Don't Take This One Too Seriously

From Wednesday, 8/11/2010

Last Sunday I used a “contemporary” thing in the “traditional” service … and some people fussed at me about it. It was calm and meditative (no guitars or drums), and the fact that it was written 28 years ago disqualifies it as “contemporary” in the purest sense of the word. I used it in the “contemporary” service as well. I also used the same hymn that opened the “traditional” service in the “contemporary” service (albeit an updated version as done by the David Crowder Band). I haven’t gotten fussed at about that yet … but it has happened in the past.

My motive in selecting what I did was to try to give both congregations similar content in worship while not straying too far from the “style” expectations of each. I was also trying to help both congregations learn how to bend a little without getting bent out of shape … to bend in the same direction, if you will. I won’t do it every Sunday, and sometimes I’ll do it more successfully than others. Our aim for the 8:30 service will always be very much in the “contemporary” direction. Likewise, our aim for the 11:00 service will always be very much in the “traditional” direction. But an inflexible adherence to rigid and narrow definitions of each will not serve either service well.

In my Wednesday night handout I printed a cartoon that was sent to me by several of my choir members. It showed a woman talking on an old-timey wall phone ... the kind with the earpiece that you held up to your ear and talked into the mouthpiece on the phone. She was saying, "They're putting choruses in hymnbooks and projecting hymns onto the screen. It's getting so I can't remember what I'm not supposed to like." I told my people it was supposed to make them laugh. I hope it did.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Prayer for new high school

Last week I had the honor of participating in a community-wide prayer service for the opening of our new high school.  The youth minister at the local Pentecostal Holiness Church did a masterful job of creating an ecumenical service involving pastors from a dozen or so local churches.  Our senior pastor was out of town, so the request came to me.  I thought it appropriate that our youth minister have the opportunity, but she had a schedule conflict that prevented her from being able to.  That being the case, I was much more than happy -- honored -- to be able to participate in a very moving, meaningful service.  There were welcomes from the mayor, the superintendent, and the principal ... then each minister in turn led in prayer for various concerns connected with the new high school.  I was asked to pray for safety.  Privately, my prayers are always extemporaneous ... as they often are for Sunday morning worship as well.  For a public meeting like this, I prefer to write out my prayer (praying as I do so) in advance.  The text of my prayer follows (with personal names omitted out of respect for the personal privacy of people whose professional position of leadership places their names in the public eye more often than I would want mine to be):

Eternal and all-powerful God, Creator of the universe and Savior of the world through Jesus Christ, rescue us from the anxiety that causes us to fear that our failure to say the right words to You at this moment might limit Your desire or Your freedom or Your power to protect all who serve, lead, teach, and learn in this place.  Remind us that our trust is in You and in You alone and not in the words that we may speak (or fail to speak).  Your word reminds us that You are a shield to all who take refuge in You (2 Sam. 22:31; Psalm 18:30).  Father, when we think of the evil and unhealthy things that CAN happen on a high school campus, our hearts cry out to You, because You alone can protect us from the attacks of the evil one.

Hear our prayers for [the principal (by name)] and the administration of [this school].  We lift them up to You as we entrust the safety of our teenagers to their care.  We ask that you would protect them and lead them into wise decisions and wise actions. 

Hear our prayers for the teachers, coaches, and mentors who serve here, whom we trust not only with the molding and shaping of young minds, but also with the character development of valuable young men and women.  Guard and protect them from any temptation to use their position of authority in any way that would harm another.  Keep us mindful that you have so linked our lives with one another that all we do affects, for good or ill, all other lives: So guide these teachers, coaches, and mentors in the work that they do, that they may do it not for self alone, but for the common good of their fellow faculty members and the students whose lives they are shaping.

Hear our prayers for the support staff of [this school].  May you protect them and enable them to create an environment that enhances learning and healthy growth.  May this place be clean, orderly and free from distractions.  May the meals that are served here free the students from the distraction of hunger.

Father, we ask Your protection on this physical campus … on the classrooms, hallways, offices, common areas, parking lots, practice fields, gymnasiums, locker rooms, rehearsal rooms, art studios … that [this school]’s campus may be a place known for righteousness, excellence, safety, inquiry, and growth.  From all that would harm our children and those who serve to lead and to teach on this campus, we ask Your protection.

O Eternal God, bless [this school], that she may be a lively center for sound learning, new discovery, and the pursuit of wisdom; and grant that those who teach {here} and those who learn {here} may find You to be the source of all truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.(Book of Common Prayer).

 The last paragraph is almost a direct quote from the Book of Common Prayer.  Language in the third paragraph of the prayer is borrowed and adapted from the Book of Common Prayer as well.

Why am I posting this?  I don't know.  Perhaps in hope that it will edify someone.

That's enough to think about for now.

There's More Than We Know

This past Sunday was our 23rd wedding anniversary. So I did something I very rarely do … I took the day off. I planned to tell the lovely wife on Saturday that I wanted her to pack her bags for a simple overnight hotel stay and that she’d know where it was when we got there. It had to be nearby because the last performance of “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” was Saturday night, and it would have been bad form to have ditched the cast party afterward.

On Saturday afternoon, we decided that since the stick boy (age 16) had to speak in both services and the 11-week-old puppy still needs constant supervision, it would be best for us to just have a relaxed Sunday morning (instead of me getting up at my usual 5:30am) and head out for the day. So my grandiose plans were demoted to run-of-the-mill status. The thing that really mattered to me was to spend the day giving my undivided attention to the woman who has put up with me and my relational cluelessness for 23 years of marriage (and the strange courtship that preceded it). So we looked after the dogs and made sure both boys could get ready on time to do what they needed to do, and then we set out to spend the day in downtown Asheville.

We had never been to downtown Asheville before, but we had heard that it was a pretty neat place to go … and we were not disappointed. We got there around noon, and started to scout the area to figure out where we should eat lunch and making plans for what shops seemed worth looking in after lunch. There were street musicians everywhere we turned. Some were quite good; others … well … bless their hearts.  We saw one pathetic violin player in front of Malaprop’s Bookstore before we went to lunch at the Tupelo Honey Café (well worth the one hour wait). We went back by there after lunch and heard the same screechy sound only to find that it was a different guy playing just as pathetically. We decided that Malaprop’s must be the place of choice for sketchy violinists.

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around looking in the shops (I found Dawn a pair of dachshund earrings in one shop), then stopped in Kilwin’s for an afternoon ice-cream before heading to the car to come back home. On the way out we discovered that we had missed a huge section of the downtown market area. We had made a quick circuit of the area we saw before lunch, then after lunch that’s where we stayed. We hadn’t picked up a map until we were just about ready to go home, so all we had seen was all we thought there was. But we were wrong, and by the time we had discovered that we were wrong, most of the shops were closing.

I got to thinking about that and realized that sometimes we’re that way about spiritual matters as well. That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.