All Saints to All Stars

The word “saints” (in Greek “hagios”) literally means “holy ones.” Holy ones were considered to be all those who were baptized in water and Spirit into the church. Often a church would be referred to as “the holy ones” or “the saints.” (See Philippians 1:1, for example). The earliest Christians considered themselves, as well as their sisters and brothers in Christ, to be saints. But that has changed over the centuries. Today we tend to think of “saints” as sort of an elite group, a hall of fame of faith, Christian all stars.

Faith and Politics

The past two Sundays we explored and discussed some general themes in the relationship between the Christian Faith and the political systems Christians find themselves within. It is a particularly pressing topic given the way faith in general, and the Christian faith in particular, are being presented in this election season. The Covenant provided a very helpful resource, which we drew upon for our two sessions. Here is the Covenant site.

“I Believe in the Communion of Saints…”

The third paragraph of the “Apostles Creed” reads this way:

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic Church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and life everlasting.

Although this paragraph may seem a bit hodge-podge compared to the rest of the creed, it is actually very interconnected. This section has its touchstone in the first statement on the declaration of the importance of the Holy Spirit. It declares that the Spirit establishes Christian relationships, with God and with people, as well as our resulting redemption in Christ in life beyond life.

Celebrating Disciplines

In 1978, Quaker theologian Richard Foster wrote a book that changed the Christian landscape, particularly that of evangelical Protestants, entitled Celebration of Discipline. In this book Foster reintroduced a large part of North American Christianity to traditional practices that were inward, outward, and corporate which had been lost or abandoned. In many ways he was popularizing the work that had begun in the early part of that century by scholars who wrote for Catholic and Anglican audiences. It also shaped the formation programs of many seminaries. Ironically it had little impact on North Park Seminary’s faith formation, because as a pietist tradition, we had not lost much of what Foster was trying to restore.

Welcoming Sum Yet Lee

This past spring, our church began a process of searching for a new Director of Music at First Covenant Church. A Search Committee was formed including James Haagenson as chair, Tom LaPaze, Elsie Nelson Brown, Barbara Rhoe, Pastor Lauren, and myself as an ex officio member. We had a good deal of interest to our job posting, resulting in a number of fine candidates for us to consider. In the end I believe the committee chose the person who was best for us both musically and spiritually, and would mesh with not only our worship life but our broader congregational life.

Introducing the Millennial-ish Group

A couple Sundays ago, our young adult group met for the second time. During our meeting we discussed what we were going to call this group. A name is important. The label we place on groups like this helps us to define our purpose, and helps others identify whether it’s a space for them

Enacting the Gospel

It is good to have a guest preacher every once in a while. This past Sunday having Rev. Mae Cannon preach gave Lauren and me a nice break the day after our Staff-Council retreat. It also brought a different voice and perspective to the pulpit. Mae’s sermon reminded me of Tony Campolo’s comment that him, being a guest prophet not a pastor, can say things a pastor might not say, and let the pastor and church to figure out what to do in response to his sermon. 

The Rhythms of Life

Inspiration and respiration, inhale and exhale. Diastole and systole, blood in and blood out. Out with some, in with some. The rhythms of our bodily existence speak of input and output, and it is so obvious we experience it without thinking of it. But, upon reflection, I would suggest that these rhythms are a great image for the rhythms of our lives beyond the biological. They speak of my life right now, maybe yours as well.

The Blessing of Animals

I received an email in June of 2021, shortly after Susan and I arrived in Seattle and a few weeks before we met in person for worship for the first time. It contained a curious request. This email came from a member of our church who mentioned how many families had acquired "COVID" pets during the pandemic and how important they were to their and their families’ wellness during the unwell season of the pandemic. The request was to have a blessing of animals near the Feast of St. Francis (October 4) that year. (This is commonly done by churches of all sorts on or about this day.) I was not opposed to the idea but wasn’t able to pull it off that Fall. So, I kept the idea on the back burner, but never moved forward with it. When Pastor Lauren was called to serve our church, I thought this would be right up her alley. And so, Pastor Lauren and our Vashon community group have been organizing such a worship service for our church on Saturday, September 21 on Vashon Island at 11:30 am.

Directing Music

We are on the threshold of hiring a new Music Director. We have spent some time creating a job description, defining what we would expect this person to do as well as what gifts and skills we would hope this person would bring. There are tasks like playing, choosing, coordinating, leading, and collaborating. There are various constituents they need to coordinate: from children to adults, vocalists—solo to ensemble, instrumentalists, as well as helping to facilitate the worship of our congregation. Because of the configuration of our church, it is difficult to direct an ensemble or choir in our choir loft while accompanying them because of “challenging sightlines” to say the least, so this person may or may not direct the choir. Regardless, as a church we have an appreciation for beauty, and those who are able to make beauty part of our vocabulary of worship, and we value all this person will do to that end, whatever they do or do not do.

Notes on Notes

This past week began for me with a request to republish some of my “Notes” from our previous Life on the Vine issues. After some consideration, I consented to one that they suggested, and you can now find last week’s offering on this week’s Pacific Northwest Conference blog. This invitation has given me reason to reflect on what it is I am trying to do in these weekly offerings. 

A busy summer

Every year, I’m surprised by how quickly the summer flies by. This wasn’t always the case. When I was a child, it seemed to last a blessed lifetime. The sunny days were endless–filled with time for swimming, biking, visiting family and–most importantly–eating lots of ice cream. That all changed when I became an adult. Now the summer is over before it even starts. Part of that is the general passage of time which seems to speed up as you age, but I think another part is that my summers are much busier now. Between work, sports, and vacations squeezed in between, September comes all too quickly on the heels of June. 

A busy summer

Every year, I’m surprised by how quickly the summer flies by. This wasn’t always the case. When I was a child, it seemed to last a blessed lifetime. The sunny days were endless–filled with time for swimming, biking, visiting family and–most importantly–eating lots of ice cream. That all changed when I became an adult. Now the summer is over before it even starts. Part of that is the general passage of time which seems to speed up as you age, but I think another part is that my summers are much busier now. Between work, sports, and vacations squeezed in between, September comes all too quickly on the heels of June. 

Words

Susan and I are hosting Jurhee, Sang, and Alice for the week. Alice is on the threshold of two years old and has grown a great deal since last we saw her in person. She is certainly more verbal. Her parents are bilingual, Korean and English, and so they speak to Alice in both Korean and English. So Alice calls her parents “mother” and “father” using both the English and Korean words. 

Owning Up

A myth is a story that may or may not be historically “true,” but contains truths about a people group, such as their values and their views of themselves and their world. One of our nation’s earliest myths is that of George Washington “owning up” to cutting down a cherry tree. That story speaks of the values of honesty and taking responsibility; qualities of not just our first president, but what we expect from all our presidents. 

Postcard from the San Juans

Having a lovely time in Griffin Bay on our first day in the water. Praying you are paddling along well wherever you are and whatever you are doing.

Grace and Peace,

~ Pastor Todd

Freedom, Unity, and Responsibility:
A Covenant Resource Paper

At the recent annual meeting of the Covenant Church, a proposed position paper was approved by the assembly. (For more about this meeting in general, see Aaron Nilson’s offering below.) I had seen early drafts of this paper as prior versions were sent to the ministerium. We had opportunities to discuss and offer feedback on these drafts, and revisit it when revisions were made. The version posted on the Covenant website still identifies it as a “draft”, though I am fairly certain it is the document that was approved. For most of the delegates, though, this was the first time they had seen this document. 

Church: Universal and Local

In the early Christian creeds we find the phrase “one holy, catholic (or universal), and apostolic church.” The implication is that from the beginning the Christian churches were unified and unanimous in their understanding of what the apostolic faith was. One should understand that the creeds were written because at that time there were Christians who didn’t believe those things. The creeds were a line in the sand: if you agreed you were orthodox, if you did not you were incorrect and possibly even dangerous or heretical.

Juneteenth is about more than Race

On Sunday, June 9 the Reverend James Lawson passed away. Rev. Lawson was a force for justice in the greater Los Angeles area when I lived there, even though he had retired from his ministry at Holman United Methodist Church in LA in 1999, six years before we moved there. Both before that ministry, Rev. Lawson was a prominent leader in the civil rights movement with Dr. King. Rev. Lawson followed the lead of Rev. Howard Thurman, who studied pacifism and passive resistance with Gandhi in India. Where King was the visionary and a spokesperson for the movement, and Thurman was the philosopher and spiritual director of the movement, Lawson was the organizer. It was Lawson’s ability to train troops of non-violent protestors who were able to embody grace under fire that made this movement something to be reckoned with, and forced our country to reckon with its injustices.

Questions

My last few weeks have been quite curious ones. In that time, I have had conversations with a number of people: in and out of our church, religious and non-religious, national and international. What is curious is how much overlap those conversations had. For example, recently someone observed how much COVID seems to have affected people in ways that are still currently evident. The very next day someone in a completely different context commented on how COVID has “changed everything” and wondered if we will ever go back to “normal.”