Finding True North #17: Back to Normal

Having had one "normal" week in Indy and then one made crazy by Annual Conference and sermon prep, I'm not really sure what it means to go back to normal, but theoretically that's what I'm doing this week.

Today I got to church about an hour early (I usually arrive at 9:00 for morning prayers). I went to the chapel (a lovely space), did a little work, played some piano and journalled. I should make a habit of doing that. I had gotten into a good schedule of quiet time at home in the mornings my first week here, but that got so disrupted last week I'm not sure I could get back to it. And being in a space like that for some centering time is really helpful to me as a person for whom aesthetics and place are important spiritually.

I spent a good bit of time after prayers working on a new website for Lockerbie Central. Brenda had started on one using Weebly, an online content management system that lets you build sites from templates. I had fun working on the layout and organization of the site, setting up a Facebook page we'll theoretically get out there once the website is done, etc. My one semester of computer science in undergrad sparked an interest in web design for me, so even when I'm bootlegging it, I really enjoy it. Beyond the technical stuff, it's fun to think about how to tell a story and give people remote access to a community or idea or organization.

Kevin (um, Rev. Armstrong?) picked me up mid-morning to go to a meeting of the advisory board for the Spirit and Place Festival, an annual event in Indianapolis exploring the intersection of the arts, humanities and religion. Spirit and Place is a project of The Polis Center, IU School of Liberal Arts, and IUPUI. This year's program is centered around the theme of "The Body." It was an interesting group of people with some pretty creative ideas, and I wish I could be here in November to check it out. Here's a video that gives a sort of commercial for the event in general:



One thing I'm really growing to appreciate about Kevin is his engagement with the community and the city of Indianapolis. He is very much in touch with what's going on in civic life and works to be both a voice and a listening ear for faith in the midst of things.

Tonight I went to choir rehearsal, partly because it was their last practice before the summer schedule kicks in but mostly because I'm singing a solo Sunday. It's a beautiful arrangement of "I Surrender All" to a new tune by Steve Potts. It's lovely.

Now I am going to go read. I was doing so well my first week here with reading, and it's time to get back on the bandwagon.

Finding True North #16: Catching Up—Annual Conference, Preaching and More

Well, I am behind on updates. What a crazy week! I am still absolutely loving it here in Indianapolis. Though my adventures last week took me north to Muncie, IN and south to English, IN, so I'm getting out. Let's see if I can get caught up on life lately.

Last Wednesday through Friday, I was at Ball State University (which has the most confusing campus ever) for the Indiana Annual Conference. People joke about conference being a drag, and sometimes it is, but you know, it can be really cool to have all those clergy and laity together in one place. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Of course, I didn't have to go to the meetings and voting sessions because I was backstage most of the time with Marcia McFee, worship designer/leader extraordinaire. Dr. McFee was kind enough to take me on as her intern for the conference, so I got to shadow her and help out behind the scenes with worship. Well, until Friday, when Dr. McFee lost her voice and I was suddenly assigned a solo (a beautiful new setting of the hymn "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling" to a tune by Mark Miller). That was not in the plan, but it was a lot of fun. I sang during the commissioning/retirement service, which was a truly beautiful occasion and got me excited about being on the ordination track.

(Side note: someone asked if I were Dr. McFee's daughter. Blonde worship geeks unite!)

I will probably do a separate post reflecting on Dr. McFee's worship workshop/seminar (I keep getting myself in trouble by promising later posts), but it was very educational simply to follow her around for a few days. She has an approach to worship design that transcends discussions of style, which I greatly appreciate, because I think the worship wars that plague the church today are complete garbage. Dr. McFee is a performer, so she is all about preparation, intentionality and presentation, but she also strives to make worship a performance that people are enabled to participate in rather than passively observe.

Annual Conference was also a lot of fun just for the people. Hanging out with Dr. McFee was great fun, and I actually got to chat with the bishop (Michael Coyner) some backstage. Bishop Coyner is pretty awesome, though the test of his awesomeness will come if he ever sees this picture—he left his dressing room door open with the bishop's crozier right there. What else was I supposed to do? :)

Anyway, I got to meet a number of really wonderful people, bonded with the musicians and ran into old friends at conference. Not only were several people from North there, I also got to meet Brent Wright, the pastor of Broad Ripple UMC in Indy (Brent and I have a mutual friend at Duke), and I ran into Brian Jones, former director of the Duke Youth Academy back when I was a student there. Have I mentioned that I love the connectional nature of the UMC? Because I really, really do. I love knowing people and making relational connections. Being in a wholly different state where I shouldn't have known anyone and yet finding new and old friends was pretty cool.

I came back from conference a day early because I had a wedding to attend on Saturday, and it ended up being doubly good that I returned Friday because I ended up going to a social gathering of people from Earth House. I love Earth House, and the people there are amazing, not to mention my age. In the past week, I've actually started making some friends in my age group, which is great. Hopefully Friday night was just the beginning of adventures with these folks over the summer.

Anyway, the wedding on Saturday was in English, IN, about 2.5 hours south of Indianapolis. It was a lovely wedding, and I got to see a lot of friends from college. But I also got to see southern Indiana, which has a lot of beautiful farmland and actually some hills (since central IN is pretty darn flat). Hooray for exploring the state a bit.

Then Sunday was my day to preach at North. I already posted my sermon, so feel free to check that out. I was pretty nervous about preaching, but excited too, and I think it went well. I actually had to practice my sermon for the staff the previous Tuesday afternoon, which was incredibly nerve-wracking—using a microphone in a huge, stone sanctuary with 5 people sitting there. Yeesh. But the feedback from the staff was very helpful and shaped the final form of my sermon.

I preached twice, at 8:30 and 11:00 a.m., and the second service went better, but that was to be expected. I was really encouraged by the feedback I got from parishioners—of course, church people are going to be nice regardless, but several people actually quoted back to me points I had made, saying they had resonated with what I said. That was affirming to me, because it means I connected with at least some people in meaningful ways. I enjoy preaching, but it's pretty terrifying and I don't have much experience, but this was a positive and helpful experience for me.

This week has continued to be intense, but in a good way. Tonight is the last day of Party in the Park, North's version of Vacation Bible School, sort of. This is the second year for Party in the Park. Basically, they've set up in the church parking lot and the park across the street with a big tent and several activity stations for kids, including storytelling, crafts, music, games and more. They've served dinner each night and invited the surrounding community to join in. It's been going great so far, though unfortunately it's raining today, which may put a damper on the last night, but hopefully people will still come when we hold it inside tonight.

I think that'll do for an update for now. Indianapolis is an amazing city. A few of the North clergy have been joking about me switching conferences, and as much as I love Western NC, I'm really starting to love Indy as well.

Finding True North #15: A Pentecost Sermon

I have a lot of updating to do here about Annual Conference and more, but for now I'll just post my sermon from this morning. The sections that are in verses and italicized were sung; you can listen to the whole of that song, "Spirit Hymn," below if you want to know what it sounds like complete and accompanied (I sang the verses a cappella).

Spirit Hymn by Sarah Howell


"The Ultimate Birthday Gift"
Pentecost Sermon 6-12-11
North United Methodist Church
Indianapolis, IN

Happy birthday, church!

If you didn't know it was your birthday, that's good. I didn't get you anything.

Today we celebrate Pentecost. This is when we remember the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples after Jesus' resurrection. Sometimes, Pentecost is called the birthday of the church. So, happy birthday, church.

A birthday celebration is different from a graduation or retirement party because it doesn't celebrate an achievement; it celebrates a person's existence. Spiritual writer Henri Nouwen says this about birthdays:

"On our birthdays we celebrate being alive. On our birthdays people can say to us, 'Thank you for being!' ...[Birthdays] remind us that what is important is not what we do or accomplish, not what we have or who we know, but that we are, here and now. On birthdays let us be grateful for the gift of life" (Here and Now, Crossroads 2006).

We can see in the reading from Acts that the church gets the ultimate birthday gift: the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is not a thing that is given to us wrapped in pretty paper. It is not an object or an instrument put at our disposal. The Spirit is God. She is an active divine agent, the source of our life as church, an equal member of the Trinity. Just a side note: I tend to refer to the Holy Spirit in the feminine. This is not an attempt at being politically correct. The Hebrew word for "spirit" in the Old Testament, ruach, is feminine. The Greek word for "spirit," pneuma, is neither masculine nor feminine, but I'll err on the side of the feminine for today.

The Holy Spirit is God, the gift and the giver. At Pentecost, God gives God's very self to us. This unique gift unifies us, brings us into God's story, and opens up God's grace to us. On this, the church's birthday, we celebrate being together through the Spirit who is the source of our being.

Spirit, unify us by your love
Spirit, draw us in your life above
Pour yourself upon our hearts
Through your grace which abounds
You are gift and you are giver, you surround

Of course, the gift of the Spirit is not something to be framed or placed neatly on a shelf. This gift does something to its recipients. When the Spirit rests on someone, she is not resting in the same way we might when taking our Sunday afternoon nap. The Spirit rests actively, and that active resting empowers us to participate in God's mission.

The Spirit does not come to individuals for their own benefit. The descent of the Spirit is not primarily about salvation. But the Spirit is concerned with individuals and with their particularity. When the disciples started speaking in tongues, the Acts passage says, "at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each" (Acts 2:6). The Spirit caused a miracle of diversity because the Spirit is the creator of diversity. God made and loves all the details and distinctions that make each of us who we are. Jesus came as a particular person in a particular time and place. God is not interested in saving "humanity" as a general category. God is interested in you, in me, in our individual particularity and in our gathered diversity.

Because, you see, unity is one thing and uniformity is another. Sometimes we mix those up and think that in order to be unified, we must conform and become all alike. But Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Unity has never meant uniformity." At Pentecost, we do not see everyone suddenly learning to speak or understand the same language. Instead, we see the good news miraculously being translated into each person's native tongue. Christianity has been a faith of translation from the very beginning. Muslims believe that if you read the Qur'an in a language other than Arabic, you are losing something central to its meaning. But Christians may read the Bible in any language, in every language.

I want you to take a look at the banner on the pulpit. If you can't see it well from where you're sitting, there's a picture of part of it on the front of your bulletin. Be sure to come up and look at it after service. Doris Douglas created this banner, and I had the immense pleasure of meeting her my first week here. For years, Doris' beautiful banners have adorned this church and led this community through the Christian year. These incredible works of art are born out of deep prayer and love. When I first saw this Pentecost banner, I knew I had to talk about it in this sermon. Take a look at the flames on the banner. Even in black and white, you can tell that they are all different colors. That's part of what I love about this banner—it dazzlingly illustrates diverse unity. Each tongue of fire is distinct, but together they all form one glorious blaze.

There are in this church many examples of this diverse unity. I've only been here two weeks and I'm already catching on. Just think about the Umoja Project through which this church is connected with other faith communities here and in Chilaimbo, Kenya. The very name of the project, Umoja, means "unity" in Swahili. I have heard the stories of relationships built across continents between people who are so very different—and yet who are united in love and friendship. These relationships have enriched the lives of everyone involved precisely because they represent diverse unity. The Umoja Project is a gift of the Spirit to all of those involved, and it is a richer gift for involving so many different kinds of people.

Both Doris' banner and the Umoja Project are illustrations right here in our midst of how the Spirit creates unity in diversity as the source of both. In Acts chapter 2, we read about "divided tongues, as of fire" resting on each person (Acts 2:3), but “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4), the same Spirit. God's image dwells in each of us in astounding, glorious variety. We must learn to recognize the image of one God in many people.

Spirit, open out our hearts to you
Spirit, make our sweet communion true
Give us strength to overcome
All the bound’ries in place
Open us to see God’s image on each face

Earlier in the service, the choir sang an anthem called "Hymn of Fire." You can find the text in your bulletin. I am particularly struck by these lines:

"By thy sharpened word disturb us, from complacency, release!
Save us from our satisfaction when we person’lly are free yet are undisturbed in spirit by our brother’s misery!" (Eugene Butler)

Most of us probably would not immediately associate the word "disturb" with the work of the Holy Spirit. In fact, it sounds like the opposite of one of the Greek names for the Spirit—parakletos, which means "comforter." But the Spirit's fire is not intended to give an individual a warm, fuzzy feeling. Because we are unified in love, whatever comfort we may find in our own lives can never be complete while another child of God suffers. 1 Corinthians 12:26 says, "If one member suffers, all suffer together with it." The Spirit makes us all members of one body, Christ's body; and we the body of Christ suffer wherever one member encounters injustice, oppression, poverty or evil of any kind.

The Spirit empowers us to speak up against that suffering. This is almost guaranteed to cause us discomfort, because in this world, where there is suffering, there is almost always someone else benefitting from that suffering. The gift of the Spirit is not always easy to accept, because it may put us in opposition to earthly power. Throughout the Bible, from the Old Testament prophets to Jesus to the disciples, there is a pattern: the Spirit descends on a person, empowers him or her to participate in God's mission, and that person immediately gets into trouble. The ancient prophets were not well-liked. When Isaiah declared, "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me...he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners," his listeners probably did not cheer. The oppressed have oppressors. The captives have captors. The Spirit calls us to be brave, to speak prophetically into a broken world, knowing that there is a cost, knowing that in order to receive the Spirit's comfort, we may first have to experience discomfort.

In his book The Ragamuffin Gospel, Brennan Manning points out that Jesus is constantly found sharing meals with unlikely people, often scandalizing the well-to-do in the community. Manning says that we may not grasp the full significance of this today, but in ancient Israel, an invitation to share a meal was an invitation to deep friendship, particularly if it involved inviting someone into your home. Food is an important aspect of our life as a faith community. There are plenty of jokes out there about Methodists and potluck dinners. But if we are all one body in the Spirit, we cannot limit meal fellowship to people we know or like. True meal sharing happens when a volunteer at Bread 'n' Bowl, the food ministry here at North, steps out from behind the table to sit and eat and form friendships. Proverbs 22:9 says, "Those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with the poor." I am inclined to read it this way: "Those who are generous are blessed because they share their bread with the poor, in their sharing of their bread with the poor"—a sharing I envision as mutual, at a common table. Martin Luther said that we are all mere beggars telling other beggars where to find bread. Wherever there is sharing across boundaries of culture, race, economic or other social status, the Spirit is doing her awkward but redemptive work of comfort.

Yes, the Spirit is a comforter. She is the comforter. But God's definition of comfort may not always be the same as our definition of comfort. One individual's comfort is conditioned by the comfort and justice offered to others. Again, 1 Corinthians 12:26 says, "Where one member suffers, all suffer together with it," but then it goes on: "if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it." Our comfort is found not in personal good feelings but in the restoration of the whole body, and we are called to participate in that healing. The Spirit comes down as fire to burn away our complacency and our apathy. Have you ever heard the saying about "afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted?" It was originally said about journalism, but I think it also applies to the Holy Spirit. She "afflicts the comfortable and comforts the afflicted." If we are too comfortable in our faith, we can expect to be disturbed and made uncomfortable by the Spirit. But on the other hand, if we find ourselves afflicted and in distress, just as surely we can count on the comforting presence of that same Spirit.

Spirit, comfort us in suffering
Spirit, to the body help us cling
Make us see upon the cross
Christ whose wounds are the balm
Hold us safe within the Savior’s nail-scarred palm

Now, let's go back to this notion of gift. Several years ago, my dad introduced to our family a tradition that he refers to as a "hobbit birthday." If you don't know what a hobbit is, let me explain: hobbits are found in the fictional realm known as Middle Earth. This is the setting of J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. Hobbits are essentially very small people with pointy ears and really hairy feet.

But that's beside the point. You see, hobbits do something interesting on their birthdays: they give gifts to other hobbits. So now, on his birthday, my dad gives my mother and each of us kids a present—for his birthday.

Maybe the church could learn a lesson from hobbits about birthdays. What kind of gift might we the church be able to give to others for our birthday? What do we have to give? Well, we already have the ultimate birthday gift. We have the Spirit.

The Spirit has been moving throughout God's salvation history, empowering her people for worship and mission. Today we are invited to participate, to take part, to live into the Spirit's continuing story. Bryan Stone says that learning to be a Christian "is not just learning about a story; it is learning to live into a story” (Evangelism After Christendom, Brazos 2007). When we witness to the work of the Spirit, we are pointing out the ways in which the reign of God is already here. We point to something beyond ourselves and yet find ourselves caught up in it. As we are caught up in the life of the Spirit, we want to draw others in with us and show them what has ignited our hearts. We have the ultimate gift to give as a church. What's more, the Spirit doesn't need any help from us to dazzle the world. We are called to be the kindling for the Spirit's fire. John Wesley said, "Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn."

Spirit, prophet and redeeming one
Spirit, with the Father and the Son
Let us live into your love
As partakers of God
Help us witness to your glory shed abroad

Holy Spirit, let us live into your love. Would that all your people were prophets, and that you would put your spirit on us! Make us witnesses eager to share the gift of yourself that you pour out on us. Amen.

Finding True North #15: Youth Sunday @ NUMC // Lyceum @ LCUMC

Yesterday, I took communion three times. Maybe that's gluttony, but in my mind it made up for the fact that I'm pretty sure the last time I had Eucharist was May 10, during field ed orientation.

My second Sunday in Indianapolis involved three worship services—two at NUMC and my first at LCUMC. I got to be in the congregation for the two NUMC services because it was Youth Sunday.

Youth Sunday was excellent. I was curious to see how it would go because I've seen some pretty awful Youth Sundays in my time. But the NUMC youth did a great job. They used the theme "Stranger or neighbor?", from a Lenten retreat they did recently, to frame the service, and explored what it means to recognize one another as neighbors. The youth group here is diverse (in many ways) and missionally driven. Two graduating (or recently graduated) seniors told their faith stories, each of which was compelling, though both were different from the other and demonstrated the breadth and depth of the experience of a youth at this church. The service was convicting. The youth even took the opportunity to publish a letter in the bulletin expressing a call to the church to support full inclusion for the GLBT community, using the youth group's mission statement to frame it: "North United Methodist Church Youth Ministry seeks to learn, serve, and celebrate God's awesome love with EVERYONE!" This was not a normal Sunday service with youth plugged in at random; through liturgy, Scripture and music, the youth got to tell their stories of faith, even participating in the Great Thanksgiving. It was great to be there.

Then, yesterday evening, I participated in my first service at Lockerbie Central UMC. This week, they started what they're calling "Lyceum," changing the format of Sunday evenings to include 25-30 minutes of worship and then a time of presentation/discussing with various speakers coming in over the course of the summer. Last night, the speaker was...me. Well, Brenda and me. Anyway, first was worship, and I ended up bringing my guitar and playing along with Kari, a member who is cool in general but also plays piano, so, bonus points. We did a song I hadn't heard before called "Here Is Love" (that's the normal AKA lame version, but I found it in Welsh too!!). It's pretty, and it worked well with Kari on piano and me on guitar. We also did two Taizé chants, and in between were prayers, Scripture and a brief reflection on the Word. Then we moved into communion, and I (sort of) assisted. It was awesome! I mean, I just broke the bread and lifted the cup when Brenda got to that part, but I'd never participated in that beyond leading musical responses to the Great Thanksgiving or serving communion. So that was neat.

After worship, we migrated downstairs to the cafe. Brenda and I gave a brief presentation about "Approaching the Bible in the 21st Century." Because I'm me, I had put dibs on talking about the Old Testament, so I had composed a list of things I think are important to keep in mind when thinking about the Old Testament. You can look at that here if you care/are looking for ideas on ways to start a basic conversation about the Bible/want to judge me. :) We opened the space up for conversation, which was pretty interesting, though there were several people I wished had spoken up. We'll keep working on the format to encourage discussion while keeping things on track, but I thought it went well.

I'm excited to continue to help out at LCUMC and to get to know the congregation better. That will be a place where Brenda and I will get to sort of try things out, and hopefully I'll get to do more music there as well.

Also, I have an in/out button at NUMC, and it makes me feel really cool.

Finding True North #14: A Busy Week (or so) Ahead

In the past few days, I've realized the next week and a half is going to be a little crazy. Here's my upcoming schedule, as much for my sake as for your perusal:

• June 5 (today): Youth Sunday @ NUMC in the morning; helping lead worship and discussion @ LCUMC in the evening.
• June 6-8: Leading morning prayers @ NUMC (which also means leading devotion at Tuesday staff meeting).
• June 6: Three meetings back-to-back in the morning/midday—senior staff, Earth House staff, weekly meeting with Kevin (my pastor/supervisor). Then Inclusiveness Task Force meeting in the evening.
• June 7: Practicing my Pentecost sermon for whoever will listen after staff meeting.
• June 8-10: Indiana Annual Conference—hanging out with Marcia McFee. :)
• June 11: Megan Shelton's (friend from undergrad) wedding in Southern Indiana.
• June 12: Pentecost—I'm preaching. Then LCUMC in the evening.
  
• June 13-15: Party in the Park, a big, three-day community event held at NUMC.

There are probably some other meetings in there somewhere, but I don't have my calendar in front of me. (Anyone know how to access Outlook remotely?) So, yeah! Busy week. I should work on my sermon some more and figure out what we're doing for morning prayers (and probably find a sub for Thursday...)

Finding True North #13: Earth House/Lockerbie Central UMC

Earth House Cafe from Craftedspoon on Vimeo.

Welcome to Earth House. I had a meeting here this morning and decided to stick around for a while and hang out. This is going to be my go-to place to chill this summer.


Here's a little bit about Earth House from their website (bold text is my emphasis):

At Earth House we support the arts, promote healthy living, and encourage sustainability by collaborating with local organizations and artists to cultivate community in action. Housed in the historic Lockerbie Central UMC building, the Earth House experience includes all-ages concerts, films, performance arts, classes, social forums, volunteer events and Indiana's only 100% fair trade/organic coffee shop. We believe that creating a healthy, sustainable community begins with you.

This place is cool. I mean, you can see that clearly in the video. Plus, I had mango black bean pizza for lunch. And there is currently a beautiful exhibit called "Windows and Mirrors," a reflection on the war in Afghanistan, on display here. It's pretty incredible.

Let me back up. Earth House occupies the building of Lockerbie Central United Methodist Church, a downtown church that was the result of a merger between two dying Methodist churches. Attempts by young people to revitalize the church led organically to the emergence of Earth House, which is now its own entity, though the church is connected with its programming and hopes to make that connection more of an emphasis. Brenda, the Pastor of Discipleship and Formation at North (one of my summer supervisors), is the volunteer pastor here. She is full-time at North, but she is also appointed as the pastor here, through some strange arrangement that the conference and NUMC are just sort of allowing to happen because it works. LCUMC meets on Sunday evenings and follows an emergent worship style, though for the summer they plan to switch things up a bit to create more space for community discussion. Hence, I'm helping to lead a conversation about the Bible this Sunday. As in, 2 days from now.

Earth House is constantly holding all kinds of events. It is the only 100% fair trade, organic coffee shop in Indiana. It is the largest all-ages music venue in Indianapolis. They are located at a unique spot in the city, sort of at the intersection of several demographics. This is one of the few church-related places where a Jewish youth center feels comfortable holding events. In the past 2 years, more than 100,000 people have come through here. Jordan Updike, the executive director of Earth House, says he hopes this is filling a deep need he perceives for artistic space for his generation (which is also my generation...what are we, Gen Y??).

The meeting I attended today involved several people from Lockerbie Central/Earth House as well as a group from The Garden, the non-traditional worship community that is connected with St. Luke's UMC here in Indianapolis. I don't know enough about The Garden to speak too much to what they do, but it sounds pretty interesting and I intend to learn more. Anyway, this group of people was exploring the possibility of The Garden starting a service at LCUMC on Sunday morning, the only time when there isn't already programming happening in this building. As Brenda explained it, there is a sort of gap in terms of the church having a theological voice and providing non-threatening opportunities for people to enter into those kinds of conversations, and The Garden could be a helpful third entity in tying things together at the location.

It was really interesting to eavesdrop on the conversation for many reasons. These groups are not doing your typical church stuff. You know how I always laugh when people tell me that Duke is too liberal? Those people have no idea what's out there. And, as it turns out, what's out there is pretty awesome.

Part of what interests me most in talking about Earth House/LCUMC/The Garden is the high level of suspicion of evangelism. (I'm right there with them.) I've been doing all this reading about evangelism in a post-modern America, and here is a church (LCUMC) that is seeking to welcome the neighboring community without tricking them or pressuring them to conform. Last summer, I played a show at a youth-oriented coffeeshop that was totally awesome except for one thing: in order to get in, you had to either pay $2 or have a 5-minute conversation with one of the adult volunteers, and the goal of every one of those conversations was to squeeze a conversion out of some teen who just wanted to play pool. I was, how do you say...uncomfortable. That is not what Earth House/LCUMC is going for, and I am very much interested in it. One thing that several LCUMC people talked about in the meeting was that they have adopted, over against traditional evangelism, is an emphasis on a ministry of presence. Several time, people mentioned that they don't have to go find people to tell about the church; through programming at Earth House, people ask them all the time. In articulating the vision of Lockerbie Central, one person (maybe Jordan, I'm forgetting now) said that there are sort of two sides to their mission: Micah 6:8 (act justly, love mercy, walk humbly) and the idea of sanctuary, of creating a safe space. Part of that involves not handing out tracts or making people feel like the price of being in the building is conforming. But there is witness happening here, simply by how the community's needs are being met, both in ways they might want and in way they might not expect.

I'll be thinking about this question of witness a lot this summer as I work on this directed study on evangelism. I will probably write my main paper on this class in part as a field study on Earth House/LCUMC (and possibly NUMC if I get involved in their conversations around hospitality). What I'm learning in all my reading so far is that there is a lot involved in the question of how to understand and approach evangelism, so there is much to explore...and that's kind of exciting.

(Sorry, I just love this blog Hyperbole and a Half, which is where that picture came from.)

Finding True North #12: Bread 'n' Bowl, Farmer's Market, Meetings and Choir

Barbara (my host) offered to make me a sandwich today before I left for work, which I really appreciated but was able to turn down gladly because I had cool lunch plans. On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, North hosts Bread 'n' Bowl, a soup kitchen open to the community. Kevin took the Kenya interns and me out to lunch on Tuesday, so today was my first opportunity to check it out. I showed up a few minutes before they opened the doors and was immediately put to work. They serve a meal and let people take bags of soup and bread with them, so for the first little while I was in charge of keeping the desserts and soup bags stocked on the tables. Once the 11:00 rush subsided, I got a plate and sat down with some people. I got to talk to Charles, an older gentleman (he's 89) who was very nice and has been coming to Bread 'n' Bowl for a long time. I also met a few other people, including Mike, who kept telling me how pretty I was, though not in a way in which I felt threatened at all (though there is almost certainly a MUCH longer post coming eventually on that topic (being a pretty woman in ministry)). I found the group really friendly and plan to come to Bread 'n' Bowl as often as I can while I'm here.

I worked on writing the call to worship and prayer for illumination for June 12 and did some other work after that, plus a few extra things like reading about North's architecture and stained glass. I ran some errands and proved that even in a city laid out on a grid, I can get lost. One of my errands involved getting a padfolio. My friend Emily Knight (one of three red-headed Emilys in the Div School) had shown off hers right before I came to Indy, and I decided I needed something to make me feel grownup, especially since I've been bringing my backpack to work. (It worked, by the way.) I also found the youth room in a very successful hunt for a comfy place to lie down and read for an hour before the Farmer's Market, which started up this afternoon. I got there right as it opened, pet a puppy Great Pyrenees, and bought a quart of delicious strawberries (there is approximately 1/2 qt. left).

I ran back to the house briefly to get some food and change, and when I came in the door, Barbara was standing in the hallway looking at my sheepishly. "I'm going to buy you a new pair of shoes," she said in an apologetic tone. "Why is that?" I asked. Apparently Sadie isn't a big chewer but will occasionally get into shoes, and I've been intentionally keeping my doors closed when I'm gone, but today there was a guy here cleaning the windows, and my bedroom door got left open. Barbara discovered one of my shoes in the living room, its wooden heel gnawed on the end. Fortunately, I was already planning to throw that particular pair of shoes away, so it wasn't a big deal. It was just funny to see her apologize for something that wasn't a big deal.

And so back I went to church to the Board of Directors meeting. This was interesting. They went over some finances and checked in on a few issues I'll get to hear more about later (i.e. there are 2 task forces, one on inclusiveness and one dealing with some property the church has acquired, that are having meetings soon to which I am invited), but then we started talking about the new website that is under construction. Apparently a tech task force had been assigned the task of approving the design, but communication wasn't what it should have been (ironically) and now there is the possibility of backtracking on some of the work that the design firm has done. Being moderately interested in web design myself, I had some opinions about the two designs they showed us, but I chose just to listen (I'm patting myself on the back right now, FYI). It was interesting to think about the power dynamics between a governing body of the church and a specifically formed task force, plus to hear a little discussion about the website, the church logo, etc. Again, there will be another meeting in the future devoted to talking about that more fully, and I let them know I'd be interested in attending.

By the time the meeting was over, I was late to choir practice, but I went anyway. I'm singing a solo in church on June 19, and I had not anticipated having to sing it tonight, but they were working on the piece, so...yeah, I was so hoping to impress Mark and Martin with my mellifluous voice and how perfectly it sat in this song, but that is not how it went, ha. But that's OK; it's a beautiful piece, and the choir was enthusiastic about welcoming and encouraging me. Rehearsal was fun, and we sang some good music, including a movement from Mozart's Mass in C Minor. Plus I got to sing along with one of the pieces they'll be offering on June 12 (Pentecost), when I'm preaching, and the text is fabulous; I'll probably be working it into my sermon now.

Side note: pretty much every situation I've been in so far at this church has had an atmosphere of joy and comfort that I just don't always (or even often) find in places, especially when I'm new and nervous. The hospitality and community here is amazing, and I'm so glad to be a part of it.

And now it is 10:00 p.m., and I am home and ready to fall into bed. Tomorrow is technically my day off, though I do have one meeting (but a cool one—more on that tomorrow!), and Barbara and I are meeting her daughter and granddaughter for sushi dinner. I also have plans to take the Monon trail south tomorrow morning (assuming I get up at a decent hour). Hooray Friday.