Coming in to land

Greetings family and friends!

I can hardly believe I've been here for a month already!  Time has really flown by here in the city.  Even though I've been working at Broad Street for 4 weeks, my role is finally taking shape now.  This makes some sense in that I've moved my whole life to a completely new setting and was thrown into a completely unique situation to explore my pastoral vocation.  I'm getting to the point in the job where things are starting to click.  To use a metaphor I thought of the other day, I am an airplane that has finally hit the runway after hovering with its wheels down for a little while.  So what's this runway look like?

My new title at Broad Street Ministry will be the "Pastoral Associate for Community Trailblazing."  Like that title?  Came up with it myself.  Using "pastoral associate"is a term applied to seminary interns affirming their role within the communities of Broad Street and Arch Street Pres.  "Community trailblazing" is a title that emerged out of much thought.  A large part of my role at BSM will be meeting with new volunteers, welcoming them into the community, learning about them, discovering their gifts and interests, and then helping them find where they can be best involved at Broad Street.  There is an intentionality at BSM of welcoming and encouraging ideas, and helping them become realities if possible.  The Spirit works through whoever the Spirit chooses.

Beyond this specific role, I will be attending to pastoral needs of BSM and Arch Street Presbyterian.  I will also have opportunities to participate in and lead worship.  Both opportunities are very exciting and filled with the bright future the Lord has for both locations.

Oh yeah, and I'm working on a temporary website for arch street presbyterian.  Check it!

Also, I apologize for neglecting to speak of a significant part of this internship - the seminary house.  I am sharing an apartment with 2 very talented Princeton Seminary students.  In the apartment above us is a married couple serving as our 'pastors in residence and their adorable baby.  We are intentional about sharing a meal once a week to talk about our experiences together.  They're a wonderful group and I'm sure we'll have some great adventures this year!

Regarding blogging, I am beginning to fall in to some sort of schedule.  I will make a sincere attempt to post on Sunday and Wednesday nights, following activities.  Beyond those days, it will most likely be random.  PLEASE share thoughts and comments if possible.  I desire dialogue on certain topics.  We learn from one another and I am constantly curious to what you all think about certain topics that are raised.

Thanks again for the love and support you have sent me.  Come visit sometime this year and see what it's all about!

I leave you on a lighter note...with some good ol' BBC religious humor:


Peace,
Mike

fashioning a new church?

I had a very unique opportunity today to sit in on an administrative commission meeting set up to breathe new life into Arch Street Presbyterian Church. The commission spent a lot of time discussion “strategic imperatives,” or basically, what is it that this church should do to be what we hope it to be. In other words, they were discussing what the ideal situation for this church would be. (in case you missed the earlier post on what's going on, Arch Street Pres literally was dissolved after losing almost all its members amidst crumbling walls, a dissolved session, and a crumbling budget. This is a very sad situation, yet hopeful in that there are many who hope for a new life for this church. The administrative committee was set up by Presbytery to set up a new form for this church.)

This opportunity is very unique because most churches never take time to have these conversations about their hopes and dreams for what they can be. Often times churches are understandably unable to due to existing structures and customs that work well. Although you can’t always just fashion a new church from the ground up, you can at least have conversations about your hopes and dreams for the sake of community development and church growth.

This administrative commission roughly discussed the following imperatives in their discussion:
I. Honor our legacy
II. Re-Imagine our identity
III. Call the community together in a spirit of inclusion and social justice
IV. Raising Christians up in the church to be disciples.

What's exciting is being able to think of how these areas will manifest themselves in the future. Well...exciting for us church nerds at least haha. Particularly for Arch Street: being in the MIDDLE of the business district, sharing a wall with the tallest skyscraper in Philly, brings millions of exciting possibilities for people during the work week from all walks of life and situations.

Thus I pose the question: If you could fashion a church from the ground up...what would you want it to look like?

Getting into the thick of it!

It's been over a week since I've been here in Philly and I'm finally starting to get the hang of life around here.

Sunday evening was my second worship service at BSM. I had been asked to lead the passing of the peace. Apparently there is a distinct effort to get newcomers involved in participating in worship as soon as possible! There is always a wide variety of participation, of people of all races and socio-economic class...a cool thing to witness! Then there was the choir. wow. They ROCKED the house. Basically, this gospel choir sings every other week and sings a wide variety of songs (they closed this evening with "we are family"). My instruction with leading the passing of the peace was to encourage everyone that peace comes from Christ and not within ourselves, so when we do this act it is a reminder to one another of the peace Christ gives us. It's a very big deal at the end of the service to greet as many people as possible.

Monday was a long day of preparing for the upcoming Philadelphia Presbytery meeting that will be held at Broad Street. Amidst the usual docket is a small group session we are planning. The idea, brought up by Broad Street leadership and affirmed by Presbytery leadership, is for the elders and pastors to have conversation with one another regarding their vision of the church, what they need to work on, and ways they can support one another in said visions. This is something that is pretty rare with Presbytery meetings, so I'm pretty excited to see what happens. It's a reminder of what I keep mentioning about needing to "risk and trust." We are so afraid of talking and doing what really matters, and instead doing what is safe. The purpose of this discussion is not to say "we're doing it right, you're doing it wrong," but rather to get people to simply TALK to one another about their visions for the church, where the spirit is calling them, and to start to seek new ways to live out this call!

In closing, I'm posing lyrics to a recent song by Derek Webb that has brought up a LOT of controversy. When you read these lyrics you may wonder why. Perhaps it will help to know that Derek Webb has been on a Christian recording label. When they heard this song, they refused to release the album. Correct me if I'm wrong, but out of this he has had to release this album on his own. I find the lyrics to be convicting, timely, and very significant for an artist as himself. I'm often skeptical about a lot of Christian artists and I am quite proud of Derek for stepping out of the safe bubble many find themselves in. These lyrics once again remind us to "risk and trust" as a community of faith:

What Matters More, by Derek Webb

You say you always treat people like you like to be
I guess you love being hated for your sexuality
You love when people put words in your mouth
'Bout what you believe, make you sound like a freak

'Cause if you really believe what you say you believe
You wouldn't be so damn reckless with the words you speak
Wouldn't silently consent when the liars speak
Denyin' all the dyin' of the remedy

Tell me, brother, what matters more to you?
Tell me, sister, what matters more to you?

If I can tell what's in your heart by what comes out of your mouth
Then it sure looks to me like being straight is all it's about
It looks like being hated for all the wrong things
Like chasin' the wind while the pendulum swings

'Cause we can talk and debate until we're blue in the face
About the language and tradition that he's comin' to save
Meanwhile we sit just like we don't give a shit
About 50,000 people who are dyin' today

Tell me, brother, what matters more to you?
Tell me, sister, what matters more to you?