The Over-organized Pastor
What does a congregation get when it has a highly intelligent, wonderfully attractive, superbly witty, and overly organized pastor? I’ll tell you what you get: the wrong dates on your Calender Of Events. Apparently, on the calendar of events at the Village, it says that the Drumming Circle is on 6/9, which happens to be a Thursday of a week when the Drumming Circle isn’t even happening. The actual date is June 17, 2011. Please make a note on your Calendar of Events or pick up a new, updated version this Sunday.
The Church-wide Camping Trip
The Village Community will head up Mt. Lemmon on July 15-17 to kick it in tents, cook over fires, hunt snipes, and forage in the wild. Pastor James is in charge of this trip and will tell you what you need to do, bring, etc. Please mark the dates in your calendar and wait with baited breath (whatever that means) for the brilliant words of James and his masterful organization, maximization, and administration of said trip.
Summer Arts
Over the history of the Village, we have found a voice through our creative expressions. A voice for our pain, struggles, and joy. During the past two years, much of our creative energy has gone into creating a beautiful home in which to worship God and live life together. It is now time for our community to take this creative energy and focus it on the expression of relationship with God and our life in this broken world as we experience deep loss and celebrate what God is doing in our midst. This summer, we have set aside three Saturdays to begin the practice of this process and to encourage people to step back into artistic work. I’m really excited about what’s going to happen on these Saturdays. People will be doing collaborative painting, choral groups will form to sing new renditions of Village music and to back up bands, kids will learn new art techniques, there will be song-writing and dancing, cooking and taste-testing. The purpose behind all of this is two-fold: 1) We believe that God shows up in unique ways when we are authentically creative; 2) We are excited to offer the fruit of all this preparation to our friends and to each other at the open house in September.
Open House Festival
When I was a kid, my mother and father loved to open their house to people. We had lots of parties, and there was always somebody over for dinner. As I’ve grown older and have opened my own home in similar ways, I’ve discovered that hospitality is the primary way that the gospel goes forward. With that in mind, on September 24, the Village will invite friends and community to enjoy what it has to offer in art, food, song, dance, and conversation. For this event to be successful, we need your participation. We need you to be present at Art Days and active in the groups you’ve signed up for as e-mails go out and teams make decisions.
Our Financial Situation
In the last few sermons, you have heard mention of the financial struggles of the Village and the changes this will bring to our pastoral structure. The reality is this: over the past year, James’ fundraising has dwindled and the fundraising that Rod and I have done has slowly tapered off. The Village had a little savings, which has helped us to pay Rod and supplement James’ income over the past six months. Things have become increasingly tight financially, and we as elders have been praying and talking about what God is calling us to next. God has provided a variety of options which we are prayerfully considering. We don’t mean to be secretive, but not all of these options have developed fully. We feel that it would be premature to talk about the possibilities at this point in the process. Please pray for us, that God would give us wisdom and understanding as we attempt to follow Him as He leads the Village forward into its second decade.
Drumming Circle
If somehow you missed the date correction, the Drumming Circle is happening on June 17. At the Village, the Drumming Circle is simply the gathering of our core community. We may bang on drums and make decisions on occasion, but this gathering has developed over the years into a specific time of advanced teaching where the elders can disciple the community in the larger purposes God has for the Village. This year’s first Drumming Circle was focused on prayer, and particularly on praying for our friends who do not yet know Jesus. A few days ago, I picked up the little card that was handed out at that Drumming Circle, designed to help us pray for our friends. I was amazed at how cool it was and how challenging it was to me. I’m excited about putting some of the teachings from that Drumming Circle, which I have neglected, into practice. This second Drumming Circle will be about Engaging. How do we go about engaging our friends who don’t know Jesus? In particular, I will review the six rhythms of engagement that we discussed at the end of last year. This Drumming Circle will also be a launching point for what we will do loosely this summer as a larger community and in more focused ways in Pilgrim Groups this fall. I need a little bit of help with this. I want as many of you as possible to come to the next Drumming Circle. I realize that one of the main obstacles to many of you is childcare. I do not have much access to childcare resources or a clear vision for resolving this issue. If you have any ideas or creative solutions, please talk to me about them! |
