coffee – Salvaged Faith

Ashes and Lattes

Posted on February 18, 2015Leave a comment

In the middle of a public place, a busy coffee shop, surrounded by strangers… people got real.

We hosted our first ashes to go in the community and while we didn’t have a large turnout, the conversations were deep and holy. I got to know my parishioners better. I heard what brings they joy and where they are struggling. I witnessed the joy and excitement of a family rushing through on their way to school.

People you only have time for quick conversation with in the greeting line after church hung around for a while and visited. It was fascinating to have so much more intimate encounters in a public setting.

In fact, I think the average length of stay at our table was probably 20-30 minutes.

Although, that’s what people do at coffee shops. They talk. They go deep. They open up and become friends.

I’m declaring our first time a qualitative success 🙂 I wonder about the conversations that will come as a result of our few hours of ashes and prayers.

Praying… and sometimes ceasing

Posted on July 19, 2013Leave a comment

I have never really been able to establish a good routine when it comes to prayer. Just like most other disciplines in my life (exercise, healthy eating), a practice like prayer has come in fits and starts. One step forward, two steps back.

Usually a week of exuberance and zeal is interrupted by a trip out of town or an early morning meeting or, lets be honest, sheer laziness.

The excitement fades, the old habits settle in, and I’m stuck in a rut once again.

But lately, without putting too much pressure on myself, I have been fairly regularly following a routine.

I keep on my breakfast table a copy of the Feasting on the Word daily devotional. More often than not, when I sit down for breakfast, I open it up, use my phone to look up the scriptures, and spend five to ten minutes doing the devotional.

But I have also added on my phone a note that keeps a list of my daily prayers. Prayers for my husband, for my family, for the work I do, for my friends. And so as I finish my coffee and move into the rest of the day, I work my way through that prayer list.

That regular practice… although far from consistent… is starting to sink in. I have started noticing some of those prayers being answered. And so my petitions are also now filled with thank-yous.

Thanks be to God for simple words, for a good cup of coffee, for patience, and for each new day.

my very own cohort… #reverb10

Posted on January 11, 2011Leave a comment

Still catching up on the 31 reverb10 prompts from the month of December. Little by little, I will get through them all!!!
So tomorrow, we start with our first monthly gathering of 2011. We are looking at Carol Howard Merritt’s “Reframing Hope.” (I wrote some about it yesterday) I can’t wait to continue the conversations and to meet some of the new folks who will be joining us for the first time! Plus, Fusion has this Maccu Piccu Mocha that is absolutely to-die-for. Totally yummy. (just saying.)

December 7 – Community. Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011? (Author: Cali Harris)

In the last year, a new group of conversation partners have begun meeting in Eastern Iowa. In some ways, it started with connections made at the JoPa Theological Conversation with Jurgen Moltmann back in 2009. A few of us realized – hey, there are Iowa folks here! And we committed to gather more locally and chat.

I also recieved an email from a guy who wanted to start talking about emergent theology/church themes near the beginning of that year. We live nearby and a coffee shop conversation began.

Since those initial plans, the Eastern Iowa Emergent Cohort was rebirthed. I’m not sure who started it, or who was involved, but the conversation had gone silent for a while. But we have some new faces, some new energy and last year planned three face-to-face conversations.

It has been so strange for me to enter these emergent conversations, because I am what Carol Howard Merritt calls a “loyal radical.” I am firmly planted in the tradition and I wouldn’t leave it for the world, but there are facets of the emergent movement that so speak to me. The deep sense of community, the diffusion of authority, the importance of communal discernment, the focus on a rule or way of life, the place for questions, etc. There aren’t a lot of places to talk about that either in the hierarchical church (although I am making those connections) or in the local congregation I serve. And to be honest, I have not come into the community through traditional venues like blogs and books either. I kind of just discovered it on my own and then sought words to explain what I was thinking/feeling.

You see, I first was introduced to the entire idea of emergent theology and postmodernism back in Nashville, Tennessee. I can still remember walking down the sidewalk with Kay Hereford Voorhees and learning all about postmodern theology on a sunny afternoon. I was working at a large, very traditional, uptown church that had this little quirky group of folks who were exploring other ways of being faithful. We began an emergent worship service before we even quite realized what we were doing. We had an intimate and holy community of faithful folks who weekly walked with one another. I miss that group of folks VERY MUCH!!!

As I prepared to move back to Iowa, I knew what a gap would be left in my life, and so this blog was an attempt to fill that gap. But I also longed for the types of conversations having through cohorts meeting at the Flying Saucer in Nashville, or the Emerging UMC (version 1) event we had. Iowa seemed like a barren landscape, void of partners. Boy was I wrong.

This new community is a breath of fresh air. It is a chance to ask questions and wrestle with folks who think the way I do… and find themselves in congregations like mine. Some of us maintain contact on twitter or facebook, but these three gatherings have turned into a desire to have a more frequent relational contact.

pull to plant

Posted on November 7, 2009Leave a comment

This week I’ve spent a lot of time outside. For Pastor Appreciation Month my congregation gave me a gift certificate to Earl May and some gardening tools. And it was an extremely meaningful gift because a) it means that they understand some of the ways that I take care of myself (gardening) and b) it allowed me to get some things done in the midst of the stressful time of ordination papers too.

To be honest – if I hadn’t recieved that gift, the south side of my house would still be a mess. There would be tall grasses and crazy trees and weeds and leaves all over. I affectionately have referred to it as the eyesore on the south side. At least once before I’ve tried to clear the area – but then when our plants didn’t arrive, it soon grew back over.

So this past week – in the amazing warm weather for the first week of November (in the 50’s) I’ve taken a few hours each day to slowly but surely work on it.

Monday, my mom went with me to pick out some shrubs and bulbs and then helped me do some clearing. Throughout the week I’ve dug out stumps, removed the plastic underlayer, pulled weeds, broke a shovel and have some nasty bruises to show for my work.

Then yesterday – the shrubs went in the ground. There are two “fire chief” conifers, a blueberry plant, and a mandarin azaela. Today after the Iowa game I will probably be working on planting some tulip, crocus and dafodill bulbs.

In the midst of all of that, I had some time to think. About how overgrown other areas of my life are and where the chaos needs to be put in order and weeded and new things planted. The truth is that new things cannot take root unless room is made – unless everything else moves away.

As a pastor this is absolutely true. The last week in October I tried to work on my papers, but I left too many of my other responsibilities in the way. I got very little done and it took a lot of effort to get there. But this week I took time away from my other tasks, escaped to coffee shops and my office and progress was made.

As I try to nurture leadership development – I have to get myself out of the way and pull up my roots so that there is room for new leaders to emerge. I’m thinking about various ways to encourage new growth in the congregation and to fertilize those who have said yes, but aren’t sure of their new surroundings. A leadership retreat is definately in my plans – but I’m also thinking about restructuring our meeting arrangements so that more than one group meets at once, and I move between groups. Not having me to rely on means that others will have to take over the reigns – but I can also be there when they do need me. My real task needs to be working with leaders, not running the meetings.

That arrangement would also free up more time to meet individually with leaders in the congregation, do the visitation of our homebound members, and build relationships with our youth and families.