Time to 'Look Up'

Hello Church,

How many verses in the Bible encourage you to be an optimist?  The answer is at the end of this blog.

As I stated Sunday, I am going to be on a mission in 2020.  I am going to take as many opportunities as possible to ‘look up’.  That is, to give praise before I complain; to compliment before I criticize; and to thank God for forgiving me before I condemn.

It’s an experiment for me.  I may end up not being very good at it... er... I mean, I might end up being very good at it.  It's time for a year where the cup is half full.  It's a personal revolution for me.  I'm going to turn it into a spiritual revolution for me.  And when pastors have revolution, it's hard not to have it impact the parish to some degree.

God gives us reason to live like things are looking up because they are looking up.  The God of Heaven and Earth provides us the story of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost every year which reminds us all the reasons we have to look at the naysayers of the world and say, 'but......'.

I think that if I don't do that, I am somehow failing my Call.  This isn't just about the non-believers of the world, but also about you believers who will forget that bad days are temporary and that good days are promised to us.

But don't take my word for it.  Take the Word for it.  The end of each Gospel defines the whole book of the Bible as a book of optimism.  Say what you want about the Fall, the book of Judges, Israel's plight, Job's sufferings, Jonah's stubbornness, Judas' betrayal, etc.  The end of each Gospel (as well as many wonderful lessons along the way) demand that we 'look up'.

How many verses in the Bible encourage you to be an optimist?  More than you need.

But we will explore several of them throughout the season of Epiphany and beyond.

God is Good,

Pastor Joe

Have A Confident Faith

Hello Church,

What tests your faith?  Is it Christmas?

The baby being born gives me confidence.  It's God speaking to me in a direct way.  God says to Joe, 'I love you.  Here is my gift to you'.  While this gift is to the whole world, in one perspective I see it as a gift to me specifically.  It is the ultimate proof that God loves me unconditionally.  Do you believe this?  Yes?

So why are you worried about whether or not you are loved?

Maybe you are not.  However, maybe you are one that spends your days showing other people why you should be loved.  You do nice things and help people.  You participate in charity and volunteer your time to work at church and send Christmas cards and buy gifts.  And if you can succeed and get one person to love you, then you feel good.  If you fail, you feel bad, maybe mad, certainly sad.

And then the next day you try again... and then again... and then again.  And you find your life filled with earning the love from others.  And your days become an emotional roller coaster as some weeks you are surrounded by the love of others and other weeks, no matter how hard you try, some just refuse to like you.

If this is you, here is my question:  Do you really believe in Christmas?

A confident Faith is rooted in love.  I am not confident in a lot of things.  I am not confident in my sports teams; my eating habits; my car; my fashion sense; my artistic ability; etc.  But I have learned that I am loved no matter what.  Not because I succeed in earning it, but because God reminds me from time to time (Christmas and Easter being 2 biggies), that He gives it freely. 

So I can go about day with a terrible amount of freedom.  I can do nice things and help people.  I can participate in charity and volunteer my time and send Christmas cards and buy gifts, unattached to any sort of success or failure.  The roller coaster still exists, but it isn't based on whether or not I am loved because I know I am loved by the most important person of my life.... my Creator.

I hope this Christmas boosts your confidence and you can be free.  May 2020 be a year of a confident Faith.

Happy Advent and Merry Christmas,

God is Good,

Pastor Joe

Returning To The Simple Christmas

Hello Church,

2020 is soon to be here.  With the new year, I have dreams and expectations.  I hope you have them too.

As such, I've been thinking how to connect with people.  Specifically, how can the church continue to connect with people.  In my opinion, this should be top priority of any church function.  Human-to-human connections is the pathway to leading people to God.  No one is going to listen to you about your Faith if they don't feel a connection to you......  don't know you or trust you.

In order for me to think this through, I need to push to the side other matters of the church.  Administrative functions, problem-solving dilemmas, secretarial work, preaching to the choir and appeasing the masses are some of the things I also involve myself in, good or bad.  These matters are not always insignificant distractions, but ultimately I seem to find myself immersed in them..... forgetting what I set out to think through to begin with.

And then on some random day I wake up and realize that for the past many days or weeks or even months I have failed to think about my initial task.... to help the church connect with people. 

This problem for me, ironically, seems to be at its height during high church holidays.... like Christmas and Easter.  I also realize that this problem is not isolated to clergy.  Other church leaders and congregants participate in the same problem.  However, I seem to identify it more regularly over the past 18 months or so. 

I want to introduce people to people.  I want to find people and establish a relationship of trust and confidence.  I want us, as a group, to find other groups to collaborate with.  I believe is is in such relationships that God makes Himself most obviously known.  There are days when I just want to love one another without having to fill out a form or have a meeting or check the calendar or update the budget or ..... well... I hope you get it.

So it is that I appreciate the manger scene.  Nothing complicated.  Just love.

I hope your Christmas is not complicated.  I hope you are connected to many who love you back.  I hope this next week will be merry.

God is Good,
Pastor Joe

The Optimism Of Christmas

Hello Church,

As I prepare to experience my 48th Christmas, the same challenges face me.  I won't list them all here, but I will focus on one of them....

Be positive.

This is sometimes a challenge for me at any time of the year.  I decided long ago that I will do what I can to not succumb to the tendency to think pessimistically, even in the most dire of situations.  I decided I will feed off the Faith I SAY I have in order to SHOW that I have it.  It is in this way I become a witness to my Faith in Christ.

Ironically, this can be especially difficult in the Advent/Christmas seasons.  I fully and freely admit that the attitudes we see during this time is skewed, express misunderstandings, be really bad theology, and be entire inappropriate.  The triggers that show up this time of year threaten to vault me into a grumpy mood.  But I resist!!! 

Be positive.

My goal is to not be Scrooge this year.  I'm going to focus on the good qualities of how we live into Christmas.  God is good because Jesus is born.  Jesus is born because God loves us and wants us to not despair, but to have hope in a better future.  Christmas is God's time of year.  I will focus on Him and be glad.

I hope you do too.

God is Good,
Pastor Joe

When 'Them And Us' Becomes 'Us'

Hello Church,

Sometimes unconditional love is a 2-way street.

I was shown a flyer for our Breakfast With Santa event on Dec. 21st.  It was on a red paper with the date and time and a place for RSVP-ing.  It had a picture of a little Santa on it too.  This red flyer was printed out and handed out to the kids at Holly Hill Elementary.  But here is the cool thing....

Emmanuel didn't make the flyer....

As it turns out, Holly Hill made the flyer and took the initiative to pass it out to the kids.  The info I received was that 'they wanted to help us out'.

This is affirmation in my mind.  Taking risks and spending energy making connections to those outside the church can be worth it.  There are those in the world who recognize and appreciate unconditional love.  And, wow, how awesome it is when such love is reciprocated. 

Now it is Holly Hill who is helping us do what we do.... not just us helping Holly Hill do what they do.

I hope you recognize the significance of this and the ramifications it has on how the church looks upon its work and ministries.  I also hope you are able to dream ahead as to what it could look like as unconditional love could multiply with multiple relationships among multiple organizations.

I want to see this effort grow, expand, multiply.  I want to watch as the fruit of the work ripens into the growth of the church.  It takes time and diligence and patience... but oh so worth it.

God is Good,
Pastor Joe

Church Is Changing Around Us

Hello Church,

9 new Methodist worship services have been started in the Cincinnati area.  All 9 are working and growing. 

But here's the catch.... none of them are in church buildings.

A nursing home.  An art store.  A brewery.... to name three of them...

They aren't huge worship services.  Most are 50 or less.  That's okay because most of our church buildings are worshiping 50 or less.  One difference is that these new worship sites have worked up to 50, not down to 50.  This new trend is known as Fresh Expressions.  The idea isn't local, but the idea is catching hold.

Church is changing.  Perceptions of church are changing.  Worshiping congregations who understand this shift are changing how they go about reaching people.  They are naming their fears; taking risks and putting it all out there.  Relationship building is taking precedence over brick buildings.  9 times it has been tried by the Methodist church in the Cincinnati area.  All 9 times it has and still is working.  Relationships built; Holy Communion; baptisms, new members, etc.

What does this mean for Emmanuel?  I'm not sure, but I would like to have the conversations.  I have been to a Fresh Expressions service.  I can't say it was really my thing, but I'm not sure that's the point.  If we are trying to reach people who are put off by the institutional church, then we need to think outside the institution.  As one who was raised in the faith by the institution, this is scary indeed.  I would still like to have the conversations.

In the end, God wants people to feel loved and connected to a faith community.  What that means today isn't any different than in years past.  Yet when and where that happens has often been pigeon-holed to Sunday mornings in a specific kind of building.  What does this mean?  I don't know, but I'd like to have the conversations.

God is Good,
Pastor Joe

I Have A New Friend!

Hello Church,

I can't help but reflect on Sunday morning's worship experience.  For me, it was one of the most rewarding services of the year.  We heard the direct results of showing Christ's unconditional love, a very pure consequence of trying to be a pure and simple church.

Erin--someone who is not part of Emmanuel--shared in a most heartfelt way how Emmanuel is showing genuine love (specifically, to the staff of an entire elementary school).  Mary Lou--who IS part of Emmanuel--shared how she made a new friend by showing unconditional love.  Both talks were clearly authentic and sincere.  And, additionally, the staff of Holly Hill sent a great-big 'thank you' which is displayed in the lobby.

I was so glad to be a part of Emmanuel.

So often we get caught up in 'churchy' issues.  In-house politics; numerical statistics; public perceptions; personal agendas... go ahead and add to the list....  These are all present in every church.  There is no way around it.  We are human.  We get distracted. 

But for an hour in worship at Emmanuel yesterday I felt like I was part of a church that Christ hopes for.  During Erin's and Mary Lou's talk, I felt like we were as close to a church in the purest sense as we could get.  Showing and receiving and feeling love for no other reason than that God loves us.

Being a church doesn't have to be complicated.

So I will keep this blog simple.

God is Good,
Pastor Joe