. 

       We also had time for some much needed showers.  After a supper of fish, potatoes, squash and carrots, we had evening devotions, gathered with our Rock Grove team to pray for one another and for our families and church back home – praying continually to be salt and light.   Then it was time for bed.   Exhausted, I pretty much slept like a baby!

Costa Rica Day 3 (Monday, July 2)

I got up and out around 5:30am, sipped me coffee and typed reflections of the previous day.  Breakfast was at  
6:30am – pancakes, eggs with red pepper (not hot or spicy) rice and beans, a lightly fried cake of cheese, and 
pineapple and watermelon.   I am so going to start eating pineapple with my meals when I get home!  I’ve never been a fan of pineapple, but I’ve never pineapple like this before!

Today, part of our group began digging a ditch at the church in preparation for Sunday School class.  The goal is to build a retaining wall this week.  Kathy, Nellie and I traveled back to the mountain…..up, up, up….the dirt roads to the “Plaza”, a soccer field that was part dirt, part grass, with goals that resembled football goal posts (we learned as the week progressed that each community has a plaza).

After stopping to rest several times we finally arrived at the field (hallelujah!).  We waited for about a half hour, and then they children began to trickle in, walking from the various homes in the mountains. 

While we waited, I got a soccer ball and kicked it to one child, then another, and before long we had a circle, kicking the ball to one another (the universal language of play!).  After a while, we had 25 – 30 children.  The folks from Azle Christian church had brought VBS supplies and had prepared lessons for the children – “The Lost Sheep”, we all work sheep masks!  There were a variety of games.  I even got to play baseball (I’m much better at that than soccer!) with a little boy named Jefferson.  I didn’t butcher his name like I did so many of the other children with more native names.  My attempts at repeating their names often brought giggles and laughter from the children.  I didn’t have to keep reminding them that I spoke “muy poco Espaniol .”

Kathy needed to lay down a bit because of the sun, there was little shade, and we both had probably not had as much water as we should have.  I got her some water and candy (“poppie”), wet a tissue to lay on her forehead, and after a while she was able to be with the children.   One child brought her a banana to help her feel better.  Some children brought their pictures to her to see and gave her hugs (those are some of my best pictures!)
   
We recognized a bittersweet part of this week, was that some of the families we had met the prior day when we delivered food and prayed for them, we had felt an instant connection.  And seeing them again today at VBS was like seeing old friends.   One particular family that always greeted us with beautiful smiles and soft eyes, was the one whose child gave Kathy a banana.  The sad reality hit us as we left the plaza and started our descent down the high mountain by way of the rocky road, was that these dear people who stole our hearts in an instant, had crossed our paths for just the briefest of moments.  We knew as we left, we would never see them again.  But, my oh my, how blessed we were to encounter them on a mountain in Costa Rica!

After lunch back at the Iglesia Metodista Fortaleza Divina Rosa, where we ate and slept, had devotions and worshipped, our whole team was reassembled to travel to a village to hand out more bags filled with rice and beans, dried milk, and mazzo for tortillias.  Today, we did not travel up the mountain, though we still had plenty of hills to climb in the village of San Martin.

We stopped at a local store to purchase some water. My bill for 3 waters and 2 Power aids was 3,400 colones.  I asked for the American amount, and it was $7.00.  I gave the cashier a ten dollar bill, and received a Costa Rican bill worth one thousand colones. In the village, like the day before we had our interpreters with us as we traveled to homes, shared with the people that we were in the community offering food as an expression of God’s love, and that we would be honored if they would receive it, then we prayed with them.

After supper of……spaghetti and bread (our first bread of the week), the youth played “electricity” and “jello” and “spoons” around the table with other youth from Costa Rica. The adults visited, and every now and then we could hear the sounds of laughter and shouts from the youth’s table.

Our youth injected a little Southern English into the local culture as the Costa Ricans were taught words like, “y’all” and “gotchya”, as well as “barbed wire” and “sibblings.”  After supper, we had our evening devotions, then gathered with our team to hold hands and pray for one another and for our family and friends back home.  Then it was time to call it a night.  It was about 9:00pm local time.


Costa Rica day 4 – (Tuesday, July 3)

After breakfast at 6:30am we left shortly after to head to the community we had visited the day before with bags of food to do VBS.   Today we did not travel up a great mountain, but were driven right to the site for the VBS, the “plaza”.

Every little community has a plaza, which is basically a soccer field.  Most of our youth went with us today, Ryan and Andrew stayed behind to help with the building.   When we first arrived there were some kids and a goat.   They kept their distance, and it wasn’t clear how they might welcome us.  I heard some laugher as we got off the bus.  But after we got a soccer ball out and started to kick it around, they quickly made their way to us, and the bonding began. They especially liked it when I tried to kick it behind my back, as one of them had done, and almost fell down, leaving a good bruise on my right shin!

We had a larger crowd today.  The count was about 62 children.  They just kept coming.  One of our Costan Rican team, Gretel, brought her guitar.  It was a real treat for me to play and lead the singing for the children as our youth did the motions for “Pharaoh, Pharaoh”, “Lord I Lift Your Name on High”, and “Hal-la-la-la….la-la-ley-lu-yah.  Even with the language barrier, the throng of children laughed and mimicked the motions as we sang and danced.  When we got back to the camp, members of the Rice and Beans Staff were singing “Pharaoh, Pharaoh”.  They’ve asked me to write down the words so they can use it after we’re gone.

Some of the children spoke English very well, which was very helpful.  They served as translators for us with the large crowd.  I met a woman who spoke English well, and had lived in New Jersey for some time, though she was a native Costa Rican.  It was a treat to have a lengthy conversation that wasn’t dependent on hand signals.

Some of our team played soccer with the kids – this is definitely the sport of the Costa Ricans, but our kids (and Carla) held their own…

There was the Bible story of the little lost sheep, games to play, pictures to take, crafts to make, glitter to spread and candy to hand out.  Our youth bonded quickly, and even had the chance to teach our young friends some new games. One of our youth learned an elaborate new handshake from one of the children.  I especially enjoyed the hugs and smiles!  Love indeed is the universal language!

After a great lunch back at the camp that included a dish of rice, chicken and vegetables, along with tuna and pasta, and of course beans, we made our way to a new village, called Arizona.  This area had a combination of nice homes and deep poverty.   There were many, many hills and graveled roads to climb carrying our bags filled with rice and beans, dried milk and masa for tortillas.

We saw many families with children today.  We were greeted with welcomes and smiles, we handed out food and prayed, time and time again.  We saw poorer families today, some very simple houses with dirt floors and cardboard interior walls.

We had time to rest a bit before supper.  While sitting at the church reading a bi-lingual Bible, trying to learn some Spanish, a truck road by the dirt road with a loud speaker announcing that the water would be cut off the next day – so no showers or flushing toilets for Wednesday.  We were told to stock up on water…

Our team worked to assemble crafts in preparation for the next day’s VBS.  Supper was a little earlier, around 5:30pm – it was pork, rice and beans and “salada”, a great-tasting salad of chopped tomatoes and cucumbers in vinegar.    After supper, I spent some time reading in the church sanctuary while the guitar was played by Jonathon (pronounced “yau-nathon”), who was with a new group from El Salvador that just arrived today.

We had devotions around 8:00pm local time.  Then we gathered with our Rock Grove team to assemble more bags (all of them are done now), circled, held hands, reflected on the day and prayed, then made our way to our homes around 9pm, exhausted, a very good tired and went to sleep.


Costa Rica day 5 – (Wednesday, July 4^th)

I got up at 5am, got ready and made my way to the church for coffee (great Costa Rican coffee – we brought a couple bags home) and to sit and type my reflections.  After breakfast, we made our way to Arizona for another Bible School.  We met at the Plaza in their community.  This one was quite nice –
including a simple shelter (with a baño…bathroom), that worked out well for the children’s crafts.

As always it was a treat playing and interacting with the children.  I enjoyed watching our youth play soccer with the Costa Rican children.  One little boy, David (pronounced here as Dah ‘Veed), who lives in Santa Rosa with us, has become a member of our team and family.  He speaks little English, but he is teaching our youth some Espaniol and they are teaching him some Inglaise, laughing with each other along the way.

Oh – and no hills to climb to get to the Plaza – yay! Mario, our bus driver, took us right there. Though there was a steep bank to descend to get to the plaza, and a ditch to navigate that bordered it, I’ll take that over the steep mountain climb any day….

After another good lunch, we traveled to Los Breezes to deliver bags.  Once again, the people were gracious and welcoming.  I even got a hug and a kiss at one house, and all I was doing was taking pictures of the group!

One particular family that touched my heart was “Cindy” and her two children.  They lived in a very meager house, with a dirt floor and gaping cracks in the outside wall.   I was so blessed when she invited us into her home to pray.  I told her, through our interpreter Josie, what an honor it was to be in her home to pray with her.

Cindy had such a sweet and humble spirit, I realized that she, and the poor people of Costa Rica we were encountering, had much to teach me about humility and peace, about contentment, about being satisfied with what you have – I remember Paul’s words… “I have learned to have nothing…..”  It was worth traveling 3500 miles from home, sleeping on a mattress on the floor and dealing with a few toilet challenges (the water was cut off Wednesday morning and remained cut off through the night into Thursday), taking a cold shower or two, just to have received the blessing of her humble and authentic hospitality!

After supper, we gathered for worship in the church sanctuary at Santa Rosa.

At one point in the early part of the worship, which was led in music by some new friends from El Salvador who arrived Wednesday – Jonathan and Fernando, Fred Curry, the director of Rice and Beans shared with the congregation that his son Jerry would soon be deploying, and he would not be able to see him – and Fred wasn’t ready for this.   The pastor, Freddy, was about to pray for him, and our team from Rock Grove walked up to the front of the sanctuary and laid hands of Fred while Freddy prayed for him.  

It was quite a treat and honor to be able to share the Bible story of the Good Samaritan during worship through KiKi, our interpreter.   There were moments of communication challenge when KiKi couldn’t find the right words to translate into Spanish, but it was a unique and blessed experience for me.

After sharing Luke 10:25-37, I invited our team up to join me in some singing.  As we had earlier at Bible School, we sang “Hallelujah” where the team went out among the congregation and high-fived, scratched backs, shook hands and gave hugs.  Then some of our Costa Rican friends and team members from the Azle Christian Church in Texan joined us for a rousing rendition of “Pharaoh, Pharaoh” – always a crowd favorite!

I closed by sharing the words of blessing from Ephesians 3:16-21, and then offered a word of blessing from the Book of Numbers in Spanish:"El Senior los bendiga, y los guardia. Amein" "The Lord bless you and keep you.  Amen"

My Spanish was clumsy at best, but the congregation erupted in applause and cheers, showing their appreciation for my efforts.

The worship here is very Pentecostal, very spiritual.  Overcome by their spiritual experience, some of the worshipers “fall-out” on the floor.  During worship last night, someone motioned for me to go to a man who was standing in the front during the music.  He was caught up in the Spirit and about to fall. I stood behind him, held his shoulders and back, and when it came time for him to fall, I guided him to the floor and held his head so he wouldn’t land hard.

After worship, there were hugs and words of blessing spoken.  We’d gotten pretty good with “Dios bendiga (God bless you)”.  Though much of what the members of the congregation said to us, we could not understand, their love and hospitality for us was clearly communicated.   As on the Day of Pentecost, when the Spirit of God is present, different languages pose no barrier at all.

After gathering in a circle to pray, we made our way to our waterless homes to go to bed.  It was around 8:30pm local time.

Costa Rica Day 6 – (Thursday, July 5^th)

I got up at 5am, and made my way to the church/kitchen/fellowship space to type my devotions and get a cup of coffee.  Today I met our frog.  It was as big as my hand!  I was telling Ryan about it (and of course I took a picture of it – I took over 1200 for the trip!), and he told me it was on his arm during the night.

No showers, no flushing toilets still.

After breakfast at 6:30am, we traveled to a suburb of San Isidro – a large city in our province.  We worked today with inner city kids.  It was a bit of a different experience from working with the mountain children.  It wasn’t as much fun in some respects for the group.  We found the behaviors a bit more challenging – a reminder that ministry is not always what we wish it to be, and is often a bit messy – but there were still many blessings.

In the afternoon we delivered bags in the area around the church in Santa Rosa. We were greeted warmly by most – but here we did meet our greatest resistance. Two families said “no” to our approach – one particular lady even acted angrily to our visit – a member of the Catholic Church, her negative response reflected the tension and animosity in this part of the world between Catholics and Protestants.  Interestingly enough, we are referred to, in derision as “Christians” to the Catholics.  I couldn’t understand everything she said to us, but I understood “loco” easily enough!
 
We had heard about the tensions from Fred, which are long-standing in the community.  But this was our first, first-hand experience.  We had actually approached a number of Catholic homes earlier, and had been greeted and welcomed warmly…

In the afternoon, the water came back on – and, as Fred said in the nightly devotions, sometimes the Lord blesses us by taking things away.  Sometimes we don’t appreciate the value of something until it’s taken away.

After devotions Fred took us to “Pops”, in San Isidro, a popular ice cream shop in Costa Rica.  My choice was “guanabana”, an interesting fruity, somewhat tart flavor.  After gathering for the prayer in the girl’s house for the week, we made our final preparations for our packing and trip back to San Jose on Friday morning.

    
Costa Rica Day 7 - Friday July 06, 2012

Up at 5:00am.  Today is the day we leave Santa Rosa, heading to the San Jose in preparation for our flight home on Saturday.

A sad day of goodbyes…

We had a special farewell service at the Iglesia Metodista Fortaleza Divina Rosa, our Methodist Church home for the past week.  What a privilege it was for me to join with Pastor Freddy in leading worship.  I read Scripture and prayed in English, while he led in Spanish.   Holding the cup as members of our team, and members of the local Methodist congregation dipped their saltine crackers during our service of Holy Communion was profoundly meaningful for me. 

As I shared the words “the blood of Christ shed for you” to my friends, family and neighbors from this foreign land, I was deeply moved by the sweet unity in the Body of Christ.  I found myself continually choking back tears as we celebrated the gift of true communion and community in Christ.
 
As I type this it’s midnight Costa Rica time, 2am our time.  It’s our last night before flying out Saturday at 2:30pm from the San Jose airport.   Casey and I are sitting outside the balcony on the second floor of the Backpacker “hostel” in Alajuala.  Casey wanted some late-night chicken tenders.  The bar/grill closed at midnight, so we’re out here with his second orange Fanta, just talking and watching the traffic and the activity in the park across from the hotel. 

Our hotel is not in the best part of town, so we have been a bit careful.  Tonight we had supper at the La Princessa Marino in Alajuala.  After supper, we gathered in one of our rooms to reflect on our experiences of the week, to share our feelings, to consider what we do with what we’ve experienced.

After that, several of us gathered in the fourth floor bar / grill, where the view was spectacular. We’re close enough to the San Jose airport to watch the planes land at night.  There’s a cool breeze on the outside seating area, and the city if filled with lights.  As I visited with one of the members of another team who was in low spirits in the bar (I had two drinks at the bar – Coke Lights, the Costa Rica equivalent of Diet Coke), I occasionally noticed our youth as they visited together – what a neat picture – a special experience, these youth who had shared so much together, laughing and visiting together late in the evening on a Friday night in Costa Rica.  Pretty cool stuff.  

Tomorrow, we fly home.  It’s been a great trip.  But I’m ready to be home now.


Saturday, July 07, 2012 (going home day)

     Up about 6am local time.  Got up to type some reflections and several of the group was already up.   We had breakfast around 8am, then caught the hotel shuttle in three groups at 10:20am, 10:30 and 10:40 to make it to the airport in plenty of time for our 2:30pm flight home.  I think everyone was quite ready for the trip.

      It’s been a great week, but a tiring week.  And I think we’re all ready to be reunited with family, friends and pets, and to sleep in our own familiar beds.  It’s time to go home.

      I’m sure I’ll be reflecting on the lessons learned in Costa Rica for some time.  The more than 1200 pictures will serve as a neat reminder of our days here for some time.
  
     We got to the airport in plenty of time, and had time for a little shopping and lunch after making through security.   Security was a bit more extensive here, with security personnel hand-checking our carry-on luggage just before boarding.  It was raining as we boarded flight 1706 from Costa Rica to Charlotte.  We were heading home!

      I must have been more tired than I realized, because just after take-off I drifted off to sleep as we ascended through the rain and clouds.   When I awoke, we were high above the storm in a land of white cloud castles.   I pulled out the laptop and began working on Sunday’s sermon.  I finished it right as we hit some turbulence over Cuba.

      We touched down in Charlotte at 8:41pm, waited in some long lines to get through immigration and customs before families were reunited at the terminal. It was neat to see and experience all the smiles, laughter and hugs.  We got back to Rock Grove around 11:00pm.   God had blessed us with a memorable and valuable trip….

       …..and we were safely home.

       Thanks be to God!


Grace and Peace!

Pastor Randy

Christ in the Cobwebs

     This past week was the Annual Conference for the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church at Lake Junaluska in the mountains of North Carolina.  The weather was great, and the setting, as always was peaceful and picturesque.  The worship and Bible studies were moving, inspiring and provocative.  It was a rich time of, what John Wesley would describe as, Christian Conferencing.

      The history of gathering for Annual Conference can be traced back to 1744, when Wesley gathered Methodist Clergy together to focus primarily on matters of theological doctrine.  And he understood that such gatherings were a vehicle through which God was pleased to pour out God's Spirit, in other words - a Means of Grace.

     I've been attending Annual Conference by the Lake in the mountains of Western North Carolina for somewhere the neighborhood of 25-30 years.  For the past 22 years as a clergy member of Conference, and several years prior as a member of the laity.

     And for me, both spiritually and personally, this was one of the best.

     I found the worship to be uplifting, and the preaching relevant, challenging and hopeful.  Every time I hear really good preaching, I look forward to getting another crack at the pulpit myself.  Hearing good preaching inspires me to be a better preacher. Receiving Good News stirs my own desire to deliver Good News.

     Dr. Elaine Heath, Professor of Evangelism at Perkins School of Theology in Dallas led three Bible Study sessions.  The Holy Spirit has used Dr. Heath to birth new expressions of Christianity, new covenant communities that are providing new models of being church.   She has been instrumental in the founding of new missional communities, a new kind of monasticism where people live together in community for the purpose of sharing and offering Christ together, guided by a shared Rule of Life.

     Her words to us were challenging, provocative, timely, and most of all - hopeful.  She came to us at a time when our penchant for hand-wringing is at a fever pitch.  Declining church membership and attendance continues to be a discouraging trend, as the church tries to discern ways to be relevant and faithful in this present age.

     Dr. Heath shared a vision that reminded us that the God we serve delights in making all things new.  Reflecting on Jesus words about the folly of trying to put new wine in old wine skins (Luke 5:33-39), she invited us to consider these new days as days of "holy fermentation," as a time when the new thing(s) of God need room to grow and expand. 

     Maybe my heart was just ripe for breaking and re-shaping, maybe my heart was a just a bit more receptive to the moving of the Holy Spirit than usual, maybe I was just a tad more focused and a bit less distracted...but, for whatever reason, I found myself continually wiping away tears and jotting down valuable quotes.  I found these past days to be rich days for me spiritually.

     And I found these days to be rich for me personally.  In the midst of the work of Annual Conference, I had the opportunity to spend meaningful time with my family and valuable time with a number of friends, both lay and clergy.  These were very rich days for me on many levels.

     When we came to the close of our sending worship service on Sunday morning, I listened as our Bishop, Larry Goodpaster, admonished each of us to get to work being the outreaching, relationship-building, kingdom-embodying church, as he closed his sermon with these words - "brothers and sisters, go! Get out of here! Get busy!"

      As we sang our closing hymn, I looked up toward the ceiling.  And there, on the light fixture of section number 5 in Stuart Auditorium, was a fairly large cobweb.  Perhaps it had missed the close inspection and obvious hard cleaning of the Lake Junaluska crew before our arrival, or maybe it had sprung up since we arrived.  Whatever the case, it was one bit of imperfection that had found its way into an otherwise perfect Sunday morning, at the close of an otherwise perfect time of conferencing together.

     And I couldn't help but smile.

     It was a gentle reminder to me that the imperfections of life can be found, even in the most perfect of places, even in the midst of the most vital worship, the most loving community, the most Spirit-filled gathering.  I was reminded that cobwebs can be found, sometimes even in the most pure of human hearts.  I thought of how ministry is often messy in the local church and in the world.

     Spiritual Writer and Catholic Priest Henri Nouwen once wrote of the folly of demanding perfection from life, as if life could be lived in a sanitized laboratory, free from infection.  He reminded his readers that those who would know real joy, must be able to find it in the midst of the messiness of life.

      And those of us who would follow Jesus, really follow Jesus, must be willing to do ministry in the messy places, in the muck, mud and mire of real life.  We can't love our neighbor without having a willingness to walk among the broken shards of shattered lives.  

      So here's the word of the Lord to me today - don't be afraid to wade into the cobwebs.

      Because Christ is already there!


Grace and Peace

Pastor Randy

      

Three Cheers for Christian Conferencing

    As I type this, I'm in full-steam-ahead mode getting ready to travel to Lake Junaluska to engage in the time-honored Methodist tradition of Annual Conference.  From Wednesday through Sunday, lay and clergy members of the Western North Carolina Annual Conference will gather by the lake for a time of worship and study, to hear and receive reports, to consider and vote on petitions and resolutions, to commission and ordain, to honor the retired and to remember the dead who have died in the Lord.

    When the Conference officially convenes on Thursday morning for a service of Holy Communion, we will sing "And are we Yet Alive?", the traditional Charles Wesley hymn that opens every session of Annual Conference.  It is a hymn that celebrates God's goodness and providential hand that has kept us as a people called Methodist since last we met, and has graciously brought us back together for the gift of conferencing.

  John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement in 18th century England, believed very strongly in the concept of Christian Conferencing.  He even described it as one of the "Means of Grace", an ordinary channel for God to pour out God's grace upon God's people.

   When we gather at Annual Conference, we continue what Wesley started, remembering who God has called us to be, standing shoulder to shoulder singing the hymns of the Church, breaking bread together at the Lord's Table and in places like Granny's Kitchen, Maggie Valley Restaurant and Butts on the Creek, in conversations in rocking chairs, on porches, in front of Stuart Auditorium and by the lake, we will experience the gift of encouragement, sustenance and nurture, hearing anew the call and finding renewed strength to be sent forth in mission - all things that are inevitable and unmistakable in those gloriously mysterious moments when the Church, through the Spirit, is really and truly the Church.

     The concept of Christian Conferencing, holds at its core, the belief that the Church is indeed the Body of Christ in the world, and that to gather together in Jesus' name, is to experience his fellowship among the gathering of believers and the communion of the saints. 

     For us clergy-types, its an opportunity to to reconnect with clergy colleagues, to see who's moving and who's staying, to inquire about life and ministry since last summer.   For many of us, it's also time to get away with our families for a few days, giving us an air of relaxation and sabbath in the midst of it all.   Lord willing, there will be a stop or two for ice cream at Jelly Belly's in Maggie Valley...

     Christian Conferencing by the Lake at Junaluska, is a time to be renewed and refreshed, a time for worship and wonder, a time to remember the mystery and beauty of the calling we all share, lay and clergy, as Christian ministers, and a time for those of us who have been set apart for licensed and ordained ministry in the Church to be reminded of the purpose, gift and task of our vocation.

     And I think Brother Wesley was right.  I do think Christian Conferencing is a Means of Grace.  And as I prepare and pack for another Annual Conference, I look forward to every song, sermon and sacrament, and every handshake, hug and heart, through which God will be pleased to pour out God's grace, all over again!    


Grace and peace!

Pastor Randy

Trying to Scratch the 500 Year Itch - Part 2

     I was having a round-table discussion (actually, the table was rectangular in shape) with some members from my congregation recently.  We were talking about what it means to be a vital congregation.  We've been having a good many of those conversations over the past few months.  We've been working with a coach as part of an organized vitality effort through the Congregational Development Office of the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church.

     We've been working diligently to try and cultivate a culture of relationship-building within our congregation.  With intention, we've worked to free up some of the pastor's time, in order for the pastor to spend more time out in the community, meeting people and building relationships.

     That intentional effort found me spending about 2 and 1/2 hours at a local school Monday morning, visiting with staff in the lounge over coffee, doughnuts (you really should try the new key lime pie Krispy Kremes)  and sausage and gravy biscuits (made by a member of our Vitality Team) as they cleaned their classes before heading off to summer vacation.

    It's one way of trying to scratch this 500 year itch.

     During the round-table (actually....oh, never mind) discussion recently, the relationship-building strategy and planning session never really fully got off the ground, because we found ourselves talking about a number of challenges that school-aged children face, and the subsequent challenges parents face in trying to help their children in a way that is consistent with their commitments to follow Jesus.

    And we wondered out loud together, about the role of the Church in helping children, parents, families to navigate the real stuff of life, informed by the life, teachings, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus.   Though we had more questions than answers on that afternoon - we all agreed that if the faith we profess on Sunday is authentic and true, then it must speak to the lives we live Monday through Saturday.

    One thing was clear in our conversations - if the Church is to be vital, the Church must be relevant.

    I'm still processing our conversation, still prayerfully trying to discern the ways in which our recent conversation is vital to our vitality.  I'm still thinking about what it means for us to be the Church in these changing times and distracting days.  I'm still thinking about who Jesus was, and is, and who we must be become because of Jesus.

    It's one way of trying to scratch this 500 year itch.

    I do not know what the Church will look like after this 500 year cycle runs its course.  I don't know how the role of the clergy might be different when all the dust finally settles.

    But I do know there are many prayers to be prayed, much discernment to be sought, much work to be done, many people to be loved right now....in these days, in our moment in history.

    And I am committed to that prayer
          and that discernment
          and that work
          and that love.

    Right now, its the best way I know to try and scratch this 500 year itch.


Grace and Peace!

Pastor Randy

      
    

Trying to Scratch the 500 Year Itch - Part One

     I first became acquainted with Phyllis Tickle at the 2012 Festival Gathering of the Network of Biblical Storytellers in Black Mountain NC.  Lively, funny, insightful, authoritative, with the ability to be bitingly irreverent from time to time, she offered her audience bountiful plate-fulls of food for thought.

     The thing that has continued to somewhat haunt my thinking was her detailing of this 500 year phenomenon that has occurred in human history for the past 2,000 years or so (you can even go back another millennium for good measure if you like).  

    Here's the way she puts it in her book, "Emergence Christianity - What it is, Where its going, and Why it Matters",

   "Every five hundred years, give or take a decade or two, Western culture, along with those parts of the world that have been colonized or colonialized by it, goes through a time of enormous upheaval, a time in which essentially every part of it is reconfigured."

    According to Tickle, the historical 500 year phenomenon has greatly influenced religious experience and practice.  The pattern looks like this:

   1-Now - tabbed as "The Great Emergence"
   2-500 years ago - the Protestant Reformation
   3-1,000 years ago - the Great Schism (the split of East and West,
        the separation of the Orthodox from the Catholic Church)
   4-1,500 years ago - Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
   5-2,000 years ago - The Great Transformation - a period of such change in the
       Western world that we mark time (BC - AD, or the newer designations of BCE - CE).
       This of course is the moment of history that gave us the Word made flesh,
       the birth and growth of Christianity.
     
      Reminding us that this is not just a cultural phenomenon that impacts Christianity, Tickle points out that we can go back another 500 years and find the Babylonian Exile of Judah, and still another 500 years and run right into the Davidic Kingdom in Israel.

      I find this all pretty fascinating, and frightening stuff.  If this rhythm is correct, then, as Tickle points out, we are smack dab in one of those historical seasons of great change and upheaval, culturally, socially, economically and religiously.    And one doesn't have to be a history scholar to realize that the advancement of technology is moving at break-neck speed.  Buy the latest electronic gadget or smart phone today, and it will replaced by something faster and more advanced within 6 months.

      And you don't have to be a scholar of religion to recognize that the religious landscape is changing.  The Westernized Church has been in steady decline for quite some time now.  In my beloved United Methodist Church, worship attendance has steadily fallen across the board, churches have had to cut salaries and many stand-alone (Station) churches have had to move in with one another (reverting to their days of being on a circuit and sharing a clergy-person). 

     The picture that Tickle (and others) paint is that the days of the Institutional Church, as we have known it, may very well be numbered.  We don't know what the Church will look like after this 500 year cycle runs its course, but all the signs are pointing to the possibility that it won't look the way many, or most, of us have grown comfortable with it looking.

     And maybe, you know, that's not really a bad thing.

     Comfortable Christianity has never been the way we would describe periods of growth for "The Way", the followers of Jesus.  In fact, it could be argued that Christianity has never fully recovered from becoming the State Religion of Rome under the Emperor Constantine in the fourth century (the beginning of Christendom - Christianity as a state-sponsored politically powerful religious entity).

     As a member of the clergy, coming to the close of my 22nd year as a United Methodist Pastor, with a little over a decade away until retirement, deeply entrenched in the Institutional Church, I find I am spending a great deal of time trying to scratch this 500 year itch. I'm trying to discern what it means for my work as pastor, what it means for my vocational life and what it means for my discipleship.  I'm trying to make sense of it all, and trying to figure out what to do about it.

     I find that I'm spending a good bit of time trying to read the relevant voices who are trying to speak to these changing times for the Church.  And though so much of what we have seen over the past several years may tempt us to give into a bit of hand-wringing, many of the emergent voices seem intent on offering good news in the midst of the uncertainty of these changing times.

    They seem to be saying that the end of Christendom is not really a bad thing, that being a comfortable, fat, lazy and out of shape Church is never what God intended in the first place.

     What I do know to be the case is this - I desperately desire to be a faithful pastor in this season.  And I do believe that these are days of great challenge and profound opportunity.  I do, truly, believe that this is a phenomenal time to be the Church!

     Here's my invite - pray with me, and join me as I try to scratch this 500 year itch.

    stay tuned....

Grace and Peace!

Pastor Randy