posted Mar 2, 2010 7:05 AM by Erik Samuelson
Ok, so I'd been really good about posting summaries of each of our weekly gatherings. But, frankly, its gotten a little tiring. So I'm going to post periodically what we are up to--not quite a play by play but more of a general sense of things.
The last few weeks we've been talking a lot about our neighborhood, and how to reconnect to it. We've felt like its important to start small, and for the next while we're going to pay particular attention to the neighborhood directly around Bethlehem. We've made a little map of the "long block" that we are the "anchor" of--from Ray east on 27th and 28th to Freya. We figure that our Advent Community group should be able pretty easily to meet these neighbors.
We've been pondering a survey to ask these neighbors what they know about their neighborhood, about what is good and what needs work, so that we can get a handle on what God is up to here and how we can participate in it. This week we decided that instead of starting with a survey, that it would be more neighborly to start by sharing something with our neighbors (rather than asking something from them).
We got the idea to have our congregation bake bread that we will distribute to half of that block (Ray to Thor on 27th and 28th) on Sunday March 21st during our Advent Community gathering time. Along with the bread will be a note that says "Bethlehem in Hebrew means 'House of Bread'. A gift from our house to yours. From your neighbors at Bethlehem Lutheran Church." We also thought we'd follow up with some other "little blessing" around Easter. (these ideas were inspired by our friends at a church called "West Central Life" http://westcentrallife.com/)
|
posted Jan 17, 2010 3:08 PM by Erik Samuelson
Second Sunday after Epiphany, 2010
Prayer: We gathered in pairs, sharing a joy and a concern of the week. Then offered prayers in the whole community for our partner.
Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11. Pastor Erik reflected on Paul's regular theme of "many gifts" and how God gives us the gifts to do what we are being called to do. If we recognize our giftedness in community, we can do amazing things.
Conversation: Earlier in the week, Jon and Katie Zemke had suggested they were feeling called to hold a fundraising event to raise money for relief efforts in Haiti. They suggested offering their gifts of sausage making for a dinner and wanted to get the Advent Community involved. The Zemke's couldn't be a part of our meeting today, because they were spending time with some family members out of town in need of care.
As the Advent Community talked today, we shared the Zemke's call to respond together to the earthquake in Haiti and to further our efforts to not stay focused only on ourselves, but to look outward to God's world. Instead of a meal, we floated the idea of doing a second installment of a benefit concert many of us were involved in this fall that raised nearly $4000 for clean water through ELCA World Hunger. The outside community was extremely excited about the first event and have been asking for another, and we thought this would be a perfect time and cause to do that. Because we want to act quickly, we decided to hold another music based event instead of a dinner, and thought a "dinner theater" event might be a third installment later on down the line.
The plan is: a benefit concert (title to be chosen soon) to be held on either Sunday Feb 28th at 2pm or Sunday March 7th at 2pm (depending on some of the artists we want to get involved). The idea is to use the gifts God has given us for the sake of our neighbors in Haiti. As we found out with our previous concert, the gifts of our community fit very well with hosting a benefit concert. Like our first installment, this concert will feature local professional musicians (choral, classical solos, musical theater, and a bit of this and that). We are going to investigate other (larger) church buildings to host it in. We're looking to do wine, desserts, and appetizers during intermission. We intend to use our relational networks to raise awareness and get the word out--seeing these as gifts we have to bring to the table. We want to make intentional partnerships with people from other congregations (specifically Bethany Presbyterian, Emmanuel MCC, Central Lutheran, Temple Beth Shalom, All Saints Lutheran, St Mark's Lutheran). We're going to investigate links to the Red Cross, Lutheran World Relief, and Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. We'll also be looking for sponsors.
Stuart Shawen will take the lead as "producer" of the event. Tim Campbel will be the "artistic director" Carole Chalem and the Zemke family will work on food and beverages The whole community will be working on contributing our gifts and using our networks (another gift) to get more people involved.
The way in which this is coming together is another miraculous example of what God can do with a community (even a small one) when we are open to God's call and are courageous in responding, when we bring our gifts to the table and ask God to bless them for the sake of our neighbor.
Communion: We shared Communion together around the table--each proclaiming the Good News to one another as we shared the body and blood of Christ in, with, and under the bread and wine of the meal.
Sending: Stuart is going to email the Advent Community list with some possible times to meet to start planning. If you would like to be included, please send an email to AdventCommunitySpokane@gmail.com. We hope this event will be a blessing to the Advent Community, to Spokane, and to the people of Haiti.
Next Week: Rev. Helga Jansons will be leading worship at Bethlehem and facilitating the Advent Community.
|
posted Jan 17, 2010 3:01 PM by Erik Samuelson
Ok, so I forgot to post notes from the 10th. Here's my best recollection. Help me fill in what I've forgotten.
Baptism of Christ (First Sunday after Epiphany), 2010
Prayer: We gathered in pairs, sharing a joy and a concern of the week. Then offered prayers in the whole community for our partner.
Reading: Luke 3:15-22 Pastor Erik commented on how the flow of the story starts with "the people were wondering" and ends with "filled with the Holy Spirit." In the (Lutheran) church, we've often forgotten the work of God the Holy Spirit. But it's the Holy Spirit who comes to us at Baptism, who blesses us with gifts, who inspires, and who sends us out into the world.
Conversation: We had as our guest Rev. Helga Jansons, the new "Director for Evangelical Mission" in our synod. She shared some time with us telling us what it is that she is called to do in our synod, and how we might partner together. Then she got to asking us some questions about where we were, how the transformation process was going with us, and how she might be a partner with us. We spent a great deal of time talking about "fear of change", though we were struggling to articulate just what it was that we were afraid of. Helga is coming back in two weeks and we intend to continue the conversation.
Communion: We are experimenting with how this Advent Community time is going to be shaped, and are seeing if Communion is something we wan to be a part of it. We shared Communion together around the table--each proclaiming the Good News to one another as we shared the body and blood of Christ in, with, and under the bread and wine of the meal. We were reminded that Jesus gathered 12 people (there were 12 of us around the table today to, coincidently) and formed them into a community, sending them to build relationship and share their lives just as Jesus did.
Sending: The conversation continued over lunch with anyone who was interested in being a part of it. |
posted Jan 3, 2010 2:18 PM by Erik Samuelson
Second Sunday of Christmas (Epiphany), 2010
Prayer: We gathered in pairs, sharing a joy and a concern of the week. Then offered prayers in the whole community for our partner.
Reading: Matthew 2:1-12. Pastor Erik offered a brief reflection about how God often bypasses the "stable structures" where we look for God and shows up in surprising ways in the margins and often where we least expect God to be.
Conversation: We read together an article from Pastor David Drogemuller from the newsletter of Christ Lutheran Church (Spokane Valley). (I'll see if I can get it scanned and online, it's quite good.) In the article, David explored the movement of a congregation he served in California and its journey from missional community, to congregation, to church--and how something of the spark of the original community and of the "homeless" congregation became lost in the establishing of the church structure and building. We talked about our own sense of the loss of community (among church members and people in society as a whole). While recognizing the value of having a building, we noticed how easy it is to be caught up in running and maintaining a building--and forgetting that the building is simply a tool for God's mission in the world. Sharing our building with two other congregations, as well as other community groups, has opened us up to see what the building really is for (and that it's not primarily for us). Someone observed that we used to be hypersensitive to the cleanliness of the carpet--not wanting to do anything that might end up in spills--but now we are not so focused on preserving "our carpet" or even "our building" but in wanting it to be in good repair so it can be used to its fullest. We talked about several churches we know or have heard about (from other Lutheran communities to mega-churches) and how it seems like the core factor is one-on-one interaction. Some of our under 30 folks shared about how people in that age bracket really aren't looking for flashy technology or rock music, but rather are looking for a community that they can connect to and be authentic in.
Communion: We are experimenting with how this Advent Community time is going to be shaped, and are seeing if Communion is something we wan to be a part of it. We shared Communion together around the table--each proclaiming the Good News to one another as we shared the body and blood of Christ in, with, and under the bread and wine of the meal. We were reminded that Jesus gathered 12 people (there were 12 of us around the table today to, coincidently) and formed them into a community, sending them to build relationship and share their lives just as Jesus did.
Sending: It came up in the prayers that one person in the Advent Community was having surgery this week, and another person invited us to pray for that person--and challenged us to remember one another as we go through our week. We are hoping that as we build deeper relationships and form deeper community that we will more naturally care for one another in this way.
|
posted Dec 27, 2009 12:53 PM by Erik Samuelson
Christmas 1, 2009
Prayer: We gathered in pairs, sharing a joy and a concern of the week. Then offered prayers in the whole community for our partner.
Telling our faith stories: The Colestock family was invited to tell the story of their Christmas week adventures. They spent a day together serving and learning about the Union Gospel Mission and the work that God does through that organization, and then shared a meal at One World Cafe and learned about the mission that happens in that place. They decided to share by starting with the youngest and ending with the oldest. The kids shared about what they experienced, how it opened their eyes, and how they clearly saw God at work. The parents told about how serving others was an important value in their family, and something they had begun when the kids were younger, but had not done in recent years. They want their kids to experience serving together as a family, and seeing God at work out in the world. All of them had stories about what they had learned, seen, and the variety of ways they had experienced God through this experience.
The rest of the community was invited to share and connect our stories of serving, giving, helping others, and seeing God in the world. The Colestock family story helped all of us reflect on how God has been at work with us, what a gift it is to give ourselves away for the sake of others, the true meaning of Christmas. We talked about the gift not just of charity, but of sharing our lives with other people who are struggling--and that often this is the true gift. We connected our stories to the healing stories of Jesus--who touched untouchables, interacted with people considered unclean and outside the norms of society, and who's ministry of presence transformed everyone (insiders and outsiders). We wondered about the spiritual hunger so many experience, and why so many have such a hard time finding spiritual fulfillment in communities of faith. Could we, as Advent Community, embody something different? Where people, no matter who they were or what was up with their lives, could experience God in community. What would that look like? Isn't this just the sort of thing Jesus was calling his followers to?
Reading: We read Acts 4:32-37 and reflected on how the early followers of Jesus shared everything with one another as they attempted to live out the Gospel in the world.
Communion: The Bethlehem Lutheran service today was Lessons and Carols for Christmas and did not include Communion. So we shared Communion together around the table at Advent Community--each proclaiming the Good News to one another as we shared the body and blood of Christ in, with, and under the bread and wine of the meal. We then heard the following (anoymous) quote and had some time for quiet reflection:
"Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which to look out at Christ's compassion to the world; you are the feet with which he is to go about doing good; yours are the hands with which he blesses people now."
Next week: We decided that having Communion was something we wanted to continue, and so we will share Communion each Sunday from here on out.
|
posted Dec 27, 2009 12:43 PM by Erik Samuelson
Advent 4
Advent Community did not officially meet today, but we gathered with the entire Bethlehem Lutheran community to talk about our 2010 budget situation and what that meant for God's mission in and among us. You can read about what we were facing here. We gathered around tables and talked about the reality of our financial situation, in which we find ourselves underfunded to do what we have always done, and what we might do about it. No solutions jumped to the surface, but much of the conversation focused on how we can be more outward--and more connected to our neighborhood. Although we realize this won't fix our financial issue, it seems that this is what we are called to do.
In the early afternoon a group from Bethlehem Lutheran, Bethany Presbyterian, and Emmanuel Metropolitan Community Churches wen't Christmas caroling in our neighborhood. This wasn't an Advent Community event, though many of the carolers were Advent Community regulars. We started from the Church parking lot and made our way up 28th to Freya and then down 27th back to the parking lot. Although it was quite cold, we were shocked when we came into the church parking lot and realized we'd been singing for an entire hour. Many of our neighbors were shocked and overjoyed at our caroling, and several commented "Nobody has ever done this before!" We intend to make this a regular tradition. |
posted Dec 13, 2009 8:17 PM by Erik Samuelson
[
updated Dec 22, 2009 8:46 PM
]
Advent 3, 2009 Prayer: We gathered in pairs, sharing a joy and a concern of the week. Then offered prayers in the whole community for our partner.
Reading/Reflection We split into three groups of about 4-5 people each, intentionally intergenerational. Erik spoke a bit about the words we use for "church" and Dietrich Bonhoeffer's distinction between "Kirche" and "Gemiende". (See our Frequently Asked Questions for this explanation). Each group was given a sheet of paper with a different section from the Book of Acts and the following prompt:
"I have given this world the church. And so, my purpose for the church is _____________________________. Love God"
We then had about 20 minutes to read the passage, discuss, and come up with a sentence or two that would fill in God's answer based on our passage. We then shared them with the group.
The group that had Acts 1:6-11 came up with: "I have given this world the church. And so, my purpose for the church is to turn a group of people waiting for certainty into Holy Spirit empowered witnesses, starting in their neighborhood and spreading to the ends of the earth. Love, God."
The group that had Acts 2:1-11 came up with: "God's purpose for the church is to foster individual and communal relationships with God"
The group that had Acts 6:1-7 came up with [coming soon!]
We discussed some themes: Outwardness: God's transformation starts with individuals but spreads outward. God's purpose is inclusive. It involves communities of people rather than structures. The Holy Spirit plays an important role. There is lots of flexibility, though the church creates structure for itself to better live out its calling. God calls a diverse community together, and doesn't wipe our our differences--instead there is value in our diversity. God's direction isn't always clear, but he says "Get on with what I've called you to do!" God puts everyone to work--everyone has something to contribute, everyone is valuable.
Next week: Next Sunday (12/20/09) the Advent Community will not meet as usual, but will be participating in the larger Bethlehem congregational conversation about our budget and the future for Bethlehem. We talked a bit about how this will be a difficult conversation, that we will be struggling for the future of the "Kirche" but that the "Geminde" will continue regardless.
Service: Another baby was born to our community, and inquiries were made to see if the family needed any help. Larry had baked bread for bringing to the Bisono family, and there was extra in the freezer. We were encouraged to take a loaf and give it to a neighbor.
|
posted Dec 13, 2009 8:09 PM by Erik Samuelson
[
updated Dec 22, 2009 8:44 PM
]
We gathered together on December 11th, 2009 at 7pm for a worship experience in the style of the Taizé Community. A candle lit room, the image of Christ, simple songs repeated over and over again, with Bible readings, silence, and prayers interspersed. We described it as "the opposite of the mall" and it was a much needed quiet break in a busy time for all of us.
The hope of Advent Community is to offer alternative worship experiences such as Taizé Prayer on a monthly (or more basis). |
posted Dec 6, 2009 12:08 PM by Erik Samuelson
Advent 2, 2009 Prayer: We gathered in pairs, sharing a joy and a concern of the week. Then offered prayers in the whole community for our partner. The group was a bit bigger (three round tables) but it worked pretty well. Reading: Acts 2:37-47 Reflection: We read: " Some Marks of a Missional Community" our loud around the table (these come from the ELCA division for " Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission")
Some Marks of a Missional Congregation (in no particular order of importance) - Word A missional congregation is a community of the Bible. It offers a variety of opportunities for members and the community to dwell in the Word.
- Children. A missional congregation has the children of church and community at the center of its attention, program, budget, priority.
- Worship Excellence in liturgy, preaching and music anchor the life of a missional church. A missional congregation understands that Word and Sacrament is its missiology, its heart, its evangelizing power.
- Solidarity. A missional congregation is joined at the heart with its conference, synod and church wide partners. It is linked to ecumenical partners.
- Infrastructure and money. A missional congregation does its business well, relates truthfully and transparently to money issues.
- Leadership. A missional congregation invests in leaders, and has a plan for leadership development. The congregation sees everything it does as opportunity for leadership development.
- Mercy and Jusfice. A missional congregation invests in programs and is part of networks which work for both social service (mercy) and social change (justice). A congregation which turns its face, and the face of Jesus to the poor, the stranger, and those without the Gospel is always being renewed.
- Community. A missional congregation is connected to its community in two ways. First, the life and presence of the community is institutionalized in the congregation through programs in which neighbors walk through the doors every day (early childhood centers, 12-step programs, social ministry programs, the arts, etc.) Second the congregation is always present and listening and serving outside the doors, in the midst of its community (church-based community organizing and its arts of listening are critical to this).
- Wider Worlds. Mission and discipleship takes the church and its members into ever widening worlds. In its membership a congregation will reflect its immediate community. In its wider participation in ministry and networks it will relate to wider worlds (companion synods, church-based community organization, Bread for the World, etc.)
- Communal Leadership. Pastoral leadership will belong to the whole community and encourage active participation of the laity.
- Story. A missional congregation will be able to tell its ancestor and founding stories. Every member will be able to tell their faith story.
- Spiritual Gifts. A missional congregation will organize its life at the intersection of the spiritual gifts of its members and the mission of the congregation to its own members, its community and beyond.
- Vocation. A missional congregation will release leaders into the church and community, including rostered leaders, leaders on boards of colleges, social ministry organizations, and other church and community organizations.
- Stewardship. An ethos of abundance will saturate a missional church with grace and release generous stewards into the world.
- Prayer and the Faith Practices of the Disciples will permeate every meeting, decision and area of congregational life. The ethos of evangelizing discipleship creates the context for parish life.
- Action/Reflection. This pedagogy will guide study of scripture, leadership development and deepening communal and individual discipleship.
- Resurrection. A missional congregation lives in the power of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. In the Risen Christ all things are possible.
Discussion: An important theme: these all call us outside of ourselves. Our gathering is not meant just for us, but to send us out. To strech us outside of our own selves for the sake of others. While we seek refuge in church, it can't just be a hideout--refuge involves spending most of our time "out in the world" and using our community life in church to reconnect and refuel. These marks seem difficult for any one congregation to really fulfill, and some may be more important in one community or another. Children in our community might be a difficult one for us. But then, we had discussion about the ways in which we do we welcome/honor/include/value children even though there aren't so many here. This is connected to how we actually welcome all "others"--not just the very young but also the very old, the stranger, people without faith backgrounds, people from other socio economic situations, people who have other native languages, the mentally ill, the homeless, etc. Story was also key one for us. How can we share faith stories outside of the church community if we don't practice in the church community? We shared some stories--what are some early memories you have of the church? Not so much about the "program" (Sunday school etc) but about the "relationships". One harsh word or bad experience can disconnect someone from the community of faith. How do we embody something different? The list seemed to resonate with people in the Advent Community, and seems like something we will continue to use.
Service:
|
posted Nov 29, 2009 12:05 PM by Advent Community
[
updated Nov 29, 2009 3:59 PM by Erik Samuelson
]
Advent 1, 2009 Prayer: We gathered in pairs, sharing a joy and a concern of the week. Then offered prayers in the whole community for our partner. Reading: Acts 2:37-47 Reflection: Debrief experience of last week. We gathered to discuss what sort of community God was calling us to be, God instead called us to just live it out together. (see miracle story). Some things we think God used that experience to teach us about the sort of community we are being called to be: - We are called to care for one another, but God is also calling us to caring relationships with our neighborhood and the wider community. If we begin with care for one another, our neighborhood needs to be a focus very soon.
- God is calling us to stay connected to those on the "fringes", those in our church community who may never participate in the Advent Community but can be connected to our mission and included in what God is doing through us. Remembering there are many homebound folks, and also people without email who will need to be intentionally included.
- God is calling us to an ever widening circle of "neighbors" that includes our families, those of us gathered as Advent Community, those in our congregation, in our neighborhood, in the Spokane area, in the world.
- God is calling us to develop deep relationships with one another
- God calls us to prayer, and to grow in prayer together. We know prayer is important but we often don't know how or don't feel comfortable praying for others and praying in public. Developing this through practice in this community will be important.
- God is calling us deeper into the Word through the Bible.
- God is calling us to be a community that shares gifts, and also shares needs. Advent Community is a place where people can bring their gifts and their needs and God will match them up.
- God is calling us to find new and creative ways to share our gifts, to engage our joys, and find ways that all of us (from the youngest to the oldest) can connect in this way.
- God is calling us to tell stories--stories of our lives and stories of what God is up to in our lives.
A vision: Advent community as "leaven" for the loaf--a community of people living together intentionally in a way that is contagious. Letting our example speak the Gospel. A "come and see" approach based on invitation and relationship. One task as we envision what God is calling us to do and to be is to not wait to put this into practice--as we did last Sunday--and always be looking for ways to live this out together. We distributed this list of " Some Marks of a Missional Community" to read and reflect on for next week. Service: Meals, diapers, etc continue to be delivered to Bisono family. Meals are pretty well covered this week, but they'll need some more certainly for next week. Contact Christine Colestock to participate. colestock@my180.net |
|
