Something You Need to Know About: Sweaty Sheep

Our particular branch (denomination) of the Christian family tree, the Presbyterian Church (USA), is trying very hard to facilitate creative, innovative, and risky new forms of worshiping communities.  I know it is tough for a lot of our congregation members to understand, but in a lot of ways the days of putting up a big building, paying an ordained seminary-trained pastor, and singing hymns to organ music on Sundays may be coming to an end, although it will still work for some congregations for awhile longer.  The alternative during the 80's and 90's was to build equally big buildings but just make them to where they don't look like churches and replace hymns and organs with praise songs and guitars.  What we are finding in the PCUSA these days, however, is that the best way to reach a huge number of folks doesn't have anything to do with a building or hymns at all.  Instead, it has to do with what Jesus and the disciples did--going out and meeting people where they are, not expecting people to come to where we want them to be.  To facilitate outside-the-box thinking, the PCUSA is in the midst of the 1001 New Worshiping Communities initiative.  This initiative gives money and backing to almost any well thought out idea that forms a new worshiping community.  It might end up looking a lot like traditional congregations but a lot of them look quite different. One of my favorites is a worshiping community that has started in an RV park.  There is no building, no budget, no pews, no robes, no committees, just people gathering together to worship, fellowship, and serve. They don't have to be "permanent" the way that traditional churches were founded in hopes of lasting for hundreds of years. They are just supposed to meet people with the gospel of Jesus Christ in a way that makes sense right now, not forever.  That sounds like ministry done "Jesus style" to me.  

My favorite of all of these new PCUSA worshiping communities is in Louisville, Kentucky.  It is called "Sweaty Sheep."  Please take a couple of minutes to watch this video.

If you have trouble watching the embedded video above just click on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nTNb4gHfwA

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Everett

Someone & Something You Should Know About: Jean Vanier and L'Arche

Last week I introduced you to the late Henri Nouwen.  Now I introduce you to someone who was an inspiration to Henri Nouwen.  This person's name is Jean Vanier, who is most known for his founding of the L'Arche movement.  L'Arche started started in 1964 as a model of Christian living and life that brought together those with mental disabilities (and often physical) with those who do not have these disabilities. What was different about the L'Arche model is that those with and those without live together as complete equals.  When Vanier first started L'Arche he thought he would be helping those with disabilities but he ended up finding out that they were helping him as much as he was helping them.  He came to find that those with disabilities often knew the deeper truths of life and God much better than those without the disabilities. It provided an opportunity for real, authentic, selfless love to grow.

Henri Nouwen, who you watched preach in the video last week, was so inspired by this model of living that the last several years of his life were spent living in an L'Arche community in Toronto.  A brilliant man who taught at Notre Dame, Harvard, and Yale, who had sold hundreds of thousands or even millions of books, who was a much sought after speaker all over the world, gave all that up to live with a young, severely disabled young man named Adam.  Nouwen would have never done that had it not been for Jean Vanier. One of the things Jean Vanier has said that has helped me and humbled me immensely is that God calls us not to be great in the eyes of the world, but instead God simply calls us each to be "a little friend of Jesus." That is what I want to be.  I want to be a little friend of Jesus.

Please take a few minutes to watch the following video of Jean Vanier and then to avail yourself to any of the other resources about him.  Perhaps by learning from his life and example we will be opened up to love God and love others in similar ways.

If you cannot watch the embedded video above click on this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_xDRTXb-_o

About Jean Vanier:

http://www.jean-vanier.org/en/the_man/profile

About L'Arche Communities International

http://www.larche.org/en/home

Audio Interview with Jean Vanier

http://www.onbeing.org/program/wisdom-tenderness/234

Audio Interview about L'Arche Communities

http://www.onbeing.org/program/larche-community-brokenness-and-beauty/116

Being the Beloved

As a continuation of last week's post, I want to share the following video with you.  It is about 18 minutes long and unfortunately the quality isn't great and his Dutch accent can be a little challenging at times.  I promise you, though, that the message within this video is well worth the effort.  It is a sermon preached by Father Henri Nouwen in 1993.  Nouwen was a Catholic priest and a great teacher and author on Christian spirituality.  He is one of my many spiritual heroes and you can learn more about him at http://www.henrinouwen.org/.  So please take the time to watch the following video.  Who knows, maybe it's exactly the message you need to hear today.

You can view the video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8U4V4aaNWk

Grace and Peace,

Everett

You Matter

Here is a realization I had this past Monday.  It hit me while I was standing in my kitchen and nearly knocked me down (or more accurately nearly made me float off the floor).  These were words I've needed to hear not with my ears, but with my heart for thirty-five years. My guess is that some of you need to hear them too.

If you matter, you matter just by being, not by doing something that "matters."  If you matter, you matter no matter what.  You will never know you matter until you know from within that you matter. Until you realize that you matter no matter what, you will keep looking for ways to matter: a new relationship, a new job, a new project.  Stop searching for ways to matter. Stop TRYING to matter.  You matter just by being.  That's grace.

Jesus said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." Welcome to freedom, friends.  Welcome to freedom.

Have a great week.

Grace and Peace,

Everett