As I continue to work when I shouldn't be I'm re-reading Dan Kimball's Emerging Worship: Creative Worsihp Gatherings for New Generations and his The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for NEW GENERATIONS.
We are considering adding a third service on Sunday mornings at TPUMC and I am going to be part of the consideration process as we look at what to do. I've started new services twice before in my career (as well as having been a part of several focus groups and having folks visit the services that I was leading and answering their questions about the process) and have found the process to be energizing, terrifying, and labor intensive.
We currently offer a 'liturgical service' and a 'contemporary service' that are just that in their structure. We are not at the typical 80% rule for starting a new service but I think one can make a legitimate case for starting a new service for reasons other than one is out of room. (For example, our sanctuary is beautiful and seats 1000 people, so, in order for us to follow that rule, we would need to have an average weekly attendance for our two services would need to be 1600 people. That's a bit of a challenge for a church that has an 'active' membership of 450 or so and a total membership of 1000.)
I think one can make a case to expend resources on a new service in order to meet other needs of the congregation and for evangelistic purposes.
As far as my recomendations go, I am strongly considering pushing us in an emerging worship direction. (Which is somewhat amusing to me because part of the churches worship evolution included a period of blended worship and I know I'm going to have to very clearly articulate that this is a blended style but that the service will be blended in a very different way.)
Of the many things that attract me to the concept of the emerging church, perhaps the two most interesting pieces for me are (of course) the blending of ancient and modern practices as well as the insistence that there is no one model that a local church should copy. My minsitry setting is fairly unique and is, I believe, in need of a unique vision that is rooted in the Gospel.
I'm looking forward to getting into the discussion again!
Friday, September 29, 2006
Trying to observe Sabbath
It is amazing to me how much effect culture has on habits. It's been some time since I tried to observe a sabbath. Life has gotten extra hectic and stressful over the course of the past two months and thus, I came to the conclusion last week that if I didn't re-ignite my prayer life and start observing a sabbath than I simply wasn't going to make it. Since I work all day at the church on Sunday, I decided that I would observe sabbath on Friday's. (Of course next week I'll be traveling over Friday, so we'll see how that works out!)
Over the summer I had gotten into the habit of observing the sabbath once a week and had gotten 'good' at it, meaning that I was able to enter into it fully and be relatively distraction free.
Today, however, I'm struggling! I keep trying to do local church and conference work and I know I need to stop that and rest but I am seriously struggling!
Clearly, I have been conditioned to worship the idol of busyness! I wonder if the best way to fight this conditioning is to 're-condition' by just continuing to be faithful and grind it out every week until I get back in the groove? This strikes me as a sort of Weslyan 'fake it till you make it' way of going about it. (With that last sentence I think I have clearly shaken off all of my seminary education! Sorry, Perkins!)
Over the summer I had gotten into the habit of observing the sabbath once a week and had gotten 'good' at it, meaning that I was able to enter into it fully and be relatively distraction free.
Today, however, I'm struggling! I keep trying to do local church and conference work and I know I need to stop that and rest but I am seriously struggling!
Clearly, I have been conditioned to worship the idol of busyness! I wonder if the best way to fight this conditioning is to 're-condition' by just continuing to be faithful and grind it out every week until I get back in the groove? This strikes me as a sort of Weslyan 'fake it till you make it' way of going about it. (With that last sentence I think I have clearly shaken off all of my seminary education! Sorry, Perkins!)
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Sermon on Sabbath
Below is a sermon I preached in July about the discipline of keeping Sabbath. I had recently read some writings by Mark Buchannan (who wrote and excellent book called The Rest of God), Lauren Winner, and Marva Dawn on the subject and had been attempting to keep Sabbath regularely. I altered the sermon quite a bit when I preached it and I wished I had a transcript, as the spoken word was substantially better than the manuscript but hey, there's only 24 hours in a day!
Shabbat Shalom: 11:00
Hmmm…Lord God, you, are our resting place. Amen and amen. Let us pray:
Heavenly God, Creator of the universe, of all that was and is and is to come. You have commanded that we work, that we create, as you did, for six days, and then on the seventh day, like you, we are to cease working, to rest, to be joyful, and to embrace the things that give life. We are here today, to do that. We are here today to worship you, to be renewed, reclaimed, and revitalized by you and for you so that we can do the same for your creation. Inspire us, and continue to inspire the Word, your Word, that has been sung, prayed and will now be spoken. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart, be pleasing to you, oh God. And may the Spirit run amongst us today so that we may we leave this Sanctuary, a changed people. Let all God’s children say: Amen.
It is an honor for me to be here, with you, in this Sanctuary, every Sunday. But it is a special honor and privilege for me this morning to serve as your preacher. My name is Joe Stobaugh and I am an associate pastor and the minister of music here at Travis Park. If you came expecting to hear a word from Pastors John and Karen today, I’m afraid they are not here. They are taking a well-deserved trip to Vancouver, British Columbia, for study and, hopefully, for some rest. They will be back next Sunday, however. As for this morning, you’re stuck with me!
Friends, God has placed it on my heart to talk with you about Shabbat today, to talk with you about the Sabbath. I know that language, of ‘God placing something on one’s heart’ is not language we normally use here at Travis Park but at least in this case, it’s true! I know this is true because I’m a preacher who has the opportunity to preach twice a year, I’ve got roughly six months in between sermons to think about what to preach on! Time and again, from when I found out in February that I was going to be blessed with the opportunity to preach this morning, until now, the idea of preaching on observing the Sabbath has been ever present. The idea wouldn’t leave me alone. Sabbath was like an ever-bubbling spring in my mind, it just wouldn’t stop! Up until Tuesday of this week I was still looking at alternate texts to preach on! It’s not even a topic that makes my top ten list of passions for the church. I’d rather preach about worship, or community, or about building the church, about the Kingdom of God, about the Lordship of Jesus Christ! But Sabbath…it just kept coming back, preach about the Sabbath, preach about the Sabbath… I’ve learned over the years that this is one of God’s favorite tactics with me. When God really wants to get a hold of my attention, God won’t leave me alone with that small voice of His until I’ve gotten what God is trying to do to me! A second thing I’ve learned over my relatively brief time on this earth is that God calls it’s best to answer! Thus, I shall preach about the Sabbath today!
As I was reflecting about my own Sabbath journey I was struck by my ‘Americanness.’ Growing up here in America I learned all about the Protestant work ethic: it is expected of us that we will work hard! Hard work is so much at the heart of our culture that our primary value in this society seems to stem from what we are able to produce: we are defined and valued by the market. The effects this system of value has on our culture are truly incredible. I think this is especially true among men. Gentlemen, what’s the first question you ask another male when you meet him for the first time? (“What do you do for a living?”) Isn’t that sadly fascinating? Our culture has a fetish with busyness and laziness is often regarded as the ultimate American sin. If you are not always busy, you must not be living right!
Now, don’t get me wrong: work is a good thing, a wonderful thing, a Godly thing. God calls us to a life of imitation: we are to work, to create, just as God does. Creation and work can and should be a holy endeavor. Having said that, I believe one of the biggest impediments to our spiritual growth is that many of us do not have a healthy balance between work and rest.
The primary byproduct of being out of balance in this life, is death and this death comes in both spiritual and physical forms. The ancient culture of the Chinese people learned this a great many years ago. Did you know that the symbol in the Chinese language for busyness is a combination of the symbols for ‘heart’ and ‘to kill.’ Busyness kills the heart! As American Christians, we would do well to remember this.
Growing up, I remember learning in my history classes one of the key concepts that has made this country what it is: the Protestant Work Ethic. I remember hearing the virtues of this concept being continually extolled. However, I had not, until recently, heard the well-known phrase from the Puritans (perhaps the ultimate Protestants): “Good Sabbaths make Good Christians.”
While the Puritans went about life in a much more severe manner than most of us would be comfortable with today, they were on to something here! Work and rest must go hand in hand: balance is the key! So today, we are reflecting on God’s goodness and wisdom: God has given us a command to rest and to be in community. We are to ‘set-apart’ one day in seven as a day of rest, of community, and of worship.
My ‘real-life’ education about the importance of keeping the Sabbath and the consequences that go with not observing the commandment came primarily from breaking it, frequently, and repeatedly. I learned some very hard lessons about the consequences of my disobedience in my last appointment. It was my first church out of seminary and I was so gung-ho about the kingdom of God, and so in love with Jesus, that I got into the habit of working 90 hour weeks, of being at the church every day and always available on the phone. I became an angry, resentful, mass of availability. I got caught up, unintentionally and subconsciously, in believing that the kingdom was only going to come if I helped bring it about. While there is an element of truth in that last statement, it is incredibly easy for us to elevate our work over the work that God has done and is doing. It seems I had completely lost the realization that God had already brought the kingdom here through Jesus Christ. Why? Well, let me be candid with you: because I had completely violated the first and fourth commandments! Thou shall not have any other god’s before me and thou shall observe the Sabbath and keep it holy. The violation of the first commandment came about because of the violation of the fourth commandment. I never observed a Sabbath. As some one who was raised in the church, graduated from seminary, and had served in the church for years, I should have known better. Friends, I just got out of synch: my work consumed me and it caused me to miss out on much of the wisdom of God, the rest that only God can give as well as the good things that God wanted for me.
Anybody been there?
To underscore the importance of this topic, I issue you a warning (for those of you who have been on the way a long time, you can view it as a reminder). It’s the same warning that Karen gave us last week: to ignore God’s commands is to court death. In the case of Uzzah last week, it was a physical death, in our case today it is primarily a spiritual death.
But there is good news in all of this! God gives us commandments because God loves us, and wants the absolute best for us. God knows we tend to not be able to take care of ourselves or each other, and so God gives us commandments to keep us on the right path. The commandments of God are rooted in God’s deep and abiding love for us!
Of the ten commandments God gave Moses in the Hebrew Scriptures, the fourth commandment, the one that demands us to observe the Sabbath, is the longest and most detailed of the ten. It’s the longest for a good reason. The Shabbat, the Sabbath, is for many, if not most of our Jewish brothers and sisters, the fundamental unit of time through which their lives are ordered. The Shabbat is crucial to the Jewish, and, I would submit, Christian, way of life.
It probably goes without saying but the Sabbath was very important to Jesus. While in the Gospels we mostly find accounts of Jesus getting into trouble with some of the Jewish leaders about his unorthodox observance of the Sabbath, it is very clear that the Sabbath was important to him. Jesus never tells us to do away with the Sabbath, it is a commandment, after all!
The observance of Shabbat is so central to the lives of the Jewish people that is it is recounted twice in the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Scripture.
In Exodus 20:8-11 we find “Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.” (NRSV)
The primary focus of this account is remembrance of what God has done and the command to imitate God. To strive for holiness, to strive to be like God by reorienting our weekly schedule to God. Remember God and be like God. We are to remember that God worked for six days and that on the seventh day, God rested. The seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD, our God, and so it should be for us.
The account in Deuteronomy 5 is a bit different. “Observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work—you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.”
While we find a lot of similar themes from Exodus the writer of this Scripture has now added the liberation of the Jews from Egypt. In addition to remembering and imitating God by striving to become more holy, now we are to also remember our liberation. As Christians we remember Jesus’ victory over sin and death on the Sabbath, our liberation from sin and death through the work of Jesus Christ.
While this commandment is very personal in nature there is also a strong and clear sense of the social justice that God desires for God’s people. Thus, we are all called to holiness, to a life of liberation, and to the work of social justice. God gives us both accounts, because we need them both to survive.
I must tell you, I am very proud of this church and of our commitment to our vision statement: unconditional love and justice in action. Let’s be honest, however: that’s a hard way to live. The ministries that we are called to be engaged in at this church are difficult: they are hard, they require endurance, faith, and hope. Perhaps one of the biggest challenges facing progressive Christianity is that, we get so caught up in the 'nowness' of our righteous desire to work for justice and reconciliation, that we tend to forget, in our busyness, the work that God has done and we neglect to rest in God, and to realize that it is God, and not us, who makes the wheat to grow. Our ministry, friends, is too hard to do well, and joyfully, and faithfully, without an ability to rest in God and to trust God, so that we can be reclaimed and revitalized and renewed by God.
While keeping the Sabbath is not the answer to all our problems, it is one of the ways in which we can be reclaimed from this world by God. The theologian Marva Dawn has said it well: through Sabbath, God’s kingdom reclaims us, revitalizes us, and renews us so that we in turn can renew others. It is through keeping the Sabbath that our lives are changed, because we live in God’s rhythm of time. The pattern of creation, liberation and resurrection becomes the pattern of our lives as well. Through this reclamation, this revitalization, this renewal, we are given a new sense of community, humility, and gratitude. Through Sabbath we gain an added sense of perspective about life. We learn what is important and what isn’t.
So in order for us to do the good work that God has called us to, we must rest in God every week, and renew our relationship with God, each other, and the universe so that we may not only be strengthened for the work but so that we might allow time for that still, small voice of God’s to penetrate the layers of junk that society places on us. Sabbath life is part of life in the kingdom of God: worship, community, rest, and play (in that order) are an important part of God’s creation and of God’s dreams for us. Sabbath is not supposed to be terribly dull but to have a feast like quality through which we joyfully and restfully reorient our lives to God.
So, how do we observe Sabbath. Pastor Mark Buchanan has put it simply: to properly observe Sabbath we must “cease work and embrace the things that give life.”
What does it mean to cease work? For a great many rabbi’s, to cease work meant to not alter the natural world, to leave the world as God created it for a day, so that we can remember that it was God who made the world, that it is God who makes the wind blow and the wheat grow. For some of us, our work doesn’t involve altering the natural world, for others of us, it does. Whatever it is that you do for work, if you are so blessed as to have work to do, try to cease it one day of the week and rest. For most of us, Sunday is the ideal day to observe and keep the Sabbath.
In addition to stopping the work we do six days of the week, we are to embrace the things that make for life. The first of these things, and the most important, is the worship of God. For Christians, we are to worship together every Sunday, at a minimum. Worship gives us life and allows us to focus our love, adoration, and attention on that which truly deserves it: the Triune God!
We are also to be in community with other Christians, with our friends and with our families if we are so blessed to be near them. We are to be in community. We are not to be alone. One of the best ways to do that is to get in community at the church. (And I’m not talking about getting on a committee, but getting in a community.) Attend or start a Bible study. If you’re a youth, go to choir and youth group. If you are a child or that parent of a child, talk with Laura Solarzano about the many ministries for children here. Join a Sunday School class. Join us in taking the Living the Questions classes starting in August. There will be classes offered on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights. There will even be a class offered for those of you north of 1604. What we do in church on Sunday’s is not work but community building and worship. Take a walk, enjoy God’s creation. Take a nap, get some rest! Make that phone call to a family member or friend that you know you need to make. After church, get some recreation time! In every book I read about the subject before beginning to write this sermon I encountered an interesting rabbinical suggestion that is quite beautiful.: married couples are encouraged to have sex on the Sabbath. (Please note the word ‘married’ in the last sentence.!) The point of all this is, make time for the things that bring life!
Now some of you might be saying to yourselves, “Joe, you don’t know what my life is like, I don’t have time to do this.” All I can tell you is that, frankly, you need to make the time. Let’s call the roots of this issue what they are, at least for most of us that make this excuse: idolatry, pride and arrogance. Do you really believe the world will fall apart if you don’t work for a day? To put yourself in that frame of mind is disrespectful and disobedient to God. God was clearly aware that this cessation of work would be a problem for many of us, and thus God made it a commandment. It is my hope and prayer that, if you haven’t, you will find the time in your life, including but beyond Sunday morning worship, to orient your life to God and what God has done and is doing for you and the world through observing Sabbath.
As far as myself and my Sabbath journey, I now only occasionally work 90 hour weeks. By continuing to learn to keep the Sabbath, my life continues to be ever more oriented toward God. My wife will tell you, I am a better person to be around and I mostly enjoy the yoke that God has placed on me. My prayer life has deepened considerably and, honestly, I have become physically healthier and more efficient in my ministry here at the church. My understanding of work and my ‘theology’ of it has improved dramatically. More importantly, I have learned that the weight of the world does not solely hang on my shoulders but on God’s, and that is one of the most freeing epiphanies I have ever experienced.
The Hebrew word for holy is best translated as being ‘set apart.’ I pray that you will be able to set apart a day, preferably Sunday, where you can strive for holiness by observing the Sabbath. I know that God will be continue to be faithful to the promises God has made by reclaiming you, revitalizing you, and renewing you through the practice of the Sabbath so that you can renew others and help to bring about God’s reign on earth! I pray that your soul would say yes to the Spirit of the Lord, that you would say Yes, Lord, Have Thine Own Way, yes, Lord, your will be done in me. Won’t you say Yes to God’s love and to God’s life affirming practice of Sabbath?
Shabbat Shalom: 11:00
Hmmm…Lord God, you, are our resting place. Amen and amen. Let us pray:
Heavenly God, Creator of the universe, of all that was and is and is to come. You have commanded that we work, that we create, as you did, for six days, and then on the seventh day, like you, we are to cease working, to rest, to be joyful, and to embrace the things that give life. We are here today, to do that. We are here today to worship you, to be renewed, reclaimed, and revitalized by you and for you so that we can do the same for your creation. Inspire us, and continue to inspire the Word, your Word, that has been sung, prayed and will now be spoken. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart, be pleasing to you, oh God. And may the Spirit run amongst us today so that we may we leave this Sanctuary, a changed people. Let all God’s children say: Amen.
It is an honor for me to be here, with you, in this Sanctuary, every Sunday. But it is a special honor and privilege for me this morning to serve as your preacher. My name is Joe Stobaugh and I am an associate pastor and the minister of music here at Travis Park. If you came expecting to hear a word from Pastors John and Karen today, I’m afraid they are not here. They are taking a well-deserved trip to Vancouver, British Columbia, for study and, hopefully, for some rest. They will be back next Sunday, however. As for this morning, you’re stuck with me!
Friends, God has placed it on my heart to talk with you about Shabbat today, to talk with you about the Sabbath. I know that language, of ‘God placing something on one’s heart’ is not language we normally use here at Travis Park but at least in this case, it’s true! I know this is true because I’m a preacher who has the opportunity to preach twice a year, I’ve got roughly six months in between sermons to think about what to preach on! Time and again, from when I found out in February that I was going to be blessed with the opportunity to preach this morning, until now, the idea of preaching on observing the Sabbath has been ever present. The idea wouldn’t leave me alone. Sabbath was like an ever-bubbling spring in my mind, it just wouldn’t stop! Up until Tuesday of this week I was still looking at alternate texts to preach on! It’s not even a topic that makes my top ten list of passions for the church. I’d rather preach about worship, or community, or about building the church, about the Kingdom of God, about the Lordship of Jesus Christ! But Sabbath…it just kept coming back, preach about the Sabbath, preach about the Sabbath… I’ve learned over the years that this is one of God’s favorite tactics with me. When God really wants to get a hold of my attention, God won’t leave me alone with that small voice of His until I’ve gotten what God is trying to do to me! A second thing I’ve learned over my relatively brief time on this earth is that God calls it’s best to answer! Thus, I shall preach about the Sabbath today!
As I was reflecting about my own Sabbath journey I was struck by my ‘Americanness.’ Growing up here in America I learned all about the Protestant work ethic: it is expected of us that we will work hard! Hard work is so much at the heart of our culture that our primary value in this society seems to stem from what we are able to produce: we are defined and valued by the market. The effects this system of value has on our culture are truly incredible. I think this is especially true among men. Gentlemen, what’s the first question you ask another male when you meet him for the first time? (“What do you do for a living?”) Isn’t that sadly fascinating? Our culture has a fetish with busyness and laziness is often regarded as the ultimate American sin. If you are not always busy, you must not be living right!
Now, don’t get me wrong: work is a good thing, a wonderful thing, a Godly thing. God calls us to a life of imitation: we are to work, to create, just as God does. Creation and work can and should be a holy endeavor. Having said that, I believe one of the biggest impediments to our spiritual growth is that many of us do not have a healthy balance between work and rest.
The primary byproduct of being out of balance in this life, is death and this death comes in both spiritual and physical forms. The ancient culture of the Chinese people learned this a great many years ago. Did you know that the symbol in the Chinese language for busyness is a combination of the symbols for ‘heart’ and ‘to kill.’ Busyness kills the heart! As American Christians, we would do well to remember this.
Growing up, I remember learning in my history classes one of the key concepts that has made this country what it is: the Protestant Work Ethic. I remember hearing the virtues of this concept being continually extolled. However, I had not, until recently, heard the well-known phrase from the Puritans (perhaps the ultimate Protestants): “Good Sabbaths make Good Christians.”
While the Puritans went about life in a much more severe manner than most of us would be comfortable with today, they were on to something here! Work and rest must go hand in hand: balance is the key! So today, we are reflecting on God’s goodness and wisdom: God has given us a command to rest and to be in community. We are to ‘set-apart’ one day in seven as a day of rest, of community, and of worship.
My ‘real-life’ education about the importance of keeping the Sabbath and the consequences that go with not observing the commandment came primarily from breaking it, frequently, and repeatedly. I learned some very hard lessons about the consequences of my disobedience in my last appointment. It was my first church out of seminary and I was so gung-ho about the kingdom of God, and so in love with Jesus, that I got into the habit of working 90 hour weeks, of being at the church every day and always available on the phone. I became an angry, resentful, mass of availability. I got caught up, unintentionally and subconsciously, in believing that the kingdom was only going to come if I helped bring it about. While there is an element of truth in that last statement, it is incredibly easy for us to elevate our work over the work that God has done and is doing. It seems I had completely lost the realization that God had already brought the kingdom here through Jesus Christ. Why? Well, let me be candid with you: because I had completely violated the first and fourth commandments! Thou shall not have any other god’s before me and thou shall observe the Sabbath and keep it holy. The violation of the first commandment came about because of the violation of the fourth commandment. I never observed a Sabbath. As some one who was raised in the church, graduated from seminary, and had served in the church for years, I should have known better. Friends, I just got out of synch: my work consumed me and it caused me to miss out on much of the wisdom of God, the rest that only God can give as well as the good things that God wanted for me.
Anybody been there?
To underscore the importance of this topic, I issue you a warning (for those of you who have been on the way a long time, you can view it as a reminder). It’s the same warning that Karen gave us last week: to ignore God’s commands is to court death. In the case of Uzzah last week, it was a physical death, in our case today it is primarily a spiritual death.
But there is good news in all of this! God gives us commandments because God loves us, and wants the absolute best for us. God knows we tend to not be able to take care of ourselves or each other, and so God gives us commandments to keep us on the right path. The commandments of God are rooted in God’s deep and abiding love for us!
Of the ten commandments God gave Moses in the Hebrew Scriptures, the fourth commandment, the one that demands us to observe the Sabbath, is the longest and most detailed of the ten. It’s the longest for a good reason. The Shabbat, the Sabbath, is for many, if not most of our Jewish brothers and sisters, the fundamental unit of time through which their lives are ordered. The Shabbat is crucial to the Jewish, and, I would submit, Christian, way of life.
It probably goes without saying but the Sabbath was very important to Jesus. While in the Gospels we mostly find accounts of Jesus getting into trouble with some of the Jewish leaders about his unorthodox observance of the Sabbath, it is very clear that the Sabbath was important to him. Jesus never tells us to do away with the Sabbath, it is a commandment, after all!
The observance of Shabbat is so central to the lives of the Jewish people that is it is recounted twice in the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Scripture.
In Exodus 20:8-11 we find “Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.” (NRSV)
The primary focus of this account is remembrance of what God has done and the command to imitate God. To strive for holiness, to strive to be like God by reorienting our weekly schedule to God. Remember God and be like God. We are to remember that God worked for six days and that on the seventh day, God rested. The seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD, our God, and so it should be for us.
The account in Deuteronomy 5 is a bit different. “Observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work—you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.”
While we find a lot of similar themes from Exodus the writer of this Scripture has now added the liberation of the Jews from Egypt. In addition to remembering and imitating God by striving to become more holy, now we are to also remember our liberation. As Christians we remember Jesus’ victory over sin and death on the Sabbath, our liberation from sin and death through the work of Jesus Christ.
While this commandment is very personal in nature there is also a strong and clear sense of the social justice that God desires for God’s people. Thus, we are all called to holiness, to a life of liberation, and to the work of social justice. God gives us both accounts, because we need them both to survive.
I must tell you, I am very proud of this church and of our commitment to our vision statement: unconditional love and justice in action. Let’s be honest, however: that’s a hard way to live. The ministries that we are called to be engaged in at this church are difficult: they are hard, they require endurance, faith, and hope. Perhaps one of the biggest challenges facing progressive Christianity is that, we get so caught up in the 'nowness' of our righteous desire to work for justice and reconciliation, that we tend to forget, in our busyness, the work that God has done and we neglect to rest in God, and to realize that it is God, and not us, who makes the wheat to grow. Our ministry, friends, is too hard to do well, and joyfully, and faithfully, without an ability to rest in God and to trust God, so that we can be reclaimed and revitalized and renewed by God.
While keeping the Sabbath is not the answer to all our problems, it is one of the ways in which we can be reclaimed from this world by God. The theologian Marva Dawn has said it well: through Sabbath, God’s kingdom reclaims us, revitalizes us, and renews us so that we in turn can renew others. It is through keeping the Sabbath that our lives are changed, because we live in God’s rhythm of time. The pattern of creation, liberation and resurrection becomes the pattern of our lives as well. Through this reclamation, this revitalization, this renewal, we are given a new sense of community, humility, and gratitude. Through Sabbath we gain an added sense of perspective about life. We learn what is important and what isn’t.
So in order for us to do the good work that God has called us to, we must rest in God every week, and renew our relationship with God, each other, and the universe so that we may not only be strengthened for the work but so that we might allow time for that still, small voice of God’s to penetrate the layers of junk that society places on us. Sabbath life is part of life in the kingdom of God: worship, community, rest, and play (in that order) are an important part of God’s creation and of God’s dreams for us. Sabbath is not supposed to be terribly dull but to have a feast like quality through which we joyfully and restfully reorient our lives to God.
So, how do we observe Sabbath. Pastor Mark Buchanan has put it simply: to properly observe Sabbath we must “cease work and embrace the things that give life.”
What does it mean to cease work? For a great many rabbi’s, to cease work meant to not alter the natural world, to leave the world as God created it for a day, so that we can remember that it was God who made the world, that it is God who makes the wind blow and the wheat grow. For some of us, our work doesn’t involve altering the natural world, for others of us, it does. Whatever it is that you do for work, if you are so blessed as to have work to do, try to cease it one day of the week and rest. For most of us, Sunday is the ideal day to observe and keep the Sabbath.
In addition to stopping the work we do six days of the week, we are to embrace the things that make for life. The first of these things, and the most important, is the worship of God. For Christians, we are to worship together every Sunday, at a minimum. Worship gives us life and allows us to focus our love, adoration, and attention on that which truly deserves it: the Triune God!
We are also to be in community with other Christians, with our friends and with our families if we are so blessed to be near them. We are to be in community. We are not to be alone. One of the best ways to do that is to get in community at the church. (And I’m not talking about getting on a committee, but getting in a community.) Attend or start a Bible study. If you’re a youth, go to choir and youth group. If you are a child or that parent of a child, talk with Laura Solarzano about the many ministries for children here. Join a Sunday School class. Join us in taking the Living the Questions classes starting in August. There will be classes offered on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights. There will even be a class offered for those of you north of 1604. What we do in church on Sunday’s is not work but community building and worship. Take a walk, enjoy God’s creation. Take a nap, get some rest! Make that phone call to a family member or friend that you know you need to make. After church, get some recreation time! In every book I read about the subject before beginning to write this sermon I encountered an interesting rabbinical suggestion that is quite beautiful.: married couples are encouraged to have sex on the Sabbath. (Please note the word ‘married’ in the last sentence.!) The point of all this is, make time for the things that bring life!
Now some of you might be saying to yourselves, “Joe, you don’t know what my life is like, I don’t have time to do this.” All I can tell you is that, frankly, you need to make the time. Let’s call the roots of this issue what they are, at least for most of us that make this excuse: idolatry, pride and arrogance. Do you really believe the world will fall apart if you don’t work for a day? To put yourself in that frame of mind is disrespectful and disobedient to God. God was clearly aware that this cessation of work would be a problem for many of us, and thus God made it a commandment. It is my hope and prayer that, if you haven’t, you will find the time in your life, including but beyond Sunday morning worship, to orient your life to God and what God has done and is doing for you and the world through observing Sabbath.
As far as myself and my Sabbath journey, I now only occasionally work 90 hour weeks. By continuing to learn to keep the Sabbath, my life continues to be ever more oriented toward God. My wife will tell you, I am a better person to be around and I mostly enjoy the yoke that God has placed on me. My prayer life has deepened considerably and, honestly, I have become physically healthier and more efficient in my ministry here at the church. My understanding of work and my ‘theology’ of it has improved dramatically. More importantly, I have learned that the weight of the world does not solely hang on my shoulders but on God’s, and that is one of the most freeing epiphanies I have ever experienced.
The Hebrew word for holy is best translated as being ‘set apart.’ I pray that you will be able to set apart a day, preferably Sunday, where you can strive for holiness by observing the Sabbath. I know that God will be continue to be faithful to the promises God has made by reclaiming you, revitalizing you, and renewing you through the practice of the Sabbath so that you can renew others and help to bring about God’s reign on earth! I pray that your soul would say yes to the Spirit of the Lord, that you would say Yes, Lord, Have Thine Own Way, yes, Lord, your will be done in me. Won’t you say Yes to God’s love and to God’s life affirming practice of Sabbath?
Good Friday 2006 Sermon
Even though it's really out of season I'm posting a sermon that I preached this past Good Friday (time to clean up some jump drive files). I serve in a church that has a lots of folks who are just checking out Christianity as well as folks who have been on The Way for a long time and that influnced this sermon quite a bit.
Why?
Why? Why? It is a question that is especially fitting as we consider the execution of Jesus, and, it is also an important question for us to answer as it helps to define what we believe and how we live and interact with the world. Let me ask you again, Why? Why did Jesus die in this way? Was it necessary? And if so, necessary for what? Why did it occur in such a horrible, brutal, and humiliating fashion? There is so much to this event that it is overwhelming.
I invite you to take a few seconds, and, if you haven’t done so already, put yourself in the passion narrative, find the character that most embodies who you are. There is no wrong or right person to be. Perhaps you are a disciple, maybe even Judas. Perhaps you are a Roman citizen, maybe you are one of the women, who were some of Jesus’ most trusted disciples, and the only ones who walked with Jesus to very end, perhaps you are Pilate. Maybe you are a zealot, who are you in this story. Make no mistake, this story is your story too. You have inherited this most profound moment in history, so, take a moment, put yourself in the story.
Why? Can you imagine the importance this question must have for you as a follower of Jesus? Why was the one whom you had entrusted your life to, the one to whom you entrusted your soul, the one whom you loved above all others, the one, whom you thought had the capacity to save your people from years of domination and oppression, why, how, could it be that he was executed by the state? An innocent victim, nailed to a tree as a form of state sponsored terrorism as a warning to those who would dare oppose Rome. How could it be? You had so much hope and just as many dreams. Can you sense the pure desperation of the Jesus’ early followers? Can you share even a taste of what they experienced following Jesus’ execution? Can you feel the sensation of your world being pulled out from under you, from the grief that rips a hole in your soul in such a way that you never thought possible, from the shame, the humiliation of the foolishness of it all? Can you imagine it? No doubt, some of you have felt these things. You know what it is like to fully devote yourself to something that seems foolish.
So I ask you again, Why? I am so struck by the pure inevitability of Jesus’ death at the hands of the powers that be. After rereading the story numerous times, after watching several cinematic accounts of the events that led up to Jesus’ death, it all seems so unbelievably inevitable, so completely predictable. Here was a man, who’s passion for God’s justice and who’s passion for incarnating God’s reign on earth, who’s passion led to his certain violent death. Even as we look into our own Christian heritage, we often see the violent deaths of those who would participate in Jesus’ message and Jesus’ mission. From the second century martyrs to our own times and the martyrdom of Martin Luther King Jr., of Oscar Romero, of Tom Fox, a member of the Christian Peacemaker Team in Iraq. As we add this inevitability to the question of why, let us look at the major teachings of the church on this.
The church has traditionally taught three models of Christ’s death and the atonement. (Let us set aside, for a moment, all of the denotations of that word and put the word in it’s original English meaning: at-one-ment, to be restored to a right relationship with God.) The church has often taught these three models simultaneously. The first model, the one with which the majority of us are most intimately acquainted is that of subsitutionary atonement, also known as the satisfaction model. The model works like this:
I. Because humanity is totally depraved, and because God is a God of righteousness and love then God must be reconciled to humanity via a sacrifice that is acceptable to God. Since God is perfect and holy, the only sacrifice for humanities sin that would fit the bill is the sacrifice of God’s self on behalf of humanity. Thus, by Jesus’ sacrificial death our redemption and reconciliation with God is accomplished.
II. A great many people, especially in our community struggle with the full implications of this understanding of Jesus’ death. So do I, I don’t want to be responsible for the horrible execution of someone I love and whom I declare to be the Lord of my life.
III. Still, I agree with Wesley and with Calvin in that humanity is totally depraved. In preparing for this sermon I watched to cinematic accounts of Jesus’ life and death and during one of them Sarah brought Ellie through the room and I was just completely dumbstruck as to how anyone, after seeing a baby and realizing that we are all someone’s child, could do such terrible violence to anyone. The answer: the total depravity of humanity.
IV. However, just like Calvin and Wesley, I believe that we were created in the good image of God (Genesis 1:27) and, because of this, we are redeemable.
V. In this model the cross becomes the symbol of God reconciling Godself to us by the death of Jesus as a substitute sacrifice for humanities sin.
VI. This model is sort of weirdly comforting and true in many ways. Still, the idea that the only reason for Jesus’ death is to atone for my sins, and for your sins doesn’t seem complete and in many ways seems selfish and somewhat incongruent with the message that Christ preached during his life.
VII. It is important for us to note that this understanding of the death of Jesus has only in the last century become the prominent model used to understand the events of Good Friday. This model wasn’t fully codified until Anselm of Canterbury articulated it in the 12th century. Most likely, this model is not what the majority of the early church subscribed to. From most accounts it seems that the early church believed that Jesus’ death was the final sacrifice because it revealed that the temple sacrifices of the time were not truly of God’s will. This facet of the work of Israel’s prophets was finally completed in Jesus.
The second example the church teaches came about as a response to the substitutionary model. This second model is called the Moral Exemplar/Revealer model.
I. In essence, this model asks the question that, if God is really God, then why would God require satisfaction for sin which God could simply forgive us for? Instead of demanding a sacrifice for the sin of adultery that the women who was brought to Jesus, he simply commanded her to go and sin no more.
II. The cross, then, becomes the supreme example of Jesus’ incredible love for others. In this understanding, we see that because of Jesus’ extreme love that that love challenges our daily existence, and that Jesus shows us the correct path on which to walk in life.
III. Is this not fundamentally true, that Jesus’ execution on the cross was, in fact, the ultimate metaphor for God’s love?
IV. Certainly, as Christians, we claim to follow the way that Jesus set’s out before us and we seek to participate in the life that Christ led.
V. This model mostly sees the birth of Jesus as more important than the death of Christ.
VI. However, the moral exemplar model does not feel complete to me either. The execution of the Son of God, while certainly including these things is inherently a much more significant event than this model allows for.
The final model that the church has taught regarding the execution of Jesus is the Christus Victor model. It is this model that feels most complete to me. But it is informed by the other two, as they are by it. By understanding Jesus’ death and resurrection through the Christus Victor model we see that through his death and resurrection, Jesus’ has conquered evil, sin, and death. Though the powers that be did their very best to snuff the light of God from the world, they were unsuccessful. Though the powers employed their ultimate tool, execution, upon Jesus, they ultimately failed. Jesus, though brutally murdered, rises. For every nail they put into Jesus’ hand that nail proved to the world that the standard Domination systems that rule civilization are not the end. Every blow that Jesus took showed the world that God is the end, not our civilization. Death, though once victorious, is no more the final answer, no more is sin the last card to be played, no more does evil have the final word. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, he invites us to participate in the reign of God that he instituted here on earth. We know the end of the story. We know that, in the end, God’s victory over the powers, over evil, over sin, is finally assured. God invites us to work with God to bring about the God’s dreams for creation. Knowing that God has vanquished death allows us to enter into God’s work with freedom, with abandon, and with joy. Our joy cannot be taken away because it was not given to us by the powers, by the world, our joy was given to us God, the one who defeated death! Because of Jesus’ triumph over death, we can be steadfast! We can work to change the powers that be and to transform them while transforming ourselves, so that we might live together as God would have it, and as God intended it, and as God dreams for it to be. We can work for justice without fear! We are reconciled to God and our sins are forgiven. Death has lost it’s sting. Thus, this model is both personal and social.
So I ask you the question again and for the last time tonight? Why? Why did it happen this way? Why was it inevitable that Jesus died? It was inevitable because the God-man died on the cross, Jesus’ death was real. It was real because God’s life was incarnational. If God was born as a human, than God must die as a human as well. But we know that death is not the final word. We know that God is always with us, as God has experienced the things that we do, he lived and he died, just as we live and just as we will surely die. As we contemplate the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, let us not trivialize it. Let us not ignore it for what others have made of it. Let us think on it, let us ponder it, let us take comfort in it, let us see it in all its horror and strange beauty, that God would love us so much, that God would lay down God’s life for us.
Amen.
--Rev. Joseph Stobaugh, Good Friday, 2006 C.E.
Why?
Why? Why? It is a question that is especially fitting as we consider the execution of Jesus, and, it is also an important question for us to answer as it helps to define what we believe and how we live and interact with the world. Let me ask you again, Why? Why did Jesus die in this way? Was it necessary? And if so, necessary for what? Why did it occur in such a horrible, brutal, and humiliating fashion? There is so much to this event that it is overwhelming.
I invite you to take a few seconds, and, if you haven’t done so already, put yourself in the passion narrative, find the character that most embodies who you are. There is no wrong or right person to be. Perhaps you are a disciple, maybe even Judas. Perhaps you are a Roman citizen, maybe you are one of the women, who were some of Jesus’ most trusted disciples, and the only ones who walked with Jesus to very end, perhaps you are Pilate. Maybe you are a zealot, who are you in this story. Make no mistake, this story is your story too. You have inherited this most profound moment in history, so, take a moment, put yourself in the story.
Why? Can you imagine the importance this question must have for you as a follower of Jesus? Why was the one whom you had entrusted your life to, the one to whom you entrusted your soul, the one whom you loved above all others, the one, whom you thought had the capacity to save your people from years of domination and oppression, why, how, could it be that he was executed by the state? An innocent victim, nailed to a tree as a form of state sponsored terrorism as a warning to those who would dare oppose Rome. How could it be? You had so much hope and just as many dreams. Can you sense the pure desperation of the Jesus’ early followers? Can you share even a taste of what they experienced following Jesus’ execution? Can you feel the sensation of your world being pulled out from under you, from the grief that rips a hole in your soul in such a way that you never thought possible, from the shame, the humiliation of the foolishness of it all? Can you imagine it? No doubt, some of you have felt these things. You know what it is like to fully devote yourself to something that seems foolish.
So I ask you again, Why? I am so struck by the pure inevitability of Jesus’ death at the hands of the powers that be. After rereading the story numerous times, after watching several cinematic accounts of the events that led up to Jesus’ death, it all seems so unbelievably inevitable, so completely predictable. Here was a man, who’s passion for God’s justice and who’s passion for incarnating God’s reign on earth, who’s passion led to his certain violent death. Even as we look into our own Christian heritage, we often see the violent deaths of those who would participate in Jesus’ message and Jesus’ mission. From the second century martyrs to our own times and the martyrdom of Martin Luther King Jr., of Oscar Romero, of Tom Fox, a member of the Christian Peacemaker Team in Iraq. As we add this inevitability to the question of why, let us look at the major teachings of the church on this.
The church has traditionally taught three models of Christ’s death and the atonement. (Let us set aside, for a moment, all of the denotations of that word and put the word in it’s original English meaning: at-one-ment, to be restored to a right relationship with God.) The church has often taught these three models simultaneously. The first model, the one with which the majority of us are most intimately acquainted is that of subsitutionary atonement, also known as the satisfaction model. The model works like this:
I. Because humanity is totally depraved, and because God is a God of righteousness and love then God must be reconciled to humanity via a sacrifice that is acceptable to God. Since God is perfect and holy, the only sacrifice for humanities sin that would fit the bill is the sacrifice of God’s self on behalf of humanity. Thus, by Jesus’ sacrificial death our redemption and reconciliation with God is accomplished.
II. A great many people, especially in our community struggle with the full implications of this understanding of Jesus’ death. So do I, I don’t want to be responsible for the horrible execution of someone I love and whom I declare to be the Lord of my life.
III. Still, I agree with Wesley and with Calvin in that humanity is totally depraved. In preparing for this sermon I watched to cinematic accounts of Jesus’ life and death and during one of them Sarah brought Ellie through the room and I was just completely dumbstruck as to how anyone, after seeing a baby and realizing that we are all someone’s child, could do such terrible violence to anyone. The answer: the total depravity of humanity.
IV. However, just like Calvin and Wesley, I believe that we were created in the good image of God (Genesis 1:27) and, because of this, we are redeemable.
V. In this model the cross becomes the symbol of God reconciling Godself to us by the death of Jesus as a substitute sacrifice for humanities sin.
VI. This model is sort of weirdly comforting and true in many ways. Still, the idea that the only reason for Jesus’ death is to atone for my sins, and for your sins doesn’t seem complete and in many ways seems selfish and somewhat incongruent with the message that Christ preached during his life.
VII. It is important for us to note that this understanding of the death of Jesus has only in the last century become the prominent model used to understand the events of Good Friday. This model wasn’t fully codified until Anselm of Canterbury articulated it in the 12th century. Most likely, this model is not what the majority of the early church subscribed to. From most accounts it seems that the early church believed that Jesus’ death was the final sacrifice because it revealed that the temple sacrifices of the time were not truly of God’s will. This facet of the work of Israel’s prophets was finally completed in Jesus.
The second example the church teaches came about as a response to the substitutionary model. This second model is called the Moral Exemplar/Revealer model.
I. In essence, this model asks the question that, if God is really God, then why would God require satisfaction for sin which God could simply forgive us for? Instead of demanding a sacrifice for the sin of adultery that the women who was brought to Jesus, he simply commanded her to go and sin no more.
II. The cross, then, becomes the supreme example of Jesus’ incredible love for others. In this understanding, we see that because of Jesus’ extreme love that that love challenges our daily existence, and that Jesus shows us the correct path on which to walk in life.
III. Is this not fundamentally true, that Jesus’ execution on the cross was, in fact, the ultimate metaphor for God’s love?
IV. Certainly, as Christians, we claim to follow the way that Jesus set’s out before us and we seek to participate in the life that Christ led.
V. This model mostly sees the birth of Jesus as more important than the death of Christ.
VI. However, the moral exemplar model does not feel complete to me either. The execution of the Son of God, while certainly including these things is inherently a much more significant event than this model allows for.
The final model that the church has taught regarding the execution of Jesus is the Christus Victor model. It is this model that feels most complete to me. But it is informed by the other two, as they are by it. By understanding Jesus’ death and resurrection through the Christus Victor model we see that through his death and resurrection, Jesus’ has conquered evil, sin, and death. Though the powers that be did their very best to snuff the light of God from the world, they were unsuccessful. Though the powers employed their ultimate tool, execution, upon Jesus, they ultimately failed. Jesus, though brutally murdered, rises. For every nail they put into Jesus’ hand that nail proved to the world that the standard Domination systems that rule civilization are not the end. Every blow that Jesus took showed the world that God is the end, not our civilization. Death, though once victorious, is no more the final answer, no more is sin the last card to be played, no more does evil have the final word. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, he invites us to participate in the reign of God that he instituted here on earth. We know the end of the story. We know that, in the end, God’s victory over the powers, over evil, over sin, is finally assured. God invites us to work with God to bring about the God’s dreams for creation. Knowing that God has vanquished death allows us to enter into God’s work with freedom, with abandon, and with joy. Our joy cannot be taken away because it was not given to us by the powers, by the world, our joy was given to us God, the one who defeated death! Because of Jesus’ triumph over death, we can be steadfast! We can work to change the powers that be and to transform them while transforming ourselves, so that we might live together as God would have it, and as God intended it, and as God dreams for it to be. We can work for justice without fear! We are reconciled to God and our sins are forgiven. Death has lost it’s sting. Thus, this model is both personal and social.
So I ask you the question again and for the last time tonight? Why? Why did it happen this way? Why was it inevitable that Jesus died? It was inevitable because the God-man died on the cross, Jesus’ death was real. It was real because God’s life was incarnational. If God was born as a human, than God must die as a human as well. But we know that death is not the final word. We know that God is always with us, as God has experienced the things that we do, he lived and he died, just as we live and just as we will surely die. As we contemplate the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, let us not trivialize it. Let us not ignore it for what others have made of it. Let us think on it, let us ponder it, let us take comfort in it, let us see it in all its horror and strange beauty, that God would love us so much, that God would lay down God’s life for us.
Amen.
--Rev. Joseph Stobaugh, Good Friday, 2006 C.E.
Monday, September 25, 2006
The Greatness of Stephen Colbert
It's 10:11, CST. We just put Ellie down for the night and Sarah is creating a test (she is an outstanding math teacher!) and I am waiting for a daily refresher for my soul: The Stephen Colbert Report. The man is pure greatness, pure greatness! In church this Sunday the preacher did a modified version of "The Word" during his sermon and it was a riot! (And not too distracting, believe it or not!)
While that is all good, we had a big moment in our house today...September 25th, 2006, is our daughter's nine month birthday and today, she crawled for the first time! It was incredible! Now, she won't stop crawling...I have a feeling my life has changed again!!!!
While that is all good, we had a big moment in our house today...September 25th, 2006, is our daughter's nine month birthday and today, she crawled for the first time! It was incredible! Now, she won't stop crawling...I have a feeling my life has changed again!!!!
World Communion Sunday 9:00 a.m. Liturgy
This week we will be celebrating World Communion Sunday. At Travis Park we will be focusing not only on the unity of the church but also (and, primarily) on the stewardship of the earth. Below is the liturgy for the 9:00 service. (I'm at home and will add the closing hymn when I get back to a hymnal!)
Travis Park UMC-Sunday Morning Worship
Sunday, October 1st, 2006
9:00 a.m.
PRELUDE: Kenneth Freudigman, cello
CALL TO WORSHIP*
Leader: Friends, fellow creatures of God, how can we be silent in the face of such beauty?
People: We see the beauty of the work of a master artist: a sculptor, a painter, a
musician, a poet…God! We see the beauty in the world and in each other.
Leader: Fellow creations of Yahweh, how can we be silent in the face of such creativity?
People: From the octopus to the deep blue desert skies, we see God!
Leader: As we consider the work of God’s hands, what shall we do?
People: We shall open our eyes to beauty, open our souls to love, open our hearts to
worship, and open our mouths to sing!
Leader: Come, let us worship God!
--Rev. Joe Stobaugh
OPENING HYMN* Sing for God’s Glory ALL
Text: Kathy Galloway
Tune: LOBE DEN HERREN
Sing for God’s glory that colors the dawn of creation,
racing across the sky, trailing bright clouds of elation;
sun of delight succeeds the velvet of night,
warming the earth’s exultation.
Sing for God’s power that shatters the chains that might bind us,
searing the darkness of fear and despair that could blind us,
touching our shame with love that will not lay blame,
reaching out gently, to find us.
Sing for God’s justice disturbing each easy illusion,
tearing down tyrants and putting our pride to confusion;
life-blood of right resisting evil and slight,
offering freedom’s transfusion.
Sing for God’s saints who have traveled faith’s journey before us,
who in our weariness give us their hope to restore us;
in them we see the new creation to be,
spirit of love made flesh for us.
PRAYER of CONFESSION
Even as we sing your praise, we grow in our awareness of the hurt we cause the world. Like any good parent, you gave us freedom to grow and the freedom to become fully human but you also gave us parameters. You asked us to tend your garden and we have instead dominated it. We have allowed our greed to overwhelm our common sense. We have allowed our arrogance to overrun our mandate to care for the earth. Only even now are we beginning to understand the damage we have done. Forgive us God!
--Rev. Joe Stobaugh
SILENT PRAYERS
WORDS OF ASSURANCE
MESSAGE Rev. Karen Vannoy
A Witness to Transformation Roger Barnes
TITHES AND OFFERINGS: The Earth and All Who Breathe
Text: Ruth Duck; Music: Attributed to J. S. Bach
The Sanctuary Choir
The earth and all who breathe exist through love divine,
who formed the sea, the flow’ring tree, the wren, the fragrant pine.
each woman, man, and child created from the dust
is called to share creation’s care, a sacred living trust.
The good abundant earth is ours to tend and keep,
yet land lies waste, consumed in haste, and hungry children weep.
The nations proudly build new Babel’s to the sky.
Their bombs destroy creation’s joy; their missiles terrify!
Creation now awaits humanity’s rebirth
as last to claim one common aim: to nurture life on earth.
Awake, all human kind, the challenge now embrace,
apply your strength, your voice, your means, as stewards of God’s grace.
(Please register your attendance in the red registration books.)
*DOXOLOGY
(This morning’s doxology is found in the back of The Faith We Sing found in your pew rack.)
SERVICE OF HOLY COMMUNION
Leader: The Spirit of God be with you.
People: And also with you.
Leader: Lift up your hearts to heaven
People: where Christ in glory reigns.
Leader: It is right, and a good and joyous prayer, always and everywhere to give you thanks. For
in the beginning, Creator God, You made the earth; round, rich, and fertile, the mother of all life, the seedbed of all growth.
People: You bent low and gently gathered up a handful of clay and shaped and
wonderfully and intricately made man and woman.
Leader: You breathed wind and spirit into flesh and bone.
People: We became like you, formed in your image carrying the stars in our eyes,
the moon in our hearts and the cosmos in every breath.
Leader: And, so with all the saints who have gone before, all the creatures of the earth, and all the
faithful touched by the Spirit, we praise your name and join the unending hymn of praise:
--from Water Words by Larry Peacock
SANCTUS #2257-b in The Faith We Sing ALL
WORDS OF INSTITUTION AND CONSECRATION
Leader: Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here and on these gifts of bread and wine.
Make them become for us the presence of Christ, so that we may be signs of new life for our searching world. By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with all creation and one in service to all the world until Christ comes in radiant glory and seats all at the heavenly table.
All: Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be, Father and Mother of us all, living God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the people of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and forever.
Amen.
--from A New Zealand Prayer Book
DISTRIBUTION OF THE ELEMENTS
COMMUNION MUSIC: Kenneth Freudigman, cello
HYMN OF INVITATION* No. ???? ALL
BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE: Hope for Resolution
Arr. Caldwell & Ivory, Text: Traditional Zulu
Joyful Melodies
Nations do not cry!
Jehovah will protect us.
We will attain freedom
Jehovah will protect us.
Travis Park UMC-Sunday Morning Worship
Sunday, October 1st, 2006
9:00 a.m.
PRELUDE: Kenneth Freudigman, cello
CALL TO WORSHIP*
Leader: Friends, fellow creatures of God, how can we be silent in the face of such beauty?
People: We see the beauty of the work of a master artist: a sculptor, a painter, a
musician, a poet…God! We see the beauty in the world and in each other.
Leader: Fellow creations of Yahweh, how can we be silent in the face of such creativity?
People: From the octopus to the deep blue desert skies, we see God!
Leader: As we consider the work of God’s hands, what shall we do?
People: We shall open our eyes to beauty, open our souls to love, open our hearts to
worship, and open our mouths to sing!
Leader: Come, let us worship God!
--Rev. Joe Stobaugh
OPENING HYMN* Sing for God’s Glory ALL
Text: Kathy Galloway
Tune: LOBE DEN HERREN
Sing for God’s glory that colors the dawn of creation,
racing across the sky, trailing bright clouds of elation;
sun of delight succeeds the velvet of night,
warming the earth’s exultation.
Sing for God’s power that shatters the chains that might bind us,
searing the darkness of fear and despair that could blind us,
touching our shame with love that will not lay blame,
reaching out gently, to find us.
Sing for God’s justice disturbing each easy illusion,
tearing down tyrants and putting our pride to confusion;
life-blood of right resisting evil and slight,
offering freedom’s transfusion.
Sing for God’s saints who have traveled faith’s journey before us,
who in our weariness give us their hope to restore us;
in them we see the new creation to be,
spirit of love made flesh for us.
PRAYER of CONFESSION
Even as we sing your praise, we grow in our awareness of the hurt we cause the world. Like any good parent, you gave us freedom to grow and the freedom to become fully human but you also gave us parameters. You asked us to tend your garden and we have instead dominated it. We have allowed our greed to overwhelm our common sense. We have allowed our arrogance to overrun our mandate to care for the earth. Only even now are we beginning to understand the damage we have done. Forgive us God!
--Rev. Joe Stobaugh
SILENT PRAYERS
WORDS OF ASSURANCE
MESSAGE Rev. Karen Vannoy
A Witness to Transformation Roger Barnes
TITHES AND OFFERINGS: The Earth and All Who Breathe
Text: Ruth Duck; Music: Attributed to J. S. Bach
The Sanctuary Choir
The earth and all who breathe exist through love divine,
who formed the sea, the flow’ring tree, the wren, the fragrant pine.
each woman, man, and child created from the dust
is called to share creation’s care, a sacred living trust.
The good abundant earth is ours to tend and keep,
yet land lies waste, consumed in haste, and hungry children weep.
The nations proudly build new Babel’s to the sky.
Their bombs destroy creation’s joy; their missiles terrify!
Creation now awaits humanity’s rebirth
as last to claim one common aim: to nurture life on earth.
Awake, all human kind, the challenge now embrace,
apply your strength, your voice, your means, as stewards of God’s grace.
(Please register your attendance in the red registration books.)
*DOXOLOGY
(This morning’s doxology is found in the back of The Faith We Sing found in your pew rack.)
SERVICE OF HOLY COMMUNION
Leader: The Spirit of God be with you.
People: And also with you.
Leader: Lift up your hearts to heaven
People: where Christ in glory reigns.
Leader: It is right, and a good and joyous prayer, always and everywhere to give you thanks. For
in the beginning, Creator God, You made the earth; round, rich, and fertile, the mother of all life, the seedbed of all growth.
People: You bent low and gently gathered up a handful of clay and shaped and
wonderfully and intricately made man and woman.
Leader: You breathed wind and spirit into flesh and bone.
People: We became like you, formed in your image carrying the stars in our eyes,
the moon in our hearts and the cosmos in every breath.
Leader: And, so with all the saints who have gone before, all the creatures of the earth, and all the
faithful touched by the Spirit, we praise your name and join the unending hymn of praise:
--from Water Words by Larry Peacock
SANCTUS #2257-b in The Faith We Sing ALL
WORDS OF INSTITUTION AND CONSECRATION
Leader: Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here and on these gifts of bread and wine.
Make them become for us the presence of Christ, so that we may be signs of new life for our searching world. By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with all creation and one in service to all the world until Christ comes in radiant glory and seats all at the heavenly table.
All: Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be, Father and Mother of us all, living God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the people of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and forever.
Amen.
--from A New Zealand Prayer Book
DISTRIBUTION OF THE ELEMENTS
COMMUNION MUSIC: Kenneth Freudigman, cello
HYMN OF INVITATION* No. ???? ALL
BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE: Hope for Resolution
Arr. Caldwell & Ivory, Text: Traditional Zulu
Joyful Melodies
Nations do not cry!
Jehovah will protect us.
We will attain freedom
Jehovah will protect us.
A little bit bummed this afternoon
I'm a big fan of Derek Webb! He's got just the sort of attitude that CCM needs these days! He's playing tonight in Dallas, Texas and I've got some good friends who are going to the show. Unfortunatly, I'm not able to join them tonight and I'm kind of sad about it but it's an incredible blessing to be employed doing work that you love so I suppose I ought to count my blessings!
Losing a staff member
Life is full of change, isn't it? This past Wednesday afternoon I was in the throws of getting ready for my two weekly Wednesday night rehearsals when one of the assistants to the music ministry called me. He was calling to let me know that he had been offered a position at another church and that he had accepted the offer.
I experienced a wide variety of emotions when he told me. Of all of the emotions that I experienced, shock wasn't one of them. He is an extraordinarily talented musician and arranger (he arranged all of the music for our second service and played the bass) and I expected that he would leave at some point but the timing of his leaving has been difficult.
Over the course of the next few days I will post the liturgy we created to honor him and bless him in his new journey in ministry.
All of this is to say, I will miss him!
I experienced a wide variety of emotions when he told me. Of all of the emotions that I experienced, shock wasn't one of them. He is an extraordinarily talented musician and arranger (he arranged all of the music for our second service and played the bass) and I expected that he would leave at some point but the timing of his leaving has been difficult.
Over the course of the next few days I will post the liturgy we created to honor him and bless him in his new journey in ministry.
All of this is to say, I will miss him!
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
JazzSAlive Worship Service-Jim Cullum
This past Sunday the church hosted its annual JazzSAlive worship service. Every September the city of San Antoino hosts a wonderful (free) jazz festival in the park across the street from the church. This years guest artists included the Dave Holland Big Band, Eddie Palmieri, Diane Reeves and the Yellowjackets.
Travis Park UMC, for many years, has hosted a jazz artist to play in worship on the Sunday morning of the JazzSAlive festival. This year we were very blessed to have the amazing Jim Cullum play for us in worship! In case you don't know, Jim Cullum is a fantastic cornetist who specializes in jazz and American popular song from the turn of the century to the mid-1940's. His band (the Jim Cullum Jazz Band) has performed across the world and has a weekly show on NPR called "Live at the Landing" which is broadcast from Mr. Cullum's club, The Landing, here in San Antonio.
Mr. Cullum was an absolute blast to have at the church. He played so tastefully, got the congregation involved in the music and was a true gentleman! (He sold cd's after the service and all of the proceeds went to Travis Park!)
Mr. Cullum played the following tunes in a New Orleans style:
Travis Park UMC, for many years, has hosted a jazz artist to play in worship on the Sunday morning of the JazzSAlive festival. This year we were very blessed to have the amazing Jim Cullum play for us in worship! In case you don't know, Jim Cullum is a fantastic cornetist who specializes in jazz and American popular song from the turn of the century to the mid-1940's. His band (the Jim Cullum Jazz Band) has performed across the world and has a weekly show on NPR called "Live at the Landing" which is broadcast from Mr. Cullum's club, The Landing, here in San Antonio.
Mr. Cullum was an absolute blast to have at the church. He played so tastefully, got the congregation involved in the music and was a true gentleman! (He sold cd's after the service and all of the proceeds went to Travis Park!)
Mr. Cullum played the following tunes in a New Orleans style:
- All Glory, Laud, and Honor
- Deep River
- Amazing Grace
- Precious Lord, Take My Hand
Jim was accompanied on piano by the church's own Mark Rubenstien. It was truly a wonderful Sunday!
I hope to have him back with his entire band to do a jazz mass with us soon!
Past JazzSAlive worship service musicians have included:
- Dave Brubeck
- Kirk Whalum
- Ron Brown
and many others.
The Music ministries of Travis Park UMC
TPUMC has a wide variety of music ministries occurring at any given moment.
Our ensembles include
Our ensembles include
- The Sanctuary Choir sings everything from Lauridsen and Bach to Moses Hogan and Glen Burleigh.
- The Celebration Band performs mainly contemporary Black gospel and some jazz, blues and Latin pieces. The band is composed of volunteer and paid musicians. The instrumentation consists of electric bass, drums, auxiliary percussion, two electric guitars, keyboards, and saxophone.
- The Emmaus Youth Choir (composed of youth from 6-12 grades) that sings in worship and takes an annual choir tour. Prior tours have taken the choir literally across the country and into Canada.
- The Adult handbell ensemble which performs seasonally.
- The Children's Music Ministry does everything from standard anthems to musicals to world music, to learning guitar, and drama to all points in between!
- We are also developing "The Arts at Travis Park" as the sanctuary of TPUMC hosts over 60 concerts and other arts events a year.
- We are very blessed to have a Steinway D Concert Grand Piano (no. 97), a Wolfe tracker organ, and two beautiful harpsichords.
- In the past the music ministries have included such diverse things as drum circles and dance.
- We have also hosted many choral clinicians, hymnologists, jazz musicians and the like!
September 24th 9:00 Worship Service
Here you will find the liturgy used for this coming Sunday's 9:00 worship service at Travis Park. If you find anything of use, please feel free to use it. I would only ask that you cite the appropriate source and, if it is something that I have written, that you email me or put a comment on the blog to let me know that it was helpful! God bless you!
Travis Park UMC-Sunday Morning Worship
Sunday, September 24th, 2006
9:00 a.m.
PRELUDE: Karen Stiles, violin
CALL TO WORSHIP*
Leader: Children of God, we are gathered to worship our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer!
People: May we delight in the law of our God.
Leader: If we meditate on God’s law, and on God’s grace, day and night,
People: we will be like trees planted by streams of water. We shall bear fruit in
season and we will not wither.
Leader: Come, let us be renewed and worship God!
--Rev. Joe Stobaugh
OPENING HYMN* No. 2004 Praise the Source of Faith and Learning ALL
PRAYER of CONFESSION
Eternal God, you have taught us your ways. You have shown us what is good. And yet, out of our own pride and arrogance, we have often chosen to follow different gods. Forgive us our idolatry! You have given us all the resources we need to stay on The Way and we have often ignored them. Forgive us, God, for ignoring you. Forgive us, God, for rejecting you. Forgive us, God, for breaking your heart.
--Rev. Joe Stobaugh
SILENT PRAYERS
WORDS OF ASSURANCE
MESSAGE Psalm 1 Rev. John Flowers
TITHES AND OFFERINGS: Come to Christ
Text: John Parker; Music: David Lantz III
Sanctuary Choir; Rev. Joseph Stobaugh, conductor; Lana Cartlidge Potts, accompanist
Weary soul, come to Christ.
Lay your burden at His feet.
There you’ll find rest and comfort and peace.
His yoke is easy, His burden is light.
O weary soul, come to Christ.
Sinful child, come to Christ.
Laying down your days of loss,
you will find mercy and grace from His cross.
Pardon and healing His hand will apply.
O sinful child, come to Christ.
Precious saint, come to Christ.
Lay your crown before His throne.
There you will worship the Savior alone.
Alpha, Omega, the way and the Life.
O precious saint, come to Christ.
Weary soul, sinful child, precious saint,
all come to Christ.
Come to Christ, come to Christ.
(Please register your attendance in the red registration books.)
*DOXOLOGY
(This morning’s doxology is found in the back of The Faith We Sing found in your pew rack.)
SERVICE OF HOLY COMMUNION
Leader: The Spirit of God be with you.
People: And also with you.
Leader: Lift up your hearts to heaven
People: where Christ in glory reigns.
Leader: It is right, and a good and joyous prayer, always and everywhere to give you thanks. For
in the beginning, Creator God, You made the earth; round, rich, and fertile, the mother of all life, the seedbed of all growth.
People: You bent low and gently gathered up a handful of clay and shaped and
wonderfully and intricately made man and woman.
Leader: You breathed wind and spirit into flesh and bone.
People: We became like you, formed in your image carrying the stars in our eyes,
the moon in our hearts and the cosmos in every breath.
Leader: And, so with all the saints who have gone before, all the creatures of the earth, and all the
faithful touched by the Spirit, we praise your name and join the unending hymn of praise:
--from Water Words by Larry Peacock
SANCTUS #2257-b in The Faith We Sing ALL
WORDS OF INSTITUTION AND CONSECRATION
Leader: Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here and on these gifts of bread and wine.
Make them become for us the presence of Christ, so that we may be signs of new life for our searching world. By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with all creation and one in service to all the world until Christ comes in radiant glory and seats all at the heavenly table.
All: Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be, Father and Mother of us all, living God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the people of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and forever.
Amen.
--from A New Zealand Prayer Book
DISTRIBUTION OF THE ELEMENTS
COMMUNION MUSIC: Karen Stiles, violin
HYMN OF INVITATION* No. 413 A Charge to Keep I Have ALL
BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE: Lana Cartlidge Potts
Travis Park UMC-Sunday Morning Worship
Sunday, September 24th, 2006
9:00 a.m.
PRELUDE: Karen Stiles, violin
CALL TO WORSHIP*
Leader: Children of God, we are gathered to worship our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer!
People: May we delight in the law of our God.
Leader: If we meditate on God’s law, and on God’s grace, day and night,
People: we will be like trees planted by streams of water. We shall bear fruit in
season and we will not wither.
Leader: Come, let us be renewed and worship God!
--Rev. Joe Stobaugh
OPENING HYMN* No. 2004 Praise the Source of Faith and Learning ALL
PRAYER of CONFESSION
Eternal God, you have taught us your ways. You have shown us what is good. And yet, out of our own pride and arrogance, we have often chosen to follow different gods. Forgive us our idolatry! You have given us all the resources we need to stay on The Way and we have often ignored them. Forgive us, God, for ignoring you. Forgive us, God, for rejecting you. Forgive us, God, for breaking your heart.
--Rev. Joe Stobaugh
SILENT PRAYERS
WORDS OF ASSURANCE
MESSAGE Psalm 1 Rev. John Flowers
TITHES AND OFFERINGS: Come to Christ
Text: John Parker; Music: David Lantz III
Sanctuary Choir; Rev. Joseph Stobaugh, conductor; Lana Cartlidge Potts, accompanist
Weary soul, come to Christ.
Lay your burden at His feet.
There you’ll find rest and comfort and peace.
His yoke is easy, His burden is light.
O weary soul, come to Christ.
Sinful child, come to Christ.
Laying down your days of loss,
you will find mercy and grace from His cross.
Pardon and healing His hand will apply.
O sinful child, come to Christ.
Precious saint, come to Christ.
Lay your crown before His throne.
There you will worship the Savior alone.
Alpha, Omega, the way and the Life.
O precious saint, come to Christ.
Weary soul, sinful child, precious saint,
all come to Christ.
Come to Christ, come to Christ.
(Please register your attendance in the red registration books.)
*DOXOLOGY
(This morning’s doxology is found in the back of The Faith We Sing found in your pew rack.)
SERVICE OF HOLY COMMUNION
Leader: The Spirit of God be with you.
People: And also with you.
Leader: Lift up your hearts to heaven
People: where Christ in glory reigns.
Leader: It is right, and a good and joyous prayer, always and everywhere to give you thanks. For
in the beginning, Creator God, You made the earth; round, rich, and fertile, the mother of all life, the seedbed of all growth.
People: You bent low and gently gathered up a handful of clay and shaped and
wonderfully and intricately made man and woman.
Leader: You breathed wind and spirit into flesh and bone.
People: We became like you, formed in your image carrying the stars in our eyes,
the moon in our hearts and the cosmos in every breath.
Leader: And, so with all the saints who have gone before, all the creatures of the earth, and all the
faithful touched by the Spirit, we praise your name and join the unending hymn of praise:
--from Water Words by Larry Peacock
SANCTUS #2257-b in The Faith We Sing ALL
WORDS OF INSTITUTION AND CONSECRATION
Leader: Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here and on these gifts of bread and wine.
Make them become for us the presence of Christ, so that we may be signs of new life for our searching world. By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with all creation and one in service to all the world until Christ comes in radiant glory and seats all at the heavenly table.
All: Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be, Father and Mother of us all, living God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the people of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and forever.
Amen.
--from A New Zealand Prayer Book
DISTRIBUTION OF THE ELEMENTS
COMMUNION MUSIC: Karen Stiles, violin
HYMN OF INVITATION* No. 413 A Charge to Keep I Have ALL
BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE: Lana Cartlidge Potts
September 24th, 2006 Celebration Worship Service Order
I intend to place the weekly liturgies of TPUMC on this blog. We have two services (see previous posts for descriptions of these services). The following is the order for this coming Sunday's Celebration Service.
Travis Park UMC
Celebration Worship Service
Sunday, September 24th, 2006
OPENING MUSIC:
All Around (Israel Houghton)
Sing (Martha Munizzi)
WELCOME (Registration Pads, Questions) Rev. Karen Vannoy
Holy Ground (arr. Pat Carey)
PRAYER CARDS Rev. Deanna Kirby & Rev. Willie Glaster
Surely God is Able (Pat Carey)
CALL TO OFFERTORY
OFFERTORY Friend of God (Israel Houghton)
SERMON Rev. John Flowers
BAPTISM
INVITATION TO DISCPLESHIP: I Have Decided to Follow Jesus
(arr. Carey)
POSTLUDE: God’s Got a Blessing
Celebration Worship Service
Sunday, September 24th, 2006
OPENING MUSIC:
All Around (Israel Houghton)
Sing (Martha Munizzi)
WELCOME (Registration Pads, Questions) Rev. Karen Vannoy
Holy Ground (arr. Pat Carey)
PRAYER CARDS Rev. Deanna Kirby & Rev. Willie Glaster
Surely God is Able (Pat Carey)
CALL TO OFFERTORY
OFFERTORY Friend of God (Israel Houghton)
SERMON Rev. John Flowers
BAPTISM
INVITATION TO DISCPLESHIP: I Have Decided to Follow Jesus
(arr. Carey)
POSTLUDE: God’s Got a Blessing
Monday, September 18, 2006
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This is a picture of Travis Park UMC, located in downtown San Antonio, Texas. TPUMC is part of the Southwest Texas Conference of The United Methodist Church. (We are located just a few blocks away from both the Riverwalk and the Alamo.) The church was built on the site of the first Protestant sermon preached in San Antonio. The congregation began the year that Texas was accepted as a state in the Union (1845, for those of you who didn't take Texas history in high school). Travis Park was once one of the largest Methodist congregations in Texas but had suffered a nearly 50 year decline in membership from the 1950's on.
Over the last ten years it would be fair to say that Travis Park has experienced death and resurrection. The church has now become a missionally oriented body of Christ. We serve over 50,000 meals a year to anyone who is hungry and have a wide array of services for those who are on the margins of society. TPUMC has vision, medical, and dental clinics on sight as well as AA meetings, anger management groups, community court, etc. We also have an ID recover program (in fact the church was awarded the ID recovery contract from the city of San Antonio for the victims of Hurricane Katrina who now live in San Antonio) and several employment specialists. What makes this ministry different from a social services agency is that we are striving for solidarity with those on the margins. We eat together, serve together, and worship together. Certainly, this kind of ministry has its challenges but we truly believe that this is a large portion of the work that Jesus has called us to do.
I could go on and on about the work that the church does but you get the general idea. Please feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions about the work that TPUMC is engaged in.
Saturday, September 16, 2006
The Sanctuary Choir of Travis Park recently held a fall repertoire retreat. We were very blessed to have the Rev. Tim Morrison as our clinician. For the closing of our time together, we participated in the following service. (The dedication section of the service can be found in The United Methodist Book of Worship.)
AN ORDER OF DEDICATION OF PERSONS IN MUSIC MINSTRIES
God be with you!
And with your Spirit.
Let us sing!
Opening Hymn No. 68 When in Our Music God is Glorified
Making music to the praise of God in the congregation is a ministry that
requires devotion and discipline.
Do you accept responsibility for this ministry?
I do.
Will you be faithful to the disciplines of music?
I will.
May the faith expressed by your music live in your heart, and what you
believe in your heart, practice in your life.
And may God give you grace to offer your music and your life in
faithfulness and consecration, now, and in the world to come.
Friends, God has given you the ministry of music in the church. Will you
sustain each other (and your conductor and accompanist) with your
encouragement and your prayers, as together we seek to offer praise to God?
If so, will you say we will?
We will.
Meditation:
VII. Above all sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing God more than yourself, or any creature. In order to do this attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he cometh in the clouds of heaven.
From John Wesley’s Select Hymns, 1761
Let us pray,
Creator, our God, bless these ministries of music and those who offer
them in your service.
Give to these persons love for you and your people,
fullness of heart as they praise you,
and diligence that their music may be a worthy offering to your
glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Closing Anthem: Peace I Give to You by Craig Courtney
AN ORDER OF DEDICATION OF PERSONS IN MUSIC MINSTRIES
God be with you!
And with your Spirit.
Let us sing!
Opening Hymn No. 68 When in Our Music God is Glorified
Making music to the praise of God in the congregation is a ministry that
requires devotion and discipline.
Do you accept responsibility for this ministry?
I do.
Will you be faithful to the disciplines of music?
I will.
May the faith expressed by your music live in your heart, and what you
believe in your heart, practice in your life.
And may God give you grace to offer your music and your life in
faithfulness and consecration, now, and in the world to come.
Friends, God has given you the ministry of music in the church. Will you
sustain each other (and your conductor and accompanist) with your
encouragement and your prayers, as together we seek to offer praise to God?
If so, will you say we will?
We will.
Meditation:
VII. Above all sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing God more than yourself, or any creature. In order to do this attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he cometh in the clouds of heaven.
From John Wesley’s Select Hymns, 1761
Let us pray,
Creator, our God, bless these ministries of music and those who offer
them in your service.
Give to these persons love for you and your people,
fullness of heart as they praise you,
and diligence that their music may be a worthy offering to your
glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Closing Anthem: Peace I Give to You by Craig Courtney
Acceptance Remarks for TPUMC Award from Beat AIDS
A week ago Friday I was honored to accept the "Above and Beyond" award for a Faith Based Organization from the San Antonio group Beat AIDS. Beat AIDS is a predominately African-American group who provides education, treatment, and a wide variety of services to those with HIV/AIDS in the San Antonio area. We were very honored to recieve this award. Below you will find the text to the acceptance remarks.
Acceptance Remarks for Beat AIDS Award for Travis Park
· Thank you!
· What an honor and privilege it is to accept this award on behalf of the people of Travis Park United Methodist Church.
· Undoubtedly, HIV/AIDS is the greatest pandemic humanity has ever faced.
· AIDS and Poverty are the defining issues of our generation.
· Sadly, the religious community has often failed in its response to HIV/AIDS.
· Many churches have exuded judgment when we should have been exuding love, compassion and working for justice.
· Thankfully, this is turning a corner. Just the other day I read that Rick Warren, the author of Purpose Driven Life, is hosting a training course on how churches can respond to HIV/AIDS in a loving, caring way.
· Certainly, being a place of love and hope, and creating a community where unconditional love is practiced is part of what a church is called to do. At Travis Park we believe that is true but that the church is called to more than that. We are also called to fight injustice, to advocate for legislation that provides funding for research, for treatment, and, ultimately, for healing. We are called to make God’s world a better place for all of God’s creation.
· And so, we will continue to be a loving and compassionate church that seeks to model what is it to love unconditionally and to work for justice. We will continue to be a place that shines light into a world that is all to often filled with darkness.
· It is an honor for us to be associated with you and this award is very meaningful to us.
· I hope that you will be able to join us on the evening of Friday, December 1st as we will be hosting a city-wide World AIDS day service that will be about remembrance, love, justice, and hope.
· Your secretary mentioned that the time has come for those who support the defeat of HIV/AIDS to stand up and be counted. We want you to know, Travis Park stands with you!
· May God continue to bless you in the work that you do, so that you can continue to shine light in this world.Thank you!
Acceptance Remarks for Beat AIDS Award for Travis Park
· Thank you!
· What an honor and privilege it is to accept this award on behalf of the people of Travis Park United Methodist Church.
· Undoubtedly, HIV/AIDS is the greatest pandemic humanity has ever faced.
· AIDS and Poverty are the defining issues of our generation.
· Sadly, the religious community has often failed in its response to HIV/AIDS.
· Many churches have exuded judgment when we should have been exuding love, compassion and working for justice.
· Thankfully, this is turning a corner. Just the other day I read that Rick Warren, the author of Purpose Driven Life, is hosting a training course on how churches can respond to HIV/AIDS in a loving, caring way.
· Certainly, being a place of love and hope, and creating a community where unconditional love is practiced is part of what a church is called to do. At Travis Park we believe that is true but that the church is called to more than that. We are also called to fight injustice, to advocate for legislation that provides funding for research, for treatment, and, ultimately, for healing. We are called to make God’s world a better place for all of God’s creation.
· And so, we will continue to be a loving and compassionate church that seeks to model what is it to love unconditionally and to work for justice. We will continue to be a place that shines light into a world that is all to often filled with darkness.
· It is an honor for us to be associated with you and this award is very meaningful to us.
· I hope that you will be able to join us on the evening of Friday, December 1st as we will be hosting a city-wide World AIDS day service that will be about remembrance, love, justice, and hope.
· Your secretary mentioned that the time has come for those who support the defeat of HIV/AIDS to stand up and be counted. We want you to know, Travis Park stands with you!
· May God continue to bless you in the work that you do, so that you can continue to shine light in this world.Thank you!
Friday, September 15, 2006
Just to let you know a bit more about myself I've posted a few notes. The picture on the left is of my wife, Sarah, and I headed to our honeymoon. We've been married for five years and have a beautiful eight month old daughter and two amazing dogs (they are Jack Russell Terriers). We've been in San Antonio, TX for over a year now. Prior to serving at Travis Park we served at First United Methodist Church in Longview, Texas for two and a half years. Before moving to Longview, we served at Custer Road UMC in Plano, Texas. Prior to that, I served at St. Andrew UMC (also in Plano), and Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas. My in-laws have just come so I'll post more later! God bless you!
The-Work-Of-The-People
Welcome to The Work of the People. This blog will have postings of services created for Travis Park United Methodist Church in San Antonio, Texas as well as a variety of random thoughts about life, faith, politics, sermons, sports, and who knows what else. I intend to update it at least once a week. Here's hoping for some discipline!
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