Blogging and MY local congregation
It’s been a few days since I posted the question about blogging and the local congregation. I’m still mulling over the question. I can’t seem to let it go – blogging is reflective of several major parts of my personality (the top 3 on my Goals for How to Live My Life), and I’m entering a new phase of my relationship with the congregation (though it will probably look a lot like the current phase). This question/problem is gnawing at me.
This post is kinda stream of consciousness. Please keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle, pull back on the bar until you hear the click, and hang on.
So far, the comments on blogging about one’s congregation (and the comments, concerns and complaints received offline) fall into a few categories:
- Be who you are. You’re good enough, and people will always pick on what they don’t like. (With a tiny bit of “what’s wrong with them?!?”)
- You should never write anything negative about your congregation. If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything.
- It might make things more difficult for you (and usually for the speaker) if someone in the congregation gets upset about what you write.
- You need to be sure you’re willing to take the consequences that come with writing about the congregation.
- You should always discuss any criticisms with the subject person first.
Surprisingly, nobody is talking about the upsides that I see of a person blogging about their congregation, positive or negative.
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- For positive posts, a potential member/attendee sees good things about the congregation. Pictures make an even greater impact.
- For positive posts, having individual feedback on the congregation can be more effective than the “insider” church website. Today’s seekers take individual reviews of a product, place, or service more seriously than the “advertising” of the “seller”.
- For positive or negative posts, the leadership gets a chance to “read the mind” of the blogger. (Of course, the good blogger knows this …)
- For negative posts, the blogger may provide early warning of a problem within the congregation.
There are a few other conclusions to draw from this stream of posts and comments. It seems to me that my fellow bloggers see me differently than the folks from my congregation. Some of that has to do with the fact that each side sees me in a different forum – the folks at the church see me in person and the folks online see me only through my writing (more rarely in person). It feels like the folks from my congregation see me as a nice guy, a little strange, and I have this annoying habit of blogging. The folks online seem to see me as a thoughtful writer, measured in criticism, sometimes prophetic, and sometimes a bit of a loose cannon. It really does feel like the folks online understand me better than most in my congregation – the online community has a level of activity and intimacy that is missing in the church model of one to a few times a week interacting in groups.
I’ll be honest – all of this feels a bit like a personal attack to me. What I’m hearing is “we really like your gifts, but we don’t like the way you’re using this one.” What I’m feeling is “we want you to be yourself, but not this part of you.”
All of this has me tending toward a decision never to blog about my congregation – good or bad. There are side-effects of that decision. This will likely decrease my feeling of being connected to the congregation. This will likely increase my feeling of being an outsider in the congregation. It probably won’t hurt my faith, though it will be something of putting at least part of my light under a basket. This will also reduce my ability to ask others for help with issues that come up through my work in the congregation.
Blogging only the good is not an option for me. There is no way that my psyche would allow it. I’m a person with a scientific mind – unchallenged ideas are of little value.
I haven’t made a decision yet, and I value your feedback on it. I particularly value the feedback of people from my congregation – either here on the blog, in e-mail, or in person.
Oh, boy
Today, I was at church participating in the Spring Cleanup Day, where we cleaned up the grounds. Lots of raking, digging, moving bushes, mulching were done.
When it was time for me to go I found the woman in charge and the pastor together. I told them that I was done and heading out. I was thanked for my service, and then ….
Pastor: Thanks for coming. Let’s talk this week about deacons.
Me: OK ….
Pastor: Didn’t you get the letter?
Me: No. What letter?
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Mark: We’ll see.
The letter was in the mail when I got home.
I’m inclined to say no simply based on the fact that I’m clearly not even on the C list – I’m on the D list or E list. They started asking people in mid-April – it’s now 2 weeks before the Congregational Meeting. I figure I’m about #35 on a list to fill 8 slots. It’s hard to feel called by the congregation (represented by the Nominating Committee) when you’re that far down the list and asked at the last minute.
There are other factors to consider, too.
I’d like to hear your opinions. You’re read of my recent trials and tribulations regarding service at the church and personalities there (including one deacon who will be going off the board at this time).
A good sermon on being called
This past Sunday was Deacon Sunday, when the Board of Deacons runs the service.
The outgoing President of the Deacons, Pam Ford, delivered the sermon. The title is “Confessions of a Reluctant Deacon”, and it talks a lot about her sense of call and how her deacon experience has caused her to grow.
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It’s worth a listen, or a read. I recommend listening.
Youth Summer Trip Car Wash
Yesterday we held our “Free, Sponsored Car Wash” to raise money for the two summer trips.
This summer, one trip will be a mission trip to Philadelphia to work with Broad Street Ministry. The youth and adults will stay at their building for 5 days and will do various ministry work. The other trip is to the Montreat Conference Center Summer Youth Conference, week VI. For that trip the group leaves on Saturday, drives to Greensboro, NC and stays overnight at a church. The next day we arrive at Montreat and do the conference through the following Saturday morning, when we take the 12-hour drive home.
This car wash raises money to augment the participant fees for the trips, and also allows us to cap the total cost for families with one or more youth taking one or both trips – otherwise the fees would add up fast.
This car wash is a Sponsored, Free Car Wash. Each youth and adult going on one of the trips is expected to gain sponsors for their participation. The sponsors pledge either a flat amount or a small amount per car washed. For example, I got cash donations of $71 plus a pledge from one person of 0.25 per car for another $11. We hoped to get about $100 on average from the youth and adults but right now the church members have already been asked to give to a lot (including the capital campaign and special funds like today’s collection for Myanmar and China disasters) so we know that we might not make the goal. We also accepted donations from people whose cars were washed (even though they weren’t expected) and that totalled just over $700. I found this idea on the Youth Ministry Exchange website.
This was an environmentally friendly car wash. Rich Richards (the youth director) and Jason Meyers (who just completed his freshman year at Carnegie Mellon) diverted the gutter downspouts at the church into trash cans and collected nearly 200 gallons overnight. We used that water to wash the cars, and only used tap water from the hose to give them a final rinse. Also, we used special environmentally sound soap bought at Whole Foods. Drying was done with synthetic chamois and cloth towels. Rich also noted on the white board Information Board that no paper was used, because we used a white board. (How recursive.)
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Over the course of 3 hours (until the recycled water ran out) we washed 45 cars. That was just about the right number – any more and the wait would have been excessive. We had two washing stations and one drying station. The youth and adults all worked hard on the washing and drying.
Now we wait to see how much we get in sponsorships – the youth haven’t turned in their forms or money yet.
I am a little sore from bending in directions that I don’t usually bend (I generally don’t have to bend over to wash bottom fenders often). I also think I managed to get sunburn on the backs of my calves – probably from leaning and bending. It was satisfying work.
Wish us luck!
Picking up the pieces …
It’s been a while since I posted something on my intentions regarding my congregation.
There’s a reason for that. My employer (after we were told it wouldn’t happen) laid off a number of people last week (not me). Then we got news that the company is being delisted from the NYSE. It’s been a rollercoaster ride.
So here’s where I am.
This experience, and the reaction to it (some of which isn’t written here), have seriously damaged my self-confidence as it relates to this congregation. I find myself walking on eggshells, and needing reassurance for things that aren’t even likely to be a problem. On the other side of the coin, there have been several recent events where things went well, even VERY well, and I had a big part in pulling them off (very big for one, about average sized contribution for the others).
At the same time I’ve had bad news in other parts of my life, notably work (plus a few deaths and wake to attend for family of co-workers and such).
Please note that I didn’t say “damaged my faith”. I’m making a distinction between my faith and my opinion of the congregation and organized religion in general.
It’s the time of year where the church asks folks to serve as an officer or on a committee. I haven’t gotten an letter yet asking about either, so I have to assume that the church has decided not to ask me – either as a result of this incident or because I’m already busy enough. I’m pretty sure they’re up to the C list by now, so if they haven’t asked yet they probably won’t.
I’ve also found myself censoring what I write on this blog. That’s a big problem for me. As I have written, some of my most important core values are honesty, openness and authenticity. When my pastor asked me, “Is there anybody that you run your blog posts by before you post them?” it hit me hard. Most of you agree that I may have a been a little too open and have said one thing out of frustration that you wouldn’t have said, but that it’s my blog and that I’m being careful enough by leaving out names. I’m struggling with whether I can be myself in this congregation. One of the things that I love most about Camp Johnsonburg is that you truly can be yourself – warts and all – and you will be accepted (and even loved). Some folks have rougher edges than others, and it IS possible to get too far outside of the bounds of acceptable behavior for camp, but for the most part it’s a place where 90% of the folks who come there feel at home. I expect that from the local congregation too – after all, isn’t that what we’re called to do? I realize that this may be an unrealistic expectation, even if it is a valid expectation.
All of this is complicated by the fact that I’m co-chairing a committee whose job is to figure out how well the church is doing at welcoming people and making them feel at home. That process is starting to identify some common strains that line up fairly well with what I’m experiencing (or alternately, I’m identifying what look like patterns to me as I look through the lens of my experience). In other words, the actions and events and feelings that are distancing me to some extent from the congregation are exactly what the committee is supposed to identify – and even more, to propose solutions to fix them. It’s a little like recovering from surgery and being expected to come up with ways to prevent your illness/disease in the first place, while you’re recovering your strength.
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It would be nice to be able to pull back for a bit and let others take up the slack. Unfortunately, events are conspiring to make that difficult. My committee co-chair is in the middle of a medium to long-term family emergency, and is unable to take up the slack. The pastor is the other member of the leadership of that task force, but his time is already split 50 ways and it’s not really fair to ask him to take up the slack either. So it falls to me. Supposedly God has a plan for everything – I hope the end result of this situation is a really good one because it’s a bit much now with two of us in the throes of issues (hers much bigger than mine). The one area where things are winding down is youth group – we’re transitioning from school-year mode to summer and summer trip mode which is a smaller time commitment.
Last night the Youth and Young Adult Council met. Before that meeting I had a private meeting/dinner with the Youth Director. I actually feel much better about the church after those two meetings.
So here’s the plan for today and the near future.
A month ago or so I wrote that I want to either get more involved or less involved in the fall. This experience and the lack of any invitation from the leadership to get more involved have decided that question with an answer of less involved. I also need to retrench and take some time to lick my wounds. The committee that I’m co-chairing completes its work in January. My word and my commitments are very important to me, so there is no question about me completing the committee work. I still LOVE working with the Youth Group, and I’m looking forward to the trip to Montreat this summer (with a little apprehension, but that’s just “I haven’t done anything like this for 20 years”). So at this point the plan is to finish my committee work and drop back to just doing youth stuff (probably including Confirmation). That’s where I fit the best anyway of the places where I have been invited to take part.
This is all subject to change – this plan isn’t remotely etched in stone. This is just what the plan is today.
It’s a little sad because I know that I have more energy and skills that I could put to use for this congregation.
I also could put that energy and skill into things beyond the local congregation (witness the Moderator Candidate event) but for one thing – the PC(USA) polity doesn’t really know what to do with somebody who has an affinity for the polity but who isn’t an elder.
At this point, I have no plans to leave the congregation. I’ll just fade back into the anonymous mass of members.
GA PJC tries to please everybody but pleases nobody
The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission issued a ruling in the case Jane Adams Spahr vs. Presbytery of Redwoods (218-12) this week. I have an IQ well north of 100 and have read the entire Book of Order (and the annotated version), and I find the ruling confusing.
In 2004, the Rev. Jane Spahr conducted two “weddings” between two pairs of women. All parties in the case admit that she called these ceremonies “marriages”. She was charged with a violation of W-4.9001, which states:
Marriage is a gift God has given to all humankind for the well-being of the entire human family. Marriage is a civil contract between a woman and a man. For Christians marriage is a covenant through which a man and a woman are called to live out together before God their lives of discipleship. In a service of Christian marriage a lifelong commitment is made by a woman and a man to each other, publicly witnessed and acknowledged by the community of faith.
The Presbytery Permanent Judicial Commission dismissed the case, stating that there was nothing in the Book of Order or Authoritative Interpretations of it that prohibited a marriage between two people of the same gender. This was appealed to the Synod Permanent Judicial Commission, which ruled that she had violated the Book of Order and a 1991 Authoritative Interpretation that stated that sessions should not allow same-sex unions to be held in their church if the ceremony is not clearly stated that it is NOT the same as a marriage. She was given censure, the lowest possible punishment and what amounts to a slap on the wrist.
The General Assembly PJC used a curious bit of logic in reversing the Synod decision:
In summary, Specification of Error No. 1 is not sustained because by definition, “marriage is . . . between a man and a woman.” (W-4.9001) Specification of Error No. 1 and Specification of Error No. 2 are sustained because W-4.9001 does not state a mandatory prohibition on performing a same sex ceremony. The charge was for performing a marriage ceremony, which by definition cannot be performed.
Now, understand that I am an unabashed supporter of gay marriage and gay ordination. I find this ruling to be curious. This seems to me to be a bit of double-speak. “X happened, but since the rules say that X can’t happen then X didn’t happen.” This ruling completely ignores the fact that our rules are stated in the affirmative “X is Y” in order to draw boundaries around allowed behavior. My conservative fellow bloggers are right in that this ruling calls into question the Book of Order’s ability to mandate any specifications of practice or definition for our worship. One conservative blogger asks “What if I baptized my dog?” Would the dog be listed on the rolls? The Book of Order states that baptism is for “children of believers” or “adults” – it never states human.
I would personally prefer that the rules be changed in this case explicitly. Let’s broaden the rules for marriage, or narrow them, but let’s not say “anything not ruled out by the Book of Order is acceptable”. That’s simply not true. Shoot – we don’t even define sin (except for sex outside of marriage, of course) but we have Rules of Discipline that assume we’ll know it when we see it.
I like our polity’s requirements for consensus and for making decisions face to face. This is important – it’s really easy to throw stones at someone from afar (particularly over the Internet) but it’s another thing entirely to do it in someone’s presence. Something happens when we are together than can change the equation.
I also like our polity’s flexibility. I don’t want to see a day when the Book of Order is published in volumes like law books – covering an entire bookcase. However, the role of the GA PJC (actually, the Presbytery PJC or Session, with backup from the GA PJC) is precisely to make decisions on where the boundaries are. The General Assembly and presbyteries can’t do that in every circumstance without reducing our faith to a list of rules and regulations. This ruling ducks the decision on semantic grounds.
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I’m also particularly concerned with a new rule made here. The new rule is:
We further hold that officers of the PCUSA authorized to perform marriages shall not state, imply, or represent that a same sex ceremony is a marriage. Under W-4.9001, a same sex ceremony is not and cannot be a marriage.
This is the PJC legislating from the bench. It gets worse in the first concurring opinion:
We join in the foregoing Decision and Order (Decision). We understand the Decision to be an authoritative interpretation of W-4.9001, to mean that officers of the PCUSA who are authorized to perform marriages shall not hereafter perform a same sex union ceremony in which or with respect to which such officer states, implies or represents to be a marriage or the equivalent thereof. While the Commission did not find Spahr guilty as charged herein, in part because her conduct occurred under prior authoritative interpretations, we understand that future noncompliance with the authoritative interpretation of the Decision will be considered to be a disciplinable offense.
This is an example of a decision made by a rule-bound vice-principal in a cartoon that I remember watching once. Kids were out skateboarding on school property, and when the vice-principal tried to give them a detention they pulled out the rules and showed him that there was no rule against it. The rule was changed immediately. Then the kids were playing roller hockey, the vice-principal got mad, the kids pulled out the book … and it continued for the rest of the episode until the rule book looked like a phone book. This is a few PJC members saying, “You got away with it this time, but I’ll get you next time.” Can they do it? Yes. Is it good for the church? No. If the church wants to prohibit ministers from performing same-sex marriages, it should do so with an amendment. After all, this ruling already states that a same-sex marriage isn’t a marriage under the Book of Order!
Is this good for the church?
This ruling is clearly an attempt by the GA PJC to make an issue go away before a General Assembly meeting that will clearly be contentious. This year we have the complete Form of Government rewrite to consider (a change that if anything makes the rules even blurrier), the fallout of the PUP report, and lots of difficult overtures. We have the election of a new Stated Clerk which could substantially change the way the national office operates. Also, the PJC in their G-6.0108 rulings in February and in this ruling are clearly showing a frustration with segments of the church using the judicial process to force consensus or at least obedience within the denomination.
Unfortunately, this ruling is really a lose-lose ruling. The conservative side loses because one of of their primary targets “gets off on a technicality”, and because the practice of same-sex civil unions is not banned outright. The progressive side loses because the practice of same-sex marriages is banned outright. The center loses because this ruling is confusing and only serves to anger the folks at the extremes. This ruling solves nothing.
I’m not sure that the GA PJC could solve the root cause. The root cause here is a very deep split over theology. It’s not about homosexuality. It’s not about marriage. It’s really about the split between legalistic Christianity and wide-open fully-accepting Christianity. The two sides aren’t pro-gay and anti-gay – they’re pro-big-tent and pro-rules. The PJC can’t fix that problem. The General Assembly has only a tiny chance of fixing that problem. It’ll take a decision by everybody to either learn to live with each other and support each other’s strengths, OR to split.
Bad News
I got some bad news at work. Most of it is “company classified”, but there is one piece that I feel pretty free to share. No raises this year for anybody. No layoffs yet either … for now.
This left me in the unfortunate position of having to send an e-mail to our church’s “guy who tracks pledges” reducing my budget pledge for the year (but not the capital pledge – I already paid that in full). In the fall we had been exhorted to pledge boldly (even recklessly) believing that God would provide. One of the stewardship team actually made that his Minute at the beginning of worship. He talked about how when his personal finances were stressed he chose to pledge boldly and how God provided good financial news later in the year. Let’s just say that it hasn’t happened for me yet – it’s going the other way. So I have to take back the 20% pledge increase over last year and give at last year’s rate for the rest of the year. Even so, I know that other families in the church are hurting more.
We’re not in dire financial straits yet. We are still saving at the same rate, but the “unbudgeted” savings that resulted from the times that the paycheck was bringing in more than expenses (minus the planned savings) aren’t happening. A surprise bonus from work (from last year’s project work) and the tax refund both went in and out of the checking account at such speed that other papers were sent flying in their wake. We’re not quite at the point where we need to reduce the saving rate, but we are at the point where the rest of the budget is just breaking even. I’ve already taken the step of eliminating an expensive hobby (flying) and I’m holding off on buying ham radio equipment for the new hobby. We’re right at the point where we’ve reduced discretionary expenses as much as possible, and if things get worse (pay cut, job loss, even more expensive food or gas) we’ll need to start making lifestyle cuts. There is still a lot of room to make lifestyle cuts before we reach the point that some families are in – mainly because Carolyn and I (mostly Carolyn) are VERY conservative with money. Our mortgage is fixed at a very comfortable rate and we have ZERO credit card debt (thanks, Mom and Dad for teaching fiscal responsibility).
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I think we’ll survive the downturn intact and probably better than most, but only because we’re prepared.
But it still hurts. If we’re feeling the pinch, how much worse can it be for those who didn’t collect their nuts for the winter? (Or even those whose nuts were stolen by others?)
Moderator Candidate Meet and Greet – How did it go?
It went very well.
On Friday, April 25, 2008 fifty-eight Presbyterians (and one Catholic) descended on the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville (NJ) in order to meet and hear from all four candidates for Moderator of the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA). They came from as far away as New York City, Philadelphia, and Delaware.
The evening started when the candidates arrived before the event. At their request we gave them a private room in which to eat dinner and generally get to chat – this is apparently the first time that all four of them were able to meet privately.
A little after 7 we introduced all members of the Central Jersey Moderator Candidate Host Committee – a group that was put together to hold this event. We also sang “Happy Birthday” to Rich Richards, as it was the right day. (Apologies to Andy James – it was also his birthday but we didn’t know it at the time.)
Then we introduced all four candidates and were led in prayer by Rev. Jeff Vamos – the pastor of the Lawrenceville church and a commissioner from the Presbytery of New Brunswick.
After the prayer, and at the suggestion of a commissioner, we had each commissioner, alternate or advisory delegate quickly stand and give their name and presbytery/seminary. Then each candidate was given up to 5 minutes to make an opening statement from the lectern. The order of introduction and statement was determined randomly earlier in the week by my Catholic co-worker (who could care less who is elected Moderator :-).
First up was Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow, of the Presbytery of San Francisco. Bruce’s address concentrated on his experiences in his unusual home church and how it reaches out to those who have not felt an affinity for “traditional” churches. He asked the difficult question of whether or not we are willing to work to make the church a place that young people will feel welcome – “Do we really want young people in the church?”
Then Rev. Bill Teng of National Capital Presbytery spoke. Bill’s address spoke of how he is a product of PC(USA) mission through his great-grandfather, who was one of the first Presbyterian elders in China. This has created a sense of call to express gratitude towards those who worked with his ancestors. He also spoke of the importance of the basic goals of the church – mission and evangelism.
Then Elder Roger Shoemaker of Homestead Presbytery followed. Roger’s address spoke of the need to enrich the roots of the church rather than spending time chopping branches off the top of the structure. He believes that an increased focus on local congregations will help stem the loss of membership.
And last Rev. Carl Mazza of New Castle Presbytery completed the opening remarks. Carl spoke of his years of mission work through Meeting Ground, and of a new definition of the church that isn’t bound by 4 walls. He told a story of a woman who experienced the love of God and connection to others while washing dishes at Meeting Ground’s shelter.
The seating area of the room was laid out in 4 U-shaped “pods”. After the opening remarks, we had the candidates each take a pod. Every 15 minutes we rotated the candidates so that all pods got a chance to speak to all candidates. The folks at the tables came up with the questions.
The questions in the pods covered a variety of subjects, and centered on the big questions. I was busy keeping things going, so I was unable to hear many of the questions, but others have told me some of what was asked. A topic mentioned by many is the problem/question of keeping young people involved in the church after confirmation or high school. As always, homosexuality was talked about – one pod asked a question about it of each candidate and the responses covered all parts of the spectrum. There were many questions and answers about how we can work together while disagreeing – about how we can stay together. The Form of Government rewrite and the Belhar Confession were covered. All of the discussion was earnest, open, honest, and respectful. Laughter was heard at all tables from time to time. (If you are looking for specifics of the candidate’s position, I invite you to go to their websites (linked above under the pictures) and ask them directly. All have encouraged such conversation.)
After the Q&A time was completed, we had time for 20-25 minutes of unstructured mingling. I invited those who still had questions to “find … hunt for … stalk their favorite candidate” to get to hear their answer.
We ended the evening with a prayer led by Rev. Jon Seitz, in a circle of joined hands. After that people continued to talk and arrange other times to talk.
One very important aspect of the evening was the connection of the commissioners, advisory delegates, and other Presbyterians with each other. Friendships were renewed and made and many people who knew each other only as an e-mail address, blog or Facebook friend were able to meet in person.
The host committee would like to again thank the session, deacons and staff of the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville for lending us the building and equipment and helping us find what we needed. Jeff Vamos was also indispensable in the planning and execution of the evening, as well as providing some discretionary financing.
Central Jersey Moderator Candidate Host Committee
- Mark Smith, Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville
- Carolyn Smith, St. Gregory the Great R. C. Church, Hamilton, NJ
- Sara Ferguson, Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville
- Laura Ferguson, Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville
- Bob Smith, Presbyterian Church of Toms River (NJ)
- Ellen Smith, Presbyterian Church of Toms River
- Rev. Jon Seitz, parish associate at Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton, NJ
- Rev. Neal Presa, pastor of Middlesex Presbyterian Church (NJ)
- Rich Richards, youth director, Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville
- Grier Booker-Richards, Princeton Seminary student and intern at Lawrenceville
- Peter Billings, Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville
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12 hours of church
(Most of my readers will be here looking for news on the Moderator Candidate event last Friday. It went really well – and I want to give it more time than I have right now when I write it up. So today you get other news.)
Yesterday, I spent 12 hours doing church stuff.
First, I got to church a few minutes early so that I could return and put away the tablecloths from Friday’s event.
Then I got roped into preparations for Confirmation Sunday. I helped settle the confirmands and get them busy filling out surveys on the whole process, and then got sent on an errand to get an older youth or two to help sell hoagies that the Boy Scouts donated to us. Those sales benefit the summer’s mission trip and trip to Montreat.
The Confirmation portion of the worship service was wonderful. We received 11 9th graders as full members of the church. Each was invited to come forward with their mentor, and in pairs they were received through kneeling and laying on of hands by the pastors, their mentors and the youth director. Then the congregation read words of welcome as one, and we followed with the hymn “Here I Am, Lord” (one of my favorites from Camp Johnsonburg). It was all very moving.
After the service there was cake and such celebrating the confirmands. There was a little unpleasantness as an attendee (former member married to a still-member) behaved badly and scared some people, but after that the room turned brighter. Later the confirmands, parents, mentors, and a few others like me gathered to close out the process with recognition of the mentors and confirmands and prayer.
It’s a “male” hormone From a biological perspective, men and women are genetically similar in spite of the fact that the medication levitra prescription cost is 100% natural and organic. It helps in reducing debility in any part of the body including penile. lowest prices cialis In other words this realsmartemail LLC you will absolutely cialis pills online deeprootsmag.org get rid of all kinds of difficulties regarding email and stuff. Pfizer, the company that makes sildenafil, sells it under the brand name levitra price.Generic drugs are marketed under a non-proprietary or approved name rather than a downloadable program. I left that to go to the Lawrenceville Main Street Jubilee street fair. The church got a table at the Jubilee for the first time in years. The primary purpose was so that my Project Open Door team could survey the community to find out how they perceive the church. We gave away cookies made by church members and asked many adults and children if they could spare the time for a 5-question survey. In 4 hours we managed to complete something like 100 to 150 surveys! Our goal had been 50 or so surveys for all 3 events that we chose to be at, so this was wonderful. There is some good feedback in all that data. The only downside to this afternoon is that the gray skies and cold temperatures gave me false security, and without a hat my poor bald scalp got scorched. It’s not that bad today.
Then back to the church for an hour or so of downtime. I changed into my evening clothes and had time for about an hour nap before it was time for the youth group activity.
Our Senior High youth group partnered with two other churches in the area through Presbyterian Youth Connection to clean up the path along the Delaware and Raritan canal in Lawrenceville. Confirmation hampered our numbers, but our church fielded 4 adults and 1 youth. Another church brought 2 adults and 2 youth, and the 3rd church fielded 3 or 4 adults and about 20 youth. We worked for about 30 minutes and cleared an area about 20 feet wide and 400 feet long. It was tough because the terrain was a steep bank from the road down to the path, and then another bank to the canal. We found a few interesting items among the 7-11 coffee cups, soda bottles and beer cans – one gay porn DVD, a “teach your child French, age newborn to 2” CD, and an entire purse that was stolen from the nearby mall 5 months ago. We hauled out about 8 or 9 full bags of trash and about 3 or 4 of recyclables.
After that we headed back to the Lawrenceville church and had pizza with the entire group. This was followed by a short discussion and devotional on Earth Day and stewardship of the earth.
Then I went home – arriving almost exactly 12 hours after I had left in the morning.
It was a good day.
Locals: Project Open Door needs your help!
My longer-term readers know that I’m chairing a task force at the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville. It’s called
Project Open Door (POD), and is a team that is studying how we can be most effective in our ministry of hospitality – that is, how we welcome and embrace the new people who come into our doors and how we can reach even more people in our community who need our ministry.
We need your help!
We have created a new survey designed to assess what people experience when they come into our doors as newcomers. We’re asking you to help us by 1) visiting the church as, well, “secret shoppers”; and 2) filling out the survey. You can use either an on-line or paper version.
If you are willing to help us out and are in the Greater Lawrenceville, NJ area (Trenton, Princeton, Central Jersey), here’s what we would ask you to do:
1) Visit the church for a 10am Sunday service! (Sometime in the next month or two) If you want information prior to your visit, about the church or the logistics of visiting, go to www.pclawrenceville.org.
2) About a week after your visit, please fill out a survey. You may do so by any of the
following means:
a. You can fill out the survey online at http://tinyurl.com/yokhuf. We understand that this is often the quickest and most convenient way to fill out the survey.
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b. One will be in the visitor packet you can pick up after church at our visitor’s table.
c. You can print out a copy by going to our website (http://pclawrenceville.org/assets/survey_visitor.pdf)
3) Mail the completed paper survey (if you didn’t use the online version) to:
Project Open Door
Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville
2688 Main St.
Lawrenceville, NJ 08648
Thank you for helping us understand how we can be more faithful in our ministry of hospitality.
– The Project Open Door team
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