First (Solo) Sunday at GUC

Panoramic view after church

On my first Sunday in "full command"* I preached the morning service at 9:00am, joined with the saints of the church for coffee, tea, and biscuits afterwards, and helped lead the evening service at which we had people from the local YWAM (Youth with a Mission) come and speak about the work they are doing globally. It continues to be a blessing to be a part of the leadership of Gerringong Uniting Church. They are a mission minded community and very caring. They even had a cupcake for Davis' birthday and sang Happy Birthday to him Sunday night. The music was wonderful all day long. It is a small congregation but a very singing congregation. Half of the congregation in the morning is in the choir.

The last couple of days have provided much wind and rain, which was much needed in the farming areas of the community. People here are grateful. And we are grateful.

Below is a link to the sermon I preached that morning. At the very end, you can hear a member of the congregation saying, "Nice job." It was humbling and gracious.

Tomorrow I will help teach Bible at the local elementary school, help lead a night study for kids, and work on sermon/bulletin stuff for Sunday and Sunday evening. Today is Davis' birthday so we will go get pizza, bring home his cake, and celebrate his 3rd birthday down under.

Sermon, Lost and Found, Luke 15:1-10

*It should be noted that I am seldom in full command. There is a dynamic lay leadership team here which allows me to participate in the already excellent ministries of the church. It is definitely a team effort.

On our own

Today, the Chapmans began their leg of the voyage. We moved into their lovely home and it is quiet. We've spent almost all of our time with them the last few days here in their house. Now, it is quiet. We are praying for safe travel for our new friends.

Today began my first day with Peter's responsibilities. I began by helping lead Bible class at the public elementary school in Gerringong. 

Technical difficulties followed me as my computer projected everything in a blue-ish tent. After some administrative work and our first trip to the grocery store (American mustard costs $3.50) I was off to BiG: Boys in Gerringong. 

They meet every Wednesday night school is in session from 6:30-8pm. They play games, have a speaker, pray, do an activity, then play until 8. It's a lot of fun. From kindergarten to 4th grade (year 4). 

For those of you wondering, they do have GiG (Girls in Gerringong) which meets at the same time. 

Thoughts are with all those who travel today and everyday, by land, sea, or air and all of our friends back home. 

We're Here

Actually, we've been here a while. Still trying to sort out phones and wifi. Just finished a lunch meeting with the church leadership. A picnic table became a prayer table became a business table.

It was a blessed experience while we sat and talked and Davis ran around the back yard. 

We are safe, well rested, and well cared for. More to come later but for now, we continue to be grateful to our family, our PRUMC family and our new Gerringong Uniting Church family. 

First leg of the trip

Just arrived in LAX. 5 hour trip. We have begun a long, exciting journey. We are filled with gratitude to so many people right now. More to come later. 

Oh, it's an hour past someone's bedtime right now 

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