5 Star Doorknob Friday

Some years ago when we lived in Charleston and when my 3 sons were small and their stomachs smaller, we would celebrate what I called "5 star Doorknob Friday." To the boys, it was "5 star Doughnut Friday"; they were correct, of course, for it was the school day when we dropped by Krispy-Kreme Doughnuts on the way to school. There was a certain criteria for this: getting up and going to school with no hassles from Monday through Thursday. My oldest two went with me as I took them to elementary school. On the way there, I would kid them about the "chocolate covered doorknobs" and the cream filled doorknobs they used when they took the lock out. The boys corrected me time and again, but the silliness continued. It became an "event," a time to be with Dad and for me to be with the boys.

Fast forward to 2007 in Rock Hill, SC. After a year or two off, the 5 star doorknob Friday tradition is back. We took the time away for two reasons---no Krispy Kreme Doughnut place in Rock Hill (Krispy Kreme vs. Dunkin' Donuts is a great debate for many people) and the doughnut place was not on the way to the school as in Charleston. My youngest son (who missed most of the fun at the Charleston Krispy Kreme since he was in pre-school at the time) is now in 5th grade; he and I carry on the 5 star doorknob tradition each Friday now. The other two boys could go, but they opt for more sleep time and dad bringing home the sugary treats home for when they get up (oh, I pity the teachers on Fridays!). The youngest and I sit in the Dunkin Donuts at 630am on Fridays talking about his new safety patrol assignment or Harry Potter or whatever else is on his mind. We laugh and plan and imagine and sing songs together--- this morning, we alternated between James Brown's "Living in America" with Weird Al's "Living with a Hernia."

I guess it could be bagels or Waffle House or anything really. But the important thing is the time together. I can remember time with my dad fishing on the lakes of Santee Cooper and going to Furman football games. Catching a fish was nice, winning the game was good, too. But the time together with my dad was even better. I guess when the youngest moves to middle school next year we will look for other traditions and occasions to be together... to laugh and talk or be silly...to be fully present with one another...and find moments of special memory for the life ahead.

Peace,
Joseph

We Would See Jesus

Sunday night through this morning, I spent time selecting scriptures and doing some preliminary work on the sermons I will deliver from the first Sunday of December through the end of May. I went to Spartanburg and stayed at a hotel there. I took what seems like every commentary I own plus enough legal pads to make a paper trail between Rock Hill and Spartanburg. What usually happens is that I sequester myself in the room, and work as long as I want until I need a break.

This time, I bought food to eat lunch in the room and used the hotel's free breakfast and dinner at other times. I didn't need to leave the quiet of the room for much. That worked well. But by Tuesday morning, I needed a change of scenery. I decided I would go to the hotel lobby and work there for an hour or so. I grabbed a couple of commentaries, legal pads and a bible and walked to the hotel lobby.

That time of day the hotel lobby was being cleaned, but as a father of three boys, I am accustomed to working with some distractions. As it turned out, I was working on the Emmaus passage for next March or April. I poured over the commentaries and pondered and reflected on a theme or two for that passage. All of a sudden one of the ladies cleaning the lobby area, starting singing. She had not seen me or what I was doing, and she sang the chorus of several Gospel hymns, and then, a verse from "We Would See Jesus." It was beautiful singing, fit for any church choir. I listened as she proclaimed the Word in her own way.

I pondered what she sang and what I was studying: the road to Emmaus, the disciples forlorn and searching and "We would See Jesus"--- hmmmmmmm. Sometimes the Spirit comes to us in the breaking of the bread, the sharing of the Word, and the singing of the chorus. In that holy ground moment in a hotel in Spartanburg, it was nice to remember that life comes to the Word as certainly as the Word comes to life.

Peace,
Joseph

A Week to Remember, part 2

The fullback (who played left guard this week) and I just got back from watching Wofford defeat Appalachian State, 42-31. Appalachian is ranked number 1 in the country for FCS football this week and this was a great win for the terriers as they begin Southern Conference play.

This week I am going on a sermon retreat for a couple of days starting tomorrow afternoon. I'll be back Wednesday.

Peace and first down Wofford,
Joseph

A Week to Remember

A few years ago, Malcolm Gladwell wrote a great book (pictured right). I have been thinking about that book in light of this week at India Hook. This week the trustees met on Tuesday, the special charge conference was Wednesday, and the staff parish relations committee met on Thursday ( it was a busy week!).

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the groups dealt with the property issues that I wrote about earlier. Last night, the SPRC made the first tentative steps in hiring a program director for the church. It is the only the beginning of a process that will take a couple of months, but it was an exciting start.

Gladwell writes of the moments and events that mark the change in a system or process. With this week's decisions, India Hook is nearing the tipping point (if we aren't already there) toward being a church that responds to the growing community around the church. I think what I saw in these meetings is people responding not to letting fear of change, expense or conflict stop them from doing what is needed. That response is not always present in churches these days. Of course, there may be points ahead where we are tempted to settle or turn back. My hope is that these actions will lead us toward a bright future for the ministry of Christ Jesus through the people of India Hook UMC.

Transforming Heritage

At a called charge conference tonight, the leaders of India Hook UMC approved a plan to convey a small section of property plus some rights of way for the new highway widening project. This project is needed in order to make access to the new India Hook Elementary School as safe as possible. The state offered the church $11,000 for this transaction. Although the money will help fund a new toddler playground and nursery renovations at the church, we will lose several trees in the process, including one of our "heritage trees" next to the sanctuary.

We call this special tree a heritage tree because it was planted by "Miss Sherwood" shortly after this sanctuary was built in the early 1980s. Sherwood is in her 90s now and has been on the roll of India Hook since the early 1910s. She kept the church going during the difficult years of the Depression and World War II by visiting members on horseback. When she planted that tree, she hoped that it would shade the building on sunny Sunday mornings for several decades to come. Miss Sherwood and her tree have been connection to the church's past even as India Hook looked to the future.

Now that 50 foot water oak planted by Sherwood will come down. That heritage tree has seen its last spring day. But that is not the end of the story. The people of India Hook UMC have decided to work with the highway department to take the heritage tree down gently, and transport it to a saw mill and then to a woodworker. With the wood from Miss Sherwood's heritage tree, a 10ft by 5ft cross will be built. The church plans on hanging the cross from the rafters in the window above the pulpit. In a beautiful sanctuary, this suspended cross will become central to that worship space.

As I consider this ongoing journey of the heritage oak that will become a cross, the deep and descriptive word "redemption" comes to mind. There are plenty of times that we see a relationship, a job, or a way of life as a loss or at an end. We see and focus on the failure, the finality of that which stares us in the face. Surely, the disciples saw that as Christ hung on His Cross. But God had something else in mind; death, loss, failure were not the final words of Christ's ministry. God had a new beginning in mind for humanity through the Resurrection of Christ.

Maybe in the transforming heritage of Miss Sherwood's tree there is a reminder of what God can still do with our broken relationships, our desperate lives, and this hurting world. May India Hook live out Sherwood's hope and God's vision as we remind the community around us that redemption continues one moment and one life at a time.

Peace,
Joseph

Sometimes a cupcake acts like a cupcake and the seasons do still change

After an evening of listening to the radio feed of the Wofford game via the internet last night, I still have my religion. I listened as Wofford lost to the Wolfpack, 38-17. Wofford made some silly mistakes with ball control and penalties, but NC State was indeed a little much for the puppies. Oh well, we back to the world of I-AA or FCS (as it is now called). The check for $250,000 that Wofford got for playing will help the program.

This morning I went to lead the Lakeside service down at Ebenezer Park on Lake Wylie. There was a definite chill in the air; I decided to go back and get a light jacket. It's hard to preach with your teeth chattering! It was a good thing I got it, because there was a wind coming off the lake and the temperature was probably in the mid 50s.

The Lakeside services are winding down for the summer and next week is our last week there. Leading worship at the lake is a challenge. We meet under a picnic shelter with anywhere from 50 to 70 in attendance, plus some vultures, gulls, ducks and geese. I have not decided whether I will count the vultures and ducks on my charge conference forms concerning worship attendance. Probably not, because who wants to admit that the vultures circle whenever you preach? At the lakeside service, we have folks from India Hook there as well as people from the nearby campground and residents from around that side of Lake Wylie. It is a recreation spot with people putting in boats, fishing and enjoying the early morning beauty of sunlight and water from their RVs.

At the Lakeside Service, we also claim that Picnic shelter at that time as a Re-Creation place. in those moments, God's grace is displayed in the beauty of creation and we witness the care of the One who reaches out to us. We experience the love of the One who is making all things new. Our last Lakeside Service for 2007 meets at the main Picnic shelter at Ebenezer Park off Mount Gallant Road next Sunday morning at 8:30am. Bring a jacket, just in case!

We got rain!

Tonight it rained a nice, slow soaking rain. Amen.