Exchange

In 2011, Leslie and I applied for a Ministerial Exchange program. I heard about it from several of my dad's colleagues who did exchanges in England, Ireland, or Scotland. We did not get selected for those countries in 2012. However, we did get a phone call in October of 2012 saying that we had been selected to exchange with a minister in Australia.

Hold up. Australia? Where in Australia? Isn't it 85% arid desert? Tell me more please.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. Once you are selected, they will tell you the country, but no other details to avoid people being picky and choosy about where they go.

So are you in, yes or no?

Yes!

Fast forward a year and we are less than a month away from leaving Atlanta, GA for 3 months and going to Gerringong, New South Wales, Australia. I will be serving Gerringong United Church, a community church of around 300 people.

(Gerringong Uniting Church)

We fly out on September 4th and arrive on September 6th. We do not exist for a day. Who said time travel wasn't possible?

Peter Chapman is the exchange minister and we have had several chances to Skype over the past year or so. Peter and his wife Carlie have four children. We feel very comfortable with them, like we've known them all our lives.

And that's a good thing, considering that we will be exchanging everything but the clothes off our backs. They will be driving our cars and we will be driving theirs. They will be living in our house and we in theirs. They will be looking at the pictures of friends and family that we have in our house and we will be looking at theirs.

It will be culture shock for both of us as we go to a town of 4000 people and they come to a church of 7000+ members.

(Peachtree Road United Methodist Church)

But we both celebrate the fact that we serve God's church in our various locations. We celebrate the fact that we have been chosen. We celebrate the fact that we have the opportunity to share this experience with our wonderful congregations as it makes us better pastors and better people.

You can follow Peter and his family here at their blog: http://gerringongtoatlanta.wordpress.com/.

We look forward to sharing our experience with friends and family and if you want to come visit us, we are two hours south of Sydney.

Celebration of Freedom

             Our two and a half year old son loves to walk by the edge of Peachtree Road. So we usually walk the dogs along Peachtree Road and he can see cars, ambulances, motorcycles, fire trucks, and various other cars. Recently, he has found a fascination running in between the ribbons that our church displays as a part of our Prayers for Peace display. It is sacred ground, where each yellow ribbon carries the name of a soldier who has died in service to the country in the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. The blue ribbons represent the civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. The green ribbons represent those who pray for peace in their own lives.

            At first, we were trying to discourage this behavior—this running in and out of ribbons. Then we realized, instead of trying to teach a 2 ½ year old about appropriate behavior, we would take the time to look at the names on the ribbons that he was running through and offer a quick prayer for the families involved. Instead of making about our son's behavior, we made it an issue of what can we do to pray for peace.

            It’s easy to identify the problem. It’s tempting to even fix the problem ourselves. It is much different to express gratitude instead of complain. In that moment, we decided to choose to be grateful. To me, that is what the celebration of freedom Sunday at PRUMC is all about—being grateful.

We choose to be grateful for this country, for those who have given their lives to build it, to keep it free, and to sustain it in its time of need.

The challenge that each one of us is faced with is the question of what we will do with this freedom? Will we stand on the side and complain, criticize, and correct or will we be a part of something bigger than each one of us?

            There will come a day in which we teach our son the respect due for those names of people he will never know which he runs through, but for now, we remain ever grateful for the freedom that allows a two year old to run in a field of yellow, blue, and green ribbons.

Singing Stories of Faith

I have always been a music fan. I attach myself to the words because the words tell a story. Couple that with the experience of listening to music, wanting to play it, (wanting to write it), wanting to perform it, I have put together a lesson based upon some of my favorite songs.

These are not just my favorite songs, but they tell a story. The hold a sense of truth. They tell our story.

The recording is crude. There are several tuning and singing mistakes. Hopefully, however, the message is helpful in thinking through the ways in which our faith and the language of our faith tells a story out in the world. The link to the file to download is below. Many thank to Eric Johnson who backed me up on guitars and vocals. He is a better musician than I am.

Singing and Stories of Faith

The Religious Experience

Dedication, photo by Taylor Brown

This past weekend, I spent time in the rain at a music festival. It wasn't my first. It won't be my last. I was there to see several bands play throughout the day, but I was most looking forward to seeing Jim James take the stage. He did not disappoint. Even though we were soaking wet, our shoes and pants were muddy, and we had been standing for hours, it was a religious experience.

I do not mean necessarily that I went to Shaky Knees music festival to seek the face of God, but I think that for the majority of the people there, they had a religious experience.

You give yourself over to the music, the rain, the mud, the crowds, the shouting, the yelling, the singing, and all of a sudden you've joined into a group that is moving together and seeking to experience the same thing.

That is similar to what worship is. Worship is about giving yourself over to something greater than yourself. You bring yourself to worship, or to the concert, and you leave having experienced something.

The big difference is that Christians believe that worship is more than an experience. It is something that shapes us. Being in community shapes us, forms us, and informs us of the world around us. You still feel, you still experience, you still give yourself over to a higher power. But you expect to be more than entertained.

Too often, we describe what we like in church or what we dislike in church in terms of what we felt. We would do better to describe what we like in church with the question, "How did this draw me closer to God?" or "Did this change my relationship with other people?"

Music festivals only come around every so often. It was good to be with friends from high school who I do not see but once or twice a year. That made it special. The mud made it special. The music made it special.

Church is always there. We will not always worship at the festival (the ancient Israelites didn't). We do not spend our married lives on the Honeymoon. We will always live in the real world. Religious experiences are worth seeking out. If they don't change us, then it has been self-serving.

My religious experience was at the festival with friends. It changed me to be a better friend and to continue to be in relationship with others.

The real religious experience for me came as my friends walked into the chapel where I was preaching to hear me and support me. That changed me. I will always be grateful for the weekend of religious experiences.

Rest

Because of the generosity of friends, we are able to take a week away from the city. This is nice. We are grateful.

Calming beauty

I've always been a soccer fan. Got up a little early this morning to do laundry and Fulham v Stoke City is on. Don't particularly know the players or have a stake in either team.

But what is always great to see is the way in which players create space. The ball is often played backwards which doesn't make a lot of sense in a fast paced sports world. That's how you create space. You don't always look or move forward. Sometimes you play is backwards. Using the whole field and having a vision for where the ball could go allows the players to put the ball where it should go, in the back of the net.

Just because you're moving forward, doesn't mean you're advancing.

Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here; He is Risen! (Luke 24:5-6)