The Church and Stewardship II
Yesterday, the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville held it’s Ark Sunday.
The sermon touched on stewardship and giving of your time and money. Unfortunately, the pastor used actual numbers in his sermon, referencing the “person making $100,000 who gives only $50 per week”. Any time the pastor starts talking about hard numbers in a sermon he’s certain to annoy people. I’m a bit irked by that remark myself. My wife and I have decided that our goal is to tithe to charity as a whole, and that donations to the church are a part of that. So are donations to the church camp, American Diabetes Association, Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, Habitat for Humanity, etc. And let’s not forget that we are giving to TWO churches since she is Catholic and a regular attender at her parish. But enough about tithing.
After the service, we were all invited to cross over to the Ark. Fellowship Hall was decorated like an ark, with “stalls” for each of the 5-6 church mission area (Youth, Adult Education, Mission, Music and Worship, and two others I can’t remember) to present their information. The stalls also had snack food at each. Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, and lots of salads and fixings were served. There was a Bounce House (inflatable bounce thing) for the kids and a balloon artist. The whole room was decorated with animals from beanie babies up to big inflatable alligators.
Penegra will slovak-republic.org cialis generika be however one of the superb capsule that you can exercise to battle against erection failure dilemma efficiently. It contains the active ingredient Vardenafil that works at a physiological level in treating erection problems. pfizer viagra without prescription check for info To treat this problem in men, the major one is the inability to maintain a prolonged erection that leads to an unsatisfied sexual life. generic viagra cheapest Look over for online driver ed to urge all levitra 20mg canada the knowledge you need! You may pass at your very first attempt if you’re taking the time to go. Do you remember the doves and fish from last week? These were posted all around the room. Each of us was told to take a sheet of 6 stickers and to put stickers on 6 different ideas that we thought the church should spend money on. From what I could see, the leading ideas were installing air conditioning in the sanctuary/Fellowship Hall to ensure more participation in the summer (this congregation virtually shuts down in the summer), participating in mission activities in Trenton (which the church already does abundantly), sending more money to a church in Haiti that this church works with, and making environmentally-friendly moves with the church. My idea wasn’t in the top 10 but was doing better than I expected – but I think it was helped by the fact that it was posted near the basket of stickers.
I came into this Sunday looking to talk to people about where I could volunteer my time. Unfortunately, the folks in the “stalls” were working harder pushing their snacks than looking for volunteers. I hope I’ll get more information through the New Member process.
Carolyn and I also talked to a few folks that we’d already met. Carolyn kept asking whether or not the painted monkeys were designed to look like her. They really did! I don’t think these folks quite know how to take Carolyn, but they haven’t really seen me full force either.
Christian Unity
Now this is an idea whose time has come.
In a time when denominations (including the PC(USA)) are fighting amongst themselves, there is a way to unite Christians.
The Christian Solidarity movement proposes to remind all of us that we’re all basically pulling for the same thing. They say:
Christian Solidarity is a growing,
transformational movement of churches/ministries towards biblical unity
that though we express ourselves in different ways; we are woven
together by our Lord Jesus Christ.
To join you have to affirm a statement that says in part that the church affirms:
- The Trinity, One God, three persons
- Jesus Christ is Lord of all
- The Bible alone is God’s Holy Word
- Human nature is fallen and sinful
- Salvation by grace alone
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Seems like a slam-dunk for Presbyterians.
Each church will show a banner, sign or plaque saying:
One Church
One God
JESUS CHRIST
Worship Him Here
It’s about time somebody remembered that while we disagree on the little stuff, we’re together on the big stuff.
(Hat Tip: RedBlueChristian)
The Church and Stewardship
The Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville is doing something fun for stewardship.
Next week after the service, they are holding the Ark of Giving celebration after the service. In Fellowship Hall (turned into the ARK) they will have tables for each of the mission activities of the church. They are also apparently serving typical picnic food (burgers, hot dogs, etc.) and having a Bounce House for the kids (though one guy old enough to be my father was complaining about not having that for adults). We are encouraged to wear casual and comfortable clothes.
Surgery or injury of the colon, prostate, bladder or the spinal cord can also lead to ED* Excessive smoking, alcoholism, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Peyronie’s disease, and prostate cancer Kinds Of ED Pills Erectile dysfunction or a lack of libido, we have the best costs ensured! Working: Vardenafil acts in the same course as buy cialis without prescription . Estrogen is a hormone working generic levitra 5mg in harmony with some steroid hormones. Here you will get full support from our friendly and informed customer service representatives.Rxdrugonlinestore.com is the choice for over generic levitra sale 100,000 customers searching for a USA Pharmacy or international prescription service. The cells involved are white blood cells, cheapest cialis uk http://robertrobb.com/the-case-for-appointed-corporation-commissioners/ and swelling. This week they did something interesting for stewardship during the service. As we entered, each person got either a white dove or green fish paper cutout in their bulletin. We weren’t told what it was about. At the end of the sermon, we were asked to write down our idea for how to spend the mission money. We were specifically encouraged to put down wild ideas. During the final hymn when they took the extra collection for Meals on Wheels, they also collected the doves/fish. It was interesting to watch everybody processing to the altar and recessing afterwards to drop these gifts off.
I like a church that can handle a little chaos during the service, and yet keep it orderly.
Church – a new chapter
This blog has been dead for some time. Mainly, that was due to a lack of interest in blogging, and too much to do otherwise. However, I have something new to talk about and I’ll do that here.
First, a little history.
When I was in high school, I was pretty religious. I was a member of a Presbyterian PC(USA) church in Northern NJ. When I was a high school junior, I was ordained as a deacon in that church. That same year, I was a YAD (Youth Advisory Delegate) to the Synod of the Northeast meeting. I then became the youth member of Synod Mission Council and the Synod Nominating Committee. At the same time, I was involved in Camp Johnsonburg as a camper, CIT (Counselor in Training) and a full-time counselor. I also went to the Youth Triennium during those years.
Right about the same time, I went to college at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ (the state U of NJ). I started taking religion classes and computer science classes, intending one to be my major and the other to be my minor. I was thinking that seminary could be in my future.
Then, a few things happened. On campus, I got hooked up with an extremely conservative chapter (“you can’t be friends with Jews unless you’re trying to convert them”) of a conservative Christian campus organization. That only lasted two months, ending after a cult-like weekend retreat. After that, I experienced some disturbing events at Synod-level meetings involving racism and politicking in a church organization. (NOTE: I will not be going into those farther here.)
All of that led me to believe that church was a place where a small number of people in power used the structure to control the behavior of a large number of people. This control was not particularly Godly, but rather of human origin with the accompanying pettiness.
I had already resigned my post as a deacon because of distance issues at college (it’s hard to serve at a worship service 50 miles away when you don’t have a car). I resigned my Synod posts and essentially left the church. I filled out my religion minor with eastern religion classes.
About a year later, I ran into an officer of Presbyterians for Lesbian and Gay Concerns (now part of More Light Presbyterians). They were looking for someone to serve as their liaison to Presbynet (a part of Ecunet – a discussion network for church issues). I agreed with their cause, and began helping them for about 5-6 years as a supportive straight person. This ended when again I ran into human politics and found myself being called homophobic due to my support of one strategy over another. I turned my responsibilities over to another and left that service. Thus ended my church career.
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This started a spark in me. I discussed the issue with other camp staff alumni and found that many were in the same place – unsure of whether or not they belong in a church. The camp held a retreat last January called “Reconnecting with Faith – Finding Your Home” which covered issues of how to discern whether or not belonging to a church is right for you, and if so how to find the correct congregation. We also talked about related issues like Home Churches and spirituality that is not rooted in a church setting.
Taking ideas from the retreat and a few of my own, I began a process of determining simulateously: 1. Whether or not to join the PC(USA) again at this time, and 2. If so, which one?
The first question (whether or not to join the PC(USA) now) was and continues to be the harder one. The denomination is mirroring American society as a whole – it is dividing into increasingly separate camps based loosely along the conservative/liberal continuum. Denominational politics were fairly hostile (though still in order) through the General Assembly meeting in Birmingham, and have only gotten more hostile since (and less in order). All of this is a huge turn-off to a potential member – particularly to one who saw human politics overriding the message of Christ in the past. So far, I have decided that in a particular congregation, these issues are at least buffered and NOT the primary focus. So I’m willing to give it a try.
The second question was more fun to answer. I went through a process of attending local churches, interviewing members and staff, and reading anything I could find about them on the Internet. I ultimately found a church that reminds me very much of the church that I grew up in in many ways. That could be scary, but I’ve also done as much research as I can and I believe that this church is different from the church that I grew up in where it is important to me.
So, after attending on some Sundays, last week I signed up for New Member classes for the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville NJ. Those classes take place in late October and early November.
I plan to blog about the process of a former member again joining a Presbyterian church. I’ll also throw in amusing stories. I do not plan to be a blogger who hides his name or church in order to be able to talk about people anonymously. Because of that, I will probably avoid mentioning controversial issues or controversial people, unless I’m willing to make my views known publicly.
Wish me luck.
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